For a Gore Prosperous Tomorrow

[CountDVB]

Spring 2012

"Good lord what is going on in Africa...?"

"Unsurprsing Putin would be the talk of NATO..."

"Guess we know who's running now..."

While the peace talks finalized over in the Middle East and the people were reflecting on the progress made over regarding Palestine and the former nations of Syria and Iraq, they also began turning their attention in foreign policy, namely in Africa. Africa has unfortunately a source of political trouble since the lurching mishandling of decolonization and remnants troubles of the Cold War. First off, there was the Brazzaville arms dump blasts; a series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, with at least 250 people dead from the result, raising questions on the mishandling. However, the next various incidents were not so accidental. Over in Mali, President Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup d'état after mutinous soldiers attack government offices. The coup was done by hte military in response to what they saw as failure in handling the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. Unsuprisingly, following it, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally declares the independence of Azawad from Mali. The discussions and talks were mixed and while some were open to letting the people settle it out for themselves, the fears of chaos coming about meant that there were forces willing to invest. Over in the UN, talks were held in regards to whether to recognize Azawad or not along with dealing the Islamic forces that were complicated the situation there. Looking for some needed political points, the McCain Administration considered an aggressive approach to deal with the Islamic forces before going to Mali and Azawad, especially since given the coup, there were obvious questions on the legitmacy of the current Mali government. Meanwhile, Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup d'état and take control of the capital city, Bissau. They arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a presidential election campaign and leading to more troubles there. And lastly, Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Overall, it brought more attention to Africa and in deciding how to handle some of the conflicts going on.

Map of Azawad, as claimed by the MNLA. Dark grey dots indicate regions with a Tuareg majority.

Meanwhile, as the world kept trying to recover from the economic recession in varying successes, elections were going on across the world. Over in Russia, the presidental elections happened which restored controversial political figure Vladimir Putin back into power. Putin was unsurprsingly a controversial figure because of his past and his antagonism with the West. However, he was voted in with a lesser majority than people predicted and the fact was that that the Recession hit Russia hard. The McCain Administration continued to uphold Gore's message on energy self-sufficiency through renewables and was applauding Prime Minister Layton's investments over in geothermal power. All of this was discussed along with nuclear weapons and the Middle East situation over in the 2012 Chicago Summit of NATO. The many heads of state were discussing dealing with the matters of international security along with more intangible factors as the political rivalry of NATO and Russia's somewhat sphere was in part growing because of the energy changes. While in the past Russia has been invited but declined, this time Russia was not invited, something which Putin noted though was countered with the answers of past rejections along with wanting to leave Putin alone to deal with the economic troubles of Russia. However, more interesting were some of the countries in attendance. While Saudi Arabia was still invited, the surprise was on the invitation of Iran into the discussions. Unsurprisingly there were also the new nations that the Coalition over in the Middle East helped form: Kurdistan (formed from Rojava of Syria and the autonomous Kurdish state of Iraq), a Shiite dominant Iraq, a new state of Assyria, and the new state of Shaam (formed from the remaining land of Syria and Sunni Iraq), the leaders being there and with the last bits being order to stablize it.

Logo of the 2012 Chicago Summit

And with the passing of Spring was coming the candidates to decide who would be running for the elections of US President. Senator Barack Obama entered late and while pretty popular, his late entry meant it was difficult to gain the traction needed to really catch up. He would end up finishing second behind Hillary Clinton, who would end up winning the nomination of the election. She won riding on the success of the #MeToo movement along with promising to maintain good military presence and to return the economy. However, she did have to conflict with Barack Obama as well as independent Bernie Sanders who was pushing to deal with the banks and other financial institutions who led them to the crisis along with expanding the healthcare system for Medicare For All along with supporting LGTBQ marriage and legalizing marijuana and ending the drug war. While pretty radical, he stood out and planted the seeds for an America that was far beyond. Meanwhile, the GOP race was relatively quiet as there were little contenders to run against John McCain though McCain did note that when he finished his second term, he would support Mitt Romney. With the candidates decided, it would be moving on to be Clinton vs McCain. However, one note of concern was that former President Gore did not endorse any of the contenders in order to keep it fair, but he did not seem to want to support Clinton in her run. McCain would keep Romney as his running mate and Clinton would end up choosing Tim Kaine as her Vice President pick after rumors of her choosing Obama as running mate went on.

Clinton-Kaine 2012 Campaign icon

 

[CountDVB]

The End of the Iraqi-Syrian War; The New Nations

By the Spring of 2012, discussions were finalized over the new nations and with order being mostly restored, the people were quite happy to put the war behind them and set aside for a new tomorrow. The guards would be there for a bit longer to ensure the peace going on that would be around and there would not be trouble. This is namely with the new states of Kurdistan and Assyria because of the overlap of population, which required the work of the Americans and Iranians to try and work out territory issues and have populations try and move around for it. There would be a limited amount of refugees accepted by the Americans and the Iranians in regards to it along with working out the new provisional governments that would hold elections within the year to decide the official rulers. For the most, it would be a matter of trying to establish some form of stability in the area. The Coalition ultimately wanted peace and security in the region with the only one wanting anything more was Iran and they were trying to increase their prominence. Granted, it was done for more pragmatic reasons as it would be used as leverage against conservative hardliners to continue to force reforms against them, allowing the Reformers further progress on the nation, enough so more and more leftist policies were slowly creeping into the reformers thanks to rising calls from the populace. While Iraq would be influenced heavily by Iran, Assyria would be toward the Americans with Kurdistan being dual-influenced by the Americans and Iranians and of course the new unified state of Shaam. As for capitals, Iraq's capital remains Baghdad. Kirkuk becomes the capital of Kurdistan. For Shaam, it's Damascus. And for Assyria, it would be decided as Mosul. There were still some problems, if namely with the Assyrians ansd Kurdish with one another though the Kurds were in little position to make demands. Soldiers were posted all over the place and populations did end up moving. Other questions remained, but wuld be resolved between themselves, such as the Yazidis, who many would end up in Assyria.

Post Iraqi-Syrian War nations.

The new nations have signed peace treaties with each other and before long, they were recognized by members of the Coalition along with most of their Middle East neighbors, the European Union and various other nations. Even if some lingering tensions remain over people moving, the exhaustion over war and the promise over a better tomrrow was enough for people to move past it to move forward. With peace settling in, people began voting in for how to decide the various aspects of their nations along with new constitutions that was declaring freedom of religion and protection of minorites within the nation, including those of LGBTQ folk. While the idea of them legalizing homosexual marriage, the people would still be protected from hate crimes, though it would be a while to be reinforced. Of course, the presence of Amercian soldiers and so on did help enforce the rule along with the new rush of exposure to the open markets. And of course, new flags were being designed. While Assyria and Kurdistan already had flags that could be used and Shaam would end up using an alternate flag they were having, the new Iraqi flag would take a while to be designed though one would be submitted in, having been influenced by Iran.

New Iraqi flag; based on the Iraqi flag of 1959-1963, though with a different Venus star
and the takbir written 6 times in the Kufic script in white on the black and green sides.

The flag of Shaam, based on the flag of the opposition.

 

[CountDVB]

(With huge thanks to @LordYam for help!)

The Two-State Road: Israel and Palestine

The State of Palestine's birth was a long and complex progress that did not see much visible process until the Gore Administration came and the events that sprung up along with their reactions to them helped lead to the establishment of the state and Israel's acceptance of their presence. It took several years and effort on many people on part to reach here. As Palestine has been on the rise thanks to the investments in the information and service sectors among various other areas along with assisting in the Iraqi-Syrian War along with general peacekeeping, there has been a celeberation and a look back:

The Timeline

May-June 2003: Iran finalizes its deal with the United States. During the negotiations Gore was challenged on some of the pro orthodoxy positions regarding Israel, and ultimately decides to do some of his own homework. In the process he learns that the conflict is more complicated than expected Gore publically announces his reasoning in the press conference and goes into detail about why he's making the deal. The details go into wanting to secure peace and stability in the region, noting the troubling background behind the history and wanting to go into the future. He knows how religious extremism has been detrimental to everyone involved and how various groups (such as Hamas), have been doing more harm than good and noting if their relationship based on antagonism would fare in the long run. As per the deal, Iran pulls all funding on groups like Hezbollah and Hamas while Gore notes that if any other nations are funding Hamas, to cease lest public investigations will lead to further discoveries.

December 2003: The Geneva Initiative is announced. Gore is intrigued by the deal.

April 2004: Sharon publically announces the withdrawal plan. Gore's response is that he thinks it has the potential to be good, but that it has to involve full justice for the Palestinians. He explains that unless the Palestinians have full control over their own water supply airspace, borders roads etc than it won't really be a state, and invites Sharon to Camp David to discuss the issue further. Sharon is grudgingly forced to attend.

May 2004: The meeting is is stonewalled by the obstructive progress done by Sharon and other special interest groups. Comments about the affair are leaked to the media and groups such as AIPAC along with certain Republican politicians attempt to use the ordeal to try and turn the people against Al Gore. However, this backfires to various degrees; Gore just points to the politicians trying to use the issue as a distraction from the Exxon-Mobil scandal and even ties it in for the desire for American imperialism tied with foreign oil. AIPAC meanwhile has to try and answer why the deal is so bad and the lack of progress before hand. Gore's successes overshadow the accusations and the accusations become turned against the people.

November 2004: With Gore's reelection, the Likud party becomes fractured over the fallout of handling it. Eventually, the moderates who realize that they could get pummeled if they stood around with their hardliner colleagues. A vote of no confidence from Likud causes the fracture. Instead, over the next months, the Kadima party would split from the Likud party, led by Ehud Olmert, promoting a centralist path and honoring the agreements to try and move forward. A snap election is called and the Kadima party forms a government with the Labour party over the next upcoming months.

April 2005: A peace conference is scheduled to take place at Camp David to try to negotiate a deal. Eventually in May an agreement is reached. Israel will withdraw COMPLETELY from Gaza and turn over ALL infrastructure to the Palestinians in December (the palestinians won't be able to build up an army right away). If after a year things are relatively stable they will do the same thing for the West Bank. At the same time, the Palestinian government must promise to crack down on terrorist actions and tone down the anti semitic propaganda in schools. The deal is announced successfully at the end of the month.

December 2005: The Withdrawal occurs. Control is passed over to the Palestinian authority in Gaza.

January 2006: Fatah manages to win the elections barely after a surprising close election with Hamas, the latter exploiting the massive corruption scandals. However, fears of the deal failing under Hamas were enough to push toward PLA, albeit now under intense scrutiny. Hamas ends up fracturing over the loss of support into differing parties. This leads of certain smaller parties becoming much more popular among the people and former members of both such as the Palestinian National Initiative and the Palestinian Third Way parties. Many people expect that these smaller parties will come to take place of the older ones.

2007: The Palestinian State goes through its first year successfully. Has been working on establishing diplomatic relations with everyone and working on political rules and stability along with corruption. Palestine notes that the "Jerusalem" issue will probably not be solved for another five or even ten years.

2011: Palestine joins Israel, Jordan, the United States and Iran in the Coalition after the Iraqi-Syrian War exploits the Syrian civil war and leads to collapse. Palestinian and Israeli forces working together serve as good propaganda pieces for the effort. Palestine avoids negative growth in the Great Recession.

2012: As part of the new constitution regarding elections, elections for the semi-presidential state. Fatah and Hamas end up as minor parties by this point as the Palestinian National Intiative becomes the winner here, followed by the Palestinian Third Way and the Palestinian Democratic Union. Has established the Palestinian dinar and improving relations and unions.

 

[CountDVB]

Summer 2012

"What the heck is going on in Egypt?"

"Well, at least the Summer Olympics should cheer us up"

"Praying for everyone in India..."

With the successes of Spring regarding the Middle East and the Arab Spring, things began to slowly die down. The events of Syria and Iraq sent a pretty clear message to the authority figures over in the Middle East along with what happened in Libya. The ruling powers need to stay in line and listen to the people or else they won't survive the decade. McCain used the successes there to tout the need for a firm hand against groups that would threaten democracy and to stay strong during tough days. While the economy was still quite sluggish, it did assist in trying to push the message forward. Of course, there was still plenty of issues that lies. And that was in Egypt. The 5th president would be elected after a contentious election and the person was none other than Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, given the mixed reception and protests, it was not exactly something that brought reassurance. The main reason was on how utterly close the election was. While many predicted it would be close, the margin was still quite surprising to say the least. And the response was not comforting given the controversy behind the Muslim Brotherhood to begin with. Of course, the new President was doing his best to reassure the skeptics abroad and within, along with establishing new ties with the new nations. People were holding their breath in regards to what could happen.

