February 1, 2005—In his inaugural address, President Hernandez promises that the Socialist Party will usher in, “…a new era, when everyone can live in the fullest economic and social security.”
Regarding foreign affairs, the new President is more circumspect. Although Hernandez promises to continue to pursue policies to strengthen the Council of the Western Hemisphere, promising to seek an eventual free trade agreement for all member states of the CWH. Pundits are quick to note that when Hernandez does discuss the deteriorating situation in the Ottoman Empire, he is far more vague on specific details. As Thomas Harry Johnson speculates, “…perhaps he [the President] wants to avoid getting painted into making a promise that he can not keep. All very well, but what will happen if we’re called on to act?”
February 14, 2005 onwards—At the Battlefield Jamboree, the new musical genre of Mento-Punk is first played for a broader US audience. Mento-Punk [26], as played by the Kingston-based band Four-by-Four, is influenced by several older genres, including Bossa nova, Fabrika-Punk, Hollywood Stomp, and perhaps most importantly, the Jamaican folk music known as Mento. At first identified by some critics as a sub-genre of US Bossa nova, it is not long before Mento-Punk is recognized as something new and special. Trevor Brooks notes in his 2007 history of American popular culture that Mento-Punk could be considered the American answer to Bossa nova or Fabrika-Punk.
Mento-Punk bands steadily gain in popularity throughout the rest of the decade, both in the United States and the rest of the world: the new musical genre becomes especially popular in Australia, Brazil, China, and Russia by the early 2010s.
March 25-September 25, 2005 onwards—At the Mumbai Exposition of Technology and Design, the recently knighted Sir Robert Bolton unveils the Marble Mk. V, a new desk combine that quickly makes the Intrigue Corporation’s pavilion one of the most popular displays at the world’s fair. As one anonymous German visitor writes in a letter to the
Frankfurter Zeitung, “…yet simply, we’re almost tempted to buy this machine just to display it on our bookshelf.” [27]
April 30, 2005 onwards—The Austro-Hungarian air force successfully tests the first Quiet Fighter, a military aircraft designed to be invisible to enemy y-ranging gear. [28]
The emergence of Quiet military technology (or “Quiet Tech” as it’s more commonly known) also occurs in Brazil and the United States during the second half of the 2000s. The original Austro-Hungarian design is later sold to the Bharatis, while the Chinese and the Russians are able to gain the American and Brazilian produced Quiet Tech. Quiet Tech fighters and bombers will later be used during the international responses to the Japanese Spring, Ottoman Dissolution, and the fall of the Galal Khan regime in Pakistan during the 2010s.
May 15, 2005 onwards—The epic science fiction film
Planet of the Flotsam premiers in the United States. Directed by Ella Nunez (in her first attempt at a science fiction setting), the film is inspired from several sources, including an unpublished 1981 short story by Gershom Kafka (
Your Winnings, Sir), the 1985 Szabolcsi and Tolmach Space Opera
The Cantina Band, and a Second Great War-era play by Lionel Black and Sam Cohen entitled
Santo Domingo. Nunez’s movie is something of a homage to US cinema from the Second Great War, with many scenes put in as homages to the classics of wartime cinema. Many critics note that the film incorporates elements from genres as diverse as the Low Life Wave, Space Opera, Techno-Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy. [29]
The film is an instant critical and financial smash-hit, eventually becoming the highest grossing film in motion picture history (as of 2005); it becomes the first film to make over one billion dollars, with most of its revenue coming from overseas viewings. Nunez’s epic is hailed as the first “Deluxe Film”—due to the important role that Deluxe theaters played in helping
Planet of the Flotsam with its massive box office haul. The film inspires three sequels:
Moon of the Villains (2008),
Star of the Harlequins (2011), and
Galaxy of the Smugglers (2014). Each film explores the wider in-film universe through a different segment of its stratified society.
July 14, 2005 onwards—In a grand series of ceremonies in Geneva, Switzerland, the first session of the International Security Council (ISC) is inaugurated.
The ISC’s goals, as articulated by First Secretary Radim Prazsky of Austria-Hungary, are to, “…provide an alternative to the terrifying spectacle of armed conflict between nation states.” The structure of the ISC is based on those of the Council of the Western Hemisphere and the European Community. The Security Council consists of representatives from all nation states, while the Second Council will consist of no more than fifteen nations, which will rotate on and off the SC in two year annual elections held in the Security Council. The First Secretary will be allowed to stand for two four-year terms, in a vote determined by the Security Council.
Finally, the Permanent members of the Second Council will have the right to veto resolutions, and will sit in on the Second Council on a permanent basis. The Permanent Members include the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Republic of Bharat, the Empire of Brazil, the Chinese Republic, the German Empire, the Russian Republic, and the United States of America.
Along with nation states, certain international bodies, including the International Health Organization, the International Refugee Organization, and the World Habitat Protection Agency are all invited to sit in on the Security Council (albeit as non-voting “observers”). Over the course of the twenty-first century, these groups use the ISC to bring severe problems to the agenda of the world community.
