Okay. I got the clean version up. Looks like that it was a site-wide cyberattack. Apparently, the perpetrators used stolen admin account information to get past the auto-checkers, and somehow spoofed the mechanical turks. Also looks like a lot of data was lost, with revision histories getting erased across thousands of articles. Off-line backups have started to be loaded up, but it may be weeks before editing is re-enabled.
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The Turkic Peoples' Islamic State existed from 2042-2043. While nominally under the leadership of the proclaimed Mahdi and reincarnation of Timur the Lame, Makhmud Rakhimov, recent scholarship and examination of the Confederation of Islamic Movement (CIM) archives in Riyadh confirm that the real power behind the throne was the notorious Iraqi terrorist Zaid Nawar Jahid. Jahid was a member of the "Black Flag" faction of the CIM. When the Black Flags were declared Takfir by the Confederation Council in 2028, Jahid barely escaped with his life, racing from Revolutionary Guard forces across the Salt Desert. Jahid would build his Central Asian Caliphate Movement for the next decade, gathering together other Black Flags, Pan-Turkic nationalists, and other malcontents. While harassed by both Uzbekistani security forces, and CIM's own affiliates in Central Asia, an opportunity rose when stories emerged of a miracle in Samarkand. A young man, in protest of government water pricing, lit himself aflame, and somehow survived the act. This man, Makhmud Rakhimov, was first approached by the infamous religious conman Rashad Al-Hamani, who sought ought Rakhimov in order to use the man's story as a part of his newest con. Al-Hamani was then violently pressured by Jahid, who convinced Rashad to use his media talents and network of crooked Imams to produce hundreds of endorsements of Rakhimov's divinity. With tens of millions in donations coming from Al-Hamani's network, and thousands of Jihadists flocking to the cause, Jahid was ready. Under the guise of a populist Islamic uprising, the CACM overthrew the Uzbek government, enthroning Rakhimov as the prophesied Caliph.
The proceeding conflict was not going to be a clean war. It would be fairly quick, but in no way could it ever have been clean. The Turkic Peoples’ Islamic State had done well in seizing control of Uzbek state and military institutions. Thanks to the country’s conscription policies, the new government was able to rapidly mobilize their forces. While said force was poorly equipped and barely trained, Uzbekistan’s neighbors had the same problems, and none of them were ready when the Islamic State’s army marched across the Tajik border. Desertions and attrition were intense among the Islamic State’s forces, but the leadership of the Central Asian Caliphate Movement had little interest in holding Tajik territory. Zaid Nawar Jahid had but one goal. To create a new Islamic State and hold out against Western and C.I.M. intervention would be impossible. The rhetoric of Islamic revival and the new Caliphate were mere lies to motivate the conscripts. Zaid Jahid’s goal was much narrower, and much more realistic.
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The ones who are gathered on their faces to Hell - those are the worst in position and farthest astray in [their] way. And We had certainly given Moses the Scripture and appointed with him his brother Aaron as an assistant.And We said, ‘Go both of you to the people who have denied Our signs.’ Then We destroyed them with [complete] destruction.And the people of Noah - when they denied the messengers, We drowned them, and We made them for mankind a sign. And We have prepared for the wrongdoers a painful punishment.And [We destroyed] 'Aad and Thamud and the companions of the well and many generations between them. And for each We presented examples [as warnings], and each We destroyed with [total] destruction.”
~ Al-Furqan (25:34-39), Sahih International Translation of the Quran.
It was time to show the world the wrath of God.
The Rape of Dushanbe is still one of the most horrifying events of the 21st century. The capital had been destabilized by CACM attacks and the Tajik military, still mobilizing, was ordered to abandon the city. While many residents had begun to evacuate, there were still a half million men, women and children left when the Islamic State’s horde arrived.
Orders from Samarkand were clear. The city was to be put to a sword. Any looting and pillaging that the conscripts wished would be considered forgiven.
The Rape lasted four days. While many residents had the chance to flee the city, many did not, and by the end more than 100,000 civilians lay dead. The Islamic State’s army, previously at the real risk of disintegrating, had actually been strengthened by the process, with the conscripts collective guilt making them more pliable to their CACM commanders.
The international community, horrified by the atrocity, swiftly approved a multinational task force through the U.N.. The coalition was to be jointly-led by Russia and the U.S., with the Russians immediately beginning to transfer equipment and soldiers to reinforce the Tajik army. Despite the general strength of the coalition, there were still multiple concerns. The U.S. military had been hollowed out by defections and subsequent purges during the the May 31st Rebellion. While the military was doing its best to fill the void with a mass recruitment drive and deep integration of synthetic intelligences, the reformed forces were effectively untested. Russia too, had troubles. Troop and equipment quality had fallen due to embezzlement by the officer corp, and Russian conscripts were almost as unready as their Tajik counterparts. While the security council had reached out to other powers to lead the coalition, the Chinese military was already overtaxed by the evacuation and reclamation efforts, while the C.I.M. was concerned about the internal image issues of working directly with the West.