Egyptian President-elect Mohammed Morsi speaks to newspaper editors in Cairo on Thursday, June 28, 2012. (photo credit: Egyptian Presidency/AP)

However, there was some optimistic matters to look into and those were the 2012 Summer Olympics. Held in London, many people were looking forward to the event and served as a good break from the ongoing Recession and the growing social issues going on. While Assyria and Kurdistan were unable to participate (being so new as to unsure whether had anyoen that could qualify), they were invited to be in support of it. Shaam and Iraq meanwhile did sent representatives along with Palestine. Overall, after all the tensions and the catharsis brought on by the Arab Spring and the troubles of the Great Recession, they were gonna take the time to try and enjoy themselves with some friendly competition and for the most part, did serve as a legitimate morale booster for a lot of people involved. Of course, it wasn't without its issues. While the sustainaility and renewability issues were welcomed, there was still the looming troubles of the austerity measures that hung around the United Kingdom at the time and the Tories were doing little in regards to it. And of course, other controversies and concerns were being held such as regarding sponsors, ticket distributions and so on. Other scandals would develop such as drug usage, predominantly among the Russian athletes. Despite this, it was a good time to be had by all and the last day saw the Olympic Hunger Summit to discuss further reducting world hunger and the connections it had in doing so. Unsurprisingly, sustainability and climate change were big discussions about it and moreover were delving into the details, such as the observation of how much decent food gets thrown away within restaurants and stores, especially in the US, which served as a stinging yet accurate remark, especially as social media began spreading the stories of workers in the food industry confirming this. Overall, it was quite an eventful Olympics that signaled some changing times yet continued to promote positive feelings.

London Olympics 2012 logo

Of course, not everything was happy. There was the death of Neil Armstrong, the growing troubles regarding Armenia and Hungary and so on. However, perhaps the biggest issue was on the massive blackouts that were going on over in India. At the end of July, two severe power blackouts affected most of northern and eastern India. The 30 July 2012 blackout affected over 400 million people and was briefly the largest power outage in history by number of people affected, beating the January 2001 blackout in Northern India (230 million affected). The blackout on 31 July is the largest power outage in history. The outage affected more than 620 million people, about 9% of the world population, or half of India's population, spread across 22 states in Northern, Eastern, and Northeast India. The entire issue brought back the discussion for power grids, their distrubtion and the concentration of electric power. Further notes was unsurprisingly on renewanle energy as some places with things like solar panels and so on were a bit better off. Having such a large democracy go through such trouble did bring concerns in and the government needed to step in and invest the funds to get everything back up and fix it. This did bring back other matters such as folks wanting to be more independent from the grid along with the production and distribution of electircal power.

Map and legend of the blackout

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"Whatever happened to alot of the forces of Saddam and Assadand the other Baathists, anyway?

"Well, they likely would've been chased out and headed down south, about the only place they could go anyway..."

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"That's mainly Saudi Arabia though...


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"And what about Russia? What happened to them with their deal with the Assad administration?"

 

[CountDVB]

Autumn 2012

"Least Hurricane Sandy were able to get under control..."

"Well this is interesting on what happens to Lucasfilms... I wonder what the future holds..."

"What the hell happened in the Philippines?!"

As fall came and the election fever of Clinton vs McCain was being announced, the competition was over Clinton's promises against McCain's reputation. Of course, the problem was that Clinton would ultimately not be endorsed over by Gore, something a few people noted though on the other hand, it was not like Clinton reached out to Gore all that much outside of a courtesy so some wondered what Clinton's strategy would be and if McCain's successes abroad would be enough to offset the current levels of disappointment at the Republicans' lackluster response regarding the Great Recession, People still trusted McCain, but they were growing more upset at certain Republican congressfolk. The Democrats also as a few populists from both sides were pointing Clinton's elitism or siding with the bankers. This included Senator Sanders, who while treated as a radical, did begin growing support in his calls for expanding healthcare, growing the minimum wage and various other ideas. These notions were catching on, especially when the responses to pay for them would be to tax the 1%, the super-elite and corporations who seemingly got away with this sort of stuff. It brought back memories of the Enron scandal... of Exxon-Mobil. Stoking older fires with newer fuels. However, perhaps of this, McCain began going further to promote his stance on domestics and Hurricane Sandy proved to be a good case of it. The most dangerous hurricane of the 2012 season, it was also noted for an example on climate change can affect storms. While it's explained that hurricanes will likely happen regardless of climate change, the phenomenon does make hurricanes more dangerous and observations have noted that Sandy could've been more destructive if not for climate change measures. And it was already plenty destructive with the damages, snow storms and plenty of other problems that brought along with such a storm. However, the comparisons were marginal. The McCain administration worked to put some money to help while there was some further financial troubles coming from the storm along with elections woe, enough to where there was issues regarding early voting, so there was considerations to extend voting time and delay the elections a bit. Others considered things like mail-in voting. Overall, many wondered if Hurricane Sandy was a sign to come for the election.

Hurricane Sandy as a Category 3 Major hurricane on October 25, 2012

However, while election fever was holding onto the sway, pop culture served as more of a beacon in the economic crisis along with the ongoing storms and other storms. Marvel pushed it with two new films that cemented the prominence of superhero films. A shift of literature was signaling the gradual dying down of the YA-adult aimed audience. The big news was around Star Wars on all things. Or perhaps more specifically, the retirement of George Lucas and the selling of Lucasfilms Ltd. Rumors ran wild over potential buyers. Some noted possibly Disney though others noted that while they made plenty of money, especially from the two films released of Marvel this year, they did not hold uch interest in it. Disney would later note they considered it, but after the purchases of the film rights of Spiderman, Fantastic Four & others, they wanted to focus on what they had. Instead, Lucasfilms Ltd would go on to be merged with Amblin Entertainment, founded by none other than Steven Spielberg. There were several uncertainities if the merger would be done there, but ultimately it felt it would be best suited given the collaberation of the two along with Lucas not feeling secure with several groups on the works he had made with it. The Star Wars franchise, the Indiana Jones franchise along with plenty of other Lucasfilms Ltd works would now fall under Amblin as well. Currently, news over Star Wars remained unknown though they did note they would likely not make any changes without thorough examination of the products. However, rumors have already circulated that some of the "Expanded Universe" canon may be cut, but nothing definitive. Others wondered what this will hold given the influence fo Amblin on many children and young adults along with if Lucas in his semi-retirement would work on consultation with Spielberg. One thing is certain is that many people are excited for what holds in the future.

Lucasfilms Ltd logo pre-merger with Amblin

However, storm season was far from over and across the world, while things were calming down or preparing for the various seasonal storms that came about, the Philippines would soon become battered by none other than Typhoon Bopha or Pablo as it was known over there. An immense super typhoon, it hit the isles hard, especially Mindanao. The damage was deveastating and international assistance was called on to help rebuild the people who lost their homes and jobs. Unsurprisingly, because of the holiday season, the spirit of charity and camarderie was especially prominent for here. For the McCain Administration, it was another bolster for their successes abroad for an ally as well as trying to unite the nation after a somewhat surprising bitter election. It did also remind people of the importance of climate change that was discussed back with Hurricane Sandy, but perhaps more so for the people of the Pacific in part because of monsoon seasons and typhoons. The US was already discussing plans to accelerate climate change challenges and solutions with the Chinese in order to cope with these rising issues. However, the meetings were being postponed as there were ongoing elections in China to decide the new leadership and the surprising drama and problems that would unfold from within.

The Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of Typhoon Bopha around 01:12 local time on December 4 (17:12 UTC on December 3).

 

[CountDVB]

Election Season 2012

2012 would prove to be a surprisingly pivotal year and a continuing sign of change. Some of the Blue Dog Democrats continued to switch parties, albeit mainly in those that had the remaining neoconservative congressmen and presenting themselves as the moderate alternate to promote a better promise, which the yields working. On the other hand, the homegrown "ecoconservatives" were not yet displaced and have begun even taking into consideration more flexible stances on the economy to get in and push programs. As such, the primaries were becoming an ideological battleground about who would be chosen to try and help push the nation out of the Great Recession and what should be done policy-wise to jumpstart the economy to do so. The nation has made marginal progress with the economy and even that prior statement is considered a generous statement to make given everything that has been going on and moreso. Furthermore, there has been growing talk on who to shift blame to for how this happened along with the fears of such as a situation growing worse or perhaps more convoluted. '
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2012 would see the Democrats make some modest gains in the house and the Senate being tied due to some defections. However, the primaries were the noteworthy thing. Democrats have been seeing a growing upsurge of a call for newer politicians and more progressive ones to deal with the Great Recession, especially thanks to the primary of Senator Sanders, who has been catching on in terms of popularity for his ideas and for his outsider status. The governor ships though did swing with a couple of Democrat gains due to an increase to see some wage boosts and legalizing same-sex marriage.

As for the general elections, it was a tight race. While Clinton ran a good campaign, she would be hamstrung by the associations to the "political elites." Additionally, she did not recieve any support from former President Gore, in part because of the past bad blood, but also out of concerns Clinton was just not the right candidate. Senator Obama was considered a popular choice though he ended up entering late and some have noted that he may have been drowned a bit by Sanders in his debate, even if Obama overtook Sanders as a candidate in the end. McCain meanwhile ran generally unopposed. There were not enough moderate Republicans considered viable or appealing enough to contine and the McCain Administration was pragmatic enough to continue delivering on working with the past Democrats, especially Senator Feingold, on campaign reforms.

Ultimately, the winner would be John McCain winning reelection. Mitt Romney was his running mate once more and addressed the American public on some concerns regarding President McCain's health. Some people were hoping McCain could get them out while others were concerned the economy would continue to worsen.

 

[CountDVB]

2012 In Review
Well, the world did not end. That was the sentimentality the people felt when 2012mania would end up dying down after December, though people felt concerned for the future. On the one hand, the economy's recovery was pretty sluggish with some nations better than others faring. Some noted that nations did have more pro-active governments and the nations with slower recoveries had nations who did not invest as much. Canada's faster recovery wasn't entirely surprising though what was is that the Canadian dollar would come to reach near-equal levels to that of the American dollar due to increased consumer buying along with government investments in renewable energy, especially with surveys and scan showing massive geothermal promise throughout all of Canada, all of which is spelling out plenty of positive favors for Prime Minister Jack Layton, who has also been working on reforming the Canadian healthcare systems, namely through better unity of the provinces' own along with the inclusion of the coverage of pharmaceuticals and more humorously, working toward the legalization of marijuana. Other nations have been working to try and deal with it though with varying levels of success. The discussions began looking for more fault in this and the rising tide was in the incompetenance of the European Union thought others floated non EU nations were tanking as well and some pointed out the failures of neoliberal economic policies in resolving the crisis.

Meanwhile, while the economic troubles were casting doubt into the systems so cherished and restoking the fires of suspicion at the top tier individuals and organizations, foreign affairs were a more positive matter. The Middle East was seeing some real stability as Iraq and Syria met their end in the latter's civil war leading to the former to declare war. A coalition of their neighbors came about (excluding Turkey and Saudi Arabia) to bring order and in the process, managed to do surprisingly successful nation-building, albeit mainly by exploting the desire for peace and stability while working to improve themselves and get along with their neighbors. Iran enjoyed their new position of power and the influence was bringing a political shift from the result of the successes of the Reformers. Cultural conservatives found less to hold onto and more cast aside as liberalization was becoming more accepted and cast in. Meanwhile, the situations in Africa were being watched over in the event of any more trouble, but the main story was mainly Azawad. After several military conflicts against the Islamic extremists, there was an operations to restore the original government back into Mali rather than deal with the "new guys" in charge. Azawad would be considered for sovereignty though only if they were to consider full human rights and equality, especially for females. Talks and discussions would continue over into the next year as a result of this. People were torn of this in regards to what to do as the UN discussed matters and how to approach it.

