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Country profile - Zanzibar
Zanzibar is a country in East Africa, east off the coast of Tanganyika, south of the Somali Sea.
History
The Sultanate of Zanzibar is a historical anomaly to many degrees : located off the coast of East Africa, it was settled by the Sultanate of Oman in 1698, became a separate state in 1856, ruled by a scion of the al Said dynasty, an Arab kingdom in a Swahili land, and became a British protectorate in 1890, after a 38-minute war, as the neighboring coast was conquered by the Germans. Integrated to the East Africa Protectorate and considered for the East Africa Dominion, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was ultimately granted independence within the Commonwealth, on 7 April 1972.
However, in the context of spreading Pan-Africanism, Zanzibar was very much targeted by African nationalists, who saw the survival of an Arab kingdom and ruling elite as a survival of colonialism. A Pan-Africanist revolt in 1964 by Swahili leader John Okello was defeated thanks to British help, while Tanganyika officially claimed the territory of Zanzibar from 1982 to 1990. The Arab monarchy finally survived, even having the privilege of surviving its progenitors in Oman, who were deposed in 1959 by the Imamate. Benefiting from tourism and immigration from Southern Africa and China, Zanzibar was able to enter the 21st Century as a middle power in Africa, with a democratic system established in 2005 and a new Constitution adopted in 2010.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Zanzibar is an unitary constitutional monarchy, with the Sultan having huge executive powers, appointing the Prime Minister and the cabinet, a prerogative he used effectively from 1992 to 2005, appointing the Crown Prince as Prime Minister and putting in place an effective royal dictatorship, in order to curb down Pan-Africanist dissent. The unicameral National Assembly is elected for a five-year-mandate and holds legislative powers. Law is based on British common law with some references to the sharia.
The reigning Sultan is Jamshid bin Abdullah, hailing from the House of Al Said, succeeding his father Abdullah bin Khalifa on 1 July 1963, in the days of the British Protectorate. Aged 92, thus making him the oldest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Ottoman Caliph Bayezid III in 2017 : having overseen his country’s independence and building through the deals of the latter half of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the Twenty-First, Jamshid remains immensely popular, in spite of his royal dictatorship of the 1990s, due to his modernizing policies, making Zanzibar a true “Hong Kong of East Africa” and considerably raising the standard of living, in spite of widening gaps, and also keeping Zanzibar quite far from the perils of Southern Africa, maintaining the small kingdom’s independence. Since 2020, the Sultan has devolved most of his powers to his heir and former Prime Minister, Crown Prince Sayyid Ali, aged 66.
The current Prime Minister is Haroun Suleiman (Reform Party, big tent, pro-monarchy and pro-reform) since 16 November 2005, who was re-elected in 2010, 2015 and 2020. The first Prime Minister since the restoration of democracy, Suleiman has presided over the early 21st Century for Zanzibar ; promising greater democracy and bigger buying power, he is still criticized by the opposition for his devotion to the monarchy and the lack of true social reforms on the island, along with his handling of the Wuchang pneumonia pandemic.
Social situation, population
With more than 2,5 million inhabitants, Zanzibar is one of the most densely populated states in the word, as evidenced by the sprawling slums of Zanzibar City; it is also the tale of two cities. On one hand, there is the small and aging Arab population, descendants of the slave traders and merchants of the Omani era, that has always held all control over the political, cultural, economic and intellectual elite ; on the other, there is a native, much younger and much, much more numerous Bantu population, that form the vast majority of Zanzibar’s population and have just consituted a middle class, having felt for years underrepresened as compared to the Arab country. The representation issue is still unresolved, as the Bantu population also counts with a small Persian population and large migrant populations from former South Africa, Muslim Bharatavarsha and China.
Even Zanzibar enjoys one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, the differences within ethnicities are a real gap, as much wealth is concentrated on the Arab elite and the African population, in terms of political representation and access to basic human rights, as was evidenced during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, that saw the widening of wealth gaps and massive repression during the 2020 elections. Popular agitation had already been repressed in 1964 during the Okello Revolt, from 1992 to 2005 during the royal dictatorship and repression was wide after the 2013 islamist terror bombings. Nevertheless, Zanzibar preferred to herald itself as the “Rainbow Archipelago”, a harmonious union of ethnic groups, even if ethnic strife has been less prevalent in recent years.
Economy
Known since Antiquity as the Spice Islands, thanks to cloves, seaweed and raffia and other spices, Zanzibar is now known seen as the “Hong Kong of Africa”, even if it’s much compared to the state of other countries on the eastern continent : the discovery of oil on Pemba Island helped to trigger the development of the small archipelago after independence, but the real cornucopia for Zanzibar was the development of tourism, as one of the best and most sought after beach resort destinations in the region ; alas, this has been synonymous with degradation of the environment and widespread prostitution or human trafficking.
Also, Zanzibar won a lot as a tax haven, making Zanzibar holding the record for the most company registrations in the world… The World Council has criticized a lot the Sultanate for this state of affairs but finance remains one of the growing sectors of Zanzibari economy. This wealth however corresponds to a very high standard of living, as Zanzibar is heavily dependent on imports for basic products, mostly from China, Tanganyika, Somalia or Iran. The Wuchang Pneumonia put a lot of stress on this state of affairs.
Military
Still a member of the Commonwealth and deprived since its reduction of much of British supplies, Zanzibar has turned to Chinese equipment for its defense, even if the renouncement of Tanganyika’s claims in 1990, after the Treaty of Bremen, removed most threats to Zanzibar’ sovereignty. Due to the rise of Azania, Zanzibar has joined the Afrika-Schild and participates to all operations, with his military, present on land, sea and air, to the best of its abilities. The troubles brought on by the collapse of South Africa was underlaid by the 1997 Zanzibar Incident, that saw a standoff and shootout between German special forces and Afrikaner-recruited mercenaries at Zanzibar City International Airport.
Culture
Helped by its unique history, the beauty of its landscapes, its openness to Western way of life, its branding as the “Rainbow Archipelago” and its high position as a popular tourist destination, Zanzibar is a household name in many nations, synonymous with pleasure and leisure. Knowing that the tables could turn any time given its small position, the Zanzibari government has shown an attraction to building soft power, with the Swahili-language Kisiwa Channel, offering 24/24 news coverage throughout Africa, being based in Zanzibar City, and the creation of an international Film Festival, highly recognized by all the glamorous cinematographic world. Zanzibari literature also had a highlight, thanks to English-language writer Abdulrazak Gurnah.
History
The Sultanate of Zanzibar is a historical anomaly to many degrees : located off the coast of East Africa, it was settled by the Sultanate of Oman in 1698, became a separate state in 1856, ruled by a scion of the al Said dynasty, an Arab kingdom in a Swahili land, and became a British protectorate in 1890, after a 38-minute war, as the neighboring coast was conquered by the Germans. Integrated to the East Africa Protectorate and considered for the East Africa Dominion, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was ultimately granted independence within the Commonwealth, on 7 April 1972.
However, in the context of spreading Pan-Africanism, Zanzibar was very much targeted by African nationalists, who saw the survival of an Arab kingdom and ruling elite as a survival of colonialism. A Pan-Africanist revolt in 1964 by Swahili leader John Okello was defeated thanks to British help, while Tanganyika officially claimed the territory of Zanzibar from 1982 to 1990. The Arab monarchy finally survived, even having the privilege of surviving its progenitors in Oman, who were deposed in 1959 by the Imamate. Benefiting from tourism and immigration from Southern Africa and China, Zanzibar was able to enter the 21st Century as a middle power in Africa, with a democratic system established in 2005 and a new Constitution adopted in 2010.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Zanzibar is an unitary constitutional monarchy, with the Sultan having huge executive powers, appointing the Prime Minister and the cabinet, a prerogative he used effectively from 1992 to 2005, appointing the Crown Prince as Prime Minister and putting in place an effective royal dictatorship, in order to curb down Pan-Africanist dissent. The unicameral National Assembly is elected for a five-year-mandate and holds legislative powers. Law is based on British common law with some references to the sharia.
The reigning Sultan is Jamshid bin Abdullah, hailing from the House of Al Said, succeeding his father Abdullah bin Khalifa on 1 July 1963, in the days of the British Protectorate. Aged 92, thus making him the oldest reigning monarch in the world since the death of Ottoman Caliph Bayezid III in 2017 : having overseen his country’s independence and building through the deals of the latter half of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the Twenty-First, Jamshid remains immensely popular, in spite of his royal dictatorship of the 1990s, due to his modernizing policies, making Zanzibar a true “Hong Kong of East Africa” and considerably raising the standard of living, in spite of widening gaps, and also keeping Zanzibar quite far from the perils of Southern Africa, maintaining the small kingdom’s independence. Since 2020, the Sultan has devolved most of his powers to his heir and former Prime Minister, Crown Prince Sayyid Ali, aged 66.
The current Prime Minister is Haroun Suleiman (Reform Party, big tent, pro-monarchy and pro-reform) since 16 November 2005, who was re-elected in 2010, 2015 and 2020. The first Prime Minister since the restoration of democracy, Suleiman has presided over the early 21st Century for Zanzibar ; promising greater democracy and bigger buying power, he is still criticized by the opposition for his devotion to the monarchy and the lack of true social reforms on the island, along with his handling of the Wuchang pneumonia pandemic.
Social situation, population
With more than 2,5 million inhabitants, Zanzibar is one of the most densely populated states in the word, as evidenced by the sprawling slums of Zanzibar City; it is also the tale of two cities. On one hand, there is the small and aging Arab population, descendants of the slave traders and merchants of the Omani era, that has always held all control over the political, cultural, economic and intellectual elite ; on the other, there is a native, much younger and much, much more numerous Bantu population, that form the vast majority of Zanzibar’s population and have just consituted a middle class, having felt for years underrepresened as compared to the Arab country. The representation issue is still unresolved, as the Bantu population also counts with a small Persian population and large migrant populations from former South Africa, Muslim Bharatavarsha and China.
Even Zanzibar enjoys one of the highest GDP per capita in the world, the differences within ethnicities are a real gap, as much wealth is concentrated on the Arab elite and the African population, in terms of political representation and access to basic human rights, as was evidenced during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, that saw the widening of wealth gaps and massive repression during the 2020 elections. Popular agitation had already been repressed in 1964 during the Okello Revolt, from 1992 to 2005 during the royal dictatorship and repression was wide after the 2013 islamist terror bombings. Nevertheless, Zanzibar preferred to herald itself as the “Rainbow Archipelago”, a harmonious union of ethnic groups, even if ethnic strife has been less prevalent in recent years.
Economy
Known since Antiquity as the Spice Islands, thanks to cloves, seaweed and raffia and other spices, Zanzibar is now known seen as the “Hong Kong of Africa”, even if it’s much compared to the state of other countries on the eastern continent : the discovery of oil on Pemba Island helped to trigger the development of the small archipelago after independence, but the real cornucopia for Zanzibar was the development of tourism, as one of the best and most sought after beach resort destinations in the region ; alas, this has been synonymous with degradation of the environment and widespread prostitution or human trafficking.
