I’ve always viewed the Romulans as solely trying to goad the Federation into a war but not start one themselves. I can’t tell if it’s a superiority thing or they think they’ll have some twisted moral high ground.
They’re manufacturing reasons to start a conflict. Like the reason the Vietnam War started was because a Vietnamese fishing boat got too close to a US war ship which was seen as an attack, then the US war ships mistook a the sonar ping off a school of fish as an underwater attack and used that as justification to escalate a war with Vietnam.
Romulans are probably doing the same thing, they’re using their cloaking tech to secretly parol much closer than they should be, and constantly looking for the Federation breaking the neutral zone rules to turn the interstellar community against the Federation. Basically they’re itching for the Federation to throw the first real punch so the romulans look like the victims.
They are the Russians in the Cold War, or basically the Russians now. They are a despotic empire that has spats on its borders, signs treaties with no intention of adhering to them, invades their neighbors, is hyper aggressive with espionage, and sees the Federation as weak for not doing likewise without realizing that what makes the Federation strong is that they have a rule based system and a moral code.
I’ve always viewed the Romulans as solely trying to goad the Federation into a war but not start one themselves. I can’t tell if it’s a superiority thing or they think they’ll have some twisted moral high ground.
They’re manufacturing reasons to start a conflict. Like the reason the Vietnam War started was because a Vietnamese fishing boat got too close to a US war ship which was seen as an attack, then the US war ships mistook a the sonar ping off a school of fish as an underwater attack and used that as justification to escalate a war with Vietnam.
Romulans are probably doing the same thing, they’re using their cloaking tech to secretly parol much closer than they should be, and constantly looking for the Federation breaking the neutral zone rules to turn the interstellar community against the Federation. Basically they’re itching for the Federation to throw the first real punch so the romulans look like the victims.
They are the Russians in the Cold War, or basically the Russians now. They are a despotic empire that has spats on its borders, signs treaties with no intention of adhering to them, invades their neighbors, is hyper aggressive with espionage, and sees the Federation as weak for not doing likewise without realizing that what makes the Federation strong is that they have a rule based system and a moral code.
Almost every military power in history did that, since at least the Romans. It’s just how people behave.