With the situation looked pretty mixed, it's unsurprising people were turning now more to pop culture and this year turned out to be quite excellent for the film industry. Lord of the Rings returned in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, while Skyfall marked 50 years of James Bond and Men In Black III being a surprise hit. The Twilight saga saw its end with the second part of Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 and various others. However, perhaps the biggest was in superheroes. The Caped Crusader capped off Nolan's trilogy with the confirmations that he won;t have that much involvement in future affairs, but looking to see what DC will make. Caped Crusader was quite a surprise for the inclusion of Dr. Hugo Strange as the villain, acting as a Moriarty to Batman's Sherlock, especially since he was portrayed none other than by Robin Williams. Williams stunned audiences with a masterful performance as the ruthless psychologist who is obsessed with the Dark Knight and the other criminals. Batman must outsmart him with the help of Catwoman, who is being coerced by Strange and wondering what connection he may have had with the Joker. They chose to cast Williams after being inspired from his appearance in Law and Order. Marvel meanwhile proceed ed to wow everyone with the long-awaited Avengers film. Serving to sum up what is being dubbed the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" (or at least the first phase), the movie brought the heroes introduced of the various films and assembled into a team: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor and The Hulk. The antagonist turned to be none other than Loki. Returning to Earth when SHIELD trying using the Tesseract (doors open both ways), he comes in to use the Tesseract to make a device to create a portal for his new army, that of the Badoon, a conquering vicious race from another part of the Milky Way. The film had many climactic moments such as The Hulk crushing a ship, Tony intimidating Loki, the Captain leading the NYPD and National Guard and various others, concluding with the portal being closed and Loki being taken in by Thor. The film became a massive hit to everyone and moreso with the post-credit scenes. One in which the Tesseract is cracked, with inside being revealed an Infinity Stone (specifically the Space Stone) while another has the team eating schwarma after the fight, with one of the heroes asking who was the one who beat up all the forces in Queen, with the team unsure. This answer would be set up in the new The Amazing Spider-Man film. Starring Logan Lerman as the titular character, the film takes place before the Avengers. Starring a Peter Parker entering university, he grapples with his new life and responsability, having it been two years since he lost his Uncle Ben and became Spider-Man. The film is on themes of self-discovery as Peter struggles who he wants to be as a man and as superhero, corrleating it with life as a college student and his first serious romance with Gwen Stacy (played by Emma Roberts), a scientific minded young woman wih a sharp disposition. Emma noted that she wanted to go from playing "good girl" types to sharper and more abrasive characters to avoid being typecast. She chose be Gwen Stacy partially because the character fit between the two (described as a sharp but nice girl). The antagonist surprised everyone with it being Miles Warren aka The Jackal. Adopting elements of the "The Clone Saga", Warren serves as a biochemist professor embezzlig fund in unethical genome engineering experiments and seeks to clone Spider-Man. The conflict has Peter fight a mutated monster based off of his DNA (codenamed Spidercide in the script) and uses his smarts to defeat him with Gwen's help. The film ends with Peter confiding to Gwen who he is along with regaining a sense of conviction of being Spider-Man along with wanting to help others out. However, Warren seemingly escapes as seen in a post-credits scene and recruited by an unknown benefactor. Many were rewarded with a post-credits scene of Peter fighting Badoons while savign civilians (including a show of superstrength) in the Battle of New York, over in Queens, distinctly apart from the Avengers while wondering what's going and noting like he's missing something.

Meanwhile, over in video games, news of the Nintendo Wii's successor console being delayed was confirmed. In the meanwhile, this did not stop new waves of games coming out for the various consoles. Animal Crossing New Leaf for the Nintendo UDS granted players mayorship of their towns, giving them creative freedom to customize their towns as they wished. Additionally, Fire Emblem Awakening came back to revive the franchise with new ideas and renewed interest and other games appeared for the UDS. Pokemon followed up on Pokemon Black and White with Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. Despite rumors of Gray, the two games were maintained as such in order to keep the duality theme of the games. They were delayed a few months for the holiday season, but with the benefits of adding more to the motifs, such as save data from the previous games affecting gameplay, events and so on. Other games was on how Paper Mario 64 Ultra would come out; originally planned to be an original game, the allocation of different resources and delays for the Wii's successor led to differing projects being considered. However, the revamped game possessed more variety of enemies, expanding the dungeons along with more extra content. Rare confirmed Banjo & Kazooie for the UDS was in development and to coincide with the release of Skyfall, they released 007 Golden Ultra, a remastering of the N64 classic Goldeneye 007, though with more emphasis on the multiplayer campaign, online play and more characters, including multiple Bonds. However, there is a single-player campaign with a form of story mode, namely Bond undergoing virtual missions, with the levels being recreations of the best places from past Bond films as an homage. Sony would begin trying to recover with games like Gravity Rush, Far Cry 3 and many others. Of course, Mass Effect 3 was the big one. Having been delayed by several months out of concerns of sales, they worked to implement everything and maintain quality and the hard work paid off in capping of a masterful trilogy. People began having more faith in Sony ad they hoped to capitalize on this with Persona 4 Golden, a revamped version of the original game on their new handheld, the Playstation Vita. However, when Atlus was asked if it would be exclusive, they remained quiet on the answer, fueling speculation on releases on other consoles. For the Xbox 360, they were also having fun with their various releases: NiGHTS into dreams and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed were among there along with some others. Phantasy Star Online 2 was the big thing for them though as it would be released for Microsoft games and annouced the game would also come out for the successor of the Xbox 360. Other games were appearing in regards to MMOs. World of Warcraft got their update on Mists of Pandaria introducing a new race along with new lands and the new Monk class. 2012 also saw the massive rise in indie games coming out on various consoels and computers such as Skullgirls, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, FTL, Hotlight Miami and many other. Overall, the year has been one of highlights and reflections.

 

[CountDVB]

((This ain't dead! Just been busy! Will add more this later!))

Pop Culture in the McCain Administration Pt. 1: 2008-2012

Pop Culture of the McCain Administration would be viewed as a turning point within the American zeitgeist. While some viewed the Gore Administration as a continuation of 90s culture or perhaps a refinement, the McCain Administration would be marked by the Great Recession and the after-effects that would come with that. However, mroe accurately, this is considered more of a transistion period given how the Recession happened in late 2009 and early 2010. Despite this, it still came with a pronounced effect. While domestic issues were being somewhat neglected, especially with the rising calls to legalize homosexual marriage coming louder, foreign issues had an impact as American intervention in nations across would reach surprising success in part because of the meticulous care and effort put into it to not screw it up, it did bring some focus back into the Middle East for a little while. When the Recession hit, there was a large sense of panic and concern, with faith being put into the McCain Administration to resolve the issue, especially with bipartisan support. However, as more time has passed by, there is a growing sense of doubt and concern over the Administration is adequate enough. Others meanwhile began actually blaming the Administration and both political parties in part for their support of the rich and corporations for doing as such. As such, many see the pop culture here as being the last bastion of the old and the beginning of the new age that will be coming to grow.

Meanwhile, the surprising successes of the McCain administration abroad within the Middle East also was bringing some influence. The deaths of big names like Steve Jobs and Micheal Jackson was a reminder of how time passes by and the rising of new stars in the downfall of the older ones. This was made even more powerful with the #MeToo movement. The exposure of the acts of many terrible men along with some women showed that many industries would need to clean up their act. The McCain Administration made some efforts, but were hamstrung by some problems in both parties, forcing McCain to call both parties to sort themselves out. Furthermore, women would use their to try and assert more the importance of variety and the serious of actions such as sexual assault, allegations and so on. Unsurprisingly, this would reflect more in some of the villains and so on in works. Wikileaks breaking out the news stories and how it helped kickstart the Arab Spring was an immense reminder of the power of the Internet and of information it had. While the perspective of Wikileaks remains controversial (if mainly because of some of the actions or views of Julian Assange), there was a reminder on the importance of internet freedoms.

Video Games
The seventh generation of the console wars entered its end over in the McCain Administration. The PS3 did well, but not enough to Sony's standards that would be needed. The Xbox 360 crushed it as their merger with SEGA meant exclusive console exclusive for Sonic the Hedgehog, Yazuka, Shenmue, Phantasy Star, Super Monkey Ball, Bayonetta and many others on it that would dominate over in Japan while other games did well in the US along with a growing cross section. However, the Xbox 360 would lose, albeit barely, to the Nintendo Wii, who's charm in motion gameplay got many people to get up and play, creating an enjoyable experience for the whole family along with having some more classics for people to play in. Sony would be force to reexamine themselves regarding maketing and gaming while hoping matters improved while Nintendo realized it would need to up its game some more regarding mechanics and creativity. While they were not in the contest for power, they did remember not to put style over substance. It was this decision that led to delay the Wii's successor by a year to further work on it and make sure there were plenty of console exclusives out to better compete with it. Over on handhelds, smartphone game has been seeing a growing rise and becoming the first real competition to Nintendo's dominance on it beyond Sony's PSP. However, it will now be seen how prominent it is becoming with the release of the Nintendo UDS and the Playstation Vita. While more powerful, the Vita's higher costs and production values with the games may doom it while the UDS has used nostalgia to market Nintendo 64 remakes to its audiences and using the income to help come up with new IPs and ideas to be seen. MMOs meanwhile have continued to grow though new games like League of Legends and Minecraft have been seeing new ways to play online. The former started a craze of competitive gaming, especially with the upcoming Dota 2. Social media has been having growing prominent influence on gaming along confronting images, notable when tv turned webshow host Fred Rogers made an episode emphasizing the importance of positive gameplay, limiting play times, good sportsmanship and having fun without acting negatively toward the other.

Film
The turn of the decade would see the decline of YA novel film adaptations as none have been able to reach Harry Potter in terms of popularity (though some believe that other venues like television may hold promise) and the rise of superhero films. The successes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe along with that of the DC Film Universe was also giving off that something amazing was in the works. The Dark Knight trilogy wrapped up and the so called MCU released The Avengers which brought together all the elements that were assembled in the past four years to create a saga though the cliffhanger at the end indicated that it was far from over. The so-called DCFU meanwhile was going at a rather strange pace with Superman Returns along with Green Lantern being the first films of it. The speculations of the trilogy being part of it, but were ultimated dissuaded from at the last minute. Beyond superhero films though, James Bond seen a surprising return to form and environmentalism continues to be explored in different forms and fashion. The growing more serious nature of films that kicked off in the Gore era along with white collar crime films would end up taking a bit of a back seat at first in light of the Recession to make way for escapist films. Animation meanwhile continued with some new films from DreamWorks along with Disney making the shift toward CGI though many hoped hand drawn animation and the like would be able to continue on as such. Disney would announce that they would make a return to more fairy tale like stuff with Tangled being announced in 2013, a beautiful looking film based on Rapunzel. Indie film was seeing a rise thanks to the partnership between Project MAY and Openfilm creating Project MAY-O and its big hits in the Scott Pilgrim film trilogy. An adaptation of the graphic novels (about two novels a film), it garnered surprising success and brought plenty of attention to Canada. Furthermore, some creative liberties were taken to make the film stand out more from the books (such as clarifying Scott's view) and smoothing out details to make a more coherent story. Furthermore, Scott being portrayed as a "directionless slacker" would end up garnering more sympathy and empathy since many would relate to his situation as a reflection of the problems of the Great Recession. The Great Recession would come to be a subtle influence on films.

Television
Television meanwhile seemed to not have changed that much for the most part. Though there were growing changes. The Office maintained its popularity and many noted the direction change due to the Great Recession helped bring new life. White Collar took off after the Recession as it would have plenty of source material regarding white collar crime to look into and to get inspiration from. Shows like Monk and Everybody Hates Chris would end completing their run. New shows would come in like Glee to fill in the void. Overall, the direction seems to be rather varied though a focus on more serious work is a bit noted. However, the big breakout hit was Breaking Bad, which was seeing the rise of a meth kingpin and exploring how poverty affects people, but also exposing the worst aspects of others. Perhaps of more note was animation. Animation had been undergoing a bit of a slump that various networks were trying their best to resolve. Nick for example were banking more on action shows after the success of Constant Payne and Avatar: Last Airbender. While the former was delayed due to contract disputes and higher wages for the animators, additional pressure forced them to captiulate, which paid off quite well as Constant Payne is one of the most popular Nick shows. However, 2010 saw the rise of such animation becomone quite popular. Cartoon Network would signal a triumphant return with Adventure Time, Sym-biotic Titan, Regular Show, Amazing World of Gumball and most recently, Young Justice. A show with a darker tone than Teen Titans, it was inspired by the comics in turn. It starts Tim Drake as Robin, Connor Kent as Superboy, Bart Allen as Impulse, Cassandra Sandsmark as Wonder Girl, ghostly superheroine in Greta Hayes/Secret and a brand new character, that of the second Aqualad in Kaldur'ahm (civilian name lter revealed to be Jackson Hyde). Nick meanwhile, realizing they screwed up with Phineas & Ferb and Adventure Time (which included some brutal mockery of it when enws broke out on social media), quickly got Bravest Warriors on their channel while also looking for other potentials, such as a potential sequel to Last Airbender. Disney meanwhile would also begin a return with a quirk new show known as Gravity Falls as well as Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. They also began making their own superhero shows with Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which is a fair more accurate to the comics while giving more updates to the team. The founding team consists Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp after they save Hulk from Loki and they form a team, with it progressing from there. Adult animation was also undergoing some changes. The return of Futurama made plenty of people happy and while the Simpsons was over, there was still some specials and longer Treehouse of Horror episodes, which they attributed to wanting to explore more with the Simpsons now that they were not under as much constraint. Shows like Archer, Bob's Burgers and various others were filling in the void of the Simpsons slowly but surely, though others were still drawn to more action-oriented shows aimed at all ages.