Not all nations accept the invitation to join the ISC: the Japanese Worker’s Republic, the Ottoman Empire, and Pakistan all refuse to join any international organization that could potentially subject them to greater international scrutiny. The Kingdom of Egypt, Sudan, and the Somali Republic use Abdul Hamid III’s technical status as their religious overlord to refrain from membership, at least for the time being.
In spite of the First Secretary’s urging of the new member states of the ISC to use its institutions to solve their disputes in “an independent and consensus building manner,” the Security Council quickly divides into voting blocs that reflect the complicated system of international alliances. These diplomatic realities will complicate the ISC’s responses to the Japanese Spring, the Ottoman Dissolution and the collapse of Pakistan’s militarist regime during the 2010s.
October 5, 2005 onwards—The Supreme Court holds its first hearing in the case of
United States of America v Jay Michelson et. al., a trial that quickly captures national attention.
The case, originating in late 2002, concerns Sioux City, Iowa high school seniors Jay Michelson, Pete Schiffer, and Amy Trommler, who refused to register for either the mandatory two years of military service or an alternative three years of national service. All three teenagers admit to being influenced by the Staccato movement’s hostility to either military conscription or governmental authority of any kind.
The Michelson Trial lasts for three weeks. Finally, on November 1, 2005, Chief Justice Alexander Strauss reads the majority opinion. In a 9-0 decision, the Court upholds the original guilty verdicts handed down both by the Iowa Supreme Court and the Eighth District Court of Appeals. Michelson, Schiffer, and Trommler are all sentenced to two years in prison for refusing either mandatory form of national service.
The Michelson Trial and later Decision plays a major role in fueling a major national backlash against the Staccato movement in the United States. The Democrats in particular begin to use the Staccato movement as a prime of example of what is wrong with American society.
October 8, 2005 onwards—An earthquake in Kashmir kills almost 80,000 people in both Bharat and Pakistan. International assistance is quick to pour into the region via the Bharati side. The Pakistanis, by contrast, refuse to allow any foreign assistance into the affected areas of their Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in keeping with the isolationist policies of the Khan dictatorship.
February 7, 2006—The US Congress, after over a year of consultation with the White House and the Department of Defense, enacts legislation allowing for women to serve in combat units. [30]
February 22, 2006-May 26, 2006 onwards—Emperor Amha Selassie II of Ethiopia announces, in an address to his nation’s House of the People, that his nation will go ahead with the construction of the Millennium Dam, on the Blue River Nile next to the Ethiopian border with Sudan.
The Emperor’s announcement creates a new international crisis. The Kingdom of Egypt denounces the Ethiopian plans as an affront to their ostensible control over the waters of the Nile River. The Egyptian government even goes so far as to threaten war if the Ethiopians do not back down from their proposed project.
The Millennium Dam crisis [31] is notable as the first act of successful meditation by the new International Security Council. Throughout the winter and spring of 2006, First Secretary Praszky personally overseas ISC-sanctioned negotiations between the Egyptians and the Ethiopians. Finally, on May 26, 2006, the Egyptians announce that they have dropped their objections to Addis Ababa’s plans. This causes a massive amount of anti-Ethiopian rioting throughout Egypt, which forces the closure of the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo.
Brazilian reporter Carlos Henriques will later reveal, in a 2016 book on the crisis, that a significant factor behind the Egyptians backing down from their objections was the th
March 25-September 25, 2005 onwards—At the Mumbai Exposition of Technology and Design, the recently knighted Sir Robert Bolton unveils the Marble Mk. V, a new desk combine that quickly makes the Intrigue Corporation’s pavilion one of the most popular displays at the world’s fair. As one anonymous German visitor writes in a letter to the
Frankfurter Zeitung, “…yet simply, we’re almost tempted to buy this machine just to display it on our bookshelf.” [27]
April 30, 2005 onwards—The Austro-Hungarian air force successfully tests the first Quiet Fighter, a military aircraft designed to be invisible to enemy radar. [28]
The emergence of Quiet military technology (or “Quiet Tech” as it’s more commonly known) also occurs in Brazil and the United States during the second half of the 2000s. The original Austro-Hungarian design is later sold to the Bharatis, while the Chinese and the Russians are able to gain the American and Brazilian produced Quiet Tech. Quiet Tech fighters and bombers will later be used during the international responses to the Japanese Spring, Ottoman Dissolution, and the fall of the Galal Khan regime in Pakistan during the 2010s.
May 15, 2005 onwards—The epic science fiction film
Planet of the Flotsam premiers in the United States. Directed by Ella Nunez (in her first attempt at a science fiction setting), the film is inspired from several sources, including an unpublished short story by Gershom Kafka, the Space Opera
The Cantina Band, and a Second Great War-era play by Lionel Black and Sam Cohen entitled
Your Winnings, Sir. Nunez’s movie is something of a homage to US cinema from the Second Great War, with many scenes put in as homages to the classics of wartime cinema. Many critics note that the film incorporates elements from genres as diverse as the Low Life Wave, Space Opera, Techno-Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy. [29]
The film is an instant critical and financial smash-hit, eventually becoming the highest grossing film in motion picture history (as of 2005); it becomes the first film to make over one billion dollars, with most of its revenue coming from overseas viewings. Nunez’s epic is hailed as the first “Deluxe Film”—due to the important role that Deluxe theaters played in helping
Planet of the Flotsam with its massive box office haul. The film inspires three sequels:
Moon of the Villains (2008),
Star of the Harlequins (2011), and
Galaxies of the Smugglers (2014). Each film explores the wider in-film universe through a different segment of its stratified society.
