For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
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... The assassination of Rasputin at the hands of Chionya Guseva on June, 29 1914 didn't put an halt to the nefarious rumors linking him with the Imperial Couple : on the contrary, it was said that Empress Alexandra fell into stupor after the Mad Monk's demise and would fall deep into depression, fearing that the death of her holy man would mean the death of her only son Alexei.
Some scholars considered that Nikolai II, isolated by the depression of his wife, the lack of spiritual support from Rasputin and the illness of his son, decided to grant some constitutional reforms during the year 1915, in the aftermath of the Witte Riots. It was not due to a change of heart, according to this theory, but out of warriness : the same would explain the change of succession rules to male-preference primogeniture, as all hope seemed lot of Czarevich Alexei.
The figure of Rasputin remains popular in some circles in Russia, particularly in the aftermath of the Vladivostok Attack. Even if the Russian Orthodox Church refuse to acknowledge him as a holy man, various sects appeared throughout the country, hailing Rasputin either as a holy defender of the monarchy or even as the Second Coming of Christ himself ; one such example could be the cult established near Abakan, in the Siberian Taiga, under mystic Vissarion (real name Sergey Torop), who founded the True Church of Saint Gregory. Rumour has it that this cult promotes self-flagellation, self-multilation and sexual orgies in the manner of the Khlysty and Skoptsy that had influenced Rasputin himself. These Rasputin-inspired cults have of course failed to gain the approval of the Church and the State.
The Kolchak Incident of 22 July 1953 was an event of the Armed Peace between Germany and Russia ; the incident saw the sinking of the Russian Imperial Navy’s cruiser Kolchak by two German U-Boots in the Skagerrak Sea near Denmark. The confrontation is often considered as one of the closest the Armed Peace came to escalating into a global nuclear war.
Commissioned in 1952 and named after former Prime Minister and Admiral Alexander Kolchak (1874-1945), the Russian cruiser Kolchak was considered the jewel of the Russian Imperial Fleet and embarked during Summer 1953 in a mission of patrolling the Baltic Sea up to the Skagerrak Strait (between Denmark and Norway) in order to test its capacities.
These patrols, held in the immediate aftermath of the detonation of the first Russian nuclear bomb and the Second Polish War, deeply stressed the battle-weary Kaiserliche Marine ; on 22 July 1953, as the Kolchak was returning to its base in Petrograd, she was intercepted by German U-3540 and U-4029, that repeatedly asked the cruiser to identify herself ; the Russians declined to answer and the two U-Boots opened fire, as according to the rules of engagement in Reichspakt-controlled seas ; the Kolchak was hit five times by torpedoes and the ship was abandoned.
The Russian government considered the sinking an act of war and Germany had to deeply water down their conditions for peace for the Second Polish War, accepting that Poland would be a neutral buffer state between Germany and Russia, forbidden to join the Reichspakt in any circumstances. The German efforts were seen as an admission of weakness by Russia, that began to prepare for the Estonian War (1954-1956), another close call of the Armed Peace.
The wreck of Kolchak was discovered in 1989.
Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin (born June 1, 1961 in Petrograd, Russia) is a Russian crime lord and founder and leader of the Apraksinskaya gang, one of the most powerful gangs in Russian organized crime.
The only child of a Jewish mining engineer and a Russian hospital nurse, Prigozhin was a successful junior professional skier before being forced to abandon due to an injury. While working as a fitness trainer, Prigozhin was condemned to various sentences due to facts of stealing, burglary, robbery, fraud and criminal conspiracy, spending a total of twelve years in detention.
Upon release on good behavior in 1993, Prigozhin started a fast food business alongside his family at the Apraksin Dvor open-air market in Petrograd ; his business became very successful and he was able, by 1995, to open the Contrast grocery store and restaurant chains and the Spectrum casino line, entering the list of Russian billionaires by 2000 and able to expand his business in China and Central Europe, earning him the nickname of “The Chef” and being hailed as a successful economic leader during the 1998 economic downturn.
But it quickly appeared that Prigozhin’s image as a respectable catering businessman was a front for his criminal activities : according to the Okhrana, Prigozhin started with fellow former convicts the Apraksinskaya gang, named after the place of his starting business, and started an open turf war against his competitors and later his criminal rivals, being able to flourish thanks to corruption in the chaotic time that followed the Vladivostok terrorist attack. By 1996, Prigozhin was the undisputed crime lord of the Petrograd underground and quickly expanded his operations throughout Russia, fighting the powerful Chechen and Georgian outfits, while forging alliances with foreign organized crime, in France, China and South America.
Aside from money laundering, assured by his restaurant and casino businesses, Prigozhin has versed in fraud, racketeering, burglary, arms, drug and human trafficking, murder, smuggling, kidnapping, proxenetism and massive corruption, building an intricate web of allies in politics and law enforcement, lending his support to ultranationalist circles in Russia and abroad. Considered among the wealthiest crme lords in the world, Prigozhin is also noted for the extremely violent methods of his subordinates, many being former military personnel, earning him the infamous nicknames of “Sledgehammer”, referring to the Apraksinskaya gang’s weapon of choice for executions, and “The General”, due to the quasi-military organization of his own troops.
After 2006 and the massive government-led crackdown upon Georgian organized crime, Prigozhin was reportedly the most powerful crime lord in Russia and yet he escaped prosecution from Russian authorities while being denied entry in the United States and the European Community, with 10 million dollars/reichsmarks bounties being placed for information leading to his capture by German and American law agencies. Even if he relinquished control of Contrast and Spectrum to his son Pavel by 2014, Prigozhin was nevertheless reported to live peacefully in Petrograd, free from persecution.
His fortunes however changed after the 2022 coup attempt in Russia, after he was found to have funded part of the conspiracy on his own money, resulting in being officially wanted for criminal activities and high treason by the Russian government, with a 300 million roubles bounty being offered. Prigozhin is reported to live in a secure position in Damascus and to continue his business activities, mostly in arms trafficking for the Hashemite Empire in the ongoing Second Mesopotamian War, while retaining his intact clout over Russian organized crime, with official freezing of his assets being far from being effective. His son Pavel was however arrested and his legal business placed under judicial liquidation.
The Ryukyus is an archipelago between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea, southwest of Kyushu (Japan) and northeast of Taiwan (China).
History
Forming a line from Kyushu to Taiwan, the Ryukyus had a culture distinct from both Japan and China, forming their own course during the Japanese feudal era and unifying in a single kingdom in 1429 ; Shimazu Tadatsune, Lord of Satsuma, invaded the archipelago in 1609 and put it under Japanese suzerainty ; in 1879, during the Meiji era, the kingdom was annexed into Japan, forming the Okinawa Prefecture and forcing the Ryukyu king to move to Tokyo as a low-level aristocrat. In spite of linking its fate to Japan, the Ryukyus maintained a distinct cultural identity.
The authoritarian policies resulted in massive riots in Okinawa in 1970, thoroughly repressed by the Japanese Army, as civilians asked for democratization and acknowledgement of a distinct Ryukyuan identity. In the aftermath, a Ryukyuan separatist movement began to burgeon. Led by award-winning author Tatsushiro Oshiro, self-exiled to California, the movement was Toltoyist in nature, manifesting itself on sit-ins and peaceful vigils, which were heavily repressed and tracked down by Japanese intelligence. Oshiro maintained that Ryukyuan culture could easily co-exist with Japan.
