An enduring Soviet Union..well atleast throughout the 90s and WWIII

Titus_Pullo

Banned
In this one, I’m trying to explore the consequences of the USSR continuing into the 90’s. Had the August Coup plotters been more “old school” in their actions, I don’t think they’d have spared anyone – let alone Yeltsin and his “liberal” crowd there in the Kremlin. Gorby might’ve been spared as the coup was ongoing. But, once they’d secured their control back in Moscow, I think his days would’ve been numbered. As would’ve been quite a few of the less doctrinaire apparatchiks who’d “infested” the Kremlin due to Gorbachev’s policies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_august_renewal

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état (19–21 August 1991), later known as the August Renewal, was a coup by a group of members of the Soviet Union's government to take control of the country from Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup leaders were hard-line members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and the new union treaty that he had negotiated which decentralised much of the central government's power to the republics. They were opposed, mainly in Moscow, by a short and ineffective campaign of civil resistance.[4] Although the coup was completed in only two days, the event entrenched the hold of the “hardliners” within the Soviet Union and is widely considered to have set the “New Soviet Union” on its course to war later in the decade.

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2 May, 1992, National Review - William Buckley May Day Indeed!

The West should continue to accept asylum requests of high level Soviet officials still fleeing the new round of Moscow "Show Trials." Nothing can better illustrate the failure of Soviet Communism and the success of Western democracies than the continued exodus of the USSR's "best and brightest" in the face of the new terror of the New Soviet Union. It is in the world's best interest for these asylums to continue to be granted no matter how much the tyrants in the Kremlin howl.

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20 January, 1993 Washington, DC – Washington Post – President George Bush Inaugural Special Edition Coverage

As the sun shone on this bright winter’s day, President George H. Bush addressed the crowds gathered at the Capitol steps to witness his officially assuming the office of President of the United States for a second term. In the address, President Bush repeated his administration’s central themes of a strong and vigilant America standing guard against the worsening Soviet menace. As part of the Inaugural Ceremonies there was a brief, high speed, overflight of the Capitol by the Air Force’s newest “stealth” aircraft, the F-22 and B-2. In his address, President Bush touted these new weapons as part of the his Accelerated Defense Build-up (ADB) policy, and noted that the aircraft will soon be in full production later this spring.

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18 September, 1995 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Reuters – Arms Inspectors Discover Soviet Weapons
The latest UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission) report released today contains allegations of massive Soviet weapons sales to Iraq. If this report is accurate then it represents a direct violation of the Cease Fire Agreement which halted the Gulf War of 1991. In that Agreement, Iraq was prohibited from rearming and all nations on the UN Security Council agreed to ban arms exports to Iraq. Initial accounts of this discovery by UN weapons inspectors puts the scale of these weapon sales as being far from inconsequential. One UN inspector made an off-the-record comment that they had found “thousands of new Soviet T-82 tanks and current model SCUDS” at just one of the sites they investigated.

