Thanks for the compliment. I don't think the outline of Beijing would be much changed, as Rome isn't at all bothered by the Vatican ; the city remains one of the main metropolis of China, even if the capital isn't installed there, due to its strategic disavantages and its connection with the Imperial era.
For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
- Thread starter MaskedPickle
- Start date
How many socialist/far-left nations, Peru and Reunion included, are there in the World?
Continued to fight after the agreement, was killed by special forces shortly after.
Well, many countries in Europe have been attracted to Neo-Socialist parties, that is far-left parties still abiding to Marxist theory and Syndicalist values but abiding to democracy ; if there could be an analogue IOTL, it would be Eurocommunism. In spite of what the right say, we are far from Neo-Syndicalism, but more of democratic communism.
Considering both the Hashemites and the Ottomans claim to be Caliph, which claim to the Caliphate is more recognized by Sunni Muslims? Also, let me guess the act of Greek far-right terrorism in Constantinople in 1977 was a hate crime against the Muslim inhabitants of the city.
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Slovak Question
The Slovak Question is a long-running issue in Hungary. Since the formation of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages through nowadays, including during the Ottoman conquest of Hungary, the area claimed to be the Slovak Homeland has been an integrant province of Hungary, known as Upper Hungary (Felvidék) ; nevertheless, Slovak nationalists, since the beginnings of Bohemian nationalism, have claimed that Slovaks had always been a separate Slavic identity and pushed for Slovak independence.
Never recognized as a separate people during either the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary or the Danubian Federation, even if the foundations of the latter was formed in Pressburg (nowadays Pozsony, called Bratislava in Slovak), Upper Hungary has been a Hungarian province since the declaration of Hungarian independence in 1927. The 1934 and the 1948 Constitution, insisting on the superiority of the Hungarian race and the unity of Hungary, made no case for the ethnic minorities of the Kingdom ; a tight policy of Magyarization was enforced in Upper Hungary and Transylvania, with any public use of the Slovak or Romanian languages being forbidden ; military revolts in 1934 and 1947, led by French Army veteran and astronomer Milan Stefanik, were quelled by the Hungarian Army both times.
The 1968 protests represented a shift in the Slovak Question. Student protests in Budapest and Pozsony, the success of the French Situationist Revolution and a new generation of Slovak nationalists led to the September Uprising, Starting with Slovak civil servants, students and workers refusing to take their duties, the uprising turned in the space of a week into a full-fledged rebellion, asking for recognition and autonomy from Hungary ; the Hungarian Army repressed violently the troubles, yet the situation led Romania to invade their neighbour, starting the Third Hungarian-Romanian War. The Hungarian government began to give better help to Upper Hungary, that experienced stronger development with the Danubian Dam Network, reaching its apex with the selection as Hungarian Prime Minister of Sandor Dubcsek, a Magyarized ethnic Slovak, leader of the Hungarian Social Democrats, and the 1979 Constitution, that allowed semi-official use of Slovak in public and in Upper Hungary.
The Dubcsek era was synonymous with strong development in Upper Hungary, yet it inspired Slovak nationalists, who saw Dubcsek as a traitor and began to press for independence. Led by Víťazoslav Móric, the nationalists won the 1988 regional elections in Upper Hungary and turned to direct confrontation with the Pyrist Magyar Party, that won the 1989 legislative elections in Hungary. After two years of troubles and steady refusal from the Hungarian government, Móric proclaimed the independence of Upper Hungary as the Republic of Slovakia on October, 28 1991. The independent nation was recognized by no other country before it was invaded and repressed by the Hungarian Army the following day. Slovak nationalists were exiled and prosecuted.
The Slovak issue remained unsolved until demonstrations for greater autonomy during Spring 2018 pushed Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Sarközy granted the 1991 leaders amnesty and Upper Hungary with greater autonomy, acknowleding the official use and teaching of Slovak in Upper Hungary, on July, 1 2018. The move infuriated Sarközy’s base but allowed him to form a coalition government with autonomist parties such as the Slovak People’s Party. Now well implemented in Upper Hungary and holding the ministries of Housing, Labour and Transportation, the Slovak People’s Party continues to carry the interests of the Slovak people, even if inner fractions continue to push for independence.
