Why did this alt-9/11 kill more people than the OTL one?
Why did this alt-9/11 kill more people than the OTL one?
Following the travesty of the US-Iraqi invasion of the People's Kuwait government, German Reunification and the subsequent Demichev Freeze, the Cold War seemed colder than ever. Under the secretariat of reformer Anatoly Lukyanov, whose decentralization of the planning administration and encouragement of independent industrial collectives and freewheeling tech syndicates resulted in the Eastern Bloc becoming a telecommunications and electronics juggernaut, the USSR seemed stronger than ever.
The internet had united the world in a sea of information and marked the beginning of the end of the age of mass censorship. Accompanying this, however, was the rise of online extremist groups. In particular, Christian and Islamic fundamentalist organizations experienced a surge of popularity and the web provided new means of communication, recruitment and funding. The organization known as Al Qaeda, working for the theo-totalitarian Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which formed after the withdrawal of the USSR from Afghanistan in 1989, was one such group. Sharing a fierce opposition to Communism, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden forged an unlikely alliance with another such group, the An-Cap white supremacist militia known as the Posse Comitatus led by James Wickstrom. Together they concocted a plot to strike a blow in the heart of the Lesser Satan itself and send a message to all secular governments.
In the late morning of October 27th, 1999, several trucks laden with high explosive charges lit up in the basement beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center, moments after several strategically positioned bombers strapped into suicide vests detonated themselves in the main lobby. It has been hypothesized that neither bin Laden nor Wickstrom actually expected the explosion to destroy the whole tower, and that the act may have been intended as purely symbolic. What they thought as the North Tower buckled, imploded, and collapsed will never be known, but the world looked on in awestruck horror as over ten thousand people were killed in ten seconds, followed by many more in the streets below as Lower Manhatten was filled with the dust of a skyscraper that was no more.
The event would define an era, end one cultural decade and begin another. A watershed lapse of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor. It would herald a decade of general east-west reconciliation and collaboration as a US-Soviet alliance would jointly invade Afghanistan, while the US accepted the election of a socialist government in the invasion's aftermath. A surge of cultural change would ripple through the world as religious fundamentalism and anti-social racism of all stripes would come under fierce attack and condemnation. The militia movement as an An-Cap organization was effectively over, though the age of fundamentalist movements had only just begun.
Well, The right's political organizations will be smashed for "suspected militia connections" (and nothing of value will be lost), and a I have a feeling Saudi could end up glass.If anything, 10/27 would lead to either a stronger War on Terror, a repetition of the Great Depression (bear in mind that the world in 1999 was recovering from the Financial Crisis of 1997), or an outright World War III (I.e. Congratulations, Afghanistan, you have effectively murdered all Muslims by killing 13790 innocents)
Well, The right's political organizations will be smashed for "suspected militia connections" (and nothing of value will be lost), and a I have a feeling Saudi could end up glass.
The US will never go after Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were the primary backers of the OTL attacks as well as ISIL and most other Wahhabi militants, and no sign of anything being done is currently forthcoming. In this scenario, I expect the US to go with a plan similar to OTL: go after a small county unrelated to the attacks where brown people live. The white establishment's empathy will magically disappear.
Alternately, the States attack Afghanistan directly. Afghanistan is nowhere as strong as Saudi Arabia, and they are pretty undeveloped. Get Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for their help (allow their irredentism to flow into Afghanistan), and Kabul should be crushed pretty soon. In fact, Kabul itself does not have a Pashto majority; 45% of the population is Tajik, instead. Break up Afghanistan along ethnic borders, and problem solved.
Unless Kabul hijacks Dushanbe, and turns Tajikistan into a Tajik Emirate. Then get Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and possibly China to crush them.
Hmm. ARMR reminds me of Surfin' USA, but this obviously isn't the same universe.MT-12 "Familia"
The MT-12 Familia is allegedly[1][2][3][4] a firearm produced by ARMR West Coast[5] for the Pacific Civil Defense Forces and intended to be a versatile, cheap weapon for urban combat of all kinds. The MT-12 is not legally considered a firearm by the United States government because it is sold without a receiver, and ARMR has not contested this claim, though in advertising materials[6][7][8] and on ARMR's website[>] the MT-12 is referred to as a single weapon. Thanks to this definition, the MT-12 can be sold over the counter or even from vending machines.
The MT-12 was conceived as a modular weapons framework with a variety of possibly configurations that could be "hot-swapped" in the field by quickly replacing the barrel, ammunition feed, and receiver. The MT-12 is sold as a framework including a trigger mechanism attached to an electronic firing pin, parts[9] of a magazine well, and a telescoping stock. Four proprietary configurations are sold by ARMR and numerous third-party configurations are available. Each of these "configurations" consists of a barrel, the actual magazine well, and the portions of the receiver that contain the round while it is fired. (Actual firing action is provided by an electronic impulse). All configurations have identical rail attachments and are attached to the body of the weapon by a pair of tabs. All furniture is made of lightweight polymer or carbon fiber.
