>
>Oh, I don't think he can completely defund them. But assuming the IPO
>is funded by streams coming from multiple sources (again, like
>Interpol) it would probably inconvenience them a bit if the Federation
>stopped contributing.
>

Well, if they set it up right, it inconveniences the IPO just enough to make them not operate in the Federation...which, big surprise, is pretty much what would happen if the Federation withdrew from the IPO Accords.

>
>>From where I sit, it seems more likely that the intent is to have
>>Gryphon out of the way, and have the Federation "collapse from
>>internal stresses."
>
>This would, in my mind, qualify as 'coming at Gryphon sideways.' Bill
>Clark's current ascension is probably also a carefully crafted
>conspiracy many years in the making.
>

Well, if the Earth Alliance is Gryphon...

I'll allow that Gryph has a certain interest in Earth - as he says in Shepard's 11, he was born there. But the forces working to collapse the EA aren't really aimed at Gryphon. They're looking to avoid being noticed by him and the IPO, but they aren't targeting him - or, at least, they aren't targeting him yet.

>Basically, trying to blow Gryphon and assorted Gryphon-like people up
>is a mugs game. It never works and just about everyone who has ever
>tried has ended up dead, humiliated, or both. If you want him and his
>buddies out of your way, the only thing that's EVER even come close to
>working is kicking his legs out from underneath him. One assumed that
>if Clark both considers Gryphon an enemy and is at all smart, THAT'S
>what he'll try doing.
>

Well, yes. But if the plan isn't aimed at doing anything except destroying the EA, and possibly the Federation, why attack Gryph at all? Just arrange things so he can't intervene without effectively becoming what his detractors claim he is, and he won't do a thing.

Of course, I don't know Clark's motivations any more than you do. Maybe all he wants is to be big frog in a small pond. Maybe it's "Today, the EA; tomorrow, the Federation; next month, the galaxy." Or, maybe he's a pawn of one of Surtur's pawns, and this is all part of the process of burning everything down.

Regardless, the tools he has to affect the IPO are, as far as I can tell, no better than "Go away, kid, you bother me." If he uses anything more than that, he's effectively waving a big sign that says, "HI! I'M NOT JUST A EGOMANIACAL POLITICIAN, I'M SOMETHING MORE! INVESTIGATE ME!" The Danzig being destroyed is a bit of a red flag in itself; doing any more than that is pushing his luck.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.