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1 November, 1995 Damascus, Syria – Al Jazeera – American Spies Attack Iraqi Civilians
The government of Iraq released an official statement today condemning the unprovoked and senseless attack by American spies upon Iraqi civilians. The Americans, posing as UN inspectors, raided a milk factory and began attacking the civilian workers at that plant. Iraqi security forces were then called in to assist the beleaguered civilian workers. In the firefight that followed all the American spies were killed. President Saddam Hussein has declared this unprovoked attack a deliberate plot by the United States to restart the Gulf War and continue to oppress the innocent Iraqi people.
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3 November, 1995 Tel Aviv, Israel – CNN – More War In the Gulf
Just five hours after the last UNSCOM personnel were successfully evacuated from Iraq the US and Coalition forces commenced a new aerial campaign against the military forces of Saddam Hussein. Cruise missiles launched from US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf struck Iraqi military targets throughout that country.
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2 January, 1996 Sioux City, Idaho – Los Angeles Times – Clinton Sets Himself Apart
In a move that sets him apart from his fellow Democratic Presidential contenders, Bill Clinton called upon President Bush to do more against Iraq. Calling the year long stand-off “a failure of will” on the President’s part, candidate Clinton promised the crowd at the Daily Grind Café that once they elected him President he would ensure that Saddam Hussein was “out of a job!” Whether this is just political pandering for the upcoming caucuses in Iowa or a new “hard line on defense” strategy, Clinton’s competitors have been quick to make their own bellicose positions known. Later that day in Boise…
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14 April, 1997 Washington, DC – AP Nation Mourns First Lady
A steady stream of mourners passed through the Capitol Rotunda this day to pay their last respects to First Lady Hillary Clinton. The day’s service started with a brief ceremony led by President Clinton. Still recovering from the attack the previous week and with his left arm still bandaged in its sling and dressings still on his face and over his left eye, the President made a few brief remarks before walking over to her casket where he remained, silent, for a few minutes. President Clinton seemed to be in a better and stronger condition than when he last addressed the nation on the 8th, just five days after the attack…
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20 April, 1997 West Berlin, West Germany – Reuters – Standoff Continues
The city is emptying out rapidly. The Bonn government has been sending extra trains into West Berlin to accommodate the evacuation of citizens from the city. Few inbound passenger jets are arriving at Templehoff with any passengers aboard but are departing completely full. The authorities have yet to release any official statement whether NATO will challenge the pending Soviet moratorium on air traffic set to commence at Noon tomorrow. The Soviet threat to close all ground traffic at Noon on the 22nd is of more pressing concern for Berliners.
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21 April, 1997 Ankra, Turkey – NBC – American Dead Returned From Iraq
At this border outpost along the Turkish / Iraqi border a convoy of military vehicles makes its way out of Iraq and into Turkey. On board several of the trucks are caskets containing the remains of the American troops and the international aid workers who died during the Iraqi nerve gas attack on the Kurdish refugee camp on the 12th of April. Coalition forces only recently retook that camp and began recovering the dead there. No photographs were allowed at this time but a US military spokesman said that more information would be available at a press briefing later today.
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22 April, London, United Kingdom – BBC - Prime Minister Major Addresses Nation – Urges Resolve and Courage
In perhaps the most important address of his life, Prime Minister John Majors addressed the nation today and urged all Britons to maintain their resolve and their courage in the face of the impending Soviet crisis. “We will not back down from this ‘New Soviet Union.’ Our forces stand ready with our NATO allies to defend this country and Europe. Soviet aggression will not be tolerated and Iraq shall be brought to heel.”
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22 April, 1997 New York city – New York Post – Giuliani Announces New Curfew – Is Martial Law Next?
Pointing to the string of bombings and the arrests of numerous members of leftist groups suspected of being behind those bombings – groups the Mayor has labeled as “Soviet agents,” Giuliani has now called New York to join the growing list of other cities and institute a city wide curfew. Standing in front of yet another bombed out building, the Mayor issued this call after first reading an FBI report which detailed the Soviet connections of two of Thursday’s bombers.
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22 April, 1997 San Francisco, California - San Francisco Chronicle – Bay Bridge Bombed! Golden Gate Attack Stopped!
Political extremists – allegedly Soviet agents – bombed the Bay Bridge today, destroying one span on the Oakland side. FBI agents and San Francisco police, in what turned into a multi-hour long running gun battle through the Presidio and Fisherman’s Wharf, thwarted an attempt to bomb the Golden Gate as well. Two FBI agents, three SFPD officers and sixteen civilians were killed in the gunfight and eighty three others were wounded. None of the extremists survived the battles as they refused calls by the police to surrender and detonated their bomb. Authorities estimate it will be at least a week before the Wharf is able to reopen.
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23 April, 1997 Washington, DC Washington Post Column “The View From the Rotunda” – Nation’s Capitol Shut Down As War Breaks Out
The city has largely emptied itself. All passenger flights have been canceled. And the Federal government has issued a shutdown notice for all non-essential workers. Congress is conducting an emergency session but it’s not doing so here in town and no one is telling anyone where they are doing it. The White House is neither confirming nor denying that the President is still in DC either. The atmosphere is tense among what few people remain here in DC. “We don’t know if the Soviets are gonna nuke us today or what!” said one Capitol Police security guard who wished to remain nameless.
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23 April, 1997 Damascus, Syria – Al Jazera Online – Baghdad Is Gone
Baghdad is gone! Survivors streaming out of Iraq report that a nuclear bomb has been used on the capitol of Iraq. All communication with Baghdad has been cut off and there is no official word from the Iraqi government confirming or denying these reports. We will continue to post updates as they come in.
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23 April, 1997 London, UK – BBC – Berlin Has Fallen
Our reporter in the British Sector of West Berlin, Jennifer Dules, reported seeing more Warsaw Pact troops advancing on her location just before contact was lost from Berlin. A NATO spokesman reports that heavy fighting is occurring in the area but that no further details are available.
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23 April, 1997 London, UK – CNN – Air Raids on London
Royal Air Force fighter jets shot down two attacking aircraft just ten miles north east of downtown London last night. The dead of night attack is but the latest in a series of aerial battles since the fighting began between the Warsaw Pact forces and NATO. A government spokesman refused to speculate on what the target of the attack was…
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24 April, 1997 Bonn, West Germany – US Armed Forces Radio
NATO forces have stopped the Soviet advance on this city. Soviet airstrikes continue however. The fighting on the ground also continues but at a NATO briefing this morning, word was released that our forces are starting to push the Warsaw Pact back at several key locations.
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27 April, 1997 Frankfurt, West Germany – Boston Herald – A Quiet Day
Germans are still reeling from the nuclear attack on Bonn. Everyone here is hunkering down wondering if the next round of nukes will be headed our way. There’s no report of new ground fighting at the front as each side is digging in their troops in anticipation of more nuclear weapons being used. There are reports – all unconfirmed – that the US and the Soviet Union are fighting it out deep in Russia’s heartland with the US Air Force destroying Soviet missiles in their siloes before they can be launched.
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2 May, 1997 Washington, DC – Official Press Release from the Office of the President of the United States of America. The War Is Over. We Won.
As of Midnight this morning, East Coast Daylight Time, the fighting between NATO forces and the forces of the Warsaw Pact has ceased. All remaining Warsaw Pact forces are to lay down their weaponry and surrender to the nearest NATO military units. All military forces of the Soviet Union are to immediately cease combat operations and turn themselves over to the nearest NATO military units.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/world_war_three_1997#m…
The fighting in Moscow lasted for six days and ultimately involved four brigades worth of Red Army troops, tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters and attack aircraft. Eyewitnesses reported massive fires burning unchecked throughout the city as the fighting between the differing factions was too intense for fire crews to put out the blazes. In the end, the pro-peace faction finally succeeded in overwhelming the last hardliners held up in the White House, Russia's parliament building, leaving the structure a shot out and gutted ruin in the process.[62]
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41 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Pure Bullshit!., December 16, 2001
By wardawg - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Operation Paladin: The Most Important Mission of World War Three (softcover)

This book is pure bullshit! I don’t know whether McKneely is a paid stooge for the Russian Federation or just has a hardon for Putin but there’s nothing in this steaming pile of crap that holds up.

