Wouldn't recent events lead to full war between Fed and Romulan Free State?

[AlanC9]

The Federation Council threw Section 31 under the bus. Because Section 31 is not part of the Federation government.

That's an odd definition of "threw under the bus."

 

[Tarek71]

That's an odd definition of "threw under the bus."

Yes, I think I know what Sci was aiming at, but "throw under the bus" is not the right phrasing. If anything that conveys nearly the opposite of what was Sci was unpersuasively arguing there. It also just happens to have absolutely no bearing on whether S31 is part the govt. My personal fave was, "if they are spying on members of the govt, how can they be part of the govt"? Whut?! That lives in infamy.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Alright, I'm putting my foot down. @Tarek71 , @Sci , and anybody else--if you want to endlessly debate the nature of Section 31, take it to an appropriate forum. They weren't in Picard.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Alright, I'm putting my foot down. @Tarek71 , @Sci , and anybody else--if you want to endlessly debate the nature of Section 31, take it to an appropriate forum. They weren't in Picard.

That's exactly what Section 31 would want you to think.

 

[The Wormhole]

Even the proof is limited to only Commodore Oh wearing a Romulan styled uniform (is it even official or a ZV-only look) on a Romulan styled (has it been seen before or is it ZV only) ship. It wouldn't take much to imagine a world where the Free State denies knowledge of Oh or the fleet, considering them faction gone rogue.

The warbirds likely are actual Romulan military design. The Zhat Vash likely don't have the resources or capabilities of building and staffing a fleet of 218 ships, even relatively small ships these were seen to be. Therefore, the ships are likely part of the Romulan military, which Oh/Nedar commandeered using Tal Shiar authority.

As for the uniform, presumably since the Zhat Vash is so uber secret, and Nedar was operating publicly, it would make more sense for her to wear an official publicly known Tal Shiar or Romulan military uniform rather than a Zhat Vash uniform. At the risk of dragging Section 31 back into this topic, you'll note Sloan only wore his black leather Section 31 outfit when he and Bashir were having either private chats or chats in the presence of other Section 31 folk. In all other scenes, Sloan is wearing either a Starfleet uniform or civilian clothes.

 

[Sci]

Yeah, it makes the most sense that that fleet was either regular Free State military or dedicated Tal Shiar. If it was regular military, Nedar probably used her position as a Tal Shiar agent to commandeer the ships and place them under her command; if the fleet was Tal Shiar, then ditto. And I don't think it's clear yet that either the regular military nor the Tal Shiar necessarily recognized the Zhat Vash's infiltration of their ranks before the Battle of Coppelius, but they're probably aware of Zhat Vash influence in their ranks now.