For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
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Thailand - Country profile
Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered in the North by China, in the East by Indochina, in the South by the Gulf of Thailand and in the West by Kawthoolei, Burma and Jingpo.
History
Siam was the only independent nation in Southeastern Asia when the 20th Century began : the ruling Chakri dynasty, in place since 1782 had undertaken a path of modernization and westernization, taking Japan as model, a policy that was at odds with the absolutist nature of the monarchy, the aristocracy and the rising commoners ; after the Great European War, Siam was all the more caught in the influence struggle between the United Kingdom and Japan ; in 1926, Siam managed to win back their territories taken by Indochina before 1904 and entered an alliance with Japan along with the Co-Prosperity Sphere, but in 1929, Prince Chula Chakrabongse, a mixed-race royal, took power in a coup, becoming King Rama VIII, and agreed to give Northern and Southern Thailand to the British, being integrated into British Bruma and British Malaysia in 1932. The discontent with Rama VIII’s pro-British policies trigerred the outbreak of the Siamese Civil War (1933-1940), putting the royal forces, supported by the British, against the ultranationalist revolt of Prince Boworadej, supported by the Japanese, and a small Republican Army, led by Pridi Banomyong. Boworadej won the conflict and became King Rama IX.
Until his death in 1953, Rama IX embarked in a nationalist and irrendentist course, firmly aligned on Japan, seizing Karenni State in 1943 in exchange for his support of Burmese independentists, Laos in 1945, changing the name of the country to the much more nationalist name of Thailand in 1944 and building the new capital of Nakhonban Pretchabun, in the center of the country, along with the Buddhist holy city of Saraburi. When he aged, a brief democratic period (1948-1951) followed, supported by the British, before a violent coup led by General Phao Siyanon in 1951 firmly returned Thailand to the Japanese sphere, even if the kingdom was now a constitutional monarchy under the pro-Japanese Kityakara branch after 1953.
Thailand was a firm member of the Co-Prosperity Sphere during the Greater Game, modeling itself on Japan and becoming a regional power thanks to its sheer size and its importance in Asian trade, taking part in the South Asian War (1964-1967) ; a military dictatorship in fact, the country grew bigger with the integration of the Shan States (1957), Kachin region (1964), Kedah, Perak, Penang, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu (1967). It had to deal with a democrat guerilla led by former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong (1952-1958) and civil unrest grew bigger during the ultranationalist regime, due to its suppresion of individual liberties and its outspoken support of Japan (1971 students revolt, 1976 peasents’ revolt, Malay guerilla 1977-1991, 1983 protests after Pridi’s death). But the bigger stain in Thailand’s history remains the Lao genocide ; undertaking the colonization of the country during the 1960s, on the same model that Japan had taken in Korea and China, the settlement degenerated into an official massacre policy after the assassination of Prime Minister Praphas Charusathien in 1973, with the royal families of Laos being murdered and ethnic cleansing undertaken in the Lao countryside by the Thai military. The genocide was stopped after the Washington Post provided evidence about the crimes in 1975, but the evil was done and Thailand was now a pariah state outside of the Japanese sphere.
After the Japanese Revolution, Thailand was on the brink of collapse : the Co-Prosperity Sphere, on which the military junta relied for economy, trade, military and cultural support, was in disarray, Malay provinces were now out of control, the democratic opposition was stronger than ever and the young nationalist officers that had taken power in 1981, now led by Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Chamlong Srimuang, were desperate for survival. With support from the new King, Rama XI, the Thai junta decided to react to Viet Nam’s unification with Cambodia by declaring war ; the Hills’ War (1987-1988) turned into a complete quagmire for Thailand, that lost Laos in the process, and a democratic coup attempt the following year turned into a Civil War (1988-1992), that gave way for spontaneous uprisings from the Shans, Karens, Kachins, Malays and Mons. Bangkok finally fell into the hands of the Democrats on 20 May 1992 ; the King, who had thrown his full support behind the military, was forced to flee and, in spite of the Thais’ support for the monarchy of divine right, the Republic was proclaimed, ending centuries of tradition. The first action of new President Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was to grant independence to the former peoples of the Thai Kingdom, forming Arakan, Jingpo, Malaya and the Shan Federation.
Imperovished, devastated by the Civil War, the new Thai Republic was unsteady, integrating itself to the new Pan-Asian Union but staying under international aid, its economy being wrecked by former military officials who turned to drug, human and arms trafficking. After the 1997 famine and the 2004 tsunami, billionaire Sondhi Limthongkul was elected President in 2008 on a nostalgic and nationalist program. The Republic has since returned to a dictatorship, adopting a new Constitution molded for Sondhi and the ex-military junta in 2014, cancelling the 2015 presidential election and maintaining deals with the mob to ensure the regime’s survival. Thailand also adopted a nationalist rhetoric, promising to return the country to the better days, invading and annexing the Shan Federation in 2019 and welcoming back the royal family in 2014.
Political situation
A presidential republic since 1992, with a Constitution inspired by the French Fifth Republic, Thailand adopted a new Constitution in 2014, reducing the legislative power to an unicameral Legislative Assembly, with two thirds elected by popular suffrage and one third designated by the President. In spite of the ethnic patchwork that Thailand is nowadays, the country remains unitary, with all executive and judiciary powers concentrated in the capital city of Nakhonban Pretchabun, built by Japanese engineers in the 1940s under King Rama IX. Nakhonban Pretchabun, after 70 years, remains far less developed than Thailand’s major city, Bangkok, with its vast avenues empty, devoid of electricity for months at some time, being inhabited only by the old Thai bureaucracy, very isolated from the problems of everyday Thailand.
Since 5 October 2008, the President of Thailand has been Sondhi Limthongkul : a former journalist affiliated to the democratic opposition in the 1980s, Sondhi was among the conservatives shocked by the abolition of the monarchy and turned to politics with the Thai Social Democratic Party, a populist, pyrist, traiditionalist party that amalgamated conservatives along with Buddhist zealots, monarchists and former associates of the military regime. A close second in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, he was finally elected in 2008, after the 2007 election was cancelled due to suspicions of fraud. Since, Sondhi did everything to destroy Thailand’s nascent democracy, persecuting ethnic and religious minorities, forbidding opposition parties, cancelling the presidential elections scheduled in 2013 and 2015, sending the army to quell the riots in favor of democracy in 2016 and affirming its will of a greater Thailand, with the annexation of the Shan Federation in 2019 that resulted in Thailand getting expelled from the World Council. Along with former military officers and Buddhist dominionists, the Sondhi regime earns his support from the Thai organized crime groups, that control drug, human and arms trafficking in Southeast Asia, as much of them are associated with the former military clique. Some say that Sondhi’s Thailand is close to the days of the monarchy, without the king : many speak of a future royal restoration, as the former royal family, headed by Princess Soamsawali Kityakara, is welcomed in their country since 2014.
Thailand, since the start of the Sondhi presidency, adopted an irrendeitst political agenda, reaffirming their claims on Cambodia, Laos, Arakan, Jingpo and Malaya, with their threats coming into fruition towards the drug-infested Shan Federation. Nevertheless, the country retains excellent business relations with China, Japan and Indochina.
Social situation, population
By changing its name in 1944, Thailand to become a nation-state ; nothing could be more wrong during the peak of the Kingdom of Thailand, as Thais, Karens, Karenni, Rakhines, Lao, Cambodian, Malays, Shan, Chinese and Mons, among others, were united under one flag ; official discourse challenged this view by bestowing the name “Thai” over all Tai-speaking peoples. Ironically due to the current state propaganda, Thailand became much more heterogeneous after the abolition of the monarchy, even if the Shan peoples that returned to Thailand since 2019 are still classified as “Thai” for the government. Other ethnic minorities are persecuted and forcibly assimilated.
Bangkok, thé former capital, remains the most populated and economic center of Thailand ; the foundation of Nakhoban Prechatbun did nothing to stop Bangkok from growing, but the scars of the Civil War remain visible in plain sight and years of corruption and lack of concertation in urbanism led to an anarchic growth in récent Years, kickstarted by rural exodus. The 2011 murderous floods revealed furthermore the darker side of Bangkok.
With 43 million people and counting and one third of the population being under 25, Thai population is among the most blossoming in East Asia, even if it’s also synonymous with a widespread diaspora, propelled by the lack of resources and future in the home country and a population that benefitted from the alphabetization and education grants policies during the military junta era. Much less noticeable than the Chinese diaspora, Thais abroad are noticeable in Indochina as a well wanted skilled workforce, but also in America, China and Europe, where a brain drain phenomenon is heavily noticeable, as Thai universities are considered quite skillful on their own right. Repression of human rights and civil freedoms is quite enforced in Thailand, along with censorship, as was evidenced during the repression of the pro-democracy riots in 2016.
Economy
One of the founding members of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, turning to the Pan-Asian Union after the dissolution, Thailand benefited massively from Japanese investment programs throughout the century, with industrial centers being established in Bangkok and along the Thai-Indochinese border, along with a huge manufacturing sector propelled by Japanese companies ; cars made in Thailand is a common occurrence in Eastern Asia. Nevertheless, since the crumbling of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Civil War, the baht became heavily devaluated and the poverty rate skyrocketed, with millions of Thai falling into poverty : heavily dependent on exportations, the Thai economy still struggles with the devastation of the Civil War and its status as an international pariah following the invasion of the Shan Federation. Blooming during the days of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Thai infrastructure and education were thrown into disarray by the Civil War, the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and decades of corrupt and ineffective management. Countrywide famines occurred in 1997 and 2011, subjecting Thailand to international humanitarian relief, further proving the disarray of the Thai Republic. Thailand remains a heavily agricultural country and also depends heavily on tourism, here helped by the plentiful cultural heritage of Thailand.