Also, Zanzibar won a lot as a tax haven, making Zanzibar holding the record for the most company registrations in the world… The World Council has criticized a lot the Sultanate for this state of affairs but finance remains one of the growing sectors of Zanzibari economy. This wealth however corresponds to a very high standard of living, as Zanzibar is heavily dependent on imports for basic products, mostly from China, Tanganyika, Somalia or Iran. The Wuchang Pneumonia put a lot of stress on this state of affairs.
Military
Still a member of the Commonwealth and deprived since its reduction of much of British supplies, Zanzibar has turned to Chinese equipment for its defense, even if the renouncement of Tanganyika’s claims in 1990, after the Treaty of Bremen, removed most threats to Zanzibar’ sovereignty. Due to the rise of Azania, Zanzibar has joined the Afrika-Schild and participates to all operations, with his military, present on land, sea and air, to the best of its abilities. The troubles brought on by the collapse of South Africa was underlaid by the 1997 Zanzibar Incident, that saw a standoff and shootout between German special forces and Afrikaner-recruited mercenaries at Zanzibar City International Airport.
Culture
Helped by its unique history, the beauty of its landscapes, its openness to Western way of life, its branding as the “Rainbow Archipelago” and its high position as a popular tourist destination, Zanzibar is a household name in many nations, synonymous with pleasure and leisure. Knowing that the tables could turn any time given its small position, the Zanzibari government has shown an attraction to building soft power, with the Swahili-language Kisiwa Channel, offering 24/24 news coverage throughout Africa, being based in Zanzibar City, and the creation of an international Film Festival, highly recognized by all the glamorous cinematographic world. Zanzibari literature also had a highlight, thanks to English-language writer Abdulrazak Gurnah.
Country profile - Malta
Malta is a country in Southern Europe, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, lying south of Italy, east of Tunisia and north of Libya.
History
Part of the British Empire since the 1814 Treaty of Paris, Malta, due to its very location, was tantamount in the British strategy in Europe, home to the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet’s headquarters and would become a hot point of Italo-British relations, as Italian pyrists began to agitate in favor of Malta’s independence or reunion with Italy, given its large Italian-speaking minority and its closeness to Italy and North African colonies. As such, home rule was refused by the British even after riots in 1919 and 1931, fearing Italian influence ; Maltese independence gained traction after the World War, as the Syndicalist conquest of Gibraltar at the onset of the war and the need for communications between North Africa and Italy made military presence in Malta heavily heightened, resulting in Malta gaining home rule at last in 1950.
As Malta became a point of contention in Europe during the Greater Game, Maltese nationalist parties split on the issue of their relations with Great Britain, between George Borg Oliver’s conservatives who favored a Maltese dominion as a full member of the Commonwealth, and Dom Mintoff’s socialists who wanted integration within Great Britain itself, with representation in the House of Commons or full independence. A referendum on integration was defeated in 1956 at a narrow margin ; Borg Oliver then took the upper hand, having Parliament accept the status of Dominion in 1958, winning a referendum on the issue the following year, before Malta became independent on 21 September 1964, as a full member of the Commonwealth, with the monarch of England as its head of state, a status it retains to this day.
The modern history of Malta was nevertheless uneasy, with the Years of Lead prevailing from 1967 to 1991 : as the Greater Game made strange bedfellows, Dom Mintoff soon acquainted himself with Italian intelligence and petitioned for full independence, resulting in his arrest by the British Army in 1967 on orders of British Prime Minister Enoch Powell and the outlawing of the Maltese Labour Party. Massive riots for independence and against Britain followed in 1971, 1974 and culminated in 1981, two years after the assassination of Prime Minister Guido de Marco, with fraudulent elections and massive Italian interference. Dom Mintoff was finally freed from prison in 1986 and the New Maltese Labour Party was finally allowed to compete in the 1991 general election.
Political situation
As a dominion of the British Commonwealth, Malta is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, closely modeled on the Westminster system, even if the country is fully independent and self-governing. The legislative system is composed of a lower house, the Legislative Assembly, elected by universal suffrage every five years, and an upper house, the Senate, elected by great electors every nine years ; the Parliament appoints the cabinet based on its majority. The judiciary system is based on British Common law. Malta retains one of the highest voters turnouts in the world ; the government seats in Valletta.
The head of state, the Queen of Malta, is the Queen of England Anne II, as it’s the case for all dominions, being represented by Governor-General, Evarist Bartolo, a former Foreign Minister, appointed on 1 January 2014 and whose term was reconducted for five years in 2019 ; his powers are purely ceremonial. The current Prime Minister is Michael Falzon, a lawyer and member of the New Maltese Labour Party (centre-left), elected on 31 May 2014 and re-elected on 25 May 2019 ; elected on an agenda of social reform and building up of an economy oriented towards geriatric care, Falzon had to deal with a major backlash from the Opposition, formed of the Christian-Democratic Nationalist Party, criticizing his policies after the Valetta terrorist bombings on 1 December 2019, forcing the Labour government to adopt restrictions on immigration. The backlash continued with the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, due to the very strict lockdown and containment policies adopted by the government.
Social situation and population
Apart from a small British retiree population and growing Arab and Chinese communities, Malta is almost exclusively populated by natives, with one of the biggest population densities in the world and a rapidly decreasing population, both due to the aging of the Maltese population and the brain and youth drains enacted by both Britain and Italy : the most famous scion of the Maltese diaspora being current British Prime Minister Peter Buttigieg, the son of a Maltese-born scholar. Since the 2019 terrorist attacks in Valetta, perpetrated by Libyan islamists, Maltese immigration policies have been more restricted.
A first-world country, human rights, education, health care (mostly in the geriatric field) and access to information are considered very high in Malta, even if due to the still strong influence of the Catholic Church, reinforced by decades of political domination by the conservative Nationalist Party, have led to heavy restrictions on abortion and access to birth control, along with banning of gay marriage and cloning. One fixture of the Maltese landscape was also its corruption, due to decades of single party rule along with clientelism and shady dealings with British military forces, reaching their height in the sentencing of Prime Minister John Dalli for misappropriation of funds in 2012, launching a massive investigation into corruption throughout the society.
Economy
A small country with a tertiary economy, Malta is especially dependent on foreign trade, manufacturing (especially electronics and pharmaceuticals), naval shipyards (an inheritance from the British colonial era) and moreover tourism, as the country’s geographic location and warm weather make it one of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, as a member of both the Commonwealth and the European Community, Malta remains a strong economy, with the Maltese lira being indexed on the British pound. Having invested in wind and solar energy, the Maltese government is also making efforts towards the silver economy, providing tax cuts and preferential treatments for British retirees who would wish to invest or buy property on the island, leading some British politicians to point out Malta as a heavy burden on British trade and economy and some even criticizing Malta as a tax haven or a high place of corruption. Nevertheless, since the 2012 Dalli scandal, corruption in Maltese politics have been much less prevalent, according to the World Council anyway.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, Malta remains a minimal military force, mostly devoted to the Navy and rescue missions ; the main fixture of Malta remains its aeronaval forces, with the Valletta base being subject to a 99-year lease since independence in 1964, once occupied by the British and now used as German Mediterranean Fleet headquarters along with Corfu. As Malta was considered by British strategists as “an unsinkable aircraft carrier”, the military base was also seen as an efficient deterrent against Italy’s pretentions during the Greater Game. The Reichspakt military garrison is still one of the major employers in Malta, encouraging the still preponderant naval shipyards.
Culture
Thanks to its rich history, magnificent landscapes and buildings, Malta has plenty to offer to its tourists and has made as much ; nurturing of the Maltese cultural exception, due to its unique Semitic language, has also been encouraged by the British, in order to distance as much as they could Malta from their once threatening neighbour, Italy. Malta is also known for the massive influence the Catholic Church retains, with the clergy being reserved seats in the Senate.
History
Part of the British Empire since the 1814 Treaty of Paris, Malta, due to its very location, was tantamount in the British strategy in Europe, home to the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet’s headquarters and would become a hot point of Italo-British relations, as Italian pyrists began to agitate in favor of Malta’s independence or reunion with Italy, given its large Italian-speaking minority and its closeness to Italy and North African colonies. As such, home rule was refused by the British even after riots in 1919 and 1931, fearing Italian influence ; Maltese independence gained traction after the World War, as the Syndicalist conquest of Gibraltar at the onset of the war and the need for communications between North Africa and Italy made military presence in Malta heavily heightened, resulting in Malta gaining home rule at last in 1950.
As Malta became a point of contention in Europe during the Greater Game, Maltese nationalist parties split on the issue of their relations with Great Britain, between George Borg Oliver’s conservatives who favored a Maltese dominion as a full member of the Commonwealth, and Dom Mintoff’s socialists who wanted integration within Great Britain itself, with representation in the House of Commons or full independence. A referendum on integration was defeated in 1956 at a narrow margin ; Borg Oliver then took the upper hand, having Parliament accept the status of Dominion in 1958, winning a referendum on the issue the following year, before Malta became independent on 21 September 1964, as a full member of the Commonwealth, with the monarch of England as its head of state, a status it retains to this day.
The modern history of Malta was nevertheless uneasy, with the Years of Lead prevailing from 1967 to 1991 : as the Greater Game made strange bedfellows, Dom Mintoff soon acquainted himself with Italian intelligence and petitioned for full independence, resulting in his arrest by the British Army in 1967 on orders of British Prime Minister Enoch Powell and the outlawing of the Maltese Labour Party. Massive riots for independence and against Britain followed in 1971, 1974 and culminated in 1981, two years after the assassination of Prime Minister Guido de Marco, with fraudulent elections and massive Italian interference. Dom Mintoff was finally freed from prison in 1986 and the New Maltese Labour Party was finally allowed to compete in the 1991 general election.
Political situation
As a dominion of the British Commonwealth, Malta is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, closely modeled on the Westminster system, even if the country is fully independent and self-governing. The legislative system is composed of a lower house, the Legislative Assembly, elected by universal suffrage every five years, and an upper house, the Senate, elected by great electors every nine years ; the Parliament appoints the cabinet based on its majority. The judiciary system is based on British Common law. Malta retains one of the highest voters turnouts in the world ; the government seats in Valletta.
The head of state, the Queen of Malta, is the Queen of England Anne II, as it’s the case for all dominions, being represented by Governor-General, Evarist Bartolo, a former Foreign Minister, appointed on 1 January 2014 and whose term was reconducted for five years in 2019 ; his powers are purely ceremonial. The current Prime Minister is Michael Falzon, a lawyer and member of the New Maltese Labour Party (centre-left), elected on 31 May 2014 and re-elected on 25 May 2019 ; elected on an agenda of social reform and building up of an economy oriented towards geriatric care, Falzon had to deal with a major backlash from the Opposition, formed of the Christian-Democratic Nationalist Party, criticizing his policies after the Valetta terrorist bombings on 1 December 2019, forcing the Labour government to adopt restrictions on immigration. The backlash continued with the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, due to the very strict lockdown and containment policies adopted by the government.
