Okay, it’s mentioned in some episode that the Federation signed a treaty that prohibits them from developing cloaking devices. So exactly what did they get in return? The Klingons and Romulans already have them, so saying the federation isn’t allowed to seems a trifle onesided.
WAG: Peace?
For an illegal beverage, there sure was a LOT of Romulan Ale floating around in the post-TOS years.
I think that in the original ST that was a relic of the times. I wonder if it was being made for the first time today whether something like that would have been put into the script.
They also never have said WHY Romulan Ale is illegal. Perhaps being in space somehow neutralizes the worst effects, but bring it on land and you are hit harder.
Or, it is de-facto illegal mostly for reasons having to do with trade vessels not being allowed to go through the Romulan Neutral Zone. To have it one would have had to have smuggled it. Therefore bottles are presumed to have been obtained illegally, whereas, there have been a few rare licit opportunities to get Romulan Ale, but explaining them to the authorities would take a bit of doing (Well, you see sir, we were ordered to go into the Neutral Zone to rescue Mr. Spock and while we were there we happened on an abandoned wessel that happened to contain several dozen cases of this fine ale…).
Or Scotty might have the transporter programmed to identify and beam over any Romulan Ale in the holds of Romulan Warbirds that the Enterprise destroys in the split seconds before the ships are completly destroyed.
Aye. Those Scotsman canna missa trick now.
And of course prohibitions wiped out booze consumption in the 30’s.
Right. 
…prohibition…
IIRC, basically an understanding that the Klingons and Romulans won’t move on Federation claimed territory. Also, the Federation has been shown to be rather capable at finding ways to detect cloaked ships on numerous occasions (not to mention not above outright stealing cloaking devices to figure out how they work on occasion).
It seems worth noting that while Romulan and Klingon ships, both with cloaking devices, tend to have lots of heavy forward-facing weaponry, Federation ships (usually with no cloaking devices) have a lot more weapons set up to fire in more defensive directions (ie: the sides, above, behind, etc.)
Oh yeah, and as for Romulan Ale, I just assumed it was illegal because it came from the Romulans (kinda like how Cuban cigars are illegal in the US only because they come from Cuba and the US has a trade embargo on Cuba).
That said, the ban on Romulan Ale is one of the worst-enforced laws the Federation has, with Starfleet (presumably the one agency equipped to stop the trafficking of the stuff) openly ignoring the ban (Captain Kirk serves Romulan Ale at a semi-formal dinner with the Klingon Chancellor and his staff, Captain Riker and Diana Troi serve Romulan Ale at their wedding, leading to the best bit of dialogue in Star Trek: Nemesis)
On a related note, is there an authoritative Trekkie answer as to why the Defiant was allowed a cloaking device? Is there some sort of loophole allowing its use by the Federation (or at least the Deep Space Nine crew)? I’ve only watched a handful of DS9 and must say it’s always puzzled me.
In the first episode with the Defiant, there was a Romulan officer on board to make sure that the Feds didn’t go crazy with the cloaking device. This officer promptly died in the first combat situation (exploding console or something). I always wondered why they didn’t demand an explanation or at least put another couple of Romulans in there.
DS9 spoiler follows:
[Spoiler]The Romulans loaned the Federation a cloaking device (and presumably the associated technical support for it) to be used with the understanding that it would only be used in the Gamma Quadrant against the Dominion. That said, since it’s a cloaking device, it’s not like the Romulans would know when Starfleet occasionally used the thing in the Alpha quadrant (they gave Starfleet the cloaking device, showed them how to use it and maintain it, and then apparantly went home, trusting Starfleet to not mass produce the things).
The reasoning was that the Federation could use the cloaking device to gather intel on the Dominion, thus helping to keep the Dominion from taking over the Alpha Quadrant, and all without the Romulans having to get involved directly. On occasion, Starfleet would use the cloaking device to sneak around Klingon and Cardassian space, and presumably just never told the Romulans. Later on, they used it openly in the Alpha Quadrant after the Dominion invaded, and the Romulans apparantly decided not to press the issue.[/Spoiler]
Something occurs to me about why the Feds might decide not to violate the no-cloaks treaty. There is also a treaty ban on Phase Cloaking technology, where a ship phases into an alternate plane of existence, both turning invisible to any observers and being able to fly through solid objects. This has obvious military applications and would badly upset the balance of power if anyone started using it.
Incidentally, both Starfleet and the Romulans know how to make Phase Cloak work (mostly), so if one or the other broke the treaty that keeps the Feds from using cloaks (and keeps the Rommies from invading the Feds) then presumably the other could whip out Phase Cloaks and everything would just go to hell for everyone involved.
See, that makes no sense. It’s obvious that even without cloaking devices Starfleet has parity the Romulans in terms of military strength, because otherwise the Romulans (being a violent group of warmongers) would have broken the treaty as soon as possible and invaded Federation strength. If Starfleet decided one day to equipt its entire fleet with cloakers, the Romulans would protest loudly but would be unable to make any military response, because their enemy would suddenly be much more powerful than them. Now, I admit that the Federation has a history of being spineless wimps, but they’re not THAT stupid - who gives up a decisive military adantage just to avoid offending someone?
This whole coaking device thing is one reason I dislike Trek. Like the “Prime Directive”, it has no logical justification outside of being a useful plot device.
Thank you! That answers that. I recall an episode of TNG involving a lost Phase Cloaked ship and the inherent dangers of the unstable technology were a major issue.
I’ve wondered about that too. It seems to me, IIRC, that the treaty in question, (Algernon,) was elsewhere referred to as having been signed at the end of a war where Earth pretty much whipped Romulan butt. (Before Earth formally joined the Federation, or maybe before there was a Federation, but the treaty could have been written in such a way that if Earth joined any confederation of stars, the entire such confederation would inherit Earth’s responsibilities and rights under the treaty.)
Ultimately, I think, it was written in for the sake of a few plots and to retroactively explain the fact that the federation had never really had fleets of cloaked starships whizzing around. 
That makes no sense.
“I shouldn’t do what the other guy says he wants me to do for peace because I can just go in and demolish him anyhoo.” Doesn’t strike me as particularly Federationy. They don’t want to demolish the Romulans. They would much rather have a cold war situation–as this gives the possibility to gradually wear away the warmongering tendencies.
And anyways, all the resources that they would spend on cloaking devices could just as easily be spent on anti-cloaking technology, so it probably wasn’t a big loss.
Waitaminit … A general rule prohibiting interference with less developed cultures has no logical justification? None? Really?
I think Alessan was referring to the Prime Directive being broken every other week.
Well, it does have some logical justification. It’s just that the rule seems to be invoked at random. Thus it’s not so much a directive as a useful plot device.
I swore to myself I’d never get into a nother Trek discussion. Damnit!
They never point it out in the Pegasus episode, but wouldn’t the phase cloak make a ship not only invisible, but invulnerable? I mean, it can fly through solid rock … what are a few photon torpedoes going to do to it? (as opposed to the romulan/klingon cloaks, which force you to drop shields, so you can get creamed by enemy fire).
Ah. I can see that.