Thailand is however very infamous for the extent of organized crime, whose revenues is considered close to two thirds of the country’s GDP. Building on the Thai diaspora and the country’s location between Indochina, the South China Sea and China, the country became one of the main entry points for heroin and cannabis trafficking, becoming itself a supplier of heroin. Prostitution is also widespread, especially in Bangkok, both as a means of survival for the lower classes and a source of revenues for the Chao Pho (Thai underworld), that also specializes in selling weapons for Indonesia, Indochina and the Burmese states. Once controlled by common criminals, organized crime came under the control of former military officers, disgruntled by the aftermath of Thai Civil War and using their business and military connections to build huge cartels, managing private armies. Once persecuted by the government with US and German support, organized crime is now one of the main supporters of the Sondhi regime, with Chao Pho group helping to secure urban centers during the 2020 coup attempt against the government.
Military
If the army held power in Thailand without interruption from 1951 to 1992 and in spite of its various defeats, the military retains considerable prestige and power in Republican Thailand, with many former military officers turning to politics, conscription being still compulsory, and state propaganda magnifying the invasion and occupation of Shan Federation (2010-2011) as a redemption, a feat worthy of Thaksin the Great. In fact, the Thai military is a den of monarchist and reactionary rival cliques, equipped with outdated Japanese weapons and heavily corrupted, when generals have not gone the way of organized crime. To this day, many military officers suspected of deals with the mob are forbidden from entering American, Chinese or European territory.
Culture
Since the days of Rama IX, Thailand adopted Buddhism as its state religion, with its unofficial holy seat being Saraburi, close to the administrative capital ; the rigorist interpretation of the Buddha’s preachings returned to power along with Sondhi, as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami exposed the darker side of Thailand’s beach resorts, that were known hubs for sex tourism and drug trade ; the Sondhi administration refused to pursue further the rebuild of these towns. Now, the State Sangha is responsible for the maintaining of all temples in Thailand, has a close control over public and private schooling and welfare, a much needed source of help in Thailand, is now allowed only to the followers of the Buddha, owing to years of bad blood against the Muslims after the Malay guerilla : Muslims, Christians and Hindus, who have always been a minority of Thailand, are submitted to forced conversion to Buddhism. In spite of these regulations, however, Thailand still enjoys tourism due to its impressive heritage, with a thriving film industry beginning to export itself.
In sports, if Thailand has still a long way to Go before being a strong soccer, rugby or Olympics contender, thé country tends to be known for Muay Thai, that has begun to inspire fighters worldwide thanks to exported Thai movies ; international boxing authorities tend to regard Muay Thai as a bloodsport unworthy of recognition nevertheless.
History
Siam was the only independent nation in Southeastern Asia when the 20th Century began : the ruling Chakri dynasty, in place since 1782 had undertaken a path of modernization and westernization, taking Japan as model, a policy that was at odds with the absolutist nature of the monarchy, the aristocracy and the rising commoners ; after the Great European War, Siam was all the more caught in the influence struggle between the United Kingdom and Japan ; in 1926, Siam managed to win back their territories taken by Indochina before 1904 and entered an alliance with Japan along with the Co-Prosperity Sphere, but in 1929, Prince Chula Chakrabongse, a mixed-race royal, took power in a coup, becoming King Rama VIII, and agreed to give Northern and Southern Thailand to the British, being integrated into British Bruma and British Malaysia in 1932. The discontent with Rama VIII’s pro-British policies trigerred the outbreak of the Siamese Civil War (1933-1940), putting the royal forces, supported by the British, against the ultranationalist revolt of Prince Boworadej, supported by the Japanese, and a small Republican Army, led by Pridi Banomyong. Boworadej won the conflict and became King Rama IX.
Until his death in 1953, Rama IX embarked in a nationalist and irrendentist course, firmly aligned on Japan, seizing Karenni State in 1943 in exchange for his support of Burmese independentists, Laos in 1945, changing the name of the country to the much more nationalist name of Thailand in 1944 and building the new capital of Nakhonban Pretchabun, in the center of the country, along with the Buddhist holy city of Saraburi. When he aged, a brief democratic period (1948-1951) followed, supported by the British, before a violent coup led by General Phao Siyanon in 1951 firmly returned Thailand to the Japanese sphere, even if the kingdom was now a constitutional monarchy under the pro-Japanese Kityakara branch after 1953.
Thailand was a firm member of the Co-Prosperity Sphere during the Greater Game, modeling itself on Japan and becoming a regional power thanks to its sheer size and its importance in Asian trade, taking part in the South Asian War (1964-1967) ; a military dictatorship in fact, the country grew bigger with the integration of the Shan States (1957), Kachin region (1964), Kedah, Perak, Penang, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu (1967). It had to deal with a democrat guerilla led by former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong (1952-1958) and civil unrest grew bigger during the ultranationalist regime, due to its suppresion of individual liberties and its outspoken support of Japan (1971 students revolt, 1976 peasents’ revolt, Malay guerilla 1977-1991, 1983 protests after Pridi’s death). But the bigger stain in Thailand’s history remains the Lao genocide ; undertaking the colonization of the country during the 1960s, on the same model that Japan had taken in Korea and China, the settlement degenerated into an official massacre policy after the assassination of Prime Minister Praphas Charusathien in 1973, with the royal families of Laos being murdered and ethnic cleansing undertaken in the Lao countryside by the Thai military. The genocide was stopped after the Washington Post provided evidence about the crimes in 1975, but the evil was done and Thailand was now a pariah state outside of the Japanese sphere.
After the Japanese Revolution, Thailand was on the brink of collapse : the Co-Prosperity Sphere, on which the military junta relied for economy, trade, military and cultural support, was in disarray, Malay provinces were now out of control, the democratic opposition was stronger than ever and the young nationalist officers that had taken power in 1981, now led by Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Chamlong Srimuang, were desperate for survival. With support from the new King, Rama XI, the Thai junta decided to react to Viet Nam’s unification with Cambodia by declaring war ; the Hills’ War (1987-1988) turned into a complete quagmire for Thailand, that lost Laos in the process, and a democratic coup attempt the following year turned into a Civil War (1988-1992), that gave way for spontaneous uprisings from the Shans, Karens, Kachins, Malays and Mons. Bangkok finally fell into the hands of the Democrats on 20 May 1992 ; the King, who had thrown his full support behind the military, was forced to flee and, in spite of the Thais’ support for the monarchy of divine right, the Republic was proclaimed, ending centuries of tradition. The first action of new President Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was to grant independence to the former peoples of the Thai Kingdom, forming Arakan, Jingpo, Malaya and the Shan Federation.
Imperovished, devastated by the Civil War, the new Thai Republic was unsteady, integrating itself to the new Pan-Asian Union but staying under international aid, its economy being wrecked by former military officials who turned to drug, human and arms trafficking. After the 1997 famine and the 2004 tsunami, billionaire Sondhi Limthongkul was elected President in 2008 on a nostalgic and nationalist program. The Republic has since returned to a dictatorship, adopting a new Constitution molded for Sondhi and the ex-military junta in 2014, cancelling the 2015 presidential election and maintaining deals with the mob to ensure the regime’s survival. Thailand also adopted a nationalist rhetoric, promising to return the country to the better days, invading and annexing the Shan Federation in 2019 and welcoming back the royal family in 2014.
Political situation
A presidential republic since 1992, with a Constitution inspired by the French Fifth Republic, Thailand adopted a new Constitution in 2014, reducing the legislative power to an unicameral Legislative Assembly, with two thirds elected by popular suffrage and one third designated by the President. In spite of the ethnic patchwork that Thailand is nowadays, the country remains unitary, with all executive and judiciary powers concentrated in the capital city of Nakhonban Pretchabun, built by Japanese engineers in the 1940s under King Rama IX. Nakhonban Pretchabun, after 70 years, remains far less developed than Thailand’s major city, Bangkok, with its vast avenues empty, devoid of electricity for months at some time, being inhabited only by the old Thai bureaucracy, very isolated from the problems of everyday Thailand.
Since 5 October 2008, the President of Thailand has been Sondhi Limthongkul : a former journalist affiliated to the democratic opposition in the 1980s, Sondhi was among the conservatives shocked by the abolition of the monarchy and turned to politics with the Thai Social Democratic Party, a populist, pyrist, traiditionalist party that amalgamated conservatives along with Buddhist zealots, monarchists and former associates of the military regime. A close second in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, he was finally elected in 2008, after the 2007 election was cancelled due to suspicions of fraud. Since, Sondhi did everything to destroy Thailand’s nascent democracy, persecuting ethnic and religious minorities, forbidding opposition parties, cancelling the presidential elections scheduled in 2013 and 2015, sending the army to quell the riots in favor of democracy in 2016 and affirming its will of a greater Thailand, with the annexation of the Shan Federation in 2019 that resulted in Thailand getting expelled from the World Council. Along with former military officers and Buddhist dominionists, the Sondhi regime earns his support from the Thai organized crime groups, that control drug, human and arms trafficking in Southeast Asia, as much of them are associated with the former military clique. Some say that Sondhi’s Thailand is close to the days of the monarchy, without the king : many speak of a future royal restoration, as the former royal family, headed by Princess Soamsawali Kityakara, is welcomed in their country since 2014.
Thailand, since the start of the Sondhi presidency, adopted an irrendeitst political agenda, reaffirming their claims on Cambodia, Laos, Arakan, Jingpo and Malaya, with their threats coming into fruition towards the drug-infested Shan Federation. Nevertheless, the country retains excellent business relations with China, Japan and Indochina.
Social situation, population
By changing its name in 1944, Thailand to become a nation-state ; nothing could be more wrong during the peak of the Kingdom of Thailand, as Thais, Karens, Karenni, Rakhines, Lao, Cambodian, Malays, Shan, Chinese and Mons, among others, were united under one flag ; official discourse challenged this view by bestowing the name “Thai” over all Tai-speaking peoples. Ironically due to the current state propaganda, Thailand became much more heterogeneous after the abolition of the monarchy, even if the Shan peoples that returned to Thailand since 2019 are still classified as “Thai” for the government. Other ethnic minorities are persecuted and forcibly assimilated.
