A Giant Sucking Sound: a President Perot TL
- Thread starter MaskedPickle
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Falkenburg
Monthly Donor
This pot is simmering along nicely. 
Just when things seem to be being brought under control, rumblings of an even greater eruption begin to gather strength.
Oh dear, Oh dear.
Falkenburg
<Sings, off-key, There may be trouble ahead..>
Just when things seem to be being brought under control, rumblings of an even greater eruption begin to gather strength.
Oh dear, Oh dear.
Falkenburg
<Sings, off-key, There may be trouble ahead..>
Constantinople
Banned
Maybe...maybe you could have Japan do BETTER out of all of this? Reform their economy earlier, maybe get their birthrate up (its gone up after the tsunami OTL) Maybe stay 2nd largest economy more? Please, pretty please?
Please, pretty please?Orville_third
Banned
What will be the reaction in Washington if they find out that Kamil reported the WMDs were destroyed? Will Woolsey be forced out?
One wonders if Scott Ritter will be chosen for a new role now- and what will happen if he gets in trouble as OTL...
Will the Kurds fare better or worse?
Too bad Jackson got out. (My city would be in the spotlight between Jackson and Campbell running.)
One wonders if Scott Ritter will be chosen for a new role now- and what will happen if he gets in trouble as OTL...
Will the Kurds fare better or worse?
Too bad Jackson got out. (My city would be in the spotlight between Jackson and Campbell running.)
Are you Japanese or a Nipponophile? We seem to share a fondness for our state and Japan.Maybe...maybe you could have Japan do BETTER out of all of this? Reform their economy earlier, maybe get their birthrate up (its gone up after the tsunami OTL) Maybe stay 2nd largest economy more?
Wow! I knew everything could be bought in Eltsin's Russia if you had enough vodka for ol' Boris but I thought nuclear weapons were a little off-limits even for the new, "liberal", Federation! Or was it stolen/secretly traded? Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I really can't understand the dynamic (hm...thinking about it, I wonder how the Russians will be treated during START III: even if the Bomb were stolen, thousands of people died because of their negligence).
Thanks for your kind words. Maybe, in the future...
Anyway, lukedalton, I'm unsure a Northern League still in its pre-1994 form (i.e. more a folkloristic grassroots movement than a possible government party) without any substantial national media coverage for his high-ranking members can really capitalise on increased immigration, and Fini, while a neo-Fascist, has always been too much of a moderate to try getting votes using xenophobia. Now, if the latter were ousted from the position of leader... but it could very well lead to a split of AN between Loyalists and the New Wave and then the Right would really be screwed.
Thanks for your kind words. Maybe, in the future...
Anyway, lukedalton, I'm unsure a Northern League still in its pre-1994 form (i.e. more a folkloristic grassroots movement than a possible government party) without any substantial national media coverage for his high-ranking members can really capitalise on increased immigration, and Fini, while a neo-Fascist, has always been too much of a moderate to try getting votes using xenophobia. Now, if the latter were ousted from the position of leader... but it could very well lead to a split of AN between Loyalists and the New Wave and then the Right would really be screwed.
For Fini using immigration for political reason, well yes is a moderate but the lost election and some due trouble from the more extreme wing of the party can make him take a more aggressive stand so to rob any other of the lead of argument, see him as though type and to probably defuse the argument (the better me that can compromise and be reasonable than a hardliner as the Mussolini type of reason).
For the League, i agree with your doubt but Bossi is enough a political animal and the NL still enough grassrot to understand the brewing problem and possibly see that as a political breaktrhoug, not due but cleary possibile.
Frankly i think people will be pretty scared after the Paris disaster and scared people can do very strange things.
BTW without Berlusconi Italy will probably sent a contingent in Africa (another with the one who is still in Somalia and must be the second largest after the american IRC) as IRC there were plan and discussion for that but in the end he backed out
And thank for your suggestion and kind words
« I have been experiencing quite fundraising problems, and I have come once again to the conclusion that Washington insiders dominated the political process, refusing to make room for an outsider like him ; the only party to do so is Perot’s Freedom Party, and it does it very bad. So, I’m suspending my campaign, but don’t think I’m done with national politics : I have accepted a major advisor position on Governor Campbell’s campaign, whom I think he has the best credentials to lead this nation on the right path. »
-Pat Buchanan in a meeting at New York City, August, 19 1995
Et tu, Brute ? If Saddam Hussein had been an avid Shakespeare reader, he would have had immediately these words in mind when the coupsters went into his palace to arrest him. The downfall of a man who had been praised as a new Nasser, as the last bastion of the secular Middle East against the Iranian islamic behemoth, took only five years, and he’s now resting in an anonymous grave near Tikrit, his sons living in exile in Damascus, his treacherous son-in-law in charge, American citizens rejoicing in the streets on the announce of his removal and viewed internationally as a mass murderer and a warmonger.
Faces didn’t even changed in Iraq. Hussein Kamil al-Majid, who has just been inaugurated as President at only 40, is the scion of one of the most prominent clans of northern Iraq, rose within the ranks of the state apparatus thanks to his statuts of minion, his recklessness and his family links with the former head of state : a carrer much similar to the man he toppled, Saddam Hussein, the father of his wife Raghad and his second cousin. Joining late the military conspiracy against Saddam, he rose to prominence due to his international standing and most certainly due to CIA meddling, and his first decrees against the ready-to-implode Kurdistan and Saddam’s last partisans tend to confirm his very authoritarian streak, while he has taken most of Saddam’s inner circle into his cabinet, such as Tarek Aziz who became his Prime Minister.