No one in NATO was in contact with the coup leaders in Moscow. NO. ONE. The NATO strike planners who set up the interdictions on those Red Army units in Poland, did so without any knowledge of why those units were on the move. They were on the road that was targeted and that’s all that there was to it.
We got lucky, that’s all. Yes, had they gotten back to Moscow in time they’d have put down the coup and the war would’ve gone on. No one is debating that. But to say that it was Vladimir Putin who told NATO to stop those troops is pure bullshit.
There was no damn secret “back channel” communiqués between Putin and NATO or the President or anyone else. Put was just a minor level KGB colonel at that time and it’s only because he was good at dodging bullets during the coup that he was around afterwards to take so much credit. This is all just post-war bullshit coming from Putin to try and build himself up to the west. And McKneely is either in on it or is too stupid to recognize he’s being played.
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“I don’t care if he is an opportunist and I don’t care what his motivations are – this Putin guy led the revolt and that stopped the war. We all know those Communist fanatics were going to start using their nukes on our cities. “Putin’s Coup” or what ever you want to call it, put a stop to those plans. The guy is a hero!” Pat Buchanan. June 18th 1997 Face The Nation


To be continued
 
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Titus_Pullo

Banned
It's September 1991.
Background:
The August Coup is now the August Renewal Of The New Soviet Union.
Boris Yeltsin, now revealed to actually have been not only an agent in the employ of the British intelligence services but also to have been grossly corrupt as he plundered the monies raised by the workers of Moscow for their old age and redirected it into his foreign bank accounts, died a coward's death as he attempted to use a innocent child as a human shield. This, as the courageous agents of the heroic KGB had tracked him down to a Moscow train station and blocked his attempt to flee the city.

Gorbachev has suffered a heart attack - not a nervous breakdown, as some enemies of the state are rumoring - over the news of the horrendous betrayal of the peoples of the Soviet Union by Yeltsin and his gang of criminals. On his hospital bed, Gorbachev has called for KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov to step forward and undertake his duties until the Supreme Soviet can meet and determine a replacement for him.

The Baltic states are in a turmoil as the newly in power and newly empowered hardliners quickly begin rushing Red Army troops into the region - local referendums and popular votes there be damned.

Poland, the Czechoslovakia, the newly unified Germany, see their fate in the Baltic's but for want of proximity and decide to do something about it.
The US and Western Europe see a priceless opportunity waving to them in a vanishingly small window that is rapidly closing itself shut. The Soviet Union is clearly both receding and is hardening. Any hopes of "managing the decline of the Soviet empire" is now pointless. In a relative instant, there's a flurry of high level diplomatic negotiations between the newly independent nations of the former Warsaw Pact and the West.

The end result is a hastily formed alliance between NATO and Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Romania, as you might expect, haughtily asserts its Communist roots and alliance with Moscow. This, even while Nicolae leads his country into its abyss. Bulgaria and Albania attempt to waffle and give conflicting statements in an attempt to placate the Bear on their borders and their desire to escape its claws.

While not admitted to to NATO nor the Common Market, the three countries are afforded "special status" as "newly emerging democracies" and thus qualifying them for Western assistance. This does not include the stationing of NATO troops within those countries. At least not then in 1991.

Economic relationships quickly follow with the new political ones formed between the "New Three" and Western Europe. The New Soviet Union - still officially just the Soviet Union - protests all of this with howls of outrage. The debate goes back and forth in the West as to just how far the West should push things. The Reaganites in the US want full on military ties and NATO memberships for the New Three as fast as possible. The nations a bit more in range of the Red Army, as expected, are a tad more cautious.

As the purges in the Soviet Union begin however, as the new and modern versions of the classic Stalin Show Trials(tm) kick off, and as repeated instances of "isolated cases of wreckers, saboteurs, and enemies of the people" are lethally put down in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and as more formerly high level Soviets seek asylum in the West - bringing with them both valuable intel as to the makeup of the New Soviet Union and plenty of lurid tales as to the hardliner's excess - things begin changing.

The discovery of all those brand new, top of the line, cutting edge frontline combat ready Soviet tanks lined up in neat rows out there in the Iraqi desert is what really puts things over the top.

The Soviets also begin playing up the Islamist terrorist card after some rather unfortunate events take place along their southern frontier outside of Afghanistan. The Soviets knew they had a Muslim problem and cursed Uncle Joe for going too easy on that breed back in those halcyon days of the 1930s. Crack downs follow and, as expected, that sparks more unfortunate events. Allegations of CIA involvement in fomenting Muslim unrest and resistance are unequivocally denied by the US. The US is able to point to the decline in support we're sending to Afghanistan as proof of this. The Soviets, for their part, renew their support for the Najibullah regime and even increase it.

The massing of Red Army units along the Soviet / Iranian border does not go unnoticed however. Satellites are just too numerous and effective for such a thing to slip on by. But, while being hard to hide, the deployment is hard to deal with for the West. Iran is indeed an enemy of the West and also has few friends in the Arab world. Iranians are not, in fact, Arab - this, as they're keen to tell the rest of the Arab world. Plus they're Shia, predominantly and thus vile heretics suitable only for death. At least so in the eyes of the Sunni rulers in the other Arab countries.

Though the US and the Western states issue stern statements and begin moving more troops into the Gulf region, there is damn all they can do when the Red Army launches a "punitive operation" to "subdue the terrorist groups operating behind the Iranian border" that are "attacking the peace loving and innocent peoples of the Soviet Union."

Surprisingly enough, after having spent a decade fighting Saddam's Soviet trained army, the Iranians put up an unexpectedly decent showing for themselves. This, as they are being brutally dealt with and pushed back by the superior numbers and superior equipment the Soviets bring to bear. It gets bad enough that the Iranians throw more of their children in front of the Soviet troops hoping to slow their advance. When all that produces is more martyrs for Allah the Iranians resort to even more dire measures - they use mustard gas against the Soviet forces.

Aside from wiping out the first few Russian units doused with it, the Red Army's preparedness for fighting NATO in that "integrated battlefield environment" shows through and further chemical weapon use by the Iranians only slows but slightly the Soviet advance. In turn, when the Russians decide to reply in kind however, the effect is devastating on the much less prepared and capable Iranian military. The effect of Russian chemical and nerve agents on the Iranian civilians anywhere near the Red Army's advance is far, far worse.
The Iranians do their best to make sure the world knows of this. And its effect is only slightly muted by the fact that the Iranians used that weaponry first. Still though, there's damn little the West can do to staunch the Soviet tide.

