IST Academy

[robkelk]

Seriously, Rob, I can keep finding stuff that spells out the IST are a standing military unit, not unlike an army.

So is the United States Coast Guard. How often do they fight?

They are a permanently deployed military peacekeeping force.

Peacekeeping, not peacemaking.

The COPPF's diplomatic function is secondary to their role as peacekeepers.

Not according to what Bob posted in this thread, it isn't.

The U.N.'s job is diplomacy. Dartz POV is fairly accurate.

I am now confused, because Dartz and I are saying the same thing.

Are you dismissing my suggestions out of hand because they come from me?

I'm pretty much sticking with Bob's Star Fleet example, because that's a really good example.

I'd be happy if you would, but you seem to be going with the mirror-universe starfleet instead.

Keep in mind, the IST Agenda (from page 8):

As set by the Security Council, this agenda constitutes the seven basic standing orders, in order of priority, that all IST must operate under.
1) Enforce the ban on nuclear weapons
2) Enforce the ban on military superteams.
3) Combat international drug trafficking.
4) Protect civilians.
5) Discourage armed conflict between nations.
6) Support global human rights.
7) Provide a visible presence of the U.N. in member nations and maintain a positive public image.

Diplomacy isn't specifically listed in there. Best-case, it's part of #7--the lowest standing order.

Best case, one dissuades a nation from obtaining nuclear weapons without invading that nation - thus, diplomacy is part of #1.

Best case, one dissuades a nation from creating a particular national force without invading that nation - thus, diplomacy is part of #2.

How does one discourage armed conflict by starting armed conflict? #5 is all about diplomacy.

Speak softly before picking up that big stick. Teddy Roosevelt knew that.

The IST isn't the diplomatic arm of the COPPF, they're the stick arm.

Again, that doesn't match what Bob posted in this thread.

If you don't want the carrot from the diplomats, you get the stick in the form of a metahuman army. Sure, they're going to try to be diplomatic, but, since the original book didn't require diplomacy for starting characters, it wasn't the goal of the individual teams to be diplomatic, but the Embassy overall--they had a diplomatic staff.

You don't ask your Star Trek redshirts to negotiate peace treaties.

The PCs aren't playing the redshirts - they're playing the Picards and Rikers.

That's not to say that, in certain circumstances, they couldn't do it. But, their first job is to hurt their people before they hurt our people. That's the job of the IST.

However, honestly, this is something Bob will have to really figure out. The war in China is going to change everything about the ISTs and the U.N. In order to fight the war, they'll have to restructure to a pure, military organization to facilitate their needs . . . and it'll be hard to step back from that.

I know you've invested a lot of energy in describing that Chinese war... but is it actually going to happen?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012