Nice to see it living again. Wonder how worldwide trade is getting on, especially from a British perspective, as we get into the next part of BSiC?
My interest is peaked and I'm interested to see where this goes under Act III begins. Was also curious about Oswald and Bremer's fates myself.
Thank you,
@QTXAdsy and
@AeroTheZealousOne!
The TL does live and I hope to get new updates out by the end of the week. To answer your question, QTX, global trade has taken a bit of a hit due to the global recession, though some countries are obviously being hit harder than others. The UK's economy is struggling more than most, and PM Thatcher may soon find herself facing a crisis of confidence, especially as the calls for Scottish and Welsh devolution grow louder and her stance on the issue refuses to bend...
I doubt it will be any less monstrous than OTL Iraq.
Saddam Hussein is still the horrific, villainous man he was IOTL, and here, he has continued backing from the Andropov-led USSR. What this will mean for the rest of the Middle East and the world at large remains to be seen, but if the Iraqi "intervention" (invasion) of Syria is any indication, Saddam intends to build the Iraqi-led UAR into a nationalist regional power.
What happened to Egypt and Gamal Abdel-Nasser? Did Kennedy met with Nasser personally?
As per OTL, President Kennedy initially sought to warm relations between the United States and Nasser's Egypt. Unlike his predecessors, JFK did not see nationalism in the third world as inherently dangerous to U.S. interests, and largely believed that nationalism could work hand-in-hand with American values like self-determination to oppose Soviet influence abroad. This belief would go on to form the basis of the Kennedy Doctrine, which was largely continued under the subsequent Romney, Bush, and Udall administrations. Though President Kennedy hoped that his personal touch and correspondence with President Nasser would be enough to bridge the two countries' relationship, Kennedy's continued support for Israel doomed any potential alliance between the United States and Egypt. During JFK's second term, relations between he and Nasser cooled significantly, especially during the Six Day War of 1967, as the Americans once again favored Israel over Egypt. In the end, Kennedy left office in 1969 seeing rapprochement in the Middle East as a missed opportunity. Nasser would serve as President of Egypt until dying of a heart attack in 1970, whereupon he would be succeeded by Anwar Sadat, as per OTL.
JFK may have been a great foreign policy President - opening up relations with China, securing peace in Vietnam, strengthening alliances and friendship with Latin America, etc. - but it would take another fine diplomat, President George Bush, to negotiate the beginnings of a peace process between Israel in Egypt, in 1976.