Social situation and population
Apart from a small British retiree population and growing Arab and Chinese communities, Malta is almost exclusively populated by natives, with one of the biggest population densities in the world and a rapidly decreasing population, both due to the aging of the Maltese population and the brain and youth drains enacted by both Britain and Italy : the most famous scion of the Maltese diaspora being current British Prime Minister Peter Buttigieg, the son of a Maltese-born scholar. Since the 2019 terrorist attacks in Valetta, perpetrated by Libyan islamists, Maltese immigration policies have been more restricted.
A first-world country, human rights, education, health care (mostly in the geriatric field) and access to information are considered very high in Malta, even if due to the still strong influence of the Catholic Church, reinforced by decades of political domination by the conservative Nationalist Party, have led to heavy restrictions on abortion and access to birth control, along with banning of gay marriage and cloning. One fixture of the Maltese landscape was also its corruption, due to decades of single party rule along with clientelism and shady dealings with British military forces, reaching their height in the sentencing of Prime Minister John Dalli for misappropriation of funds in 2012, launching a massive investigation into corruption throughout the society.
Economy
A small country with a tertiary economy, Malta is especially dependent on foreign trade, manufacturing (especially electronics and pharmaceuticals), naval shipyards (an inheritance from the British colonial era) and moreover tourism, as the country’s geographic location and warm weather make it one of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, as a member of both the Commonwealth and the European Community, Malta remains a strong economy, with the Maltese lira being indexed on the British pound. Having invested in wind and solar energy, the Maltese government is also making efforts towards the silver economy, providing tax cuts and preferential treatments for British retirees who would wish to invest or buy property on the island, leading some British politicians to point out Malta as a heavy burden on British trade and economy and some even criticizing Malta as a tax haven or a high place of corruption. Nevertheless, since the 2012 Dalli scandal, corruption in Maltese politics have been much less prevalent, according to the World Council anyway.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, Malta remains a minimal military force, mostly devoted to the Navy and rescue missions ; the main fixture of Malta remains its aeronaval forces, with the Valletta base being subject to a 99-year lease since independence in 1964, once occupied by the British and now used as German Mediterranean Fleet headquarters along with Corfu. As Malta was considered by British strategists as “an unsinkable aircraft carrier”, the military base was also seen as an efficient deterrent against Italy’s pretentions during the Greater Game. The Reichspakt military garrison is still one of the major employers in Malta, encouraging the still preponderant naval shipyards.
Culture
Thanks to its rich history, magnificent landscapes and buildings, Malta has plenty to offer to its tourists and has made as much ; nurturing of the Maltese cultural exception, due to its unique Semitic language, has also been encouraged by the British, in order to distance as much as they could Malta from their once threatening neighbour, Italy. Malta is also known for the massive influence the Catholic Church retains, with the clergy being reserved seats in the Senate.
Country profile - Lithuania
Lithuania is a country in eastern Europe, bordered in the west by the Baltic Sea, Germany and Poland, in the south and east by Russia, and in the north by Livonia.
History
Having enjoyed some degree of autonomy after 1905, Lithuania, after it was occupied by Germany in 1920, had hoped for renewed independence even though Germany wanted to annex the country immediately. Through heavy dispute about the nature of the future regime, the Vilnius Conference elected a 20-member Council of Lithuania, that voted first for a German protectorate and then proclaimed independence on 11 June 1921. In order to prevent being incorporated into the German Empire, Lithuanians elected the Duke of Urach, a Catholic member of the House of Württemberg, as King Mindaugas II, in a reference to the first and only King of medieval Lithuania, with Antanas Smetona as his Prime Minister.
In the chaos of the Great European War and the Oath War, that saw Vilnius being occupied by rebellious Poles, the Germans finally reorganized the new kingdom, wishing for tighter control : Mindaugas II and Smetona were deposed by the German Army, with the once King of Lithuania finally becoming Prince of Monaco, whilst on 17 February 1923, a new Kingdom of Lithuania under German protection and control was established, with Augustinas Voldemaras as Prime Minister and Prinz Franz of Bavaria, brother to the King of Bavaria, elected under German duress as King of Lithuania, taking the regnal name of Vytautas II (again a symbol, as Vytautas was merely a Grand Duke) and comforting the Lithuanians by selecting a non-Prussian Catholic. Vilnius was also recognized as Lithuanian territory, settling a dispute with Poland and White Ruthenia.
Within Mitteleuropa, Lithuania was a small German protectorate among others, its national production and foreign policies being closely monitored by Germany and concentrated in a revival of Lithuanian culture, hindered by rising tensions with Ruthenians and Poles that claimed many parts of Lithuania (such as the 1939 Balstoge Polish revolt). Voldemaras’ attempt at building an ultranationalist and personal regime was cut short by his assassination in 1929, while a coup by Christian Democrats allowed, at the end and after a peasents’ revolt, to the return to power of Antanas Smetona in 1934, the same one that had being exiled following the German restoration of power.
When the World War broke out, Lithuania quickly found itself between a rock and a hard place : welcoming the retreating German forces from the mainland and Courland, managing to fight off the Russian invasion that managed to take over Vilnius, Lithuania had to choose between the threats of both Syndicalism and Russian irrendetism. King Vytautas II, against Smetona’s advice, took a third option : returning to the days of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and integrating the country within Polonia Restituta, the neutral and fully independent Kingdom of Poland, under Karol Olbracht. More guided by pragmatism than by idealism, the Lithuanians had thus hoped to remain independent within a federal union in a new European order. Expelling German troops to Hungary, Lithuanian nevertheless participated to the World War, first through the Legions of Christ and then to the invasion of East Prussia during the last days of the World War. Nevertheless, then Germany retaliated by invading Greater Poland in 1950, Lithuania put an end to the union and took back its independence after the nuclear bombing of Warsaw, signing a separate peace with Germany, joining the Reichspakt and keeping its integrity. With the exception that Vilnius was still occupied by Russia.
Russia outright refused to abandon Vilnius, citing it as spoils of war, and claiming to maintain provisional military occupation to avoid future agitation in Poland : the “provisional occupation” would last for more than 50 years. Due to this position, the Lithuanian capital was displaced to Kaunas. Colonel Jonas Zemaitis, on 3 May 1953, led an illegal and behind-the-lines Lithuanian uprising in Vilnius, neutralizing the Russian garrison and proclaiming its outright return to Lithuania, calling upon the Reichspakt to help. The Vilnius Incident, as it was called, saw no response from Germany, which didn’t want to commit to another destructive war and feared the new Russian nuclear weaponry. Lithuania was left unable to reclaim its territory, and after two months of standoff in the Greater Game, the Russian Army conquered again Vilnius and submitted the city to massive retaliation.
Left humiliated by the outcome of the Vilnius Incident, the Chief of Staff of the Lithuanian Army, General Povilas Plechavicius, took power in a coup in 1953, being succeeded by Zemaitis after his assassination in 1961. Lithuania, amputated from a third of its territory, remained one of the foremost countries in the Greater Game, first against Russia, then due to the troubles in Poland : in spite of his ultranationalist rhetoric, Zemaitis was among the first to welcome Polish Jews in his country during the 1968 Pogroms, to the utter consternation of his supporters. Five years later, in 1973, Zemaitis retired from power and allowed for free elections and the election of a left-wing government. Massive demonstrations for return to the motherland occurred in 1976 in Vilnius, nothing that amounted to the level of the 1953 Incident, Lithuania being told to tone down its rhetoric by Germany.
The 1983 economic crisis put Lithuania at a crossroads, leading to heightened agitation from the Lithuanian far right, but also agitation from the Polish minority, heightened by the fundamentalist regime in Poland and leading to terrorist attacks in Kaunas in 1990 ; Lithuania had also become, like Germany, a true haven for Jews, with Polish refugees being granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1988 and this political weight being incarnated with the election of Ehud Brog in the 1993 general elections, being the first Jewish Prime Minister of Lithuania. Brog had to deal with the massive instability in Russia following the Vladivostok attack and a surprise invasion from the Polish Heavenly Kingdom : the Reichspakt beat back the invaders, while Vilnius was quickly overtaken by the Lithuanian military, after the Russian garrison had fled : Lithuania was finally restored to its 1923 borders, even if the capital remained in Vilnius.
Recent years in Lithuania saw a heightening of racial tensions, directed towards Jews but also Poles and Ruthenians, that rioted in Vilnius back in 2004, leading to integralist electoral victories in 2009, 2013 and 2017 ; the recent administrations called for a roll back of Polish refugees and national preference for Lithuanians.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Lithuania is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy : due to its very nationalistic rhetoric, the Constitution also prescribes Lithuanian as its official language and discourages ethnic separatism of any kind, provisions that have infuriated Ruthenian, Polish and Jewish minorities. The monarch keeps some powers, such as appointing the Prime Minister or a right to veto some legislation ; the Prime Minister is responsible towards the Seimas, the unicameral Parliament, elected by universal suffrage every four years. Law is based on civil code. The capital of Lithuania, in its first decades of existence, was Vilnius up to the Russian occupation in 1944 and Kaunas has served as capital since ; even if proposals have been made to relocate the capital back to Vilnius, efforts stalled due to political inertia and economic costs.
The reigning King of Lithuania is Vytautas III, having succeeded his father Gediminas II on his death on 17 October 2008 : a scion of the House of Wittelsbach, installed by the German military authorities in 1923, he has forfeited his rights to the Bavarian throne and has reigned as an all-Lithuanian monarch, never voicing his disapproval of integralist policies. In a strange turn of events, he saw his second son, Henrikas, ascend before him to a throne, after he was called to reign as King Robert IV of Scotland. A fringe political minority continue to support the House of Urach’s claim to the Lithuanian throne, as descent of Mindaugas II, the king elected by the Council of Lithuania in 1921 : the Urachs now reign as Princes of Monaco and have never addressed such a trivial issue.
The current Prime Minister is Aušrinė Armonaitė, since her victory in the 10 October 2021 general election. A member of LLS (Liberal Union of Lithuania, social-liberal and progressive), Armonaite is the first female Prime Minister of Lithuania, and also the youngest, having been born in 1989 : she was elected due to the poor handling of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic and voter fatigue by the previous administration. The main points of her agenda are acknowledgement of political minorities and easing of restrictions on women and GRSM rights.