The downfall of the Empire of Japan sparked massive protests throughout the archipelago during Summer 1987, refusing to draw blood and peacefully parading, as Oshiro returned from exile and won the approval of Japanese inhabitants, persuading them that they wouldn’t be persecuted by a new Ryukyuan nation, leading local and experienced politician Masahide Ota to join the protests. As the Japanese military garrison had been recalled to the Home Islands, Oshiro proclaimed the independence of the Republic of the Ryukyu Islands on 23 July 1987, ending almost four centuries of Japanese control and avoiding the bloodbaths that had happened in Taiwan or South China. Japan, too busy with turmoil at home, had nothing left to do but to accept this new state of things.
On 13 March 1988, Oshiro left the presidency to invite Sho Hiroshi, heir to the kings of the Ryukyus, to lead a Ryukyuan monarchy. Masahide Ota would be Prime Minister until 2007, while Oshiro would pass away in 2020, his non-violent philosophy heralded and the peace between Ryukyuans and Yamatos preserved in a modern country. Feeling threatened by Japanese resurgence after a tense standoff between China and Japan in the vicinity of the archipelago from 1995 to 1996, the Ryukyus proclaimed their absolute neutrality, before eventually joining the Asian Prosperity Sphere in 2001.
Political situation
According to its 1988 Constitution, the Ryukyu Kingdom is a federal parliamentary monarchy, with each island forming the archipelago having some degree of autonomy, the most important being Okinawa, the most populated, where the capital and largest city, Naha, is located. As the monarch has only ceremonial powers, the unicameral Diet is elected on a four-year-basis, votes lows and appoints the Prime Minister, that serves as head of government. The judicial system is inspired by the Japanese one. Reflecting the peaceful nature of the Ryukyuan Revolution and the philosophy of separatist leader Tatsushiro Oshiro, the Constitution guarantees the physical integrity and freedom of its residents, basing Ryukyuan citizenship on both jus soli and jus sanguinis, thus not excluding longtime Japanese inhabitants of the archipelago. As such, Japanese and Okinawan are both the country’s official languages.
The reigning king is Mamoru, the second monarch since renewed independence, who had succeeded his father Hiroshi in 1996. Hailing from the House of Sho, the same than the pre-Japanese independence, Sho Mamoru was, as his father, a Japanese titled nobleman and an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Even as no member of the family spoke Okinawan, the House of Sho accepted the offer from the new nation out of duty and, most certainly, knowing that the family’s prospects weren’t so bright under the new Japanese republic. The king has served as a dutiful ceremonial monarch, helping to enhance the country’s respectability.
The current Prime Minister is Atsushi Sakima since 24 February 2019, a member of the Yamato-Ryukyu Union, a conservative coalition supported by Japanese inhabitants. The former Mayor of Jinon (Okinawa), he was part of the 2015 conservative landslide that led to the election of Mikio Shimoji, an avowed Japanese nationalist, on an agenda on strengthening bonds with the former Home Islands. Due to misappropriation of funds and poor management, Shimoji was removed as Prime Minister by a vote of non-confidence, leading to the designation of Sakima who pursued the same policies. Delayed due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, the August 2020 elections returned the Yamato-Ryukyu Union to power with a decreased majority.
Social situation, population
With more than 1.5 million inhabitants and a density of 340 people/km², the Ryukyu Islands can effectively be seen as a crowded archipelago, with Okinawa concentrating much of the population. The ethnic Ryukyuans have formed a minority ever since Japanese suzerainty, with many Yamatos settling in the Ryukyus. There were fears of violence against ethnic Japanese during the Revolution, but the Constitution placated all concern thanks to its inclusive nature and now, Ryukyuans and Yamatos live side by side. However, if Ryukyuans speak both languages, the same can not be said of the Yamatos, as Japanese remains by far the most spoken language within the Kingdom.
As in Japan, the aging population is a deep concern for the government, who is counting on technology and immigration from China to keep the nation functioning in the near future and avoid bankruptcy due to retirement pensions.
Economy
Too remote from Japan to take part in the mass industrialization that marked the 20th Century, the Ryukyu Islands is still heavily dependent on agriculture and manufacturing, with the archipelago’s main exports being refined sugar, silk and phosphates. The government made efforts to promote services and tourism, putting forward its tropical climate, its lush ecosystem and its preserved traditions, even if typhoons are more and more frequent and take their usual tool over the archipelago’s infrastructures. Due to the hospitality of the Ryukyus, the government also counts on installations from high tech companies, heralding a very lenient fiscality, with debates within the World Council to brand the Ryukyus as a tax haven. As such, the country is heavily dependent on imports and trade from China, leading to massive concerns of the Ryukyus only trading a Japanese overlord for a Chinese one.
Military
The Ryukyuan Armed Forces are small, even compared to the country’s population. Officially neutral since 1996, the military took advantage of the cooperation agreements with China to massively upgrade their equipment, even if they reflect the non-violent nature of the Ryukyuan Revolution. Even if strictly confined to defense and peacekeeping, the Ryukyuan Army remains on high alert due to fears of Japanese aggression, moreover due to concerns over irredentist resurgence. Thus the archipelago counts a lot over China for its protection, even if the government has resisted repeated calls for installation of a military base in Okinawa.
Culture
The father of Ryukyuan independence, Tatsushiro Oshiro (1925-2020), was a novelist and playwright who had received the Akutagawa Prize in 1967 ; in spite of being an ethnic Yamato, he made much to make the Ryukyuan culture available and invested himself into the Ryukyuan cause. In the contrary of many newly independent countries of the 20th Century, there is no push for a nationalist renewal in the Ryukyus, as Japan has been acknowledged as a tenet of local culture. Indigenous culture, traditions and religion are still preserved but live their own life. Keeping with this peaceful coexistence, the Ryukyus have also a staunch environmentalist stance, preserving the unique fauna and flora of the tropical archipelago, mostly south of Watase’s Line.
History
Forming a line from Kyushu to Taiwan, the Ryukyus had a culture distinct from both Japan and China, forming their own course during the Japanese feudal era and unifying in a single kingdom in 1429 ; Shimazu Tadatsune, Lord of Satsuma, invaded the archipelago in 1609 and put it under Japanese suzerainty ; in 1879, during the Meiji era, the kingdom was annexed into Japan, forming the Okinawa Prefecture and forcing the Ryukyu king to move to Tokyo as a low-level aristocrat. In spite of linking its fate to Japan, the Ryukyus maintained a distinct cultural identity.
The authoritarian policies resulted in massive riots in Okinawa in 1970, thoroughly repressed by the Japanese Army, as civilians asked for democratization and acknowledgement of a distinct Ryukyuan identity. In the aftermath, a Ryukyuan separatist movement began to burgeon. Led by award-winning author Tatsushiro Oshiro, self-exiled to California, the movement was Toltoyist in nature, manifesting itself on sit-ins and peaceful vigils, which were heavily repressed and tracked down by Japanese intelligence. Oshiro maintained that Ryukyuan culture could easily co-exist with Japan.
The downfall of the Empire of Japan sparked massive protests throughout the archipelago during Summer 1987, refusing to draw blood and peacefully parading, as Oshiro returned from exile and won the approval of Japanese inhabitants, persuading them that they wouldn’t be persecuted by a new Ryukyuan nation, leading local and experienced politician Masahide Ota to join the protests. As the Japanese military garrison had been recalled to the Home Islands, Oshiro proclaimed the independence of the Republic of the Ryukyu Islands on 23 July 1987, ending almost four centuries of Japanese control and avoiding the bloodbaths that had happened in Taiwan or South China. Japan, too busy with turmoil at home, had nothing left to do but to accept this new state of things.
