7 replies to this topic

[InnerSphereNews]

Fri. June 15, 3049: “Ares Convention: License To Kill” thesis forces student into hiding over explosive response, including death threats.

[Starlace]

[Blackfire1]

Fri. June 15, 3049: “Paul :Kick the beta server” thesis forces developer into hiding over explosive response, including death threats.

Edit for ultimate justice!

Edited by Blackfire1, 15 June 2012 - 08:03 AM.

[SquareSphere]

From Sarna http://www.sarna.net...Ares_Convention

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The Ares Conventions were a treaty signed in New Olympia on the planet Ares during the Age of War, aiming to reduce the loss of civilian life by establishing a code of conduct during warfare. Compliance was almost universal and reduced both the human and economic costs of war, unfortunately also enshrining it as a means of solving even the slightest disputes.

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Legacy

In 2579, as part of Ian Cameron's declaration of war, the Star League unilaterally passed Addendum II, rescinding the Conventions. Despite protests and the strict adherence of the Free Worlds League to the Conventions during the conflict, they were never reinstated. The many conflicts the SLDF participated in - such as the Hidden Wars or the Amaris Civil War were fought as total wars.^[11]

[DarkTreader]

The Ares Conventions were a treaty signed in New Olympia on the planet Ares during the Age of War, aiming to reduce the loss of civilian life by establishing a code of conduct during warfare. Compliance was almost universal and reduced both the human and economic costs of war, unfortunately also enshrining it as a means of solving even the slightest disputes.
The Conventions were upheld until rescission during the military buildup leading to the Reunification War and formally renouncement at the beginning of the First Succession War. Despite no longer part of a binding treaty, the Ares Convention continue to be seen as the guide for civilized warfare.

Background:

In 2412, the forces of Captain-General Peter Marik invaded the Capellan world of Tintavel. While at first a traditional assault, the defenders had resorted to hit-and-run tactics and hiding in cities. After the conflicts had already badly damaged the planetary infrastructure and tens of thousands of civilians were causalities of the urban combat, both commanders resorted to using strategical ABC weapons. In the end, both Captain-General and Capellan Chancellor Aleisha Liao ordered their forces to withdraw, the planet was subsequently abandoned.
The conflict so appalled Aleisha Liao that she began a campaign of aggressive diplomacy, succeeding in establishing a conclave of diplomats and House leaders - the Ares Conference, which was tasked with creating rules of war which would reduce civilian losses. While the Conference was initially in favor of Aleisha's proposal, the face-to-face meeting between the national leaders revived simmering rivalries and a desire to ensure that no one could claim "misunderstanding" the Conventions caused the original draft of 80 pages to bloat up.
In the end, the Ares Conference drew up a massive treaty consisting of 6 articles and 18 appendices, with 320 pages in total. This treaty was signed on the 13th June of 2412. The Ares Conventions were signed by eight of the ten great nations (the Terran Hegemony, Capellan Confederation, Free Worlds League, Rim Worlds Republic, Federated Suns, Principality of Rasalhague, Lyran Commonwealth, and Draconis Combine) on the 13th June of 2412.
While even some signatories were critical towards the Conventions, the Taurian Concordat and the United Hindu Collective, outright refused to sign them. The Concordat was distrustful of the Capellans in general and considered the Conventions hypocritical, having been in a border conflict with the Confederation for several years, with Liao forces conducting massacres similar in scale to Tintavel before, during, and after the Conference. The Collective meanwhile feared the Conventions would legitimize and trivialize warfare.

Implementation:

Although noble in intention, the spirit of the Conventions was violated within a decade.
When the Capellan/Taurian border conflict escalated into the Rim War under Aleisha's successor Arden Baxter, the Confederation liberally used nuclear and chemical weapons against Concordat worlds, as Baxter considered the Conventions non-binding when applied to a non-signatory nation. Similarly, since civil wars were not covered, [redacted]
Nevertheless, the Conventions were by and large upheld, with no little success: less people died in all conflicts between parties who adhered to the Conventions than during the Fourth Succession War. However, proving the fears of the Hindu Collective right, the Conventions had now legitimized warfare. Soon, petty grievances were fought out on battlefields and wars that had begun dying down lit up again. The now constantly shifting political borders necessitated additional legislation building on the spirit of the Conventions. Soon, laws were drafted which made the population of newly conquered worlds automatically eligible for citizenship in the state of their conquerors. Among the first those laws was the Liberation Act of 2448, enacted by the Free Worlds League.
Acting in accordance to the Conventions, the Terran Hegemony was regularly asked to participate as neutral party in observatory boards and inquiry commissions, a position which would lay the groundwork for Ian Cameron to begin work on the Star League Accords. On the flipside of the coin, once the Star League had been established, disarmament of militaries which had not been off war footing for more than a century left millions of soldiers disenfranchised and restless. Staving off the economic problems of sudden peacetime economies and preventing armed conflicts between the former soldiers and the SLDF were one of the reasons for the Reunification War.

Legacy:

In 2579, as part of Ian Cameron's declaration of war, the Star League unilaterally passed Addendum II, rescinding the Conventions. Despite protests and the strict adherence of the Free Worlds League to the Conventions during the conflict, they were never reinstated. The many conflicts the SLDF participated in - such as the Hidden Wars or the Amaris Civil War were fought as total wars.
Finally, at the beginning of the First Succession War, Captain-General Kenyon Marik formally renounced the Conventions, with the other Successor Lords following suit.
In the centuries after the Fall of the Star League, the articles of the Ares Conventions were used as shorthand for "civilized warfare", while two different codes of conduct replaced them.
Sheer necessity caused the development of an informal code called "Honors of War" during the Third Succession War. This code, based on the Ares Conventions, was created in an age of ever decreasing technological knowledge and manufacturing capability, necessitating a code of conduct which would ensure the survival of both knowledge, as well as the increasingly irreplaceable 'Mechs and Jumpships. While created in different aims and lacking in means for oversight and less violent conflict resolution, both were successful in preventing further massive civilian death tolls.
The Clans, meanwhile, developed Zellbrigen, an honor system which is similar to the Conventions in many ways, especially by emphasizing ritualized, sanitized warfare up to the point of conflict resolution by personal combat. However, Zellbrigen differs from the convention in the casual disregard of infrastructure and non-military personnel: they are seen as resources not to be wasted, as opposed to civilians who need to be protected.


Source: Sarna.net, Ares_Convention

[Adridos]

I feel his pain, but what did he wrote/tell?

Ares convention was abandoned a lot later...

Edited by Adridos, 15 June 2012 - 08:25 AM.

[Threat Doc]

Isn't THAT appropo, after many of the comments on these very forums about honorable battlefield combat. Hmmm...

[Morang]

Death to all who doesn't believe in our peacefulness!