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Very interesting, and anecdotally it matches historical examples of nomadic societies dominated by sedentary ones, like the Kyrgyz by the Tsarists, and why such people tend to suffer disproportionately by attempts to govern them according to sedentary rules. Though it’s still a bit of a...

One might assume that NASA has expanded LC-39, at least getting the OTL planned C-pad online. IOTL, LC-39A was getting close to a one-month turnaround on Shuttle flights in 1985. With three Florida pads, NASA could then fly Shuttle 36 times--or about every 10 days. With VAFB taking some of...

Tom Kratman writing a book about (presumably) a mission to keep Russia White. I almost want to read it just to see how badly he butchers history. We might be looking at the next "Watch on the Rhine."

Is the culture famous for the Samurai really lacking in aggression and masculinity IOTL? Most Jews and Arabs are also lactose intolerant, yet pastoralism did well among those people. Similarly, lactose tolerance among Europeans, IIRC, post-dated the domestication of cattle and horses among the...

Two big issues with that: how to move cryogenic fluids around in space (there have been many abortive schemes with magnets, surface tension, spin, etc., but none ever flew, and now SpaceX, and Boeing before them, seem to be settling on the simplest, though somewhat inefficient, method of using...

It's also very strongly against Poland's diplomatic interests to dismantle Ukraine like that. A stable anti-Russian Ukraine is more valuable to Poland than Lwow is. Funny you mention that time period: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/poland-and-the-sino-soviet-rift-1963-1965 Of...

IOTL some very far-right Zionists actually proposed to the Germans to do this—that Jewish militias in Palestine would rise up against the British if they arranged a mass migration of Jews to Palestine. Interwar Poland actually *did* have this as an official (though secret) program—arming Jewish...

We haven’t seen their displays, just their form factors—they might not really be more advanced than the OTL Grid Compass. Promo material says “Pathfinder” packs a nuclear propulsion system, explaining its supposed advancement.

Before the 7YW, Spain maintained a practice of freeing (and arming) slaves who fled the English colonies to Florida. If this policy continues in a Spanish Florida that borders the US into the 19th century (and a lot of the Spanish population fled to Cuba during the British occupation after the...

Look at Svalbard as a northern hemisphere prototype--whaling base, then coal mines. If sufficient mineral wealth in the Antarctic Peninsula is uncovered, those would be exploited by Chile and Argentina, or by multinational corporations. You could get a few thousand people living on the...

They also, IIRC, spoke Persian (or relatives thereof--predecessors to Urdu) at court. As others have said, a Carthage-wank is the most efficient way to prevent IE languages from booming out of Europe and to the New World. In a similar manner, an Umayyad or Abbasid blitz of France and Britain...

Now I'm imagining English but with the Cathtillian lithp superimposed onto it.

Yeah, with those engines and nose-mounted cannons, it's going to be so top-heavy that the only reason to have a tail wheel would be preventing tail strikes from overeager pilots pulling back too fast on takeoff.

If something like the Russian Civil War still happens, can an Ottoman Empire that stays out of the bigger war pick up chunks of the disintegrating Romanov Empire? Something like Enver Pasha's hijinks in Central Asia?

Izraeli military theorist and first female Defense Minister Hannah Arendt, introduction to one of her later works, The Soldier's Condition. Radicalized in her early 30s, Arendt would be an important figure in the militant Zionist movements that ultimately won independence for the Jewish State...

Nicely done on the most recent updates! Graphics are superb, as usual. Very nice turns of phrase there--"camping trip" and "cabin in the woods."

The opening credits of the first new episode mentioned an "N-3 rocket" from the Soviets, so they presumably have a rocket of 200+ tonne-to-LEO performance. Not quite a Sea Dragon, but quite capable of supporting a lunar surface base, if flown frequently.

Looking at Wikipedia, the Taipings' proposed reforms IOTL would have gone a long way toward strengthening China economically--railways, a patent system, banks, steamships, opening up the civil service exam to more applicants. Their military actions, including building foundries and emphasizing...

Covers modern US territory, sea to sea? Gonna be tough to do that without genocide, given the diversity that entails. Having it just on some territory of the OTL US is easier--the Iroquois are one of the best candidates for that.

The PLC survived for a long time with the veto, it must be remembered. IIRC, this was because of a certain extra-constitutional approach to it--a man who invoked it frivolously could face a duel (and thus death) from his neighbors. Only in the later 17th century and the 18th century did that...