Bangkok, thé former capital, remains the most populated and economic center of Thailand ; the foundation of Nakhoban Prechatbun did nothing to stop Bangkok from growing, but the scars of the Civil War remain visible in plain sight and years of corruption and lack of concertation in urbanism led to an anarchic growth in récent Years, kickstarted by rural exodus. The 2011 murderous floods revealed furthermore the darker side of Bangkok.
With 43 million people and counting and one third of the population being under 25, Thai population is among the most blossoming in East Asia, even if it’s also synonymous with a widespread diaspora, propelled by the lack of resources and future in the home country and a population that benefitted from the alphabetization and education grants policies during the military junta era. Much less noticeable than the Chinese diaspora, Thais abroad are noticeable in Indochina as a well wanted skilled workforce, but also in America, China and Europe, where a brain drain phenomenon is heavily noticeable, as Thai universities are considered quite skillful on their own right. Repression of human rights and civil freedoms is quite enforced in Thailand, along with censorship, as was evidenced during the repression of the pro-democracy riots in 2016.
Economy
One of the founding members of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, turning to the Pan-Asian Union after the dissolution, Thailand benefited massively from Japanese investment programs throughout the century, with industrial centers being established in Bangkok and along the Thai-Indochinese border, along with a huge manufacturing sector propelled by Japanese companies ; cars made in Thailand is a common occurrence in Eastern Asia. Nevertheless, since the crumbling of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Civil War, the baht became heavily devaluated and the poverty rate skyrocketed, with millions of Thai falling into poverty : heavily dependent on exportations, the Thai economy still struggles with the devastation of the Civil War and its status as an international pariah following the invasion of the Shan Federation. Blooming during the days of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Thai infrastructure and education were thrown into disarray by the Civil War, the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and decades of corrupt and ineffective management. Countrywide famines occurred in 1997 and 2011, subjecting Thailand to international humanitarian relief, further proving the disarray of the Thai Republic. Thailand remains a heavily agricultural country and also depends heavily on tourism, here helped by the plentiful cultural heritage of Thailand.
Thailand is however very infamous for the extent of organized crime, whose revenues is considered close to two thirds of the country’s GDP. Building on the Thai diaspora and the country’s location between Indochina, the South China Sea and China, the country became one of the main entry points for heroin and cannabis trafficking, becoming itself a supplier of heroin. Prostitution is also widespread, especially in Bangkok, both as a means of survival for the lower classes and a source of revenues for the Chao Pho (Thai underworld), that also specializes in selling weapons for Indonesia, Indochina and the Burmese states. Once controlled by common criminals, organized crime came under the control of former military officers, disgruntled by the aftermath of Thai Civil War and using their business and military connections to build huge cartels, managing private armies. Once persecuted by the government with US and German support, organized crime is now one of the main supporters of the Sondhi regime, with Chao Pho group helping to secure urban centers during the 2020 coup attempt against the government.
Military
If the army held power in Thailand without interruption from 1951 to 1992 and in spite of its various defeats, the military retains considerable prestige and power in Republican Thailand, with many former military officers turning to politics, conscription being still compulsory, and state propaganda magnifying the invasion and occupation of Shan Federation (2010-2011) as a redemption, a feat worthy of Thaksin the Great. In fact, the Thai military is a den of monarchist and reactionary rival cliques, equipped with outdated Japanese weapons and heavily corrupted, when generals have not gone the way of organized crime. To this day, many military officers suspected of deals with the mob are forbidden from entering American, Chinese or European territory.
Culture
Since the days of Rama IX, Thailand adopted Buddhism as its state religion, with its unofficial holy seat being Saraburi, close to the administrative capital ; the rigorist interpretation of the Buddha’s preachings returned to power along with Sondhi, as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami exposed the darker side of Thailand’s beach resorts, that were known hubs for sex tourism and drug trade ; the Sondhi administration refused to pursue further the rebuild of these towns. Now, the State Sangha is responsible for the maintaining of all temples in Thailand, has a close control over public and private schooling and welfare, a much needed source of help in Thailand, is now allowed only to the followers of the Buddha, owing to years of bad blood against the Muslims after the Malay guerilla : Muslims, Christians and Hindus, who have always been a minority of Thailand, are submitted to forced conversion to Buddhism. In spite of these regulations, however, Thailand still enjoys tourism due to its impressive heritage, with a thriving film industry beginning to export itself.
In sports, if Thailand has still a long way to Go before being a strong soccer, rugby or Olympics contender, thé country tends to be known for Muay Thai, that has begun to inspire fighters worldwide thanks to exported Thai movies ; international boxing authorities tend to regard Muay Thai as a bloodsport unworthy of recognition nevertheless.
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I was a huge fan of the Footprint of Mussolini. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how, from an outsider point of view, OTL South Africa didn't devolve into Civil War.
Thank you very much !
He was made Senator for Life in Italy and died childless. That's all.
Sort of. North Korea is a good place compared to Azania.
Not only did Indochina avoid all the Vietnam Wars, and China didn't have Mao and others, but the latter never implemented the single child policy. Now Chinese demographics, due to the economic and social development of China, tend to have nuclear families, but it has come this way only at the turn of the Millenium.
What is wrong with Azania which makes Best Korea look nice compared to them? AANW China-esque bioweapon programs aiming to create a "perfect" bioweapon? And on that note, has Azania been backing any terrorist groups in the West or something along those lines or not?
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I guess that would be Khmer Rouge style on steroids from what I've read so far in this TL. Of course the North Koreans would look nice compared to such people.
Country profile - Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Selangor in the north, Malaya in the east, Johor and Malacca in the south and the Strait of Malacca in the west.
History
Settled by the Minangkabaus from Sumatra in the 15th Century, Negeri Sembilan united in 1773 (Negeri Sembilan mean “nine chiefdoms” in Malay) and became a single political entity in 1895 under the domain of Seri Menanti and British influence from malacca, coming under the control of the British Resident then forming part of the Federated Malay States the same year. During the South Asian War (1964-1967), Negeri Sembilan, along with the other Malay states, was invaded by the Japanese Army and acceded to independence as a sovereign nation on August, 8 1967. An integrant part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, followed by the Pan-Asian Union, Negeri Sembilan remained independent to this day.
Politics
Even with its federal origins, Negeri Sembilan is now an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch, along with the head of government and the unicameral 100-member Legislative Assembly, resides in the ancestral town of Seri Manenti. Executive power is vested in the Prime Minister, heading the Executive Council, who must be a member of the Assembly, designated within the majority by the Grand Ruler. Negeri Sembilan’s legal system is based on Japanese law and the judiciary is considered independent from the executive power.
Since its independence, after he had succeeded his father Munawir during the Japanese occupation, the monarch (Yang di-Pertuan Besar, Grand Ruler) of Negeri Sembilan has been Muhriz (born 1948) from the House of Yamtuan Raden. The monarch holds only ceremonial powers as of 2021 but Muhriz is considered as the founding father of modern Negeri Sembilan and remains very popular.
Negri politics were dominated from 1978 to 2008 by the domineering figure of Dr. Rais Yatim, who was Prime Minister (Menteri Besar) for the nationalist Negri National Organization (PKN), managing to continue to lead the country even after the downfall of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and the end of Japanese support ; the Yatim era ended in 2008 when the long-time ruler was appointed Secretary General of the Pan-Asian Union in 2008 and the reign of the PKN in 2018, when the reformist, opposition party People’s Justice Party (PKR) won a majority in the Legislative Assembly in the elections that year. Its leader, Aminuddin Harun, has been Menteri Besar since ; the next elections are scheduled for 2023.
Social situation, population
Due to its history, Negeri Sembilan is a multiethnic and multireligious state, with its ethnic composition divided between Minangkabaus, Malays and Chinese ; even if the Minangkabaus, who hailed from Sumatra, were considered prior to independence to be part of the Malay ethnicity, official discourse has changed, with their language, closely related to Malay, becoming the official one. With Sunni Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity widely practised within the country, the official stance is secular, allowing freedom of cult. Negeri Sembilan’s largest city is Seremban.
Even if the official tolerance and political alternance in 2018 allowed Negeri Sembilan to be considered a democracy on its own, the country remains quite conservative in its mores and corruption is considered widespread, mostly due to Chinese and Japanese companies meddling with the economic and political system.
Economy
Even if Negeri Sembilan had relied mostly in agriculture, including rubber and oil palm plantations, Seremban and Port Muhriz (formerly Port Dickson) have seen a blooming manufacturing sector, first implanted by Japanese companies during the Co-Prosperity era, that was since replaced by Chinese ones, attracted by the qualified and cheap workforce ; the other large part of Negeri Sembilan revenues come from services and tourism, due to Negeri Sembilan’s peacefulness, culture and beach resorts along the Straits of Malacca. A founding member of the Pan-Asian Union, Negeri Sembilan also benefits from free trade, with the currency, the Negri ringgit, being indexed on the Chinese yuan. The monarch, Muhriz, who is a board member of various banks within Asia, is considered among the wealthiest monarchs in the world, on his own right.
Military
In recent year, due to concerns regarding Malayan expansionism, Negeri Sembilan has restablished military draft, wishing to retain a sizeable and trained army, all equipped with Chinese weapons. The country also maintains a small Navy, designed to fight piracy in the Straits of Malacca, and a small air force.
Culture
Due to Minangkabau heritage, Negeri Sembilan enjoys a culture unique to Malaysia, mostly with its matrlineal system of inheritance ; folk culture remains still vivid thanks to tourism but its entertainment is massively occupied by Chinese products.