Regardless of these concerns, an invasion of the Islamic State would have to be carried out. The coalition achieved complete air superiority by September, and combined Tajik and Russian forces were able to halt the Islamic State’s advance. Kazahk, Turkmen and Kyrgyzstani forces began to engage the Islamic State in skirmishes at the Uzbek border, and American and EU bombing campaigns cut enemy supply lines. By November, the Islamic State’s forces had all but retreated back across the Tajik border, and the country was in full defense. Unfortunately, the Islamic State’s army would not immediately collapse. The CACM had effectively convinced the conscripts that they and their families would be either imprisoned or executed for the war crimes committed in Dushanbe and other Tajik towns. With no seemingly no other option. The coalition initiated its full-on invasion in late February 2043. U.S. special forces would carry out OPERATION PANDORA, surgical supplies throughout the country in order to knock out Islamic State communication channels and allow for the Russian and American armored divisions to quickly push through the countryside and surround Samarkand.
PANDORA was a disaster. While individuals special forces operators were admirable, fully demonstrating the potential of organic-synthetic partnership in war, their commanders incorrectly estimated the resistance they would encounter. Uzbekistan had made considerable investments in military equipment prior to the war, including into anti-stealth technology. The response to special forces stealth craft forced many of the strike teams to call off their missions, leading the successful strike teams isolate and surrounded in hostile territory. Causality rates were unacceptably high, and while the main invasion force was able to relieve the holdouts and rescue POWs, it was a painful and humiliating experience for the U.S. army.
With most of the country occupied, the coalition laid siege to Samarkand in May. The Islamic State had conscripted most of the city’s able-bodied population, with CACM agents and recruited fanatics holding the city’s civilians hostage. The invasion forces began to push through the bombed out city in June, breaking into the Islamic State’s high command bunker. Jahid would have the last laugh, killing three coalition soldiers with a suicide bomb as the broke into his command chambers. The conflict had been brutal, but at last it was all over. The war was declared over in December, with the last of the CACM militants rounded up and control restored to the civilian government. While Uzbekistan and its neighbors would quietly mourn their losses and work to rebuild their countries, the legacy of the conflict would be more immediately felt by the west.
During the failed PANDORA, Sergeant First Class Marcus Riley, a U.S. Delta Force operator received a full-on mortar blast. While his combat armor automatically sealed his external wounds and began to apply emergency triage, the internal damage was too great. Like almost all combat servicepeople, Riley had been equipped with an Augmented Nervous System, and at the time of the blast was cohabiting his body with Sergeant Solomon Crawford. While Crawford was able to jack out of Riley’s ANS before his death, Crawford suffered significant cyberneurological damage. While it was unrecognized by Crawford’s superiors, the damage would develop into Ted Simm’s disease.
Following the end of the war, and in effort to promote diversity and improve public relations by the federal government, Solomon was given was made the Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security and Preparedness of the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, upon assuming the position accessing the Department's records, Solomon was shocked to find that many of his colleagues, other synthetic intelligences that had also suffered cyberneurological damage, were being actively liquidated by the Department. When his superiors showed resistance to his inquiries on the matter, Crawford decided to take the matter into his own hands and show the world what was going on.
Using federal backdoors installed into the major browsers and social media apps, backdoors that the NSA had pressured these companies to install, Crawford forced an update that would prevent end users from loading any webpages save a single page detailing Veteran's Affairs actions. The patch would "expire" after 72 hours, essentially reverting the system back to its original state, and it would be easy for anyone with experience in programming to fix the problem. Unfortunately, due to Solomon's deteriorating mental condition, he did not properly calculate the extent of the trouble this would cause. While the malware was fairly easy to fix if one knew what one was doing, almost all news and communication in the 1st world were web or app based, meaning that it would be incredibly difficult to widely transmit the proper fix instructions. More importantly, this malware hampered the access of records, money transfers, most stock trades, and the operation of remote vehicle fleets.
In short, it was a disaster. The only reason that the stock markets didn't crash entirely was the fact that the traders weren't able to make enough trades to do so, and most exchanges were physically closed to prevent panics. Millions of workers had their paychecks blocked, and tens of thousands died in hospitals due to web-based device failure. The panic was immense, and the press conference confirming that a synthetic intelligence was responsible only fanned the flames. Before, the claims of synths threatening humanity had been seen as the talk of science fiction and conspiracy theorists. Now, they were gravely serious. The hysteria only increased when Internal Security forces discovered that Crawford had evacuated his hardware, decompiling his routines and having them sent somewhere else. While it is unknown until this day whether or not Crawford survived, many were afraid that the S.I. or his subroutines could be infecting their personal devices, as well as other S.I.s and ANS equipped individuals. The period of mass violence against S.I.s and augmented people across the West is known today simply as the Pogroms.