alternatehistory.com
McCain Administration- Autumn 2015
Autumn 2015
"So the leaders of the two Chinas end up meeting..."
"Diesalgate just proves that big corporations will lie and damage the environment for a buck..."
"And it looks like Jack Layton will remain Prime Minister for a while longer..."
Autumn saw the leaves begin changing and with the end of the year coming, so were the various new things going on the in the year. Many would begin looking at this as perhaps as a sign for what was coming over for the next year. One of the most memorable moments was the "meeting of the two Chinas." Alternately, known as the Li-Ma meeting, it saw the meeting of President of the People's Republic of China, Li Keqiang, meeting up with the President of the Republic of China/Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945. Of course, while the meeting was praised and lauded by various groups on both sides and other nations outside of it, the meeting was not exactly without its complainers. Namely in terms of how Ma previously noted he would meet with the future leaders during his four year tenure and him doing so ended up disappointing some of his supporters. This naturally gave some fodder for the opposition parties. On the other hand, open discourse noted that Li Keqiang did bring North Korea from being a rabid dog to one being under control, so there was at least a bit of a reason to try and negotiate things. The hope was that the nations could try and come an agreement though the atmosphere was still tense and thick in the air.
Images of Republic of China/Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (left) and People's Republic of China President Li Keqiang
The good news was not the only sign of major changes. Gearheads and autofans would become plagued with a new word... "Diesalgate". It all started when the EPA issued a notice of violation of the "Clean Air Act" to German automaker Volkswagen Group. The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing which caused the vehicles' NOx output to meet US standards during regulatory testing, but emit up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this software in about 11 million cars worldwide, including 500,000 in the United States, in model years 2009 through 2015. In layman's terms, they programmed their car to sense when they were being tested and change how they operated. Suspicions started back in 2014 thanks to the work done by the California Air Regulations Board. Multiple investigations occur, Volkswagon stocks plummeted and the CEO would be forced to resign. Being painfully similar to the events of what happened with Exxon-Mobil, it stirred up a sort of familiar rage in people. How greedy and short-sighted were they?! Just because it did not match the numbes and could not deliver. The news spread rampant and diesal cars became under the spotlight for investigation from multiple companies. The call for greater adoption for biodiesal was being rang though louder voices were preaching government intervention, citing the corrupt history of these sort of companies on lack of accountability. The Germans themselves were not happy with this and it was a blow to the pride of German engineering. Many did see this as a further rallying call for the need to radically "green" the industry.
Former Volkswagon CEO, Martin Winterkorn
Meanwhile, the Canadian elections brought some attention to people, if namely due to the work of Jack Layton. After his upset victory with the NDP securing a minority government with the Liberals, Jack Layton steadily rose in popularity over in Canada. His early years saw him combine environmentalism with economic reform by taking advantage of a new study showing the surprising and extensive geothermal power and worked to shift government investment from fossil fuels to that. For utility-scale electrical generation using traditional dry steam and flash stream power stations were being devloped in the NW Territories and Yukon while utility-scale electrical generation using binary cycle power stations, saw growth in British Columbia and notably the southern parts Alberta and Saskatchewan. Even geothermal heat pumps were seeing interest. The potential was quite surprising and this shift into grand power generation gave Layton a large boost in popularity within BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, especially noteworthy because of Alberta's oil sands. Also was the healthcare reform for the inclusion of medicine and integrating the provinces' healthcare together, for greater unity. As such, the NDP gained more seats though not enough for a majority (many attribute this to the Liberals' sudden spike in prevelance due to their new leader, Justin Trudeau.) While the Layton Administration would continue, rumors circulated that Layton may retire near the end of his term to better watch his health, with many wondering who his successor may be. Regardless, people celeberated for Layton's further governance and success along with cooperation with Trudeau for the continued success of Canada, which included further continuation of the previous work along with a focus on civil work. Ultimately, it seem to reinforce the notion that the way of NDP and similar parties were the way to go.
Justin Trudeau, new leader of the Liberal party
...
...
...
"Sir... you may want to look at the Venezuelan elections..."
"So the leaders of the two Chinas end up meeting..."
