GrahamKennedy wrote:Clearly the Bak'u are not Federation citizens. Is there any reason why they would be subject to Federation law?
Dougherty states that "we have the planet", and Picard describes the place as "a planet in Federation space". Nobody seems to question that the Feds have jurisdiction over the place - the argument is over whether the non-violent removal of 600 individuals is too high a price to pay for an improved quality of life for billions.
My best take on it is that the Council or some fraction of it was involved in a criminal conspiracy, but either way you cut it has problematical implications.
My impression is either that Dougherty was lying when he stated that he had the council's approval, or the operation was sanctioned by the Cabinet and Riker's mission was to inform Parliament (or whatever the Fed equivalent was). Not illegal, but something the population as a whole would be uncomfortable with, a la the invasion of Iraq.
I don't really see that the ease of the assault has anything to do with it.
It has everything to do with it - if an assault is needed to obtain a given resource, then it will cost lives, on both sides. Dougherty's plan wouldn't cost any, and and would allow the Ba'ku to live out the rest of their natural lives on a reproduced colony.
Again, a series of differences that make no difference to my mind.
If that's the case then every compulsory purchase order is morally equivalent to the Trail of Tears.
The Bak'u were established on the planet - they'd been there for centuries. Viable? They had enough of a population to continue indefinitely, especially given that they have an almost indefinite lifespan.
Only barely - even assuming the optimum genetic dispersal, the minimum viable population for humans is about 500, and safer estimate put it in the thousands.
I don't really see what "effective control" has to do with anything. Interstellar capability makes a difference in the degree to which the PD applies to be sure, but it continues to apply after that is achieved.
I'm not talking about the PD - I'm talking about the fact that this is a single, small, imported village we're talking about, not a planetwide civilisation.
And true they didn't intend to enslave them - I didn't say they did. I said they intended to kidnap them, which is the truth.
So? You compared the Ba'ku relocation to the antics of the Cardassians - I'm pointing out that they're nowhere near comparable.
As to the degree of disruption which may or may not occur, again I don't really see the relevance, but at the very least what the Federation planned would rob the Bak'u of centuries of expected lifespan, per person.
At worse the Ba'ku might have gone into shock when removed from the effective limit of the radiation, which is unlikely given that the Son'a were still around a century after leaving (suggesting that either the radiation has a lasting, though not permanent, effect after prolonged expose, or the Ba'ku are naturally long-lived), and may be a reason for the extensive research being done prior to the relocation. It's far more likely that they'd simply have lived out their natural lives, which I fail to see as a bad thing, especially given the vast immprovements in medical science it was firmly expected the harvesting and exploitation of the rings would bring for
billions of Federation citizens. Immortality, as attractive as it may initially appear, is unnatural and stifling - Tolkein had a good point when he named the "Gift of Man".