History
Settled by the Minangkabaus from Sumatra in the 15th Century, Negeri Sembilan united in 1773 (Negeri Sembilan mean “nine chiefdoms” in Malay) and became a single political entity in 1895 under the domain of Seri Menanti and British influence from malacca, coming under the control of the British Resident then forming part of the Federated Malay States the same year. During the South Asian War (1964-1967), Negeri Sembilan, along with the other Malay states, was invaded by the Japanese Army and acceded to independence as a sovereign nation on August, 8 1967. An integrant part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, followed by the Pan-Asian Union, Negeri Sembilan remained independent to this day.
Politics
Even with its federal origins, Negeri Sembilan is now an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch, along with the head of government and the unicameral 100-member Legislative Assembly, resides in the ancestral town of Seri Manenti. Executive power is vested in the Prime Minister, heading the Executive Council, who must be a member of the Assembly, designated within the majority by the Grand Ruler. Negeri Sembilan’s legal system is based on Japanese law and the judiciary is considered independent from the executive power.
Since its independence, after he had succeeded his father Munawir during the Japanese occupation, the monarch (Yang di-Pertuan Besar, Grand Ruler) of Negeri Sembilan has been Muhriz (born 1948) from the House of Yamtuan Raden. The monarch holds only ceremonial powers as of 2021 but Muhriz is considered as the founding father of modern Negeri Sembilan and remains very popular.
Negri politics were dominated from 1978 to 2008 by the domineering figure of Dr. Rais Yatim, who was Prime Minister (Menteri Besar) for the nationalist Negri National Organization (PKN), managing to continue to lead the country even after the downfall of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and the end of Japanese support ; the Yatim era ended in 2008 when the long-time ruler was appointed Secretary General of the Pan-Asian Union in 2008 and the reign of the PKN in 2018, when the reformist, opposition party People’s Justice Party (PKR) won a majority in the Legislative Assembly in the elections that year. Its leader, Aminuddin Harun, has been Menteri Besar since ; the next elections are scheduled for 2023.
Social situation, population
Due to its history, Negeri Sembilan is a multiethnic and multireligious state, with its ethnic composition divided between Minangkabaus, Malays and Chinese ; even if the Minangkabaus, who hailed from Sumatra, were considered prior to independence to be part of the Malay ethnicity, official discourse has changed, with their language, closely related to Malay, becoming the official one. With Sunni Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity widely practised within the country, the official stance is secular, allowing freedom of cult. Negeri Sembilan’s largest city is Seremban.
Even if the official tolerance and political alternance in 2018 allowed Negeri Sembilan to be considered a democracy on its own, the country remains quite conservative in its mores and corruption is considered widespread, mostly due to Chinese and Japanese companies meddling with the economic and political system.
Economy
Even if Negeri Sembilan had relied mostly in agriculture, including rubber and oil palm plantations, Seremban and Port Muhriz (formerly Port Dickson) have seen a blooming manufacturing sector, first implanted by Japanese companies during the Co-Prosperity era, that was since replaced by Chinese ones, attracted by the qualified and cheap workforce ; the other large part of Negeri Sembilan revenues come from services and tourism, due to Negeri Sembilan’s peacefulness, culture and beach resorts along the Straits of Malacca. A founding member of the Pan-Asian Union, Negeri Sembilan also benefits from free trade, with the currency, the Negri ringgit, being indexed on the Chinese yuan. The monarch, Muhriz, who is a board member of various banks within Asia, is considered among the wealthiest monarchs in the world, on his own right.
Military
In recent year, due to concerns regarding Malayan expansionism, Negeri Sembilan has restablished military draft, wishing to retain a sizeable and trained army, all equipped with Chinese weapons. The country also maintains a small Navy, designed to fight piracy in the Straits of Malacca, and a small air force.
Culture
Due to Minangkabau heritage, Negeri Sembilan enjoys a culture unique to Malaysia, mostly with its matrlineal system of inheritance ; folk culture remains still vivid thanks to tourism but its entertainment is massively occupied by Chinese products.
As I said, try to picture ISIS+North Korea+Democratic
Examining it, I think the errror is mine, maybe a relic of when I was wondering about a Chin independent state or trying to work out the outline of Southeast Asia. It shall be corrected !
What about my question on Azanian-backed terrorism in the West? Any major acts of terrorism they have committed?
Wilhelm V
Wilhelm V (Friedrich Wilhelm Ferdinand, born in Potsdam, Prussia, Germany, 14 May 1995) is the reigning German Kaiser and King of Prussia, hailing from the House of Hohenzollern, having succeeded his grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm V on 29 September 2015.
Born to Kronprinz Friedrich and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, Wilhelm was born too late to meet his great-grandfather, Kaiser Louis Ferdinand, but late enough to be born into a Germany that had successfully evolved from the legacy of its colonial empire and the World War, ready to enter the third millenium as one of the greatest nations in the world ; along with the popularity of his father, his birth ensured the future of the Hohenzollerns and he would become, one day, a Prussian monarch of a new era. Nevertheless, tragedy struck when he was only one-year-old, when his father was killed in a car accident in Rome, making a toddler the next in line for the thrones of Germany and Prussia.
Raised in Potsdam by her grieving mother, along with his sister and younger brother, Wilhelm kept his distances from his unpopular grandfather, taking the duties of a Prussian prince and being prepared to the duties of a future emperor and king, but also cultivating his Russian side from his mother, who has seen her father and brother killed in the Vladivostok tragedy, knowing that royals had to adapt to their times and being doomed to the dustbin of history. Graduating from a private high school (a first for a German heir), Wilhelm was a cadet at the Prussian War College when Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm V died and the young man became Kaiser and King Wilhelm V, one of the most powerful and prestigious monarchs of Europe.
Having a 20-years-old monarch wasn’t an oddity in Europe, as it had already been the case in Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, Hungary, Scotland and Spain ; nevertheless, journalists throughout the world were in awe of “the Millenial Kaiser”, proving a fresh change after the bumbling years of reign of Friedrich Wilhelm V and shaking the idea of conservatism and traditionalism of the German Empire. Remaining very secretive on his private life, the new Kaiser would be Germany’s main ambassador throughout the world, having successful state visits in Russia, China or the United States ; having to deal with an integralist Chancellor with Markus Söder, Wilhelm V would some time come out of his imperial reserve to dissent with his head of government, like throwing a plentiful banquet in honor of US President Russ Feingold during his visit of Germany, when the day before he had been booed as a Jewish stooge by DVP deputies, encourage the dissolution of paramilitary militias in 2017 or throwing his support with the Chinese German community after race riots during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. The Kaiser would be present on the site of the numerous terrorist attacks endured by Germany in recent years, visit troops during the Second Belgium War, interventions in Kamerun, Mozambique, Kalahari, Kasai and Madagascar, and campaign for Comoros staying in the German Empire during the 2018 referendum. The Kaiser, during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, would give huge donations on his personal fortune to German retirement homes.
Kaiser Wilhelm V married Archduchess Eleonore von Habsburg, daughter of Grand Archduke Karl II, on 20 July 2020 in a ceremony that Chancellor Söder wanted to have expansive and lavish but that the Kaiser insisted on keeping private and small in respect of the victims of the pandemic. The Kaiser is also said to have good relations to Söder’s new successor, Reichskanzlerin Manuel Schwesig, hailing from the SPD...
It's actually the accurate demonym in English. I already said that English is not my first language and I'm sorry for my spelling mistakes from time to time, but if you are going to identify and mock them with every post, it's going to be time-consuming for you and rude for me.
Most of their efforts are concentrated on the African theatre, they have had some cells in Europe but they are more concerned with their troops on the front.
What were Al Gore and George McGovern's presidencies like ITTL? Will they get a future chapter or two going into detail about them?
It was not my intention to mock you. I think you're doing a terrific job. Both entries were jokes and I received likes. The idea of a guy having a baby is clearly a typo and I thought I should draw your and others' attention to it in a light-hearted way. I have no doubt that you used the correct demonym for someone from Brussels, again mine was a joke.
Country profile - Kalahari
Kalahari is a country in southern Africa, bordered by Angola in the north, by Azania in the west and south (formerly Botswana and South Africa) and the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
History
Situated between the Nahib and Kalahari deserts, inhabited by Bantu, Herero, Himba, Damara and Khoisan peoples, Kalahari was only settled in 1884 by Germany, becoming the colony of German South West Africa, as a way to hinder British expansion in the area ; only the harbour of Walvis Bay, enclaved within the German colony, was occupied by Britain, then by South Africa. German rule lasted until 1970, and was at times really harsh against the Natives, culminating in the 1904-1907 Herero-Namaqua uprising (considered a genocide by modern historians, even as Germany never recognized it as such). The German governors (the most known being Heinrich Göring, Lothar von Trotha, Hermann Göring, Josias zu Waldeck and Pyrmont, Wolfgang Schenk) managed to encourage German settlement in spite of the country’s relative inhospitality, focusing development on Windhuk and the Angolan border, along with mining (diamonds, gold, lead, tungesten, copper, zinc, uranium) and agricultural facilities. Scarcely populated, with a totally Germanized Bantu population, its borders unchanged throughout German colonization, without any major independence process, a main fixture of German military apparatus due to its supply of uranium (the Kalahari desert was the site of Germany’s first nuclear weapon test in 1950), Southwest Africa was considered a model German colony when independence was bestowed on 1 January 1970, under the new name of Kalahari, referring to one of the country’s largest deserts.
Even with independence and Native home rule, Kalahari was closely monitored by Germans, as they needed control over uranium and feared South African expansion and instability. A skirmish between German and South African troops occurred in 1971 on the border and the German Army maintained their presence on the South African border and in the uranium mining zones, helping President Clemens Kapuuo in quelling down dissent during the 1977 presidential election. With the descent of South Africa into civil war after 1984, Kalahari became one of the main bases for German and Western military and humanitarian intervention, providing safe haven for Afrikaner and Black refugees, with the Mayor of Walvis Bay accepting its annexation into Kalahari in 1990. Since 1993, Kalahari became one of the frontlines against Azania, starting in 1993. The state of constant warfare resulted in a heavy militarization of the country, starting with a military coup in 1999 by General Martin Shalli, the building of the Azanian Wall from 2005 to 2007 and the restablishment of democracy under very close military control in 2013. As of 2021, sporadic fighting continue in southern Kalahari against Azanian forces, keeping them at bay in the desert.
