Deep Space Nine combines an inherited enemy facility with a host government able to demand the foreign force's departure. One participant argues that the arrangement would be difficult to justify in a realistic setting. A comparison follows with American use of a former German installation in Cold War France. The counterargument is that a ground base permits much more independence from its inherited machinery. In space, incompatible engineering systems also sustain the occupants' lives, which makes the infrastructure problem more severe.
Notable Point · 1:42:09-1:43:56
Host-nation politics and inherited base infrastructure
A Cold War basing analogy meets the objection that a space station creates much greater dependence on inherited life-support systems.