The Ship (DS9)

[Durandal_1707]

No one ever said anything about the entire Gamma Quadrant, though. That's a straw man; the only part of the GQ that matters here is the bit containing the other side of the wormhole. Which the Dominion certainly has put a claim to.

Overt displays of ownership are relative; if you'd found that portal to some frozen Siberian wasteland in the time before aerial satellites, it's not improbable that you could go for a while before eventually running into Russian military. And while the Russian government certainly has done its share of reprehensible things over the years, you'd still be trespassing.

[bronnt]

I don't really understand your position. I don't consider them to have legitimate claim on the entire Gamma Quadrant.
They said that after massacring innocent people in an area of space that they had made no overt display of ownership of and made no effort to establish diplomatic contact prior to warn people off. Even if their government weren't abhorrent with their oppression they would still be considered a bad faith participant because of how poorly they conduct diplomacy.

Yes, this is true. And keep in mind that the Federation made a good faith attempt to open diplomatic channels. I mean, they did take a warship, but they attempted to seek out the Founders in order to make diplomatic contact with them. The Founders resulting attempt at diplomacy was, "Hey, let's hook their minds up to see how they'd react to an attempt to take over the quadrant." Essentially, they've made no attempt to establish a diplomatic relationship.

North Korea actually claims sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula. The South Koreans don't especially agree with that. It takes more than a mere claim to get an agreement in terms of borders. It takes establishing a relationship.

[Durandal_1707]

China and Taiwan both have claims on each other's territory as well, but you don't see Taiwan regularly making military incursions into mainland China. Why? Because the most common way to settle these territorial disputes is war, and nobody wants that.

Similarly, Starfleet, being unprepared for war with the Dominion, should have just listened to their warning and stayed out.

[Rocketboy1313]

No one ever said anything about the entire Gamma Quadrant, though. That's a straw man; the only part of the GQ that matters here is the bit containing the other side of the wormhole. Which the Dominion certainly has put a claim to.

I don't know how much of a straw man I can make of an adversary that claim to be gods with a divine edict to bring order to the Galaxy.
What more can be said?
They even stated that they had long term plans involving the Federation that the wormhole disrupted.

And by what right do they have to the wormhole? Their own divine province. Not exactly something you can negotiate with, nor something any rational Federation citizen would take seriously.

When the Federation found the wormhole they put a massive station with thousands of people on board at the doorstep. The Dominion didn't make themselves known for more than a year, and even that required a good bit of work on the part of the Ferengi of all nations.

Comparisons to terrestrial nations doesn't really align either, as knowingly entering a magic door into Siberia is different than opening a magic door to empty ocean, meeting numerous island nations, and then suddenly being set upon by a previously unknown naval power that demands by their own decree that you leave after slaughtering a port you established. I'm sorry. No, not okay.

[Robovski]

Had they asked to have the Bajoran colony leave, it is conveivable that it would have been removed. Instead the Dominion STARTS with slaughtering the colony and then informing representatives that it was violating their space and that they ''fought well for a spiritual people". Most star powers would go to war there and then, but the Federation representing the Bajorans tries to come to a peaceful settlement. What does the Dominion do? Basically destroy ships and kill crews and then dick with the minds of the surviving Federation representatives. Oddly enough the Federation isn't composed of pacifist monks who would rather you strike them down than fight back and it it goes to war. At that point it really doesn't matter where the downed ship is nor if it is occupied.