Politics
Since independence, Kalahari has been a presidential republic, the 1978 Constitution providing for a bicameral Parliament, elected every five years, composed of a National Council and National Assembly, each one providing for a representation of all peoples of Kalahari ; save for federalism, the political and judicial institutions is closely inspired by Germany. The President is elected by universal suffrage for a seven-year-term, re-eligible once ; since 2013, the President of Kalahari has been Gerhard Ekandjo, former Minister of the Interior and member and the conservative Popular Democratic Movement, which has held power since independence, save for Shalli’s military government (1999-2013) ; Ekandjo was re-elected in 2020. Even if he is namely in power, Ekandjo’s government is filled with pro-German and military figures and thus considered by many experts as a puppet of both Germany and Kalaharian Army.
Population, social situation
The Bantu majority (mostly the Ovambo) was deeply favored by the Germans during colonization and remains the most powerful one in nowadays Kalahari, holding political, economic, military and societal dominance ; even if Kalahari’s eleven major languages are formally recognized by the Constitution, either as national or regional ones, the other peoples (Herero, Damara, Nama, San and the very different Lozi, living in the Caprivi Strip) have yet to attain satisfying political representation on the scale of the country. Population of German origin has always been scarce in Kalahari but remains sizeable, with the German language remaining the official one, but the community is now overtaken in numbers by Afrikaner refugees, who count for 1 million, centered on Windhuk and Walvis Bay. The demographic map remains the same as in 1970, with settlement being concentrated on Windhuk, capital and largest city, and the Angolan border. Sight of ghost towns, built as fast as they were abandoned, is common near mining deposits.
Relying on imports from Germany, the standard of living in Windhuk are among the costliest in Africa, but most of Kalahari’s population remains in the country. With all powers concentrated in the clientelist Popular Democratic Movement and the military, human rights are considered dire in Kalahari, with all opinions in favor of Pan-Africanism or socialism censored and repressed in the name of resistance against Azania’s agenda.
Economy
With Germany as its main commercial partner, with Kalahari mark still tied on the Reichsmark, Kalahari depends heavily on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood but its main export and source of income has been mining : second only to Katanga in terms of uranium exports, Kalahari is still very rich in lead, tungsten, gold, tin, fuorspar, manganese, marble, copper, zinc, diamond and natural gas deposits, all thoroughly exploited by European companies. Many fear that a variant of the Dutch disease, here on mining, would one day be compared to Kalahari, as the industry already took a large toll on the natural ecosystem. This concentration on mining leaves Kalahari as among the poorest countries in Africa, relying deeply on its trade agreements with the Reichspakt and the European community, with law enforcement dealing a lot with smuggling towards Azania’s black market, organized by impoverished Bushmen and European organized crime.
Military
Kalahari, since the start of the South African Civil War, has been in a state of war since almost 40 years, humanitarian intervention having been replaced by constant warfare against the Azanian armies. Trained and equipped by state of the art German technology, the Kalaharian Army is the largest employer of the country, getting in full control of the country since Shalli’s coup in 1999 and providing cannon fodder alongside the southern border, deeply reinforced by a mined, electrified and heavily entrenched Azanian Wall, that managed to keep the Azanians at bay. The German expeditonary force in Kalahari (Deutsches Kalaharikorps) is the third largest German army outside of Europe (behind Madagascar and Tanganyika), numbering 50,000 as of 2020, entitled with support, peacekeeping, training and intelligence missions against Azania, mostly concentrated on armored troops, infantry and air support. Since 1993, the Kalahari front against Azania is estimated to have claimed the lifes of more than 200,000 Kalaharians, mostly military, along with 3,000 German soldiers.
Culture
The colonial era was synonymous with a complete assimilation of Kalahari into German culture with no development and research given to the Native cultures ; as one expert put up, “Windhuk is the only place where you can have bratwurst made from an elephant”. The constant state of war has been a catastrophe for anthropological studies along with the preservation of wildlife, considered once among the brightest of Africa ; tourism as a result deeply suffered.
History
Situated between the Nahib and Kalahari deserts, inhabited by Bantu, Herero, Himba, Damara and Khoisan peoples, Kalahari was only settled in 1884 by Germany, becoming the colony of German South West Africa, as a way to hinder British expansion in the area ; only the harbour of Walvis Bay, enclaved within the German colony, was occupied by Britain, then by South Africa. German rule lasted until 1970, and was at times really harsh against the Natives, culminating in the 1904-1907 Herero-Namaqua uprising (considered a genocide by modern historians, even as Germany never recognized it as such). The German governors (the most known being Heinrich Göring, Lothar von Trotha, Hermann Göring, Josias zu Waldeck and Pyrmont, Wolfgang Schenk) managed to encourage German settlement in spite of the country’s relative inhospitality, focusing development on Windhuk and the Angolan border, along with mining (diamonds, gold, lead, tungesten, copper, zinc, uranium) and agricultural facilities. Scarcely populated, with a totally Germanized Bantu population, its borders unchanged throughout German colonization, without any major independence process, a main fixture of German military apparatus due to its supply of uranium (the Kalahari desert was the site of Germany’s first nuclear weapon test in 1950), Southwest Africa was considered a model German colony when independence was bestowed on 1 January 1970, under the new name of Kalahari, referring to one of the country’s largest deserts.
Even with independence and Native home rule, Kalahari was closely monitored by Germans, as they needed control over uranium and feared South African expansion and instability. A skirmish between German and South African troops occurred in 1971 on the border and the German Army maintained their presence on the South African border and in the uranium mining zones, helping President Clemens Kapuuo in quelling down dissent during the 1977 presidential election. With the descent of South Africa into civil war after 1984, Kalahari became one of the main bases for German and Western military and humanitarian intervention, providing safe haven for Afrikaner and Black refugees, with the Mayor of Walvis Bay accepting its annexation into Kalahari in 1990. Since 1993, Kalahari became one of the frontlines against Azania, starting in 1993. The state of constant warfare resulted in a heavy militarization of the country, starting with a military coup in 1999 by General Martin Shalli, the building of the Azanian Wall from 2005 to 2007 and the restablishment of democracy under very close military control in 2013. As of 2021, sporadic fighting continue in southern Kalahari against Azanian forces, keeping them at bay in the desert.
Politics
Since independence, Kalahari has been a presidential republic, the 1978 Constitution providing for a bicameral Parliament, elected every five years, composed of a National Council and National Assembly, each one providing for a representation of all peoples of Kalahari ; save for federalism, the political and judicial institutions is closely inspired by Germany. The President is elected by universal suffrage for a seven-year-term, re-eligible once ; since 2013, the President of Kalahari has been Gerhard Ekandjo, former Minister of the Interior and member and the conservative Popular Democratic Movement, which has held power since independence, save for Shalli’s military government (1999-2013) ; Ekandjo was re-elected in 2020. Even if he is namely in power, Ekandjo’s government is filled with pro-German and military figures and thus considered by many experts as a puppet of both Germany and Kalaharian Army.
Population, social situation
The Bantu majority (mostly the Ovambo) was deeply favored by the Germans during colonization and remains the most powerful one in nowadays Kalahari, holding political, economic, military and societal dominance ; even if Kalahari’s eleven major languages are formally recognized by the Constitution, either as national or regional ones, the other peoples (Herero, Damara, Nama, San and the very different Lozi, living in the Caprivi Strip) have yet to attain satisfying political representation on the scale of the country. Population of German origin has always been scarce in Kalahari but remains sizeable, with the German language remaining the official one, but the community is now overtaken in numbers by Afrikaner refugees, who count for 1 million, centered on Windhuk and Walvis Bay. The demographic map remains the same as in 1970, with settlement being concentrated on Windhuk, capital and largest city, and the Angolan border. Sight of ghost towns, built as fast as they were abandoned, is common near mining deposits.
Relying on imports from Germany, the standard of living in Windhuk are among the costliest in Africa, but most of Kalahari’s population remains in the country. With all powers concentrated in the clientelist Popular Democratic Movement and the military, human rights are considered dire in Kalahari, with all opinions in favor of Pan-Africanism or socialism censored and repressed in the name of resistance against Azania’s agenda.
Economy
With Germany as its main commercial partner, with Kalahari mark still tied on the Reichsmark, Kalahari depends heavily on subsistence agriculture for its livelihood but its main export and source of income has been mining : second only to Katanga in terms of uranium exports, Kalahari is still very rich in lead, tungsten, gold, tin, fuorspar, manganese, marble, copper, zinc, diamond and natural gas deposits, all thoroughly exploited by European companies. Many fear that a variant of the Dutch disease, here on mining, would one day be compared to Kalahari, as the industry already took a large toll on the natural ecosystem. This concentration on mining leaves Kalahari as among the poorest countries in Africa, relying deeply on its trade agreements with the Reichspakt and the European community, with law enforcement dealing a lot with smuggling towards Azania’s black market, organized by impoverished Bushmen and European organized crime.
Military
Kalahari, since the start of the South African Civil War, has been in a state of war since almost 40 years, humanitarian intervention having been replaced by constant warfare against the Azanian armies. Trained and equipped by state of the art German technology, the Kalaharian Army is the largest employer of the country, getting in full control of the country since Shalli’s coup in 1999 and providing cannon fodder alongside the southern border, deeply reinforced by a mined, electrified and heavily entrenched Azanian Wall, that managed to keep the Azanians at bay. The German expeditonary force in Kalahari (Deutsches Kalaharikorps) is the third largest German army outside of Europe (behind Madagascar and Tanganyika), numbering 50,000 as of 2020, entitled with support, peacekeeping, training and intelligence missions against Azania, mostly concentrated on armored troops, infantry and air support. Since 1993, the Kalahari front against Azania is estimated to have claimed the lifes of more than 200,000 Kalaharians, mostly military, along with 3,000 German soldiers.
