Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
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Gay Marriage is not legal nationwide, with it still being prohibited in many southern states. The Supreme Court has yet to hear a case on the issue, but there are several cases making their way through the system that could potentially make it up there. In general, the northern and western states are more progressive about the issue, but many southern states fiercely oppose the expansion.
Turkey is a stable, secular, republic that conducts itself as a multi-party Democracy. Currently the Democratic Left Party and Democratic Liberal Party have formed a coalition to form a government.
Sarah Palin a Leader of the Oppo? Oh boy.
She, uh, certainly didn't win any federal elections. The PCs lost seats under her leadership.
Commonwealth Election, 2015
The 2015 Commonwealth Parliamentary Election took place on May 5th, 2015 across the Commonwealth. It was the second election since the departure of Canada and Nigeria, and the first in which their seats were not counted in the electoral roles, causing the total number of members to drop to 455.
After a strong campaign on the efforts of the United Loyalists, under the new leader John Benjamin, they saw strong gains across the Commonwealth, taking enough seats to become a majority in Plymouth (New England), Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), Tasmania and Northern Territory (Australia), the first time the party saw a majority outside of Africa.
While many expected the Progressive government headed by John Tsang to fall, as his leadership had been becoming increasingly unpopular, he was able to maintain the status of largest party, due to a strong turnout in the Caribbean and in Oceania, as well as commanding a surprise majority in Northern Rhodesia and after campaigning hard in Ceylon, became the second largest party there.
If Tsang's government did not fall, it would be at the hands of the scandal plagued John Brendenkamp, who was banned from the United States earlier in the year over fraud charges, and had his assets in that country frozen. MCPs refused to hold a vote for control of the party leadership during an election, and many regarded the poor performance of the Imperials owing to their leader.
With Nigeria having left the Commonwealth in 2009, the Anti-Colonialism Party had lost most of their MCPs, but under Tilyenji Kaunda the party has seen a rebirth, mostly in southern Africa, where they had captured a majority in Lesotho and Swaziland. He had attempted to make inroads into Sierra Leone, but was rebuffed after a controversial ruling that the party was attempting to make sitting in the Commonwealth Parliament a requirement, removing abstentionism from their officially supported policies.
The fascist Empire's Guardians saw a surprise collapse in their vote share, losing all 4 MCPs who were not located in the United Kingdom, Northern Rhodesia, or Rhodesia. The party has increasingly been denounced for their policies, fueled by an increased focus on them through social media.
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Looking at the world population chart, I've noticed that Brazil appears to still be an Empire, but Portugal uses the republican flag. Have the Portuguese Braganzas fled to their cousins in Brazil, perchance?
Given that Germany is still using their imperial flag, have the German monarchies similarly been retained?
Given that Germany is still using their imperial flag, have the German monarchies similarly been retained?
While New England will feel culturally distinct from say, Canada or the United States, their television shows are mostly imported from the two countries, and the United Kingdom. There's a lot of locally produced shows, such as local news stations, but the New England Cable News (NECN) channel runs the flagship nightly news programming (5 pm to 10 pm news), as well as the morning news (Good Morning New England, 5 AM to 9 AM). The rest of the day NECN will run locally produced shows, sitcoms in the evening, soap operas in the day ect.
The longest running New England soap opera is The Broad Oak Tree which follows the goings-on of small town life in the fictitious town of New Brattleboro, located somewhere in northern New England. It is both close to the shore and to the Canadian border, as both settings are used in many episodes. It has been airing since the 1950s, and even has a following in the United States and Canada.
International sports are very popular, with Gridiron football, baseball, and ice hockey widely watched in New England. College basketball teams are very popular, and they compete continent wide against American and Canadian teams. The Women New England Huskies, from the University of New England-Connecticut, is the most successful women's basketball team in history, often going for many seasons undefeated. As part of New England's equal opportunity laws, women may not be barred from playing in any sport, and the Brooklyn Dodgers (baseball) have a female shortstop and two female batters. The Brooklyn Islanders' (Northern American Football League-NAFL) backup quarterback is a women, and their punter is a woman as well.
Game shows are also popular in New England, although most are from Britain and the United States. There are only two that are nationally broadcast, Guess That Price, a game show where contestants are given a country name and items from other countries and they have to guess the correct price in local currency or the New England Pound. This is the first round, and the winner from this will go on to the second round where items are chosen from New England and they need to guess the price. The second game show is Married Couples where six married couples will compete in a series of tasks against the other couples and see who can win at the end of the game.