At least so in Iran. In Iraq, things are different.
Faced with Soviet domination in Afghanistan. A Soviet controlled state on the Persian Gulf with their conquering Iran, and with the Soviet's also backing Saddam's Iraq and Syria, the West has to take some action. That the Iraqis are arrogant enough and Saddam is egotistical enough to give the West exactly the excuse it needs is not anything surprising.

And, soon enough, the US led International Coalition is once again seeking to enforce the UN Security Council Resolutions against Iraq. In this case, Western analysts perceive it as a race between Western forces and the Soviet's ability to reroute their forces out of Iran and into Iraq ahead of our troops. Renewed guerrilla attacks on Soviet movements across Iran toward Iraq greatly hinder the Red Army's progress. Not lost on the USSR is the accuracy of those attacks and of how well informed the Iranian fighters are of where and when to hit the Russians to slow them down the most.

In the end however, it is US M-1 tanks doing their Thunder Runs through Baghdad streets well ahead of any Soviet hopes of rescuing Saddam's regime. Saddam himself turns out to have been killed as he attempted to escape the Coalition troops encircling his capitol. Debate continues whether he died in a Coalition air strike on his convoy, whether advancing Soviet units mistakenly gunned him down, or whether his own troops turned on him. Each and all sides advanced their own accounts to suit their needs.

Al Jazeera carries a rather overwrought and quite gruesome clip of Udai beside himself in grief, hugging his father's shattered and bloody corpse. The squabbling between Udai and Qusai as which was the true leader of the rebellion would greatly hinder the resistance to the Coalition's occupation of Iraq. That and the fact that most Iraqi's loathed both of the brothers.
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to be continued
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
4 January, 1997 - TEHRAN (FNA) The PM addressed the foreign press today and once again strongly denounced the Soviet allegations of Iranian support or involvement in the Prokhladny school bombing. "The Koran prohibits the taking of innocent lives - particularly those of women and children. Thus no Iranian would ever lower himself to such a foul act. These allegations made against the Iranian people are a vile slur by the godless Soviets against the innocence and honor of Iran."

4 January, 1997- MOSCOW (TAS) The people of Prokhladny buried their dead today. One hundred sixteen coffins lined the grave site. Only twelve of the coffins were full size, the rest were for the children murdered by the Muslim terrorists in their murderous rampage on the 28th. Prime Minister Kryuchkov led the mourning and graveside ceremony. Choking back tears, and in a voice seething with rage, the Prime Minister swore to the people of Prokhladny that their losses would be avenged and called once again for the Iranians to hand over the Muslim terrorists responsible for the murders.

5 January, 1997 - BAKU (PRAVDA) The buses began their journey before sunrise. Filled to capacity with Muslim residents of the region and on their way to their new lives in the East. Speaking with this reporter, no few of these comrades expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister Kryuchkov for giving them a chance to show their dedication to the people and the workers of the Soviet Union as true Communists that they are. Their resettlement will free them of the constant attacks and harassment by the Islamist terrorists from Iran.

7 January, 1997 - NEW YORK (NYT) The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Thomas Pickering, challenged the Soviet Ambassador's statement that the Soviet Union was not conducting a pogrom against Muslims in its southern territories. Ambassador Pickering also challenged the Soviets to show where all the new "settlements in the east" were that they allegedly constructed for them. Pickering then, in the session's most dramatic and tense moment, had a large easel set up to display a series of high resolution satellite images of what he described as "newly constructed labor and concentration camps" that the Soviets were transporting these people to. As Pickering put it "Death camps just like in Stalin's day." The Soviet ambassador hotly denied Pickering's charges and refused further comment.

10 January, 1997 - TEHRAN (FNA) The PM addressed the nation and the world today calling for all Muslims across the world to come to the aid of the Islamic Republic in this dark time. "Iran shall not be another Afghanistan!" he declared. "We shall make the Soviets bleed for every step that take on our sacred soil! We shall crush the infidel!"


10 January, 1997 - CAIRO (AJE) An Iranian government spokesman confirmed that the Russians have landed troops along Caspian Sea coast near the city of Nowshahr. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards are reportedly driving the Soviet invaders back into the sea and inflicting terrible losses upon them.


11 January, 1997 - MOSCOW (TAS) Soviet troops today began the liberation of Tehran. Casualties have been heavy amongst our brave forces as the Muslims have used every foul and devious measure they could against them. But the true Communist spirit of our brave troops has not faltered and our heroic generals report that the city will be encircled before nightfall.


Cosygin, Pytor. A Soldier's Journey. (English Edition) Kiev: Hero's Press, 2011. "We had set up our position around the crossroad. We were well dug in and had good coverage of the roads converging there and down the valley. We knew the Islamists would soon attack. There were too many gullies and the trees and bushes were quite thick in that area providing them with plenty of cover to hide their advance. Our gunships could only do so much and were constantly busy firing on any of the Islamists who they saw. Just before dark there was a volley of anti-aircraft missiles fired from amongst the trees to our front and at the gunships supporting us.

One or two such missiles are an easy enough thing to evade. But, the Islamists fired dozens and too many of them hit their mark. We were then without air cover. Even as the missiles were in flight, the Islamists began their attack. First they fired their mortars to lay down smoke in front of our positions.
I'd heard that the Americans have special vision sights that allow them to see through such smoke. I wished we had such devices. We knew they were coming at us behind that smoke but we could not see them to respond.
Suddenly they began breaking through the smoke and came at us. In droves did they come. At first we thought they were much farther away then they should have been. Then we realized why they looked so far away. They were small - the Islamists were sending children at us! Hundreds of them! We all froze for a moment. Perhaps, we thought, they were civilians trying to escape to safety. Then, as they drew closer we could see that they all were carrying packs strapped to their backs. Our commanders began shouting at us to open fire.
It was a terrible thing but we had to do it. I lined up my gun and pressed the trigger, streaming bullets into the bodies of one child after another. I was weeping as I did so. Some of the other gunners in my unit either could not bring themselves to do the same or were too slow and some of the children reached their positions. As they clambered over the sandbags we'd piled up, they detonated themselves. The explosions were horrendous and I saw too many of my comrades get blown apart by these child bombers.
After that, none of us held back in our firing.