Social situation, population
Numbering 7,8 million inhabitants, an aging, urban and shrinking population as in all first-world countries, Lithuania is also, as much countries in central Europe, seen as a multiethnic patchwork : even if ethnic Lithuanians are the majority and heavily favored by the reigning powers, there are also sizeable Polish and Ruthenian minorities, even reinforced due to persecution due to recent events in Poland and Russia, that has an uneasy relationship with the Lithuanians. The Zemaitaitis Administration (2017-2021), as such, implemented a policy of national preference in favor of Lithuanians, cutting back access to welfare and jobs to Poles and Ruthenians, encouraging them to migrate or to adopt Lithuanian language and customs, a move that was heavily criticized abroad. Due to these Integralist policies, inscribed in the Constitution, Lithuania is seen as a flawed democracy, with heavy levels of discrimination, even if ethnic Lithuanians enjoy high levels of access to human rights, education, health care, services and personal freedoms, even if the heavy Catholic traditions have restriced access to abortion, womens’ rights or GRSM rights. However, since the election in 2021 of a center-left government, Lithuania is expected to move on these issues.
But Lithuania is above all home to a large Jewish community. Vilnius has been known for centuries as “the Jerusalem of the North” and the already large Jewish Lithuanian community has been reinforced by Polish and Russian refugees, that were finally granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1988. If many elected to continue their travel in much richer Germany, fearing rampant antisemitism in their home countries, they remained there after democratization, and the hassidim (Jewish Orthodox) communities is alive and well in Vilnius, criticizing the “decadent” state of the German Jewish community. Entire neighbourhoods in Vilnius are Jewish, the country has had a Jewish Prime Minister (Ehud Brog, 1993-1997) and Vilnius is home to the World Zionist Organization since 2006. In the difference of many political parties in Europe, the Lithuanian right has removed all references to antisemitism, save for some extremist factions.
Economy
A tertiary economy that has rapidly developed since the 1950s, Lithuania enjoys a decent GDP per capita and a quite strong currency, the auskinas, indexed on the German Reichsmark : in the first half of the 20th Century, Lithuania’s economy was exclusively turned towards agriculture, mostly logging thanks to its large ancestral forests, but deforestation forced the country to turn towards industry and services, its quick conversion unfortunately increased the shock of the 1980s economic crisis. Even if it’s turned now towards services, Lithuania is still home to a very large industrial sector, mostly in energy, car and aeronautic manufacturing and communications, due to its strategic position between Russia and Germany. As German economics sum it up, “resources come from Russia, cars are made in Lithuania and Germany buys it all”, making Lithuania one of the many antechambers of the German economy within the European Community, of which Lithuania is a founding member.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, Lithuania is home to many military bases for the entire alliance, dating back to the Greater Game and tensions with Russia and Poland. Heavily equipped by German gear and weaponry, the Lithuanian Army saw action on its national territory back against Poland in 1994-1995 and has since participated to all-Reichspakt military interventions throughout the world. Conscription ended in 2008, given that relations with Russia had improved, but the Lithuanian professional army remains always ready. The Lithuanian Navy has installed its headquarters in Palanga and has been recently authorized to use Memel in Germany as a backup port.
Culture
Cultural renewal has been a fixture of Lithuania since the restoration of independence, in favor of its folk traditions and cuisine, but also for younger arts : Jonas Mekas (1922-2019), in the 1960s and 1970s, led an effort to make a true Lithuanian cinematographic industry, even if his avant-garde style was quickly overtaken by the German New Wave, but still managed Lithuania to gain ground on the cinephile scene. Lithuanian rock music and literature is also on the rise, having been represented by the Nobel Prizes of Literature held by Roman Kacew (1973) or Ceslovas Milosz (1980)… Each one stemming from the Jewish and Polish minorities.
The Roman Catholic Church is still heavily prevalent in Lithuania, conserving a large influence in conservative politics, as Lithuania was caught between a rock and a hard place, between Prussian Lutheranism and Russian Orthodoxy ; some nationalists tried to foster a Neo-Pagan sentiment, that remains very fringe in modern Lithuania.
Lithuania is also very known for its love of basketball, far more popular than football, an exception in Europe: introduced right after independence by Lithuanian American visitors, the sport participated to Lithuania’s popularity on the world stage, winning many World Cups and many European cups, with more and more Lithuanian players crossing the Atlantic to play in the NBA.
History
Having enjoyed some degree of autonomy after 1905, Lithuania, after it was occupied by Germany in 1920, had hoped for renewed independence even though Germany wanted to annex the country immediately. Through heavy dispute about the nature of the future regime, the Vilnius Conference elected a 20-member Council of Lithuania, that voted first for a German protectorate and then proclaimed independence on 11 June 1921. In order to prevent being incorporated into the German Empire, Lithuanians elected the Duke of Urach, a Catholic member of the House of Württemberg, as King Mindaugas II, in a reference to the first and only King of medieval Lithuania, with Antanas Smetona as his Prime Minister.
In the chaos of the Great European War and the Oath War, that saw Vilnius being occupied by rebellious Poles, the Germans finally reorganized the new kingdom, wishing for tighter control : Mindaugas II and Smetona were deposed by the German Army, with the once King of Lithuania finally becoming Prince of Monaco, whilst on 17 February 1923, a new Kingdom of Lithuania under German protection and control was established, with Augustinas Voldemaras as Prime Minister and Prinz Franz of Bavaria, brother to the King of Bavaria, elected under German duress as King of Lithuania, taking the regnal name of Vytautas II (again a symbol, as Vytautas was merely a Grand Duke) and comforting the Lithuanians by selecting a non-Prussian Catholic. Vilnius was also recognized as Lithuanian territory, settling a dispute with Poland and White Ruthenia.
Within Mitteleuropa, Lithuania was a small German protectorate among others, its national production and foreign policies being closely monitored by Germany and concentrated in a revival of Lithuanian culture, hindered by rising tensions with Ruthenians and Poles that claimed many parts of Lithuania (such as the 1939 Balstoge Polish revolt). Voldemaras’ attempt at building an ultranationalist and personal regime was cut short by his assassination in 1929, while a coup by Christian Democrats allowed, at the end and after a peasents’ revolt, to the return to power of Antanas Smetona in 1934, the same one that had being exiled following the German restoration of power.
When the World War broke out, Lithuania quickly found itself between a rock and a hard place : welcoming the retreating German forces from the mainland and Courland, managing to fight off the Russian invasion that managed to take over Vilnius, Lithuania had to choose between the threats of both Syndicalism and Russian irrendetism. King Vytautas II, against Smetona’s advice, took a third option : returning to the days of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and integrating the country within Polonia Restituta, the neutral and fully independent Kingdom of Poland, under Karol Olbracht. More guided by pragmatism than by idealism, the Lithuanians had thus hoped to remain independent within a federal union in a new European order. Expelling German troops to Hungary, Lithuanian nevertheless participated to the World War, first through the Legions of Christ and then to the invasion of East Prussia during the last days of the World War. Nevertheless, then Germany retaliated by invading Greater Poland in 1950, Lithuania put an end to the union and took back its independence after the nuclear bombing of Warsaw, signing a separate peace with Germany, joining the Reichspakt and keeping its integrity. With the exception that Vilnius was still occupied by Russia.
Russia outright refused to abandon Vilnius, citing it as spoils of war, and claiming to maintain provisional military occupation to avoid future agitation in Poland : the “provisional occupation” would last for more than 50 years. Due to this position, the Lithuanian capital was displaced to Kaunas. Colonel Jonas Zemaitis, on 3 May 1953, led an illegal and behind-the-lines Lithuanian uprising in Vilnius, neutralizing the Russian garrison and proclaiming its outright return to Lithuania, calling upon the Reichspakt to help. The Vilnius Incident, as it was called, saw no response from Germany, which didn’t want to commit to another destructive war and feared the new Russian nuclear weaponry. Lithuania was left unable to reclaim its territory, and after two months of standoff in the Greater Game, the Russian Army conquered again Vilnius and submitted the city to massive retaliation.
Left humiliated by the outcome of the Vilnius Incident, the Chief of Staff of the Lithuanian Army, General Povilas Plechavicius, took power in a coup in 1953, being succeeded by Zemaitis after his assassination in 1961. Lithuania, amputated from a third of its territory, remained one of the foremost countries in the Greater Game, first against Russia, then due to the troubles in Poland : in spite of his ultranationalist rhetoric, Zemaitis was among the first to welcome Polish Jews in his country during the 1968 Pogroms, to the utter consternation of his supporters. Five years later, in 1973, Zemaitis retired from power and allowed for free elections and the election of a left-wing government. Massive demonstrations for return to the motherland occurred in 1976 in Vilnius, nothing that amounted to the level of the 1953 Incident, Lithuania being told to tone down its rhetoric by Germany.
The 1983 economic crisis put Lithuania at a crossroads, leading to heightened agitation from the Lithuanian far right, but also agitation from the Polish minority, heightened by the fundamentalist regime in Poland and leading to terrorist attacks in Kaunas in 1990 ; Lithuania had also become, like Germany, a true haven for Jews, with Polish refugees being granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1988 and this political weight being incarnated with the election of Ehud Brog in the 1993 general elections, being the first Jewish Prime Minister of Lithuania. Brog had to deal with the massive instability in Russia following the Vladivostok attack and a surprise invasion from the Polish Heavenly Kingdom : the Reichspakt beat back the invaders, while Vilnius was quickly overtaken by the Lithuanian military, after the Russian garrison had fled : Lithuania was finally restored to its 1923 borders, even if the capital remained in Vilnius.
Recent years in Lithuania saw a heightening of racial tensions, directed towards Jews but also Poles and Ruthenians, that rioted in Vilnius back in 2004, leading to integralist electoral victories in 2009, 2013 and 2017 ; the recent administrations called for a roll back of Polish refugees and national preference for Lithuanians.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Lithuania is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy : due to its very nationalistic rhetoric, the Constitution also prescribes Lithuanian as its official language and discourages ethnic separatism of any kind, provisions that have infuriated Ruthenian, Polish and Jewish minorities. The monarch keeps some powers, such as appointing the Prime Minister or a right to veto some legislation ; the Prime Minister is responsible towards the Seimas, the unicameral Parliament, elected by universal suffrage every four years. Law is based on civil code. The capital of Lithuania, in its first decades of existence, was Vilnius up to the Russian occupation in 1944 and Kaunas has served as capital since ; even if proposals have been made to relocate the capital back to Vilnius, efforts stalled due to political inertia and economic costs.
The reigning King of Lithuania is Vytautas III, having succeeded his father Gediminas II on his death on 17 October 2008 : a scion of the House of Wittelsbach, installed by the German military authorities in 1923, he has forfeited his rights to the Bavarian throne and has reigned as an all-Lithuanian monarch, never voicing his disapproval of integralist policies. In a strange turn of events, he saw his second son, Henrikas, ascend before him to a throne, after he was called to reign as King Robert IV of Scotland. A fringe political minority continue to support the House of Urach’s claim to the Lithuanian throne, as descent of Mindaugas II, the king elected by the Council of Lithuania in 1921 : the Urachs now reign as Princes of Monaco and have never addressed such a trivial issue.