On 13 March 1988, Oshiro left the presidency to invite Sho Hiroshi, heir to the kings of the Ryukyus, to lead a Ryukyuan monarchy. Masahide Ota would be Prime Minister until 2007, while Oshiro would pass away in 2020, his non-violent philosophy heralded and the peace between Ryukyuans and Yamatos preserved in a modern country. Feeling threatened by Japanese resurgence after a tense standoff between China and Japan in the vicinity of the archipelago from 1995 to 1996, the Ryukyus proclaimed their absolute neutrality, before eventually joining the Asian Prosperity Sphere in 2001.
Political situation
According to its 1988 Constitution, the Ryukyu Kingdom is a federal parliamentary monarchy, with each island forming the archipelago having some degree of autonomy, the most important being Okinawa, the most populated, where the capital and largest city, Naha, is located. As the monarch has only ceremonial powers, the unicameral Diet is elected on a four-year-basis, votes lows and appoints the Prime Minister, that serves as head of government. The judicial system is inspired by the Japanese one. Reflecting the peaceful nature of the Ryukyuan Revolution and the philosophy of separatist leader Tatsushiro Oshiro, the Constitution guarantees the physical integrity and freedom of its residents, basing Ryukyuan citizenship on both jus soli and jus sanguinis, thus not excluding longtime Japanese inhabitants of the archipelago. As such, Japanese and Okinawan are both the country’s official languages.
The reigning king is Mamoru, the second monarch since renewed independence, who had succeeded his father Hiroshi in 1996. Hailing from the House of Sho, the same than the pre-Japanese independence, Sho Mamoru was, as his father, a Japanese titled nobleman and an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Even as no member of the family spoke Okinawan, the House of Sho accepted the offer from the new nation out of duty and, most certainly, knowing that the family’s prospects weren’t so bright under the new Japanese republic. The king has served as a dutiful ceremonial monarch, helping to enhance the country’s respectability.
The current Prime Minister is Atsushi Sakima since 24 February 2019, a member of the Yamato-Ryukyu Union, a conservative coalition supported by Japanese inhabitants. The former Mayor of Jinon (Okinawa), he was part of the 2015 conservative landslide that led to the election of Mikio Shimoji, an avowed Japanese nationalist, on an agenda on strengthening bonds with the former Home Islands. Due to misappropriation of funds and poor management, Shimoji was removed as Prime Minister by a vote of non-confidence, leading to the designation of Sakima who pursued the same policies. Delayed due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, the August 2020 elections returned the Yamato-Ryukyu Union to power with a decreased majority.
Social situation, population
With more than 1.5 million inhabitants and a density of 340 people/km², the Ryukyu Islands can effectively be seen as a crowded archipelago, with Okinawa concentrating much of the population. The ethnic Ryukyuans have formed a minority ever since Japanese suzerainty, with many Yamatos settling in the Ryukyus. There were fears of violence against ethnic Japanese during the Revolution, but the Constitution placated all concern thanks to its inclusive nature and now, Ryukyuans and Yamatos live side by side. However, if Ryukyuans speak both languages, the same can not be said of the Yamatos, as Japanese remains by far the most spoken language within the Kingdom.
As in Japan, the aging population is a deep concern for the government, who is counting on technology and immigration from China to keep the nation functioning in the near future and avoid bankruptcy due to retirement pensions.
Economy
Too remote from Japan to take part in the mass industrialization that marked the 20th Century, the Ryukyu Islands is still heavily dependent on agriculture and manufacturing, with the archipelago’s main exports being refined sugar, silk and phosphates. The government made efforts to promote services and tourism, putting forward its tropical climate, its lush ecosystem and its preserved traditions, even if typhoons are more and more frequent and take their usual tool over the archipelago’s infrastructures. Due to the hospitality of the Ryukyus, the government also counts on installations from high tech companies, heralding a very lenient fiscality, with debates within the World Council to brand the Ryukyus as a tax haven. As such, the country is heavily dependent on imports and trade from China, leading to massive concerns of the Ryukyus only trading a Japanese overlord for a Chinese one.
Military
The Ryukyuan Armed Forces are small, even compared to the country’s population. Officially neutral since 1996, the military took advantage of the cooperation agreements with China to massively upgrade their equipment, even if they reflect the non-violent nature of the Ryukyuan Revolution. Even if strictly confined to defense and peacekeeping, the Ryukyuan Army remains on high alert due to fears of Japanese aggression, moreover due to concerns over irredentist resurgence. Thus the archipelago counts a lot over China for its protection, even if the government has resisted repeated calls for installation of a military base in Okinawa.
Culture
The father of Ryukyuan independence, Tatsushiro Oshiro (1925-2020), was a novelist and playwright who had received the Akutagawa Prize in 1967 ; in spite of being an ethnic Yamato, he made much to make the Ryukyuan culture available and invested himself into the Ryukyuan cause. In the contrary of many newly independent countries of the 20th Century, there is no push for a nationalist renewal in the Ryukyus, as Japan has been acknowledged as a tenet of local culture. Indigenous culture, traditions and religion are still preserved but live their own life. Keeping with this peaceful coexistence, the Ryukyus have also a staunch environmentalist stance, preserving the unique fauna and flora of the tropical archipelago, mostly south of Watase’s Line.
Mamoru (born 18 August 1950 in Tokyo, Japan) has been King of the Ryukyus since August, 30 1996, succeeding his father Hiroshi as the second regnant monarch of the Asian archipelago since its independence in 1987.
The great-great-grandson of Tai, the last King of the Ryukyu Kingdom before its annexation by Japan in 1872, nothing would have expected Sho Mamoru to become one day a reigning head of state. After his family had been deprived of their demesne during the Meiji era, they accepted themselves into Japanese nobility, bearing the title of Marquess and serving, as his father did, in the Japanese Imperial Navy. Nevertheless, the Sho family soon became embroiled in the Ryukyuan Revolution, after the Empire had been thrown apart in the Home Islands; after the independence was proclaimed in 1987, acting President Tatsuhiro Oshiro went to see Sho Hiroshi and asked him to claim his birthright as the rightful monarch of the Ryukyus. Even if he had always been faithful to the Chrysantheum Throne, and his ancestors before him, Hiroshi, aged 70, guessed that the family's future didn't look so bright in the new Japanese Republic, and he accepted, adopting the title of constitutional monarch on March, 13 1988. He would reign for less than six years and a half before passing away, leading Mamoru to take his succession.
King Mamoru was not a native speaker of Ryukyuan, but has tried his best to enforce his constitutional role and duties, letting his Prime Ministers hold executive power, in the contrary of his former Japanese overlords ; the office of King of the Ryukyus is an enormous advantage for the young country, giving them a legitimacy that many post-Sphere of Coprosperity countries would desire.
The Ryukyuan Revolution was a peaceful uprising in the Ryukyu Archipelago that happened amid the 1987 Japanese Revolution, that resulted in the restoration of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the independence of the country from Japan.