What will become different with al-Majid is the fact that, well, he’s at least not Saddam. Since the fateful invasion of Kuwait, Iraq had become the international community’s major outcast, crushed by arms embargo and massive bombing campaigns each year, being led by a hard pressed dictator who refused to have his weapons of mass destruction investigated by the UN, claiming that everything had been destroyed. In his inaugural speech, al-Majid invited the Kuwaiti Emir to a state visit in Iraq in order to strenghten the relations between the two countries, and said that once order had been restablished in Iraq, UN inspection teams would be welcome in Iraq, claiming that he had nothing to hide and that Saddam’s archives would be declassified. He maybe offensed this very same international community by executing Saddam in less than a week, but it’s a strong signal, the first step to a reintegration of Iraq in international affairs : it could even be a small victory in Iraq, if the light is made on Saddam’s alleged links with the World Trade Center bombings or George Bush’s assassination, or even the presence of weapons of mass destruction ; it could be terrible for those in the White House who put everything in these allegations, beginning with National Security Advisor James Woolsey. But everybody is happy with Saddam’s downfall, and US oil companies are already brokering contacts with the new master in Baghdad.
However, if Saddam Hussein’s Iraq failed to be the Middle East’s Prussia, Hussein Kamel al-Majid could well become its Austria : an influent major player, prosperous and in good terms with its neighbours.
-The Economist, August, 21 1995
BUYOYA FLEES BUJUMBURA ; CLARK DECLARES BURUNDI UNDER CONTROL, PROMOTED AS FULL GENERAL BY CONGRESS
-New York Times, August, 22 1995
« As you all know, I have suffered for a long time from amoloydosis, a rare disease that slowly destroys your organs, and my last years as governor of the great state of Pennsylvania were plagued by my repeated operations ; one needs a strong health to campaign and talk about the issues, and I don’t think I have this strong health anymore and even if I know that my current campaign is crucial to the ongoing debate, I prefer to spend my last years with my beloved family and suspend my presidential campaign. As another sign of the moral decline of the Democratic Party, I see no candidates who share with me a pro-life stance, and I cannot fully endorse any person present in the field. However, I think Governor Bayh and Senator Nunn are the best assets we currently have in the Democratic Party for moderatism : my supports will have to choose between youth and experience ; the former I haven’t anymore, the latter I have. »
-Fmr. Robert P. Casey (D-PA) at Philadelphia, PA, August, 23 1995
After the grim atmosphere that invaded the White House after the Oklahoma City and Nagoya disasters, everything was laughter and happiness in the White House. President Perot was now credited with the downfall of Saddam Hussein, a fact that Bush didn’t achieved during the Gulf War, and Hussein Kamel al-Majid proved to be a decent ally, authorizing the inspectors to enter Iraqi soil. In his happiness, he had reassured Woolsey that he wouldn’t give him up if no WMDs were to be found in Iraq, saying that nobody was omniscient and that it was sure that Saddam was at least implicated in the World Trade Center bombings or the Bush assassination plot.
The Balanced Budget Amendment had also already being ratified by eighteen states and would certainly be passed in the end of the year, a few strong candidates had quitted the presidential campaign after Perot’s announcement, the far right was not moving a lot since Oklahoma City. On at the foreign issues, not only Iraq had been radically resolved, but Somalia was now under control, Japan had been rescued, Mexico managed to deal alone with the economic crisis and the Chiapas uprising, the START III were taking a turn for a complete worldwide nuclear disarmement and everybody approved it, and in Burundi, things were going pretty well even if it was a hell of a mess : we were stopping Tutsis from killing Hutus, while in Rwanda, we were stopping Hutus from killing Tutsis.
While tensions were heavily escalating between France and Algeria, President Perot was now meeting with Secretary Powell on another issue that needed to find a resolution : the Bosnian War. The early end of the arms embargo had allowed the Bosnians and Croatians to hold better against the Serbians and their allies, while NATO was still preparing itself in the region. Most notably, NATO troops had refused to leave a town called Srebenica, that the Serbians had targeted for months. Even if he had never been interested with former Yugoslavia, President Perot felt that he had to finish it quickly, so that he could focus on 1996 easily.
