What became of the Baltic after this hefty crisis,
@Kanan ? Did they gain some autonomy or something? Were there independence referendums? Did Gorbachev have to go? Did Francisco Louçã recieve a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize? Did anybody else have to go? Are conspiracy theories circling, e.g. that Soviet involvement was covered up or that Germany shot down the plane intentionally, or that the fuel tank was deliberately tampered with?
And this gets me to another question: Do we have any information on winners of Nobel Prizes? Especially the Nobel Peace Prize would interest me - these are interesting and inspiring personalities in most cases. But also the other prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine etc. pp.
The Baltic countries agitated even more for independence, and after this point it became clear the Soviet State could no longer hold on to it. The Soviet Army was withdrawn, and Gorbachev agreed to elections in the territories, free and fair, to then grant them independence. Gorbachev remained in office until his recent retirement. Francisco Louçã did indeed receive the Nobel Peace Prize. There are a lot of conspiracy theories, pretty much all you can think of.
Also, you said that the Cold War ended in 2004. Did that have something to do with the Flight Blackout crisis? Generally, what information do we have on the USSR,
@Kanan ?
I think the USSR is the next country you should focus on...
The Flight Blackout Crisis was the final climax of the era of the Cold War, when they finally agreed that this type of brinksmanship was no longer a smart idea moving forward. The Soviet hardliners were beaten back, and Gorbachev's reforms were finally allowed to be fully implemented.
I just looked at the democracy index map again, and Albania is really authoritarian. Not quite as bad as Israel or South Africa, but still very authoritarian. Is it ruled by Hoxha's cronies? Or even, like North Korea in OTL, by a son or grandson of Enver Hoxha?
Albania is currently run by the Albanian Transitional Authority. The Communist government was recently overthrown after the Soviet Union withdrew forces.
I know that the 1952 flag of Germany is the flag of the British/Commonwealth Mandate, but what team won that World Cup? A "native" German national team? A military-based team? A team enriched with Commonwealth players?
It was a fully German team.
Ooo I hope we see a new election soon!
Also I have to ask, did Jeff Jacoby write those editorials to his son Caleb ITTL, I just realized he was a columnist
I, for one, hope we don't do a new election soon. Unless this time I take a week off from work to prep for it.
He did.
I need to know who the potential leadership candidates are.
Leonard Mirra (Haverhill-Methuen)
J.R. Romano (Derby-Orange-Milford)
Robert Goguen (Moncton)
Just some of the names floated out there.
It's probably been said before, but I'll say it again, with Carbone and now Romano you really have a knack for finding obscure figures IOTL who could very reasonably have become prominent ITTL.
Thank you!!
@Kanan first, your dedication to this timeline is phenomenal. Second (and this is
not a request for an infobox or anything, just a general question), what's the status of the Korean peninsula ITTL with a still extant USSR, but no WWII to trigger the Korean War? I apologize if I have missed it, but I only saw one or two references to a united Korea somewhere and wanted to double check.
Thank you so much!
The Korean Peninsula is a united, democratic presidential republic. There was never a Korean War, and Korea was jointly administered in three sections following the
Pacific War between the Republic of China, United States, and United Kingdom. The United States held the bulk of the territory, and had the capital in Pyongyang, where it remained since then. The rural, poor south was administered by the United Kingdom, while areas of the north were administered by China. The United Kingdom was given control over China's mandate after the Chinese Civil War flared up, and eventually the two powers agreed to release Korea as an independent country in the 1960s.
Well, that at least seems like a fairly benevolent take on enduring support for Imperialism. Brings to mind the Labour Imperialism of the 50s mixed with some more modern attitudes.
Quite. Imperialism today is seen as "yes, we had done some things quite wrong. Horrific in fact. But the way we have gone about righting those wrongs and granting independence to some nations might have, in fact, made things worse. We must now strive to make the world a better place, and atone for the damage we have caused."