Don't what? Don't wonder if there is anything to be gained for the Haqq after the dust settles? Regardless of whatever reason CB initially decided to align the factions the way they did doesn't mean they will not reveal (create) benefits for the actions of those factions which lent aid to the Uprising.
I believe that would be far too simple. With all the havoc around, the Hassassin could have just nabbed the plans and perhaps a few engineers behind such a project if that was the goal. I mean... "so we help you gain independence, and you give us a new model of a tank" - to use a real-world analogy - is not something that would hold water IMO. No matter the givne armor model, the Uprising did destabilize one of the two most powerful nations of the Sphere - and by that, made their opposition more powerful by comparison. As I said, if it was only about popular support and humanism, sending humanitarian help and loudly pleading for cessation of hostilities would do. Also, remember we are in a state of war against the Combined Army. The Japanese Uprising means one of the major Sphere forces in Paradiso is going to lose a lot of its effectiveness for quite a while (because they'll suddenly be missing their Japanese troops, will have to counter Japanese troops going rebel in their rear area, and finally getting paranoid about Kempetai infiltrators in their own ranks). Those are all obvious things. It wasn't like "Hey, the poor Japanese are goin' to fight for their freedom from YJ oppression, let's help them fuck the entire Sphere upside down for a few months, c'mon, it'll be fun!" - effects of such an event were predictable, and Old Man is too competent of a player in Sphere's politics to let himself fail to notice that. Therefore I wonder what was Old Man's agenda there...
Can we get some references where human sphere governments are in open war and actually fear for the safety of the rest of the sphere? I consistently got the impression the majority downplay the importance of combined or straight up just don't think of them very highly. While those who know better seem to be keeping quiet or being kept quiet. In the context of the conflict on Paradiso still being low intensity (in the eyes of the powers that be) the opportunistic nature of the uprising makes more sense. . Sure from our omnipotent view point we can see where this immediately leads to combined starting to gain some traction with yu Jing pulling back, but the actors might not see it that way.
This might explain why Aleph let the Uprising happen: better to let the Japanese gain independence from Yu-Jing in a fast conflict instead of a long, bloody all-out war between PanO and Yu-Jing. Maybe Aleph pulled some strings here and there (influencing O12, letting the media coverage of the Uprising get to the whole HS...) and that's why most factions sided with the Japanese. After all, only Aleph knows how bad the CA is (apart from Tohaa, I mean).
In open war is pretty obvious: Where PanO is shooting down Yu Jing craft before the O12 Security Council approves the Steel Wall on Oct25. But I will concede that it sure doesn't seem like anyone in the Human Sphere appreciates how powerful the Combined Army is. Not even Aleph.
Though I gave but one example of how it could translate to the tabletop, my intent was to imply far more than a single boon being offered. Ongoing research, trade, and other partnerships. Deals, very much plural. I agree that if it were only a PR move, striking at places in the dark in order to affect the outcome seems rather strange. Fair enough.
It's been a few days but I don't recall them shooting anything down. Just deterring with the threat of?
Hrm... Actually, I don't remember it explicitly saying shooting down, either. But I do remember it explicitly saying PanO ground attacks on YJ troops. (ie, PanO aircraft bombing or shooting missiles at YJ ground troops)
I thought they were JSA aircraft doing that, and Pan-O was supplying additional forces to them - I could be wrong. The main thing is that a lot of detail is omitted, so you can sort of choose how you want to fill in the blanks.
Mars, Kaseitoshi, September 9: PanOceania officially declares its support for Japanese independence. Alleging that the Yu Jing attacks endanger the T2 [Terraforming Tower] fields, it reinforces the O12 forces and cuts several StateEmpire supply lines. You only cut supply lines from the air when you attack everything that moves on the ground. The US proved that during Vietnam. Paradiso, Kokkyo-3, October 2: An intense air attack against the city of Kokkyo-3 is repelled by the PanOceanian Air Force. This action will serve as an on-site test of what will be called the Steel Wall strategy. The only way to stop an air attack is to actively fire missiles or guns at someone. If you don't shoot, the pilots will keep coming. Even if you do shoot, unless you shoot at each and every aircraft, the pilots will keep coming. The USAF proved that over Vietnam, with the B52 strikes. I'm going to assume that the O12 Security Council resolution of October 25th that authorized force against Yu Jing troops attacking Japanese forces give these legal cover: Paradiso, Fukaitani, October 26 - November 6: The landing of a force of Invincibles is repelled in Hirayama, to the north of the peninsula, with the help of strong air and orbital support by their Haqqislamite and PanOceanian allies. Paradiso, Kokkyo-3, December 7: A defensive ring is established around the city of Kokkyo-3, a ring that ends up being impenetrable to StateEmpire troops. The tenacity with which the Japanese troops is backed by powerful PanOceanian and Nomads joint air and orbital support. "Neko" Oyama, a hero among the Domaru, once again lives up to his reputation of surviving impossible situations.
The Uprising was possible because Yu Jing got politically defeated by the machinations of the Kuge, who installed their neo-feudal ethno-state by sacrificing JSA troops en masse (casualties for the JSA were unbelievably high) and getting the other nations to support the Uprising, something made possible because the O-12 didn't have the power or position to stop something that everyone else was behind. It's a bad look for YJ, but these things happen. The most powerful nations in the world often make poor strategic choices for whatever reason.
It actually does. Concilium has enough votes on its own to stymie any action any other nation, or group of nations, attempt to take. If this happened it was because O-12 wanted it to happen.
Concilium in and of itself doesn’t have votes, the constituent powers do, and they voted against YJ, just like the did against PanO in the matter of Svalarheima and Paradiso.