July 14, 2005 onwards—In a grand series of ceremonies in Geneva, Switzerland, the first session of the International Security Council (ISC) is inaugurated.
The ISC’s goals, as articulated by First Secretary Radim Prazsky of Austria-Hungary, are to, “…provide an alternative to the terrifying spectacle of armed conflict between nation states.” The structure of the ISC is based on those of the Council of the Western Hemisphere and the European Community. The Security Council consists of representatives from all nation states, while the Second Council will consist of no more than fifteen nations, which will rotate on and off the SC in two year annual elections held in the Security Council. The First Secretary will be allowed to stand for two four-year terms, in a vote determined by the Security Council.
Finally, the Permanent members of the Second Council will have the right to veto resolutions, and will sit in on the Second Council on a permanent basis. The Permanent Members include the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Republic of Bharat, the Empire of Brazil, the Chinese Republic, the German Empire, the Russian Republic, and the United States of America.
Along with nation states, certain international bodies, including the International Health Organization, the International Refugee Organization, and the World Habitat Protection Agency are all invited to sit in on the Security Council (albeit as non-voting “observers”). Over the course of the twenty-first century, these groups use the ISC to bring severe problems to the agenda of the world community.
Not all nations accept the invitation to join the ISC: the Japanese Worker’s Republic, the Ottoman Empire, and Pakistan all refuse to join any international organization that could potentially subject them to greater international scrutiny. The Kingdom of Egypt, Sudan, and the Somali Republic use Abdul Hamid III’s technical status as their religious overlord to refrain from membership, at least for the time being.
In spite of the First Secretary’s urging of the new member states of the ISC to use its institutions to solve their disputes in “an independent and consensus building manner,” the Security Council quickly divides into voting blocs that reflect the complicated system of international alliances. These diplomatic realities will complicate the ISC’s responses to the Japanese Spring, the Ottoman Dissolution and the collapse of Pakistan’s militarist regime during the 2010s.
October 5, 2005 onwards—The Supreme Court holds its first hearing in the case of
United States of America v Jay Michelson et. al., a trial that quickly captures national attention.
The case, originating in late 2002, concerns Sioux City, Iowa high school seniors Jay Michelson, Pete Schiffer, and Amy Trommler, who refused to register for either the mandatory two years of military service or an alternative three years of national service. All three teenagers admit to being influenced by the Staccato movement’s hostility to either military conscription or governmental authority of any kind.
The Michelson Trial lasts for three weeks. Finally, on November 1, 2005, Chief Justice Alexander Strauss reads the majority opinion. In a 9-0 decision, the Court upholds the original guilty verdicts handed down both by the Iowa Supreme Court and the Eighth District Court of Appeals. Michelson, Schiffer, and Trommler are all sentenced to two years in prison for refusing either mandatory form of national service.
The Michelson Trial and later Decision plays a major role in fueling a major national backlash against the Staccato movement in the United States. The Democrats in particular begin to use the Staccato movement as a prime of example of what is wrong with American society.
October 8, 2005 onwards—An earthquake in Kashmir kills almost 80,000 people in both Bharat and Pakistan. International assistance is quick to pour into the region via the Bharati side. The Pakistanis, by contrast, refuse to allow any foreign assistance into the affected areas of their Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in keeping with the isolationist policies of the Khan dictatorship.
February 7, 2006—The US Congress, after over a year of consultation with the White House and the Department of Defense, enacts legislation allowing for women to serve in combat units. [30]
February 22, 2006-May 26, 2006 onwards—Emperor Amha Selassie II of Ethiopia announces, in an address to his nation’s House of the People, that his nation will go ahead with the construction of the Millennium Dam, on the Blue River Nile next to the Ethiopian border with Sudan.
The Emperor’s announcement creates a new international crisis. The Kingdom of Egypt denounces the Ethiopian plans as an affront to their ostensible control over the waters of the Nile River. The Egyptian government even goes so far as to threaten war if the Ethiopians do not back down from their proposed project.
The Millennium Dam crisis [31] is notable as the first act of successful meditation by the new International Security Council. Throughout the winter and spring of 2006, First Secretary Praszky personally overseas ISC-sanctioned negotiations between the Egyptians and the Ethiopians. Finally, on May 26, 2006, the Egyptians announce that they have dropped their objections to Addis Ababa’s plans. This causes a massive amount of anti-Ethiopian rioting throughout Egypt, which forces the closure of the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo.
Brazilian reporter Carlos Henriques will later reveal, in a 2016 book on the crisis, that a significant factor behind the Egyptians backing down from their objections was the threat of sanctions from the European Community, along with the Bharati promise to enter into any war on Ethiopia’s side.
