Sure, they are despicable, greedy and they were the catalyst for all the bad stuff that happens in the galaxy but I have a soft spot for these guys.

Why? Let me explain.

As we all know, the whole blockade starts as a protest against the taxation of trade routes. I mean, you must feel for them here. Who in their right mind wants to pay more tax? And being the intergalactic trading Federation that they are they must surely pay a loads of taxes to different worlds as it already is.

The blockade in itself is peaceful to start with. They're just blocking the planet. The planet can well enough sustain itself so there's no problem there. It's like a road blockade. It isn't really killing anyone is it?

Unfortunetly, the motive is greed which is their weak point. Sidious really plays them like a fiddle and somehow manages to convince them to invade and throw people in camps.

This, I believe is pivotal in why I feel sorry for the Neimodians.. They are pawns. Pawns in a deception at a galactic size. They have this weakness for gaining things in every venture they set out for and they were promised gain if they joined the Confederacy. Surely, they also left the Republic to get rid of the taxations. Maybe they really believed that the Republic was corrupt and they wanted to replace it with something better. Maybe there is an idealistic side to the Neimodians

Did they want war? Maybe to start with. There's always gain in war, unfortunetly. Gain is always a bigger motivator then ideology. But ROTS makes it clear that Nute Gunray has had enough of the war. He talks about leaving the Confederacy and before he dies he begs for his life claiming that they were "promised peace". He had no idea what he had caused. He must have believed the Republic to be corrupt and something to be brought down. He never knew that he had helped the Sith to power and surely he wouldn't have wanted to after the disastrous cooperation with Darth Sidious.

Pablo wrote that journalists cheered when Gunray died. I just felt sad. You see someone regretting what they want and just want peace. He doesn't care that they've lost and which will probably mean that the Trade Federation will receive heavy retribution from the Republic. He just wanted peace. Peace without gain.

Neimodians show very much human attributes. Greed, cowardice, seeking revenge and regret. Evil attributes (except regret), yes, but human just the same. Yet they were idealistic enough to join the Confederacy and bring down what they thought was a corrupt government. I think that's why I pity them, because they are so weak and so blinded by their weakness that they themselves can be unwittingly exploited.