T75 - Senator Rathbone Denounces Shattered Ceasefire at Amoss

dateline 3208.321

Senator Rathbone today denounced the betrayal of trust by both the Sirians and the Venerians who callously repudiated agreements on Amoss to promote their own agenda and commit atrocities against the free people of Amoss who only wanted to determine their own government.

Fellow Senators and members of the Imperium. The news yesterday regarding Sirian activities in the Amoss system has been in the hands of the officials for several days. I stand here to denounce those actions in their entirety. The deal which had been brokered between our First Minister and President Potato, which underpinned the withdrawal of the Imperial Fleets in search of a diplomatic solution, has been shattered by this hypocrisy and deceit. Our efforts at diplomatic action have been followed somewhat predictably by the invading jackboot of the Sirian armed forces.

It is only rhetorically that I can ask what actions were taken by the much vaunted peacekeeping forces of the RNVN which appear to have simply stepped aside and followed the partisan approach to this situation which has been the hallmark of their role to date. It is just possible that the arrival of a GFAN Fleet may yet result in positive peace-enforcement by the joint-force, but it is already absolutely clear that the blood of many thousands of Amossians is now on Venerian hands as much as on Sirian ones.

It is ironic that this invasion and bloodletting has been by the self-same Sirian government that has for over a decade been pontificating about the values of independence and freedom of choice, and constantly criticised the Imperium for each and every intervention (whether it to be to destroy pirates or maniacs threatening civilians with nuclear weapons). Such bitter irony that they are now suppressing with untrammelled brutality a freely elected administration that just happens to disagree with them. This hypocrisy demonstrates the degree to which this Sirian regime is prepared to sink to remain in power.

The utter failure of the RNVN to stop this invasion, or even to attempt to do so means that the Venerians are simply underwriting such brutal acts. Not because they agree with them. No, let us be clear of that fact. The Venerians are not siding with the Sirians - they are siding against us. And this brings into stark view the policies of the new Venerian regime, with which we can now clearly no longer conduct the diplomacy of trust. All trust has now evaporated, and only by supreme diplomatic efforts will we be able to find a way to again trust the word of any Venerian in this regime.

[Standing ovation from about three quarters of the Senate. Subdued, polite yet nervous applause from the rest]

~~DISCUSSION~~