Re: [HIST] Recent events and the GZG Universe (was: Thoughts on World Government)

From: Bell, Brian K (Contractor) <Brian.Bell@dscc.dla.mil>

> I too had some thoughts generated by the recent events.
>
> Such things as:
>  - What is the government of the IF like?

[Canon] In the mid 2160's (IIRC) the House of Sa'ud was overthrown by
radical Islamists.
[Just Me]  After the revolution there was a period of chaos as a
council of clergy attempted to govern, Sa'ud loyalists led
counterrevolutions, opportunistic governors attempted to secede, and
banditry broke out all over.  Eventually an admiral gathered together
a couple of marine battalions and managed to pacify the area around
New Riyadh.  The admiral offered his services to the religious leader,
offering protection in exchange for status.  The imam--who was a well
respected theologian and an excellent rabble rouser, but not a very
good leader or administrator--quickly accepted, and the admiral became
the first Sultan.
  Through a combination of diplomacy, concessions, bribery, threats,
and some very convenient heart attacks and vehicle accidents among his
opposition, the sultan managed to bring most of the IF's territory
back under the new government.	The Sultanate acts as the central
government, while the amirs are the local governors and in theory
carry out the policies of the Sultanate.  In fact, though, most of the
amirs are as independent, uncooperative and contrary as they feel they
can get away with, and it's nothing unusual for an amirate to be
engaged in its own little war against an infidel power, another
amirate, or even the Sultanate.   One reason why the Sultanate keeps
very strict controls on IF use of jump drive technology is to curtail
the possibility of revolts.

>    - Does it support/employ terrorism? The destruction
>      of Israel was 16 years before the IF was founded.

The Ismaili sect, which produced the Hashishiyun a.k.a. Assassins, was
in business over 1000 years ago.  If you want canonical info, IF
agents assassinated a group of diplomats--NAC and ESU as I recall--as
the diplomats were trying to patch up the 2nd Solar War, and