The High Ground

Ansata separatists and the government of Rutia IV have been fighting for 70 years. Of course, the Federation does not take sides. It just gives supplies to the government of Rutia IV, which looks to the separatists like taking sides. So they take a prisoner: Dr. Beverly Crusher. Then another: Captain Picard. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? How will all of this end? Find out when we put The High Ground in the Mission Log. The Irish conflict is not a matter of wanting a seat at the table, and it isn’t a separatist war either. The whole “indipendence thing” that the UK kingdoms keep coming up with is nonsense and the same nonsense that causes conflict around the world where some group claims control of a given area, is actually in control and someone saying “nu huh.” In the case of Ireland, they and Scotland, and wales, were defeated by England and rightfully were under English rule. Them being called “kingdoms” was only really for simplicity. Irish separatists rose up. the UK got tired of dealing with them and so the UK allowed a new political body to form and ceded land to them. Northern Ireland did not wish to be a part of that (largely divided upon catholic/protestant lines) and so the speratists attacked them. This is not what is happening in the show. On the other hand, what is happening is possibly a separatist movement that is hiding within the idea of “We just want a seat at the table” like the Colonies. And based on your comments and what was said it is probably closer to what they are referring to with the George Washington reference and the Data mention that Terrorism does work. It may be wrong for him to call himself George Washington though based on his position. He could actually be the Ben Franklin who want to the UK to present the claims and make the arguments that all they want is seats at the table while his actual goal being for them to reject them giving them seats so that they can be considered justified. (Ben Franklin is quoted somewhere as saying if they were actually ever offered them seats he would have rejected them). It seems that this comparison is more than likely the case. As far as the argument of who is and isn’t a General and Terrorist… They’re not mutually exclusive. Terrorist just means that you’re using tactics to generate fear for some political end. Washington and the Revolutionaries did not do that as far as I recall. They used moral outrage, but they didn’t attack the british to generate fear. So it is wrong to call them terrorists unless you count moral panic AND you consider that the moral panic crosses over into “fear” causing the action rather than makes them think and then be disgusted with what the thing is being raised… Well, about Ireland. Data’s remark (which was a SERIOUS thing for the show to just toss out there) makes the comparison inescapable. The Troubles were still going on in 1990, and lots of people were still getting killed in the name of bringing the last bit of the island under Republican governance. Also, the Irish Independence movement started out as a campaign for Home Rule – which was what London eventually granted it shortly before the Free State pushed for full independence. For the first few centuries of English rule, Ireland still had a Parliament, and Irish nobles still had a say in the local government, but that was dissolved around 1800. Ireland had no seats in (the British) Parliament for over a century. That was something they were pushing for, representation (along with their typical taxation), though it was probably obvious that given the centuries of animosity, that wouldn’t have been the end of it. At the time I was only 18 and not very familiar w world issues. How interesting to revisit these episodes and examine the context in which they were made. Yeah, the Federation would have been France..good point…”Their fight doesn’t involve us…” Worf :”It does now” For the point of completeness, Scotland was occupied by England for a shor