Shadow of the giant

to Hegemon: You Can't Fight an Epidemic
    With a Fence"
    By "Martel"
    Posted on "Early Warning Network"
     
    The presence of Julian Delphiki, the Hegemon's
"enforcer," in Armenia might look like a family vacation to some, but
some of us remember that Delphiki was in Rwanda before it ratified the FPE
Constitution.
     
    When you consider that Delphiki's wife, Petra Arkanian, also
one of Ender's Jeesh, is Armenian, what conclusion can be reached except that
Armenia, a Christian enclave nearly surrounded by Muslim nations, is preparing
to ratify?
     
    Add to that the close ties between the Hegemon and Thailand,
where Wiggin's left-hand man, General Suriyawong, is now "consulting"
with General Phet Noi and Prime Minister Paribatra, newly returned from Chinese
captivity, and the FPE's position in Nubia—and it looks like the Hegemon is
surrounding Caliph Alai's little empire.
     
    Many pundits are saying that the Hegemon's strategy is to
"contain" Caliph Alai. But now that the Hindus have gone over to the
Muslim bed—er, I meant to say, "camp"—containment is not enough.
     
    When Caliph Alai, our modern Tamerlane, decides he wants a
nice big pile of human skulls (it's so hard to get good decorators these days),
he can field huge armies and concentrate them wherever he wants on his borders.
     
    If the Hegemon sits passively waiting, trying to
"contain" Alai behind a fence of alliances, then he'll find himself
facing overwhelming force wherever Alai decides to strike.
     
    Islam, the bloodthirsty "one-way religion," has a
track record only slightly less devastating to the human race than the Buggers.
     
    It's time for the Hegemon to live up to his job title and
take decisive, preemptive action—preferably in Armenia, where his forces will
be able to strike like a knife into the neck of Islam. And when he does, it's
time for Europe, China, and America to wake up and join him. We need unity
against this threat as surely as we ever needed it against an alien invasion.
     
    From: PeterWiggin%[email protected]
    To: PetraDelphiki%[email protected]
    Re: Latest Martel essay
     
    Encrypted using code: ******
    Decrypted using code: *********
     
    "Strike like a knife into the neck of Islam"
indeed. Using what enormous army? What vast air force to neutralize the Muslims
AND airlift that enormous army over the mountainous terrain between Armenia and
the "neck" of Islam?
     
    Fortunately, while Alai and Virlomi will know that Martel is
full of kuso, the Muslim press is famous for its paranoia. THEY should believe
there's a threat. So now the pressure is on and the game's afoot. You're a
natural rabble-rouser, Petra. Promise me you'll never run against me for
anything.
     
    Oh, wait. I'm hegemon-for-life, aren't I...
     
    Good work, mommy.
     
     
    Caliph Alai and Virlomi sat beside each other at the head of
a conference table in Chichlam—which the Muslim press still called Hyderabad.
    Alai couldn't understand why it bothered Virlomi that he
refused to insist that the Muslims call the city by its pre-Muslim name. He had
problems enough to worry about without a needlessly humiliating name change.
After all, the Indians hadn't won their independence. They had married their way
to self-government. Which was a far better method than war—but without having
won a victory on the field of battle, it was unseemly for Virlomi to insist on
tokens of triumph like making your undefeated conquerors change the name they
used to refer to their own seat of government.
    In the past few days, Alai and Virlomi had met with several
groups.
    At a conference of heads of Muslim states they had listened
to the woes and suggestions of such widely separated peoples as Indonesians,
Algerians, Kazakhs, and Yemenis.
    At a much quieter conference of Muslim minorities, they had
indulged the revolutionary fantasies of Filipino, French, Spanish, and Thai
would-be jihadists.
    And in between, they had put on banquets for—and listened to
stern counsel from—the French, American, and Russian foreign ministers.
    These lords of the ancient, weary empires—hadn't they
noticed that their nations had long since retired from the world? Yes, the
Russians and Americans still had a formidable military, but where was their
will to empire? They thought they could still boss around people like Alai, who
had power and knew how to use it.
    But it did Caliph Alai no harm to pretend that these nations
still mattered in the world. Placate them with