-From The President’s Son-in-Law : Memoirs from Washington, by former White House Counsel Clay Mulford
JOINT CROATIAN-BOSNIAN OFFENSIVE BEGINS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA
-New York Times, August, 25 1995
OPERATION DELIBERATE FORCES AUTHORIZED : MASSIVE BOMBING CAMPAIGNS BY NATO IN SUPPORT OF CROATIANS
-Washington Post, August, 30 1995
CHIRAC : « IF ALGERIA IS ENGULFED IN VIOLENCE AGAINST ITS CITIZENS AND NEIGHBOURS, MAYBE IT NEEDS FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
-Le Monde, September, 1 1995
ALGERIAN PRESIDENT LIAMINE ZEROUAL CALLS CHIRAC’S DEMANDS OF UN INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA « NEO-COLONIAL INTERFERENCE »
-The Guardian, September, 4 1995
EU LEADERS RALLY BEHIND CHIRAC’S PROPOSAL FOR INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA ; UK, SPAIN, CZECH REPUBLIC TO SUPPORT FRANCE IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL ; US, RUSSIA AND CHINA ANNOUNCE « THEY WOULD NOT VETO »
-New York Times, September, 8 1995
« If France, after having victim of such a spectacular and deadly attack on its soil, feels that the time is right to intervene in a war-torn country such as Algeria, that is now engulfed in islamic violence, it’s for sure a good thing. Any terrorist incidents such as in France and Japan has now to be stopped. »
-US Ambassador at the United Nations Katherine Graham, September, 9 1995
BOMB EXPLODES IN MILE HIGH STADIUM LOCKER-ROOMS DURING MLB MATCH, 5 DEAD, OVER A HUNDRED WOUNDED
-The Denver Post, September, 9 1995
Eric Robert Rudolph initially wanted to begin his bombing campaign, using the skills he had learnt while serving in the Army, for the 1996 Atlantic Olympic Games, but he went on to have regular meetings with StromFront activists who convinced him to start his anti-abortion bombing campaign earlier, and to make a test in a crowded area. Rudolph would admit after his capture that he had in fact travelled to Denver, Colorado, in September 1995, where he tested his first explosive device…
-Outrun my Gun-A Short History of the Militia Movement, Winner for Documentary Film Price at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
« The decision to maintain Aristide in place in Haiti was a bit ankward from President Perot. Sure, I supported Mr. Aristide’s return to the presidency he rightfully held, but allowing him to modify the Constitution to succeed himself is for sure bad news for democracy in such a country as Haiti. »
-Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), candidate to the Democratic nomination, on Meet the Press, September, 17 1995
« We have had enough with Washington insiders who always propose the same thing, which is blocking everything President Perot makes, make better than him and destroy everything they did. What they forget is that, as elected officials, they already worked with President Perot and their speech is now null and void ! Americans need an uncompromised leader, able to lead politics in the right place : Perot has shown the way, it’s now time to use it against him ! Therefore, I am a candidate to the Republican nomination for President of the United States ! »
-Steve Forbes (R-NJ), at New York City, September, 22 1995
BERLUSCONI AND CRAXI CONDEMNED TO RESPECTIVELY TEN AND FIFTEEN YEARS OF JAIL FOR CONSPIRACY AND CORRUPTION
-Corriere Della Sera, September, 26 1995
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ACT PASSED IN CONGRESS : UNREGULATED CONTRIBUTIONS FORBIDDEN, ADS BROADCASTING LIMITED UNTIL THE 30 LAST DAYS BEFORE AN PRIMARY ELECTION
-Washington Post, September, 27 1995
« Well, I don’t miss the White House so much, but I was so happy to see back my family, David. I consulted my family and they say they were not ready for another political campaign. That’s why I don’t think I will run for the top job this year, and I mean this year.
-So, you are not done with federal politics, Mr. Vice President ?
-Well, I consulted my family and they say they were ready for another political campaign. I’m planning to run for the Republican nomination for Governor of my great beloved state of Indiana, in order to succeed Mr. Bayh : I think that anyone should have executive experience before trying the top executive job. »
-Former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle (R-IN), on Tonight Show with David Letterman, September, 27 1995
FRANCE TO INTRODUCE A RESOLUTION FOR UN INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA
-Le Monde, October, 1 1995
« Look, guys, imagine they were people who wanted to draft me to challenge President Perot for the Freedom Party nomination this year ! They could have handled me a gun and it would have been softier and quicker ! (laughs) Well, instead, I have indeed plans for this year. Hank Brown is retiring after one term as Senator of this great state of Colorado, and I’m planning to run to succeed him as the Freedomite candidate. »
-Fmr. Gov. Dick Lamm (F-CO), at a meeting at Denver, CO, October, 5 1995
-Pat Buchanan in a meeting at New York City, August, 19 1995
Et tu, Brute ? If Saddam Hussein had been an avid Shakespeare reader, he would have had immediately these words in mind when the coupsters went into his palace to arrest him. The downfall of a man who had been praised as a new Nasser, as the last bastion of the secular Middle East against the Iranian islamic behemoth, took only five years, and he’s now resting in an anonymous grave near Tikrit, his sons living in exile in Damascus, his treacherous son-in-law in charge, American citizens rejoicing in the streets on the announce of his removal and viewed internationally as a mass murderer and a warmonger.
Faces didn’t even changed in Iraq. Hussein Kamil al-Majid, who has just been inaugurated as President at only 40, is the scion of one of the most prominent clans of northern Iraq, rose within the ranks of the state apparatus thanks to his statuts of minion, his recklessness and his family links with the former head of state : a carrer much similar to the man he toppled, Saddam Hussein, the father of his wife Raghad and his second cousin. Joining late the military conspiracy against Saddam, he rose to prominence due to his international standing and most certainly due to CIA meddling, and his first decrees against the ready-to-implode Kurdistan and Saddam’s last partisans tend to confirm his very authoritarian streak, while he has taken most of Saddam’s inner circle into his cabinet, such as Tarek Aziz who became his Prime Minister.
What will become different with al-Majid is the fact that, well, he’s at least not Saddam. Since the fateful invasion of Kuwait, Iraq had become the international community’s major outcast, crushed by arms embargo and massive bombing campaigns each year, being led by a hard pressed dictator who refused to have his weapons of mass destruction investigated by the UN, claiming that everything had been destroyed. In his inaugural speech, al-Majid invited the Kuwaiti Emir to a state visit in Iraq in order to strenghten the relations between the two countries, and said that once order had been restablished in Iraq, UN inspection teams would be welcome in Iraq, claiming that he had nothing to hide and that Saddam’s archives would be declassified. He maybe offensed this very same international community by executing Saddam in less than a week, but it’s a strong signal, the first step to a reintegration of Iraq in international affairs : it could even be a small victory in Iraq, if the light is made on Saddam’s alleged links with the World Trade Center bombings or George Bush’s assassination, or even the presence of weapons of mass destruction ; it could be terrible for those in the White House who put everything in these allegations, beginning with National Security Advisor James Woolsey. But everybody is happy with Saddam’s downfall, and US oil companies are already brokering contacts with the new master in Baghdad.
