Remaining holes in SLN intel

cthia wrote:I can't understand why Rajani's suicide hasn't been questioned. What reason did he have of killing himself? A major phuckup in intel of the herculean kind still wouldn't have cost him his job or his freedom. Even though rich people kill themselves, filthy rich people don't.

Millionaires commit suicide.
Billionaires don't.*

Rajani was a billionaire and powerful to boot. What Earthly reason would he have had to dine on a pulser?

There is Adolf Merkle recently, but one data point does not establish a trend. Can't even draw a line.

I think they realized it was MAlign mind control. It's irrelevant, the GA is the threat in their face, they must win or they won't be around to face the MAlign.

cthia wrote:It would matter to the SLN that there is a third player, also, inasmuch as it would identify that the Manties "Screaming wolf" is true. It would provide the Mandarins a respectable way out, saving face.

Saving face isn't a way out. If they admit they were manipulated into the war and apologize they're dead anyway because their illusion of invincibility has been shattered.

Theemile wrote:Even after Crandall, relatons might have been repaired, but the Manties would have wanted a VERY public apology and political reparations at the very least. But by not treating them with mutual respect,....

well, ya'll know the rest....

No. Crandall was too spectacular a loss. The league disintegrates after that.

cthia wrote:But as certain as bees love honey, you can count on the Manties to be 1) Forthright

Manticore is not as a whole forthright. If they were forthright they would have admitted their role in the Green Pine's massacre. The people in charge in Manticore aren't incompetent. Its not clear if Anton and Victor ever got a proper debriefing, but if they didn't its because the Powers that Be were attempting plausible deniability.

Maybe Henke will be forthright and open anyway. I don't think she's gotten the memo about Green Pines. I could totally see her pulling a stunt to prove Manticore is innocent. She sits Victor down, and in the other room have a Treecat with some reporters watching Victor and the kitty. Don't tell Victor about the Treecat. The media would gobble it up. And who could doubt the cute, cuddly kitty? Especially after it shows off its powers.

Next day's newspaper: "Haven and Manticore Responsible for Nuclear Strikes on Mesa. Proof 'Ironclad' say Grand Alliance Admirals"

Maybe the Powers that Be who looked the other way will face the justice they deserve!

Loren Pechtel wrote:

cthia wrote:It would matter to the SLN that there is a third player, also, inasmuch as it would identify that the Manties "Screaming wolf" is true. It would provide the Mandarins a respectable way out, saving face.

Saving face isn't a way out. If they admit they were manipulated into the war and apologize they're dead anyway because their illusion of invincibility has been shattered.

I don't know.

They've already given themselves an opening. The could claim that Manty SD's were present at Spindle but the RMN was trying to create the impression of invincibility by making it look like Crandall's task force was taken out by heavy cruisers.

That fact also lets them explain away the Yawata Strike by saying those Manty SD's were out of position to defend against that attack because they were on their way back from Spindle.

So they could argue (correctly) that Crendall acted foolishly and impetuously and blundered into an ambush of Manty SD's (well that last part was not correct). They could even argue that there were superior numbers of SD's and nobody would really be in a position of disproving that lie.

quite possibly a cat wrote:

cthia wrote:But as certain as bees love honey, you can count on the Manties to be 1) Forthright

Manticore is not as a whole forthright. If they were forthright they would have admitted their role in the Green Pine's massacre. The people in charge in Manticore aren't incompetent. Its not clear if Anton and Victor ever got a proper debriefing, but if they didn't its because the Powers that Be were attempting plausible deniability.

Maybe Henke will be forthright and open anyway. I don't think she's gotten the memo about Green Pines. I could totally see her pulling a stunt to prove Manticore is innocent. She sits Victor down, and in the other room have a Treecat with some reporters watching Victor and the kitty. Don't tell Victor about the Treecat. The media would gobble it up. And who could doubt the cute, cuddly kitty? Especially after it shows off its powers.

Next day's newspaper: "Haven and Manticore Responsible for Nuclear Strikes on Mesa. Proof 'Ironclad' say Grand Alliance Admirals"

Maybe the Powers that Be who looked the other way will face the justice they deserve!

Manticore didn't have a role in the Green Pines massacre. Neither did Haven.

With reference to the Mandarins and their prerception of the Manticore's honesty, previous posters mentioned the corruption angle. But go one further and consider that the real issue for the Mandarins is CYOA, not the truth. They perceived it in their own interest that Manticore be perceived as untruthful. So they do their best to dirty up Manticore's reputation since if the mud splatters on everyone, attention and disapproval is directed toward Maniticore and not the Mandarins.

Don

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Loren Pechtel wrote:

cthia wrote:I can't understand why Rajani's suicide hasn't been questioned. What reason did he have of killing himself? A major phuckup in intel of the herculean kind still wouldn't have cost him his job or his freedom. Even though rich people kill themselves, filthy rich people don't.

Millionaires commit suicide.
Billionaires don't.*

Rajani was a billionaire and powerful to boot. What Earthly reason would he have had to dine on a pulser?

*There is Adolf Merckle recently, but one data point does not establish a trend. Can't even draw a line.

I think they realized it was MAlign mind control. It's irrelevant, the GA is the threat in their face, they must win or they won't be around to face the MAlign.

Is there textev on that? How can they know it was Malign mind control when they don't accept there's a Malign -- an unseen poker playing counterfeiting poker chips?

And for that matter, although we all understand the notion of priorities and getting your ducks in a row, how can the SLN know if they have their priorities in the right order, or their ducks in a row, if they are missing a piece of the puzzle? We've all sat down and put puzzles together, and we always know the shape of the piece that is missing, but we don't know the significance of the piece until we find it and slot it into place, revealing its face.

All I'm saying is that if my ass was in a sling like theirs is, I'd like to see all of the rope that binds me.

Bluesqueak wrote:Manticore didn't have a role in the Green Pines massacre. Neither did Haven.

But Zilwicki and Cachat were on Mesa, both can be considered to represent Manticore and Haven, and both were involved with the events around the detonation of Green Pines.

It's easy enough to write propaganda saying the duo caused the massacre on purpose under orders for their government, even with us readers knowing exactly what happened.

feyhunde wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:Manticore didn't have a role in the Green Pines massacre. Neither did Haven.

But Zilwicki and Cachat were on Mesa, both can be considered to represent Manticore and Haven, and both were involved with the events around the detonation of Green Pines.

It's easy enough to write propaganda saying the duo caused the massacre on purpose under orders for their government, even with us readers knowing exactly what happened.

Yes they were on Mesa, but not as representatives of their respective governments, do you honestly think their escapade was sanctioned by their governments, (governments of nations that were at war with each other), their governments didn't know where they were. Honor knew they were going somewhere together to investigate something, and she may havethought it was Mesa but she didn't know for sure as their destination was never mentioned.