OBT Forum

Added. Good call.

I guess another question to ask is one of enforcement. Orbital Bombardment, WMDs, etc., are much easier to investigate and determine if a violation has occurred. Given the type of powers and responsible we have considered imbuing StarLight Ltd. with, would it not be more prudent to simply remove Appendix L for the document in its entirety? Unless growing the power of StarLight Ltd. to that size is preferred...

Nope

No rules need to be changed.  I will just have to separate out WS combat from ground combat.

The Lyran Commonwealth will adhere to these standards as well regardless of the status of these talks.

Should you wish to be clear about the Ares Conventions perhaps you should clarify exactly what you are proposing in a new forum, and then collect your votes.

Fair enough, but the Terran Hegemony has not, nor will it be, the driving force behind the acceptance of these rules. The Hegemony is not the Inner Sphere's police men, but the Terran people are more than willing to take a ground political attack and turn it into something useful. The so-called "violations" of "commonly accepted interstellar law" or the abrogation of certain treaties has been driven primarily by your nation and the Lyran Commonwealth. Your nations broached the topic of punishment based on certain "grounds"—not other members of this board. All the Hegemony did—and continues to do—is was help direct the conversation from descending into petty bickering and turn itinto something marginally usable as a potential set of governing accords.

Since Oberon continues to act on the ground of moral and legal ambiguity, the Hegemony sees no reason to pursue this topic further if the chief so-called proponents of "commonly accepted interstellar law" seem less than enthused with its creation as a foundation of future punishment.

Lastly, if the Oberon Confederation or any other interstellar nation wants to hold itself to a standard not covered by a legally binding definition, then so be it. The Hegemony's admirals for one, will be happier knowing they can use their WarShips in any manner they see fit when protecting the Terran people.

The Hegemony will vote against an interdiction of the Draconis Combine or any other nation as long as there is no clear legal violation of any kind. Furthermore, the Hegemony will begin offering HPG information and assistance to those nations it deems fit in order to bring this absurd farce to a swift conclusion. 

It doesn't surprise the Hegemony at all that it would be the Commonwealth running to the quick defense of its protectorate. It has long been common knowledge that when Oberon speaks the Terran people hear a Lyran accent.

Quite honestly the Hegemony finds your graciousness at allowing us a "central role in these negotiations" as laughable as the Oberon Commonwealth's claim that the Combine broke some sort of imaginary interstellar rule set. Once again the Commonwealth has misconstrued reality to fit their notion of the big bad Terran boogeyman. The Hegemony's comments never once insinuated that StarLight Communications is anything but independent. We have, however, made comment on and to the fact that the Hegemony has the right to offer our technology to whomever we so chose. Hasn't the Commonwealth traded or offered technology to its allies and not others? We guess your rules do not apply to others...

So there must be a grand Terran conspiracy at work should the Hegemony offer the Free Worlds League, Draconis Combine, Capellan Confederation and many of the Periphery nations HPG technology so the Commonwealth-Oberon-Suns block can no longer throw its weight around this Board for their own selfish ends. Yes, it is a grand conspiracy to keep the Commonwealth from bullying the rest of the Inner Sphere around. 

Again, the Terran people would like to thank the Commonwealth and its mouth-pieces for calling for their politically-motivated and absolutely absurd interdiction. Because of it, we're going to help equalize the balance, to help keep the threat and damage of an interdiction from hurting the good people of the Human Sphere.

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity, but I do wonder what will happen when all of the nations above are immune to an interdiction and the Commonwealth isn't? With no legally binding rules it would be a terrible reversal of fortune if the Commonwealth and her allies were faced with a vote for their own interdiction based on groundless political pandering...