April 22, 2006 onwards—The Liberty Space Agency launches the
Percival Lowell into orbit. The orbital telescope’s stated mission is to facilitate the discovery of new “exoplanets,” particularly those that have a greater chance of containing life. All discoveries made by the
Percival Lowell will be shared by other space agencies. In 2014, the European Space Combine, in its first major collaboration with the Bharati Ministry of Science and Exploration, will compliment the
Percival Lowell’s mission with the launching of its own planet-seeking telescope, the
Giordano Bruno. [32]
May 1, 2006 onwards—A massive uprising begins in Popular Rehabilitation Camp Number Seven, in the remote reaches of District Three
[OTL Aomori Prefecture, in the Japanese Worker’s Republic. The uprising, sparked by the cruelty of the guards, and a reduction in the prisoner’s rations, is put down with extreme brutality.
The first such uprising in the history of the JWR, the “Popular Rehabilitation Incident” (as the authorities refer to it amongst themselves), is far from the last. Even as the Himura regime expands the camp network to confine the growing number of dissidents (real or imagined), revolts continue to erupt throughout the Popular Rehabilitative Network up until the eve of the Japanese Spring.
May 7-May 14, 2006 onwards—Over the course of seven days, the Siege for Jerusalem is brought to an end with the relief of the city’s Mizrachi Jewish defenders by an army of
Shomrim arriving from the Ir Avraham enclave.
The assault, commanded by Amos Chelouche [33], takes the Golden Wolves by surprise, a shock compounded by the successful assassination of carried out during the nighttime assault on their main camp of their frontline Zeki Sadik (coordinated by the
Shomrim's Intra-Net advisors). The
Shomrim, with assistance from their Intra-Net liaisons, succeeded in fooling the Golden Wolves into anticipating a planned attack on their front lines from the defenders within the Old City itself. Already demoralized by almost three years of inconclusive fighting, many of the Golden Wolves’ ordinary foot soldiers desert upon hearing of their commander’s death. The Mizrachi victory in the Battle of Jerusalem leads to jubilation amongst the city’s beleaguered defenders. It is also a deep shock to Abdul Hamid, who had personally approved of Macar’s plans to systematically destroy the city’s Christian and Jewish inhabitants. The Battle of Jerusalem proves to be a crucial turning point in determining the fate of the Ottoman Empire. Other militias, learning of the defeat of the Golden Wolves and other government forces at the city, radicalize in terms of their long-term goals. As Adeela Vivekananda later records in his diary, on the evening of January 9,
Tomorrow should prove terrifying.
Rifat Macar is enraged upon hearing of the defeat in Jerusalem, but also cannot send more of his soldiers to the Sanjak without gravely weakening his frontline positions against the Mosul Action Front. Macar now begins to turn against Abdul Hamid III, blaming the monarch for the failures to stamp out enemy militias thus far. Macar, in fact, begins to imagine himself having acquired the sultanate from the current monarch, believing that only he can save the empire from its internal foes. Beginning in the spring of 2006, he begins to make tentative contacts with his allies in the Secret Organization, although it will not be until early 2010 that he feels confidant enough to make his move.
From the spring of 2006 until the winter of 2009, the
Shomrim, now largely re-organized as a military force capable of waging offensive operations, begins a campaign to drive the Golden Wolves and their allied militias out of the Sanjak of Jerusalem. However, it will not be until the early months of 2010 when the leadership of the movement feels confident enough to declare independence from the Ottoman Empire.
September 20, 2006 onwards—Rodrigo Soler’s CGF-film
Symphony in Starlight opens in Berlin, New York City, and Vienna. The film is the first of its kind: except for some brief interludes from an animated conductor (voiced by real-life Austro-Hungarian composer and conductor Shmuel Batushansky), the film consists entirely of images and figures moving to music. The range of music is considerable: Soler includes Bossa nova, classical, Fabrika-Punk, stomp, swing, and tinpan tunes in his film.
The movie proves to be a massive international success. Soler announces at the conclusion of the Vienna premier that Blue Moon Productions will henceforth be producing a new
Symphony in Starlight film every two to three years, with new music rotating on to replace the songs of the previous one. The “Starlight Symphony” films become some of the most anticipated movies throughout the world, especially amongst music devotees. [34]
November 7, 2006—In the United States Congressional Midterm elections, the Democrats have their first good election night since 1992, capturing a large number of seats from both parties, particularly from the Republicans in the Upper South and Ohio. Pundits from across the political spectrum are quick to credit the Democrats’ new chairman, former Congressman Bud House of Pennsylvania, for the party’s seemingly newfound purpose. House promises reporters that the Democrats will make a far better showing in the 2008 presidential elections than in the 2004 contest.
February 2, 2007 onwards—In the Russian presidential elections, the Socialist Party, led by Yefim Teplov triumph over the Justice and Development Party. Russian and international observers are quick to note that the Socialists benefited from their alliance with the Ecoists, with one journalist writing that, “…the two of them [Teplov and Orlova] campaigned as though they belonged to the same party.”
