Im gonna start a new thread on this
In fact, according to some math I have seen, Cardassians were less lethal in their occupation of an entire planet than America was in Iraq. Not per capita, but in total. Its almost like they weren't there as a conquering, occupying force, but just their to protect ethnic? racial? (Given how easy Cardassians interbreed with Bajorans, apparently without scientific help, they'd have to be closer than donkeys and horses. yeah yeah, TNG had an episode, it still stands) Cardassians from racial violence from religious extremists. Extremists that had a caste system before the occupation....
You wanna know why the Federation betrayed to Maquis colonists? Because if they hadn't, and had bullied the fuck out of the Cardassians, they would have looked exactly like all the other imperialist aliens. Go all the way back to the original Gorn episode, and you can find an example of a small, lonely, vulnerable alien nation attempting to defend themselves from encroachment of a terrifyingly larger power. A power that does nothing to restrain its own people from engaging in conquering, pioneering, and settling like space is the old west and every alien not part of the Federation is an injun in dire need of shooting.
Now because of "reasons" a military budget that includes ships with teleportation and significant faster than light travel means you don't have enough ships for evacuating people.
It was politics. Pure and simple. Stellar Strategic politics to not appear like the hyper expansionist polity that the Federation was at that point, and had been in fact since it started. Using the thread of other 'evil' polities as a convincing measure, while its flagships where one and all the most powerful warships in the fleet with vast arrays of technological tools and vast manpower of scientific minds to overcome everything that could be thrown at them. Its common sense, sure, but there it is. And so here comes the Cardassian Union, a military intelligence entity that has formed out of desperate, immediate life threatening need. And they are in conflict with some settlers who demand entire worlds for themselves, while the Federation runeth aplenty with living space.
Sure, the Federation could crush them for daring to disagree with this, for daring to not simply come grovelling to the Federation for handouts. But then that finishes off establishing a pattern, that Federation settlers can go wherever, lay claim to any planet, and once they do that is Federation territory, and everyone that has a problem with can and will be killed. And they will use pithy, bullshit excuses like "protecting helpless, harmless, well meaning civilians" when all it is is conquest lead by civilians and not the military. If the Federation smashes the Cardassian Union like they could, it might jeopardize their alliance with the Klingons, no scratch that, it would destroy it, since the demilitarization of the Klingons occured largely because they were willing to beleive that the Federation weren't going to cruise in and blast them all.
So the Federation destroys the Cardassian Union like it could, then the Federation is the one that will suddenly be surrounded by enemies, and face a rival multi species alliance. And whats interesting and very indicative, is that Tellarites are supposedly a founding member, and yet they exist as a technically independent power. Perhaps it was because of all the colony worlds we find, almost none are exclusively colonies of a nonhuman species. Dont' get me started on the anti-logic of having millenia access to the stars and still having 90% of your species on a single planet. Vulcans, if you were wondering.
The Cardassians weren't Nazis, and Bajorans hysteria is literally bald faced bigotry and whining helped along by the most lying and deceitful propaganda campaign that could be imagined. Helpfully deleting and not mentioning everytime Bajoran terrorists engage in wanton murder of civilians. Bajor was like the IRA, without the immediate preceding history of brutal and exploitative oppression of the Potato Famine when the British refused to close ports after taking all the best land for beef exports, and the majority of the Irish welcoming the British with open arms and hands.
Cardassians are not Nazi's and were the real victims of DS9. You can even see hints of the poor writing showing through when the writers turn Dukat into a supervillain out of no where, and have our protagonist use psychological warfare against an already broken individual out of spite, and break him even further.I don't know what crazy bullshit he said this time but don't bother giving a disgusting animal like him advice about debate, he's not here to add anything other than be a cancer like he usually is wherever he goes.
A tiger doesn't change its stripes and a Nazi that never apologized or regrets being a Nazi is still a Nazi.
In fact, according to some math I have seen, Cardassians were less lethal in their occupation of an entire planet than America was in Iraq. Not per capita, but in total. Its almost like they weren't there as a conquering, occupying force, but just their to protect ethnic? racial? (Given how easy Cardassians interbreed with Bajorans, apparently without scientific help, they'd have to be closer than donkeys and horses. yeah yeah, TNG had an episode, it still stands) Cardassians from racial violence from religious extremists. Extremists that had a caste system before the occupation....
You wanna know why the Federation betrayed to Maquis colonists? Because if they hadn't, and had bullied the fuck out of the Cardassians, they would have looked exactly like all the other imperialist aliens. Go all the way back to the original Gorn episode, and you can find an example of a small, lonely, vulnerable alien nation attempting to defend themselves from encroachment of a terrifyingly larger power. A power that does nothing to restrain its own people from engaging in conquering, pioneering, and settling like space is the old west and every alien not part of the Federation is an injun in dire need of shooting.
Now because of "reasons" a military budget that includes ships with teleportation and significant faster than light travel means you don't have enough ships for evacuating people.
It was politics. Pure and simple. Stellar Strategic politics to not appear like the hyper expansionist polity that the Federation was at that point, and had been in fact since it started. Using the thread of other 'evil' polities as a convincing measure, while its flagships where one and all the most powerful warships in the fleet with vast arrays of technological tools and vast manpower of scientific minds to overcome everything that could be thrown at them. Its common sense, sure, but there it is. And so here comes the Cardassian Union, a military intelligence entity that has formed out of desperate, immediate life threatening need. And they are in conflict with some settlers who demand entire worlds for themselves, while the Federation runeth aplenty with living space.
Sure, the Federation could crush them for daring to disagree with this, for daring to not simply come grovelling to the Federation for handouts. But then that finishes off establishing a pattern, that Federation settlers can go wherever, lay claim to any planet, and once they do that is Federation territory, and everyone that has a problem with can and will be killed. And they will use pithy, bullshit excuses like "protecting helpless, harmless, well meaning civilians" when all it is is conquest lead by civilians and not the military. If the Federation smashes the Cardassian Union like they could, it might jeopardize their alliance with the Klingons, no scratch that, it would destroy it, since the demilitarization of the Klingons occured largely because they were willing to beleive that the Federation weren't going to cruise in and blast them all.
So the Federation destroys the Cardassian Union like it could, then the Federation is the one that will suddenly be surrounded by enemies, and face a rival multi species alliance. And whats interesting and very indicative, is that Tellarites are supposedly a founding member, and yet they exist as a technically independent power. Perhaps it was because of all the colony worlds we find, almost none are exclusively colonies of a nonhuman species. Dont' get me started on the anti-logic of having millenia access to the stars and still having 90% of your species on a single planet. Vulcans, if you were wondering.
The Cardassians weren't Nazis, and Bajorans hysteria is literally bald faced bigotry and whining helped along by the most lying and deceitful propaganda campaign that could be imagined. Helpfully deleting and not mentioning everytime Bajoran terrorists engage in wanton murder of civilians. Bajor was like the IRA, without the immediate preceding history of brutal and exploitative oppression of the Potato Famine when the British refused to close ports after taking all the best land for beef exports, and the majority of the Irish welcoming the British with open arms and hands.