However, if Saddam Hussein’s Iraq failed to be the Middle East’s Prussia, Hussein Kamel al-Majid could well become its Austria : an influent major player, prosperous and in good terms with its neighbours.
-The Economist, August, 21 1995
BUYOYA FLEES BUJUMBURA ; CLARK DECLARES BURUNDI UNDER CONTROL, PROMOTED AS FULL GENERAL BY CONGRESS
-New York Times, August, 22 1995
« As you all know, I have suffered for a long time from amoloydosis, a rare disease that slowly destroys your organs, and my last years as governor of the great state of Pennsylvania were plagued by my repeated operations ; one needs a strong health to campaign and talk about the issues, and I don’t think I have this strong health anymore and even if I know that my current campaign is crucial to the ongoing debate, I prefer to spend my last years with my beloved family and suspend my presidential campaign. As another sign of the moral decline of the Democratic Party, I see no candidates who share with me a pro-life stance, and I cannot fully endorse any person present in the field. However, I think Governor Bayh and Senator Nunn are the best assets we currently have in the Democratic Party for moderatism : my supports will have to choose between youth and experience ; the former I haven’t anymore, the latter I have. »
-Fmr. Robert P. Casey (D-PA) at Philadelphia, PA, August, 23 1995
After the grim atmosphere that invaded the White House after the Oklahoma City and Nagoya disasters, everything was laughter and happiness in the White House. President Perot was now credited with the downfall of Saddam Hussein, a fact that Bush didn’t achieved during the Gulf War, and Hussein Kamel al-Majid proved to be a decent ally, authorizing the inspectors to enter Iraqi soil. In his happiness, he had reassured Woolsey that he wouldn’t give him up if no WMDs were to be found in Iraq, saying that nobody was omniscient and that it was sure that Saddam was at least implicated in the World Trade Center bombings or the Bush assassination plot.
The Balanced Budget Amendment had also already being ratified by eighteen states and would certainly be passed in the end of the year, a few strong candidates had quitted the presidential campaign after Perot’s announcement, the far right was not moving a lot since Oklahoma City. On at the foreign issues, not only Iraq had been radically resolved, but Somalia was now under control, Japan had been rescued, Mexico managed to deal alone with the economic crisis and the Chiapas uprising, the START III were taking a turn for a complete worldwide nuclear disarmement and everybody approved it, and in Burundi, things were going pretty well even if it was a hell of a mess : we were stopping Tutsis from killing Hutus, while in Rwanda, we were stopping Hutus from killing Tutsis.
While tensions were heavily escalating between France and Algeria, President Perot was now meeting with Secretary Powell on another issue that needed to find a resolution : the Bosnian War. The early end of the arms embargo had allowed the Bosnians and Croatians to hold better against the Serbians and their allies, while NATO was still preparing itself in the region. Most notably, NATO troops had refused to leave a town called Srebenica, that the Serbians had targeted for months. Even if he had never been interested with former Yugoslavia, President Perot felt that he had to finish it quickly, so that he could focus on 1996 easily.
-From The President’s Son-in-Law : Memoirs from Washington, by former White House Counsel Clay Mulford
JOINT CROATIAN-BOSNIAN OFFENSIVE BEGINS IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA
-New York Times, August, 25 1995
OPERATION DELIBERATE FORCES AUTHORIZED : MASSIVE BOMBING CAMPAIGNS BY NATO IN SUPPORT OF CROATIANS
-Washington Post, August, 30 1995
CHIRAC : « IF ALGERIA IS ENGULFED IN VIOLENCE AGAINST ITS CITIZENS AND NEIGHBOURS, MAYBE IT NEEDS FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
-Le Monde, September, 1 1995
ALGERIAN PRESIDENT LIAMINE ZEROUAL CALLS CHIRAC’S DEMANDS OF UN INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA « NEO-COLONIAL INTERFERENCE »
-The Guardian, September, 4 1995
EU LEADERS RALLY BEHIND CHIRAC’S PROPOSAL FOR INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA ; UK, SPAIN, CZECH REPUBLIC TO SUPPORT FRANCE IN UN SECURITY COUNCIL ; US, RUSSIA AND CHINA ANNOUNCE « THEY WOULD NOT VETO »
-New York Times, September, 8 1995
« If France, after having victim of such a spectacular and deadly attack on its soil, feels that the time is right to intervene in a war-torn country such as Algeria, that is now engulfed in islamic violence, it’s for sure a good thing. Any terrorist incidents such as in France and Japan has now to be stopped. »
-US Ambassador at the United Nations Katherine Graham, September, 9 1995
BOMB EXPLODES IN MILE HIGH STADIUM LOCKER-ROOMS DURING MLB MATCH, 5 DEAD, OVER A HUNDRED WOUNDED
-The Denver Post, September, 9 1995
Eric Robert Rudolph initially wanted to begin his bombing campaign, using the skills he had learnt while serving in the Army, for the 1996 Atlantic Olympic Games, but he went on to have regular meetings with StromFront activists who convinced him to start his anti-abortion bombing campaign earlier, and to make a test in a crowded area. Rudolph would admit after his capture that he had in fact travelled to Denver, Colorado, in September 1995, where he tested his first explosive device…
-Outrun my Gun-A Short History of the Militia Movement, Winner for Documentary Film Price at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
« The decision to maintain Aristide in place in Haiti was a bit ankward from President Perot. Sure, I supported Mr. Aristide’s return to the presidency he rightfully held, but allowing him to modify the Constitution to succeed himself is for sure bad news for democracy in such a country as Haiti. »
-Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA), candidate to the Democratic nomination, on Meet the Press, September, 17 1995
« We have had enough with Washington insiders who always propose the same thing, which is blocking everything President Perot makes, make better than him and destroy everything they did. What they forget is that, as elected officials, they already worked with President Perot and their speech is now null and void ! Americans need an uncompromised leader, able to lead politics in the right place : Perot has shown the way, it’s now time to use it against him ! Therefore, I am a candidate to the Republican nomination for President of the United States ! »
-Steve Forbes (R-NJ), at New York City, September, 22 1995
BERLUSCONI AND CRAXI CONDEMNED TO RESPECTIVELY TEN AND FIFTEEN YEARS OF JAIL FOR CONSPIRACY AND CORRUPTION
-Corriere Della Sera, September, 26 1995
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ACT PASSED IN CONGRESS : UNREGULATED CONTRIBUTIONS FORBIDDEN, ADS BROADCASTING LIMITED UNTIL THE 30 LAST DAYS BEFORE AN PRIMARY ELECTION
-Washington Post, September, 27 1995
« Well, I don’t miss the White House so much, but I was so happy to see back my family, David. I consulted my family and they say they were not ready for another political campaign. That’s why I don’t think I will run for the top job this year, and I mean this year.