As for movies, the centre of New England's movie industry is undoubtedly in Brooklyn. It's location attracts talent from across the country and the United States. Filming locations are all over the island, and in order to circumvent travel restrictions imposed by the Worker's Unions, the Brooklyn-Albany Ferry runs from Brooklyn up the Hudson River to Albany, all kilometres traveled outside of New England do not count for union wages or compensation, so it allows easy access to the mountains of Adirondack for filming locations.
The Commonwealth Parliament is surprisingly strong. It's main purpose is to regulate the commerce and flow of people across the borders of the Commonwealth, to arbitrate disputes between countries, and to negotiate trade deals as a whole with other countries. They are also able to set contribution recommendation limits per country, as it has no tax raising authority. The Commonwealth constitution also legally makes the Commonwealth Parliament legally bound to support a declared War after it has voted once to support it. This is why the War in Burma is so controversial, the Parliament was only allowed once to vote on the matter, it passed by a few votes, and all members are bound to support the United Kingdom in the war for so long.
Given the power of the Commonwealth, it would be apt to compare it to the European Union, but with more authority across her members, more funding, and more of a sense of legitimacy of being part of a wider inter-governmental agency. The Parliament also allocates funding for Commonwealth Development Projects, such as the current Southern African Commonwealth Motorway, which aims to connect Namibia, Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia along with Swaziland, Natal, and Lesotho. Money has also been spent on building infrastructure in Sierra Leone and funding the National Communication Network in Australia, offering high speed internet access to her citizens. The Commonwealth's major critics (Such as Empire's Guardians) feel that this is the wrong way to conduct business, and money should be extracted from these poorer countries to aid the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and New England. This is not a widely held view, and a vast majority of MCP's support the Development Projects. It is estimated that Commonwealth investment has been the cause of Sierra Leone's position as the fasted growing Western African nation, as well as having the second highest GDP/capita (only Accra outpaces them).
Ignoring the Middle East, South Africa, and American South, surprisingly good. While some form of racism will exist in every country (anti-Indian in New England, anti-Black in the United States, anti-Arab in Italy, ect) they are for the most part very muted. The Middle East is a whole different story. Israel runs a system of Apartheid similar to that of South Africa, and has a highly militarised society. While it is the world's only Jewish-majority state, they are looked down upon by the millions of Jewish people who live in Poland and the Soviet Union, who see Israel as a rouge state. Israel was formed from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire from British Palestine, and has opposed the previously majority Palestinians. Israel has fought several wars with her neighbours, annexing land for further development of settlements for Jewish inhabitants. South Africa is Israel's main benefactor, although the Soviet Union was a strong supporter during the Cold War, due to the United States' strong relations with the Arab world. Currently, the United States maintains military bases in Iran, Syria, and Egypt. The United Kingdom has both a military and naval base at Port Said, and maintains control of the Suez Canal, a point of contention between Egypt and the United Kingdom. A brief Iraqi Civil War during the 1980s saw the fall of the Ba'athist party, replaced with a (mostly) secular and (mostly) peaceful strongman dictatorship, which granted the Iraqi Kurds some measure of autonomy, mostly aiming to keep them on the side of the regime. Religious fundamentalists do exist in Syria and Arabia, but they are mostly kept at bay.
Brazil is indeed still an Empire. The Braganzas do reside in Brazil currently, and are still considered Royalty, but for all intents and purposes hold no claim to the Portuguese throne, which is well and dead.
Germany may use the Imperial flag, but the monarchy is long gone. The victory of the anti-Communists during the German Civil War did not usher in a period of Democracy, just a reorganisation of the old Weimar-era constitution. Supported by the British (who aided the anti-Communists), Germany is a Parliamentary Republic, where the President retains broad powers, but the Reichstag still controls much of the government. The Weimar-era flag is associated with the German Communists, so the old Imperial flag was used after the war, and remains Germany's flag to this day.
While New England federal politics are nominally dominated by the two major political parties, Labour and the Conservatives, minor parties have a long and storied history at the provincial level at at the federal level. Two minor parties were elected during the 2016 General Election, the Greens and Parti Francophone. The third, the Republican Party of New England, is a brand new party formed by former Labour MP Kevin Cavanaugh after the Prime Minister announced his intentions to hold a Flag Referendum in 2018. Cavanaugh, a long supporter of changing the country's flag, also stands by the desire for New England to sever her remaining ties with the United Kingdom to form a republic.