What followed was a horrible night. The Islamists kept sending wave after wave of their children at us. They were singing something. Prayers, I've since learned. Their frail voices still haunt me. Several times were we at risk of losing our positions and being overwhelmed. It was an awful thing to ask of our brave comrades. But it was war.

Some time, early in the morning of the next day, the attacks stopped. By then, more gunships had arrived and it seemed the Islamists had run out of their missiles to use against them. Our helicopters then rained their death down upon the ground below.

When sunlight shone of the field in front of us it revealed hundreds of shattered little bodies. None of us took any comfort in the sight. We had, at least, survived. And we'd held our position.
For that day at least. It was two days later that the first gas attacks came.
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12 January, 1997 - NEW YORK (The Des Moines Register) Today, UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering, presented new evidence of Iraq's violation of the 1991 Cease Fire Agreement and called upon Saddam Hussein to comply with UN weapons inspectors or, as he put it, "face dire consequences."


14 January, 1997 - WASHINGTON, DC (NBC) In an address to the nation tonight, President Bush announced that the United States had determined the government of Iraq to be in "real and material breach" of the terms of the 1991 Cease Fire Agreement and that Saddam Hussein had shown no willingness to comply with that agreement. In the President's words, "this leaves the United States with no option but to renew military operations against the state of Iraq in order to bring it into compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions."


15 January, 1997 - MOSCOW (PRAVDA) The capitalist war mongering imperialists have struck again! Their target this time is the peaceful and already devastated peoples of Iraq. This blatant aggression will not stand! Prime Minister Kryuchkov has promised the Iraqi people that the Soviet Union will come to their aid and has ordered our brave troops to set aside their hunt for the Islamist terrorists in Iran so as to rush to stand beside the Iraqi people in the face of America's attacks.

Perkins, David (CPT. US Army) Thunder Running Through Baghdad: The Story of the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor's Combat In the Streets of Baghdad New York. Sentinel Press.


It was on the 25th that we punched through the last defensive line the Iraqis had thrown up around the airport and took control of that area. Once we'd secured that perimeter and gotten resupplied, we set about planning for the first of what became known as a "Thunder Run" through Baghdad itself. That night, general Lejewski laid out the plans for the next morning's mission.


27 January, 1997 - BAGHDAD (CNN) Baghdad has fallen! MNF Commander, General Tommy Franks, has announced that Coalition Troops have secured the city of Baghdad and that all organized resistance within the city had ceased as of 07:00, local time, this morning. General Franks has said that the ceasefire applies to all Iraqi military forces and militia troops as well. Although he reports there are continued instances of the "mujahadine" continuing to resist Coalition Troops.


27 January, 1997 - BADRAH (CBS) (Transcript)

CNN Reporter William Michalson, embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Division, US Army: Hello, Julie. Yes, it's been a long night and the troops are still hard at work setting up their position here just up the hill from the Nahr Mirzabad River near the town of Badrah. We're only a few miles from the Iraq Iran border and our unit was ordered to stop at this location rather than continue right to the border itself. Colonel Timmins, the brigade's commander, has told me that this spot is "close enough and good enough" for the job of securing the road on the Iraqi side that leads to their highway 64. There's two small bridges crossing the wide riverbed and Col. Timmins has had roadblocks set up across both. He's also had two large American flags run up so that the Soviets will have no doubt as to our presence.


CNN Anchorwoman Julie Kwan: How concerned are the troops about the Soviet's coming to the aid of Saddam's forces?

Michalson: I've been talking with quite a few of these troops about that. Over the days that we've been advancing through Iraq that has been quite the subject of conversation. There's the usual soldier's bragging and all that but beyond that Julie, there's a quiet determination among these men here. They've made it clear how they view the Soviets. They know what the "New Soviet Union" has turned into and they're all clear on how bad things could be if the Soviets took control of Iraq like they've done with Iran.

Kwan: Bill.. Bill do you know when the Soviets are expected to arrive? The Pentagon is saying they're already in Iraq in several locations.
Michalson: Soon Julie. That's all I can tell you. Colonel Timmins is getting regular updates on the Soviet advance. We have plenty of aircraft overhead. Lots of Army helicopters and the Air Force is out here too.


Kwan: How are the troops preparing for that?


Michalson: The Army knows how important this is so they made sure to get some Engineers up here along with our unit - those are the construction guys of the Army. They used their bulldozers to start piling up earthen berms and plowing trenches and positions for the tanks. So, we're actually pretty well dug in.


Kwan: You mentioned that you're near a town. What of the civilians there?


Michalson: They're gone. The Air Force was out here ahead of us and dropped leaflets warning the townspeople that we were coming and that the Russians were to. So, there's no one left in the town. Colonel Timmins made sure to have our troops check that first thing.

27 January, 1997 - WASHINGTON, DC (API) The Pentagon - Despite clear markings and repeated warnings via radio and in Russian, Soviet units attacked Coalition forces deployed to secure and defend the town of Badrah in Iraq near the Iranian border. Initial reports are that Coalition casualties are light and that the Soviet force was repelled back across the border in Iran. Coalition forces did not - at any time - cross into Iran.



to be continued....
 
OK, so we have a resurgent USSR in 1991...

1) Germany is united, no West or East on the map anymore. Social division will take much longer to heal though.

2) Romania is led by a nutjob but he has a method to his madness - he is trying to eradicate the foreign debt of Romania and has not made friends in doing so. His regime still collapses in 1991 and Romania is a free nation, they will *not* be joining the USSR.