The current Prime Minister is Aušrinė Armonaitė, since her victory in the 10 October 2021 general election. A member of LLS (Liberal Union of Lithuania, social-liberal and progressive), Armonaite is the first female Prime Minister of Lithuania, and also the youngest, having been born in 1989 : she was elected due to the poor handling of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic and voter fatigue by the previous administration. The main points of her agenda are acknowledgement of political minorities and easing of restrictions on women and GRSM rights.
Social situation, population
Numbering 7,8 million inhabitants, an aging, urban and shrinking population as in all first-world countries, Lithuania is also, as much countries in central Europe, seen as a multiethnic patchwork : even if ethnic Lithuanians are the majority and heavily favored by the reigning powers, there are also sizeable Polish and Ruthenian minorities, even reinforced due to persecution due to recent events in Poland and Russia, that has an uneasy relationship with the Lithuanians. The Zemaitaitis Administration (2017-2021), as such, implemented a policy of national preference in favor of Lithuanians, cutting back access to welfare and jobs to Poles and Ruthenians, encouraging them to migrate or to adopt Lithuanian language and customs, a move that was heavily criticized abroad. Due to these Integralist policies, inscribed in the Constitution, Lithuania is seen as a flawed democracy, with heavy levels of discrimination, even if ethnic Lithuanians enjoy high levels of access to human rights, education, health care, services and personal freedoms, even if the heavy Catholic traditions have restriced access to abortion, womens’ rights or GRSM rights. However, since the election in 2021 of a center-left government, Lithuania is expected to move on these issues.
But Lithuania is above all home to a large Jewish community. Vilnius has been known for centuries as “the Jerusalem of the North” and the already large Jewish Lithuanian community has been reinforced by Polish and Russian refugees, that were finally granted Lithuanian citizenship in 1988. If many elected to continue their travel in much richer Germany, fearing rampant antisemitism in their home countries, they remained there after democratization, and the hassidim (Jewish Orthodox) communities is alive and well in Vilnius, criticizing the “decadent” state of the German Jewish community. Entire neighbourhoods in Vilnius are Jewish, the country has had a Jewish Prime Minister (Ehud Brog, 1993-1997) and Vilnius is home to the World Zionist Organization since 2006. In the difference of many political parties in Europe, the Lithuanian right has removed all references to antisemitism, save for some extremist factions.
Economy
A tertiary economy that has rapidly developed since the 1950s, Lithuania enjoys a decent GDP per capita and a quite strong currency, the auskinas, indexed on the German Reichsmark : in the first half of the 20th Century, Lithuania’s economy was exclusively turned towards agriculture, mostly logging thanks to its large ancestral forests, but deforestation forced the country to turn towards industry and services, its quick conversion unfortunately increased the shock of the 1980s economic crisis. Even if it’s turned now towards services, Lithuania is still home to a very large industrial sector, mostly in energy, car and aeronautic manufacturing and communications, due to its strategic position between Russia and Germany. As German economics sum it up, “resources come from Russia, cars are made in Lithuania and Germany buys it all”, making Lithuania one of the many antechambers of the German economy within the European Community, of which Lithuania is a founding member.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, Lithuania is home to many military bases for the entire alliance, dating back to the Greater Game and tensions with Russia and Poland. Heavily equipped by German gear and weaponry, the Lithuanian Army saw action on its national territory back against Poland in 1994-1995 and has since participated to all-Reichspakt military interventions throughout the world. Conscription ended in 2008, given that relations with Russia had improved, but the Lithuanian professional army remains always ready. The Lithuanian Navy has installed its headquarters in Palanga and has been recently authorized to use Memel in Germany as a backup port.
Culture
Cultural renewal has been a fixture of Lithuania since the restoration of independence, in favor of its folk traditions and cuisine, but also for younger arts : Jonas Mekas (1922-2019), in the 1960s and 1970s, led an effort to make a true Lithuanian cinematographic industry, even if his avant-garde style was quickly overtaken by the German New Wave, but still managed Lithuania to gain ground on the cinephile scene. Lithuanian rock music and literature is also on the rise, having been represented by the Nobel Prizes of Literature held by Roman Kacew (1973) or Ceslovas Milosz (1980)… Each one stemming from the Jewish and Polish minorities.
The Roman Catholic Church is still heavily prevalent in Lithuania, conserving a large influence in conservative politics, as Lithuania was caught between a rock and a hard place, between Prussian Lutheranism and Russian Orthodoxy ; some nationalists tried to foster a Neo-Pagan sentiment, that remains very fringe in modern Lithuania.
Lithuania is also very known for its love of basketball, far more popular than football, an exception in Europe: introduced right after independence by Lithuanian American visitors, the sport participated to Lithuania’s popularity on the world stage, winning many World Cups and many European cups, with more and more Lithuanian players crossing the Atlantic to play in the NBA.
In terms of international reputation, I take it that Bharatvarsha is similar to Iran IOTL in terms of reputation as Azania is TTL's DPRK equivalent?
The Poles became sedevacantist and considered the Pope to be a heretic after the Holy See condemned the exactions of the Heavenly Kingdom. A separate Church of Poland was created and was reunified after the German intervention.
Well, more like Pakistan, as democratic elections are scheduled this month.
Any rouge state you see being Iran-level isolated right now here?
Are there any notable lost films ITTL? Whenever from OTL or only exclusive to TTL?
Who would the richest people in the world be ITTL similar to how the richest man in the world, depending on who you ask, is either Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or Vladimir Putin?
Country profile - Norway
Norway is a country in Northern Europe, bordered by Finland and Sweden in the east, Skagerrak Strait by the south and the North Atlantic Sea and the Barents Sea in the north and the east. Erik the Red’s Land, Jan Mayen, Svalbards, Bouvet Island are also parts of Norway.
History
Norway had just been independent for sixteen years when the Great European War ended and the geopolitics of Europe had dramatically changed : staying neutral throughout the conflict and benefitting from a reinforced trade with also neutral United Kingdom, Norway was surrounded with an Europe dominated by Germany and a belligerent Sweden that had invaded and liberated Finland. The Syndicalist wave in France would have repercussions in the small kingdom too : seeing the political upheavals in Denmark and the danger of Syndicalism, the Fatherland League was formed in 1924 by anti-Syndicalist politicians, including the world’s most famous Norwegian, Arctic explorer and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen, pointing at the Labor Party as a hotbed of socialist agitation : with the invasion of Portugal by the Syndicalists, King Haakon VII finally ceded to bourgeois fears and appointed Nansen President of Council in 1926. The Fatherland League’s government first act was to outlaw the Labor Party.
After Nansen died of old age in 1930, he was succeeded first by former Prime Minister Jens Bratlie, who maintained the authoritarian policies and turned towards the assertion of Norway’s place into the new Europe, first its close relations with Germany and its place into the world : having already obtained control of the Svalbards in 1922, Norway turned to its claims on the eastern parts of Greenland, known as Erik the Red’s Land : the government ordered a landing on these territories in 1931, to the surprise of Denmark. What could have brought an international crisis was finally settled the following year under the arbitration of Germany and United Kingdom on the Treaty of London on 12 July 1932, officially granting Erik the Red’s Land to Norway, that the country keeps to this day. However, due to the boldness of these actions, Bratlie was removed as President of Council and replaced by Minister of Defense Vidkun Quisling, who would continue the Fatherland League’s grip over Norwegian politics throughout the World War.
Norway was invaded in 1945 by the Syndicalists right after Denmark, violating the kingdom’s neutrality, denouncing the Fatherland League’s authoritarian rule against the Norwegian workers and willing to isolate the British Isles : after being defeated at Narvik, the Norwegian government and army retreated to Finland, as the Germans and Swedes were, and continued the fight there as members of the Allies ; in a gesture of goodwill for the Germans, Quisling accepted the creation of a German naval base in the Svalbards. As the Syndicalist CWR was defeated on all fronts, the reconquest of Scandinavia, spearheaded by the Finns, began at Bergen in 1948, before Oslo was liberated in 1949, in the last months of the World War. Nevertheless, a new issue has arose : as the Finns had liberated Finnmark (Ruija), the northernmost part of Norway, Finland had now annexed the county.
Much to the displeasure of both Norway and Sweden, in 1950 Germany acknowledged the new Finnish conquests due to their contribution to the war effort and the protection of Baltic Germans. Norway and Sweden decided to cut ties with Germany and establish the Nordic Pact as their own private alliance. As the government returned to Oslo, Quisling would also take notice of the result of four years of Syndicalist takeover and allow again the Labor Party in order to keep the workers’ quiet. The move would result in the first Fatherland League’s electoral defeat after more than twenty-five years in 1953. Quisling would return to power in 1957, but himself died of old age in 1958 before the Fatherland League was itself dissolved in 1962.
Aligning itself on Great Britain during the Greater Game, the Nordic Pact was only formed by Norway and Sweden, wishing to establish their own way, a move that proved sustainable for Norway after the discovery of oil fields at Ekofisk in 1969 : in a move of national pride, for example, Norway refused to sell Erik the Red’s Land to the United States in 1958, after the country had bought the remainder of Greenland at the start of the decade. Yet, the world was changing way faster than conservative Norway : after the Church of Norway had threatened to excommunicate Crown Prince Harald for his romance to Sonja Haraldsen in 1968 (finally giving in and marrying a royal princess), popular demonstrations in favor of the prince resulted in a large falling out with the Church and neopaganism gaining a large momentum in Norway.
In 1971, a dispute between Sweden and Finland over Aland Island finally resulted in a war. After initial success by Finland against both Norway and Sweden, Germany finally pushed both parties to a ceasefire after a month, forcing all belligerents to accept peace talks. The Scandinavian peace talks would last from 1972 to 1986, before Norway and Sweden officially reconciled with Finland, acknowledging its World War conquest and dissolving the Nordic Pact, entering both the European Community and the Reichspakt and putting an end to this side of the Greater Game. Norway was ready to become more modern, asserting its place as one of the largest countries in the world, with a referendum in Erik the Red’s Land showing their determination to stick with the oil-producing kingdom, and settling fishing conflicts with Iceland in 1975.
However, the rise of Asatru (Norse neo-paganism) in Norway was also consistent with a rise of the terrorist far right, tainted with Legionarist and Evolist thought. Neo-Pagan terrorist Varg Vikernes of the Heathen Front blew himself up with a suicide vest during National Day’s celebrations on Constitution Day (17 May 1994) in front of the royal place, killing both King Harald V and Prime Minister Jan P. Syse. The state of emergency was proclaimed throughout the country, resulting on massive repression against Asatru practitioners, resulting in new terrorist attacks in 1997. Even if Asatru was acknowledged as a legitimate religion in 2002, terrorist activity didn’t stop nevertheless, as Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store was assassinated by Fjotolf Hansen in 2011. The democratic marxist Republican Contract won elections in 2013 as part of the early European Red Wave and won re-election in 2017 and 2021, putting the future of the monarchy in question.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Norway is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, with the executive being exercised by the Council of State, led by the Prime Minister, with an unicameral Parliament, the Storting, elected by popular vote for a four-year vote. The judiciary is independent and is a mixture of customary law, civil law and common law. Norway is seen as one of the strongest democracies of the world, with dependent areas, such as the Svalbards, Erik the Red’s Land and Jan Mayen having various degrees of autonomy ; since 1985, the Sami people of Norway have enjoyed parliamentary representation within the Samediggi, a Parliament constituted both within and outside the Storting.
