tlb wrote:cthia wrote:I'm talking about the Mesan Alignment. I doubt this enemy would even want to hide the fact that she is under duress. On the contrary, that is their point. Their prevailing point is that her duress will soon turn to death.
When an enemy has you by the balls (or the crotch) because they have captured your ruler, and they want to... talk, you put them on the screen. When they are talking they are not murdering their hostage.
That is simply not something that you can know to be true. First, I have already pointed out that an HD can be faked, so there is no "proof of life" possible. Second, you have no way to force the other side to honor any bargain made; so the other side can escalate their demands, no matter what you have already done.
I was working around to responding to your post, but three in a row would have possibly "worn out my welcome."
At any rate, that is true. It has happened to our own government many times. See
No Concessions:tlb wrote:Our government position is to not bargain with kidnappers, because no bargain can be enforced. Fortunately the average kidnapper is usually satisfied with a ransom. That will not be true in the case you imagine.
That is not true. Our policy is not to negotiate with terrorists. We
do negotiate with states/governments. Do absorb the link.
tlb wrote:If the Malign hold the Queen of Manticore, then the only possible policy is to mourn her and then avenge her.
Lose an asset without firing a diplomatic shot? When the offer is there? Sure, it may go sour, but failing to even try in good faith when the offer
may be on the table is political suicide in my opinion. Willie Alexander(?) and the current government will be hung out to dry. Welcome to the reigns Cathy Montaign. You would advocate not even trying? Frankly that is disrespectful to Beth. And, tactically it makes no sense either. It may buy time to find the enemy.
Jonathan_S wrote:I suspect if their navy was still able to carry on fighting that the rest of the government would just activate whatever succession / continuity of government mechanism existed and continue the war. (Sucks to be that ruler, but maybe you shouldn't have been doing something so foolish as to expose yourself to capture from an enemy that didn't first have to fight their way through your navy and system defense)
cthia wrote:By that yardstick, the MBS shouldn't have been doing something foolish to allow themelves to be exposed to the very successful Yawata Strike without the enemy having to fight its way thru their defenses. The Mandarins felt the same way.
tlb wrote:In what way does that follow?? Manticore had been engaged in a war for surviuval and had apparently come out on top; when they were hit by an unknown enemy with undetectable ships. What is the "wise" move that you can propose to prevent being hit by two unknowns?
The comment by Jonathan S refers to the ruler putting themself in a position to be captured. The closest we have come to that is with Hassan II, which killed the Prime Minister and almost killed the Queen. Again, not the result of a "silly" move.
I was pointing out the absurdity of the statement. Against this unprecedented enemy with its unprecedented toys, why assume Beth has to do anything foolish to jeopordize her safety. No more than the RMN did anything foolish to allow Oyster Bay. That is very straightforward.
Besides, negotiating and failing because of an unscrupulous enemy happens all of the time. It happened when High Ridge accepted Saint-Just's ceasefire. But, to negotiate may give you a 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, 80/20, 90/10 chance. Not negotiating gives a 0/0 chance of success. When the stakes are high, it seems a no-brainer.
Yes, I agree the ceasefire shouldn't have been accepted.