3) Ukraine, Baltic States, and most of the other peripheral territories are free and will not go back. Byelorussia and Khazakstan are the two best bets and there are enough Russians in the Ukraine to cause civil war under the wrong circumstances but forget about Moscow exerting control over those territories immediately.

4) I think if the Communists try to reclaim their old territories this fast it would be WWIII in 1992, or at the very least a Russian Civil War that will leave much of the country devastated. A serious concern would be if in desperation someone unlocked the safes for the rather potent biological weapons kept as part of Biopreparat, a smallpox (or a smallpox hybrid) could be devastating especially among American children of the time who are not immunized to smallpox

5) Look for the Muslim world to unite against the Russians if they really go for broke in the Middle East. We may be the Great Satan to many of them but going into Iran could make for an insurgency that makes Vietnam look like post-war Japan in comparison.
 

Nebogipfel

Monthly Donor
Romania, as you might expect, haughtily asserts its Communist roots and alliance with Moscow. This, even while Nicolae leads his country into its abyss.

Nicolae Ceaușescu ? Shot on December 25th, 1989 ...

And why do we have to expect the Romanians to assert their 'communist roots' ?
 
F-22 in 1991?
mf_Dr_Evil.gif


I don't think anyone in the Soviet Union would be looking to have another Afghanistan anytime soon.
 
Regarding Romania Ceausescu was dead in 1991,Iliescu was president.He tended to veer towards the soviets at least as long as we still had a Soviet Union.Unlikely to veer towards the west with a resurgent USSR on the border.
Assuming the plotters take control in Moscow their next target is the Baltic countries supressing the independence movement here would take time but its doable.Far more serious trouble would be in the Caucasus.In fact something like a second russian civil war is likely now.Serious problems would arrise with russian forces still stationed in what was former East Germany in theory these should withdraw but with a new regime in the Kremlin.
 
There's another country that you could have easily include in a TL where the USSR is led by the August hardliners in terms of events and results: Milosevic's Yugoslavia. Even though the Soviet Union in this case has gone a lot more tougher and nastier, I'm not sure if they could back Milosevic's regime since the Soviets would need new allies and/or puppets.
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
F-22 in 1991?
mf_Dr_Evil.gif


I don't think anyone in the Soviet Union would be looking to have another Afghanistan anytime soon.


The YF-22's first flight took place about 1990. In OTL, the "Defense Drawdown / Peace Dividend" started up in '91 and by '92 a whole bunch of military programs were being scaled back or eliminated entirely. The F-22 was one of those programs which avoided cancellation then but its initial service date of the mid-90s was pushed out considerably.

In this ATL, glasnost / perestroika never got going and, instead, the Cold War escalated. Hence Bush Sr's pumping even more money into defense to speed things up even faster.
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
20 January, 1997 - WASHINGTON, DC (WP) - President Clinton Takes Office While War Wages On
Today's inaugural ceremonies were quite subdued compared to previous years as President-elect Clinton took the oath of office and became forty second man to assume the office. After taking the oath, President Clinton briefly addressed the nation and reaffirmed his support of the Iraq war and of the need to remove Saddam Hussein from power. President Clinton and his wife Hillary then escorted the former President out to the east lawn of the Capitol where former President Bush and his wife Barbara then boarded Marine Corps 1 which flew them to Andrews Air Force Base and a flight back to Bush's ranch in Texas aboard Air Force One.
Gordon, Artemis. Valentin Pavlov and the Fall of the Soviet Union. New York. McGraw-Hill. 2002


The debate waged back and forth between the two factions with Pavlov leading the war faction. His argument that Bush would not take America to war over Iran when the United States was about to change presidents was one that he kept hammering home and it eventually persuaded the anti-war faction among the "Gang of Eight" to all support the war. The interviews I conducted in Kiev with Pavlov's deputy, Alexi Cosygin, made it quite clear that Pavlov's strong support was the deciding factor. Cosygin was also quite clear on how much Pavlov's error in judgment came to cost him.

Rice, Condoleezza. "Blindly Cliff Walking - Soviet Strategic Decision Making Since 1991." Journal of American Foreign Policy. May 1999. 16-21.


That "bunker mentality" had long since taken root among those men. They had led the coup in the 1991 that seized the nation from the reformers and had seen each of their decisions and policies end in disaster since then. Like too many desperate leaders, their seizing on the idea of a "short and victorious war" was based more on their own projections than anything factual. They simply did not believe that the West would go to war over Iran. Just as they did not believe that the West would coldly respond to their reactionary internal policies. And they thought that the West would not overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq as Iraq was a Soviet client state. Perhaps if it were just one individual truly in charge, then he might have been able to recognize his failures and resign. Or others could have convinced him or come together to remove him as they did with Kruschev. But since they were all jointly running the USSR, albeit with Kryuchkov as the titular leader, none of them could individually accept or admit the failure of their overall agenda and policies. And so it continued into the abyss.

30 January, 1997 - WASHINGTON, DC (UPI) The Pentagon - Fighting In the North Atlantic

Secretary Cohen today confirmed that NATO naval forces have been fighting a series of engagements with Soviet naval units in the waters between Norway and Greenland. Unconfirmed accounts describe these battles as being fought by various NATO Anti-submarine units attempting to find and sink Soviet missile subs before they reach the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Secretary Cohen did not go into specifics but he did describe the results of these battles as being "highly favorable to our side."

1 February, 1997 - BISMARK, ND (BT) - Governor to Declare Martial Law?
After yesterday's attack on several Minuteman missile silos, there has been considerable speculation that Governor Schafer may declare a "state of martial law" in effect for the duration of the war with the USSR. The reports that the individuals who attacked at least one of the silos was a long time North Dakota resident has increased speculation about "sleeper cells" of Soviet agents of sympathizers operating among the general population. Declaring martial law would give the government the authority to stop and detain any suspicious individuals. At a press briefing this morning, the governor's spokesman refused to comment on those rumors.