The reigning king is Haakon VIII, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, who succeeded his father Harald V upon his assassination on 17 may 1994. Taking the throne in sad circumstances, the king remains popular, even if the royal family has had his share of scandals, such as the conversion of his sister to Asatru, when neo-pagan practitioners had murdered her father ; having to rule since nine years with a party elected with a republican platform, Haakon knows most of his future stands on his very popularity and that a political alliance could well result into his deposition.
The current Prime Minister is Henriette Westhrin, from the Republican Contract (RK, left, democratic marxist, neo-syndicalist, socialist, republican), who was elected after the 9 September 2013 general election, having won re-election in 2017 and on 19 September 2021, winning a third term, a fact unprecedented since Trygve Bratteli (1961-1973). Benefitting from dissatisfaction with bipartisanism and the rising concerns of Norwegians over ecology and progressivism, the Republican Contract managed to lead a coalition into power, over an agenda of ecological transition, reinforcement of the welfare state, universal income and autonomy for all ethnicities of Norway, a program that has allowed Norway to fare even better at well-being rankings, as the unprecedented third term saw the approval for the strict sanitary policies that were put in place during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, with Norway targeting a neutral carbon footprint by 2025. Forming a coalition with the Heathen Social Democratic Alliance and the Green Party, Westhrin, a social worker by profession, has avoided raising the issue of republicanism, not wishing to implement a large political crisis, but many are expecting future developments on the issue.
Social situation, population
With a rapidly decreasing total fertility rate and a very aging population, Norway saw its population decrease in recent years and has heavily welcomed immigrants from throughout the world, whether being Russia, South Africa, India, Middle East or China, a policy that had been heavily criticized by the far right in recent years. However, the land of plenty Norway represents has allowed for a growing immigrant population, a necessity for the Kingdom to continue its operations.
Norway ranks very high in all well-being rankings throughout the world, due to its almighty welfare state, the excellence of its universities, hospitals and administration and its reinforced protection of women’s rights, minority rights and GRSM rights with, for example, sexual harassment or discrimination being considered major felonies, Samis being allowed a separate Parliament, and gender having been removed from all identity documents. “Norway” has become a household name to describe a progressive dream, as the United States once were in the 1940s or 1970s. The Wuchang Pneumonia-related casualties were quite low and Norway enjoys one of the smallest crime rates in the world.
Economy
Enjoying the highest GDP per capita in the world (outside of city-states), Norway is a highly developed mixed economy, mostly based on services and large state ownerships in key industrial sectors, allowing for a very high standard of living and a strongly integrated welfare system, and has a strong weapon in the economic struggle : oil, that was discovered in 1969, and has allowed Norway to enjoy steady growth within the European Community, carefully avoiding the Dutch disease by creating a sovereign fund and leading various investments throughout the world ; the other cornucopia of Norway being its vast fishing areas and the many resources of Greenlandic soil. However, the Westhrin cabinet has decided to restrict more and more the use of oil to its domestic use, using its incomes to fund a strong protectionist economy, a strong ecological transition for its economy and funding all welfare programs, hereby attempting to have a virtuous economy, respectful of nature ; one such implementation was the banning of deforestation, forbidding of whale fishing and very high protection of the environment.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, after having formed its own alliance with Sweden within the Nordic Pact, Norway has one of the largest territories and most spread territories to survey, counting the large Erik the Red’s Land ; the Reichspakt military base in the Svalbards was disestablished in 2002. The Westhrin cabinet has announced its resolution to further reduce the defense budget, wishing to abolish the military as it was done in Spain and restrict the military’s missions to logistics, cooperation, peacekeeping and the establishment of a National Guard.
Culture
Due to its geography and the historical importance of free farmers, Norway has always had an independent streak within Scandinavia, that could be seen in the successes of tourism and the export of its authors, such as Knut Hamsun or Henrik Ibsen. Still awarding the Nobel Peace Prize, what was a Viking land is still a high destination for tourists from throughout the world and a model country throughout the world, foremost for the left and progressives ; for conservatives, Norway is described as an “aware” nightmare.
Asatru (Germanic neo-paganism) is very strong in Norway, with almost 15 % of the population adhering to the reconstructed faith, both in a return to traditional values and in rejection of the Church of Norway, with adherents even coming to the royal family, such as the king’s sister, now known as Freyja Haraldsdotter, a situation that is only seen in Africa or in Ireland. At the difference of most European countries, Asatru is not an indicator of radical traditionalism or ultranationalism, but has spread in all social classes and in all political colors, even if terrorist movements have been violent in the 1990s.
One particularity of Norway is also its language dispute, with two different written versions of the language being accepted, with the Bokmal (book language), based on Danish and the Nynorsk (new Norwegian) being based on regional dialects : a huge political issue since independence, the Fatherland League rule (1926-1953) and Conservative administrations have endorsed the Bokmal grammar, seeing it as more dignified, confining the Nynorsk to regional and private teaching ; the Wethrin cabinet has, since 2013, endorsed the Nynorsk, more and more used by the youth, in order to allow a better understanding of the language.
History
Norway had just been independent for sixteen years when the Great European War ended and the geopolitics of Europe had dramatically changed : staying neutral throughout the conflict and benefitting from a reinforced trade with also neutral United Kingdom, Norway was surrounded with an Europe dominated by Germany and a belligerent Sweden that had invaded and liberated Finland. The Syndicalist wave in France would have repercussions in the small kingdom too : seeing the political upheavals in Denmark and the danger of Syndicalism, the Fatherland League was formed in 1924 by anti-Syndicalist politicians, including the world’s most famous Norwegian, Arctic explorer and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen, pointing at the Labor Party as a hotbed of socialist agitation : with the invasion of Portugal by the Syndicalists, King Haakon VII finally ceded to bourgeois fears and appointed Nansen President of Council in 1926. The Fatherland League’s government first act was to outlaw the Labor Party.
After Nansen died of old age in 1930, he was succeeded first by former Prime Minister Jens Bratlie, who maintained the authoritarian policies and turned towards the assertion of Norway’s place into the new Europe, first its close relations with Germany and its place into the world : having already obtained control of the Svalbards in 1922, Norway turned to its claims on the eastern parts of Greenland, known as Erik the Red’s Land : the government ordered a landing on these territories in 1931, to the surprise of Denmark. What could have brought an international crisis was finally settled the following year under the arbitration of Germany and United Kingdom on the Treaty of London on 12 July 1932, officially granting Erik the Red’s Land to Norway, that the country keeps to this day. However, due to the boldness of these actions, Bratlie was removed as President of Council and replaced by Minister of Defense Vidkun Quisling, who would continue the Fatherland League’s grip over Norwegian politics throughout the World War.
Norway was invaded in 1945 by the Syndicalists right after Denmark, violating the kingdom’s neutrality, denouncing the Fatherland League’s authoritarian rule against the Norwegian workers and willing to isolate the British Isles : after being defeated at Narvik, the Norwegian government and army retreated to Finland, as the Germans and Swedes were, and continued the fight there as members of the Allies ; in a gesture of goodwill for the Germans, Quisling accepted the creation of a German naval base in the Svalbards. As the Syndicalist CWR was defeated on all fronts, the reconquest of Scandinavia, spearheaded by the Finns, began at Bergen in 1948, before Oslo was liberated in 1949, in the last months of the World War. Nevertheless, a new issue has arose : as the Finns had liberated Finnmark (Ruija), the northernmost part of Norway, Finland had now annexed the county.
Much to the displeasure of both Norway and Sweden, in 1950 Germany acknowledged the new Finnish conquests due to their contribution to the war effort and the protection of Baltic Germans. Norway and Sweden decided to cut ties with Germany and establish the Nordic Pact as their own private alliance. As the government returned to Oslo, Quisling would also take notice of the result of four years of Syndicalist takeover and allow again the Labor Party in order to keep the workers’ quiet. The move would result in the first Fatherland League’s electoral defeat after more than twenty-five years in 1953. Quisling would return to power in 1957, but himself died of old age in 1958 before the Fatherland League was itself dissolved in 1962.
Aligning itself on Great Britain during the Greater Game, the Nordic Pact was only formed by Norway and Sweden, wishing to establish their own way, a move that proved sustainable for Norway after the discovery of oil fields at Ekofisk in 1969 : in a move of national pride, for example, Norway refused to sell Erik the Red’s Land to the United States in 1958, after the country had bought the remainder of Greenland at the start of the decade. Yet, the world was changing way faster than conservative Norway : after the Church of Norway had threatened to excommunicate Crown Prince Harald for his romance to Sonja Haraldsen in 1968 (finally giving in and marrying a royal princess), popular demonstrations in favor of the prince resulted in a large falling out with the Church and neopaganism gaining a large momentum in Norway.
In 1971, a dispute between Sweden and Finland over Aland Island finally resulted in a war. After initial success by Finland against both Norway and Sweden, Germany finally pushed both parties to a ceasefire after a month, forcing all belligerents to accept peace talks. The Scandinavian peace talks would last from 1972 to 1986, before Norway and Sweden officially reconciled with Finland, acknowledging its World War conquest and dissolving the Nordic Pact, entering both the European Community and the Reichspakt and putting an end to this side of the Greater Game. Norway was ready to become more modern, asserting its place as one of the largest countries in the world, with a referendum in Erik the Red’s Land showing their determination to stick with the oil-producing kingdom, and settling fishing conflicts with Iceland in 1975.
However, the rise of Asatru (Norse neo-paganism) in Norway was also consistent with a rise of the terrorist far right, tainted with Legionarist and Evolist thought. Neo-Pagan terrorist Varg Vikernes of the Heathen Front blew himself up with a suicide vest during National Day’s celebrations on Constitution Day (17 May 1994) in front of the royal place, killing both King Harald V and Prime Minister Jan P. Syse. The state of emergency was proclaimed throughout the country, resulting on massive repression against Asatru practitioners, resulting in new terrorist attacks in 1997. Even if Asatru was acknowledged as a legitimate religion in 2002, terrorist activity didn’t stop nevertheless, as Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store was assassinated by Fjotolf Hansen in 2011. The democratic marxist Republican Contract won elections in 2013 as part of the early European Red Wave and won re-election in 2017 and 2021, putting the future of the monarchy in question.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Norway is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, with the executive being exercised by the Council of State, led by the Prime Minister, with an unicameral Parliament, the Storting, elected by popular vote for a four-year vote. The judiciary is independent and is a mixture of customary law, civil law and common law. Norway is seen as one of the strongest democracies of the world, with dependent areas, such as the Svalbards, Erik the Red’s Land and Jan Mayen having various degrees of autonomy ; since 1985, the Sami people of Norway have enjoyed parliamentary representation within the Samediggi, a Parliament constituted both within and outside the Storting.
