Recent content by APreston

Given that JP2 met with and (according to some reports) granted absolution to Agca I don't think he'd see the man dead on his Pontificate even if they were going to try him in a Vatican court under their own authority. Not to mention the stink the UN would raise over it, which the Vatican might...

It isn't the first schism the True Church has had and it won't be the last. I think the mood with a lot of the Roman priests is that losing a few hardliners to schism was a fair sacrifice, not one to be celebrated by any means but not as destructive as the Universal doom-prophets would have us...

As a non-religious person who is nonetheless interested in the Catholic church from a historical POV, it always struck me how the Church transformed itself more or less overnight in the past 50 years. From Pope John XXIII's Vatican II through Paul VI endorsing liberation theology in a roundabout...

World War I isn't really my strong area but this is a thought I've had since learning history in high school so I figured I'd see what you all think. The spark that sets off the chain of events leading to world war is, of course, Archduke Franz Ferdinand getting assassinated. This leads to...

I don't usually get into WWII discussions because I'm not nearly as well-read on them as some of the people here, so forgive any blatant oversimplifications I might make here. Crux of my question is, what if Hitler budgets the Wehrmacht more time for Barbarossa and the operation launches in...

Thanks for the replies. I've got some more research to do on this before I state some of my opinions for possible PODs, lest I come off as uninformed or possibly offend someone. The ones I'm thinking of are unlikely anyway I think.

I've been thinking about doing a Yugo TL when I've run my DDR TL out of steam (don't worry, those reading, it's not quite there yet, just on another creative hiatus). Specifically, one that doesn't see things go to hell--or at least, not nearly as much--as in OTL. So, first question: assuming...

OOC: DBWI stands for "double-blind what-if" where you assume the topic never happened, and speculate what may have been if it had. In this case, we assume that Scientology never became a thing.

Ok, I know this must sound ASB as hell, but bear with me here. Anyone who reads old-school sci-fi, particularly any L. Ron Hubbard, has heard the apocryphal story that Hubbard once told a colleague that "anyone who wanted to make money would create his own religion." While Hubbard dabbled in...

Modrow: GDR Enters "New Dawn" as Treaty Signed Amid Festivities March 27th, 1986 West Berlin (AP)-- Months of negotiation and politicking, sometimes contentious, came to fruition this afternoon as the Bonn-Berlin Treaty was signed after a day of festivities in East Germany. West German...

Mielke, Modrow Clash Over Controversial Cannes Selection March 20th, 1986 East Berlin (AP)-- In a rare public difference of opinion, East German leader-apparent Hans Modrow appeared to clash with longtime Stasi strongman Erich Mielke over the fate of the Cannes-selected film My Neighbor's...

Aid Treaty Ratified in East As GDR Cosmonaut Reaches Orbit March 13th, 1986 East Berlin (AP)-- The East German parliament formally ratified the financial aid treaty outlined between itself and the West this evening as it was joined by satellite to the Soyuz T-15 rocket, carrying the Communist...

[Author's Note: The film and its director are, barring any truly incredible act of coincidence, fictional. When not writing I work at a movie theatre, and I thought to include this as additional intrigue-fuel and an homage to an industry I've rather come to enjoy.] East German Film Selected for...

Maybe instead of marrying Cher, Cruise marries or makes friends with some Scientologist actor/actress. That whole sect seems to operate like a networking thing for Hollywood so I don't imagine it would take much to get him into it. As for Travolta...well he's just a whole 'nother mess. Good on...

As I said much earlier in the TL, Gorbachev's job security is not what his predecessors' was. IOTL, I don't really think he was ever able to achieve the sort of security of authority that, say, Brezhnev had. The fact that the USSR was finally destroyed by an abortive coup against Gorbi speaks to...