-So, you are not done with federal politics, Mr. Vice President ?
-Well, I consulted my family and they say they were ready for another political campaign. I’m planning to run for the Republican nomination for Governor of my great beloved state of Indiana, in order to succeed Mr. Bayh : I think that anyone should have executive experience before trying the top executive job. »
-Former Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle (R-IN), on Tonight Show with David Letterman, September, 27 1995
FRANCE TO INTRODUCE A RESOLUTION FOR UN INTERVENTION IN ALGERIA
-Le Monde, October, 1 1995
« Look, guys, imagine they were people who wanted to draft me to challenge President Perot for the Freedom Party nomination this year ! They could have handled me a gun and it would have been softier and quicker ! (laughs) Well, instead, I have indeed plans for this year. Hank Brown is retiring after one term as Senator of this great state of Colorado, and I’m planning to run to succeed him as the Freedomite candidate. »
-Fmr. Gov. Dick Lamm (F-CO), at a meeting at Denver, CO, October, 5 1995
Presidential candidates as of October 1995:
Freedom (incumbent):
President Ross Perot (TX)
Democrats:
Sen. Joe Biden (DE)
Gov. Evan Bayh (IN)
Sen. Sam Nunn (GA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. and 1992 vice-presidential nominee Al Gore (TN)
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Fmr. Gov. Douglas Wilder (VA)
Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ)
Gov. Ann Richards (TX)
Republicans:
Gov. Pete Wilson (CA)
Sen. Phil Gramm (TX)
Fmr. Gov. and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (TN)
Fmr. Gov. Jock McKernan (ME)
Rep. Bob Dornan (CA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (IN)
Fmr. Gov. Carroll Campbell (SC)
Former Secretary of Education William Bennett (NY)
Freedom (incumbent):
President Ross Perot (TX)
Democrats:
Sen. Joe Biden (DE)
Gov. Evan Bayh (IN)
Sen. Sam Nunn (GA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. and 1992 vice-presidential nominee Al Gore (TN)
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Fmr. Gov. Douglas Wilder (VA)
Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ)
Gov. Ann Richards (TX)
Republicans:
Gov. Pete Wilson (CA)
Sen. Phil Gramm (TX)
Fmr. Gov. and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (TN)
Fmr. Gov. Jock McKernan (ME)
Rep. Bob Dornan (CA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (IN)
Fmr. Gov. Carroll Campbell (SC)
Former Secretary of Education William Bennett (NY)
Steve Forbes (NJ)
vultan - Everything will remain in the shades until the primaries!
Plumber - I have the impression that Omar Suleiman had always been the grey eminence and that Mubarak put him under national spotlights in order to retain a few control over the nation. Tantawi was already head of the army at that point, had even a higher rank than Mubarak and was always considered as his successor. as of 2004, remember that the election was terribly close... As of the Arab Spring, the uprising had undoubtedly other causes, such as economic ones, so wait and see.
Falkenburg - Calm before the storm.
historybuff - See vultan's response, like this the Egyptian military regime plays the racial card and appears to be as progressive as Pakistan when they took Benazir Bhutto. As of Libya, nothing happens until they find oil in the desert. Without that, Kadhafi remains an horrible bastard.
ArKhan - As they say: LOL
thekingsguard, Constantinople - Japan will now appease itself with Asahara dead and Aum Shirinkyo dismantled, but the aftershock of having a major city blasted and foreign investors going to South Korea or Taiwan will be rather hard.
Orville_third - Didn't knew Scott Ritter. He will likely be the next US Special Envoy/Ambassador to Iraq. As of the Kurds, Kirkpatrick forced him to remain united in order to piss off Saddam in 1993, so there could be change around there. For Jackson, he ceased IMHO to be an electable candidate with his ankward statements before New York Jews in 1988, and Doug Wilder has far more potential as the first African American.
TheBerlinguer, lukedalton - Begin your joint TL now! As of the nuclear weapons, it is an awful case of corruption within the Russian military, and arms trafficking has plagued the post-USSR Russian army, through Maffia and particulars, as it was the cause with Aum.