Never recognized as a separate people during either the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary or the Danubian Federation, even if the foundations of the latter was formed in Pressburg (nowadays Pozsony, called Bratislava in Slovak), Upper Hungary has been a Hungarian province since the declaration of Hungarian independence in 1927. The 1934 and the 1948 Constitution, insisting on the superiority of the Hungarian race and the unity of Hungary, made no case for the ethnic minorities of the Kingdom ; a tight policy of Magyarization was enforced in Upper Hungary and Transylvania, with any public use of the Slovak or Romanian languages being forbidden ; military revolts in 1934 and 1947, led by French Army veteran and astronomer Milan Stefanik, were quelled by the Hungarian Army both times.
The 1968 protests represented a shift in the Slovak Question. Student protests in Budapest and Pozsony, the success of the French Situationist Revolution and a new generation of Slovak nationalists led to the September Uprising, Starting with Slovak civil servants, students and workers refusing to take their duties, the uprising turned in the space of a week into a full-fledged rebellion, asking for recognition and autonomy from Hungary ; the Hungarian Army repressed violently the troubles, yet the situation led Romania to invade their neighbour, starting the Third Hungarian-Romanian War. The Hungarian government began to give better help to Upper Hungary, that experienced stronger development with the Danubian Dam Network, reaching its apex with the selection as Hungarian Prime Minister of Sandor Dubcsek, a Magyarized ethnic Slovak, leader of the Hungarian Social Democrats, and the 1979 Constitution, that allowed semi-official use of Slovak in public and in Upper Hungary.
The Dubcsek era was synonymous with strong development in Upper Hungary, yet it inspired Slovak nationalists, who saw Dubcsek as a traitor and began to press for independence. Led by Víťazoslav Móric, the nationalists won the 1988 regional elections in Upper Hungary and turned to direct confrontation with the Pyrist Magyar Party, that won the 1989 legislative elections in Hungary. After two years of troubles and steady refusal from the Hungarian government, Móric proclaimed the independence of Upper Hungary as the Republic of Slovakia on October, 28 1991. The independent nation was recognized by no other country before it was invaded and repressed by the Hungarian Army the following day. Slovak nationalists were exiled and prosecuted.
The Slovak issue remained unsolved until demonstrations for greater autonomy during Spring 2018 pushed Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Sarközy granted the 1991 leaders amnesty and Upper Hungary with greater autonomy, acknowleding the official use and teaching of Slovak in Upper Hungary, on July, 1 2018. The move infuriated Sarközy’s base but allowed him to form a coalition government with autonomist parties such as the Slovak People’s Party. Now well implemented in Upper Hungary and holding the ministries of Housing, Labour and Transportation, the Slovak People’s Party continues to carry the interests of the Slovak people, even if inner fractions continue to push for independence.
Sandor Dubcsek
Sandor Dubcsek (27 November 1921-7 November 2004) was the Prime Minister of Hungary on two separate occasions, from 16 May 1976 to 13 September 1979 and from 18 May 1980 to 22 May 1988, serving for the Social Democratic Party of Hungary. An ethnic Slovak, born Alexander Dubček in then Austria-Hungary to Syndicalist parents who were killed during the Danubian War, he was orphaned at a young age and had his name Magyarized under the terms of the 1934 Constitution.
A civil servant, working in the Forestry Service of Hungary, he adhered to the Social Democratic Party when Hungary was considered an authoritarian democracy ; he took advantage of the liberalization decided by King Charles V to undertake the ailing left-wing party and lead it to power in the 1976 general elections, becoming the first Hungarian Prime Minister coming from the left since Hungarian independence. He famously said to the King on his first audience “I’m sorry, Sir, but I’m not a monarchist” ; Charles V famously replied “Neither do I !”
Under the motto of “Hungarianism with a human face”, Dubcsek worked closely with the King and his palace to have a more democratic Constitution adopted, that would recognize a small degree of autonomy for Slovak and Romanian minorities while normalizing the democratic proccess ; it led to the 1979 Constitution, that infuriated the right wing, culminating in a coup d’Etat by General Pongratz on September, 13 1979 and the abdication of the King. Nevertheless, the counter-coup of General Olah on April, 20 1980 allowed Dubsek to return to power after new, free elections were convened in May.
