BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:16 pm
I think the economic oil crisis of the 70's was the basis for Wolf 359
I think you'd have to explain that for us.
I saw the arrival of the Borg more or less to be something akin to the arrival mainly of the British to the New World, and then the subsequent formation of the United States. Prior, the British were, more or less, content with allowing the Native Americans to remain where they were and keep their lands. The Spanish were more than willing to do that, even offering Natives complete autonomy under the aegis of the Spanish Empire (the King/Holy Roman Emperor even granted fiefdoms to several tribes, which is why Monctezuma's head-dress is residing in a museum in Vienna.
Various Native leaders, notably Tecumseh, Pontiac, and Cochise recognized the threat the Europeans posed. Cochise especially, but Tecumseh was the first to create a quasi-unified opposition to the British and French, but internal conflicts between tribes was their undoing. Cochise, and Sitting Bull, understood that they could not hope to defeat the Americans, because it came down to technology and logistics.
Consider the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer's Last Stand. While this was a victory for the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne (and other tribes), there was a major problem: There was no way for these tribes to really capitalize on it. In a year, or less, the US Army could replenish their losses. The combined tribes could not. Because these tribes were basically Neo-Lithic Nomadic tribes with no real agricultural base, not compared to the Americans and other European powers, not to mention zero manufacturing and industrial capacity, it would take years, if not decades, for them to replace the losses incurred at Little Big Horn.
Similarly, with the Apache, Cochise understood that unless the Apache could keep their land and build in such a way as to become a modern (for the 19th Century) nation, there was little stopping the Americans. Treaties weren't worth the paper they're printed on if the Apache could not adequately defend themselves against a threat that would only outnumber and outgun them over time.
Similarly, this was what the South faced when fighting the North in the Civil War. Robert E. Lee understood that in order for the South to win decisively, they had to destroy the Army of the Potomac quickly and then besiege Washington. But his generals just never got that memo. He was furious at the victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, because his generals did not pursue and destroy the Army of the Potomac. For Lee, these were hollow victories, great for the press, but useless to him for the cause of Southern Independence. When he lost Stonewall Jackson, a man who sort of did get the memo, Lee was apoplectic and he threw everything into one last shot, culminating at the Battle of Gettysburg, which that, and Vicksburg, sealed the fate of the South. This was because Lee knew that the South could not hope to match the industrial might of the North; they could readily replace their losses with even more men than the South could ever hope to recruit in the numbers necessary to sustain a prolonged war. Once the North really got going, by the time of Gettysburg, it was almost too late. The only option then was to force the North to the bargaining table by besieging and possibly destroying Washington, D.C., thereby costing Lincoln re-election (getting, perhaps, George McClellan to be the new President, who might be very amiable to Southern terms).
So, what I think you have here with the Borg is something utterly asymmetrical. However, there's one thing that they, nor Starfleet, ever counted on that was the Borg's true Achilles' Heel: Their massive and deliberate stupidity.
As for a comparison to 9/11, yes, and no. Here, we have a threat that was previously unknown to the Federation (and other powers in the Alpha/Beta Quadrants). It was a wake-up call, you can say, for the Federation, and this did somewhat change some policies that Starfleet seemed to have prior. We would get the development of the Defiant, the first "warship," which, to me, seems a bit specious, but okay, I'll go with it. Not to mention other new developments in other starships (Akira, Sovereign, Sabre, etc.). But, we really don't know how much they've responded to the Borg threat fully. The Borg, unlike the Taliban and al Qaeda, were untouchable prior to Janeway getting to them. The only thing Starfleet could do would be to adopt a completely defensive posture toward the Borg, hoping that they continue doing the same stupid stuff.