The difference between "really slick" and abuse seems obvious here it. When you're intentionally pushing the boundaries trying to get ahead you should be aware that you might push too far and end up getting burned.
That depends on when that military was trained as any resources gained after your abuse is tainted by said action, so if they had that military before your cheating happened then yes it would have been fair to let you keep it, but anything and everything trained after the abuse happened is tainted and should be removed.
Why should that have been changed? it's a reasonable part of the punishment.
Well if it was 7 provs that participated(either by receiving the spoils or sending them) cheated then that seems reasonable. The punishment for cheating is supposed to be draconian, it's part of the deterrence.
No it shouldn't, you cheated and as a result you were actioned, thats standard in any game. If you cheat and get banned you can't demand to have your game refunded because you can no longer play it, regardless of wether it costs $0.02 or $80.