The Green Party supports a very traditional Green outlook on the world, but under the current leader, Elizabeth May, the party has seen a decrease in membership from its high of nearly two million prior to her leadership, as she has moved the party left from a more traditional agrarian conservationist party towards a more progressive one seeking to bring green politics to New England. Many of the former members of the Greens who had supported their policies abandoned the party and joined one of the two major parties, or as is the case across northern New England, joined Parti Francophone, which could only be described aptly as the "Rural Party." Given that an overwhelming majority of New England's rural population speaks French, the party caters not only to the rural nature of this demographic, but to protect the Acadian nation and the French language, which is increasingly under threat in New England.
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By Jove, I really hope the Republican Party flag isn't a popular choice for replacing the ensign. I imagine we'll be seeing the result at one point?
Either way, another thing that might be interesting to see listed are military budgets. With France and Britain perhaps holding a measure more prominence without crippling war debts, the pain of rebuilding and maintaining a hefty chunk of world trade and business, coupled with wider commitments, I can imagine the numbers might look a tad different to OTL's, especially if one were to lump the Commonwealth together.
Though that in itself raises the question - given that military cooperation is a facet of Commonwealth governance, to what extent do their militaries currently cooperate?
Frankly the multipolar nature of this world is quite fascinating in such regards. Is the RN still a close contender with the USN? Has battleship doctrine been supplanted by the carrier, and how recently? How large is the United States military in a world without a Second World War? What's the situation on nuclear proliferation? Do we even know what alliance systems exist?
Hate to bombard with questions, but works like this with such excellent worldbuilding are quite fascinating.
Either way, another thing that might be interesting to see listed are military budgets. With France and Britain perhaps holding a measure more prominence without crippling war debts, the pain of rebuilding and maintaining a hefty chunk of world trade and business, coupled with wider commitments, I can imagine the numbers might look a tad different to OTL's, especially if one were to lump the Commonwealth together.
Though that in itself raises the question - given that military cooperation is a facet of Commonwealth governance, to what extent do their militaries currently cooperate?
Frankly the multipolar nature of this world is quite fascinating in such regards. Is the RN still a close contender with the USN? Has battleship doctrine been supplanted by the carrier, and how recently? How large is the United States military in a world without a Second World War? What's the situation on nuclear proliferation? Do we even know what alliance systems exist?
Hate to bombard with questions, but works like this with such excellent worldbuilding are quite fascinating.
Deleted member 82792
Would a TV show like Murder She Wrote exist ITTL? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder,_She_Wrote
What's Mexico like?
Did Leonard Nimoy work on Star Trek?
What's New England's music industry like?
What's Mexico like?
Did Leonard Nimoy work on Star Trek?
What's New England's music industry like?
No no! Please! I love answering these questions. It gives me a TON of good ways to further deepen the backstory.
The Republican Party flag was the runner up during the first flag debate, and is currently the leading candidate for those who are for changing the flag. When the election happens, I'll be writing a wiki article on it!
The Commonwealth Military is fully integrated for operations in Burma. Military logistics is also fully integrated, and all Commonwealth nations must make contributions for the mutual military defense fund, which the United Kingdom does not pay into. This defense fund is taken by the United Kingdom and spent solely on Commonwealth operations, most notably the Navy. The Royal Navy is the largest surface fleet on the planet, rivaled only by that of the United States, which has more aircraft carriers (18) versus the Royal Navy (16). The Royal Navy wins in tonnage due the multiple of submarines, destroyers, frigates, and other minor vessels in her fleet, and this does not count the small (but not insignificant!) navies of the other Commonwealth members.
Battleship doctrine died along with the Empire of Japan. Eager to expand into the Pacific, Japan launched an all-out attack on the American Pacific Fleet stationed at Manila, American Philippines. The war ended with the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After the American-Japanese War, the United States became intensely focused on Asia, they landed soldiers in Vladivostok in 1949 to support the anti-Communists in the Civil War, and deployed nearly three million men between 1950 and 1965 to anti-Communist operations in China, Korea, and Vietnam - all of which produced victories. To this day, the United States positions itself as the premiere power in Asia, its main rival being the United Kingdom, which maintains a huge foothold with the Commonwealth countries, and has been laying the groundwork with China to secure a military alliance, a sign of its growing importance in Asia even as its economy suffers from low growth.