Other
Internet culture was also to beginning to have more of an effect. Project MAY-O began branching out when OpenFilm joined in and they renegotiated their contracts of their unique business venture. The big success story was that of Canadian musician Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber, under the mentorship of Justin Timberlake and careful guidance of Artistshare and associates, rose to become a prominent and beloved musician. Thanks to Timberlake, he helped him deal with the potential excesses of fame along with maintaining a good and healthy view. Bieber seemed to bring back a sort of nostalgia for boy band-esque music while also branching out to his own paths while helping other musicians growing on YouTube. Other instances included the retirement of Fred Rogers from his webshow, bringing fears that his time on the show would be coming to an end with his declining health. In comic books, 2010 was seeing something of a shift. By now, Marvel has become comfortable with the new status quo and while still having some old stories to retell and sorting out some of the more obscure parts of their lore, they were introducing new elements. One was the Young Avengers. Planned out and teased before the reboot, they underwent some revisions though remain the same. Founded by heroes inspired by Captain America, Thor, Hulk and Iron man, they reflect the changing times and new hopes. The team is led by Patriot aka Elijah Bradley. The grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the latter was the "Black Captain America", the successful case of trying to recreate the Serum though underwent side effects because of long-term problems with the imperfect serum though the traits would be passed down to his son and from him to Elijah. Elijah's capabilities would be kickstarted after a blood transfusion from his grandfather. Elijah and Isaiah would embraced by the community with Steve giving Patriot his own shield. Asgardian was revealed to be Billy Kaplan, a young man who would start a relationship with his teammate Hulkling. Billy would later discover his powers are liked to Asgardian magic, from his parantage... specifically in having a third parent in Loki (who during their "missing year" in guise as a mortal, acting as the surrogate for Billy's parents) and thus inherited Loki's knack of magic. Hulkling meanwhile was the son of Mar-Vell and a Skrull Princess in a forbidden relationship, raised by adopted parents and his mother's lady-in-waiting as his aunt. Called such for his bulky green form, he wrestles with his hertiage of two worlds along with not knowing who Mar-Vell was (though a scene were Death permitted them to talk had Mar-Vell be proud of his son and wholly accepting of his sexuality.) Last is the mysterious Iron Lad, a young man who wears a suit of powered armor and seems to know Tony, with mysteries surrounding their potential identity. Rumors even circulate he may appear in the next Iron Man film. New members to join were included Kate Bishop as Hawktress (trained by Hawkeye and Mockingbird) as well as Hope Pym becoming Ant Girl. Other bits of news included the planned marriage between Black Panther T'Challa and superheroine Spectrum, Monica Rambeau along with the revelation of a lost Norse god in Odin's older brother, the Norse God of Fear, returning due to the disruption from the previous Ragnarok cycle. Meanwhile, DC has been doing something similar with structuring their history and their heroes along with bringing in some new blood for the characters. For the most part, it has been currently working some various plot points like explaining various facets. For example, hinting at a group known as the "Parliament of Owls", a secret society of elite characters that are said to be of urban legend in Gotham and the main reason that keeps Bruce and others like him from helping Gotham's crime problem. Wonder Woman has been going more into Greek mythology while Martian Manhunter returns to prominence along with Aquaman. Overall, many are excited to see what new developments will be coming with DC's restructure with.

 

[CountDVB]

Chinese politics can be hard to follow and I was surprised by alot of the figures and details. Fascinating what the difference of a few months could make...

A Murder In China

It seemed like it was something out of a film. It seemed pretty implausible that something like this would happen, but this was something else. Perhaps if it happened sooner, it would be controversial, but not to the same level of what was going on here. Even as it was unfurling, newsreports were having to be thorough and explain what was going on, especially as it was all happening in so fast. China itself would be pretty affected as well as its neighbors to try and keep some form of damage control over what was happening and foreign relations.

Granted, that was to be expected when a high-ranking official of China is suspected to be connected to the murder of a British businessman... but that was small potatoes when the accused official was then possibly blackmailed by a colleague and tried to respond with his death. However, none of this is fictional. This was the scandal that unfurled and shook the Chinese political estasblishment.

The murder of Xi Jinpeng by Bo Xilai...

The two men were prominent politicians well-known for having strong rises through the Chinese leadership pantheon. Xi was appointed to the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China at the 17th Party Congress in October 2007. He was ranked above Li Keqiang, an indication that he was going to succeed Hu Jintao as China's next leader. In addition, Xi also held the top-ranking membership of the Communist Party's Central Secretariat. However, Xi's position as the apparent successor to become the paramount leader was threatened with the rapid rise of Bo Xilai, the party secretary of Chongqing at the time. Many believed Bo would join the Politburo Standing Committee at the 18th Party Congress, with the possibility of creating a counterweight to Xi, or even replacing him. Bo's policies in Chongqing inspired imitations throughout China and received praise from Xi himself during Xi's visit to Chongqing in 2010 . While Xi did not lose his position to Bo, Bo's rise did suddenly shift the political spectrum.

He was also tied over to Neil Heywood. Heywood served as an intermediary, linking Western companies wishing to do business in China to powerful figures in the Chinese political structure. Heywood ran a company named Heywood Boddington Associates, registered to his mother's house in London. In its filings, it claims to be a "multi-discipline consultancy focusing on serving the interests of UK businesses in the People's Republic of China". Heywood developed a business relationship with Gu Kailai, a lawyer, businesswoman, and the wife of Bo Xilai. Both of them are children of once-prominent members of the Chinese Communist Party. Heywood appears to have played the role of a Bai Shoutao or white glove for the Bo family, doing business on their behalf, since, according to Chinese custom, a prominent party family could not involve themselves directly with financial dealings.

Businessmen have complained that any foreign company wishing to work in Chongqing had to appoint Gu Kailai's law firm, Kailai Law (now Beijing Ang-dao Law), to act on its behalf. Failing to do so would almost certainly result in it being unable to attain required permissions and licences. It has been reported that Kailai Law charged exorbitant fees. Heywood's clients included Beijing Aston Martin dealerships and Rolls-Royce. He was also hired occasionally by Hakluyt & Company, a consultancy co-founded by a former officer of Britain's MI6 intelligence service.

However, a corruption scandal in 2007 led to Gu Kailai becoming paranoid and the relationship between them and Neil beginning to enter troubled waters Gu was trying to move a large amount of yuan out of China through Heywood, and he demanded a larger commission than usual. When Gu objected, he is said to have made a veiled threat to expose her dealing. It would be later reported that Gu Kailai testified Heywood was murdered because he demanded £1.4 million in compensation for the return of a half-share of ownership of a £2 million house – originally bought by Gu in 2000 – in the hills overlooking Cannes. The court heard Heywood had blackmailed the family and threatened to expose their corrupt ownership of a villa in the French Riviera. However, the relationship between them would become disrupted by the Great Recession in 2010, forcing Heywood to temporarily halt business with them, giving Gu some breathing room and trying to further cover their tracks. There was hope it could also lead to peaceful matters. However, it was not to be.

On March 7, 2012, Neil Heywood would be found dead in his hotel room 26 hours after his death. The cause of death was given as alcohol poisoning. There was no autopsy, and he was cremated days later. Questions were raised later as friends described him as "not a serious drinker", in fact, some reports have his family describing him as "a teetotaler". An internal Chinese report confirmed that Heywood died from potassium cyanide added to his drink. It would later be revealed by none other than Gu

Enter Bo's close associate, Wang Lijun. A Chinese former police chief, he served as vice-mayor and police chief of the megacity of Chongqing. Wang rose to prominence in Liaoning where he gained a reputation for carrying out effective campaigns against organized crime. He became a close associate of prominent politician Bo Xilai, initially working for Bo in Liaoning province, then taking up the police chief post in Chongqing once Bo became party chief there. In Chongqing, Wang was known for his role as a political fixer for Bo Xilai, in addition to carrying out the Chongqing gang trials, which gained significant media coverage.

Wang would come to suspect the circumstances behind Heywood's death and many believed this led to the troubled relationship between him and Bo. However, it was during that time that Wang would be approached by someone else... Xi Jinpeng. The suspicions that Wang would have would be picked up on by Xi. According to reports, Xi would later come to approach Bo on these suspicions. The meeting between the two men was quiet, but many noted it was where everything went poorly. Xi disappeared from official media coverage for a few weeks beginning on 1 September 2012. On 4 September, he cancelled a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State, and later also cancelled meetings with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and a top Russian official. It was rumored that Xi effectively "went on strike" in preparation for the power transition in order to install political allies in key roles. However, he would later end up found dead from a car accident early October. This would lead to the Wang Lijun Incident, where Wang fled to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Novemeber 16, 2012, the day after Bo was elected to the posts of general secretary of the Communist Party and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission by the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He would be apprehended after he left and a massive investigation would entail in the weeks that followed. This included notes made by Xi Jinpeng implicating Bo in the suspicions of the murder along with his own concerns that Bo would try and come after him.

It was a colossal media firestorm that would be covered on from late December all the way to Febuary. Bo and Gu would be sentenced for their crimes along with various others involved here. An emergancy 19th Congress would be held and the new general secretary voted in was none other than Li Keqiang, who was working overtime to try and resolve the colossal matter. Because of his work, it was all but assured that Li would end up becoming President of the People's Republic of China by March.

The rammifications were enormous as it would cause a shockwave amongst China, but this would be nowhere prevelent than the impact this would have on North Korea...

 

[CountDVB]

Winter 2013

"The American Taxpayer Relief Act ... seriously?"

"All those people in Brazil..."

"And now we have a new Pope..."

With McCain being sworn in, the time for more action for the Great Recession has come. More and more people are calling loudly for action and the McCain Administration has been working in on try to estasblish in a relief for the people after the last stimualtion package did not work. While support for the McCain Administration for his successes abroad have been helpful for the campaign trail, the worsening economic troubles would not be blunted for long. Furthermore, Senator Sanders has been getting more attention for his rhetoric in regards about bailing out the banks that have caused caused the Recession in the first place along with calling for increased coverage on Medicare for everyone along with higher wages. While the Dems have regain some of their seats, they are experiencing greater turmoil within the party as the progressive wing of the Democrat party has been starting to get reignited and pushing more from the rest, especially with the Blue Dogs having joined the Republican Party (even if it was out of calls to help make sure the GOP remains "moderate." While the ATR Act would be another example of bipartisan compromise, the dissatisfication coming from both parties highlighted the tensions of what laid beneath it. Many sense that the clock is ticking for a lot of groups though others wonder what the McCain Administration will do. One thing that is becoming certain is that the future elections will be mired in more notable elections.

Political cartoon about the fiscal cliff debates

Meanwhile, across the world, other troubles were brewing over. Either from self-contained incidents or the result of years of neglect over time. One of the big cases of this was the fire going on over in Brazil. The Kiss nightclub fire started between 2:00 and 2:30 on 27 January 2013 in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, killing 242 people and injuring at least 630 others. It is the second most-devastating fire disaster in the history of Brazil. The fire called in support from surrounding nations while also bringing up to light some other issues, namely the usage of illegal pyrotechnics and flammable acoustic foam. The incident resulted in the inspection of safety features of thousands of nightclubs all over the country. In São Paulo alone, 60% of the nightclubs inspected were found to be operating against safety regulations. This led to other places begin for calls for stricter enforcement of safety regulations, from club patrons, owners and other folk. This became part of a deeper issue in regrds to safety standards, responsability and reliabiity.

The shuttered nightclub with flowers and messages from mourners

However, while the new year was bringing out to chances and opportunities, there was also plenty of chances in other ways. None other was the resignation of the Pope. The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI occurred on 28 February 2013 at 20:00 CET, after having been announced on the morning of 11 February 2013 directly by himself. Benedict XVI's decision to step down as leader of the Catholic Church made him the first pope to relinquish the office in several centuries. He would later cite his declining health as being part of the reason why he was stepping down. The entire ordeal was quite a surprise to say the least and the Cardinals were not entirely prepared for it. The reactions around the world were largely positive, wishing the old Pope the best of luck as they work to elect a new one. Many were wondering who the new Pope would be, though there were rumors that the new Pope may not even be European.

Benedict XVI in the popemobile at final Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square on 27 February 2013

...


...


...



"Mr. President! Mr. President! It's about North Korea...!"

 

[CountDVB]

Yes this is grossly oversimplistic, but I would be happy to get feedback on helping to iron this out.

2013: The Korean Crisis

China's political situation was not well to say the least. The fact that a high-ranking politician, a presidential candidate even, would be found guilty of not just covering up a murder committed by his wife, but be connected to the murderer of a fellow politician and political rival as a result of said politician attempting to leverage the information found out through blackmail was... shocking. It was not just shocking, but earth shaking for the people of China and for the Communist Party ruling over China. The entire ordeal ripped wide open calls for investigations of corruption and connections of the like. In fact, the fact one of the murder was a well-known and powerful British businessman, this would be damaging to the nation abroad as well. So while China was doing its best to appear powerful and strong, it was undergoing some reforms and dealing with a lot of problems right now. Furthermore, the fact that the closest nation to a superpower is under political jeopardy causes a chain reaction with its allies or protectorates. Other times, it seems that such events were already sent in motion, but newer circumstances end up exacerbating the situation further.

And the prime example of this was North Korea.