Wonder what the next crisis is gonna be, and what about Iran, haven't heard a peep from them in this TL yet.
Indiana Beach Crow
Monthly Donor
"The ladies love Teve Torbes' brilliant tax plan. That and the fact that he has a musky Victor Mature-like scent. No, Teve Torbes is definitely not a geek with a crooked smile."
I had been personally asked by President Perot to be the government’s envoy to the Million Man March, which was to walk around the National Mall in Washington D.C. The President didn’t liked that the event was critical of the government’s current policies, and that it was organized by the Nation of Islam, but the presidential campaign had already begun, and the African American vote was paramount for each candidate. By the way, Reverend Al Sharpton, freshman Congressman for Brooklyn, was scheduled to make a speech, along with presidential candidate Douglas Wilder, former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, Reverend Martin Luther King III, Rosa Parks and Louis Farrakhan.
They were around 2 million, all here in the federal capital to march against the bad image of the colored people everywhere in the country, their poverty, unemployment rate and opportunities. Me, a simple White House staffer, I was seated on the podium, between Martin Luther King III and D. C. Mayor Marion Berry, who had just joined the Freedom Party after being dissatisfied with the Democrats. There was a tense atmosphere, of common faith, of powerful energy, with African American coming from throughout the Union to defend their rights, to protest and to show that, thirty years after the Civil Rights movement, things were not over. My parents were successful doctors living in Iowa City, but I had always been sensible to this kind of things.
It was when Rosa Parks, the woman who had sparked the protests by refusing to move herself to the colored people-reserved area in the bus, that the tragedy occurred. Where I was seated, I didn’t saw the two gunmen approaching the crowd and the podium. But I was close enough to hear the gunshots, the people screaming, the mass hysteria beginning, and the Secret Service agents running into the podium, their guns in their hands to evacuate all VIPs. When I was evacuated, I turned around to see what was happening… And I saw the dozen bodies laying on the ground.
Protesters at the Million Man March before the shooting, carrying a Marcus Garvey portrait
The Million Man March shooting that occurred on October, 16 1995 in Washington D.C., where two White Aryan Resistance members, Scott Stedeford and Kevin McCarthy, began to shoot in the crowd with assault rifles, killing 11 people and wounding hundreds, was the first most publicized domestic terrorism attack in America since the Oklahoma City bombings six months earlier, when everybody thought it was over. The Mile High Stadium bombing in Denver, Colorado, had been a mere testing, not as spectacular as the shooting. It was the first time that two affiliates from the far right secret society StormFront operated in daylight, were filmed carrying their attack and were even taken down later by the Secret Service. This terrorist attack happening during a massive gathering aimed on African American rights, that had received extensive media coverage and police protection, was entached by the far right terrorism. It was also the first time that Americans became familiar through CNN with the word the two gunmen had shouted before opening fire : Rahowa. The Racial Holy War.
If it was quite publicized by the time, the Million March Man shooting was also the first to receive an adapted movie, Atonement Day, directed by Spike Lee who was present at the event and at the shooting, which follows the trip of very different African Americans travelling in a bus to the Million March Day, only to lose one of them, Jeremiah, who is shot by the gunners and goes on to die near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. A famous anecdote about the film concerns future Senator for Iowa and Vice President Hill Harper, then a White House staffer invited at the podium, who was in relation with Spike Lee during his attempts at acting and had a little cameo as the bus driver.
-Extracted from Raging Against the Night : Consequences of the 90s Violences on American culture and Movie industry, doctoral thesis by Harvard psychology alumna Natalie Hershlag, 2008
« The terrible thing that occurred three days ago on the National Mall proved that something had become terrible wrong in this country. Far right whackos, turned mad by gun control and big government, can now come into mass protests to shoot African American men and women as they want, in our very capital, near the Lincoln Memorial, a few feet away from the White House. And in the Oval Office, President Perot had promised to protect these men and women, and he didn’t do enough. So he failed, and after him, twelve years of Republican conservatism didn’t handled it too. America is ripe for a true change, is begging for a new hope we can believe in. I’m maybe just a Jewish Senator from Minnesota, but I’m a man who thinks he knows what America needs. I’m now a candidate to the Presidency of the United States ! »
-Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), in a political rally in Minneapolis, MN, October, 19 1995
Presidential candidate, Sen. Paul Wellstone
« I heard rumours according to which I was about to join the Freedom Party, on behalf of my commitment against Washington insiders. This is despicable. First, I have abandoned my campaigns to help Governor Campbell’s campaign, but I would never join a party who has endorsed communists and Black Power advocates for Congress. »
-Pat Buchanan, Campbell campaign manager, in a « Campbell for President » event in Des Moines, IA, October, 21 1995
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WILDER AND WELLSTONE RECEIVE SUBSTANTIAL SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AFTER RECEIVING DEATH THREATS
-Washington Post, October, 23 1995
I don’t know what President Perot expected when he wanted to pass a term limits amendment in Congress. It had been for a long time a central theme of the Freedom Party platform, many members of the class of 1994, Republicans, Democrats or Freedomites, had made campaign pledges not to run more than two or three terms. But the Freedom Party delegation in Congress and Senate was composed of carrierists and longtime Congressmen, who couldn’t make the hypocrisy to endorse a term limits amendment. Joseph P. Kennedy II had been in Congress for five terms, and the most prominent Senators from the Freedom Party were veterans such as John McCain, Joe Lieberman or Arlen Specter. The bill didn’t even went to vote in the House, but the President had a little victory on November, 29, when a new law claimed that any presidential or vice-presidential candidate could not run for another office in the same day that Election Day. It would begun for the 2000 election, of course : one of the Senators who added this provision was John Kerry from Massachusetts, who was running for President in 1996, and was also facing re-election in his Senate seat this year.