Formerly a vassal kingdom of the Empire of Japan, forming integrant part of Japan since the Meiji Era, the Ryukyus nevertheless managed to develop a distinct cultural identity in spite of Japanese colonialism. What was felt as cultural obliteration resulted in the burgeoning of a Ryukyuan separatist movement, following the repression of the 1970 Okinawa Riots ; heavily influenced by Tolstoyism, Ryukyuan nationalists maintained a non-violent opposition, resulting in numerous sit-ins and peaceful vigils, heavily repressed by the Japanese military. Okinawan leader Tatsuhiro Oshiro, an award-winning author, exiled himself to California and promoted Ryukyuan identity, stressing that it could be easily merged with the Japanese culture.
In the aftermath of the downfall of the Empire of Japan, Ryukyuan nationalists took to the streets and heavily protested during Summer 1987, refusing to draw blood and peacefully parading throughout the many islands of the Archipelago ; Oshiro returned from exile and made his best to persuade Japanese nationals that an hypothetic Ryukyuan independent country would not mean their expulsion from Japan ; as a result, experienced politician Masahide Ota joined the protests and pushed Oshiro to proclaim an independent Republic of the Ryukyus, with the former as Prime Minister and the latter as President. The Japanese military garisson had been sent back to the Home Islands to quell down protests, civilians accepted the prospect of a stable independent country without the violence that had happened in Formosa, Korea or China, and the Japanese government was too busy dealing with chaos to repress Ryukyuan independence.
On March, 13 1988, the Ryukyuan Revolution was completed with the adoption of a Constitution, reestablishing a monarchy : the heir to the last Kings of the Ryukyus, Sho Hiroshi, who had lived in Tokyo for his own life and didn’t even spoke Okinawan, was designated as King, succeeding Oshiro. Ota would rule as Prime Minister until 2007. The Ryukyuan Constitution proclaimed both Okinawan and Japanese as its official languages and stressed upon the physical integrity and freedom of its residents, basing Ryukyuan citizenship on both jus soli and jus sanguinis.
The peacefulness and smoothness of the Ryukyuan Revolution was heralded throughout the world, particulary in light of the protests that happened in Japan, Russia and South Africa, and the Ryukyuan Kingdom had been hailed as a model state of peaceful coexistence, even if recent governments stressed their support for the use of Okinawan language and revival of the Ryukyuan folk religion over respectively Japanese and Shinto.
The Ryukyu Islands Incident (also known as the Ryukyu Standoff) was a naval standoff between China and Japan, that happened in the vicinity of the Ryukyu Kingdom, that lasted from 21 July 1995 to 23 March 1996.
Newly returning Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Ishihara, an proud Pyrist, had promised for his country to turn back to its past glory and dispatched Japanese Navy battleships to the Ryukyu Archipelago, that had been newly independent since 1987 and had been part of Japan for more than a century. The Ryukyus had always been heavily influenced by neighbouring China, and Ishihara claimed that Chinese plans were to eventually annex the islands. The Chinese Navy dispatched their own vessels to the Ryukyus, fearing that the small kingdom would meet the same terrible fate than the Republic of Ezo the year prior.
The resulting standoff, even if it was believed as the time to be a close call for an all-out China-Japan war, saw no shot fired : Ishihara believed it to be a test for the resolve of China against Japanese resurgence, while Chinese President Wen Jiabao prefered to concentrate upon the Formosa and Hong Kong questions, all the while protecting Ryukyuan independence. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Formosa, the Ryukyu Governement allowed the standoff to stop by proclaiming its absolute neutrality in Asian affairs, abstaining itself from rejoining the Asian Prosperity Sphere.
Both sides considered the result as a victory, Shintara viewing it as evidence of Chinese weakness, China as a direct confrontation easily avoided. As of the Ryukyus, they continued to fear Japanese irrendentism, and they would eventually join the Sphere in 2001.
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El Salvador is a country in Central America, bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala and on the south by the Pacific Ocean.
History
Thanks to the permanence of a strong oligarchy, composed of coffee producers, El Salvador began the 20th Century with a relative stability but the dynasty, pressed by international pressure, was forced to agree to a free election in 1931 that led to the accession of Arturo Araujo… Only, six months later, to be deposed by a military coup. Farabundo Marti, a rural leader who had converted to Syndicalism following the French Revolution and the Central American secession, started a popular revolt and called upon the neighbouring country ; the Central Americans responded by invading the country on 22 January 1932, defeating the Salvadoran Army in a week, before Salvador was annexed into the Social Republic of Central America on 11 July 1932.
Farabundo Marti would himself rise to the charge of President of the Social Republic in 1935, deposing Genovevo de la O in a military coup ; aligned on the Sorelians, Marti presided over the invasion of Nicaragua (1936) and Honduras (1941), continued the Nicaragua Canal project and was close to the CWR before the World War, where the country remained neutral owing to distances. In 1947, Mexico invaded Central America as part of the Alliance, forcing Marti to go underground upon defeat in 1948. After having his forces depleted by the Americans, Marti went into exile in 1953 in Chile, where he died in 1957, murdered by American agents.
El Salvador recovered its independence in 1952, under General Oscar Osorio, a former Syndicalist military officer who turned to collaboration with the Americans : the Central American experience, however, made any return of the pre-revolutionary oligarchy impossible, as popular dissent was unable to be repressed; the Salvadoran political climate soon became particularly violent, between neo-Syndicalist militias and American-backed far right militias, leading to a military coup in 1969 and a coup attempt in 1972. The high level of corruption seen during the Presidency of José Napoléon Duarte Fuentes (1972-1980) further radicalized Salvadoran politics, leading to riots and targeted assassinations during the 1980 election. The 1983 krach totally destroyed the fledging economy and the conservatives forces, backed by the Robertson Administration, threw their weight behind pyrist military officer Roberto D’Aubuisson, who was elected President for the Nationalist Republican Alliance in 1984.
D’Aubuisson, with full support of Washington, initiated a self-coup in 1985, assuming full dictatorial powers and launched a massive crackdown upon leftist militias and supporters, suspending human rights and authorizing extrajudicial killings and arrests, often perpetrated by foreign mercenaries and supporters. D’Aubuisson was hailed as a hero in far right circles in Europe and North America, being presented as “the sane man’s response to the return of Syndicalism” ; dubbed by some as a “Salvadoran genocide”, the D’Aubuisson regime led to more than 200,000 deaths and disappearences, also directed towards Amerindian populations. A frequent guest of Pat Robertson in the White House, D’Aubuisson was forced to scale down his rhetoric after Al Gore threatened Salvador with a blockade and expelling from the Havana Treaty Organization ; D’Aubuisson died on esophageal cancer shortly before ending his second and last term in 1992.
Laicized Catholic priest Rutilio Grande won the 1992 presidential election as head of a “back to normalcy” coalition and was able to restore democracy along with law and order, but the scars inflicted by the D’Aubuisson regime upon Salvador were unable to heal, as the executioners were free and the victims not served justice ; the wounds opened once and for all after the 2001 earthquake, that destroyed an economy that had not quite recovered. Political violence in Salvador led to the assassination of two presidents (Rodrigo Avila in 2007 ; Eduardo D’Aubuisson, Roberto’s son, in 2019) and a military coup in 2021, under the pretense of restoring order in a scarred society.
Political situation
Prior to the 2021 coup, El Salvador was an unitary presidential constitutional republic with an unicameral Legislative Assembly and an independent judiciary. Since the World War and the end of the Social Republic of Central America, the Salvadoran political life was dominated by the National Action Party (center-left), the Christian Democratic Party (centrist), the National Republican Alliance (right-wing) but in fact, Salvador counts thousands of political groups, either from the far right or the far left, all inclined towards changing life and society, even through violent means and targeted killings, with as many ideologies as they are people, whether they be neo-syndicalists, pyrists, Doriotists, Legionarists, neo-Kemites, neo-Pagans or just anarchists.