Culture
The colonial era was synonymous with a complete assimilation of Kalahari into German culture with no development and research given to the Native cultures ; as one expert put up, “Windhuk is the only place where you can have bratwurst made from an elephant”. The constant state of war has been a catastrophe for anthropological studies along with the preservation of wildlife, considered once among the brightest of Africa ; tourism as a result deeply suffered.
They shall one day ! For now, my efforts are focused on the Great War entry.
Sorry for my outburst, I have sent you a PM to apologize. I misread your comments, they were actually quite funny, but I was in a bad mood.
considering the massive amounts of uranium in germany, i'm not quite sure why?
Wismut (company) - Wikipedia
Country profile - Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus, bordered in the north by Russia, in the west by Armenia, the Lake Van and Kurdistan, in the south by Iran and in the east by the Caspian Sea.
History
Split between Persia (now Iran) and Russia since the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, Azerbaijan would be reunited, reconquered and restablished in less than one hundred years. Having had enough on the ineffective Qajar rule and Russian influence, Persian Azeri leader Mirza Kuchak Khan, a low level commander from the 1909 Constitutional movement, launched in 1915 the Jangal Movement in the forest of Gilan, an islamic movement that asked then for autonomy, not separatism and justice ; when the Great European War started, the Ottomans saw the opportunity of an islamic revolt, even if it was Shia, on the rearguard of Russian Caucasus ; Azerbaijan became a battleground between Russians and Ottomans, resulting in a Russian occupation of northern Persia, the spreading of revolt throughout the country and the radicalization and funding of the Jangalis, that took a step further on 30 March 1920 by proclaiming an independent Islamic Republic of Azerbaijan in Rasht, bent on liberating both Persian and Russian Azerbaijans ; Persian loyalist troops, led by Brigadier General Reza Khan, were defeated, their commander killed, by trying to quell down the revolt ; Russian evacuation and defeat in the Great European War allowed Mirza Kuchak Khan to spread the Azeri revolt into Russia, while taking part in the Persian Civil War.
In the Caucasus, the Azeris had to fight on four fronts : against the Russian Empire, Russian communists who had proclaimed their own commune in Baku, and Armenians over the Armenian enclave of Upper Karabakh. Baku was conquered in 1922 after a long siege against the communists, while Armenians were able the secure Upper Karabakh thanks to Allied support. In Persia, prospects for a total victory were stopped after the British occupation and protectorate over Southern Persia, defeating Azeri and islamic rebels in front of Tehran in 1924. Acknowleding the prospect of further chaos in the Caucasus, the Treaty of the Ten Powers recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1925, reuniting at once the two provinces.
Mirza Kuchak Khan had been a good revolutionary leader, but he was unable to reconciliate Persian Azeris who called for a true islamic theocracy, respectful of the sha’ria, Russian Azeris who longed for western-style democracy and Turanist ideologues, inspired by Enver Pasha’s New Order, who saw the Azeris as ethnic Turks who had to be reunited with their brothers. The first President would be overthrown by Samadbey Mehmandar, a former Russian General, in 1927, who achieved an agreement with the democrats by signing a Constitution four years later. Wanting to use the oils of Baku to develop his young country, Mehmandar tried to appease the Turanists by studying an offer for unification by the Ottomans in 1933 that was staunchly refused by the Shia clergy, as he had expected, nevertheless entering into a mutual partnership with the Ottomans. Isolated from the Great Powers, surrounded by hostile Armenia and Kurdistan, the first Republic of Azerbaijan would be swiftly overwhelmed by the Russian Army during the Russian invasion of northern Persia, its capital Rasht being occupied on 8 January 1936, ending the first phase of Azerbaijan’s existence.
Now entirely under Russian yoke, Azerbaijan would suffer from the Three Russias Policy ; independentism and political islam were thoroughly repressed, the Azeri language was converted to the Cyrillic script and if Tabriz and Baku would benefit from the development of the Baku oil works from their modernization in 1948 . Revolts occurred in 1945-1946, during the Russian-Ottoman War, in 1969 against Russification policies and in 1982 against Iranian recognition of the border. In this context of repression, islamist theories would take their hold over Azerbaijan, as political Islam and theocracy would be seen as the only steps that would allow the Azeris to regain their freedom.
History and literature teacher Abulfaz Elchibey, cofounder of the nationalist and islamist Azeri Popular Front, was elected Mayor of Baku in 1987 in an upset, and began to speak overtly for Azeri independence, managing to form a broad nationalist front ; the return to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow led the government to crack down on Azeri islamists, outlawing the more radical parties who had allied with Elchibey in 1990. The move only led Elchibey to go into exile in Ankara and the rabiest members of his coalition to form a guerilla in the Karabakh and the Lesser Caucasus, targeting Russian and Armenian civilians and installations ; Armenia launched a series of counter-terrorist operations in cooperation with Russia against the Azeri insurgents. The Vladivostok terrorist attack in 1994 changed everything : the backlash from Russian civilians and the spread of anti-Muslim pogroms throughout Russia radicalized further the wider Azeri population, allowing Elchibey to return in triumph and to proclaim, in the anarchy that Russia was then, from Baku, the second Islamic Republic of Azerbaijan, on 12 May 1994.
The declaration of independence resulted on immediate declaration of war from Russia and Armenia, the latter fearing for the Karabakh, but also from the Ottoman Empire, who had not renounced their Turanist views, and Iran, who pursued their irrendentist dreams. Elchibey had to fight the Turanists from within, taking a backseat as Prime Minister, leaving Shia cleric and guerillero Sadegh Khalkhali as President, leaving him in charge of the theocratic aspects of the new republic. As Azerbaijan became a battleground for four powers, all focused on overtaking the Baku oil fields, the former terrorist groups formed the nucleus of the newly established Azeri Army, with volunteers flowing from the extended diaspora. If the Azeri Army was able to succesfully defend against Russia, Armenia and the Ottoman Empire, it proved no match for the Iranian Army, that managed to bomb and cripple the oil field installations of Baku ; in 1997, Elchibey concluded an alliance with Iran, as the country recongized the independence of Azerbaijan but received exclusive rights for the exploitation of oil and natural gas within the fighting country. With Iranian help, the Azeris were able to roll back the Russians while having to settle for the Armenian occupation of the Karabakh ; on 13 July 1999, the Conference of Baghdad, apart from Iranian gains in Central Asia, saw the independence of Azerbaijan internationally recognized ; Elchibey’s main goal had been fulfilled but in a broken way, as Azerbaijan was now an Iranian puppet and that the Karabakh was firmly under Armenia.
Elchibey died in 2000 and was succeeded by Field Marshal Rovshan Javad, Chief of Staff of the Army during the Independence War, while Khalkhali passed in 2003, and was succeeded by Grand Mufti Allahshukur Pashazadeh. Radicals from the days of Russian oppression and veterans from the Independence War still felt restless about the situation with Armenia, and Javad was killed in a military coup on 2007 by a clique of young officers, that included Lieutenant Colonel Ramil Safarov, a hero and suspected war criminal. Safarov was inclined into rabid anti-Armenian propaganda, taking advantage of pro-democratic demonstrations to expel Armenian nationals and declaring twice war against Armenia, first in 2016, that ended in statu quo ante after an Armenian strategic victory, and after the beginning of the Second War of Mesopotamia in 2020, on the side of the Hashemite Empire ; after the Wuchang Pneumonia and under Iranian pressure, hostilies stopped between both countries but Prime Minister Safarov has promised that before 2030, a referendum about integration into Iran would take place.
Political situation
The Second Republic of Azerbaijan, since its independence, is an unitary presidential islamic republic, claiming to represent “all Azeri believers throughout the world within the land of Whole Azerbaijan”, having claimed control over the Karabakh area. Giving citizenship to both nationals of proven Azeri ascendance (not including ethnic Armenians and Russians) and members of the diaspora, it is a theocratic islamic republic, with half of the Consultative Assembly (Majlis) being filled by Shia clerics, the sha’ria serving as the frame for law enforcement (with blasphemy, homosexuality, prostitution, kidnapping, murder, rape, counterfeiting, consumption of alcohol being punishable by death, making Azerbaijan one of the countries with one of the highest execution rates in the world) and Allashukur Pashazadeh, Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, serving as head of state with the title of Grand Mufti. As such, political parties are forbidden and only observant Shias are allowed to serve as public officials.
Since the 2007 military coup, Azerbaijan has been a military dictatorship, with the Consultative Assembly being reduced to a mere symbolic role and the executive and legislative decisions being undertaken by a camarilla of officers nicknamed as the Young Azeris. The leader is the current Prime Minister, Ramil Safarov ; a volunteer at only 17 in the Azeri Independence War, Safarov climbed the ranks of the Army, finishing the war as a Lieutenant Colonel (although he has since become Field Marshal) ; he is suspected of various war crimes while serving on the battlefield against Armenia, most notably of having personally tortured and executed with an axe captured Armenian officers, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. In 14 years of rule, Safarov, a fundamentalist, has also conducted pyrist policies, calling on irrendentist sentiments, declaring war twice on Armenia, conducting pharaonic building projects in Baku and Tabriz and persecuting Armenian and Russian minorities. Internationally, Safarov has been considered as an unhinged leader, with stories circulating about his personal torture of opposants, leading a dissolute lifestyle that had been outlawed by the laws of the Republic, and being on the payroll of the Azeri and Iranian mobs. Others consider him as an useful idiot for Tehran, having agreed to Iranian economic exploitation along with accepting the idea of a referendum on Iranian integration, on the same model than Afghanistan or Mesopotamia.
