|
Here are some excerpts from that speech:
“And so the only logical place for our next Conference in Terra.”
“All we have to do is look out of these windows and see the damage that we have done. Months later, Tharkad is smoldering. Two of our states have been devastated by an inner family conflict that boiled over. Where do we go from there?”
“Consider the worst we have been to ourselves. The Amaris Wars brought numerous nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons to bear. We didn’t learn our lesson and the First Succession War brought us down as we continued to do the same. Then the Second brought us even further down, and we entered a Dark Age of our time.
The Third War. The Fourth War. The Duchy of Andurien and its Fall. The Ronin wars that saw Rasalhague freed. The War of 3039. The Clan invasion. The invasion by Marik/Liao forces in 3057. The recapture of the St. Ives Compact. Operation Bulldog and Taskforce Serpent. And now the Civil War.
And we haven’t learned. Once again, we loosed the worst of ourselves in nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. I’m a warrior too. I fought in the Fall of Andurien. I fought in the Ronin Wars to secure freedom for Rasalhague. My unit was on the front lines against the Clan Invasion, was in Operation Bulldog, and fought at Huntress. Then we crafted a realm from the Chaos March often from the barrel of a gun. I get war. I understand war. Sometimes, there is a place for war.
But there is never a place for this (Essex points to the local devastation of Tharkad). There is never a place for the loss of civilian lives, cities, and more.”
“The Star League worked because it invested in its people and its infrastructure. We are doing the same with places like Bryant and Asmodeus, but we need to continue. The Star League should be about more than fighting wars with the clans. It should be about restoring peace and prosperity to everyone across the universe, whether clan, periphery, or Inner Sphere.“
“That’s why I am instituting a Aleisha Liao program to begin to push for lawful battles, beyond just the Ares Convention she fought for. Previously, First Lords have used ComStar troops to better their own realms by capturing nearby planets. Now those troops will be deployed to stop the horrors of war. To be guardians of what the league really should stand for, and the Ares convention we have so often set aside when it has become inconvenient.”
“We will also be rebuilding multiple infrastructures and creating a grant program to help rebuild. Because people like Yvonne and Peter are not wrong. There’s been too much destruction.“
“What the Civil War should demonstrate is not that we should not unite ever stronger than before. But instead give us a road map how. We’ll emphasize regional loyalties instead of pushing them aside. You can be proud to be from Skye, from Rasalhague, from Oriente, from Sarna, or from Andurien. That’s okay! We need to find ways to allow folks to wear their colors proudly!”
“For hundreds of years, we have been in an era of war. We have seen the worst of ourselves. It’s time for something else. The people are clamoring for it. Their distrust of the great houses is at an all-time high. They have seen their homes trampled and destroyed for too long. Their children killed too often. It’s time for a new age.”
|