« The Republican Party is becoming too conservative for people like me, and this is what will bring it to defeat and voter disatissfaction : maybe that the United States are a conservative country by world standards, but it’s a country that had always wanted change and pursuit of happiness, not inaction nor reactionary positions. To be honest, I even thought to join the Freedom Party as many of my Maine friends did, but I will never betray my party, and I have some hopes in Senator Lugar, whom I will endorse. »
-Fmr. Gov. Jock McKernan (R-ME), appearing in Meet the Press, October, 25 1995
50.08% VOTE YES FOR QUEBEC INDEPENDANCE
-New York Times, October, 30 1995
Partisans of the "Yes" to Quebec Independance
Partisans of the "Yes" to Quebec Independance
« This a new era for Quebec ! More than twenty-eight years ago, General De Gaulle, the French President, declared in Montreal : « Vive le Québec libre ! » Now we can all chant, Long Live Free Quebec ! We will now become a free, Catholic, French-speaking Republic, still good friends with Canada but yet. »
-Premier of Quebec Jacques Parizeau in Montreal, Quebec, October, 30 1995
« It is always sad to see brothers departing and an union weakened, but I still congratulate the partisans for secession for their victory, and I will repeat that Quebecer independance will not be harmful to Canada and its strength, but will instead participate to development and equal opportunities in North America, paving the way for the Natives and others. My administration will make everything to give Quebec its independance by late 1996 ».
-Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, in Ottawa, Ontario, October, 30 1995
CREE RIOTS IN NORTHERN QUEBEC, AGAINST INTEGRATION TO INDEPENDANT QUEBEC
-The Globe and Mail, November, 2 1995
RABIN SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN TEL AVIV
-Haaretz, November, 4 1995
Gubernatorial elections, November, 7 1995 :
Kentucky : Larry Forgy (R), succeeds Brereton Jones (D)
Louisiana : Mike Foster (F), succeeds Edwin Edwards (D)
Mississippi : Kirk Fordice (R), re-elected
Before election : 23 R, 18 D, 9 F
After election : 24 R, 16 D, 10 F
« Many called me to launch a bid for 2000, including such a national figure as Freedom Party Chairman Paul Tsongas, and even to launch a challenge to outgoing President Perot, a man whom I respect and I generally agree with. But I will disappoint them, because I repeat that I will never seek the Presidency of the United States. And if I was drafted or nominated, I would respectfully refuse.
-Your wife had already declared she was against it.
-Yes, and I want my marriage to be OK. (laughs)No, as a soldier and as a citizen, I think it is my holiest duty to serve my country to the best of my ability, as a general or a Secretary, but I don’t want to rule it. However, if a military man would launch into politics, I would encourage him deeply, but I would remind him to beware from the violence of the political field, more than of the batterfield’s. Also, if President Perot or any Commander-in-Chief asked me to carry a superior duty in his cabinet, I would accept if it followed my own convictions. »
-Secretary of Defense Colin Powell (F-NY), on Larry King Live, November, 8 1995
CAR BOMBING IN RIYADH, US TROOPS PUT IN ALERT
-CNN Breaking News, November, 13 1995
LIAMINE ZEROUAL ELECTED ALGERIAN PRESIDENT ON HIS OWN AMIDST FRAUD RUMOURS ; PLEDGES TO FIGHT AGAINST « EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM »
-The Guardian, November, 16 1995
A week ago, my distinguished colleague with whom I served during the Gulf War, Secretary of Defense Powell, said it was a soldier’s duty to serve its country. But to his contrary, I think a soldier’s duty also goes through command, including Commander-in-Chief. I know we are only a few months away from the primaries, but I took time to contemplate a bid, and when I saw that no one was strong enough in the Republican field to carry the burden of the most powerful country in the world, I decided to run for it. More than forty years ago, General Eisenhower took the same road as I did : and his presidency’s times were maybe not a world of laughter nor a world of tears, but it was a time of prosperity and peace through international trouble, and this is what this country deserves.