Over in the first months of 2013, North Korea has been becoming belligerent in regards to them testing nuclear weapons. Confirmations ended up reaching around Febuary in regards to the weaponry. As a result of this along with the troublesome situation of China going under political turmoil seemed to have put North Korea into a coner of sorts and began lashing out. Or perhaps it was an arrogance in thinking they no longer needed China. As the conflict began escalating from January to Febuary, North Korea threatens the "final destruction" of South Korea during a United Nations conference on disarmament. The United Nations was not taking lightly to that and while every other nation was condemning the North Korean regime, the McCain Administration decided to visit China and discuss how to deal with the matter once and fore all.

North Korea is both a blessing and a curse for China. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is an independent state that is openly hostile to the United States and other regional powers. Pyongyang’s military is a deterrent to attack without posing a direct threat to China. As a result, nearly a thousand miles of China’s borders are occupied by a regime that finances its own defense and will never fall willingly within the U.S. sphere of influence. Pyongyang’s fiery anti-American rhetoric and nuclear weapons program have provoked the United States, making North Korea a major point of contention between Washington and Beijing. The country’s flagrant violation of international norms have tested Beijing’s patience. But now, North Korea's behavior over the political turmoil in China has become a breaking point, especially with its foreign reputation in jeopardy along with working to maintain societal order over their near-brush with electing a gangster-like figure in Bo.

The McCain Administration would not take such threats to America or her allies lightly. However, they also knew China has plenty of reasons to maintain North Korea around. However, the main two came down to security and economy. North Korea served as a buffer state for China and helped protect Manchuria and the simple fact that the region is such a mess that it beginning to bleed out would lead to plenty of unskilled refugees into a part of China already in economic decline. However, while North Korea would need to remain, that did not mean the Kim dynasty needed to. Changing the leadership would benefit both parties as it would remove an immensely antagonistic force. It would benefit China abroad in foreign relations since they would no longer have North Korea be seen as an antagonistic force. Meanwhile, an official end to the Korean War and working toward Korean unification would be a massive boon toward the McCain Administration. The major concern would be in having to "de-program" the people from their brainwashing to the Kim cult of personality. While difficult, it would not be impossible. The idea of unification of Korea remained a pipe dream if out of China's desire for a buffer state, but it would benefit them both if it was not such a volatile state.

Thus began Operation Shroud. It was a covert operation. While the Americans began reinforcing their barriers and serving as a distraction for the Kim adminsitration, the Chinese would begin sending reinforcements into North Korea along with covert agents until different guises, to protect North Korea. Within the next days, the plot would be excuted and rumors of a coup, traitors or so on would be leaked within the military. Even a staged attempt on Kim's life. Kim Jong-un would be encouraged by the Chinese leaders along with anyone they bribed or coerced on their side to retire for the safety of his health, not just from the attempt, but from the stress of ruling. The news of Kim abdicating from active ruling was an immense shock to the culture, what that would be hoped could help begin the process. In his farewell speech, he notes that he must leave to heal from the traitors and that Jang Song-thaek will do a fine job in purging the traitors and disloyal elements. When questions of the Westerners were asked, the concerns were shrugged off and quietly dismissed that they were no threat. The Chinese and American intelligence networks worked to target and identify much of the diehard loyalists or uncontrolled oppportunists. The Chinese took control of every aspect of the media, including the Internet, and Jang Song-thaek would reassure the North Koreans that all will be well. He does so with de-escalation of tensions between North Korea with their neighbors down south and with the United States.

"De-Kimification", inspried by the "de-Stalinization" of decades prior saw the Chinese-controlled government through tis various arms, including the media, removing the influence of the Kims. Statues and pictures of them would be moved to scarce areas and replaced with that of traditional Korean historical figures predating the Communists, some abstract art or even a couple of the Buddhsit scultures. Much like with "de-Stalinization", it was done in silent with little to no explanation for the masses though the cooperative leaders were told of the danger of cult of personality. The Chinese-dominated North Korean media maintained a tight lock from the outside world, but began talking less and less about the Kims and more on North Korea in general along with some Chinese propaganda and some general propaganda to keep people from noticing the changes. To further assist in the endeavor, certain rules on religion were relaxed, primarily for Buddhism and Chendoism. The hopes was to use the pre-existing zealotry that was aimed at the Kims and redirect it through the accepted religions of Korea. Economywise, plans were being outlined to try and get the people to work and learn some skills to gain some potential employment or at least some projects to get them to move.

The political prisons and reeducation camps were among the only major issue that the Americans assisted in with China. The conditions of them were an abhorrent shock to the United States and the rest of the world. The prisoners of both of the sites would be distributed among the Americans and Chinese, depending on how they were and what woud be best effective. The Americans called upon the South Koreans and Canadians for assistance, especially with the children. Most of the camps would close save for those to be held with "uncooperative individuals." The McCain Administration called upon further UN assistance to deal with the North Korean refugees on resettling them and on "deprogramming" them, enough to where the discussions on cults and "deprogramming" them would become reported many times.

Meanwhile, the Chinese confiscated the nuclear weapons while working with the Americans to safely and properly dispose of and destory the chemical and biological warfare components, some of which unnerved even the Chinese on their danger. North Korea meanwhile would remained primarily miltiarized though the newer commanders and orders put an emphasis on loyalty to the homeland rather than the Kim administration. Through Chinese channels, North Korea would get some additional food and supplies from the outside world, working to endear Jang Song-thaek to the people with his benevolence along with that of the Chinese. At the same time, martial law remained in effect as dissenters who began looking too hard into it would be "disposed" off.

By the end of the year, North Korea would be in a complicated positionFor many, it remained the same as they went about their day as usual albeit with changes such as less statues of Kims or pamphlets suggesting people to look into Buddhism or Chendoism if they seek support and meaning. They were still cut-off mostly from the world and remain uanware of the transgression. Yet it also became different. the Kims were slowly being phased into the background along with some of its defining features, notably downplaying the so-called Threat of the US. While North Korea's presence would linger at China's insistence, a large sense of hostility has been displaced. Furthermore, dealing with the Korean Crisis made Li Keqiang into a rock star of a politician back home and abroad. For the Americans, it meant greater relations with China without the tensions of the previous North Korean regime and some sense of security and prestige for the McCain Administration. At the same time, the glimpse of horrors into North Korea brought forth the terrors of totalitarianism and cults of personality back into the mainstream, especially with the revelations that the nation's wealth was invested into more and more of the military, drawing some parallels with the US by some brash pundits. Many of these refugees would end up being taken in by support groups or especially numerous churches. The new Pope elected in would communicate with the Catholics of South Korea on advice and networking to have these people find God to heal from their wounds from such a nerve-wracking life.

Kim and his family would end up spending the rest of their days in a "golden cage" somewhere within China though Kim Jong-un's poor health and hedonist tendencies, especially now liberated from his role as grand leader, would lead to his health decline accelerating, especially as Chinese officials would do what they can to indulge him to keep from going into the foreground. He would end up dying from complications from his suspected diabetes and hypertension a few years down the line with his widow and children taken into Chinese custody to live quiet lives.

While North Korea remained standing, untouched even, it was changed forever.

 

[CountDVB]

Spring 2013

"Why are some people getting worked up over the Arms Trade Treaty?"

"All those people in Bangladesh..."

"Well, Venezuela changed everything..."

While the Korean Crisis caught the attention of the newsmedia and of the general public of the world in general, matters continued on. Economic recovery was going at a mixed pace and as time go on, people are becoming more aware of the institutions that led to the economic failure and the sluggish recovery. The changing dynamics of foreign policies has been forcing new approaches and solutions given everything that happened the past decade. However, one of the big news of the Spring beyond just the events of North Korea was on the United Nations General Assembly adopting the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons. The ATT is an attempt to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons for the purpose of contributing to international and regional peace; reducing human suffering; and promoting co-operation, transparency, and responsible action by and among states. While many people cheer and applaud for it, especially given the past successes with the McCain Administration to deal with foreign affairs, there was some people making a fuss about it in regards to national sovereignty or independent rights though the whole thing was based on international affairs. While organizations like the NRA and Hertiage Foundation were trying to make out the issues in it, it also began revealing cracks within the Republican establishment. School shootings remain a provactive topic after the issue on gun rights was settled years prior within the Supreme Court, but that did not stop certain organizations from trying to get past it. Granted of course came counter-arguments on how the Second Amendment doesn't protect rights for gun purchases and furthermore there was a growing frustration with them. The Hertiage Foundation especially, given the Gore Administration's legislation along with McCain's have led to their decline in relevance as culture began shifting and they were becoming less relevant and thus, becoming more desperate to remain important. While they would sign it, ratification details remained unknown for it in the US. Though one note was in the questioning of how much money goes into the military and lobbying on part of firearms manufacturers.

Matej Marn, Deputy Permanent Representative of Slovenia signing the treaty at the Arms Trade Treaty At United Nations headquarters

However, not everything was right in the world unfortunately. The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse (also referred to as the 2013 Savar building collapse or the Rana Plaza collapse) was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka District, Bangladesh, where an eight-story commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building alive. The deadliest structural failure accident in modern human history and the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history, it was a colossal wake-up call for people in regards to terrible working conditions, something that perhaps resonated more painfully in the later parts of the Great Recession. Riots happened across the cities over at factories with horrific safety conditons. Leftist politcal parties and nationalist parties of Bangladesh set aside differences to demand arrests, investigations and accountability behind the colossal disaster. This became especially prominent on International Workers' Day as more workers and their supporters came out on May 1st. Across the world, such sentiment spread like wildfire. Over across Europe, leftist political parties notified their supporters and the public on the importance of where they make their purchases and buy their clothing as well as well as pushing new legislation over for higher pay and better working conditions. Even the Pope himself went out to speak against the modern interpretation of slave labor at them along with human rights advocacy groups. The McCain Administration was among the groups demanding for action, but the ordeal also began spreading across them. Many people took the opportunity to remind of the importance of safety rules, of legislation for oversight and safety, the sanctity of human life and perhaps more brazenly, outing groups or individuals who's idealogies threaten these safety standards and groups, such as the laundry list of desires of the Koch candidate during their Libretarian campaign decades prior. Social media became a colossal juggernaut in this event as musicians, bloggers, video makers and content creators began discussing their own thoughts and views, especially as the story unfolded. One of the biggest shocks was the comparison of this to the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that happened in Greenwich more than a century prior. The parallels were disturbing and became a brutal indictment of the modern age of how such tragedies count happen in the pursuit of capitalism and many leftist politicians, most notably Senator Sanders, spoke heavily on the comparisons between the two, the improvements that would be done and the blame resting on the greedy. The seeming resentment at the 1% got an immense injection of fresh anger with the comparisons drawn out.

Rescuers carrying out one of the survivors from the collapsed building

While the incident galavanized the leftist elements of the world and the people, other element proceeded to send them and the rest of the world into a tizzy. That of the death of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez back in March. From an infection, his death left a power void within Venezuela and it could not have come at a worse time for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. They have been gradually losing influence over the past several years. After the Exxon-Mobil scandal forced a confrontation on the issues of climate change and fossil fuels, the world has been trying to react in different ways to it, especially nations who's primary source of income were fossil fuels. Venezuela in particular would be having to deal with this. Ever since the discovery of the vast petrol supplies in Venezuela, they became the primary export of the South American nation and Chavez used that to fund strong social programs and reforms for the nation. Of course, having such a thing alongside with various potential problems meant Venezuela was easily a balancing act. The Ecological Movement of Venezuela, a green-based party in the nation, began rising in prominence as they advocated for promoting renewable engery and sustainable agriculture, especially as "going green" became more internationally mandated. The failure of the GPP to address this in Venezuela led to serious growing divides and growing exasperation with them. As such, some looked it with some but not alot of surprise in the elections of 2013, which saw Henrique Capriles would beat Nicolás Maduro getting around 5% of the vote more than him. Unsurprisingly, this rocked the nation and Maduro along with the Chavistas did not take this defeat well. Furthermore, the fact that the strict rules around the elections that Chavez prided himself on meant that speaking against it would be insulting him. Maduro's attempts at leading attacks against him through homophobia and antisemitism would end up diminishing him and his group's reputation among leftists. As such, Maduro's popularity plummeted further down, leading to large fractures with the group, with Jorge Arreaza and Diosdado Cabello becoming prominent alternates against Maduro. Capriles along with his key supporters and officials he installed were unable to leave Venezuela though is considered the acting President by most of the nations in the world. Perhaps more surprisingly was the hesitation of nations like Bolivia and Cuba to recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro government. Despite the anti-imperialist sentiment, Maduro did lose and the instability of the party along with a failure to address issues within the nation regarding economic policy have caused them to reconsider support. Russia meanwhile just doubled down on support while China withheld from the decision though rumors speculate they are leaning toward recognizing the Capriles government.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, Acting President of Venezuela.

 

[CountDVB]

Summer 2013

"Who the heck is Edward Snowden?..."