In his victory speech, Teplov promises that his government will have a place in it for all of Russia’s four main parties. With a nod to his Ecoist allies, Teplov promises that his administration will lead to, “…a green restoration for our republic, for the benefit and security of everyone.” Within days, Teplov announces that Orlova will be his choice to head the Interior Ministry, which possesses jurisdiction over wilderness areas.
Teplov, however, also states that some of the Justice and Prosperity Party’s policies will be continued, especially former President Rebikov’s hawkish policies towards the Ottoman Empire.
July 1-July 10, 2007 onwards—The West Philadelphia Riots erupt when Lan Powers, a member of the Crimson Knuckles gang, is shot and killed in the midst of an attempted robbery of a closed newsstand by Matthias Olembe, the establishment’s owner. A jury later acquits Olembe, an immigrant from Kamerun, on the basis of self-defense.
The Crimson Knuckles, a roundhead gang based in West Philadelphia’s sizable Dixieland, uses Powers’s death as an excuse for mayhem. Already notorious for their brutal attacks against the African and South Asian immigrants who live on the boundaries of their neighborhood, the Crimson Knuckles, joined by allied roundhead gangs and tagalong juvenile delinquents of other stripes, begin a massive coordinated attack on immigrant-owned businesses (and immigrants themselves) on the boundaries between West Philadelphia’s Dixieland and the majority-immigrant neighborhoods adjoining them.
Contemporary journalists and later historians are almost unanimous in blaming the length and severity of the West Philadelphia Riots on the abysmal response by the city’s first-term mayor, James Coulter Grimes, who attempts to downplay the initial disturbances for fear of disrupting the planned Fourth of July in the city. By July 4, the rioters have caused tens of millions of dollars in damage; Mayor Grimes then abruptly changes track, and orders the police department to halt the disturbances at all cost. The unprepared policemen struggle against the rioters for another three days before the Dixieland is finally brought under control by July 10. [35]
The West Philadelphia Riots have lasting national consequences. Americans from across the political spectrum are shocked and appalled by the damage and scope of the disturbances. Some pessimistic observers wonder how successful their country has been at moving beyond the specter of racial hatred.
Politically, the Democrats, long in the national political wilderness, benefit the most in the long-term from the Riots. Across the country, the Democrats now portray themselves as the only part capable of bringing gang activity and juvenile delinquency in general under control. In Philadelphia, Mayor Grimes declines to seek reelection; the Democrats recapture the mayoralty in the next election.
Another outcome of the Riots is a further rise in the political profile of Alfred Astaire [36], the long-time Secretary of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation. Astaire, an appointee of President DeFrancis, first gained national prominence for his leading role in the investigation of Vice President Kent; on July 30, 2007, Astaire, in a press conference attended by Attorney General Rolland Caldwell and Vice President York, announces that the BI will spearhead a national crackdown, “…on the epidemic of cold-blooded violence, no matter where it may be based.”
Over the next three years, the BI, in coordination with various metropolitan police departments, begins a systematic crackdown of street gangs, with a particular emphasis on those believe to be roundheads. The BI and the different police agencies utilize laws dating back to the early twentieth century enhancing police powers targeting targets deemed a present danger to domestic security. This crackdown is later known both by historians and the public at large as the “Astaire Dragnet.”
Some speculate that Astaire will use the incipient crackdown as a stepping-stone to higher political office in the 2008 elections. For the time being, Secretary Astaire denies his interest in the upcoming national contest. However, he refuses to categorically state that he is uninterested in seeking higher office in the future. Democratic Party Chairman Bud House tries to recruit Astaire to the 2008 election, only to be rebuffed for the time being.
July 29, 2007 onwards—The first Originalist film,
Bocce premiers in Rome. Directed by Roberta Goretti, the film is a radical departure from most films released in Italy (and throughout most of Europe and the United States) prior to this time; among other conventions, the film’s characters never speak in either the past or the present tense [37]; dream sequences are scattered throughout the film, interspersed with “reality.” Nominally about a group of men playing Bocce, the film quickly transforms into a bizarre, almost Surrealist version of the imagination.
A former adherent of the Staccato movement, Goretti calls on filmmakers around the world to only, “…create original works, deriving from nothing but our own dreams” (as she writes in her autobiography, published in 2009 in English as
Our Gloriousness. Goretti’s film proves to be the spark for the Originalist film movement, a school of filmmaking that becomes popular in Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Romania, and the United Kingdom. In their obsession at creating the most radical storylines free of all derived sources, Originalist directors also refuse to produce sequels their works. Originalist films remain popular in many European nations until the late 2010s.
September 5, 2007 onwards—At a press conference in Vienna, a spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Information announces that a team led by Dr. Radan Jedlicka and Dr. Malina Tomko has successfully cloned a mammal for a first time. The animal in question, a cow named “Hugo” by his creators, represents an important milestone in the history of genetics. [38]
The Restorationist wing of the Ecoist movement also pays close attention to the cloning of Hugo. Sarafima Orlova expresses her hopes in an October, 2007 interview that one day cloning will allow for the establishment of Ice Age megafauna within the Russian Republic.