ARMR's proprietary configurations are a fully automatic submachine gun, a semi-automatic or burst fire assault rifle, a semi-automatic combat shotgun, and a bolt-action rifle sold as a marksman's rifle.
Users of the MT-12 have identified a wide variety of complaints, including:
Despite these flaws, the MT-12 continues to be a popular weapons platform thanks to third-party configurations which rectify some or all of these problems, its ease of use, and easiness to acquire. The MT-12/Mil is a military variant produced as a replacement for the MT-12 that incorporates a large number of fixes, and has been generally more positively received.
- Generally, the magazine well is located at an awkward angle that makes firing the weapon left-handed difficult and loading the bolt-action configuration, which does not include stripper clips, especially frustrating.
- The plastic furniture, including the barrel shroud, can warp when stressed and has a tendency to melt when fired for prolonged periods of time or in ambient temperatures exceeding 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The submachine gun has an extremely high rate of fire (1200 rounds per minute) and no select fire.
- There is no select-fire function on the assault rifle configuration, to change from semi-automatic to burst fire, one has to replace the entire barrel and receiver assembly.
- There are no moving parts on the weapon, making the recoil much heavier than normal for weapons chambered in this caliber. This is especially notable in the combat shotgun configuration, where the recoil can loosen the plastic tabs attaching the barrel assembly to the body of the weapon, causing the entire firing assembly to "jump" free.
- The bolt-action configuration is redundant thanks to the electronic firing mechanism.
- The front underside Picatinny rail is angled, making it suitable only for a foregrip and bipod.
- The weapon itself "feels flimsy" [10]
- When fired in the rain, the weapon shocks its users.
- When fired using metal magazine, the electronic charge may jump to the magazine and cause all the rounds to misfire spectacularly.
Yeah, ARMR is just my go to for "shady, cheap horizontal monopoly" now, which I guess is lazy, but sue me.Hmm. ARMR reminds me of Surfin' USA, but this obviously isn't the same universe.
Following the travesty of the US-Iraqi invasion of the People's Kuwait government, German Reunification and the subsequent Demichev Freeze, the Cold War seemed colder than ever. Under the secretariat of reformer Anatoly Lukyanov, whose decentralization of the planning administration and encouragement of independent industrial collectives and freewheeling tech syndicates resulted in the Eastern Bloc becoming a telecommunications and electronics juggernaut, the USSR seemed stronger than ever.
The internet had united the world in a sea of information and marked the beginning of the end of the age of mass censorship. Accompanying this, however, was the rise of online extremist groups. In particular, Christian and Islamic fundamentalist organizations experienced a surge of popularity and the web provided new means of communication, recruitment and funding. The organization known as Al Qaeda, working for the theo-totalitarian Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which formed after the withdrawal of the USSR from Afghanistan in 1989, was one such group. Sharing a fierce opposition to Communism, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden forged an unlikely alliance with another such group, the An-Cap white supremacist militia known as the Posse Comitatus led by James Wickstrom. Together they concocted a plot to strike a blow in the heart of the Lesser Satan itself and send a message to all secular governments.
In the late morning of October 27th, 1999, several trucks laden with high explosive charges lit up in the basement beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center, moments after several strategically positioned bombers strapped into suicide vests detonated themselves in the main lobby. It has been hypothesized that neither bin Laden nor Wickstrom actually expected the explosion to destroy the whole tower, and that the act may have been intended as purely symbolic. What they thought as the North Tower buckled, imploded, and collapsed will never be known, but the world looked on in awestruck horror as over ten thousand people were killed in ten seconds, followed by many more in the streets below as Lower Manhatten was filled with the dust of a skyscraper that was no more.
The event would define an era, end one cultural decade and begin another. A watershed lapse of the magnitude of Pearl Harbor. It would herald a decade of general east-west reconciliation and collaboration as a US-Soviet alliance would jointly invade Afghanistan, while the US accepted the election of a socialist government in the invasion's aftermath. A surge of cultural change would ripple through the world as religious fundamentalism and anti-social racism of all stripes would come under fierce attack and condemnation. The militia movement as an An-Cap organization was effectively over, though the age of fundamentalist movements had only just begun.
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"Lazy reuse of concepts across projects" is just another term for "definitely secretly building up a metaplot involving cross-dimensional travel you guys"Yeah, ARMR is just my go to for "shady, cheap horizontal monopoly" now, which I guess is lazy, but sue me.
Of course."Lazy reuse of concepts across projects" is just another term for "definitely secretly building up a metaplot involving cross-dimensional travel you guys"
Is that Westeros run by Franjo Tuðman and Stipe Mesić?Of course.
Up next: the rave Nazis invade Westoros.