SW4 (and changing NI in the Tuffleyverse)

John M. Atkinson wrote: 

> ...If
> the IF gets slagged badly, they grab the rest of New Mesopotamia and
New
> Armenia, in coordination with Saeed Kaliphate and New Israel and
anyone
> else interested in cleaning the IF out completely.  ....

I'm pretty sure that NI would lend a hand in such an endeavor, but
again, I'm playing New Israel's advocate here. The NI of the late 22nd
and early 23rd century does _not_ have a blood feud with the IF, at
least the way I would like to write the future history. Between John,
Laserlight, and me, I've built a picutre of a fractured, only
occasionally organized IF that is, in  fact, geographically not very
close to NI or its associated worlds (excpet for New Jordan and possibly
the ex-colony of Tzfat). NI at 'current' time is content with depriving
IF of the ability to pose a threat to NI interests - going after FTL
capable ships that are percieved as threats, and doing the odd commerce
raid, plus Mossad level activities.

Call me a revisionist, but I'm not content with NI being a bitter,
vengeful, bloodthirsty mercenary power in the Tuffleyverse. 

Jon (GZG) - any chance I can win you over? I've got an NI timeline all
set up...

As for New Jordan, Thanks John, for including it in the Unofficial list.
They're quite minor, and non-expansionist. If the IF will let them be,
they'd probably be the only planet on the map able to peacefully coexist
and trade with both the IF and NI. They posess primarily patrol vessels,
orbital defense platforms stocked with old-style FT2 missiles, and a few
cruisers. Ships are a mix of older IF and recently purchased NI and
other ships. No capitals or carriers, though they do have a number of
sqadrons of air-to-space fighters purchased from NI.

As for lack of web presence, That's true of NI as well. I hope I can
remedy that someday.

Noam