Why The Republic DIDN'T INTERVENE During the Blockade of Naboo

"Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic. And on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear." - Senator Palpatine

The East India Company is a good historical example.

If only the Republic - whether the Galactic one or the New one - had a proper centralized military it would save itself a lot of trouble. After the Sith wars it demilitarized and decentralized and let the planets and systems take care of defense themselves. However the whole problem with this concept is that those planets and systems only take care of themselves and not the other ones. So when Naboo was attacked it was left on its own.

The British East India Company. Yes, we had a real-life Trade Federation. It wasn't the only one.

I’m born and raised on Staten Island and I worked for a contractor involved with building that Amazon warehouse and developing the surrounding land (I’m a union Truck Driver/ Teamster). I was truly happy and proud when news broke about the Amazon workers there successfully organizing. Very cool and appropriate point of reference for this video.

Some comments here seem surprised by the trouble Palpatine went to operate incognito, that the Republic basically toppled itself. True, but I think the real reason Palpatine operated as a Sith in the shadows is that in addition to taking over the Republic leadership and declaring it an empire, he wanted and planned to destroy the Jedi Order. The reason the plan was so genius is that it allowed him to paint the Jedi as traitors as well and so he was justified in destroying them.

The clouding of the jedis vision I now realize was not because of the sith or Palpatine, but it was the shear corruption in the galactic politics itself. The jedi were meant to attuned to their surroundings and sensitive to change but when you live right next door to the biggest source of illicit activity in the galaxy its easy to get blinded and get used to it which makes 700 year old yoda's story all the more tragic as he was desensitized slowly over centuries and did not know it until it was too late. This is arguably the point of Darth banes rule of two plan as nothing unites a nation or people like a common foe but when that's taken away the people are without purpose and are more prone to self serving actions. I don't think the rule of two was meant to be permanent but to come to an end when the republic is weak enough to be chopped up in parts and the sith flourish from it.

It’s funny how Lucas warned us about the power of commerce guilds and then he sold his company to one 😑

Still scratching my head over why the Jedi weren't at that first Senate meeting to go over everything they witnessed. Hell, a Republic Judiciary ship and it's crew were killed, the Jedi absolutely witnessed both a blockade and an invasion.....and nothing, they just greeted the chancellor then fucked off back to the Temple

You neglected to mention that the bill was supported and manipulated by Palpatine to cause a conflict, and that Valorum sending in the Jedi was illegal as such an intervention required a Senate resolution.

It's legitimately sad that the Trade Federation did a better job of policing and defending the Outer Rim planets than the Republic Really goes to highlight that while the Federation was exploitative, they were still doing better than the Republic, simply because they offered a valuable service

"To control the Republic, you have to control its economy" I like the sound of that! I'm glad you said it, Alan! Why rule purely through the military force while economically ruling a planet of even the whole galaxy is even better! To be exact, if Palpatine kept ruling through the Republic's economy by using the Trade Federation, he can get to keep the Jedi as his attack dogs anytime he wanted and when the Jedi and/or the Senate decided not to do something in his favor, he can simply just having the Banking Clan or the Trade Federation did something to force them to do what he wanted. So yeah, ruling from the shadow through the economy sounds like an awesome idea!

Bureaucracy: Exists Sith Grand Plan: Time to make it even worse!

One thing I was never clear on was whether Palpatine was banking on the TF winning, Amidala and the Jedi stopping them, or if the entire conflict didn't matter, as long as it happened. Clearly, we see him playing both sides, heavily favoring the TF. But when Amidala goes to do things herself, Palpatine almost seems surprised, as if things weren't going to plan all of a sudden. Maybe he was acting, maybe not. Regardless, it's not shown whether the blockade's failure had any effect on him; he's elected Chancellor, and things proceed from there. But the question stands: was Naboo a slight hitch in his plan, or did everything work as intended?

So let me get this straight. Naboo was resource-rich but had to rely on the Trade Federation to extract those natural resources because it lacked the infrastructure and means of production to do so? And that very same Trade Federation used this position to ruthlessly exploit the planet rather than enrich it? …does that make Naboo Space Congo?

It would have been an interesting "what if" scenario if the old Republic actually did try to launch their own counterattack against the Trade Federation to liberate Naboo. What would they have used for their military? What type of ships or starfighters would have been available? If the Republic barely won or outright lost the battle to liberate Naboo, it would have further served evidence that the Old Republic was just too weak to do anything.

If Naboo's an agricultural planet, then shouldn't the Naboo have been able to feed themselves despite the blockade. The main threat from it I thought was that it was keeping the Naboo from getting other goods that they needed to keep their economy afloat and to sell stuff to get money that they needed for various things.

One thing that we tend to forget about is the legitimacy of the investigation. The other Senators - including ones that opposed the TF - obviously would know that the Senate was corrupt and Padme could be lying. A drawn out investigation would be a depressingly reasonable response. The blockade wouldn't be able to stop an investigation team, but, the investigation would take a while, as a claim could be made that the droids were there simply to provide security against riots and sabotage as they ramped up production. A very sad and desperate situation for Naboo, indeed.

Palpatine, “I promise to put an end to corruption.” Ten years later: He allowed the Republic to be split in two and the Clone Wars began

George Lucas' world building is just insane. Star Wars truly is special.