But on 8 June 2021, Vice Admiral René Merino Monroy, Minister of Defense, seized power in a bloodless military coup from President Carmen Aida Lazo, citing the “growing concern over the chaotic political debate in Salvador”, leading to putting the whole country under martial law and to suspend the Constitution ; Monroy was elected President in a snap election by the Legislative Assembly, legitimizing his coup and providing him with emergency powers until the scheduled 2024 presidential election. Educated in the United States, Merino Monroy has been quite successful in forcing political militias to abandon their weaponry, become registered as political parties or detaining those who resisted… or killing them. Nevertheless, the military regime is seen as being of little concern for the United States, who didn’t take any retaliatory action against Salvador.
Social situation, population
Counting almost 6,5 million inhabitants, most notably without a sizeable African population (due to historical circumstances and having no coast on the Atlantic) but of mostly mestizo origin, El Salvador has never really recovered from four decades of political violence and so did its population, pushing millions to immigration to the United States or neighboring countries, along with massive urbanization, leading the capital, San Salvador, to be overridden with slums. As such, public education, human rights and health care have significantly dropped.
Nevertheless, as opposed to similar countries such as Honduras, organized crime failed to take root in Salvador, owing to heightened government scrutiny and vigilantism activities by political groups from both sides, managing to restore law and order as long as politics and territorial expansion not concerned.
Economy
A member of the Havana Treaty Organization, Salvador has never quite managed to go pass the agricultural stage, focusing on coffee, sugar cane and cotton, a system that benefited to the local oligarchy ; all efforts to evolve to manufacturing or industry have been hampered by the 1983 krach and, after the massive disruption brought by the D’Aubuisson regime, the 2001 earthquake that contributed to send the Salvadoran colon into the abyss. The country remains poor and outpaced in both tourism and foreign investment by neighbouring countries.
Nevertheless, Salvador has a prodigal son, the 15th wealthiest man in the world, Nayib Bukele, who was born in the country and immigrated to the United States before making a fortune estimated in 2022 to 65 billion dollars with Netzcash exchange. A popular hero for the Salvadoran masses, the tycoon has massively invested into his home country’s economy, cultivating relations with all political parties and the military, even the country has yet to benefit from the trickle down…
Military
In charge of the country since 2021, the Salvadoran military has had a reputation for being better at handling issues than politicians, having assumed power three times since the World War, with the heavy collaboration between the D’Aubuisson administration counting. Still popular for the average Salvadoran, the Army reamins however small and heavily dependent on the United States, with many reports of summary executions of opposants being filed by human rights groups.
Culture
Much lesser known for its local culture and landscapes than neighbouring countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica or Nicaragua, and thus irrelevant in the eyes of the average tourist, Salvador has been known for its football team and being a high place for liberation theology, as seen with President Rutilio Grande, a former priest, and Archbishop Oscar Romero.
History
Thanks to the permanence of a strong oligarchy, composed of coffee producers, El Salvador began the 20th Century with a relative stability but the dynasty, pressed by international pressure, was forced to agree to a free election in 1931 that led to the accession of Arturo Araujo… Only, six months later, to be deposed by a military coup. Farabundo Marti, a rural leader who had converted to Syndicalism following the French Revolution and the Central American secession, started a popular revolt and called upon the neighbouring country ; the Central Americans responded by invading the country on 22 January 1932, defeating the Salvadoran Army in a week, before Salvador was annexed into the Social Republic of Central America on 11 July 1932.
Farabundo Marti would himself rise to the charge of President of the Social Republic in 1935, deposing Genovevo de la O in a military coup ; aligned on the Sorelians, Marti presided over the invasion of Nicaragua (1936) and Honduras (1941), continued the Nicaragua Canal project and was close to the CWR before the World War, where the country remained neutral owing to distances. In 1947, Mexico invaded Central America as part of the Alliance, forcing Marti to go underground upon defeat in 1948. After having his forces depleted by the Americans, Marti went into exile in 1953 in Chile, where he died in 1957, murdered by American agents.
El Salvador recovered its independence in 1952, under General Oscar Osorio, a former Syndicalist military officer who turned to collaboration with the Americans : the Central American experience, however, made any return of the pre-revolutionary oligarchy impossible, as popular dissent was unable to be repressed; the Salvadoran political climate soon became particularly violent, between neo-Syndicalist militias and American-backed far right militias, leading to a military coup in 1969 and a coup attempt in 1972. The high level of corruption seen during the Presidency of José Napoléon Duarte Fuentes (1972-1980) further radicalized Salvadoran politics, leading to riots and targeted assassinations during the 1980 election. The 1983 krach totally destroyed the fledging economy and the conservatives forces, backed by the Robertson Administration, threw their weight behind pyrist military officer Roberto D’Aubuisson, who was elected President for the Nationalist Republican Alliance in 1984.
D’Aubuisson, with full support of Washington, initiated a self-coup in 1985, assuming full dictatorial powers and launched a massive crackdown upon leftist militias and supporters, suspending human rights and authorizing extrajudicial killings and arrests, often perpetrated by foreign mercenaries and supporters. D’Aubuisson was hailed as a hero in far right circles in Europe and North America, being presented as “the sane man’s response to the return of Syndicalism” ; dubbed by some as a “Salvadoran genocide”, the D’Aubuisson regime led to more than 200,000 deaths and disappearences, also directed towards Amerindian populations. A frequent guest of Pat Robertson in the White House, D’Aubuisson was forced to scale down his rhetoric after Al Gore threatened Salvador with a blockade and expelling from the Havana Treaty Organization ; D’Aubuisson died on esophageal cancer shortly before ending his second and last term in 1992.
Laicized Catholic priest Rutilio Grande won the 1992 presidential election as head of a “back to normalcy” coalition and was able to restore democracy along with law and order, but the scars inflicted by the D’Aubuisson regime upon Salvador were unable to heal, as the executioners were free and the victims not served justice ; the wounds opened once and for all after the 2001 earthquake, that destroyed an economy that had not quite recovered. Political violence in Salvador led to the assassination of two presidents (Rodrigo Avila in 2007 ; Eduardo D’Aubuisson, Roberto’s son, in 2019) and a military coup in 2021, under the pretense of restoring order in a scarred society.
Political situation
Prior to the 2021 coup, El Salvador was an unitary presidential constitutional republic with an unicameral Legislative Assembly and an independent judiciary. Since the World War and the end of the Social Republic of Central America, the Salvadoran political life was dominated by the National Action Party (center-left), the Christian Democratic Party (centrist), the National Republican Alliance (right-wing) but in fact, Salvador counts thousands of political groups, either from the far right or the far left, all inclined towards changing life and society, even through violent means and targeted killings, with as many ideologies as they are people, whether they be neo-syndicalists, pyrists, Doriotists, Legionarists, neo-Kemites, neo-Pagans or just anarchists.
