Cardassians...to be or not to be ??

[Dave]

Without the Cardassians, would there still have been a Dominion War?

If the Cardassians were never in the arena so to speak, then there shouldn't have been any Bajoran - Cardassian conflicts. If so, then Terok Nor would never have been built. And without Terok Nor, the wormhole would remain a mystery for eons. If all of the above were true, then would there still have been a Dominion War, whether in present time or in distant future. Your thoughts ??

Probably not - but if you consider the Wormhole to be a 24th Century equivalent of the Panama or Suez Canals, then they would have got to the Gamma Quadrant eventually, it would have just taken them longer.

The Federation should have closed down the Wormhole when it was first warned by the Dominion.

Third Talak Talan: "Coming through the anomaly is interference enough. Unless you wish to continue to offend the Dominion, I suggest you stay on your side of the Galaxy."

The Dominion laid a clear claim to the Gamma Quadrant, but the Federation didn't respect that. Instead they built communications arrays in the Gamma Quadrant, went on mapping expeditions, mined planets, and invaded the Quadrant whenever they pleased. No wonder that the Federation warmongers have been at war with all their neighbours in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in the past.

It was greed on their part to ignore the warning and continue to allow the traffic to increase. The Dominion War was clearly the fault of the Federation, and the blood is on its hands.

The Cardassians, on the other hand, had no choice. Their peace-loving planet was devastated when their allies turned on them and they have never recovered.