December, 2007 onwards—The first robotic probe, the
Rover arrives on Mars. Launched by the Liberty Space Agency, one of the primary functions of the
Rover is to scout out possible locations for the future LSA manned mission to Mars. [39]
January 1-November 4, 2008 onwards—The US presidential elections of 2008 are the most fiercely contested since 1996. The Democrats, newly energized by their 2006 victories and having seized upon crime and gang violence as a primary issue, run on a campaign of law and order, eventually nominating Governor Arthur Valenti of New York as their candidate. Valenti runs on his record of being tough-on-crime, and especially on, “…measures [my] administration took to prevent an urban explosion similar to the storm that ravaged Philadelphia,” as he remarks in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Socialists in turn run President Hernandez as a successful anti-crime crusader, as the prime motivator behind the Astaire Dragnet.
Although they lead at several points in the race, the Democrats are still affected by structural weaknesses related to their long years in the wilderness. In particular, Valenti is hurt in the long-term by his almost single-minded focus on crime during the campaign, leaving himself open to Socialist attacks that he has been exploiting the West Philadelphia Riots for personal gain. As Thomas Harry Johnson bitterly notes in the aftermath of the election, “…I suppose crime doesn’t pay as an issue for presidential candidates either.”
The Republicans nominate Governor Fergus Sloane of Ohio, a centrist with a record of successfully guiding his state through the painful re-adjustments to de-industrialization. However, Slone fails to get much of a say in the election, as the media and the public at large remains focused on the increasingly personal contest between Governor Valenti and President Hernandez.
February 12-February 28, 2008—The Winter Olympic Games are held in Milan, Italy.
May 12, 2008 onwards—A massive earthquake devastates China’s Sichuan province and causes severe damage in the city of Chengdu, killing over 65,000 people. Massive assistance pours into the region from the rest of China and from overseas; the Russian Republic and the United States are the largest contributors in humanitarian assistance in responding to this natural disaster.
June 20, 2008 onwards—Elongi Records is incorporated in Wilhelmsville, Congo. The new record label, founded by bothers Aymar and Klaus U Tam’si, will play a crucial role in bringing singers from the Congolese Federation to play in the European Community, especially in the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires. Within two years, ER has opened offices in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna.
The U Tam’si brothers’ primary goal is to bring Congolese music to the attention of world audiences. Later, in the 2010s, Elongi Records branches opens offices throughout the African member states of the German Economic Association, advertising themselves as one of the most important conduits for different regional music to be played overseas.
July 10, 2008 onwards—Carlos Henriques publishes
Shades of Washington, a comprehensive history of the Organization of Strategic Services. The book details the development of the OSS since the end of the Second Great War, including its espionage activities against the Empire of Japan’s atomic program, its secret war against Confederate war criminals, and its creation of an assassination arm, the Bayonets, to execute justice against those enemies of America who cannot stand trial in a court of law.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation that Henriques’s makes is that it was the OSS was responsible for the assassination of Colonel Nuray Karga, the founder of the Golden Wolves, in February of 1987. Although the OSS and the White House strongly deny the charge, it’s enough for Sultan Abdul Hamid to order all American aid workers out of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the closing of the US embassy and consulates.
August 8-August 24, 2008—The summer Olympic Games are held in New Delhi, Bharat. It is the first Olympiad to be hosted by Bharat, and the Games are used by the Bharatis to advertise their status as a major power and the center of the Chennai Pact. Both the Ottoman Empire and Pakistan refuse to send to teams to compete in the sporting mega-event, signifying how tense diplomatic relations remains between the three powers.
November 4, 2008 onwards—In the US presidential elections, the Socialists manage to hold the White House, with President Hernandez emerging victorious over Governor Valenti of New York and Governor Sloane of Ohio. Most pundits credit the President for running a tightly controlled and competent campaign against his rivals, and for the Democrats’ over-reliance on crime as an issue during the election.
The Republicans remain bitter at finishing a dismal third place in a relatively close electoral contest. The Democrats, furious at losing a “winnable” election, dispose Bud House as their national chairman, although the party will later use him to recruit BI Secretary Astaire as the Democratic nominee for the 2012 elections.
January 30, 2009 onwards—The Difference Engine comes online for the first time. The combo-site, conceived by Yale undergraduates Sol Temkin and Allan Wu, is initially meant as a database for Yale students to communicate and “friend” each other. Within a year of its launch, however, the Difference Engine quickly expands beyond the scope of its original purpose. Within seven years of its launch, the DF has well over eight hundred million users spread across every continent in the world. [40]
Temkin and Wu both surprise the business world by turning down the initial offers by the Big Three to buy them out. Instead, the DF becomes the first company to seriously challenge the dominance of the three massive conglomerates. In particular, Temkin and Wu use the DF to break into the growing market for combine-games; in 2015, “The Difference Engine” also becomes the title of a combine game that can be accessed through the original DF site, a game that heavily borrows from the many worlds of spec-fiction and American Fantasy.