"Thanks to the Supreme Court, we're closer to recognizing homosexual marriage in the nation..."

"Looks the reign of President Morsi is over..."

Surveilance was often a complicated question within Washington, especially after 9/11. The Gore Administration certainly upped security measures and gave the NSA a bit more power to help cope with securing information, especially since the Gore Administration also worked to accelerate the adoption and evolution of the Internet. However, it was really the McCain Administration that buffed up security measures after the problems regarding Russia cyber attacks. However, no one was sure on how extensive the potential for surveilance existed within the NSA... until the leaks by Edward Snowden. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and in early June he revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian and The Washington Post. Further disclosures were made by other publications including Der Spiegel and The New York Times. Unsurprisingly, the revelations of the massive scope of the NSA was a bombshell for America and the world and Washington was divided on how to approach it. There were some who called him a traitor and accusations of treason flew at him, especially when he would be forced to remain in Russia after he was granted asylum (though it would be pointed out that happened after his passport was restricted around the time he was in Hong Kong.) On the other hand, there were those who called him a patriot for exposing such uncalled measures and that the NSA needs to be roped in. There are some on the fence who acknowledge that while he did commit a crime, he deserves a fair trial, especially considering his exposures. Others noted that his concerns was likely due to the extensively shady history involving the CIA. Various politicians would have their say on the matter in support of Snowden, against him in or somewhere in between. However, one thing is for certain; Snowden's actions served as a reminder to people about the power of the Internet and the responsability that came with that monitoring and analysis.

Edward Snowden picture

Meanwhile, while the questions over individual privacy and national security raged online and in the public, new stuff was happening regarding the evergrowing topic of homosexual marriage. While it was to be expected given the stance of the Supreme Court of the time, it still came as a surprise as a result of people being distracted by the various events going on, such as like with the Edward Snowden cast. However, within July, the Supreme Court would end up making two big rulings. In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court strikes down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, allowing legally married gay couples to receive over 1,000 federal benefits and privileges. Additionally, another 6-3 vote led to the Supreme Court ruling that supporters of California Proposition 8 did not have legal standing in federal court, allowing same-sex marriages to resume in California. In fact, just a couple days later, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit lifts its stay on gay marriages in California, making the state the thirteenth to legalize same-sex marriage. Gay marriage in the state of California is legalized after the stay held on the unconstitutional California Proposition 8 is lifted. The two women who successfully challenged Proposition 8 in the Supreme Court of the United States are married in San Francisco. Of course, this was not the only Supreme Court cases to make a wave this summer. Just days prior, the Supreme Court upheld Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 4 had required states with a history of discrimination to get permission from the federal government to change their election procedures in any way. It was challenged because of the coverage formula is based on data over 40 years old, making it no longer responsive to current needs and therefore an impermissible burden on the constitutional principles of federalism and equal sovereignty of the states. Despite this though, the Supreme Court uphed it. According to the majority opinion, it held that Congress had sufficient evidence before it to determine that the coverage formula remained responsive to current needs. The dissent acknowledged that discrimination in voting has decreased in the covered jurisdictions since the Voting Rights Act's enactment, but it attributed much of that decrease to the Act itself, noting that "[t]hrowing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." This also ended up speading like wildfire over the news as well and while some try to debate it was no longer needed, the lingering question was... how sure were you on that? If it was removed, how certain were the people in regards to the fact that voting factors wouldn't be affected, especially since prominent lawyers and pundits noted that there were indirect ways that would be done.

Pro and Anti-Proposition 8 protesters rally in front of the San Francisco City Hall on the day of the Supreme Court hearings

The Morsi Presidency was controversial to say the least when it started since the last year. Protests were going on against him and the changes that he and the Muslim Brotherhood were trying to implement were chafing against the secular and or liberal party members. Even the military was starting to get sick of him and as such, a couple was planned to dispose of him and his supporters. And so in the summer of 2013, the protests came out against him due to various aspects that could be attributed to him as well as various other aspects that could not exactly be connected to him, but still brought out the ire of the people, such as the Ethiopian dam. The results were something rough for the people of Egypt. Following the President's arrest, various things followed suit., The Constitution was suspended, and a transitional roadmap declared for transportation sake, Adly Mansour becomes interim president as new elections will be held in 2014. Morsi and various other Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members were arrested and placed in detention. Pro-Morsi sit-ins were met with police brutalities while the Coptic Christian community also saw violence from unidentified groups and led to suspicion from the international community. Egypt would even be temporarily suspended from the African Union. Around the world, there were concerns on whether this was good or not, especially given the issues on both sides, even amongnst those in the Middle East though it was noted that ay disruptions in that area would be met with force. The McCain Administration initially remained quiet though McCain would later comment on the ordeal being a coup and on the military overturning the will of the people though other politicians have noted that it was the result of the failures of the Morsi administration to begin with, especially given the large protests and dissastisifcation, meaning the people weren't exactly happy with him to begin with. Overall, it would bring attention back to the Middle East and hope matters would stabilize there.

Thousands poured into Tahrir Square to celebrate what they are calling Egypt's "Second Revolution", the military's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, July 7, 2013.

 

[CountDVB]

Fall 2013

"And now Australia joins in on the party..."

"Snubbing the Sauds seems to be a bit of a sign here..."

"Just what is the Euromaiden thing going on in Ukraine?"

As the year begin dying down and people were trying to deal with the sluggish recovery of elections, another nation captures the news with elections. That of the rebound of the Australian Labor Party. While they were doing well in 2007, conflicts arose between the Labor Party and the Green Party over time led to friction. Furthermore in 2010, the Liberal/National Coalition would form a minority government, especially after the Labor and Green failed to reach an agreement as a result of leadership disputes within the Labor plus the Liberal/National Coalition's campaign on ensuring the global recession will not affect them. Unfortunately, it did not go over well. Government stimulus was lackluster compared to what the Labor party would've put in and the supposed gains of the mining boom ended up concentrated toward the well-off along with the growing influence of the Greens. As such, the Liberal/National Coalition lost to the Labor Party who went some new leadership along with stronger ties over to the Green Party. The new leader of the Labor Party after the end of the debacle between Gillard and Rudd would see Anthony Norman Albanese becoming leader of the Labour and thus leading them into reclaiming leader of Australia alongside forming a government with the Green Party. As such, he already began making arrangements of meetings with one of Australia's sibling nations in Canada and current Prime Minister Jack Layton. This has led to speculations on what effect this could have on British and to a lesser extent American elections, if it was just isolated issues or part of a greater change in the political zeitgeist of the Anglosphere. Regardless, it will be interesting what lies ahead in the future.

Albanese at the opening of the Holbrook Bypass in June 2013

Meanwhile, there were more alarming changes within that of the political zeitgeist within the world, and that was in regards to matters like the United Nations Security Council. The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending that the General Assembly accept new members to the United Nations, and approving any changes to its charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorization of military actions through resolutions. In fact, it is the only body of the United Nations with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. Initally, it did not seem like much would be dramatic, however, it did seem like it was a sign that matters would be changing. Initially, for the voting, they considered Saudi Arabia for the unofficial "Middle East" position laid out. However, the declining relations between the West and Saudi Arabia would have this be scrapped in favor of electing Iran as a member of the Security Council, as a result of their effort and work in helping out during the clean-up of the Iraqi-Syrian War. The news did make some headlines as a show that Iran was now a rising prominent regional power and the days of hostility of Iranian relations in the West seemed to be over and it was a promising sign that things would get better, something the Reformers would champion with pride given their dominance of Iran's political scene for nearly a decade and plenty of victories to ensure power. However, changing signs showed that the leftward shift was changing the politics, as the long-held hardliner bloc had fallen apart and while the Reformers were happy to exploit that, the more leftist elements of the Refomers were pushing for greater influence within the bloc.

United Nations Security Council on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City

Of course, not everything was quite positive in the world. Early Novemeber, many would see the hastag of Euromaiden going on across Twitter and it wouldn't be long before the people turned over to see it was from Ukraine. The name is composed of two parts: "Euro" is short for Europe and "maidan" refers to Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square). The word "Maidan" is a Turkish word meaning "square" or "open space" adopted by Ukrainians from the Ottoman Empire and described a large townsquare that would become the site of several large-scale protests that would define the Euromaiden. The reason for this was that in November 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych rejects an economic association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine in favor of closer ties to Russia. This did not go well over with the population of Ukraine or the European Union unsurprisingly. Euromaiden became known and pro-EU protestors came out to protest the move. However, the protests spun over to a broader reach, with calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government. According to the protestors, this was due to the perception of "widespread government corruption", "abuse of power", and "violation of human rights in Ukraine". In fact, Transparency International named President Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world. The violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November intensified the situation and led to more protests. Unsurprisingly, many members of the European Union condemned the move and violent move against the protestors with the Untied States following suit... it seemed that situations would continue to worsen and some wonder what the future may hold...

Pro-EU demonstration in Kiev, 27 November 2013

...


...


...



"MR. PRESIDENT! MR. PRESIDENT! BOMBS HAVE GONE OFF IN THE CITY OF RIYADH!!"


...


...


...



"The whereabouts of the Royal Family are unknown..."

 

[CountDVB]

War in Saudi Arabia Pt. 1: A Coup in the Desert

Saudi Arabia... home of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. A long-time ally of the West. A massive supplier of Europe. A secretative instigator of terrorist through decades of funding Wahhabist-influenced teachings throughout the Muslim world. The House of Saud has been a prominent player in global politics, especially with the House dominating most aspects of the government. For many radicals, they viewed it as the prime target to take down, but heavily guarded because of the influence it ielded and the lack of power within the radicals. Since the Gore Administration, this has changed. On the one hand, relationships between the Americans and the Sauds were in decline because of the desire to be less reliant on oil in general. Furthermore, the growing knowledge of the potential association of the Saud with extremism and the Americans' growing ties with the Iranians played a large role in it. On the other hand, radicals were defused one by one. Hamas and Hezbollah dissolved into obscurity and with few numbers. Syria dissolved into civil war and would be invaded by Iraq. Both regimes fell apart as a result by a coalition of the United States, Iran, Jordan, Israel and Palestine defeating the scattered forces, with the leadership and remnants fleeing. With the downfall of the administrations, there came nation-building that resulted in relatively stable states and the change in status quo that saw Iran rise as a prominent regional power within the Middle East, threatening the dominance of Saudi Arabia. Gradually, the nation began losing influence and no one knew what would happen. Perhaps the monarchy would be forced to undergo some reforms to win good graces or would continue to have cooling relations.

However, few people expected something like this. The surviving Baathists united under the remaining leaders who have comproised and recruited allies fleeing into Saudi Arabia and gathering together, working in silence. They forgot their purpose when under the rule of fools like Saddam and Assad. They were meant to bring a great revival after all, not fight against one another. All while the Westerners continue to recover from ther recession and matters are quieting down, they see it as the perfect time to strike. Especially after they have managed to secure some support from some unexpected allies. Support in the shape of secret funds, arms, ammunitions, supplies and so on. Over the next year or so, it was about infilitration, planning and preparation for their strike. Identifying the weak links they could bribe or coerce into looking the other way or even joining them. Moving into positions. It would be all or nothing for here. They would succeed in the Baathist dreams.

All with the help of the Russians. With Syria gone, Russia possessed no influence in the Middle East and needed a new ally and they were approached by the remaining Baathists. If they assisted in securing the oil supplies of the Sauds along with the surrounding small nations, it would bring them a massive control over the oil market, especially as the Americans are downplaying production and Venezuela is in instability, leaving only Iran which they could work through sanctions and so on. Of course, Saudi Arabia would need to be let loose on all aspects so in relative desperation, the Baathists began fanning the flames of insugency in various aspects of the country. Most notably was in the Eastern Province because of the prominence of Shia Muslims there. It was a long growing period of unrest and agitation within the nation for several months, all while remaining quiet and in the shadows.

And then came Christmas Day where the bombs came.

The Baatists launched a powerful strike over in the heart of the area, with bombs targetting key points and refineries. They began hunting down and looking for as much as the royal family, with the goal to dispose of them or trying to get them to abdicate the throne so the Baathists would take over. Everything would be placed here as the Baathists' guerilla tactics and plans developed for over a year went into the region. The leaders hid their identities, but their point was clear. They presented themselves as revolutionaries and freedom fighters. To bring about a better age for Arabia and to bring down the old ways and establishment...

The world would wake up to see the vast gowing changes...

-------------------------------------------------------------

Any ideas, comments or suggestions? This is turning out to be more difficult than expected.

