SCC Starbase Disagreements Approaching Critical Mass
By Svarthol
Over the last few days, the Caldari State and the Amarr Empire have come under fire from various interest groups, who have been exerting tremendous pressure on agencies within these nations to retract their threats of economic sanctions against the ORE Syndicate. As has become widely known, the Caldari State three days ago released a statement proclaiming their intention to institute sanctions against the mining giant for its moves towards making deep-space starbase components and moon mining materials available on the open market.
Poteque Pharmaceuticals and Zainou, Inc., along with a number of military supply and logistics companies, have filed formal complaints and exerted fiscal leverage against the empire agencies in question, among other things stating that clone contracts currently in place between them and the governmental bodies' military arms would have to be reconsidered in light of impending sanctions and their potential economic consequences. Tertlaert Auste, Chief Coordinator of Public Relations for Poteque, at a press conference yesterday claimed "these governments are acting out of nothing more than a fear of getting a slightly smaller piece of the pie, and a fear of future technologies that borders on the hysterical. There is no reason for the ORE Syndicate to give in to these empty threats."
Pro- and anti-cloning splinter groups have also been very vocal in the last few days, leading to at least twelve separate riots on Amarr and Caldari worlds over the last two days. One of the largest pro-cloning groups, the Imperial Immortality Foundation, yesterday afternoon staged a protest outside The Imperial Chancellor's Office in Dam-Torsad, an occurrence which ended in dozens of casualties as Imperial Army troops released nanotoxin agents on the gathered crowd instead of the semi-soporifics normally utilized under such circumstances. Army spokesmen have since declared the incident an "accidental tragedy," and expressed regret over the lives lost.
As more and more groups and factions get dragged into the debate, many are predicting the disagreement will reach critical levels very soon.