That is patently untrue. Perhaps, given its variable nature, you could argue that O-12 has no seats in the Oberhaus, a strange assertion but one that cant be disproven. But the Petite Assemble has thirty members: five from PanO, five from Yu Jing, 5 from the Nomads, 5 from Haqqislam, 5 from Ariadna, 5 from O-12, while the Security Council has one from PanO, one from Yu Jing, one from the Nomads, one from Haqqislam, one from Ariadna, four from O-12, one from the Non-Aligned powers, and one from Aleph. Even the Conclave, the council of the great power heads of state, includes the High Commissioner of Concilium alongside the leaders of the G-5.
Thing is, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you can do something. Alright, maybe they have the votes to censure action in the Oberhaus or Petit Assemble, or both. Then what? The O-12 is powerful but it also relies on the consent of the Sphere powers to respect it, and if you push them too far, test that consent to the point where it fails, where are you then? Maybe if the Sphere wasn't considering at the highest level the consequences of another Neo-Colonial War while already engaged on Paradiso, you'd get a firmer response, but if the O-12 think that there's a genuine concern that the Paradiso Coordinated Command could break down then they're going to try and just keep things from escalating beyond the point where that happens. And in this circumstance, I can easily see YJ basically getting a "yeah we know PanO and everyone else are in your business, but the whole Japanese situation is a strategic fuck-up of your own making, we aren't going to compromise our relationship with everyone else so that you can patch shit together, sort out your own problems and we'll be the authority that prevents actual war from breaking out." Especially bearing in mind that when part of your military rebels, and you're trying to defeat it, and it's actually turning out to be quite tough, the last thing you want is to respond to blatant acts of war with "OH YEAH WELL IT'S ON NOW" and then PanO says "in that case guess we'll actually bring some large scale fleet actions to bear then." Yu Jing were on the back foot internationally, absolutely, everyone knew it, and everyone got to play without needing to overly worry about censure at least in the short term while the crisis resolved. What Yu Jing then needs to do is to seriously crush the resistance, which actually outside of Japan itself they did, and then work on shoring up their position, which they are doing. And yes while it does look like Yu Jing are getting a kicking in the background, bear in mind that one of the big ongoing plot points of the setting is the Yu Jing economic infiltration of PanO corporations on a level previously considered impossible and unbelievable, meaning that it's not like YJ is the constant whipping boy. They have still got that, and we could see it as a future "Yu Jing turns it around, gets some serious strategic wins, and resolves some of their ongoing security problems." Like, to use a wrestling set of turns, you need to build up real heat. You don't just let the fan favourite walk up and take the world champion belt, you need to build it up, generate the hype, get the tension, throw in setbacks, make them howl, and then let them win when it feels like a real victory. Yu Jing are on the back-foot and will be for a while... but then things will change, and it'll feel even more satisfying. The story isn't over!
Cool, I was wrong, they’ve votes. However, they don’t have veto power, which means Concilium’s feelings on the matter are immaterial since the powers decided it was in their interests.
For those of you who weren't paying attention, the 4 seats on the Security Council are enough to kill any motion before the council. So if Concilium doesn't want something to happen, it doesn't. Apparently they wanted to partition Yu Jing.
Well it clearly doesn't need Yu Jing's consent. They're the authority that *enabled* war breaking out when they gave the stamp of official approval to PanO's violated of Yu Jing's territorial sovereignty. O-12 allowing everyone else to hide behind its skirts after attacking Yu Jing is *really* bad for engendering an atmosphere where everyone feels like they get a fair shake in the O-12. Calling the whole Japanese system a strategic fuck-up of Yu Jing's own making is just a reading comprehension fuck up of your own making, as well, considering PanO (and other groups') support of the Japanese rebels throughout the whole process. The alternative, and what they actually did, was admit that Yu Jing only exists because PanO/O-12 allows it. They've shown that territory can be taken from Yu Jing, their military attacked, and they can't do anything about it. Meanwhile, JSA is alllowed to defend themselves with tactics that include using civilians as human shields. The fact that Yu Jing is shown as being helpless against PanO military action prior to O-12 making "everybody kick Yu Jing while they're down" an official resolution doesn't sit right with me, PanO and Yu Jing are supposed to be on approximately the same level in terms of military power. Unless, of course, Yu Jing is actually committing forces to Paradiso and PanO is holding them back so they can attack Yu Jing... I'll need a citation on that "infiltrating PanO corporations" bit. Sounds like apologetics to me. And Yu Jing can't really crush the resistance at this point, considering that they've said that Dai-Nippon is its own nation. But somehow its ok for the Japanese Emperor to support rebels/terrorists in Kuraimori to attack Yu Jing, that'll never invite censure from O-12 because that would get in the way of kicking Yu Jing some more, apparently. What it looks like is that O-12 has thrown any pretense of fairness out the window and has the attitude of "If we want, we will infringe on your sovereignty and take land from you." Why Yu Jing is, say, still participating in the Paradiso joint command under those terms I have no idea. That's if you think Yu Jing is being turned into something other than a chickenshit heel meant to job to the actual heroes of the story. In pro wrestling terms, Yu Jing was forced into a heel turn that makes no narrative sense to make their new guy (JSA) and their Cena analog (PanO) look good as faces, and now the formerly impressive Yu Jing can only secure victories by c̶o̶m̶m̶i̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶ ̶c̶r̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ chickenshit heel tactics.
Or, more likely, they didn't want to deal with the political outcome of officially taking a side. Like, this isn't exactly uncommon in politics. Not only are a lot of political systems run by conventions rather than strict rules, and therefore what happens is often limited to much less than the law allows, but also often a political system does not act when they could be it is against their interests to exercise power without gain.
