To those involved in the Freeport 1 Witch Hunt

[fencore]

Dab, I did read this thread. I read all the comms threads. And I most certainly know my treaties. I'm most certainly not out of touch, nor am I merely looking for drama. If anything, I'd like this bull to stop, given that none of this rests solely on the shoulders of one person.

Upon review, though, I do see that prior to the evidence of Dakun instigating the brawl all that was stated on the matter was the declaration toward Rheinland. For my comments on this particular matter, I do apologize. However, I do not retract all of my statements, given that I do still very much believe that Bretonia's handling of the Dakun situation was, while in the right effect, to a ridiculous degree. Given that you were representing the Bretonian Government via your BAF Admiral, you're bearing this weight.

I was present for the last incident in Omega-3. Bretonia had navies popping into O-3, and a blatant denial from Zoners that you had any ownership of the system. To that extent, Bretonia's reaction was justified. It needed to be extreme. You had the SCRA, Corsairs, and all manner of ne'er-do-wells sitting right outside the gates.

In this case, we had nearly the same degree of political reaction for a single man and a small crowd of malcontents. Action should have been taken, and the nature of the action isn't in question. It's absolutely the degree. Difference between a riot and a war, madam.

And I have kept up with the communications to Dane. As a member of OSI, his activities in this matter were very much of a concern to myself and the rest of the HC. Even though he was in no way acting on behalf of the faction, we pay attention to what our members do.

And, no, while Bretonia didn't say anything about annexation, you did very much overstep your bounds as to what Bretonia can do around the Freeport and up to that borderline. I could see where that was going. If I recall, nowhere in the Freeport 1 treatises does it give Bretonia the right to any sort of governance, no matter how extreme the circumstances, over the Freeport or say in how things are run bureaucratically. You may maintain the security of the Port in regards to Bretonian interests. The following line from your Security Agreement is the closest thing we have to demonstrate direct military action that can be taken by Bretonia concerning the Port

Article 3. Zoners of Freeport 1 on their own accord allow Bretonian Armed Forces and Bretonian Police Authority to use Freeport as a resupply base and temporary post in exchange of maintaining security of Freeport and surrounding space.

You may not exercise your recently declared right, given that we're allowing you to restock in exchange for you defending us and providing security for Zoners. Not against Zoners. This post is what I'm referring to. And might I add your statement of temporary martial law. In Bretonian Space. Not Zoner space, which is the space within which the Freeport resides. A NFZ around a Freeport is Independent Territory. In this case, with revisions provided within the treaties as to Bretonia's access to criminal elements within said space.

See what I mean by a tad extreme? Overstepping bounds is bad. I'm not sure if it was due to wanting to take direct control of the situation or if it's a purposeful step to push Zoners around, but I'm quite sure if we'd had a military, Zoner and Bretonian forces would be almost at war over this. Oh, wait, we did that before.

To the contrary, it is the Zoners who keep trying to quote the Bethlehem treaty. After having gone a year trying to say it is no longer valid. So be it, that means they can't use its terms legally.

Then, all right, let's pull the Treaty of Beth out of the Bretonian treaties thread. It is null and void in respect to the Bretonian Government. To be frank, Beth was really the closest thing you could have had to maintaining rights in interfering with Freeport policy. It's much more free for you than the FP1 accords that were signed by Mr. Finch.

See what I mean, though? The only people who really had rights to start a witch hunt were the Zoners who were abused here. I'm not going to defend Dakun, as diplomatically he handled things with the tact of a sledgehammer. Nor am I saying that the entire purpose of the situation was to gun for him. What I'm trying to point out is that screw-ups happened. On all sides. Yours just as much as anyone else's.