February 1, 2009 onwards—In his second inaugural address, President Hernandez promises to keep the United States on an, “…endlessly steady path to prosperity and opportunity for all, in the face of those in our nation who embrace a culture of violence over a culture of life.” Hernandez promises that his administration will work tirelessly to end, “…any and all social factors that allow for the emergence of rampant criminality.”
Hernandez also re-iterates his earlier condemnation of the attempts by Sultan Abdul Hamid to halt the international assistance given to refugees in his realm, warning the sultan that, “…our nation has no tolerance for those who deliberately destabilize the international community for their own depraved gains.” Many pundits speculate on whether or not the president’s rhetoric will herald concrete policies aimed at putting the United States on the footing necessary to intervene in the collapsing empire. President Hernandez does qualify his remarks, however, in stating that the United States will only intervene under the auspices of, “…an international force,” suggesting that the United States will only conduct such an operation in cooperation with its allies in the CDS, the CWH, and the International Security Council.
May 7, 2009 onwards—The European Space Combine announces that upon the completion of the launch facilities of Reck-Malleczewen Hafen, the ESC will use its lunar base as a means to launch a series of robotic probes to explore the surface of the Jovian moon of Europa, where scientists suspect that an ocean exists that could contain extraterrestrial life.
September 9, 2009 onwards—
Engineering Time is published in the United States. Written by Greg Bliss, it proves to be his final novel of spec fiction set in an alternate Confederacy. Bliss states at the press conference launching the novel that he will no longer use the Confederacy as a setting for his stories. When asked why by reporters, he simply responds, “…I intend to move on to less explored historical settings.” [41]
December 1-December 21, 2009 onwards—In Washington, D.C., representatives from Australia, Biafra, Bengal, Bharat, Great Zimbabwe, Haiti, Hyderabad, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Liberia, Oyo, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Texas, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and West Papua meet under the invitation of the US Department of Education to hammer out an educational accord similar to that of similar agreements between the world’s French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish language-majority nations.
The result of the “Educational Summit” is the creation of the William Shakespeare Forum, a new institution designed to popularize the study of the English language. Under the terms of the agreement, students from all signatory nations will be eligible for scholarships to study English across in nations that are a member of the agreement. The most talented students from non-English speaking nations will also be eligible to compete for scholarships for the same purposes.
Speaking to the assembled delegates on the last day of the Summit, President Hernandez states, “…all of our nations have more in common than the prevalence of the same language, and an adherence to the rule of law. Each of our countries, in different ways and at different times, has been forced to comprehend the horrors and traumas of gruesome centuries: centuries marked by economic inequality, political repression, societal violence, and war. One of the results I hope from this Forum, if nothing else, is setting an example for the generations that follow ours that it is possible to work together for a better present and future. Whatever the challenges ahead on our world stage, they are challenges that affect us all, and they are challenges that can only be overcome through working together.”
[42]
* * *
[1]
[In term “roundhead” is synonymous with the OTL word "skinhead".]
[2]
[The Liberty Trilogy is analogous in themes and scope to the "Three Colors Trilogy" from our world (which was directed by Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, although Kieślowski’s films dealt with themes through the prism of the colors of the French flag, and by extension the French national ideals of liberty, equality, and brotherhood.]
[3]
The Brazilian favelas of TTL are more analogous to the French banlieuesbanilieues of our world.]
[4]
Vasily Bunin is an ATL descendent of the OTL Russian writer Ivan BuninIvan Bunin. Cavalry to the Stars
is broadly similar, in scope and in its themes, to James Cameron’s 2009 science fiction film Avatar although Bunin’s work arguably has more in the way of shades of grey in its characterizations than Cameron’s work].
[5]
[“Bijav” is the Romani word for wedding. It is also the name of asong by Serbian composer and singer Goran Bregović. Bregović’s OTL song is analogous to the tune and pacing of most Fabrika-Punk songs from TTL, especially those from Austria-Hungary.]
[6]
["Small Theater" in TTL is the equivalent to our world's Off-Broadway theater.]
[7]
[In our world, the "Golden Age of Arcade video games" is generally believed to have been from approximately the late 1970s through the mid 1980s.]
[8]
[ Mähdrescher Kino is analogous to digital cinematography which started to be used in our world beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although it was not until the early 2000s that it became widespread.]
[9]
[Thanks to Petike for suggesting the name “desk combine.” TTL’s desk combines are analogous to our world’s personal computers.]
[10]
[ Quartermaster Corps
is similar in its formatting, pacing, and style to a number of movies from our world, including Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs and 1994 film Pulp Fiction, Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film Goodfellas and Guy Ritchie’s 2000 film Snatch.
]
[11]
[TTL’s 2000 heat wave is similar to the 2003 heat wavethat devastated Europe in our world.]
[12]
[In our world, the Bakken formation was not exploited on a large scale until the early 2010s.]
[13]
[One of the major rewildingproposals from our world is Russia's planned Pleistocene Park.]
[14]
[I borrowed the term “Long Drum Roll” from Dixie-, a setting from the game GURPS Infinite Worlds—in that world, it describes the cold war between the United States and a victorious Confederate States.]