 

[CountDVB]

War in Saudi Arabia Pt. 2: The Third Way

Russia's endgoals in Saudi Arabia were broader than most people expected. While the idea of an alliance with the nation and having it under their sphere of influence would be an acceptable choice, that was not the ultimate point. Their entire point in assisting the Baathists was to secure a hegemony for them in the petrol global industry. After all, the House of Saud was their biggest competitor in the industry and having a regime change to have a party that would ally with Russia and follow suit on oil demands would be beneficial. However, having the oil merely compromised or the nation too unstable to truly export the oil would be acceptable as well. After all, the Baathists already did their work in disrupting the oil trade. While the machines were damaged, there were already plans to repair them with Russian assistance so it wouldn't be a big deal. Of course, that's if the Baathists could succeed in their uprising and solidify their power. After all, as long as they left the Hejaz region, they did not expect much interference from the Americans to come in for this. After all, American relations with Saudi Arabia has been on the decline in favor for the reformers in Iran and Saudi Arabia was not reforming fast enough to remain in competition. Plus, the underlying tensions on Saudi Arabia's connection with Wahhabism was becoming more noticeable. And while the Baathists did have some support and exploiting a prime opportunity, they were not stupid nor arrogant. They knew very well that working with the Russians could result in betrayal or at least in the Russians not fulfilling their bargain. At the very least, they also knew that they could still potentially provoke the Americans to come in to try and protect the House of Saud.

So they decided to do something unorthodox. Hours into the disruption and battles, the Baathists began speaking to the Americans and Europeans. To the people, but not the government. They try to present themselves as liberators and freedom fighters. They point out the oppression by the House of Saud onto the people of Arabia. They then revealed that they, the House of Saud, were one of the largest sponsors of terrorism in the world. They point out how decades of oil wealth went into spreading an extremist version of the faith throughout the Muslim world and arguably could be considered responsible for most of the issues brought about, including 9/11. The Baathists were smart. They knew accusing the governments of knowing this and letting it get away would be a risky endeavor and instead just aired out the basics of the dirty laundry. This included that the majority of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. This along with the various human rights issues was done to poison the public against Saudi Arabia. Now, the Baathists did not want American nor European sort or at the least were not seeking it out. They just wanted to be left alone in order for them to resolve their own issues in doing so. While uniting all of Arabia was still a dream, having access to the oil supplies and intelligence network to supplant the Saud's Islamic teaching with the teachings of Baathism would be more than well-enough for them. Defeat and a change in leadership forced them back to basics on what to do. Their alliance with the Russians was a temporary thing and they were well aware it was just done for the Russians' attempts at the oil market. They too saw the purpose though at the least, were smart enough to see oil would likely not last long.

Of course, during the fighting, it was still utter bedlam. The status of the royal family remained largely unknown though it would not be long before the internet would begin reaching out to try and inform people of the news, all during Christmas Day. President McCain would have his Christmas disrupted over such an event and people would soon turn on the TV or face the Internet in the chaos that was happening. Plans were being regarding Saudi Arabia's neighbors to monitor the situation. Even Iran, Saudi Arabia's long time rival and thus the one who would benefit most from this, was not prepared for this and thus responding to the upcoming calls and readiness on the situation. After hours of fighting and mixed newsreports, the news would come around noon that many of the Saudi Royal Family was either KIA or MIA. and that the Baathists had currently taken control of growing parts of the city with equipment likely allocated from their partner, Russia. However, while Riyadh was currently under growing Baathist control, other situations were going on. Uprisings were going on in Qatif with the Shia minority while the various other provinces were either undergoing martial law or the governors were being targeted in assassination attempts or so on. The silver lining was the holy cities of Mecca and Medina being undisturbed and left alone by the Baathists.

Unsurprisingly, the hit to one of the big pillars of oil market caused some large shockwaves across the world, especially given how various nations were still within a Recession. As such, it served as a fresh blow to pre-existing troubles, especially around the holidays. As the year was reaching its end, the heads of states of various nations convened for an emergency meeting on what to do with Saudi Arabia, as the troubles inside rage on. The Saudi forces could likely hold out on their own though the raising tensions and problems could mean a Syria-like problem could arise, especially with troubles going on near the petrol sites. As 2014 would be coming, no one knew what laid ahead.

 

[CountDVB]

2013 In Review

2013 saw further change and development. It has been three years of Recession and while some nations had managed to dug themselves further out, others were struggling further, especially as the governments responded differently to them and the bailouts. The United States was becoming a prime example as the second "bailout" was aimed primarily toward the well-off and wealthy, all out of the claims to help the job creators. Instead, it was earning the ire of the American population. While the Republican party was relatively unified as more new blood displaced the old guard of neo-conservatives. the Democrats were undergoing further fractures in regards to the progressives becoming louder and demanding more to be going on. Being relatively the loudest faction, it was gathering the attention and some wondered the rammifications of the movement. It seemed like a pot further boiling and that it would reach a peak at some point or another. Perhaps more notable was in the primaries which were seeing more challengers being raised there and while a couple would get victory, it was not enought to cause major upsets. Meanwhile, the McCain Administration began focusing more on their successes in the international sector as a way to try and calm the waters and while there was some to celeberate through the patriotism, it was not enough to really counteract the growing discontent over the handlings of the economy, especially as the gas prices getting a shock in the end of the year just brought fresh chaos to a sluggish economy and people were growing desiring for change.

This was reflected in the world with growing surprises coming one after another, all in a variety of flavors and feelings. The Korean Crisis in the beginning of the year saw North Korea undergo a radical change that no one expected and the growing newsreports answered many questions people had about North Korea. The revelations of what sort of weaponry North Korea had, the status of the populations there and the growing conversations on how the Kim administration weaponized their poor against China through threat of refugees brought confounding and disturbing ideas. At the same time, there was a sense of relief that led to the administration no longer being belligerent and bellicose meant that it was one less problem. Granted, it did come at having to deal with North Korean refugees though the new Pope was willing to help out through foundations with that along with Canada and Mexico. . The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse brought fresh outrage at exploitation of the commonfolk and horrific work conditions while shock ran across the world at the end of the Chavez regime in Venezuela and the government now between Maduro, who's slurs have eld to loss of sympathy among leftists along with rising leadership clashes between other members and Capriles, who is doing his best to solidify support among the nation and from the outside world. This led to the importance of recognizing the voice of the people from a political and economic standpoint as strong elites could threaten that while the issues of Snowden and Ukraine brought matters of national security up front and led to renewed feelings of antagonism between Russia and the rest of the world, especially as its list of anti-American states was growing shorter.

Pop culture was seeing up turns. Children and adults alike wept and grieved when Fred Rogers passed away quietly in late Febuary, with his final video on supporting and caring for everyone, with special prominence toward the LGBTQ+ community. Rogers' legacy is reflected on his PBS show and YouTube channel while others have noted that he left a profound impact on Internet culture in that while some places reveled in the relative anonymity (or illusion thereof), Rogers' presence served as a powerful counterweight and enabled people to be good to themselves and each other. Various mediums gave homages and paid tribute to him in various pop culture, including Disney. Disney meanwhile showcased Tangled, a new return to the fairy tale based films, but shown differently. While the animation is CGI, it flows and mvoes vividly, many noting there is a watercolor aesthetic to it and it helped launch Disney back into further prominence once more. Furthermore, it follows up with two new Marvel films: Iron Man 3 and Thor: Dark World. Iron Man 3 explores themes of imperialism and the past colliding with the future. It has Tony Stark wrestle with his PTSD from his near-death experience before he meets an old friend, Suzi Endo, who he regards like a younger sister, she has managed to climb up to head of research in the Cybernetics research department at Stark Industries' Asian branch. She introduces to a new sponsor who concerns Tony. Tony's concerns are validated when it's revealed the sponsor is none other than the Mandarin, head of the infamous Ten Rings criminal syndicate. He notes to Tony that both are great men though of different lineage; he in fact details how proud he is of being the descendent of British and Mongolian nobility. And how the British and Mongols saw a world of chaos and brought order and prosperity by creting powerful legendary empires that forever changed the world. He notes the new chaotic world with the alien invasion and seeks to do the same, through reverse-engineered alien technology. It's revealed Suzi Endo is his great-granddaughter who he has coerced and that her cybernetics work has gone to create a neural interface with powerful warmachines, controlled by ten rings, reverse-engineered from alien tech. After a fierce fight, especially when Suzi notes that sparing Tony was part of the deal, she ends up being saved by Pepper using a spare Stark suit and Tony ending up far away. He takes shelter in the home of Harley Keener, who many note bare resemblances between him and Tony in personality. He helps Tony ground himself and provides a fresh perspective to help Tony win, providing indirect assistance through a homemade drone. Meanwhile, Suzi has been assisting Pepper in keeping Mandarin from claiming Stark tech and notes on her own insecurites with her grandfather, which Pepper helps snap her out of. Suzi ends up creating her own version of "Cybermancer" armor that focused on hacking and controlling drones like her grandfather. Mandarin's plan is stopped when he fights Tony first in their armor and later without it, symbolizing a clash between order and freedom in with tech. Tony concedes in the need of oversight, but not with what Mandarin is doing and he could've been better if he wasn't obsessed with lineage. The film recieved some great acclaim and some comic fans began speculating if Harley Keener would be Iron Lad. Meanwhile, Thor: Dark World wrestled with questions of life and death. The "Dark world" in particular refers to Niflheim, the dark mist world where Hel ruled. Taking place some time after Avengers, the film involves Thor trying to get answers from Loki though spans a journey to Niflheim, an otherworld prison compared to the Greek Tartarus where Hela guards with the Soul Stone. However, her loneliness is exploited and leads to a fight betwee Thor, Loki, Jane and her friends against Ymir, the first giant. While the day is saved, there has been a grave loss, mainly the death of Freya. A tragic scene occurs after the burial and where Thor falls to his knees and weeps, holding onto Jane for comfort. However, the MCU would also be matched by the Man of Steel, a retelling of the origin of Superman and thus serving as a prequel to Superman Returns. The film took heavy basis from the renown comic Superman: Birthright and showing the rise of the righteous and valiant hero in Superman along with how he and Lex would become the powerful people they would become in the modenr time. Many people celeberated and applauded for bringing fresh life and humanity to Superman with various notable scenes, one being where Superman apprehands an arms dealer who sold to school shooters and shoots him with a gun before catching the bullet in midair, to teach the man sort of fear and truama he caused with his work. It also showed the sort of sociopathy a man like Luthor could have, masquerading as humanity. Other films that were successes included The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 12 Years A Slave and Gravity while other films served as more action-based romps or popcorn flicks such as G.I. Joe Retaliation, a sequel to the previous film with Micheal Bay returning, noting he hoped the third film would not take as long to make.

Meanwhile, video games were also seeing a new revolution with the release of the next generation of consoles. Sony brought out their Playstation 4 and Microsoft released their Xbox One. Nintendo meanwhile the bigger interest given the delay by nearly a year for it, releasing the successor to the Wii, the Nintendo Twin or "Nintwin" for short. While the consoles were all of graphically superior to their counterparts and provided more capabilities, it was the Nintwin that provided the most interesting. The Wiimotes received successors in the T-mote, which possessed the same functions to the Wii Remote Plus but further augmented along with some layout changes, including replacing the D-pad with a circle pad. Appropriately, two of the came with the Nintwin (which resembled a slightly larger, blockier and sturdier version of the Wii along with it being black and white as its default, with other varieties usually following on the dualistic pattern), but the main focus was the TwinTab, a tablet controller that would for unique gameplay opportunites in multiplayer games along with experimenting with playing console-level games on the go. Other aspects included wireless connectivity between the Nintendo UDS and the Nintwin for a variety of purposes, much like how there was a cable that connected the GBA to the Gamecube. Coming out in the latter half of the year, the games released definitely showed off plenty of potential. The Nintwin's launch titles included games like New Super Mario Bros TW, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends, Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD, Wonderful 101, and Game & Wario, but perhaps most shockingly would be Persona 4 Golden TW. A remastering of Persona 4 Golden for the new console, it was a collaboration done with ATLUS as they needed to expand their market and decided to bite the bullet and go to Nintendo consoles since the Vita was sluggish in sales and it was not popular enough on Xboxes to make the up the difference. While there were some initial concerns and controversies on certain dialogue and minor events in the game being reqritten, the game ended up being beloved by Nintendo fans and surprisingly enough, the Persona fanbase. Mainly since the adjustments included things like removing the infamous "hot springs" moment from the original game along with dialogue rewrite that made the characters friendlier and more amicable to one another, something the fanbase responded with positively. The joke being that Nintendo being family-friendly made the game not only more appealing, but actually better. Furthermore, it was also the Year of Luigi, which saw various Luigi-based games come out such as Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon on the UDS along with MArio and Luigi Dream Team focusing on the younger brother and rumors that Luigi would get his own game for the Nintwin. Other games included the revitalization of the Fire Emblem franchise with Fire Emblem Awakening, a new Zelda game/sequel to Link to the Past with Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds and the sixth generation of Pokemon games with Pokemon X and Pokemon Y which saw the transition from sprites to 3D models. Of course, the other consoles were bringing on their A-game too. The Xbox One introduced a new Sonic game with Sonic Lost World; Eggman ends up making his way out of his confinement and ends up in an ancient "lost wold" filled with prehistoric-inspired monsters and radical environments. However, it's not long before Sonic and Tails stumble onto him after noticing strange activity. Other games such as Bioshock Infinite, Saints Row IV and the new Tomb Raider among various others. The same for Sony and their Playstation 4, hoping to overcome the problems that plagued it. This included such as withholding The Last of Us from the PS3 and putting it on the PS4 along with more games coming out for it. While the Xbox One and PS4 were the stronger consoles, Nintendo showed their delay was worth it with the Nintwin. Overall, 2013 turned out to be a pretty good year for film lovers and video game lovers as well.