But on 8 June 2021, Vice Admiral René Merino Monroy, Minister of Defense, seized power in a bloodless military coup from President Carmen Aida Lazo, citing the “growing concern over the chaotic political debate in Salvador”, leading to putting the whole country under martial law and to suspend the Constitution ; Monroy was elected President in a snap election by the Legislative Assembly, legitimizing his coup and providing him with emergency powers until the scheduled 2024 presidential election. Educated in the United States, Merino Monroy has been quite successful in forcing political militias to abandon their weaponry, become registered as political parties or detaining those who resisted… or killing them. Nevertheless, the military regime is seen as being of little concern for the United States, who didn’t take any retaliatory action against Salvador.
Social situation, population
Counting almost 6,5 million inhabitants, most notably without a sizeable African population (due to historical circumstances and having no coast on the Atlantic) but of mostly mestizo origin, El Salvador has never really recovered from four decades of political violence and so did its population, pushing millions to immigration to the United States or neighboring countries, along with massive urbanization, leading the capital, San Salvador, to be overridden with slums. As such, public education, human rights and health care have significantly dropped.
Nevertheless, as opposed to similar countries such as Honduras, organized crime failed to take root in Salvador, owing to heightened government scrutiny and vigilantism activities by political groups from both sides, managing to restore law and order as long as politics and territorial expansion not concerned.
Economy
A member of the Havana Treaty Organization, Salvador has never quite managed to go pass the agricultural stage, focusing on coffee, sugar cane and cotton, a system that benefited to the local oligarchy ; all efforts to evolve to manufacturing or industry have been hampered by the 1983 krach and, after the massive disruption brought by the D’Aubuisson regime, the 2001 earthquake that contributed to send the Salvadoran colon into the abyss. The country remains poor and outpaced in both tourism and foreign investment by neighbouring countries.
Nevertheless, Salvador has a prodigal son, the 15th wealthiest man in the world, Nayib Bukele, who was born in the country and immigrated to the United States before making a fortune estimated in 2022 to 65 billion dollars with Netzcash exchange. A popular hero for the Salvadoran masses, the tycoon has massively invested into his home country’s economy, cultivating relations with all political parties and the military, even the country has yet to benefit from the trickle down…
Military
In charge of the country since 2021, the Salvadoran military has had a reputation for being better at handling issues than politicians, having assumed power three times since the World War, with the heavy collaboration between the D’Aubuisson administration counting. Still popular for the average Salvadoran, the Army reamins however small and heavily dependent on the United States, with many reports of summary executions of opposants being filed by human rights groups.
Culture
Much lesser known for its local culture and landscapes than neighbouring countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica or Nicaragua, and thus irrelevant in the eyes of the average tourist, Salvador has been known for its football team and being a high place for liberation theology, as seen with President Rutilio Grande, a former priest, and Archbishop Oscar Romero.
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Scotland is a country in Western Europe, bordered by the United Kingdom and the Irish Sea in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast.
History
The Velvet Divorce between England and Scotland can hardly be seen as a foregone conclusion. United officially since 1707, both countries participated to the rise and fall of the British Empire, all around the globe and up to the Moon, fighting side by side during the 20th Century in the Irish War, the World War and through the Greater Game. Nevertheless, the two nations began to move their different ways after the World War: Scotland was a Labour and even Syndicalist stronghold, England became more and more conservative ; the English compensated the downfall of their international relevance by jingoism, the Scots rediscovered their Celtic roots thanks to modern research and Neo-Druidism ; the whole Great Britain suffered terribly from deindustrialization and the 1983 krach, yet Scotland could now rely on the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1970. The idea of home rule or at least federalization of Great Britain began to make its way in Scottish minds : as a gesture to Welsh and Scottish Labour MPs, Prime Minister Peter Shore made devolution a campaign promise and voted the Devolution Act in 1979, that provided Wales and Scotland with their own parliament in 1982.
However, under the Devolution Act, the Scots felt frustrated that too many powers remained in London and began to push for straight independence, even as Scottish oil began to be the main asset of a fledging British economy. The Scottish National Party, running on independence or at least full federalization under the leadership of Alex Salmond, won a majority in the 1995 local election and petitioned the Williams cabinet for the organization of a referendum, citing the example of Quebec in Canada. Prime Minister Shirley Williams obliged and held a referendum on independence on 11 September 1997 that won, against all odds, a majority of 51,89 %, thanks to vigorous campaigning from the SNP and local figures. However, due to the strong abstention for the ballot, with only 48 % coming to cast their vote, the government refused to acknowledge the results, arguing that the poor turnout heralded poor interest for independance. After a week of riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow and heavy negotiations with the SNP and new supporters for the Scottish cause, Shirley Williams resigned.
Not willing that the situation in Scotland would escalate to something equivalent to the Canadian Crisis, new Prime Minister George Robertson agreed to a second referendum, establishing the terms of quasi-immediate Scottish independence, such as trade, maritime borders, membership of the Commonwealth, the Reichspakt and the European Community, binationals and political changes within the remaining United Kingdom. On 19 November 1998, after even renewed campaigning by Scottish independantists even facilitated by the 1997 riots and the confusion of the British government, independence was voted by 55 % of voters and a 73 % turnout. Six months later, on 19 May 1999, the Acts of Union were officially dissolved and Scotland became independent again after almost four centuries of union with England.
Maintaining free trade, free passage of borders and membership of the Commonwealth, Scotland would join the European Community in 2007, even if the new kingdom stressed its independence by following the Jacobite line of succession and calling upon the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria and Lithuania as rightful heirs to the Stuarts, the last Scottish dynasts : although surprised, King Vytautas III of Lithuania responded by sending to Scotland his second son, Henrikas, who took the regnal name of Robert IV of Scotland. Thanks to preparedness and the riches of oil exploitation, Scotland enjoys one of the strongest growths in Europe and is poised to become a major player of European politics.
Political situation
Drafted by Alex Salmond in 1998 and ratified by the Scottish Parliament in 2000, Scotland is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, his attributions being even more reduced than the British monarch, as all executive powers are concentrated in the Prime Minister, designated by a majority of the unicameral Parliament. Elected every four years with proportional representation for its 129 members, the Parliament received full legislative powers from the British Parliament upon independence ; it’s housed in the Old Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, with the Prime Minister seating in St. Andrew’s House. The judiciary system, based on Scots law, was already divergent from the British one before independence.
Robert IV, the first king since independence, was born Prince Henrikas of Lithuania in Kaunas, the second son of King Vytautas III. Soon after independence, willing to reassure European partners upon their moderation, distance themselves from England and reaffirm Scotland’s dynastical continuity, the government turned to the Jacobite line of succession, after the supporters of the House of Stuart’s claim to the British throne, that had ended after the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Since the House of Stuart had become extinct in 1807, the claim had passed, applying primogeniture, to the House of Savoy, the House of Este and finally to the House of Wittelsbach. King Franz of Bavaria, being childless, refuted the claim, and Vytautas III proposed his second son, barely 18, to become king of Scotland. As Jacobitism had been connected with Catholic fanaticism in the past, the Scottish government insisted that the demands made to the Wittelsbachs was a mere affirmation of the continuity of Scottish power. Prince Henrikas took the regnal name of Robert, mostly in a homage to national hero Robert Bruce ; remaining a Catholic, his proclamation ceremony on 30 November 2000 only consisted in an oath taken while seated on the Stone of Scone, that had been used for centuries for the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and then of Great Britain. Now reigning for two decades, the monarch has had children of his own and made strong efforts to learn English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, struggling to fix his Lithuanian accent.