The reigning king is Haakon VIII, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, who succeeded his father Harald V upon his assassination on 17 may 1994. Taking the throne in sad circumstances, the king remains popular, even if the royal family has had his share of scandals, such as the conversion of his sister to Asatru, when neo-pagan practitioners had murdered her father ; having to rule since nine years with a party elected with a republican platform, Haakon knows most of his future stands on his very popularity and that a political alliance could well result into his deposition.
The current Prime Minister is Henriette Westhrin, from the Republican Contract (RK, left, democratic marxist, neo-syndicalist, socialist, republican), who was elected after the 9 September 2013 general election, having won re-election in 2017 and on 19 September 2021, winning a third term, a fact unprecedented since Trygve Bratteli (1961-1973). Benefitting from dissatisfaction with bipartisanism and the rising concerns of Norwegians over ecology and progressivism, the Republican Contract managed to lead a coalition into power, over an agenda of ecological transition, reinforcement of the welfare state, universal income and autonomy for all ethnicities of Norway, a program that has allowed Norway to fare even better at well-being rankings, as the unprecedented third term saw the approval for the strict sanitary policies that were put in place during the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, with Norway targeting a neutral carbon footprint by 2025. Forming a coalition with the Heathen Social Democratic Alliance and the Green Party, Westhrin, a social worker by profession, has avoided raising the issue of republicanism, not wishing to implement a large political crisis, but many are expecting future developments on the issue.
Social situation, population
With a rapidly decreasing total fertility rate and a very aging population, Norway saw its population decrease in recent years and has heavily welcomed immigrants from throughout the world, whether being Russia, South Africa, India, Middle East or China, a policy that had been heavily criticized by the far right in recent years. However, the land of plenty Norway represents has allowed for a growing immigrant population, a necessity for the Kingdom to continue its operations.
Norway ranks very high in all well-being rankings throughout the world, due to its almighty welfare state, the excellence of its universities, hospitals and administration and its reinforced protection of women’s rights, minority rights and GRSM rights with, for example, sexual harassment or discrimination being considered major felonies, Samis being allowed a separate Parliament, and gender having been removed from all identity documents. “Norway” has become a household name to describe a progressive dream, as the United States once were in the 1940s or 1970s. The Wuchang Pneumonia-related casualties were quite low and Norway enjoys one of the smallest crime rates in the world.
Economy
Enjoying the highest GDP per capita in the world (outside of city-states), Norway is a highly developed mixed economy, mostly based on services and large state ownerships in key industrial sectors, allowing for a very high standard of living and a strongly integrated welfare system, and has a strong weapon in the economic struggle : oil, that was discovered in 1969, and has allowed Norway to enjoy steady growth within the European Community, carefully avoiding the Dutch disease by creating a sovereign fund and leading various investments throughout the world ; the other cornucopia of Norway being its vast fishing areas and the many resources of Greenlandic soil. However, the Westhrin cabinet has decided to restrict more and more the use of oil to its domestic use, using its incomes to fund a strong protectionist economy, a strong ecological transition for its economy and funding all welfare programs, hereby attempting to have a virtuous economy, respectful of nature ; one such implementation was the banning of deforestation, forbidding of whale fishing and very high protection of the environment.
Military
A member of the Reichspakt, after having formed its own alliance with Sweden within the Nordic Pact, Norway has one of the largest territories and most spread territories to survey, counting the large Erik the Red’s Land ; the Reichspakt military base in the Svalbards was disestablished in 2002. The Westhrin cabinet has announced its resolution to further reduce the defense budget, wishing to abolish the military as it was done in Spain and restrict the military’s missions to logistics, cooperation, peacekeeping and the establishment of a National Guard.
Culture
Due to its geography and the historical importance of free farmers, Norway has always had an independent streak within Scandinavia, that could be seen in the successes of tourism and the export of its authors, such as Knut Hamsun or Henrik Ibsen. Still awarding the Nobel Peace Prize, what was a Viking land is still a high destination for tourists from throughout the world and a model country throughout the world, foremost for the left and progressives ; for conservatives, Norway is described as an “aware” nightmare.
Asatru (Germanic neo-paganism) is very strong in Norway, with almost 15 % of the population adhering to the reconstructed faith, both in a return to traditional values and in rejection of the Church of Norway, with adherents even coming to the royal family, such as the king’s sister, now known as Freyja Haraldsdotter, a situation that is only seen in Africa or in Ireland. At the difference of most European countries, Asatru is not an indicator of radical traditionalism or ultranationalism, but has spread in all social classes and in all political colors, even if terrorist movements have been violent in the 1990s.
One particularity of Norway is also its language dispute, with two different written versions of the language being accepted, with the Bokmal (book language), based on Danish and the Nynorsk (new Norwegian) being based on regional dialects : a huge political issue since independence, the Fatherland League rule (1926-1953) and Conservative administrations have endorsed the Bokmal grammar, seeing it as more dignified, confining the Nynorsk to regional and private teaching ; the Wethrin cabinet has, since 2013, endorsed the Nynorsk, more and more used by the youth, in order to allow a better understanding of the language.
Maybe Hispaniola, Egypt in the Islamic era or Malaya.
Well, I've got enough to do with alternate films, so about wondering on lost films... I've got to think about it !
Don't know about the world's wealthiest man, maybe someone who dabbled on genetics or robotics. For the wealthiest head of state, I could call the Tsarina of Russia.
How wealthy would she be compared to Musk, Bezos, or Putin IOTL? Would she be on their level or is her wealth more on the level of the Sultan of Brunei IOTL (who is still worth $20 billion)?
This is one hell of an update!
Approximately what's the number of Asatru followers globally?
So, could we have a glimpse into the Indian subcontinent, be it Assam or Bengal, to get a rough idea of how the British left ?
From the wikiboxes, it's obvious the British divided the Raj between south and north, Burma and Karenistan, plus for some reason, Kashmir and Khalistan, in 1950, but as it comes to Bharatavarsha, the wikiboxes of Assam and Bengal let it transpire both regions erupted into open rebellion in the mid 1980s, with a probable peace accord since both independences are formally recognized on the same day, 24 May 1993.
Since this region is a crossroads between the subcontinent, southeast Asia and China, I'm curious to see how this rebellion played out.
From the wikiboxes, it's obvious the British divided the Raj between south and north, Burma and Karenistan, plus for some reason, Kashmir and Khalistan, in 1950, but as it comes to Bharatavarsha, the wikiboxes of Assam and Bengal let it transpire both regions erupted into open rebellion in the mid 1980s, with a probable peace accord since both independences are formally recognized on the same day, 24 May 1993.
Since this region is a crossroads between the subcontinent, southeast Asia and China, I'm curious to see how this rebellion played out.
Is the Lithuanian Prime Minister being 33-years old here based on the similar case of Sanna Marin becoming Finnish Prime Minister at 34 IOTL? And speaking of which, what is Sanna Marin (and Jacinda Ardern for that matter) doing ITTL? Also, what was Indochina between 1988 and 1994 as it was reformed in 1988 and became a Republic in 1994? A monarchy under the Nguyens?
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Country profile - Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua in the north, the Caribbean Sea in the northeast, Panama in the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.
History
Thanks to its economic development during the XIXth Century, Costa Rica began the Twentieth with far more political stability than its immediate neighbours in Latin America. But this stability wasn’t without violence however : with support of the United States, General Federico Tinoco ruled as a military dictator from his coup in 1917 to his assassination in 1919 ; in 1921, a border dispute with Panama degenerated into a war, the Coto War, that saw Panamaian victory and the annexation of Nuevo Pueblo de Coto under US tutelage.
But the defining threat to Costa Rica was the expansion of the Syndicalist Republic of Central America, that expanded in neighboring Nicaragua with Augusto Sandino’s coup in 1934. The incumbent President, Léon Cortés Castro, took inspiration of the Integralist regimes in Europe to modify the Constitution to his own advantage, becoming able to run for his own re-election for two consecutive terms, installing the supremacy of the executive over the other powers and putting in place a corporatist system modeled on Italy. To implement this self-coup, unwavering support from and to the United States and presenting Red Central America as the ultimate scapegoat was necessary. Cortés Castro served from 1931 to 1939, and then from 1943 to his own death in 1946 : entering the World War on the Allied Side, Cortés Castro was unable to see Syndicalism being torn apart, but the system he put in place for Costa Rica remained.
His vice president, Rafael Angel Caldéron Garcia, was able to inherit Cortés’ system, taking inspiration in Alvaro Obregon’s policies in Mexico, after the left claimed fraud in the 1951 presidential election. Calderon Garcia was able to be elected for five terms (1946-1951, 1955-1963, 1967-1970) until massive protests in 1968 forced him to announce it would be his last term; he kept true to his word, by passing away in 1970. Winning the 1971 presidential election, José Figueres Ferrer was able to soften the 1934 Constitution, even if the shift was already done in Costa Rican politics.
Costa Rica was able to follow a peaceful course as a prominent member of the Havana Organization, in spite of the damages done by the 1983 economic crisis that radically polarized national politics. Costa Rica, with its deregulated corporatist economy, was able to attract American investors, some with a strong libertarian agenda : Otto Guevara, from the fringe Costa Rican Objectivist Party, was able to win the 2007 presidential election after his campaign had been funded by American libertarian expatriates such as John McAfee, making Costa Rica a true libertarian experimental ground.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Costa Rica is an unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic : even if the Constitution was heavily amended since 1934, the President, elected for a four-year term, renewable once in a consecutive way, holds tremendous executive powers, being able to veto legislation, dissolve the unicameral Legislative Assembly, conduct the foreign and monetary policies and proclaim a state of emergency. Legislative powers are held both by the President and the Legislative Assembly, while the judiciary is independent.
The current President is Juan Diego Castro Ferdnandez, from the National Integral Party (far-right, integralist, fundamentalist), who was elected on 30 March 2019 for a four-year term, defeating incumbent President Rafael Angel Calderon Fournier. A lawyer, Castro Fernandez managed to rise to prominence and be elected in an upset due to the massive upheavals created by Otto Guevara’s objectivist administration (2007-2015) that totally collapsed the old corporatist system and led to full deregulation, depenalization and privatization of societies, leading to a massive influx of foreign investments but also cementing Costa Rica as a haven for drug use, prostitution and gambling. Promising to “put an end to the Babylon of the Americas” and “end the Jewish control of our motherland”, Castro Fernandez’s first steps were to expel expatriate John McAfee, seen as the power behind the Guevara administration, and outlaw gay marriage and drug use. Nevertheless, these reforms were put to a halt by the Wuchang Pneumonia, that took a massive death toll over Costa Rica, and also the discontent of the United States.
