Victor_D wrote:1) They don't know and probably won't believe that this trend will continue. From what I've read, tech growth has slowed down in the early interstellar age for most civilizations. Humans may be a bit more creative by necessity (no Soia-era ruins to rediscover tech from), but the notion that they will out-science everybody in just a century or two will seem ridiculous to Loroi.
They will probably find the idea that we've advanced as quickly as we have ridiculous, but they can verify it and see that it's true. They would be stupid to assume that our tech advance will simply halt when we reach parity.
2) China poses a massive long-term geopolitical threat to the US, even more so than the USSR in its age. It has posed such a threat ever since Deng Xiaoping began modernizing the country in the 1980s. If the US behaved like many on this forum expect the Loroi to behave, it would have launched a preventive nuclear attack against China in the early 1990s to return the country to the stone age. The US had the capability then to burn China to the ground with minimal losses to itself. Did it do that? No. Why not? Because the notion that a country might get relatively stronger in the future isn't a good enough reason to wipe it out.
Degree of difficulty and economic interdependance as well as international relations. A conventional war in China would be a nightmare, a nuclear war would result in the rest of the world turning against us. At the same time our businesses are throwing money at them creating economic dependencies that would be devastating to lose. I have no doubt that there was serious discussions about the China issue in the halls of power here. Chances are good that we are attacking them just as vigorously as they are attacking us in cyber-space, but they have the governmental power to erect the firewall and surpress any reports of success on our end while we don't.
This. From their perspective, humans are not a threat any more than Nigeria is considered a threat (despite the UN projections that put its population at 700+ million people by the end of the century, more than the US and on par with the whole of Europe).
If Nigeria starts building stealth planes and supercarriers you can bet they'll be seen as a threat. Even if just a threat to the hegemony.
Jericho wrote:While american history is not my strong point. I'm pretty certain that texas was not held at gunpoint when asked to join the US. And i'm most certain they can leave the union anytime they feel like it without the fear of genocide or occupation.
As has been covered they wouldn't be allowed to leave (
I'd allow it, but I don't make the rules).
Link please.
"Each member does not have its own military (though each does have its own police & patrol forces), but rather subordinates itself to the Loroi military, which acts as an executive entity."
http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/union_races.html
We are too independent as we are individualists
Most of your point is focused on this so rather than saying basically the same thing over and over I'm just going to respond here.
You, and others, keep saying this, but I don't see it. I see plenty of people saying it, then immediately falling in line when the chips are down. We like to
TALK about how independent we are but when it comes time to put up or shut up we grumble a bit then move on with our lives. Otherwise I'd expect riots in the streets at the mere
mention of the EU (after all, how DARE the government give over authority to anyone else!) but that's not what I've seen, perhaps our Eurofriends can tell us of the devastation and collapse of individuality that has come about? Or did life go on more or less like it did before? "But" you say "They joined willingly!" and so they did, and guess what? We're going to join the Loroi Union willingly too. We'll ask for independence of course, but we won't get it, and we won't push the point, because our politicians will be too busy trying to secure us survival to worry about independence. There are, no doubt, people who will rage and foam at the mouth at the thought of giving over our independence, but they will be a minority, and a small one at that. The majority of people will be concerned with how this impacts their career, or their vacation plans rather than how it impacts their freedom, just like today.
The Loroi aren't going to force us to have our children grow up separate from their parents, they aren't going to make us submit forms in triplicate and get on a waiting list to have a girlfriend/boyfriend, they aren't going to tell us we have to eat their food or listen to their music or watch their plays, they aren't going to require us to use sign language and never speak unless we have to/distrust the person we're talking to, etc., etc., etc.
The average person probably won't even notice the difference pre- and post-treaty, except that we'll have some space elves hanging around the colleges and tech companies teaching, some bases being built and a TON of new government contracts for production of goods the Loroi can use.
Our position is non negoiable. It is our independence of our subjucation.
Not only are you welcome to that opinion, you will probably still be welcome to it once the treaty is signed.