Challenge- Russia doesn't leave Soviet Union

I remember reading a fact that if Russia hadn't left the Soviet Union, most of the Central Asian States would have remained in the Soviet Union.

What would be the impact of the Soviet Union still existing today under these conditions.
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Now the Challenge...

Have a POD no earlier than 1985, where Russia doesn't leave the Soviet Union, and have the Soviet Union exist somewhat until 2005. The minumum it can control is Central Asia and Russia.

Bonus if you can have it last to today, and you get a brownie if it exists as a whole until today.
 

Dialga

Banned
Gorbachev dies in, say, 1986 or '87 and a hardliner takes control? Only thing I can think of right off the top of my head.
 
Yeltsin and his friends are killed by the commies during the coup. Outraged, the rest of the premiers declare independence except for the Central Asian ones and Moldova (the premier there asks Romania to annex it, which is accepted). The commies fall of course, but since Yeltsin and his cronies are dead Gorby remains in power, and the Soviet Union democratizes under his rule. Also, no "shock therapy" so the Soviet Union does better transiting to a market economy in the 90s TTL.

The Soviet Union is completely reformed by 2000, where Gorbachev wins the first presidential election in a landslide, popular after his request for Belarus to rejoin the USSR passed in Belarus by referendum. He wins by a landslide in 2004 after getting the Soviet Union in the EU and NATO, and is succeeded in 2008 by some Pro-European pro-NATO Russian social democrat.

A referendum to rename the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation failed narrowly in 2005. It was overwhelmingly rejected by Belarusian and Central Asian votes, while the Russian vote was more split. Over 85% of the population now wishes to change the name, and there will be another referendum in 2010.

The CIS does not exist anymore, the USSR reacts mainly with its former republics who are in the EU and NATO. However, Armenia is not in NATO due to protests from Turkey, and Azerbaijan is not in the EU due to protests from Armenia. The USSR opposes Turkish entry to the EU, supporting its close friend Armenia. Recently it has begun to change its stance since Armenia is interested in normalizing its relationship with Turkey.
 
The Soviet Union is completely reformed by 2000, where Gorbachev wins the first presidential election in a landslide, popular after his request for Belarus to rejoin the USSR passed in Belarus by referendum. He wins by a landslide in 2004 after getting the Soviet Union in the EU and NATO, and is succeeded in 2008 by some Pro-European pro-NATO Russian social democrat.
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Two points here.

Firstly, there is no chance of the USSR in to the EU, it would completely skew the thing to be Russia + lackeys. Imagine the EuroParl apportionment, knocking on for half would be Soviet. NATO, possibly.
Gorby was 77 last year, which would be getting on a bit, especially if it was a presidential system. I don't think he's the sort of guy who would run for election aged 72.
 
I remember reading a fact that if Russia hadn't left the Soviet Union, most of the Central Asian States would have remained in the Soviet Union.

What would be the impact of the Soviet Union still existing today under these conditions.
----------------

Now the Challenge...

Have a POD no earlier than 1985, where Russia doesn't leave the Soviet Union, and have the Soviet Union exist somewhat until 2005. The minumum it can control is Central Asia and Russia.

Bonus if you can have it last to today, and you get a brownie if it exists as a whole until today.

Immediately reform agriculture into something more productive than collectivazation. Any nation that holds the Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe, shouldn't have to import grain. Also invest in computer and internet technology.

From there on out reform the economy into some sort of market socialism or social democracy while very slowly liberalizing rights (it was too rapid IOTL) to match that of the internet. The USSR would be faced to either liberalize or collaspe in the face of the internet but it would be done at a much, much more steady rate.

Foreign policy and military wise, cut your Eastern European empire slowly and make cuts in the budget of the military. Tell countries like Vietnam, Cuba, and Mongolia that aid will stop over time at a moderate rate.

Hold more summits with the West in order to "end" the Cold War.

The Baltics, the Casausus, and possibly Ukraine and Belarus will ask for independence eventually due to the liberalization but the challenge was to keep Russia and Central Asia in right?

Later on, what is left of the USSR? Thanks to agriculture reform, investments in computer and internet technology, general openness as well as rising oil prices of 90s, it's standard of living is comparable to that of lower end of Western Europe while remaining a great power and still the 2nd most powerful country on the globe.
 
Two points here.

Firstly, there is no chance of the USSR in to the EU, it would completely skew the thing to be Russia + lackeys. Imagine the EuroParl apportionment, knocking on for half would be Soviet. NATO, possibly.
Gorby was 77 last year, which would be getting on a bit, especially if it was a presidential system. I don't think he's the sort of guy who would run for election aged 72.
Oh sorry, I didn't explain, only the European USSR population would count. I'm still not sure if it could get into the EU (that is a high population), but I know that Gorbachev could get the USSR into NATO. Putin was even favorable to it in the beginning.

Also, I know Gorby would have been old, but there have been older world leaders (Adenauer retired as Chancellor at 87, and Chairman of the CDU at 90 :eek:).
 
Well actually the reason the 1991 Coup took place was because Gorby was organising a Treaty to reform the USSR into a looser confederacy. Afterwards he still pushed it forward but Yeltsin and the Belorussian Premier signed a unilateral declaration (technically illegal) stating that Russia and Belarus were leaving. Without Russia, the USSR was obviously little more than a shell and quickly wrapped up.

So, although it isn't really the Soviet Union, if you either keep Yeltsin out of the way (say its Gorbachev who stands on the tank defying the putschists) or avoid the coup completely, the Treaty would go ahead. Although I think the western republics would leave anyway Central Asia would still be keen, plus if like IOTL, Belarus becomes very close to Russia/New Union it might rejoin at some point.

So you have a bigger Russia and under Gorby, something approaching honest government, and hopefully not an oligarch to be seen.
 
Also, no "shock therapy" so the Soviet Union does better transiting to a market economy in the 90s TTL.
If they'd actually DONE shock therapy it might have worked. As it is, they did a kind of half-baked 'privatization' that basically amounted to selling stuff cheap to cronies of the people in charge (and the Mafiya), but with not nearly enough change in commercial law, etc., etc. The existing 'transition' may be near the worst possible way to do it.
 
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