 

[CountDVB]

War in Saudi Arabia: The Arabian Civil War of 2014

The fate of Saudi Arabia remained unknown. Martial law was declared, but despite this, the House of Saud was falling to pieces as the those on top were being killed or captured. Those that surrendered claims to leadership or so on would be recorded and spared by the Baathists with some even joining the Baatists with promises of power or to ensure their survivor. Despite this, a bulk of the problems remained in the capital regime and to a lesser extent up north, but over in the Persian gulf, there was also the rebellions of the Shia Islam. It was a multi-sided affair and while the Americans were not exactly sure on getting involves, stabilizing the region would at least bring some positivity. Iran meanwhile was determined to potentially weakened their primary rival and looked for any reason to try and do so during the discussion. Some suggested even possibly seeprating the Hejaz from the rest of Saudi Arabia though the problem was that would mean massive rammifications for the hadj that expecting the new nation to deal with and so on. It would be absolutely ridiculous. However, Iran did note the religious problems that was going in Qatif and proposed the creation of a seperate Shia Arabic state of the area. However, it was also noted that the area in question also possessed the Ghawar oil field, the largest of Saudi Arabia. While the idea of taking the oil field from them was not a good idea, the idea of a seperate state did seem like a good idea. Meanwhile though, there was the power vacuum going on over in Saudi Arabia. While the questions of the Baathists remained, since they were the same ones who caused trouble in Iraq and Syria and thus that was prior reason alone to handle them, people were wondering.

However, the solution came from none other than an exiled prince living in Germany. Prince Khaled bin Farahan al-Saud. Fleeing the nation arouns 2007 because of his criticisms toward the regime, he was becoming known for his calls for reforms within the nation and the creation of a constitutional monarchy within Saudi Arabia, in order to help improve human rights and so on. They had approached the prince and he was willing to take it on if need be. Of course, there was the fact that reforms would not come easily though there were other possibilities of the neighboring nations providing some assistance toward Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there would likely need to be interim leaders to help restore order and stability to the nation before elections could be held. Furthermore, plans for the creation of the Shia Arab state was also to be part of it such as borders, logistics, leadership and so on, likely being an Islamic republic. The only other course was on Mecca and Medina with the options of letting the surrounding Islamic nations have a say or influence on managing hadjs. Iran found this acceptable since with Saudi Arabia transistioning into a constitutional monarchy and their focus shifting to addressing human rights and internal affairs, it would free them to become the regional hegemon of the Middle East.

And so, a coalition of nations prepared to go into Saudi Arabia and finally put an end to the madness once for all. Troops from Israel, Jordan, Palestine, the United States and others went in to prepare to invade Saudi Arabia while Iran focused mainly on the Qatif area.

Despite the Coalition supporting the official government, fractures occurred when it was revealed who they were supporting and thus the loyalists tried to branch off on their own direction with of the military. However, the threat of the loss of any and all American support along with the sheer chaos that would come with that caused the mdoerates to side with them. While the Coalition forces marched in and began taking out the Baathists, Russia decided to pull out their support. They already achieved their objective. Saudi Arabia was weakened and thus Russia gained further dominance within the oil market. The Baathists either fought to the death or surrendered, some of them even selling out their comrades or officials in exchange for forgiveness or even positions of power. The next month would see order having to be restored, but it was done.

The House of Saud was now a relic of itself. And thus, a constitutional monarchy would be in place, by the now King Khaled bin Farahan al-Saud. He established the The State of Arabia, removing the influence of the House of Saud while the Islamic Republic of Qatif would be formed soon after as well. Arabia would currently be under strict rule in order to search for reactionaries and terrorists while restoring order and gradually introducing reforms, along with renegotations of oil and the planning for the diversification of commodities and exports to assist the nation. Much of the royal coffers were confisciated as a result.

By the Spring of 2014... Saudi Arabia was no more and the dynamics of the Middle East changed for good... and many hoped would be finally... a chance for real peace.

 

[CountDVB]

Winter 2014

"I get now why they call it climate change instead of global warming..."

"This Ebola epidemic in Africa is horrific..."

"And now we have a revolution in Ukraine..."


As 2014 begins with an explosive bang over in the Middle East with the former regional hegemon dissolving into civil war/insurrection and the plans being made to intervene to restore order and finally bring some sort of stability, elsewhere in the world, other problems arise and require the attention of people and nations. However, Mother Nature herself was always part of the equation and the Americas felt that with a strong polar vortex. Around January 2, an Arctic cold front initially associated with a nor'easter tracked across Canada and the United States, resulting in heavy snowfall. Temperatures fell to unprecedented levels, and low temperature records were broken across the United States. Business, school, and road closures were common, as well as mass flight cancellations. Altogether, more than 200 million people were affected, in an area ranging from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean and extending south to include roughly 187 million residents of the Continental United States. In all 50 states there wee tempatures below freezing and the entire ordeal brought about further discontent among the people, especially with how some governemnts more than others handled it. Though with mid-elections coming up, the fear of failure was coming out. However, when climate change talk was brought about, the surprise came in how the melting of arctic ice meant less sunlight being reflected off, leading to warmer air and messing up the complex wind system, thus increasing the chance of extreme weather conditions. More than ever, the calls for more radical adjustments were coming regarding climate change and how to handle it while some also called for assistance on the economy.

A GOES-13 satellite image captured at 17:45 UTC on January 2, 2014, depicting an ongoing blizzard across portions of the Ohio River Valley and the Northeast United States as cold air from Canada moves across warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.


Of course, harsh weather was not the only thing coming in that would be complicating matters. Over in West Africa, a dangerous and devastating plague has appeared. It was an outbreak of the infamous Ebola virus. While the outbreak began approximately late last year, it was only through the beginning of this year did surprising and tragic numbers began appearing in response to this horrific outbreak. However, while previous outbreaks had been brought under control in a much shorter period of time, this time though, it was the first instance to really be considered an epidemic. Extreme poverty, dysfunctional healthcare systems, distrust of government after years of armed conflict, and the delay in responding for several months, all contributed to the failure to control the epidemic. Other factors, per media reports, included local burial customs of washing the body and the unprecedented spread of Ebola to densely populated cities. Of course, the concerns over an outbreak in such troublesome economic times did mean that various nations worked together to try and confront this. However, issues remained with the WHO's approach to it though many note that the preexisting conditions along with budget cuts done and other problems meant that the outbreak would be difficult to counter and it was a grim reminder that there were many in the world who could be threaten by such potent diseases.

Community members and loved ones mourn the death of a woman who died from Ebola as a pastor reads scripture

Meanwhile, while some calamities came out of the blue and exposed rotten systems, others were the inevitable consequence of said rotten systems and none other would that be evident in the Ukranian Revolution. With the protests and attempts to crack down on them last year, perhaps it would be inevitable that such a revolt would happen. Back in the 2000s, various governments of Ukraine sought a closer relationship with the European Union. Yanukovych's government was negotiating an association agreement with the European Union since 2012. However, the comprehensive trade agreement with the EU would have impacted Ukraine's trade agreements with Russia, the latter being Ukraine's biggest trade partner at the time and thus he kept postponing it despite saying the compications could be overcome. Many viewed this as a way of trying to back out and thus rose "Euromaidan" movement. Clashes between the protestors and the riot police became violent, and resulted in deaths of nearly 130 people, including 18 police officers. As the tensions rose, the personal safety for the president became untenable; on 22 February he fled from Kiev to Russia. The protesters proceeded to take control of the government. On the same day, the parliament declared that Yanukovych was relieved of duty in a 328-to-0 vote. Yanukovych meanwhile said this vote was illegal and possibly coerced, and asked Russian Federation for assistance, which earned more suspicion toward him. Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup, and did not recognize the interim government that was put in place by the protesters, while the rest of the world did. A backlash against the revolution occurred in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, where Yanukovych received strong support in the 2010 presidential election. The world's reactions range from outrage at the police brutality to hostility and suspicion over to Russia's potential involvement and desire for influence. Perhaps more so because of Russia's dwindling list of allies. The McCain Administration began preparing for more investment in cybersecurity, rumors of cyberwarfare continued to grow and the call for sanctions against the Russian nation growing.

Protesters fighting government forces on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv | 18 February 2014.

 

[CountDVB]

The End of an Era: The New Middle East

The Middle East was a complicated and turbulent location. Ever since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the division fo the region by the Entente, the Middle East saw growing strife and complications as a result of the ineptitude of the imperial system that gave birth to the nations of artificial boundaries and while the current situation is not as optimal as it could be, people are trying to head toward a better tomorrow over there and movng on to better things. As such, the coalition that working over to try and maintain peace in the Middle East were working to finally put an end to this. For over a decade, the various antagonistic and belligerent forces and influences of the Middle East had been brought to heel or fallen. Al-Queda was torn apart after 9/11 and soon followed by the Taliban. Iran and the Americans made a peace deal thanks to reformists on both sides which has to an end of hostilities and a growing sense of respect and friendship. The turmoil between Israel and Palestine gave way to growing respect and friendship; it has nearly been a decade since the formation of the Palestinian state and a new generation is being hopeful. Iraq and Syria fell apart after the former tried to exploit the latter's civil war during the Arab Spring. The Spring itself saw demands for reform and many were brought to pass while others may not. And now, the remnants of the antagonist forces from the Baathists have clashed with the extremists guarding over in the heart of Arabia itself, with both sides tearing each other apart. The Coalition ultimately decided to step in to bring stability, lest fears of refugees overwhelming other nations came along with the fortutitous opportunity for someone on the throne who is more than willing, wanting and able to Install reforms for the new Arab state to become a constitutional monarchy. After weeks of fighting, the Baathists were finally defeated, with the remnants surrendering over and the leaders being executed. The new State of Arabia was formed with the new King putting through plenty of reforms and various soldiers of the Coalition working as an additional peacekeeping force and rooting our radical reactionaires. While interim officials such as a Prime Minister and other officials were put in by him or were able to have some form of elections, the system was being planned for formal elections by the next year or so while a Supreme Court was established and staffed with center-leftists. Qatif meanwhile would become an Islamic Republic with Dammam as its capital. The Shia majority population embraced their freedom with support from Iran coming in. Some of the Sunni remained behind because of the promise of religious freedom while others headed to some of the newer nations or abroad. While the nation did depend plenty on Iran, there were signs and promises to try and stand on their own feet, to where they are beginning to try and mimic their neighbors, such as Qatar's Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN). The hope as to promote long-standing peace within the region, for everyone, Muslim or otherwise.

New State of Arabia flag, inspired by Nejd flage and Arab revolt flag

New flag of Qatif, based on Arab revolt flag; takbir written 6 times in the Kufic script in white on the red and black sides. Qatif is spelled out in green Kufic script.

Meanwhile, the big news was on the a potential solution for the "Jerusalem situation." Years of peace between Israel and Palestine reinforced by camarderie during Iraqi-Syrian War intervention and the Arabian Civil War brought plenty of new hope and opportunity. The Kadima party would lose seats to the Labor Party due to partial blame shifting to them in regards to the economic troubles though they still remain prominent and have taken further seats away from the Likud Party, leaving them politically impotent. Only a year or so later, Palestine's Palestinian Democratic Union party being elected soon after meant that the two relatively leftiat paerties began working together to try and address the "Jerusalem situation". The city was important to both nations and there should be attempts to keep both sides from overreaching, especially since more people were becoming aware that differing political parties may try to disrupt the peace with inflammatory rhetoric (to where jokes on how religious war has been the petty bickering of different religious conservatives fighting have grown.) The Jerusalem Solution as it would come to be known as was inspired by the situation with the Vatican City. However, rather than be dependent on one nation, it would be dependent on both nations and become a city-state focused mainly for religious purposes and some degree of tourism for the city to maintain itself. Now the various paperwork, logistics and agreements remained, but the outline was the most promising and lauded by various people across the board, bringing hope in otherwise troublesome times. The hope was to try and have the city fully autonomous by 2020 at latest (barring emergancy measures) and the Vatican has even offered assistance in the form of counsel and some examples of what could be to help. Overall, the signs lookd the Middle East would be calming down; Iran was becoming the new hegemon and looking to undo the corruption of Wahhabism and Salafism spread throughout the world and mending ties with the United States and the west in general.

The new Middle East (gold dot is Jerusalem City)