The Touch of the Spirit. Narr. Morley Safer. Sixty Minutes. CBS. WCBS, New York. 19 Sept. 1999.
Major Frank Whitley, USAF: And then there's the mission we had on the second.

CBS 60 Minutes Interviewer, Morley Safer: That's the mission on February 2nd, 1997 - the "Sukhoi Mission, right?

Maj. Whitley: Uh, yeah. You could call it that. We'd already been in-country for some five hours and had expended all but one of our B83s.

Safer: Those being the B83 nuclear bombs the Air Force equipped the B-2s with in their anti-mobile launcher missions.

Maj. Whitley: Right. Anyway, we were down to our last one. It had been a productive day! Anyway, Ted - my pilot, got another frag.

Safer: That being a "Fragmentary Operations Order."

Maj. Whitley: Yes. Right. Anyway, we got another frag and this one was really fresh. They'd found another Topol within our AO.

Safer: The Topol being the Soviet's SS-25 mobile ICBM.

Maj. Whitley: (sighing) Yes. Right. Anyway, they'd spotted this Topol within the past ten minutes. By then our guys had gotten really good at finding the Soviet launchers and getting that intel out to us. So, we knew this one was good and it was also really close. Our AO...

Safer: Your "Area of Operations."

Maj. Whitley: (pauses) Yes, Mister Safer, our Area of Operations. Anyway, our AO that day was about a hundred clicks - kilometers, figure seventy five or so miles - east of the Urals. And this launcher was just a couple of valleys over from us.
Now the soup was hot and it was thick that day...

Safer: Meaning that the Soviets had a lot of radars on, searching for your aircraft

Maj. Whitley: And they also had a lot of aircraft up doing the same as well. The Mainstays were the ones with the search radars. They're similar to our E-3s. For the air to air they would have whatever they could throw up that day. In this case it turned out to be two Su-27s. They're roughly the equivalent of our Eagles. At least so in terms of speed and handling. Our systems are much better than theirs.

Anyway, we'd already pegged the Mainstay and were evading its radar and we'd also already ID'd the ground based stuff as well. So, it was a pretty hot environment to by flying in. Very active, signal wise.
Ted completed the target markup and we skittered onto that heading.

Safer: "Skittered?"

Maj. Whitley: That's what we call using just the engines to make the aircraft turn. There's a chance, however slight, that when you use the conventional flight controls on the Spirit - the ailerons or spoilers - that it will give just enough increased signal return for the bad guys to spot you. By skittering we increase the thrust of the engines on one side of the aircraft and reduce the thrust on the other side. It's all automatic in once you've selected that mode.

So, we came on to this new heading and started going through our firing procedures. That's when I caught that whiff.
Safer: You picked up the Russian fighters.

Maj. Whitley: Right. Nothing direct, mind you. But the systems aboard the Spirit are very good and we already knew what the radars on the Su-27s are like so our systems were able to locate their presence even when they weren't actively scanning or headed our way.

Safer: That's pretty impressive.

Maj. Whitley: Yup. That it is. Anyway, we realized that our target was between us and the Soviet fighters. Ted did some quick work on his screens and we both had a real quick discussion about this. The B83s are gravity weapons - there's no rocket motors to them or anything. And we were tooling around at very low level so we couldn't get any distance gliding the bomb in either. Essentially, we drop those things almost directly on what ever the target is. Now, for the mobiles, this really doesn't matter much. The blast radius on a B83 is enough that even once they'd seen the bomb drop anywhere near them they can't get away fast enough. They're screwed and they know it.
But even with being screwed they'd also have time to scream in their radios that we'd just been overhead and that would be a problem with those Sukhois being around there to.

Normally, we'd skitter away a bit and loaf around some. We'd throttle down and wait for the Russian jets to leave the area. But there's always a risk doing that. I mean, Ivan had plenty of his troops out in that area looking for us. I mean, we were breaking all his toys and that made him upset. So, the longer we hung around there the more chances we took of Ivan getting lucky. I mean, it'd be just our luck to try stooging around in the same valley that the Red Army was having Strela practice in that day. That's their MANPADs - they're Man Portable Air Defense missiles.
Plus we were pretty close to hitting our bingo on fuel.

Safer: The point at which you would have to return home because you were running out of fuel.

Maj. Whitley: No, not running out but getting down to the point where RTB - Return To Base - would be a real good idea.

Safer: Uh, I think I'll save my explanations for later then.

Maj. Whitley: Now, Ted and I had discussed this a bit previously. So, it wasn't entirely a new idea. We'd even gamed it out in the sim back Beale. So, we knew the parameters that we'd need to effect it.

Safer: Which were?

Maj. Whitely: Well, we wanted to be pretty much already headed away from the fighters when we revealed ourselves to them. And they had to be close enough for it to work but not too far away to avoid things. So, given where the Sukhois were and were the Topol was, we needed some more space. So, we skittered to a new heading and increased the diverge. This was a bit tricky as we couldn't turn too sharply or else either the Su-27s or the Mainstay might catch enough of our IR to get wise to us. It was kind of a cat and mouse thing.
So, we slowly came to that new heading and kept track of where the Russian fighters were and where the Topol was. And that mobile launcher was being just that - mobile. Intel has those things down as only being capable of eighteen miles and hour over those sort of dirt roads and that thing was moving at twenty five least - if not thirty. He was clearly making a run for a new hardpoint.


Safer: You were able to actively locate moving targets on the ground? And do so without their knowing it?


Maj. Whitley: Yeah. Of course. How else do you think we'd be able to peg all those mobile launchers? Anyway, after some S-turns to get things set up it was as close as it was gonna be and we then turned onto our target approach bearing. Ted had come up with the numbers and we set the delay on the B83 to our best guess of what it would take. By this point we were almost at right angle to the Sukhois on their heading as we closed onto the Topol. The drop was almost directly on top of that launcher. Given how loud the engines are on those things and how thick the trees are around the roadsides, he might not even have heard or seen us as we dropped.
The chute on the B83 popped and it hit the dirt right where we wanted it to. About as soon as we pickled it, I did a hard aileron turn away.