Social situation, population
With more than 5 million inhabitants, Costa Rica’s deregulation policies also allowed for a free flow of rich migrants, coming from North America and Europe, looking forward to the total lack of fiscality towards foreigners, joining the increasing American objectivist community, constituted in the 1990s due to reservation towards the increasingly “socialist” policies in their country. This deregulation also led to the privatization of health and education facilities, leading in turn to a massive sanitary crisis in the wake of the Wuchang Pneumonia and a thinner access to higher education, both situations that were condemned by the World Council. The majority of Costa Rican population qualifies as Mestizo, as the Native American population was deeply reduced during Spanish colonization, with Roman Catholicism serving as the almost exclusive religious denomination.
Economy
A founding member of the Havana Treaty Organization, Costa Rica has a very stable economy, with a high unemployment rate and moderate inflation, based on tourism, electronics, medical components exports and IT services, having begun its transition from agriculture after the 1980s economic crisis. Nothing would have differentiated Costa Rica from its neighbors, except for a relative instability, if it were not for its Objectivist revolution : disappointed by the different administrations in the United States and enthralled by the low fiscality and the climate of Costa Rica, many Objectivist-minded businessmen settled in Costa Rica during the 1990s and 2000s, such as IT wunderkind John McAfee, who led an effort to have a libertarian government elected in Costa Rica and turn the country into an effective laboratory for objectivist ideas, as it had been done in the Pacific. It was such during the Otto Guevara administration, from 2007 to 2015 : all freedoms were inscribed in the Constitution, but an economic side, deregulation, privatization of state entreprises and public facilities, reduction of taxes and huge benefits for foreign investors were prevalent ; even if the Guevara administration could boast of a two digits growth for Costa Rica, many experts consider that life conditions and society have suffered a lot for this unrestrained policy.
Military
With a decreased role as compared to its Latin American neighbors, the Costa Rican Army is nevertheless still existent, with missions devoted to keeping the country’s borders and participating to peacekeeping missions by the Havana Treaty Organization and the World Council. Trained and monitored by the United States, the military has enjoyed an increase of its budget under the current administration.
Culture
Located at the threshold of Maya culture, Costa Rica is well known for its mysterious stone orbs disseminated throughout its landscapes ; now, thanks to its stability and relative prosperity, Costa Rica is a high place for tourism, thanks to its gorgeous landscapes and beaches. Nevertheless, since the massive deregulation initiated by the Guevara presidency, Costa Rica’s tourism took a darker turn : opening its market to foreign investors, the country has become a true Mecca for libertarians, objectivists and free-thinkers, but also for seekers of thrills, as consumption and selling of drugs and full depenalization of prostitution turned the streets of San José into a den of all decadencies, even if the current administration took measures to curb down this reputation “of the Babylon of the Americas”.
History
Thanks to its economic development during the XIXth Century, Costa Rica began the Twentieth with far more political stability than its immediate neighbours in Latin America. But this stability wasn’t without violence however : with support of the United States, General Federico Tinoco ruled as a military dictator from his coup in 1917 to his assassination in 1919 ; in 1921, a border dispute with Panama degenerated into a war, the Coto War, that saw Panamaian victory and the annexation of Nuevo Pueblo de Coto under US tutelage.
But the defining threat to Costa Rica was the expansion of the Syndicalist Republic of Central America, that expanded in neighboring Nicaragua with Augusto Sandino’s coup in 1934. The incumbent President, Léon Cortés Castro, took inspiration of the Integralist regimes in Europe to modify the Constitution to his own advantage, becoming able to run for his own re-election for two consecutive terms, installing the supremacy of the executive over the other powers and putting in place a corporatist system modeled on Italy. To implement this self-coup, unwavering support from and to the United States and presenting Red Central America as the ultimate scapegoat was necessary. Cortés Castro served from 1931 to 1939, and then from 1943 to his own death in 1946 : entering the World War on the Allied Side, Cortés Castro was unable to see Syndicalism being torn apart, but the system he put in place for Costa Rica remained.
His vice president, Rafael Angel Caldéron Garcia, was able to inherit Cortés’ system, taking inspiration in Alvaro Obregon’s policies in Mexico, after the left claimed fraud in the 1951 presidential election. Calderon Garcia was able to be elected for five terms (1946-1951, 1955-1963, 1967-1970) until massive protests in 1968 forced him to announce it would be his last term; he kept true to his word, by passing away in 1970. Winning the 1971 presidential election, José Figueres Ferrer was able to soften the 1934 Constitution, even if the shift was already done in Costa Rican politics.
Costa Rica was able to follow a peaceful course as a prominent member of the Havana Organization, in spite of the damages done by the 1983 economic crisis that radically polarized national politics. Costa Rica, with its deregulated corporatist economy, was able to attract American investors, some with a strong libertarian agenda : Otto Guevara, from the fringe Costa Rican Objectivist Party, was able to win the 2007 presidential election after his campaign had been funded by American libertarian expatriates such as John McAfee, making Costa Rica a true libertarian experimental ground.
Political situation
According to its Constitution, Costa Rica is an unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic : even if the Constitution was heavily amended since 1934, the President, elected for a four-year term, renewable once in a consecutive way, holds tremendous executive powers, being able to veto legislation, dissolve the unicameral Legislative Assembly, conduct the foreign and monetary policies and proclaim a state of emergency. Legislative powers are held both by the President and the Legislative Assembly, while the judiciary is independent.
The current President is Juan Diego Castro Ferdnandez, from the National Integral Party (far-right, integralist, fundamentalist), who was elected on 30 March 2019 for a four-year term, defeating incumbent President Rafael Angel Calderon Fournier. A lawyer, Castro Fernandez managed to rise to prominence and be elected in an upset due to the massive upheavals created by Otto Guevara’s objectivist administration (2007-2015) that totally collapsed the old corporatist system and led to full deregulation, depenalization and privatization of societies, leading to a massive influx of foreign investments but also cementing Costa Rica as a haven for drug use, prostitution and gambling. Promising to “put an end to the Babylon of the Americas” and “end the Jewish control of our motherland”, Castro Fernandez’s first steps were to expel expatriate John McAfee, seen as the power behind the Guevara administration, and outlaw gay marriage and drug use. Nevertheless, these reforms were put to a halt by the Wuchang Pneumonia, that took a massive death toll over Costa Rica, and also the discontent of the United States.
Social situation, population
With more than 5 million inhabitants, Costa Rica’s deregulation policies also allowed for a free flow of rich migrants, coming from North America and Europe, looking forward to the total lack of fiscality towards foreigners, joining the increasing American objectivist community, constituted in the 1990s due to reservation towards the increasingly “socialist” policies in their country. This deregulation also led to the privatization of health and education facilities, leading in turn to a massive sanitary crisis in the wake of the Wuchang Pneumonia and a thinner access to higher education, both situations that were condemned by the World Council. The majority of Costa Rican population qualifies as Mestizo, as the Native American population was deeply reduced during Spanish colonization, with Roman Catholicism serving as the almost exclusive religious denomination.
Economy
A founding member of the Havana Treaty Organization, Costa Rica has a very stable economy, with a high unemployment rate and moderate inflation, based on tourism, electronics, medical components exports and IT services, having begun its transition from agriculture after the 1980s economic crisis. Nothing would have differentiated Costa Rica from its neighbors, except for a relative instability, if it were not for its Objectivist revolution : disappointed by the different administrations in the United States and enthralled by the low fiscality and the climate of Costa Rica, many Objectivist-minded businessmen settled in Costa Rica during the 1990s and 2000s, such as IT wunderkind John McAfee, who led an effort to have a libertarian government elected in Costa Rica and turn the country into an effective laboratory for objectivist ideas, as it had been done in the Pacific. It was such during the Otto Guevara administration, from 2007 to 2015 : all freedoms were inscribed in the Constitution, but an economic side, deregulation, privatization of state entreprises and public facilities, reduction of taxes and huge benefits for foreign investors were prevalent ; even if the Guevara administration could boast of a two digits growth for Costa Rica, many experts consider that life conditions and society have suffered a lot for this unrestrained policy.
Military
With a decreased role as compared to its Latin American neighbors, the Costa Rican Army is nevertheless still existent, with missions devoted to keeping the country’s borders and participating to peacekeeping missions by the Havana Treaty Organization and the World Council. Trained and monitored by the United States, the military has enjoyed an increase of its budget under the current administration.
Culture
Located at the threshold of Maya culture, Costa Rica is well known for its mysterious stone orbs disseminated throughout its landscapes ; now, thanks to its stability and relative prosperity, Costa Rica is a high place for tourism, thanks to its gorgeous landscapes and beaches. Nevertheless, since the massive deregulation initiated by the Guevara presidency, Costa Rica’s tourism took a darker turn : opening its market to foreign investors, the country has become a true Mecca for libertarians, objectivists and free-thinkers, but also for seekers of thrills, as consumption and selling of drugs and full depenalization of prostitution turned the streets of San José into a den of all decadencies, even if the current administration took measures to curb down this reputation “of the Babylon of the Americas”.
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Around the Sultan of Brunei twice. The Romanovs were very, very wealthy by the time of WWI.
It's in the millions and is a thing in former Canada, USA, Scandinavia and Germany.
The Indian subcontinent was a wild ride. To summarize it, Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah failed to come to prominence in the Indian struggle for independence, being overtaken by Bose who joined forces with the Muslims and the Japanese and refused steadily all negotiations with the British. A war of independence erupted from 1942 to 1950, a bloody affair fought alongside the World War, that spelled into Burma and Afghanistan, with Dravidians, Kashmiris, Sikhs, Baluchs, Hyderabadis and Karens siding with the British and obtaining theirown independence. Bose tried to lead India as a democracy but after being defeated in Tibet by China and Japan failing to support him, Bose took on dictatorial powers and led an ultranationalist regime, persecuting Muslims and adopting a policy of Hindutva : the country's name changed to Bharatavarsha in 1966. After Bose's death in 1981, extremist elements took power and launched a full-scale genocide of the Muslims after the Japanese Empire collapsed ; Bengal and Assam revolted, trigerring a Civil War (1988-1996), complete with nuclear bombings. Persecution of Muslims alterned with military/ultranationalist periods, but the last military coup in 2020 allowed the return of a fragile democracy.
I thought of Sanna Marin, but many heads of government in Europe, mostly from the left, are quite young ITTL. Sanna Marin is the current Minister of the Interior of Finland, while Jacinta Ardern is a Progressive Representative for Utah. Indochina was a monarchy under the Nguyens, associated too deeply with the Japanese era : the monarchy was ditched quickly after reunification.
More or less, actually, save for some change of details.