[15]
[The OPEN of TTL is analogous to the function of our world’s OPEC.]
[16]
[ “Gelem, gelem” is Romani for “I went, I went.” In our world, it became the title of the Romani anthem. TTL’s International Romani Congress is analogous to our world’s World Romani Congress, which was established in 1971 IOTL.]
[17]
[TTL’s Amitié Program is analogous to our world’s Birthright program, which brings young Jewish adults on free ten day trips to Israel.]
[18]
[ Beasts of America
is analogous, especially in its tone, to George Orwell’s novella Animal Farm.
Unlike Orwell’s work, large portions of Beasts of America
were drawn from American tall tales, albeit with far more sinister endings.]
[19]
[The Panopticon (not to be confused with our world's usageof term) of TTL is this ATL’s equivalent to our world’s Google, which was first developed in 1996.]
[20]
[ The Further Adventures of Don Quixote
closely resembles, in terms of its plot and tone, that of Terry Gilliam’s attempted 2000 film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote[/I]. In terms of animation quality, Soler’s film is analogous to Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon’s 1999 film[/I]
Toy Story 2.
Blue Moon Productions is analogous to our world’s Pixar Animation Studios.
On a side note, in TTL animation is a medium that is primarily marketed towards adults, rather than children.]
[21]
[This is similar to an alleged quote in our world from Konstantin Pobedonostsev, the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod regarding the Jews of the Russian Empire.]
[22]
[For an idea of the horrors inherit in the Sieges undertaken by the Golden Wolves in TTL, see here regarding the 1992-1996 Siege of Sarajevo. The horrific violence spreading throughout the Ottoman Empire in TTL’s 2000s is similar to that of the Syrian Civil War currently being waged in our world.]
[23]
[In its plot and tone, The Butcher Clowns
is similar to that of John Huston’s 1950 film The Asphalt Jungle and Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 film The Killing.
]
[24]
[ Chronicle of 1.21 Gigawatts
and its sequels are similar to our world’s Back to the Future Trilogy.
However, its setting and outcome are far bleaker than our world’s films. It concerns a history student who goes mad in his repeated attempts to go back in time to stop the 1967 Tsitsihar Massacre.]
[25]
[For an idea of the plot and tone of Friendly Crustaceans[/I] imagine if [/I]
The Hunt for Red October had been a joint effort between Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling. Techno-Fantasy as a genre is analogous to our world’s Techno-thriller genre, though with more in the way of fantastical elements, such as magic or time travel.]
[26]
[Mento-Punk is broadly similar to our world’s Mento Jamaican folk music. ]
[27]
[The Marble Mk. V is analogous to our world’s iMac G3.]
[28]
[TTL’s Quiet Fighter is analogous to our world’s F-117 Nighthawk.]
[29]
[For an idea of the scope and tone of Planet of the Flotsam
and its sequels, imagine the 1942 Michael Curtiz film Casablanca updated for George Lucas’s 1977 science fiction epic Star Wars.
]
[30]
[In our world, the ban on women serving in combat roles in the US military was not overturned until 2013. For more information, see here.]
[31]
As of 2013, a project of this nature is currently the source of a similar between Egypt and Ethiopia in our world.]
[32]
[Both the LSA and ESC space telescopes in TTL are analogous to our world’s planned Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).]
[33]
[Amos Chelouche is an ATL descendent of Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche, one of the founders of Tel Aviv.]
[34]
[ Symphony in Starlight
is analogous to the OTL Disney animated musical films Fantasia
and Fantasia 2000.
]
[On a side note, the term “tinpan” is the equivalent word to our world’s “jazz.” In TTL, with less influence from Southern African-American musicians, the genre that became the closest equivalent to our world’s jazz was more closely influenced by the musical output of Tin Pan Alley, among other sources.
[35]
[The devastation cased West Philadelphia Riots of TTL is most closely analogous to that caused by the 2011 riots in England riots, especially in London.]
[36]
[Alfred Astaire is an ATL descendent of our world’s actor, dancer, and singer Fred Astaire.]
[37]
[The closest equivalent to the structure of the dialogue of Bocce
from our world would likely be that of the dialogue from the works of Damon Runyon.]
[38] [In our world, the first mammal to be cloned successfully was Dolly, a sheep cloned in 1996.]
[39] [The Rover of TTL is analogous to our world’s [/I]
Opportunity rover.]
[40]
[The Difference Engine is TTL’s closest equivalent to our world’s Facebook, although it also comes to double as a gaming website not unlike the content provided by games such as World of Warcraft. I borrowed the name “The Difference Engine” from the title of the 1990 novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, which is generally considered to be the world’s first steampunk novel.]
[41]
[Engineering Time is analogous in its plot to the novella Closely Observed Trains by Bohumil Hrabal(later made into a famous 1966 Czechoslovak film by Jiří Menzel), although Bliss’s writing is far more cynical and bleak than Hrabal’s.]
[42] [This song is from the 1995 Richard Loncraine film Richard III.]