Population, social situation
One of the few countries in the world with a majority Shia population, Azerbaijan is not as ethnically heterogenous as official propaganda states, as can it be supposed from the unique cultural mindset (see Culture) ; it enjoys sizeable Armenian, Russian and Georgian minorities, as well as Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian ones, that have been heavily suppressed since the beginning of Safarov’s rule, with many Armenians being victims of massacres during the Independence War and expelled after 2011. An ageing population of 15 million, the Azerbaijanis are mostly urban, heavily concentrated in the capital, Baku, and Tabriz. It also has the particularity of having a diaspora as large as the homeland population, mostly found in southern Russia, Armenia, Iran, Kurdistan or the Ottoman Empire ; under the Constitution, ethnic Azeris throughout the world benefit from an automatic citizenship and a law of return providing for revenues and promised real estate, but many have refused to return to the motherland.
If religious sentiment has been blossoming in reaction against Russian annexation, with most of the population accepting the foundation of an islamic republic and establishment of sha’ria, all hopes for democracy have been dashed since the death of Elchibay and the creation of a military dictatorship, with many pointing out the excesses of the military government, corruption and official violence, as elections have been reduced to an empty shell ; during Spring 2011, large demonstrations happened in Azerbaijan’s major cities asking for democracy, all of which were thoroughly repressed by the military, with Safarov putting the blame on the Armenian minority, calling for state-sponsored pogroms and expulsions.
Economy
Exploited since Antiquity, once the most productive oil industry in the world, developed by Russia, oil is still the main component of Azerbaijan’s economy. It was the main drive behind Russian reconquest and one of the most strategic assets of the Empire during the World War, being used for all Allied armies during the conflict. Even if this wartime overproduction led to a decline in the oil fields, offshore exploitation and modernization of production and refining was assured by Russian engineers ; funding the national effort during the independence war, the oil facilites were heavily destroyed by Iranian aviation during the war, and have since been rebuilt by Iranian companies, now in possession of all oil production under the terms of the 1997 alliance, allowing for the Baku-Tehran-Abadan pipeline, one of the pharaonic projects established by Iranian in the early 21st Century. Even as of 2020, oil allows the Azerbaijani manat to be heavily valued and draws foreign investment to Baku, that has become one of the financial hubs of the Near East, even with a drop in the strategic value of oil throughout the world..
Apart from the oil industry and finance, Azerbaijan naturally benefits from heavy precipitation, allowing for one of the largest agricultural basins in the Caucasus, a diverse industry that has been able to export heavily in Russia, Iran and Hashemite Arabia ; the manufacturing sector is also doing well, most notably in car factories, that had been established by Russia, mostly in Tabriz. Tourism is also one of the heaviest industries of Azerbaijan, even if Islamic law have been in place and caused some incidents with irrespectuous tourists.
As throughout the Caucasus, Azeri’s black market, fueled by the heavy presence of the mafia both in the country and within the diaspora, is also a concern, resorting to oil and weapons smuggling, mercenary activites, human and sex trafficking, with international experts pointing out the links between organized crime and Prime Minister Safarov.
Military
The Azerbaijani Army began in 1994 as a ragtag of mountaineer islamist terrorists that had begun the struggle against Russia and Armenia before the Independence War started, deserters from the Russian Army who privileged their homeland over their oath and emigrants who returned to defend their motherland and earn a new life. Propelled by Elchibay’s incandescent rhetoric and Russian military equipment abandoned in Azerbaijan, the Army somehow managed to defend their country during a five-years-long war of independence, with extended destruction throughout Azerbaijan and soon all inhabitants, from all ages, being conscripted into the Army. Independence was won, but now Azerbaijan had become a nation of veterans, all tired and traumatized by years of war. While many military veterans turned to organized crime or mercenary activities, others decided to side by the putschists in 2007, and all these officers and soldiers, bonded in blood and iron, are now the only masters of Azerbaijan, even if many have been resenting the eccentricities of Safarov, the iron grip of the clergy or the satellization by Iran, that has made great deals to improve and modernize the Azerbaijani Army. The short war in 2016 and the aborted 2020 conflict have left the military brass thirsty for Armenian blood.
Culture
A gap remains in Azeri culture between the North, under Russian control since the 19th Century save for the First Republican Era, and the south, that had been part of Persia (now Iran) until the 1930s ; even if both parts of Azerbaijan have been united since the First Republic, it only added to the unique situation of the people : a Turkic people with a Turkish language, it was heavily Persianized, adopting Shia Islam and Persian customs, with Tabriz having been one of the most important cities in the history of Iran. Adding to the confusion was the Russification of the territory, with Cyrillic being adopted as the official script, a process that continued to this day in spite of official efforts to return to Arabic script and de-Russification policies, such as many Azeri nationals dropping Russian suffixes from their given names. This confusion between Turkish and Persian identity have led to popularity of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Iranism, with the one being more popular during the First Republic and second being currently the future for Azerbaijan, as the government has promised a referendum on Iranian integration before 2030.
The cradle of the Parthians, Scythians and the Safavid dynasty of Iran, Azerbaijan enjoys a culture of his own, where the gap can be seen between Baku, the capital, heavily westernized and modern thanks to the benefits of the oil industry, and Tabriz, also modern but more Persian in nature and famous from his handicrafts in rugs and jewellery, its food markets and bazaars. Apart from its customs, handicrafts, traditions, Azerbaijan has also a vivid literary, cinematographic and musical scene, maning to export in Russia or Iran, all under the terms of the censorship of the islamic republic, and if they are devoid of Armenian or Russian ancestry, as writer Akram Aylisli saw, after he was forced to flee in Russia due to his promotion of Azerbaijani Armenians.
History
Split between Persia (now Iran) and Russia since the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, Azerbaijan would be reunited, reconquered and restablished in less than one hundred years. Having had enough on the ineffective Qajar rule and Russian influence, Persian Azeri leader Mirza Kuchak Khan, a low level commander from the 1909 Constitutional movement, launched in 1915 the Jangal Movement in the forest of Gilan, an islamic movement that asked then for autonomy, not separatism and justice ; when the Great European War started, the Ottomans saw the opportunity of an islamic revolt, even if it was Shia, on the rearguard of Russian Caucasus ; Azerbaijan became a battleground between Russians and Ottomans, resulting in a Russian occupation of northern Persia, the spreading of revolt throughout the country and the radicalization and funding of the Jangalis, that took a step further on 30 March 1920 by proclaiming an independent Islamic Republic of Azerbaijan in Rasht, bent on liberating both Persian and Russian Azerbaijans ; Persian loyalist troops, led by Brigadier General Reza Khan, were defeated, their commander killed, by trying to quell down the revolt ; Russian evacuation and defeat in the Great European War allowed Mirza Kuchak Khan to spread the Azeri revolt into Russia, while taking part in the Persian Civil War.
In the Caucasus, the Azeris had to fight on four fronts : against the Russian Empire, Russian communists who had proclaimed their own commune in Baku, and Armenians over the Armenian enclave of Upper Karabakh. Baku was conquered in 1922 after a long siege against the communists, while Armenians were able the secure Upper Karabakh thanks to Allied support. In Persia, prospects for a total victory were stopped after the British occupation and protectorate over Southern Persia, defeating Azeri and islamic rebels in front of Tehran in 1924. Acknowleding the prospect of further chaos in the Caucasus, the Treaty of the Ten Powers recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1925, reuniting at once the two provinces.
Mirza Kuchak Khan had been a good revolutionary leader, but he was unable to reconciliate Persian Azeris who called for a true islamic theocracy, respectful of the sha’ria, Russian Azeris who longed for western-style democracy and Turanist ideologues, inspired by Enver Pasha’s New Order, who saw the Azeris as ethnic Turks who had to be reunited with their brothers. The first President would be overthrown by Samadbey Mehmandar, a former Russian General, in 1927, who achieved an agreement with the democrats by signing a Constitution four years later. Wanting to use the oils of Baku to develop his young country, Mehmandar tried to appease the Turanists by studying an offer for unification by the Ottomans in 1933 that was staunchly refused by the Shia clergy, as he had expected, nevertheless entering into a mutual partnership with the Ottomans. Isolated from the Great Powers, surrounded by hostile Armenia and Kurdistan, the first Republic of Azerbaijan would be swiftly overwhelmed by the Russian Army during the Russian invasion of northern Persia, its capital Rasht being occupied on 8 January 1936, ending the first phase of Azerbaijan’s existence.
Now entirely under Russian yoke, Azerbaijan would suffer from the Three Russias Policy ; independentism and political islam were thoroughly repressed, the Azeri language was converted to the Cyrillic script and if Tabriz and Baku would benefit from the development of the Baku oil works from their modernization in 1948 . Revolts occurred in 1945-1946, during the Russian-Ottoman War, in 1969 against Russification policies and in 1982 against Iranian recognition of the border. In this context of repression, islamist theories would take their hold over Azerbaijan, as political Islam and theocracy would be seen as the only steps that would allow the Azeris to regain their freedom.
History and literature teacher Abulfaz Elchibey, cofounder of the nationalist and islamist Azeri Popular Front, was elected Mayor of Baku in 1987 in an upset, and began to speak overtly for Azeri independence, managing to form a broad nationalist front ; the return to power of Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow led the government to crack down on Azeri islamists, outlawing the more radical parties who had allied with Elchibey in 1990. The move only led Elchibey to go into exile in Ankara and the rabiest members of his coalition to form a guerilla in the Karabakh and the Lesser Caucasus, targeting Russian and Armenian civilians and installations ; Armenia launched a series of counter-terrorist operations in cooperation with Russia against the Azeri insurgents. The Vladivostok terrorist attack in 1994 changed everything : the backlash from Russian civilians and the spread of anti-Muslim pogroms throughout Russia radicalized further the wider Azeri population, allowing Elchibey to return in triumph and to proclaim, in the anarchy that Russia was then, from Baku, the second Islamic Republic of Azerbaijan, on 12 May 1994.