The Prime Minister has been Angela Constance since 12 December 2019. A social worker and MP since 2007, she was elected in 2017 leader of the Social Democratic Party, Scotland’s main center-left party and cruised to victory on the 2019 general election, ending twelve years of Scottish National Party’s domination. Her agenda of ecology and social protection was put to a net stop by the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, forcing her to unpopular measures.
Social situation, population
One of the youngest sovereign states in the world, Scotland aligns on the European trend of an aging local population, mostly urban and concentrated in a Glasgow-Edinburgh line, rejuvenated by foreign migrants, mostly from Asia and Africa : if Scottish demography can be roughly compared to the British one, one can see an excess of deaths over births and of emigration over immigration as compared to England and Wales. Historically a country of emigration from old times, Scotland’s population has been slowly increasing thanks to immigration. The use of Scots and Scottish Gaelic remains sparse, as most of the population use mostly English and the government has no plans to enforce Celtification in the example of Ireland and Brittany. The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church see their flock shrinking, but the local variants of Neo-Druidism also fail to gain traction, turning instead to atheism. Binationals and cross-border workers issues were quickly resolved before independence, with Scotland guaranteeing double nationality and ensuring free passage between both countries.
Since its independence in 1999, Scotland has made efforts to become even a more progressive country than the United Kingdom, legalizing homosexual marriage in 2014 and even sanitizing their political personnel in 2013, among a series of sex scandals that brought upon the downfall of Prime MInister Alex Salmond. Human rights are widely guaranteed by the law and the Constitution and Scotland is considered one of the most advanced and democratic countries in the current world, along with a good level of life, health and education : Scotland followed the same policy of systemic quarantine and lockdown that the United Kingdom in face of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic.
Economy
One of the industrial powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland managed to make its transition to a tertiary economy, as painfully as the 1980s depression was. Recovery was even made more comfortable thanks to a godsend : the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea in 1970, with Aberdeen as its centre, providing the future nation with steady income ; with Devolution, the Scottish Parliament made lots of efforts to direct most of the incomes towards its own infrastructures, creating the feeling that England and Wales were mere parasites to the Scottish success story. In face of ecological transition, the government has made efforts to create a sovereign fund and use opportunities for investment, but all offshore drilling and production is not yet to stop, drawing the ire of some ecologist groups.
Even if the first years after independence were marked by the high costs of nationbuilding and separation of all contacts with British administration and finance, Scotland had its fortunes softened thanks to the Commonwealth and establishing freedom of passage with the United Kingdom, solidified by a treaty of free trade in 2004 ; since the entry of Scotland inside the European Community in 2007, Edinburgh is becoming a major financial and banking centre in Europe, growing more rapidly than London, with Scottish growth in the double digits until the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. Construction, transport equipment, shipbuilding, education, entertainment, biotechnology, textile, chemicals, agriculture, brewing, fishing, whisky and tourism are also major sectors of the economy, with the Silicon Glen, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, becoming one of Europe’s most important informatics center, as Scotland’s rather lenient fiscality for foreign companies being a major asset, even creating tensions with the United Kingdom.
Military
Upon independence, members of the Scottish Division of the British Army were offered the choice between the United Kingdom, which they had served since the Acts of Union, and their homeland : roughly three quarters of them chose Scotland. Counting with centuries of traditions, still marching with kilts and bagpipes, the Scottish Armed Forces are now devoted to protection of the country’s borders, on land, sea and air. Upon independence, Scotland chose to be an observer member of the Reichspakt, refraining from full membership until further notice, but participated to World Council peacekeeping missions. As a result, the British and the German Navies had to leave the international naval base of Scapa Flow in 2011, with the Scottish Royal Navy taking full control of it. Plans for the conversion of the once strategic naval base are being under consideration by the government.
Culture
Whisky. Kilts. Bagpipes. Cows. Heavy accent. Haggis. Beer. Caber toss. If anything, the clichés about Scotland are evidence that in spite of almost four centuries of union, Scotland managed to maintain their own cultural identity. In the years preceding independence, the idea of a Scottish separate identity brewed deeply into the general mind, engineering a true Scottish Renaissance. Now, writers like James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Carol Ann Duffy, artists like William Johnston, Douglas Gordon and John Bellany, music bands like Self-Abusers, Jaurès, Primal Scream, Detective Rex and Susan Boyle, directors like Lynne Ramsay and Kevin Macdonald and actors like Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, Gerald Butler and Kelly Macdonald are all Scottish names known throughout the world. Along with culture, the gorgeous landscapes of rural Scotland and the trepidant lives in Glasgow and Edinburgh are seen as heavy assets for tourism.
In sports, Scotland is trying its best at appearing in a prominent position in the Football World Cup, making decent progress in the European stage and with the Scottish League growing in importance and consideration from amateurs, other than those drawn to the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers. The young nation fares much better in rugby. The cradle of golf, curling, cycling and waterpolo, Scotland is always proud to claim that the Highland Games, still held every spring and summer (with the cancellation of events in 2020 and 2021 due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic being felt as national tragedies), inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games.
History
The Velvet Divorce between England and Scotland can hardly be seen as a foregone conclusion. United officially since 1707, both countries participated to the rise and fall of the British Empire, all around the globe and up to the Moon, fighting side by side during the 20th Century in the Irish War, the World War and through the Greater Game. Nevertheless, the two nations began to move their different ways after the World War: Scotland was a Labour and even Syndicalist stronghold, England became more and more conservative ; the English compensated the downfall of their international relevance by jingoism, the Scots rediscovered their Celtic roots thanks to modern research and Neo-Druidism ; the whole Great Britain suffered terribly from deindustrialization and the 1983 krach, yet Scotland could now rely on the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1970. The idea of home rule or at least federalization of Great Britain began to make its way in Scottish minds : as a gesture to Welsh and Scottish Labour MPs, Prime Minister Peter Shore made devolution a campaign promise and voted the Devolution Act in 1979, that provided Wales and Scotland with their own parliament in 1982.
However, under the Devolution Act, the Scots felt frustrated that too many powers remained in London and began to push for straight independence, even as Scottish oil began to be the main asset of a fledging British economy. The Scottish National Party, running on independence or at least full federalization under the leadership of Alex Salmond, won a majority in the 1995 local election and petitioned the Williams cabinet for the organization of a referendum, citing the example of Quebec in Canada. Prime Minister Shirley Williams obliged and held a referendum on independence on 11 September 1997 that won, against all odds, a majority of 51,89 %, thanks to vigorous campaigning from the SNP and local figures. However, due to the strong abstention for the ballot, with only 48 % coming to cast their vote, the government refused to acknowledge the results, arguing that the poor turnout heralded poor interest for independance. After a week of riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow and heavy negotiations with the SNP and new supporters for the Scottish cause, Shirley Williams resigned.
Not willing that the situation in Scotland would escalate to something equivalent to the Canadian Crisis, new Prime Minister George Robertson agreed to a second referendum, establishing the terms of quasi-immediate Scottish independence, such as trade, maritime borders, membership of the Commonwealth, the Reichspakt and the European Community, binationals and political changes within the remaining United Kingdom. On 19 November 1998, after even renewed campaigning by Scottish independantists even facilitated by the 1997 riots and the confusion of the British government, independence was voted by 55 % of voters and a 73 % turnout. Six months later, on 19 May 1999, the Acts of Union were officially dissolved and Scotland became independent again after almost four centuries of union with England.