Serving for three terms, each won by a clear majority of the Social Democratic Party, Dubscek embarked on a liberal agenda, developing Hungary with the Danubian Dam Network and an agrarian reform, while closely cooperating with Germany with building the Hungarian portion of the Polish Wall. Nevertheless, Hungary was hit by the 1983 krach and after he had been appointed Magnate by the King (while refusing to be ennobled), Dubscek withdrew from power after the 1988 election, giving his position and his leadership to Miklos Haraszti, who became the first Jewish Hungarian Head of Governement. Remaining active in Hungarian politics, Dubscek died of old age at 82, in his office of the Parliament.
Hailed as a great legislator and the father of Hungarian democracy, Dubscek remains a polarizing figure in Hungary, with the right wing accusing him of ceding too much to the minorities, while Slovaks treated him as a traitor, as he rejected his Slovak heritage for the sake of Hungary, and refusing many times, after he had left the government, to make a stand on the Slovak Question, including during the 1991 Slovak Uprising.
The answer is Puerto Rico. Greenland (Norwegian Greenland is known as Erik the Red's Land) is still a US Territory.
The Hashemites, definitely. Devout Sunnis consider the Ottomans have lost the mandate given by Allah after the Arab Revolt and now, they consider that Turks shouldn't have a chance to claim to command the faithful if they don't have Arabic as their first language. The Ottomans even renounced their claim for some time before turning back to it due to sheer nationalism and to piss off Damascus.
Yeah, it was the Hellenic far right, in a Years of Lead-like situation in Greece.
Country profile - Borealia
Borealia is a country in North America, bordered in the North by the Arctic Ocean, in the west by the United States (Alaska) and the Pacific Ocean, in the south by the United States and in the east by Canada.
History
From the establishment of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, Western Canada has always felt different from the rest of the Dominion : much more scarcely populated, rich in natural resources, turned towards the Pacific, more conservative than the rest of the nation, the Prairie felt increasingly more isolated from their fellow provinces, although still united, particularly in light of the increasing agitation for Quebec independence.
The forced passing of the Lake Meech Agreement in 1987 crystallized this bitterness, as Quebec was becoming increasingly special while Anglophone Canada had nothing more, leading to the removal of Prime Minister Peter Lougheed by the Western MPs, as the Provinces endorsed a policy and rhetoric very critical of Ottawa and intensified their links with the neighbouring United States ; the failure of the Charlottetown Accord, that would have toned down the Lake Meech Agreement, and the breakthrough of pro-Western big-tent Reform Party in the 1992 general election, overtaking the Conservative Party to form the official opposition alongside the pro-Western NDP and the Parti Québecois, increased the tension within Canada.
1995 and the unilateral declaration of independence by Quebec proved the final nail in the coffin ; increasing its gains in the 1996 early election and joining the government coalition, the Reform Party, led by Preston Manning, could only watch the breakdown of the negotiations with Quebec and the First Nations, the meltdown of the Canadian economy, and began contingency plans with Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow in order to draw the Western Provinces out of the quagmire. The quagmire came with the 1997 election that failed to produce a majority : after a referendum conducted in the Western Provinces without approval of Ottawa, Romanow, along with his colleagues from Alberta, Yukon and British Colombia, joined forces to proclaim the independence of the “Western Canadian Confederation on 25 November 1997, citing “the increasingly incoherent and autocratic policies of Ottawa” and “the free fall of the Canadian dollar that puts the situation of Western Canadians in jeopardy”. The new elections, one week later, allowed John Manley to lead a new coalition government in Ottawa, that accepted the independances of Quebec and the Western Confederation as a fait accompli, thereby acknowledging the existence of a new country.
Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party and considered as the new nation’s “founding father” became Prime Minister in the 1998 elections and took on nationbuilding until his retirement in 2007: the country took the name of Borealia in 1999 after a referendum, taking a flag inspired by the Nordic Nations in order to reflect the Borealians’ cultural heritage ; the country, deciding to remain in the Commonwealth and to keep the Queen of England as its monarch (a decision enterined by a referendum in 2007), also entered the Havana Treaty Organization and signed a free trade agreement with the United States, aligning the Borealian dollar on the American one and undertaking the building of a canal between the Saskatchewan River and Lake Superior, expected for completion for 2030. Now drawing closer to its 25th anniversary, the nation of Borealia is among the wealthiest of North America, a strategic ally of the United States and sort of a conservative mirror of the remaining Canada.
Political situation
According to its declaration of independence and its Constitution, Borealia is a confederation under a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy ; after independence, the country successfully applied to membership of the Commonwealth and continues to acknowledge Queen Anne II of England as its monarch, represented by a Governor-General, currently Russell Misraty. Inspired by the ideas of Preston Manning, Borealia’s second Prime Minister and “founding father”, the Constitution of Borealia is inspired by the former Constitution of Canada, the United States Constitution and has been described by Manning as “a Triple-E Constitution : elected, equal and effective”. The Prime Minister acts as the head of government and is the leader of the largest party or coalition in Parliament and remains responsible in front of both Houses. The 144-members House of Commons is the lower house of Parliament, elected nationwide for a four-year term, its members being proportionately appointed according to each province, while the 59 members of the Senate are elected in every province for six-year-terms, in separate elections. The Provinces, and their Premiers hold tremendous executive powers according to its Constitution, being virtually able to function separately from the confederal government and having power to have their own laws ; constitutional amendments or nationwide laws, either by parliamentary proposal or by popular initiatives are to be subjected to a referendum, as was the case for the choice between monarchy and republic in 2007. The judiciary system is inspired by English common law.
Apart from a Progressive-Green coalition from 2016 to 2020, the Reform Party, a conservative party, heavily inspired by neoliberal and objectivist ideas, founded by Preston Manning in the 1980s in Canada, has held power in Borealia during its whole existence. The current Prime Minister is Jason Kenney, former Premier of Alberta and former Minister of Defence, who led the Reform Party to a strong majority in the 2020 general election. The ecologist Green Party, heavily present in British Columbia, leads the Official Opposition.
Population and social situation
The seventh biggest country in the world, Borealia is also one of the least densely populated, caught between a continental and subarctic climate hinterland and a coast with a warm oceanic climate with British Columbia and Alberta forming the majority of the population, Vancouver serving as the largest metropolitan area ; Calgary, in Alberta, serves as the capital.
If Borealia had felt increasingly isolated from the rest of Canada, there is an increasing rift between the Prairie, politically conservative, scarcely populated by White Borealians along with First Nations (Saskatchewan has a sizeable Cree Party, representing the interests of the Aboriginals) and depending much on extensive farming and exploitation of natural resources, and British Columbia, very urban, enjoying a cosmopolitan melting pot and a large Chinese community, much more progressive and focused on the protection of the environment, handling much of his seats to the Green Party during elections. A secessionist party for British Columbia enjoys some influence. The neoliberal economic policies enacted by the Manning and Day governments took their toll on access to health care and education due to mass privatizations, with dysfunction observed from time to time, but women’s rights, access to equal pay, reproductive rights and ethnic minorities’ rights are still heavily enforced and is on the same level than the rest of former Canada.
Economy
Holding 13 % of world reserves of oil, 8 % of world reserves of uranium, and being one of the largest net exporters for agricultural products such as potash, wheat and oilseeds, Borealia is a naturally rich country, with the production of energy and agriculture being the dominant industries of the country, relying on its large web of pipelines along with Vancouver’s docks, making the latter one of the most important logistic centres in the world, nevertheless mostly at the expense of the environment, as was seen with the wildfire at Fort McMurray in Alberta in 2016. In keeping with the objectivist streak of the Reform Party, Borealia has followed a policy of mass privatizations for public sectors, giving a laissez-faire orientation to their economy ; this has increased concerns from experts for Borealia to be one day subjected to Dutch disease regarding their oil reserves, as other sectors are not as developed. Many also fear that this reliance on natural resources and trickle-down economics would only increase corruption and social inequalities.
