I consider FaT to be one of the finest examples of dystopian alternate history in existance. I've read it numerous times, and there's always something new to notice/digest. In fact, I noticed a lot of similarity between the Earth Ascendant timeline you did (like a FaT) of the future...you really ought to finish that.
But anyway, some of the details post 1980 can be worked out. From what I gather, it seems Alexander Haig managed to somewhat stabalize the US through an American gulag system and a lot of heavy handed authority. The USSR split up in a violent nuclear civil war, most of eurasia has SPID (re, AIDS), India and the German-dominated EU are super powers in rivalry with the US. By 2001, American democracy has been restored, and some sort of recovery is on the way...but its still a long, dark road ahead.
Great timeline...someone ought to make maps of the world for it, the few of Europe are rather limited.