alternatehistory.com
McCain Administration Summer 2010
Summer 2010
"Central Asia is becoming more dangerous. Hope things don't become awful."
"And now we have Russian agents on our homeland? Goddamn, I thought the Cold War ended..."
"I am being told that while monsoons are part of the seasonal climate for Pakistan, that it is still unpredecented."
Summer served as a brief period of calm, which just meant more attention remained on the declining economy, voices growing louder for actions and the growing concerns amongst a few regarding what the McCain Administration's plan was to try and stimulate the economy. Chinese and American relations have taken a hit after the Google hack and now the economy undergoing some more potential trouble with China raising the yuan against the US dollar. Indeed, while Chinese growth was being affected, China also plans for a more aggressive stimulus package to try and assist in dealing with economic troubles in the nation. However, other issues would soon prop up. Namely the South Kyrgyzstan riots, a clash between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that result in the deaths of hundreds. Moreover, the corrupt problems as the brutality and bribery of officials have led to growing calls for investigation and for a return for order. However, such issues were complicated by the growing nationalist sentiment in Kyrgyz amongst the issues of the economy and ethnic violence. It served as a danger that crisises could lead people to doubling down on bad decisions that will not solve problems. On the other hand, the growing tensions between the US, Russia and China have been cooling down in trying to pressure Central Asia to get its act together.
Roza Otunbayev, leader of interim Kyrgyz government (2008)
However, the fact that some Eurasian experts have viewed this as Russia potentially trying to expand into the region have come to become more impactful in the wake of an extensively infamous event, "The Illegals Program." Named by the US, it was a clandestine operation that had a network of Russian sleeper agents being formed over to try and get close to American intelligence and business communities. They were the target of a multi-year investigation by the FBI. The investigation, called Operation Ghost Stories, culminated at the end of June 2010 with the arrest of ten people in the U.S. and an eleventh in Cyprus. The ten sleeper agents were charged with "carrying out long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation." The entire debacle drove greater wedges between the US and Russia in regards to the matter and led to the US working more to improve relations with China to have them act as a counterweight against Russia. Additionally, the debacle would have an influence in film and media regarding the portrayal of the Russian government. Relations were already stained due to the growing conflicts between the US's efforts of going green and Russia's insistence on petrochemicals and using it to try and grow influence on Europe. This along with cybersecurity has led to greater measures to protect voter integrity within the US and in the EU. Overall, the McCain Administration was able to handle the ordeal successfully, giving them some much needed support with the elections coming up soon.
View attachment 520329
Collection of Russian agents apprehended (Wikipedia)
While conspiracy and espionage regarding the Russian government brought memories of the Cold War back, the concerns of environmentalism returned with a natural disaster. That with the monsterously strong monsoon season over in Pakistan that led to immense flooding of the Indus River banks. To many, it was quite the shock and perhaps led people more to note the effects monsoons had and greater consideration in environmental methods to better benefit and minimize the damages from the monsoon floods. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had initially asked for US$460 million (€420 million) for emergency relief, noting that the flood was the worst disaster he had ever seen. Only 20% of the relief funds requested had been received on 15 August 2010. The U.N. had been concerned that aid was not arriving fast enough, and the World Health Organization reported that ten million people were forced to drink unsafe water. As such, various nations and others had to go above to assist the flooded nation. While US-Pakistani relations have been complicated in part because of the certain relatios with certain Islamic groups, innocent lives were at stake. Additionally, the worsening economic problems meant that not as much money could be donated though the McCain administration did use the advantage to send in troops to assist with rescue operations in part to further sell his stimulus package.
Indus River flooding map as of the end of August 2010
"Central Asia is becoming more dangerous. Hope things don't become awful."
"And now we have Russian agents on our homeland? Goddamn, I thought the Cold War ended..."
"I am being told that while monsoons are part of the seasonal climate for Pakistan, that it is still unpredecented."
Summer served as a brief period of calm, which just meant more attention remained on the declining economy, voices growing louder for actions and the growing concerns amongst a few regarding what the McCain Administration's plan was to try and stimulate the economy. Chinese and American relations have taken a hit after the Google hack and now the economy undergoing some more potential trouble with China raising the yuan against the US dollar. Indeed, while Chinese growth was being affected, China also plans for a more aggressive stimulus package to try and assist in dealing with economic troubles in the nation. However, other issues would soon prop up. Namely the South Kyrgyzstan riots, a clash between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that result in the deaths of hundreds. Moreover, the corrupt problems as the brutality and bribery of officials have led to growing calls for investigation and for a return for order. However, such issues were complicated by the growing nationalist sentiment in Kyrgyz amongst the issues of the economy and ethnic violence. It served as a danger that crisises could lead people to doubling down on bad decisions that will not solve problems. On the other hand, the growing tensions between the US, Russia and China have been cooling down in trying to pressure Central Asia to get its act together.
Roza Otunbayev, leader of interim Kyrgyz government (2008)
However, the fact that some Eurasian experts have viewed this as Russia potentially trying to expand into the region have come to become more impactful in the wake of an extensively infamous event, "The Illegals Program." Named by the US, it was a clandestine operation that had a network of Russian sleeper agents being formed over to try and get close to American intelligence and business communities. They were the target of a multi-year investigation by the FBI. The investigation, called Operation Ghost Stories, culminated at the end of June 2010 with the arrest of ten people in the U.S. and an eleventh in Cyprus. The ten sleeper agents were charged with "carrying out long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation." The entire debacle drove greater wedges between the US and Russia in regards to the matter and led to the US working more to improve relations with China to have them act as a counterweight against Russia. Additionally, the debacle would have an influence in film and media regarding the portrayal of the Russian government. Relations were already stained due to the growing conflicts between the US's efforts of going green and Russia's insistence on petrochemicals and using it to try and grow influence on Europe. This along with cybersecurity has led to greater measures to protect voter integrity within the US and in the EU. Overall, the McCain Administration was able to handle the ordeal successfully, giving them some much needed support with the elections coming up soon.
View attachment 520329
Collection of Russian agents apprehended (Wikipedia)
While conspiracy and espionage regarding the Russian government brought memories of the Cold War back, the concerns of environmentalism returned with a natural disaster. That with the monsterously strong monsoon season over in Pakistan that led to immense flooding of the Indus River banks. To many, it was quite the shock and perhaps led people more to note the effects monsoons had and greater consideration in environmental methods to better benefit and minimize the damages from the monsoon floods. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had initially asked for US$460 million (€420 million) for emergency relief, noting that the flood was the worst disaster he had ever seen. Only 20% of the relief funds requested had been received on 15 August 2010. The U.N. had been concerned that aid was not arriving fast enough, and the World Health Organization reported that ten million people were forced to drink unsafe water. As such, various nations and others had to go above to assist the flooded nation. While US-Pakistani relations have been complicated in part because of the certain relatios with certain Islamic groups, innocent lives were at stake. Additionally, the worsening economic problems meant that not as much money could be donated though the McCain administration did use the advantage to send in troops to assist with rescue operations in part to further sell his stimulus package.
Indus River flooding map as of the end of August 2010
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