Into the Light Snippet # 20

phillies wrote:It would be interesting to see one of tehse cirme lords with a bit ore of an IQ, enough to realize everything has changed, but if you have most of the guns you do not have to be a local crime lord; you can become El Presidente del Norte or the like, and do intelligent things.

Well there was the warlord from Key West in Chapter6 (beginning of snippet 7) who saw the light after Major Torino reasoned with his body guards/thugs.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

phillies wrote:It would be interesting to see one of tehse cirme lords with a bit ore of an IQ, enough to realize everything has changed, but if you have most of the guns you do not have to be a local crime lord; you can become El Presidente del Norte or the like, and do intelligent things.

Well there was the warlord from Key West in Chapter6 (beginning of snippet 7) who saw the light after Major Torino reasoned with his body guards/thugs.

No, I meant someone who (Mexican drug lord) realized well before the vampires started visiting that (1) there is no America to which to sell drugs, (2) American dollars are not even printed on absorbent paper, (3) the government got wiped out, so you have all the guns, and (4) you know all the crooked rackets and exactly who is stealing money that way, so (5) announcing you are now El Presidente del Norte, you are here to provide honest government in which the rakeoff will be larger because the economy will eventually be doing better, and (6) shipping out the crooks who will not shape up is the right answer.

phillies wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:Well there was the warlord from Key West in Chapter6 (beginning of snippet 7) who saw the light after Major Torino reasoned with his body guards/thugs.

No, I meant someone who (Mexican drug lord) realized well before the vampires started visiting that (1) there is no America to which to sell drugs, (2) American dollars are not even printed on absorbent paper, (3) the government got wiped out, so you have all the guns, and (4) you know all the crooked rackets and exactly who is stealing money that way, so (5) announcing you are now El Presidente del Norte, you are here to provide honest government in which the rakeoff will be larger because the economy will eventually be doing better, and (6) shipping out the crooks who will not shape up is the right answer.

RFC and Eric Flint have already done this in the Honorverse - though we'll see where that character goes in the next book.

I suspect the difference RFC's portraying here is between the Key West warlord - who can think strategically - and the current drug lord, who's a genius tactically but (it appears) can't think strategically.

So the Key West warlord quickly realised when the Shongarii arrived/departed that no one was now interested in stopping him or his gang. The strategic situation had changed; they could set up as a pirate state. Once the vampires turned up, he realised equally quickly that the cops were back and he needed to negotiate - probably on the grounds of 'okay, I may have been a pirate, but this is an area I've kept functioning.' New strategic situation; he reacts to it really quickly.

Current Drug Lord, on the other hand, is showing all the signs of someone whose strategic ability is limited to 'I wanna be the boss of the biggest, meanest cartel around.' Tactically, he's focused on the immediate threat. To date, he's been superb at dealing with them. Shongarii arrive - we can do a deal. Immediate threat dealt with. Other gangs - get Shongarii to help them out. US collapses - somebody will always want drugs. Wait for drug demand to ramp back up. Deal with immediate cash flow threat by diversifying into porn, get some ransoms, find other things people want. US forces turns up - get SAS guy to blow them into teeny tiny pieces.

He's not stupid. He's simply spent his entire life reacting to the latest deadly threat and can't focus on anything outside that. Strategically, he can't think beyond 'new boss same as the old boss - things will go on the way they always have'.

Interesting to see how he reacts to the vampire - but since he's called 'Cervantes', I suspect his reaction will be to charge at the windmill.

Bluesqueak wrote:
Anyway, the interesting thought occurred to me - is this how the Terran Empire develops? Because they discover that their super-soldier vampires are hardwired to follow one particular leader, not a chain of command?

Torino is Air Force, and so has had the President as Commander-in-Chief hardwired into him through decades of training. But is that 'obey the President' programming directed towards the office? Or the man?

[President Howell, indeed. RFC, is there no end to these Welsh jokes?]

I rather assumed that the significant statement was "Vlad left us here to support the President". Torino only agrees to his new post after the President explains that is the best way he can currently support him. If there is a compulsion involved, which seems likely, then I suspect it is to follow Vlad's orders. Which fits into all the vampire mythology about a vamps relation to his/her 'Sire'.

Anyone think we might get another snippet for Thanksgiving?

Randomiser wrote:Anyone think we might get another snippet for Thanksgiving?

If, it would certainly be a good reason for giving Thanks.

Randomiser wrote:Anyone think we might get another snippet for Thanksgiving?

If he's so busy that he can't drop in for a solid month even to say "sorry, too busy, will post one soon" and/or tell others to do so, then my bet has to be on no. And if he's in any way more traditional, then odds are high he's slammed with prep work for Thanksgiving on top of all the other stuff he mentioned in his status update post... and that list was obscene. Yikes, what an overload.

Maaaaaybe Friday... but I'm not holding my breath...

But I'm not going to complain if he decides to prove me wrong.

FriarBob wrote:

Randomiser wrote:Anyone think we might get another snippet for Thanksgiving?

If he's so busy that he can't drop in for a solid month even to say "sorry, too busy, will post one soon" and/or tell others to do so, then my bet has to be on no. And if he's in any way more traditional, then odds are high he's slammed with prep work for Thanksgiving on top of all the other stuff he mentioned in his status update post... and that list was obscene. Yikes, what an overload.

Maaaaaybe Friday... but I'm not holding my breath...

But I'm not going to complain if he decides to prove me wrong.

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According to Facebook he's in Warsaw right now.