Even if its geographic position allows Borealia to count China, Japan, Russia and Indochina among its trade partners, the number 1 partner of Borealia is their twice neighbour, the United States. Entering the Havana Treaty Organization and a free trade agreement with the USA as soon as the country became independent, the Borelian dollar is indexed directly to its American counterpart and most of its pipelines are connected to the United States, a link that will be further developed by the Saskatchewan-Lake Superior canal, a megaproject of its own heavily funded by the Borelian Confederation and the private sector. This economic dependency, along with cultural resemblance, have led many to call Borealia “the 56th state”, with some experts even forecasting the annexation of Borealia to the United States by 2050.
Military
A member of the Havana Treaty Organization, the World Council and of the Commonwealth, Borealia has converted most of its former Canadian military and law enforcement capacities into their own ones, such as the Royal Borealian Mounted Police, maintaining its traditions and ensuring the functionment of its Army, Navy and Air Force, participating in peacekeeping missions throughout the world. A sensible issue in Borealia has been its law enforcement, with the country, as a major power in the Western Hemisphere, being subjected to political and religious terrorism (2004 Vancouver international airport, 2014 Calgary car bomb attack) but also to organized crime activites from Russian, Chinese, Japanese or bikers’ gangs, engaging in corruption and drug trafficking, aligning itself on the United States for the War on Drugs. A growing concern has also been the amount of racial tensions against the Chinese Borealian community, that devastated downtown Vancouver in 2011 and 2020, most recently due to the Wuchang Pneumonia panic.
Culture
A young nation, Borealia wanted to stress its separate heritage on their flag, inspired by Scandinavian countries in order to point out their Nordic position (as the official name of the country, adopted in 1999, sums it up) and heritage of its inhabitants, with its colors reminding of England, Scotland and Ireland, along with the Polar Star, rainforest and ocean. It Borealia can be proud of its wild and magnificent landscapes, the country concentrates its cultural life in cosmopolitan Vancouver and has yet to find a cultural identity ; British Columbia is a very coveted filming location for Hollywood, and many Borealian celebrities (as actors, one could count Seth Rogen, Nathan Fillion and Kiefer Sutherland) made their career South, emphasizing even more Borealia’s lot as the “56th State” due to cultural interpenetration with the USA.
If a Borealian cultural identity is to be found, it would be in sports, as the country formed its own Hockey and Football leagues (interestingly, it still shares with Canada, Quebec and Newfoundland its soccer league) and Borealian sportsmen are always an attraction in Winter Olympic Games, collecting several events at each event since independence ; the Borealian Ministry of Sports put forward a candidacy for every Winter Olympics since independence, hoping one day to host the event.
History
From the establishment of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905, Western Canada has always felt different from the rest of the Dominion : much more scarcely populated, rich in natural resources, turned towards the Pacific, more conservative than the rest of the nation, the Prairie felt increasingly more isolated from their fellow provinces, although still united, particularly in light of the increasing agitation for Quebec independence.
The forced passing of the Lake Meech Agreement in 1987 crystallized this bitterness, as Quebec was becoming increasingly special while Anglophone Canada had nothing more, leading to the removal of Prime Minister Peter Lougheed by the Western MPs, as the Provinces endorsed a policy and rhetoric very critical of Ottawa and intensified their links with the neighbouring United States ; the failure of the Charlottetown Accord, that would have toned down the Lake Meech Agreement, and the breakthrough of pro-Western big-tent Reform Party in the 1992 general election, overtaking the Conservative Party to form the official opposition alongside the pro-Western NDP and the Parti Québecois, increased the tension within Canada.
1995 and the unilateral declaration of independence by Quebec proved the final nail in the coffin ; increasing its gains in the 1996 early election and joining the government coalition, the Reform Party, led by Preston Manning, could only watch the breakdown of the negotiations with Quebec and the First Nations, the meltdown of the Canadian economy, and began contingency plans with Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow in order to draw the Western Provinces out of the quagmire. The quagmire came with the 1997 election that failed to produce a majority : after a referendum conducted in the Western Provinces without approval of Ottawa, Romanow, along with his colleagues from Alberta, Yukon and British Colombia, joined forces to proclaim the independence of the “Western Canadian Confederation on 25 November 1997, citing “the increasingly incoherent and autocratic policies of Ottawa” and “the free fall of the Canadian dollar that puts the situation of Western Canadians in jeopardy”. The new elections, one week later, allowed John Manley to lead a new coalition government in Ottawa, that accepted the independances of Quebec and the Western Confederation as a fait accompli, thereby acknowledging the existence of a new country.
Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party and considered as the new nation’s “founding father” became Prime Minister in the 1998 elections and took on nationbuilding until his retirement in 2007: the country took the name of Borealia in 1999 after a referendum, taking a flag inspired by the Nordic Nations in order to reflect the Borealians’ cultural heritage ; the country, deciding to remain in the Commonwealth and to keep the Queen of England as its monarch (a decision enterined by a referendum in 2007), also entered the Havana Treaty Organization and signed a free trade agreement with the United States, aligning the Borealian dollar on the American one and undertaking the building of a canal between the Saskatchewan River and Lake Superior, expected for completion for 2030. Now drawing closer to its 25th anniversary, the nation of Borealia is among the wealthiest of North America, a strategic ally of the United States and sort of a conservative mirror of the remaining Canada.
Political situation
According to its declaration of independence and its Constitution, Borealia is a confederation under a parliamentary and constitutional monarchy ; after independence, the country successfully applied to membership of the Commonwealth and continues to acknowledge Queen Anne II of England as its monarch, represented by a Governor-General, currently Russell Misraty. Inspired by the ideas of Preston Manning, Borealia’s second Prime Minister and “founding father”, the Constitution of Borealia is inspired by the former Constitution of Canada, the United States Constitution and has been described by Manning as “a Triple-E Constitution : elected, equal and effective”. The Prime Minister acts as the head of government and is the leader of the largest party or coalition in Parliament and remains responsible in front of both Houses. The 144-members House of Commons is the lower house of Parliament, elected nationwide for a four-year term, its members being proportionately appointed according to each province, while the 59 members of the Senate are elected in every province for six-year-terms, in separate elections. The Provinces, and their Premiers hold tremendous executive powers according to its Constitution, being virtually able to function separately from the confederal government and having power to have their own laws ; constitutional amendments or nationwide laws, either by parliamentary proposal or by popular initiatives are to be subjected to a referendum, as was the case for the choice between monarchy and republic in 2007. The judiciary system is inspired by English common law.
Apart from a Progressive-Green coalition from 2016 to 2020, the Reform Party, a conservative party, heavily inspired by neoliberal and objectivist ideas, founded by Preston Manning in the 1980s in Canada, has held power in Borealia during its whole existence. The current Prime Minister is Jason Kenney, former Premier of Alberta and former Minister of Defence, who led the Reform Party to a strong majority in the 2020 general election. The ecologist Green Party, heavily present in British Columbia, leads the Official Opposition.
Population and social situation
The seventh biggest country in the world, Borealia is also one of the least densely populated, caught between a continental and subarctic climate hinterland and a coast with a warm oceanic climate with British Columbia and Alberta forming the majority of the population, Vancouver serving as the largest metropolitan area ; Calgary, in Alberta, serves as the capital.
If Borealia had felt increasingly isolated from the rest of Canada, there is an increasing rift between the Prairie, politically conservative, scarcely populated by White Borealians along with First Nations (Saskatchewan has a sizeable Cree Party, representing the interests of the Aboriginals) and depending much on extensive farming and exploitation of natural resources, and British Columbia, very urban, enjoying a cosmopolitan melting pot and a large Chinese community, much more progressive and focused on the protection of the environment, handling much of his seats to the Green Party during elections. A secessionist party for British Columbia enjoys some influence. The neoliberal economic policies enacted by the Manning and Day governments took their toll on access to health care and education due to mass privatizations, with dysfunction observed from time to time, but women’s rights, access to equal pay, reproductive rights and ethnic minorities’ rights are still heavily enforced and is on the same level than the rest of former Canada.
