Hi Kaptin,
In the most part I agree with you (though I don't agree that the dispute was the root cause of the demise of the Australian operators listed. Don't want a great debate about it here, lets agree to differ!!), but what is the solution?
You may be right about the ban (Thought the only Cathay pilot who has had the decency to address it here has in essence said "It's to big a sacrifice to not take an upgrade, so we'll just let others stay unemployed to further our aims"), but what's the difference between banning direct entry captains and banning direct entry SOs and FOs?
As you know, the '89 dispute proved that an airline will ALWAYS find enough recruits. Hard as the AFAP fought the dispute, it didn't get you your job back. As I have said, the problem with this policy is it won't work.
And if the end result is that Cathay DOES go down, well, I've been there (quite recently!) and in that case EVERYONE loses!