-General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (R-NJ) in New York City, NY, November, 18 1996
Presidential candidate, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
Presidential candidate, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf
BELLIGERANTS IN BOSNIAN WAR AGREE TO PEACE ACCORDS IN DAYTON, OH
-New York Times, November, 21 1995
Serbia President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnia-Herzegovina President Alija Izetbegovic, Croatian President Franco Tudjman
Serbia President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnia-Herzegovina President Alija Izetbegovic, Croatian President Franco Tudjman
« For nine months, I have carried the negotiations between President Colosio and the EZLN commanding officers and as a third party, I think things go quite well. The President is quite sensible to the question of agrarian reform and has pledged reform and equality in Mexico. »
-Samuel Ruiz Garcia, bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, December, 1 1995
QUEBEC SOVEREIGNITY BILL PASSED INTO PARLIAMENT
-The Globe and Mail, December, 4 1995
CAR BOMB EXPLODES NEAR IRS BUILDING IN RENO, NO VICTIMS
-Las Vegas Review-Journal, December, 11 1995
LOUISIANA RATIFIES BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT, BECOMES OFFICIALLY THE 28TH AMENDMENT
-Washington Post, December, 11 1995
DAYTON AGREEMENT FORMALLY SIGNED BY EACH PARTY IN PARIS
-New York Times, December, 14 1995
LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS IN RUSSIA : LIBERAL DEMOCRATS NECK-TO-NECK WITH COMMUNISTS, YELSTIN FEARS FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NEXT YEAR
-Los Angeles Times, December, 17 1995
Liberal Democratic Leader Vladimir Jirinovsky
Liberal Democratic Leader Vladimir Jirinovsky
NEW UN RESOLUTION SENDS OBSERVERS IN ALGERIAN CIVIL WAR ; CHIRAC REJOICES, ZEROUAL FURIOUS
-Le Monde, December, 19 1995
ISLAMIST WELFARE PARTY REACHES FIRST PLACE IN TURKISH GENERAL ELECTIONS
-Los Angeles Times, December, 24 1995
« As I speak to you, the START III Accords have just been signed in Moscow on Christmas Eve by US President Ross Perot, Russian President Boris Yelstin, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister John Major. By this agreement, the four countries are now personally engaged to desactive, dispose and destroy from their nuclear arsenal, reducing it to a worldwide total of 500 weapons, the ratio depending on their military participation to UN Peacekeeping Forces. France and United Kingdom have pledged to relinquish the remaining of their nuclear arsenal by 2010. Japanese Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi, whose country has just much suffered from nuclear fire, was a special guest to the signature ceremony. Dispositions have also been taken for a permanent ban on nuclear testing for 1996. However, to be fully effective, the START III would need a ratification by the People’s Republic of China and India, who officially dispose of nuclear weapons, or Pakistan and Israel, which are only rumoured to have some… »
-CNN, December, 24 1995
LATE ENTRIES MAKE BREAKTHROUGHS : WELLSTONE THREATENS GORE-RICHARDS-NUNN, SCHWARZKOPF AGAINST CAMPBELL-WILSON-GRAMM
-Washington Post, December, 28 1995
« As of the permanent pressure exerced on our country by the government controlling mainland China, using bombs and threats a few months away from our first free presidential elections… As the New Year of 1996 begins, I truly wish that during my next years as our President, or even from my successor, our relations with mainland China change, and begin less tense. I hope our relations with mainland China will become relations between two sovereign countries. »
-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-Hui’s New Year Speech, December, 31 1995
WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES OPENED IN QUEBEC CITY BY PRESIDENT PARIZEAU
-Le Soleil, February, 8 2002
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Eeeeeeeeeeeew, 1996 is over, the final candidates' list is complete, and we have reached our 10.000th reader! Woo-Hoo! Thanks for reading, even I would appreciate a few feedback more. Next update will be reserved to the description of each candidate, and then, 1996 will begin. You are welcome to make your predictions for the 1996 election in the thread or in MP.
Hope you will appreciate two easter eggs: first, the psychology student that I mentioned in one of the notes, and the name of a certain TL in Schwarzkopf's announcement...
vultan - Here is your response. I have other plans to make the Freedom Party shake, and you have inspired it to me, man.
historybuff - Iran doesn't move much for now as IOTL; the war against Iraq just finished a few years ago, with coup fallout in Iraq, expect them to have some friendly relations with revolted Shia Islamists...
Unknown - As the simulation made with Google Ground Zero, the explosion occurred in downtown Nagoya and burned everything to the seafront. The radiation fallout went westward after.
Indiana Beach Crow - Me too I believed Forbes was as charismatic as any US politician, and when I saw this picture, I wondered if he was serious.
Hope you will appreciate two easter eggs: first, the psychology student that I mentioned in one of the notes, and the name of a certain TL in Schwarzkopf's announcement...
Presidential candidates:
Freedom (incumbent):
President Ross Perot (TX)
Democrats:
Sen. Joe Biden (DE)
Gov. Evan Bayh (IN)
Sen. Sam Nunn (GA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. and 1992 vice-presidential nominee Al Gore (TN)
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Fmr. Gov. Douglas Wilder (VA)
Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ)
Gov. Ann Richards (TX)
Sen. Paul Wellstone (MN)
Republicans:
Gov. Pete Wilson (CA)
Sen. Phil Gramm (TX)
Fmr. Gov. and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (TN)
Rep. Bob Dornan (CA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (IN)
Fmr. Gov. Carroll Campbell (SC)
Former Secretary of Education William Bennett (NY)
Freedom (incumbent):
President Ross Perot (TX)
Democrats:
Sen. Joe Biden (DE)
Gov. Evan Bayh (IN)
Sen. Sam Nunn (GA)
Sen. John Kerry (MA)
Sen. and 1992 vice-presidential nominee Al Gore (TN)
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (WV)
Fmr. Gov. Douglas Wilder (VA)
Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ)
Gov. Ann Richards (TX)
Sen. Paul Wellstone (MN)
Republicans:
Gov. Pete Wilson (CA)
Sen. Phil Gramm (TX)
Fmr. Gov. and former Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander (TN)
Rep. Bob Dornan (CA)
Sen. Richard Lugar (IN)
Fmr. Gov. Carroll Campbell (SC)
Former Secretary of Education William Bennett (NY)
Steve Forbes (NJ)
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf (NJ)
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf (NJ)
historybuff - Iran doesn't move much for now as IOTL; the war against Iraq just finished a few years ago, with coup fallout in Iraq, expect them to have some friendly relations with revolted Shia Islamists...
Unknown - As the simulation made with Google Ground Zero, the explosion occurred in downtown Nagoya and burned everything to the seafront. The radiation fallout went westward after.
Indiana Beach Crow - Me too I believed Forbes was as charismatic as any US politician, and when I saw this picture, I wondered if he was serious.
- Status