Economy
Holding 13 % of world reserves of oil, 8 % of world reserves of uranium, and being one of the largest net exporters for agricultural products such as potash, wheat and oilseeds, Borealia is a naturally rich country, with the production of energy and agriculture being the dominant industries of the country, relying on its large web of pipelines along with Vancouver’s docks, making the latter one of the most important logistic centres in the world, nevertheless mostly at the expense of the environment, as was seen with the wildfire at Fort McMurray in Alberta in 2016. In keeping with the objectivist streak of the Reform Party, Borealia has followed a policy of mass privatizations for public sectors, giving a laissez-faire orientation to their economy ; this has increased concerns from experts for Borealia to be one day subjected to Dutch disease regarding their oil reserves, as other sectors are not as developed. Many also fear that this reliance on natural resources and trickle-down economics would only increase corruption and social inequalities.
Even if its geographic position allows Borealia to count China, Japan, Russia and Indochina among its trade partners, the number 1 partner of Borealia is their twice neighbour, the United States. Entering the Havana Treaty Organization and a free trade agreement with the USA as soon as the country became independent, the Borelian dollar is indexed directly to its American counterpart and most of its pipelines are connected to the United States, a link that will be further developed by the Saskatchewan-Lake Superior canal, a megaproject of its own heavily funded by the Borelian Confederation and the private sector. This economic dependency, along with cultural resemblance, have led many to call Borealia “the 56th state”, with some experts even forecasting the annexation of Borealia to the United States by 2050.
Military
A member of the Havana Treaty Organization, the World Council and of the Commonwealth, Borealia has converted most of its former Canadian military and law enforcement capacities into their own ones, such as the Royal Borealian Mounted Police, maintaining its traditions and ensuring the functionment of its Army, Navy and Air Force, participating in peacekeeping missions throughout the world. A sensible issue in Borealia has been its law enforcement, with the country, as a major power in the Western Hemisphere, being subjected to political and religious terrorism (2004 Vancouver international airport, 2014 Calgary car bomb attack) but also to organized crime activites from Russian, Chinese, Japanese or bikers’ gangs, engaging in corruption and drug trafficking, aligning itself on the United States for the War on Drugs. A growing concern has also been the amount of racial tensions against the Chinese Borealian community, that devastated downtown Vancouver in 2011 and 2020, most recently due to the Wuchang Pneumonia panic.
Culture
A young nation, Borealia wanted to stress its separate heritage on their flag, inspired by Scandinavian countries in order to point out their Nordic position (as the official name of the country, adopted in 1999, sums it up) and heritage of its inhabitants, with its colors reminding of England, Scotland and Ireland, along with the Polar Star, rainforest and ocean. It Borealia can be proud of its wild and magnificent landscapes, the country concentrates its cultural life in cosmopolitan Vancouver and has yet to find a cultural identity ; British Columbia is a very coveted filming location for Hollywood, and many Borealian celebrities (as actors, one could count Seth Rogen, Nathan Fillion and Kiefer Sutherland) made their career South, emphasizing even more Borealia’s lot as the “56th State” due to cultural interpenetration with the USA.
If a Borealian cultural identity is to be found, it would be in sports, as the country formed its own Hockey and Football leagues (interestingly, it still shares with Canada, Quebec and Newfoundland its soccer league) and Borealian sportsmen are always an attraction in Winter Olympic Games, collecting several events at each event since independence ; the Borealian Ministry of Sports put forward a candidacy for every Winter Olympics since independence, hoping one day to host the event.
What did the Greek far-right group target in their attack in Constantinople? Some mosque in Constantinople the Greeks allowed the Muslims to keep?
In 1994, after a referendum in favor of statehood conducted in 1991.
I don't know if I ever said that in the course of publication, but it's the Bourbon-Parmas, hailing from Xavier (OTL Carlist claimant), due to their relation to Empress Zita and their devout Catholicism. After a bitter Danubian War, having the Habsburgs was too much to swallow.
Another excellent update. I do, however, have one question: why is Borealia listed as a 'flawed democracy' on the World Democracy Index map? It seems like a proper democracy to me... Is it because of the dominance of the Reform Party?
Regardless, I quite enjoyed this one, so bravo.