Bounties cant be paid until translations are complete, HQ is waiting on those who signed up for it as country ambassadors, and lisk may have launched, but updates continue to flow, and bugs continue to be eliminated. It took ETH over a year after launch just to have a wallet, and it's Vitalik's 2 year goal to be where we are with DPoS. So careful not put them up on a pedistal too high there in comparison... Lisk has just been born, and they don't even have the ICO funds just yet.
Alliances are a natural formation of the Community, and Max, Joel, Oliver don't have any special favor towards said groups. They have stated many times how they will be voting for delegates and stress delegate proposals be posted for review. All this stuff right now you site is meaningless until forging is well underway, and the masses arrive. Every delegate will be doing whatever he or she can to become a part of forging, so of course it's totally natural for groups and even pools to form.
Also, why would you expect them to NOT go to a local major cryptocurrency event? That's just silliness .