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Continuity & Analysis

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Corruption (2010) [S3E5]
The challenge of hope is to overcome corruption.
"Desperate times on Mandalore! Having won neutrality for the Mandalorian system,
Duchess Satine now finds herself an outsider with very little aid to her people. Supplies are hard to
come by, except on the black market. As a result, the Duchess faces a world consumed by greed.
Hoping to alleviate some of the tension rising in the capital city of Sundari, Satine has called upon
her friend Padme Amidala to make a diplomatic visit..."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Academy (2010) [S3E6]
Those who enforce the law must obey the law.
"A world in crisis! The peaceful planet of Mandalore is being strangled by the grip of corruption.
With shortages of every kind, citizens must turn to the black market in order to survive.
Desperate to free her people, Duchess Satine has asked her friend Padme Amidala to speak
with the Jedi Council in hopes that they will send assistance to her struggling world..."




CONTINUITY
These two episodes form a single storyline about corruption on Mandalore. The chronological order of episodes
is as given by Lucasfilm, and follows their release order. Mandalore is the only world seen in these episodes:


- The black market is represented in this storyline by its worst element, the dishonest and the evil. These kinds of people are certainly a component of unregistered
trade, but most people involved in illegal trade are simply opportunistic, especially during a time of war and shortage. When official channels cannot or will not
provide a needed or desired commodity, people will acquire them from unofficial channels. Many people involved in a black market are simply trying to increase
their profit margins by avoiding taxes, duties, and fees. Unregistered trade often has shortcomings, including the fact that there is no oversight of the quality or
safety of the products being sold, but most black market activity isn't nearly as nefarious as selling tea diluted with an unsafe substance. This narrative chooses to
emphasize the negative aspects of illegal trade, including the relationship between unethical traders and indifferent public officials profiting from illegal trade.
Despite Satine's instance in the prior Mandalore storyline that everyone of her people is unnaturally trustworthy, it's clear that corruption and deceptive behavior
for selfish personal interests are as common on Mandalore as any other planet. This makes Satine seem naive, but her previous statements about every last one
of her people being trustworthy and free of violence are even more comical in view of the many Mandalorians imprisoned in Sundari's central jail. What crimes
that don't involve violence, deception, or breach of public trust could possibly warrant locking people in a prison? Satine seems to have an understanding of
illegal commerce that is as unrealistic and idealistic as her understanding of human psychology, which is surprising given what we know of her history.


- Palpatine is telling the Senate encouraging propaganda that the war is going well, but Padme's sources tell her otherwise. It certainly seems that Padme is
as usual far more honest than Palpatine, nevertheless it is a bit of a matter of perspective. On a galactic strategic level, the Republic is in a far stronger
position than the Separatists, especially in the long term. Having blunted most of the initial surprise advances, the longer the Republic is able to maintain
some kind of parity with the Separatists, the faster the tide will turn in their favor, due to their superior resources and production capacity. At the same
time, countless worlds have already been damaged or destroyed, untold millions have been killed, and economic turmoil is everywhere. The longer
the war lasts, the worse this will get, and thus far the Republic has often been unable to prevent large scale destruction, even when it is victorious.


One of Satine's security guards leaps in front of two criminals shooting blasters at him, and blocks their shots with his
staff. Is this supposed to indicate he has some Force sensitivity? It is true all people have a connection to the Force,
and can use concentration to access this, but most people cannot use the Force to an extent that they manifest
Force abilities. A smaller percentage of people can manifest some limited Force abilities, while still unable to wield
the Force on the level of a Jedi. Blocking shots with an object as thin as his staff would be difficult but not impossible
without Force abilities. It could be that he is a great warrior, and well-trained in defensive arts, but his performance
here would still be slightly incredible.



Why does Satine burn down the warehouse? It seems to be little more than an angry reaction to her outrage over
the situation. It is a waste of a perfectly good warehouse. The source of this crisis is the supply shortage due to
the war. A small structure may not cost very much, but she could have had all the equipment destroyed without
having to rebuild a burnt warehouse. This is a violent and typically Mandalorian move from Satine, who claims to
be more enlightened than her violent brethren. She didn't seem to have a problem with Padme and her guards
using violence to subdue the criminals.


