When Brechdan Ironrede tells Shwylt Shipsbane that he, Brechdan, must attend a welcoming festival for the Terran delegation, Shwylt, expessing surprise and contempt, calls it one of their stupid rites and a farce. Brechdan replies that they do not know that and also that, by encouraging hopes of a settlement, he can lessen the impact of aggression elsewhere. This sounds very like Fleming's Head of SMERSH explaining the new "hard-soft" policy to his fellow Intelligence chiefs.
Brechdan's successor, Tachwyr (see here), orders the feeding of propaganda to Imperial academies, religions and media. Sickening cynicism - but Anderson's aliens merely mimic current Terrestrial practice.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Sickening cynicism, the way Soviet and Merseian leaders behaved? I agree, but it was also REALISTIC, the way Fleming and Anderson wrote, showing us how leaders governing aggressive and expansionist powers are very likely to behave. And I really don't see any serious possibility of it ever being otherwise.
Sean
Overall, the Merseians remind me of classical Japanese -- and the Sengoku raised the arts of espionage and duplicitous diplomacy to a very high level.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I did a quick google of the Sengoku era, and I see what you mean. The sovereign in both cases were held in high honor and reverence, but seldom exercised much actual power. Japan had the Shoguns and Merseia her Protectors, military dictators or PMs who had the real power.
And the anarchy and rapid economic changes of the Sengoku era in Japan WOULD encourage developing espionage and duplicitous "diplomacy" to high levels. Plus, I think the Chinese classic THE ART OF WAR, by Sun Tzu, was intensely studied in Japan. Esp. the chapters about espionage.
Sean
Yes, the "Age of Battles" and the ensuing Edo period are fascinating. The parallels and differences from European history are both very interesting, and I think help explain why Japan was the only non-Western country to successfully modernize in the 19th century. Starting with the strong similarities between Japanese and European feudalism.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
I think I understand what you mean. Albeit, the Tokugwawa Shogunate TRIED to isolate Japan from the outside world and freeze the technological level Japan had reached to about a 1500 level. I would have thought that would have made modernization more difficult for a post-Tokugawa Japan.
Sean
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