The Bleak Lands - Fighting in the Bleak Lands continued unabated as elements of the Defiant strike force clashed with detachments of the 7th Fleet in several skirmishes across the region. While most analysts predicted a short vicious struggle that would culminate in an overwhelming triumph by the Saracens, the war is showing no signs of a resolution. The 7th Fleet, despite several victories, remain unable to pin down and destroy the Defiants in a decisive engagement, while the Defiants remain unable to assail the undeniable might of the 7th Fleet, falling back on rapid hit-and-fade guerrilla tactics.
While the Amarr Empire has remained uncharacteristically quiet on the continuing war in the region, the Republic sought this week to distance itself from the fighting in The Bleak Lands, with the Prime Minister, Karin Midular, stating in a recent address to parliament that, “I deplore the fighting going on the in The Bleak Lands which threatens to destabilize the entire sector, bringing the region, its neighbors and indeed the entire border into chaos. I only regret that these rogue Defiants are beyond the Republic's control and I vehemently urge them to withdraw their forces for the good of all Minmatar. I would also like to take this opportunity to assure the Amarrian Empire that these rogue forces will find no harbor in Republic space, and I hope that this unfortunate sequence of events will not serve to put more strain on relations between our two governments.”
While the Sebiestor tribe delegation rallied behind its leader in calls for the Defiants to back down, it found little support elsewhere. In the parliament debate that followed, the Krusual tribe speaker replied by pointing out that most citizens were immeasurably more concerned with the growing economic depression than what is happening inside their Republic than with outside events, adding that the Prime Minister was merely seeking to divert attention from the ever-deepening crisis the Republic finds itself in.
The argument in parliament ranged back and forth for some time, an increasingly frequent occurrence in the halls of the Minmatar Republic, with the Brutor tribe delegation even ringing its support that at least someone was thinking of their people held in bondage to the Amarr and taking the fight to their ancient foe.
With the Minmatar Republic seemingly impotent in its ability to reign in the Defiants, and the Amarr Empire unable to pin them down and destroy them, the war is set to continue with no end in sight. What is sure, however, that the longer it does continue, the heavier the political fallout is bound to be.