"Diesalgate just proves that big corporations will lie and damage the environment for a buck..."
"And it looks like Jack Layton will remain Prime Minister for a while longer..."
Autumn saw the leaves begin changing and with the end of the year coming, so were the various new things going on the in the year. Many would begin looking at this as perhaps as a sign for what was coming over for the next year. One of the most memorable moments was the "meeting of the two Chinas." Alternately, known as the Li-Ma meeting, it saw the meeting of President of the People's Republic of China, Li Keqiang, meeting up with the President of the Republic of China/Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou. The meeting was the first between the political leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1950 and the first since the meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in Chongqing during the Double Tenth Agreement in August 1945. Of course, while the meeting was praised and lauded by various groups on both sides and other nations outside of it, the meeting was not exactly without its complainers. Namely in terms of how Ma previously noted he would meet with the future leaders during his four year tenure and him doing so ended up disappointing some of his supporters. This naturally gave some fodder for the opposition parties. On the other hand, open discourse noted that Li Keqiang did bring North Korea from being a rabid dog to one being under control, so there was at least a bit of a reason to try and negotiate things. The hope was that the nations could try and come an agreement though the atmosphere was still tense and thick in the air.
Images of Republic of China/Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (left) and People's Republic of China President Li Keqiang
The good news was not the only sign of major changes. Gearheads and autofans would become plagued with a new word... "Diesalgate". It all started when the EPA issued a notice of violation of the "Clean Air Act" to German automaker Volkswagen Group. The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing which caused the vehicles' NOx output to meet US standards during regulatory testing, but emit up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this software in about 11 million cars worldwide, including 500,000 in the United States, in model years 2009 through 2015. In layman's terms, they programmed their car to sense when they were being tested and change how they operated. Suspicions started back in 2014 thanks to the work done by the California Air Regulations Board. Multiple investigations occur, Volkswagon stocks plummeted and the CEO would be forced to resign. Being painfully similar to the events of what happened with Exxon-Mobil, it stirred up a sort of familiar rage in people. How greedy and short-sighted were they?! Just because it did not match the numbes and could not deliver. The news spread rampant and diesal cars became under the spotlight for investigation from multiple companies. The call for greater adoption for biodiesal was being rang though louder voices were preaching government intervention, citing the corrupt history of these sort of companies on lack of accountability. The Germans themselves were not happy with this and it was a blow to the pride of German engineering. Many did see this as a further rallying call for the need to radically "green" the industry.
Former Volkswagon CEO, Martin Winterkorn
Meanwhile, the Canadian elections brought some attention to people, if namely due to the work of Jack Layton. After his upset victory with the NDP securing a minority government with the Liberals, Jack Layton steadily rose in popularity over in Canada. His early years saw him combine environmentalism with economic reform by taking advantage of a new study showing the surprising and extensive geothermal power and worked to shift government investment from fossil fuels to that. For utility-scale electrical generation using traditional dry steam and flash stream power stations were being devloped in the NW Territories and Yukon while utility-scale electrical generation using binary cycle power stations, saw growth in British Columbia and notably the southern parts Alberta and Saskatchewan. Even geothermal heat pumps were seeing interest. The potential was quite surprising and this shift into grand power generation gave Layton a large boost in popularity within BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, especially noteworthy because of Alberta's oil sands. Also was the healthcare reform for the inclusion of medicine and integrating the provinces' healthcare together, for greater unity. As such, the NDP gained more seats though not enough for a majority (many attribute this to the Liberals' sudden spike in prevelance due to their new leader, Justin Trudeau.) While the Layton Administration would continue, rumors circulated that Layton may retire near the end of his term to better watch his health, with many wondering who his successor may be. Regardless, people celeberated for Layton's further governance and success along with cooperation with Trudeau for the continued success of Canada, which included further continuation of the previous work along with a focus on civil work. Ultimately, it seem to reinforce the notion that the way of NDP and similar parties were the way to go.
Justin Trudeau, new leader of the Liberal party
...
...
...
"Sir... you may want to look at the Venezuelan elections..."
- CountDVB
- Word Count: 940