[Siobhan]

So many mistakes with that reasoning almost causing me to use my Farscape Sikozu voice and hurl a copy of the The Prince through cyberspace.

The use of power is best exercised by stealth.

[spetznaz]

Oh, so you are hurling The Prince through cyber-space to educate me about Machiavellian intrigue and political subterfuge. And talking about the 'many mistakes' in my reasoning. And this is from the person who is talking about a generator, which could be anywhere in the world as long as it is able to 'focus on western Africa,' controlling a hurricane. And that there are 'a variety of possibilities' for that happening. Well, since you have been so kind to recommend The Prince (even though I have it), let me return the favor and recommend a quick fact check on hurricanes. Then you'd realize that they pack so much power that the idea of some 'generator' controlling such a weather system, even with the variety of possibilities you claim to have, is not just ridiculous but outright asinine.

Oh, and as for The Prince. The key there was the use of presence and persuasion, to garner power in the court and realm. The way of intrigue and manipulation. Now, when a nation has the ability to have a 'generator' that can spawn and control hurricanes with the flick of a switch means they have access to amazing energy sources. Sources that only exist in theoretical physics (and the odd sci-fi movie). Meaning that they are amazingly (and this cannot be over-emphasized) developed in comparison to the rest of the world. Particularly if we are talking about hurricane genesis and control. They would not need to crack open a copy of The Prince since they would never need to be subtle. They would just outright colonize the United States since their tech level would be above anything we could come up with against them. Oh, and it would be colonization in every meaning of the word.

But hey, maybe they have 'a variety of possibilities' that would make them rather focus hurricane-genesis engines on West Africa, to create weather systems that would turn into hurricanes in the Atlantic, and then focus hurricane-control devices that would steer the tempest into the Gulf of Mexico, and then slam it right up the gulf coast. Hey, that makes a lot of sense.