Re: [fh ot] Re: [GZG][FH] Planet types (was Re: Locations of Stars)

Thomas Anderson wrote:

> it seems a little convenient that all the powers are constantly locked
in
> battle with mortal enemies except the NRE. what if the NSL, ESU and
the
> dutch all managed to pull together and come a-knocking?

Actually, if you check the various materials and timelines, the only
powers not firmly locked up into the NAC/NSL vs ESU/FSE dualist showdown
are:

The Dutch (No material presented)
The Swiss (Impartially provide mercs to everyone)
The PAU (No material presented, I tend to think of them in the ESU bloc,
but no data)
The Scandanavians (No material presented)
The New Israelis (In long-term war with Islamic Fed)
The OU (See below, and I tend to think of them as at least friendly with
NAC)
The Indonesian Commonwealth (How many wars have they fought with OU? 
And if OC is pro-NAC, that would make them pro-ESU, and part of the
Dualist Matchup)

And. . . that's it.

In the Dualist Matchup we have:
The NAC
The NSL
The Japanese
The Romanov Hegemony 

vs.
The ESU
The FSE 
and
The LLAR

The Islamic Federation pisses off all sides impartially.

And notice that ESU and NSL both are powers I mentioned as supporting
(at least tacitly) the NRE when they take potshots at their rivals. 
What would be so unusual about playing both sides off the middle?  Take
a look at Yugoslavia during early Cold War.  Look at Egypt--Soviet
clients when it was useful, American now that we pay more.  Many African
nations were fairly blatant about tying whether they espoused Marxist
ideology or Capitalist ideology to the amount they recieved in their
respective aid packages.

John M. Atkinson