- Ahsoka is a bit arrogant about assignments she thinks are beneath her. Anakin helps Ahsoka to see how a seemingly unimportant task can effect the lives of
people on an entire planet. Anakin has also learned the Jedi practice of framing things in terms that persuade others to do what they want them to do, as
'from a certain point of view' any task can be framed as important. If Anakin was assigned this task he would very much consider it to be beneath his status,
and a waste of his abilities in a time of war, and complain about it. Ahsoka has certainly adopted Anakin's dislike of being sidetracked from the action.
Anakin seems to see Ahsoka's point later when she points out that her actions on Mandalore, while dangerous, were following in his footsteps.


- Anakin and Rex are to rendezvous with Master Fisto, for unspecified operations. Most recently Fisto was operating in the northern regions of the Rim,
although at least a short time has passed since he was last seen. Anakin was last seen in battle near Vanqor, in the northeastern regions of the Rim.
As Mandalore is in the general vicinity of both areas, it seems probable their operations are part of these northern campaigns on either side of the Hydian
Way, although Anakin was not long ago back in the southeastern region of the galaxy on Geonosis, and will return to that region shortly to defend Kamino.
Since travel around the galaxy is relatively fast and easy, at least for those simply transporting personnel, their mission could be anywhere, however Jedi and
other command officers and their units are usually assigned to a theater until certain objectives are reached, except under urgent circumstances.


The cadets are arrested under the charges of treason, corruption, and conspiracy. It is clear why Almec would have
them charged with treason and conspiracy for working against his corrupt government, but why are they charged with
corruption? Is there a crime of "being corrupt"? Under what definition would their actions hold up in a court as being
evidence of "corruption"? According to the Aurebesh text on the screen in class when Ahsoka is teaching the cadets
about corruption, it is defined as bribery, extortion, embezzlement, patronage systems, and nepotism. Unless they are
going to make a false claim that the cadets were trying to sell the information, or some other lie, nothing they did could
be misconstrued as "corruption". It seems unnecessary considering the other charges are state-level crimes. Korkie
also claims it is "treason" that the Prime Minster set them up. It is certainly a crime, several in most legal systems, but it
isn't the crime of treason. Some of Almec's other actions were criminally insubordinate as Prime Minister, but his only
action which was treason from a legal standpoint was his soon to follow coup attempt against Satine.


- Ahsoka contacts Information Retrieval, which is a massive central database allowing Republic officials like the Jedi to scan things they encounter in
the field, and have them analyzed and cross-referenced remotely. In this instance, Ahsoka uses it to scan and deconstruct a holographic recording
to identify an individual whose image couldn't be clearly resolved in the original recording.

- The Jedi have been using their 'mind trick' for many thousands of years, and some techniques have been developed to teach even the weak-minded to
resist this ability, particularly groups like the Mandalorians with a history of conflict against the Jedi. Almec derides the Jedi mind trick as 'archaic magic',
typical of the attitude of those who dismiss ancient Force religions as increasingly irrelevant given modern technology and tactics, which is indeed
an important part of the story of the Clone Wars. The scale of galactic civilization, superpowerful weapons, and massive armies of advanced battle droids
are proving a significant counter to the abilities of any single warrior, diminishing the importance the Jedi held during most of the last 20,000 years.
Main Article: Awareness of the Jedi and the Sith

ANALYSIS
Mandalore is increasingly forced to rely on the black market due to supply stresses caused by the war. The dire situation in much of the galaxy causes people
to become fearful and desperate, leading to an increase in greed, selfishness, and other attributes of the dark side. Padme claims they are making progress
in the Senate opening trade routes, likely a reference to the slightly more conciliatory attitude the Trade Federation has been taking as of late. This is partly
damage control for their significant role in creating the conflict, partly a facade to reaffirm their supposed allegiance to the Republic, and partly out of
economic necessity, since any trade disruption affects their profits, and the war has already seriously effected their bottom line. The Mandalorian
Finance Minister has understandable ties to the Trade Federation, and but is openly criticized for profiting from her dealings with the Federation, which
is disapproved of by another minister, but is clearly not illegal. This same minister insinuates that the Federation makes a profit off of illegal trade somehow.
Exactly how that works, or why that is the case is not at all clear. If the Federation is bringing in illegal business along with their reduced load of legal items
it should be very obvious at the centralized docks of the domed cities, and would require near complete cooperation of the majority of dock personnel.
It seems therefore likely that the Trade Federation is involved in all authorized shipping for a world like Mandalore, and that illegal shipments brought
in by individual corporations are still covering their imposts to the Federation, so as not to risk facing off against their armed enforcement.