Safer: But I thought you said aileron turns were bad.


Maj. Whitley: Except in this case we wanted to be seen. Well, at least seen briefly. Doing a wing over like that combined with our firewalling the throttles meant we'd all but raised a damn flag and waved it at them. Now, I don't know whether it was the guys in the mobile launcher, the Mainstay crew, or the Sukhoi drivers themselves but somebody caught a glimpse and those Su-27s quickly pulled up short and came 'round screaming.

We'd kept on a steady heading directly away from their approach so they were getting the absolute best IR from us they were gonna get and that drew them on to us like we'd hoped.

It was getting kinda close. Both of those Sukhois went sonic as they came screaming at us. Ted and I were watching the screens and counting the seconds. Right on time, that B83 counted down and lit up. We were about fifteen miles away by then and as she popped I made a hard skitter turn to break any contact with our IR. Also at that time we lost all signal return from the two Russians. We'd gotten into some good terrain masking so the blast wave never really got to us and when we got clear of that we found that we'd a clear sky. Well, clear at least of the Sukhois.


Safer: So, what happened to the two Soviet fighter jets.


Maj. Whitley: Ted re-ran the radar imagery and dropped in on their trace. Just as we'd figured, both of those guys were almost directly above the B83 when it popped and they got caught up in its blast and thermals. Back at base the signals intel guys got our download and did a better job of interpreting it out. They're absolutely amazing at pulling info out of the hashed scramble that happens when a nuke goes off right next to you. Turns out the first Sukhoi bought it in the fireball itself. And his wingman was just far enough away to avoid getting fried but he lost it in the blast. His bird got uncontrollable into the ground.


Safer: And that's how an unarmed bomber shot down two of the Soviet Union's best fighter jets.


Maj. Whitley: Yup. It is.


Safer: And that's also now the first time in history any aircraft - let alone a bomber - has used a nuclear bomb to shoot down another aircraft in combat.


Maj. Whitley: Yup. It is.

Safer: Don't you think using a 2 megaton thermonuclear bomb against a couple of fighter planes is a bit on the overkill side?


Maj. Whitley: Rule 37. There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload."

.... to be continued
 

ccdsah

Donor
I'm trying to understand this TL, but you need to be clear about the POD with OTL. IF the POD is August 1991, then the Germany is reunited and Warsaw Pact is dismembered unofficially from feb 1991, de jure from july 1991...
 
Two gripes from the first part:

1) the verbage of ATL Al-Jazeera and the fact that it's posting from Damascus aren't really plausible. Al-Jazeera started broadcasting in 1996, from Qatar, and never has had such a propagandistic and anti-American tone. If it was from Iraqi News Agency, the post would completely make sense. It's a minor detail, but it gets under my skin when people use Al-Jazeera as "stock propagandistic America-haters" because it's the only regional media name that comes to mind.


2) F-22's in 1993??? The production model didn't have it's first flight until 1997. As a test. And it still took till 2005 to get into service. Maybe the YF-22 could have done a flyover...but a continuing cold war, while maybe cutting away defense procurement red tape, will not un-fuck the problems of the most complicated jet ever.


That said- keep it up! I love Soviet survival timelines!
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
I'm trying to understand this TL, but you need to be clear about the POD with OTL. IF the POD is August 1991, then the Germany is reunited and Warsaw Pact is dismembered unofficially from feb 1991, de jure from july 1991...


The POD was the success of the August Coup in 1991. Prior to that, things remained unchanged.
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
"This is Dan Deever reporting for ABC news...We're the first camera crew to get this far into New York City and it has been hard going..Every car is dead on the road and people are making do on foot, by scooters and bicycles.
Wall Street and the markets remain closed for the 4th strait day as electricians from upstate and elsewhere converge on the fabled building to try and restart the computers that all went silent, on what many are calling madness monday.

As our viewers know, it was 8.32 am when New York, Chicago, and Dallas all experienced a bright flash of light in the lower atmosphere, and then all went dark. The cars stopped moving, the traffic lights and streetlights went out. peoples devices stopped working and everyone stood around, in silence, not knowing what to do. Many,Many tragedies unfolded throughout the cities hospitals as vital equipment shut down dooming their patients. countless automobie wrecks such as I've never seen before, and hospitals are filled to capacity. Today i've seen long lines of people trying to exit the clogged bridges from Manhattan."

Deever: " Young man tell us your name? Where are you going now?"

My name's Winston... Oh if you can see this Ma, I'm OKAY!

"I'm heading to upstate new York to get to my mother and my younger brother and sisters. It's hard, the tunnels are too clogged and theres something wrong with the air down there. There's no more food! Looters cleaned out the stores. I was gonna tough it out, but alot of people are' going hungry now, no fridges and everything the supermarket has in canned stuff is gone. We all gotta leave. City officials say they's going to get everything up and running again, but that will take weeks and months. We dont HAVE weeks and months and until you can bulldoze these cars off the road how we gonna get trucks in?"


Deever: " Have you encountered alot of violence and looting in the city? As you can see in the boroughs behind us theres still alot of smoke and flames."

Winston. "Yeah I seen people shot in the streets but things is pretty quiet now. At first many of us though the commiere coming, commandos and such. I work as a bellhop for the Hyatt Towers. Yes there was some looting but without a car, you cant carry much. Electronics stuff aint much if you cant play it, and even if you had juice the thing wont work because it's fried, right? So what are you gonna steal. Right now I just want something to eat, a bar of snickers will do. I aint eaten nuthin 3 days since I ran out of canned food, and now i'm outta that and cant find more. Look man I got a long walk home, and I'm worried about my momma."

Deever: "Well thanks for your time young man, and be safe. Well there you have it folks, a view from ground zero. Next up I have an interview with a surgeon AND his last patient whom performed a open heart surgery by candlelight. Stay tuned."
 
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