I take it you’ve read my book [Sheer Hubris: Federation Foreign Policy from 2293-2373]?

Then what I’m about to tell you shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. You’ll know I wrote that the Cardassians were the primary threat to the Federation in the 2340s, and also that after decades of peace that there was no appetite within the Federation council to kick off a war. A position that got harder and harder to maintain as reports and people from Bajor found their way to Federation worlds.

But they managed it, in no small part due to the efforts of Qo-Lan Amitra Sib’xau before and after she was elected as President. Her vocal opposition to hostilities with Cardassia reflected popular sentiment at the time, and was a key component of her rise to power.

As a result, the Federation successfully kicked the can down the road long enough that a new, much more significant, threat came to prominence. A threat so significant that in the eyes of the average Federation citizen, the Cardassians went from being the primary threat to background noise pretty much overnight.

The Borg. They arrived, destroyed 40 starships and Earth escaped assimilation by the skin of its teeth. While the Borg were on their way, President Amitra delivered her infamous ‘We Must Negotiate’ speech. Which went down like a lead balloon. In the aftermath she was desperate to salvage her legacy and capitulated to many of the Cardassians unreasonable demands in order to get the armistice agreement, sold as an alliance to citizens within the Cardassian Union, signed within the month.

The combination of Amitra’s eagerness to get the armistice through before she began campaigning for re-election and details of the extent of the defeat at Wolf 359 being acquired by the Obsidian Order left the Federations diplomats with very few cards to play after Jaresh-Inyo won the election. With the Federation focusing on preparing for a future Borg attack he opted to leave Amitra’s negotiation team, headed up by recently promoted Admiral Alynna Nechayev, to finish what they had started with very little oversight.

Their negotiations concluded in 2370, with the Cardassian’s successfully managing to negotiate a redrawing of the border that ran through the demilitarised zone established by the armistice agreement. This change in boundaries handed the Cardassians multiple Federation colonies, lighting the proverbial fuse on tensions in the region, and leading to the formation of The Maquis.