The declaration of independence resulted on immediate declaration of war from Russia and Armenia, the latter fearing for the Karabakh, but also from the Ottoman Empire, who had not renounced their Turanist views, and Iran, who pursued their irrendentist dreams. Elchibey had to fight the Turanists from within, taking a backseat as Prime Minister, leaving Shia cleric and guerillero Sadegh Khalkhali as President, leaving him in charge of the theocratic aspects of the new republic. As Azerbaijan became a battleground for four powers, all focused on overtaking the Baku oil fields, the former terrorist groups formed the nucleus of the newly established Azeri Army, with volunteers flowing from the extended diaspora. If the Azeri Army was able to succesfully defend against Russia, Armenia and the Ottoman Empire, it proved no match for the Iranian Army, that managed to bomb and cripple the oil field installations of Baku ; in 1997, Elchibey concluded an alliance with Iran, as the country recongized the independence of Azerbaijan but received exclusive rights for the exploitation of oil and natural gas within the fighting country. With Iranian help, the Azeris were able to roll back the Russians while having to settle for the Armenian occupation of the Karabakh ; on 13 July 1999, the Conference of Baghdad, apart from Iranian gains in Central Asia, saw the independence of Azerbaijan internationally recognized ; Elchibey’s main goal had been fulfilled but in a broken way, as Azerbaijan was now an Iranian puppet and that the Karabakh was firmly under Armenia.
Elchibey died in 2000 and was succeeded by Field Marshal Rovshan Javad, Chief of Staff of the Army during the Independence War, while Khalkhali passed in 2003, and was succeeded by Grand Mufti Allahshukur Pashazadeh. Radicals from the days of Russian oppression and veterans from the Independence War still felt restless about the situation with Armenia, and Javad was killed in a military coup on 2007 by a clique of young officers, that included Lieutenant Colonel Ramil Safarov, a hero and suspected war criminal. Safarov was inclined into rabid anti-Armenian propaganda, taking advantage of pro-democratic demonstrations to expel Armenian nationals and declaring twice war against Armenia, first in 2016, that ended in statu quo ante after an Armenian strategic victory, and after the beginning of the Second War of Mesopotamia in 2020, on the side of the Hashemite Empire ; after the Wuchang Pneumonia and under Iranian pressure, hostilies stopped between both countries but Prime Minister Safarov has promised that before 2030, a referendum about integration into Iran would take place.
Political situation
The Second Republic of Azerbaijan, since its independence, is an unitary presidential islamic republic, claiming to represent “all Azeri believers throughout the world within the land of Whole Azerbaijan”, having claimed control over the Karabakh area. Giving citizenship to both nationals of proven Azeri ascendance (not including ethnic Armenians and Russians) and members of the diaspora, it is a theocratic islamic republic, with half of the Consultative Assembly (Majlis) being filled by Shia clerics, the sha’ria serving as the frame for law enforcement (with blasphemy, homosexuality, prostitution, kidnapping, murder, rape, counterfeiting, consumption of alcohol being punishable by death, making Azerbaijan one of the countries with one of the highest execution rates in the world) and Allashukur Pashazadeh, Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, serving as head of state with the title of Grand Mufti. As such, political parties are forbidden and only observant Shias are allowed to serve as public officials.
Since the 2007 military coup, Azerbaijan has been a military dictatorship, with the Consultative Assembly being reduced to a mere symbolic role and the executive and legislative decisions being undertaken by a camarilla of officers nicknamed as the Young Azeris. The leader is the current Prime Minister, Ramil Safarov ; a volunteer at only 17 in the Azeri Independence War, Safarov climbed the ranks of the Army, finishing the war as a Lieutenant Colonel (although he has since become Field Marshal) ; he is suspected of various war crimes while serving on the battlefield against Armenia, most notably of having personally tortured and executed with an axe captured Armenian officers, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. In 14 years of rule, Safarov, a fundamentalist, has also conducted pyrist policies, calling on irrendentist sentiments, declaring war twice on Armenia, conducting pharaonic building projects in Baku and Tabriz and persecuting Armenian and Russian minorities. Internationally, Safarov has been considered as an unhinged leader, with stories circulating about his personal torture of opposants, leading a dissolute lifestyle that had been outlawed by the laws of the Republic, and being on the payroll of the Azeri and Iranian mobs. Others consider him as an useful idiot for Tehran, having agreed to Iranian economic exploitation along with accepting the idea of a referendum on Iranian integration, on the same model than Afghanistan or Mesopotamia.
Population, social situation
One of the few countries in the world with a majority Shia population, Azerbaijan is not as ethnically heterogenous as official propaganda states, as can it be supposed from the unique cultural mindset (see Culture) ; it enjoys sizeable Armenian, Russian and Georgian minorities, as well as Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian ones, that have been heavily suppressed since the beginning of Safarov’s rule, with many Armenians being victims of massacres during the Independence War and expelled after 2011. An ageing population of 15 million, the Azerbaijanis are mostly urban, heavily concentrated in the capital, Baku, and Tabriz. It also has the particularity of having a diaspora as large as the homeland population, mostly found in southern Russia, Armenia, Iran, Kurdistan or the Ottoman Empire ; under the Constitution, ethnic Azeris throughout the world benefit from an automatic citizenship and a law of return providing for revenues and promised real estate, but many have refused to return to the motherland.
If religious sentiment has been blossoming in reaction against Russian annexation, with most of the population accepting the foundation of an islamic republic and establishment of sha’ria, all hopes for democracy have been dashed since the death of Elchibay and the creation of a military dictatorship, with many pointing out the excesses of the military government, corruption and official violence, as elections have been reduced to an empty shell ; during Spring 2011, large demonstrations happened in Azerbaijan’s major cities asking for democracy, all of which were thoroughly repressed by the military, with Safarov putting the blame on the Armenian minority, calling for state-sponsored pogroms and expulsions.
Economy
Exploited since Antiquity, once the most productive oil industry in the world, developed by Russia, oil is still the main component of Azerbaijan’s economy. It was the main drive behind Russian reconquest and one of the most strategic assets of the Empire during the World War, being used for all Allied armies during the conflict. Even if this wartime overproduction led to a decline in the oil fields, offshore exploitation and modernization of production and refining was assured by Russian engineers ; funding the national effort during the independence war, the oil facilites were heavily destroyed by Iranian aviation during the war, and have since been rebuilt by Iranian companies, now in possession of all oil production under the terms of the 1997 alliance, allowing for the Baku-Tehran-Abadan pipeline, one of the pharaonic projects established by Iranian in the early 21st Century. Even as of 2020, oil allows the Azerbaijani manat to be heavily valued and draws foreign investment to Baku, that has become one of the financial hubs of the Near East, even with a drop in the strategic value of oil throughout the world..
Apart from the oil industry and finance, Azerbaijan naturally benefits from heavy precipitation, allowing for one of the largest agricultural basins in the Caucasus, a diverse industry that has been able to export heavily in Russia, Iran and Hashemite Arabia ; the manufacturing sector is also doing well, most notably in car factories, that had been established by Russia, mostly in Tabriz. Tourism is also one of the heaviest industries of Azerbaijan, even if Islamic law have been in place and caused some incidents with irrespectuous tourists.
As throughout the Caucasus, Azeri’s black market, fueled by the heavy presence of the mafia both in the country and within the diaspora, is also a concern, resorting to oil and weapons smuggling, mercenary activites, human and sex trafficking, with international experts pointing out the links between organized crime and Prime Minister Safarov.
Military
The Azerbaijani Army began in 1994 as a ragtag of mountaineer islamist terrorists that had begun the struggle against Russia and Armenia before the Independence War started, deserters from the Russian Army who privileged their homeland over their oath and emigrants who returned to defend their motherland and earn a new life. Propelled by Elchibay’s incandescent rhetoric and Russian military equipment abandoned in Azerbaijan, the Army somehow managed to defend their country during a five-years-long war of independence, with extended destruction throughout Azerbaijan and soon all inhabitants, from all ages, being conscripted into the Army. Independence was won, but now Azerbaijan had become a nation of veterans, all tired and traumatized by years of war. While many military veterans turned to organized crime or mercenary activities, others decided to side by the putschists in 2007, and all these officers and soldiers, bonded in blood and iron, are now the only masters of Azerbaijan, even if many have been resenting the eccentricities of Safarov, the iron grip of the clergy or the satellization by Iran, that has made great deals to improve and modernize the Azerbaijani Army. The short war in 2016 and the aborted 2020 conflict have left the military brass thirsty for Armenian blood.
Culture
A gap remains in Azeri culture between the North, under Russian control since the 19th Century save for the First Republican Era, and the south, that had been part of Persia (now Iran) until the 1930s ; even if both parts of Azerbaijan have been united since the First Republic, it only added to the unique situation of the people : a Turkic people with a Turkish language, it was heavily Persianized, adopting Shia Islam and Persian customs, with Tabriz having been one of the most important cities in the history of Iran. Adding to the confusion was the Russification of the territory, with Cyrillic being adopted as the official script, a process that continued to this day in spite of official efforts to return to Arabic script and de-Russification policies, such as many Azeri nationals dropping Russian suffixes from their given names. This confusion between Turkish and Persian identity have led to popularity of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Iranism, with the one being more popular during the First Republic and second being currently the future for Azerbaijan, as the government has promised a referendum on Iranian integration before 2030.
The cradle of the Parthians, Scythians and the Safavid dynasty of Iran, Azerbaijan enjoys a culture of his own, where the gap can be seen between Baku, the capital, heavily westernized and modern thanks to the benefits of the oil industry, and Tabriz, also modern but more Persian in nature and famous from his handicrafts in rugs and jewellery, its food markets and bazaars. Apart from its customs, handicrafts, traditions, Azerbaijan has also a vivid literary, cinematographic and musical scene, maning to export in Russia or Iran, all under the terms of the censorship of the islamic republic, and if they are devoid of Armenian or Russian ancestry, as writer Akram Aylisli saw, after he was forced to flee in Russia due to his promotion of Azerbaijani Armenians.