Maintaining free trade, free passage of borders and membership of the Commonwealth, Scotland would join the European Community in 2007, even if the new kingdom stressed its independence by following the Jacobite line of succession and calling upon the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria and Lithuania as rightful heirs to the Stuarts, the last Scottish dynasts : although surprised, King Vytautas III of Lithuania responded by sending to Scotland his second son, Henrikas, who took the regnal name of Robert IV of Scotland. Thanks to preparedness and the riches of oil exploitation, Scotland enjoys one of the strongest growths in Europe and is poised to become a major player of European politics.
Political situation
Drafted by Alex Salmond in 1998 and ratified by the Scottish Parliament in 2000, Scotland is an unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch only holds ceremonial powers, his attributions being even more reduced than the British monarch, as all executive powers are concentrated in the Prime Minister, designated by a majority of the unicameral Parliament. Elected every four years with proportional representation for its 129 members, the Parliament received full legislative powers from the British Parliament upon independence ; it’s housed in the Old Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, with the Prime Minister seating in St. Andrew’s House. The judiciary system, based on Scots law, was already divergent from the British one before independence.
Robert IV, the first king since independence, was born Prince Henrikas of Lithuania in Kaunas, the second son of King Vytautas III. Soon after independence, willing to reassure European partners upon their moderation, distance themselves from England and reaffirm Scotland’s dynastical continuity, the government turned to the Jacobite line of succession, after the supporters of the House of Stuart’s claim to the British throne, that had ended after the Glorious Revolution in 1688. Since the House of Stuart had become extinct in 1807, the claim had passed, applying primogeniture, to the House of Savoy, the House of Este and finally to the House of Wittelsbach. King Franz of Bavaria, being childless, refuted the claim, and Vytautas III proposed his second son, barely 18, to become king of Scotland. As Jacobitism had been connected with Catholic fanaticism in the past, the Scottish government insisted that the demands made to the Wittelsbachs was a mere affirmation of the continuity of Scottish power. Prince Henrikas took the regnal name of Robert, mostly in a homage to national hero Robert Bruce ; remaining a Catholic, his proclamation ceremony on 30 November 2000 only consisted in an oath taken while seated on the Stone of Scone, that had been used for centuries for the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland, and then of Great Britain. Now reigning for two decades, the monarch has had children of his own and made strong efforts to learn English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, struggling to fix his Lithuanian accent.
The Prime Minister has been Angela Constance since 12 December 2019. A social worker and MP since 2007, she was elected in 2017 leader of the Social Democratic Party, Scotland’s main center-left party and cruised to victory on the 2019 general election, ending twelve years of Scottish National Party’s domination. Her agenda of ecology and social protection was put to a net stop by the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic, forcing her to unpopular measures.
Social situation, population
One of the youngest sovereign states in the world, Scotland aligns on the European trend of an aging local population, mostly urban and concentrated in a Glasgow-Edinburgh line, rejuvenated by foreign migrants, mostly from Asia and Africa : if Scottish demography can be roughly compared to the British one, one can see an excess of deaths over births and of emigration over immigration as compared to England and Wales. Historically a country of emigration from old times, Scotland’s population has been slowly increasing thanks to immigration. The use of Scots and Scottish Gaelic remains sparse, as most of the population use mostly English and the government has no plans to enforce Celtification in the example of Ireland and Brittany. The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church see their flock shrinking, but the local variants of Neo-Druidism also fail to gain traction, turning instead to atheism. Binationals and cross-border workers issues were quickly resolved before independence, with Scotland guaranteeing double nationality and ensuring free passage between both countries.
Since its independence in 1999, Scotland has made efforts to become even a more progressive country than the United Kingdom, legalizing homosexual marriage in 2014 and even sanitizing their political personnel in 2013, among a series of sex scandals that brought upon the downfall of Prime MInister Alex Salmond. Human rights are widely guaranteed by the law and the Constitution and Scotland is considered one of the most advanced and democratic countries in the current world, along with a good level of life, health and education : Scotland followed the same policy of systemic quarantine and lockdown that the United Kingdom in face of the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic.
Economy
One of the industrial powerhouses of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland managed to make its transition to a tertiary economy, as painfully as the 1980s depression was. Recovery was even made more comfortable thanks to a godsend : the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea in 1970, with Aberdeen as its centre, providing the future nation with steady income ; with Devolution, the Scottish Parliament made lots of efforts to direct most of the incomes towards its own infrastructures, creating the feeling that England and Wales were mere parasites to the Scottish success story. In face of ecological transition, the government has made efforts to create a sovereign fund and use opportunities for investment, but all offshore drilling and production is not yet to stop, drawing the ire of some ecologist groups.
Even if the first years after independence were marked by the high costs of nationbuilding and separation of all contacts with British administration and finance, Scotland had its fortunes softened thanks to the Commonwealth and establishing freedom of passage with the United Kingdom, solidified by a treaty of free trade in 2004 ; since the entry of Scotland inside the European Community in 2007, Edinburgh is becoming a major financial and banking centre in Europe, growing more rapidly than London, with Scottish growth in the double digits until the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic. Construction, transport equipment, shipbuilding, education, entertainment, biotechnology, textile, chemicals, agriculture, brewing, fishing, whisky and tourism are also major sectors of the economy, with the Silicon Glen, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, becoming one of Europe’s most important informatics center, as Scotland’s rather lenient fiscality for foreign companies being a major asset, even creating tensions with the United Kingdom.
Military
Upon independence, members of the Scottish Division of the British Army were offered the choice between the United Kingdom, which they had served since the Acts of Union, and their homeland : roughly three quarters of them chose Scotland. Counting with centuries of traditions, still marching with kilts and bagpipes, the Scottish Armed Forces are now devoted to protection of the country’s borders, on land, sea and air. Upon independence, Scotland chose to be an observer member of the Reichspakt, refraining from full membership until further notice, but participated to World Council peacekeeping missions. As a result, the British and the German Navies had to leave the international naval base of Scapa Flow in 2011, with the Scottish Royal Navy taking full control of it. Plans for the conversion of the once strategic naval base are being under consideration by the government.
Culture
Whisky. Kilts. Bagpipes. Cows. Heavy accent. Haggis. Beer. Caber toss. If anything, the clichés about Scotland are evidence that in spite of almost four centuries of union, Scotland managed to maintain their own cultural identity. In the years preceding independence, the idea of a Scottish separate identity brewed deeply into the general mind, engineering a true Scottish Renaissance. Now, writers like James Kelman, Irvine Welsh and Carol Ann Duffy, artists like William Johnston, Douglas Gordon and John Bellany, music bands like Self-Abusers, Jaurès, Primal Scream, Detective Rex and Susan Boyle, directors like Lynne Ramsay and Kevin Macdonald and actors like Ewan McGregor, David Tennant, Gerald Butler and Kelly Macdonald are all Scottish names known throughout the world. Along with culture, the gorgeous landscapes of rural Scotland and the trepidant lives in Glasgow and Edinburgh are seen as heavy assets for tourism.
In sports, Scotland is trying its best at appearing in a prominent position in the Football World Cup, making decent progress in the European stage and with the Scottish League growing in importance and consideration from amateurs, other than those drawn to the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers. The young nation fares much better in rugby. The cradle of golf, curling, cycling and waterpolo, Scotland is always proud to claim that the Highland Games, still held every spring and summer (with the cancellation of events in 2020 and 2021 due to the Wuchang Pneumonia pandemic being felt as national tragedies), inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games.