Both the United Kingdom and Soviet Union remain Superpowers, only the United States has been classified as a Hyperpower, getting a distinct economic and military advantage over the other two, but now maintaining friendly (if strained) relations with the United Kingdom, and lukewarm relations with the Soviet Union, which is showing signs that a hardliner faction is manoeuvring to replace the current Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformer who has liberalised the Soviet economy, but clamped down hard on political dissent.
The United Kingdom is truly the only nation with a global presence. Her sailors and soldiers are stationed on every continent, greatly aided by the Commonwealth's close unity. The Royal Navy is responsible for protecting most marine traffic, as the United Kingdom still owns the Suez Canal. The United States is competitive in this manner because it too owns the Panama Canal. The Soviet Union truly only remains a Superpower due to its large military, large nuclear arsenal (the largest), and impressive Space programme (they are the most recent country to make a manned Lunar landing, 2015 with Luna-Korabl 28).
Nuclear proliferation is a very tricky subject, and one that is the leading danger in the world. The three Superpowers all have sizable nuclear arsenals, but so does France, Italy, Germany, Israel, South Africa, India, Korea, China, and currently Vietnam is developing nuclear weapons. There is some talk that Cambodia is as well, but this has never been confirmed nor seriously investigated by the world community. South Africa is known to have conducted tests in their territory, and has used them in localised attacks on their own people to quell dissent. The (DemRep) Congo is also currently developing nuclear weapons, and is considered to be a rouge state.
The alliance system is really muddled since the end of the Cold War. It used to simply be the United States opposing the Soviet Union, with the United Kingdom taking the side of the United States more often than not. After the end of the Cold War, with tensions officially dissolved and freedom given to the peoples of eastern Europe with the Soviet-American treaties, the focus has returned more towards the pre-Cold War era, where alliances of convenience exist and there's no true hegemonic power to barge in and make their own way. The Commonwealth and the United Nations are the only true international organisations that promote cooperation between powers, but regional systems do exist as well. The German-Belgian-Dutch-Luxembourgish Customs Union is one example of this regional cooperation, and a similar one exists in the Nordic countries (plus Finland and Estonia). Most European nations regard France with suspicion, as internationally she speaks out against human rights abuses, while still ignores the conflict with the Muslims of Algeria, which often erupt into violence, to the point where a passport is required (if you are not a Pied-Noir) from Algeria to mainland France.
Italy kinda does its own thing. The Fascists were removed from power a few years ago as the Christian Democrats finally took over as the largest party in Parliament. It has strong ties with Libya, which won independence from Italy in the 1980s, but its more of a "France-Haiti" dynamic. Libya owes Italy a ton of money, and Italy maintains a bunch of military and naval bases in the country, and has often "stepped in" when it feels some of its citizens aren't treated fairly. No one else (except France, ironically) cares about this treatment of Libya, because there's always more pressing issues to deal with, like...
The Middle East. Israel is what could be considered a cross between a military junta and a dictatorship. They are heavy handed, maintain an apartheid-style system for Muslims and the Jewish people, and is heavily armed and often clashes with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Arabia. Israel's sole ally is South Africa, and they have sponsored radical terrorism in these countries, as well as secular partisans, anything to destabalise the current governments in power. Israel has also been linked to Kurdish separatists in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.
Another major flashpoint globally is in Southeast Asia. Vietnam's rising status as a world power is being noticed, and her economy is growing by 7% annually. While Vietnam had always been a close U.S. ally (they helped crush the Communists,) Vietnam has been drifting towards simply going it alone, shunning the three major powers and seeking its own path, which has made it come into clashes with China, itself a growing power, that has increased military spending every year after a series of government reforms that seek to introduce fully free elections (there were still heavy stipulations aimed at ensuring Communists didn't win that dated back to the 1950s). With so many interested powers in the Pacific, it is believed to be the next source of conflict, diplomatic or otherwise.