Almec mentions very emphatically during the minsters' debate that "the Corporate Alliance controls everything", in a frustrated tone which suggests that
the legal protection extended to corporations makes the task of preventing black market imports difficult. The Corporate Alliance enjoys the same protections
guaranteed to the galactic trade guilds, but unlike the guilds it doesn't exert direct control or authority over its members. The Alliance includes many of the largest
and most powerful corporations in the galaxy, as well as a huge number of less substantial members ranging from the very large to the relatively small. It serves
as a legal and political arm of these corporations which lobbies for policies that favor corporate power, and acts as an intermediary to protect corporate 'rights'
as defined by law in the face of other organizations, planets, or local concerns. The Alliance has become so powerful and omnipresent that the vast majority of
companies which do interstellar business of any kind operate under the auspices of the Alliance for their own benefit. Saddiq the importer is a prefect example
of how a smaller local corporation enjoys the legal protection and very limited liability offered by the Alliance's umbrella. He is quite frank about his indemnity,
reminding the Duchess that his corporate contracts protect him from prosecution if those he work for are involved in illegal activity. Since he gets his tea from
the planet Mooga, which is a part of the Commerce Guild, it's clear that members of the Alliance are free to conduct business with any party regardless of
their affiliation. The collective power of independent corporations in the galaxy is immense, and the Alliance allows them to collectively assert that influence.

Satine notes that corporate power and the influence of the trade guilds have made the Republic too corrupt to fix, while Padme still believes it is possible to fix
a house with a rotten structure. Padme is somehow both politically savvy and naively idealistic, as is Satine who also asks "how does this happen?" regarding
the most basic and endemic forms of corruption that exist in most societies. Satine's inability to imagine that any of her people are violent or untrustworthy may
also be the reason she can't imagine how payoffs, police unwilling to comply with the law, and people misleading the government, could possibly happen. She is
at times a truly insightful and wise leader, and yet is repeatedly portrayed as having an incredibly sheltered view of human psychology and behavior. Considering
she was living on the run during the last Mandalorian civil war with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, one would think she had seen how opportunistic, selfish, petty, and
self-serving some people can be, and wouldn't be constantly shocked to find that her people aren't unnaturally perfect. Almec is far more realistic about
the possibility of cleansing the state of corruption, but in part because he is a politician, and has accepted the idea of necessary evils, and even internalized them.
Satine's fight against corruption is a noble endeavor, but is misguided from the start if it fails to acknowledge that corruption is natural, and doesn't attempt to
take on the problem in light of understanding its root causes. Attempting to solve the problem by simply punishing those found to be corrupt won't prevent others
from becoming corrupt. The best way to decrease the corruption in this instance would be to alleviate the economic shortages, which is identified as the source
of the problem, and is difficult to address considering the state of the galaxy. The war continues to effect Mandalore despite its neutrality.

Prime Minister Almec attempts a coup rather than to be found out and lose his position and end up in jail. The result of his failed coup is the same result as if he
had not attempted the coup, so he had little to lose, other than the extra time he likely received for treason. Almec is getting rich off of his illegal imports, but he
also makes valid points about the necessity of the black market, especially if there are no legal means available at the moment to meet Mandalore's supply needs.
Almec turns out to be somewhat amoral when in a position of power, so he was certainly not motivated solely by a desire to help the people and maintain
the stability of Satine's government. Despite this, he is unlikely to have attempted to seriously undermine Satine's rule had he not been exposed. The type of
corruption and abuse of political power Almec was involved in is extremely typical of officials in most societies, whether they are democratic or not.


FURTHER ANALYSIS
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