Europe is not the quietest, either. After the collapse of the Polish communists in 1998, and the independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union in 2003, the two have had several border clashes over the territory that Lithuania had claimed from Poland since the breakup of the German and Russian Empires. Romania also holds extant demands of Hungary, which has a sizable Romanian minority in its eastern portion of the country. There's also the perennial clashes between Serbia and Croatia, which have been fighting each other in some capacity since the 1930s (They had attempted a union, and failed, during this time). Add in Bosniaks into the mix who have never had their own state, and terrorist attacks run rampant.
The Irish Republican Army is also huge across Northern Ireland, and not even the United Kingdom is free from her own personal black mark. Much like the American South until the Civil Rights movement of the 1970s/1980s, Northern Ireland is segregated between Catholic and Protestant, and many Catholics are still jailed today in what the UN calls "politically motivated" jailings, but terrorist attacks are common in the United Kingdom, with the most recent being the bombing of a concert in Birmingham by the New Zealand singer Lorde by the IRA which claimed the lives of 8 people and injured over a hundred. The deadliest terrorist attack to take place was done by a radical sector of the IRA, which blew up a British Airways Airbys A380 filled with with nearly 600 people as it approached London Heathrow Airport. Several hundred more died on the ground and thousands wounded. The attack caused the Republic of Ireland to launch their own war against the IRA, not wishing to be responsible for the attacks. Both the United Kingdom and Ireland struggle with the IRA today.
There's a bunch more I want to put in there, but I'll save those for another time. Hope this answered some questions but raised a ton more!!
Yeah, looks like Murder, She Wrote would still be a TV show, a lot of coastal Maine is similar to how we know it, just the interior as pure Francophone. So it's likely the show would have Acadians cast into it, and bilingualism just accepted as part of it.
Mexico is a poor, agrarian nation that has little economic power outside of Mexico City. Northern Mexico has some economic benefit from being so close to the United States, but this is really only near the U.S. city of Tampico. While Mexico does have freeway connections with the United States, there are trade barriers between the two countries, mostly imposed by Mexico, to foster it's small high tech sector in Mexico City, much to the detriment of the rest of the country. Tourism is popular in the Yucatan, as Cruise Ships from the United States often stop there.
Because of this a form of rural Communism is very popular (much to the ire of the United States) and it was very popular, almost winning several presidential elections in the 1980s and 1990s, heavily supported by the Soviet Union. But with the end of the Cold War, the Soviets stopped their funding and the party has struggled to gain traction, as a concentrated effort against it by Partido de Nacional (funded in part by the United States) has decimated their political leadership and weakened their ability to campaign through censorship laws. Some have resorted to becoming Banditos, similar to outlaws in the American west. While northern Mexico may be lawless, this ends at the border. The United States has a massive border security operation, ranging from constant boats patrolling the Pánuco River near Tampico, to a wall near Torreón, Jefferson.
Leonard Nimoy, while a successful actor, was never part of the Star Trek series in the United States. His best noted work was as the captain of a New England submarine in the movie When the World went Hot, which depicted the nuclear war between the Soviet United, United Kingdom, and United States as they all engaged in nuclear exchanges and a brief conventional war.
New England has a rich music history, and currently world-known bands are Aerosmith, Boston, and the Dropkick Murphys. Otherwise, Pop, R&B, Rock, Indie, and Alternative music is big in the country. Nouvelle Chanson is popular in Northern New England. There is traditional music that is also enjoyed across the country, a lot of it comes from the rural Acadian culture, but it also includes English songs and customs, and is considered wholly New England in character. These songs are similar to bush ballards in Australia and Country Western music in the United States. The most well known New England song is The Heaving Seas by Stan Rogers, a famous Nova Scotia musician whose songs heavily reflect upon New England history, with a focus on the maritime life of New England as well as rural mountain life.
Warren Truss currently serves as the Prime Minister of Australia after ousting sitting Prime Minister Pauline Hanson in a leadership spill after she quickly lost the faith and confidence of the Parliament with her policies and poor attempts to run the government. Surprisingly, the Australian Labor Party didn't win the election against the unpopular Nationals. The Liberals (centre) often elect several MPs, and sometimes form a coalition with Labour. Nick Xenophon currently leads the Liberals. Labor is lead by Julia Gillard, leader of the Opposition since 2014.
Helen Zille is the current Prime Minister of New Zealand. Born in South Africa, but her family managed to escape to Natal, where they then left for New Zealand. She is the leader of the National Party, forming a coalition government with the Maori party and New Zealand First. Their main electoral rivals are the Labour Party.
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