Man's Best Friend: An Alternate 1990s and Beyond
- Thread starter THE KINGFISH
- Start date
I’ll probably go into more detail on the fate of the Jaguar when we get to it. And plus, I have a feeling that the different circumstances would change how Atari sinks circa the late 90s.
Somalia has been in a civil war since at least the late 1980s[1], and is still ongoing IOTL. Here the war ends early on because the UN Intervention wasn't botched due to indirect butterflies and now Somalia is placed under administration by an American-led coalition.
[1]This is actually disputed, some say the conflict started as early as 1978 - right after the clusterfuck that was the Ogaden War - with a failed coup against Siad Barre.
Meanwhile, In The Middle East…
I'm gonna leave this up to you guys' interpretation....
A Storm Brews in Sudan
Excerpt from Phase 3…2…1: An Overview of Islamic Fundamentalism From the Iranian Revolution to the Seven Days of Terror (2027)
The “Rape of Somalia” - as referred to by the main critics of American foreign policy and those of the nascent al-Queda - and the failure of the bombing plot in New York City by Yousef, had left bin Laden enraged. His anger simmered beneath the surface, fueling his desire for revenge against the perceived injustices inflicted upon Muslim nations by Western powers. As he stewed in his rage, bin Laden found solace and support in the fertile grounds of Sudan, where he had established a base of operations following his expulsion from Saudi Arabia.[1]
The damage done
versus the status of the towers themselves
Within the country, a storm brewed not only in the desert skies but also within the clandestine corridors where bin Laden and his followers plotted their next move. To bin Laden, Somalia was the gateway that opened up the Holy Sites to the outside world - allowing the influence of Islam to spread. Yet, this occupation - which came merely three years after the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia during the First Persian Gulf War - convinced him that the Americans were inviting themselves into the Middle East by diplomacy or by destruction. Godless American capitalism - taking advantage of easy trade routes that linked the increasingly connected economy together - would then deliver the finishing, emasculating blow to Islamic society and way of life.[2]
If Al-Qaeda’s goal was the eviction of American influence from the Middle East, it was increasingly clear that these results were desperately poor. Bin Laden and his associates needed a hook to ordinary Muslims - one that would galvanize those to their cause and give them the resources necessary for their next plan of action. Simply sending the Americans running with their tails between their legs was not going to cut it anymore - they wanted something that would strike inspiration. In the dimly lit rooms of their base operations, bin Laden and his inner circle - which included the likes of WTC bombing architect Ramzi Yousef and his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - would spend restless nights meticulously researching and reviewing Western society and way of life in order to exploit any perceived cracks in the American Empire. It was in their heavy research that the group were able to identify the three Achilles’ heels of Western imperialism. Three weak spots that if stressed enough, would bring the entire house down and al-Qaeda to victory.[3]
Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
The first was the Roman Catholic Church - as commanded by Pope John Paul II. The Catholic Church was the cradle of Western civilization - and the prime engine of the West’s imperial conquests during Islam’s prime years. Yet even in these “godless” times, the Church under John Paul II had paved the way for the rebellions in Eastern Europe that brought down the Soviet Union - and thus securing the United States’ total domination of the world. Targeting this pillar of Western society would thus compromise and fracture the West’s cultural backbone.
The second was the so-called World Wide Web - a seemingly innocuous tool of communication over interconnected computer networks. Yet this early forerunner of the modern-day GlobaLink was a free-for-all jungle of ideas - nigh completely unfettered by restrictions placed upon by government regulations - and therefore, a secret line of communication that could be exploited by those with the cunning to do so. Al-Qaeda recognized the potential of harnessing the proto-GlobaLink's power to coordinate large-scale crippling terrorist attacks from miles and miles away.
Basically, what another world thinks of as this
Lastly, yet most importantly, was the proliferation of international air travel - and the occasional, unfortunate accident that kills hundreds - unintentionally or intentionally. The early 1990s has been considered a transitional period for commercial air travel. This period - following the deregulation of the 1970s/80s and the fall of communism opening up new air routes - yet predating the rise of the ultra-efficient “Super Cruisers” of the late 2000s/early 2010s - involved an industry of contradiction and transition. Long-range and transpacific flights continued the widebody - or “jumbo jet” - trend established by the Boeing 747 in the early 1970s - with aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340 serving multiple stop flights from Asia to Europe and North America and vice versa. Yet, the early 1990s also continued a trend established in the early 1980s - the use of more compact, twin-engined airliners such as the Airbus A300, Boeing 767, and Boeing 757 to operate point-to-point flights over transatlantic and transcontinental routes, dramatically saving jet fuel and allowing greater nonstop travel. Yet unlike mere car bombs or suicide bombers, al-Qaeda had realized the destructive power of airliners if weaponized. They knew of the mere accidents that occurred in Tenerife in 1977 and Japan in 1985. They knew of the infamous hijacking incidents of Entebbe and D.B. Cooper. Most shocking of all, they even knew of the bizarre instances of planes flying into buildings - such as the 1945 crash of a B-25 into the Empire State Building, or the little-known near-miss incident of an Argentine jet towards the World Trade Center in 1981. Terrorist destruction was also not entirely unheard of - given the high profile bombings of Air India Flight 182 or Pan Am Flight 103 - even if the former was perpetuated by Sikh extremists and the latter by secular Libyans.[4]
Before and after
It was on the topic of Libya that the group received further inspiration. While the group had little love for secular pan-Arabism and its offshoots - its cowardice and spinelessness having exposed itself in both the Yom Kippur War and the Camp David Accords - there was one redeeming factor of its stench. Namely, it was its desire for unity amongst Arab nations - and a desire to rebuild a strong Islamic world. Bin Laden and his ilk would thus take a page from the shattered dreams of pan-Arabism, and intensify them to appeal to a new generation of Islamic thought. No longer would the Islamic world be shoved around by outside powers - from the now-disintegrated Ottoman and British Empires, to the fallen Soviet Union, to the current American hegemony.
And so it was. In July 1993, Bin Laden would officially issue a fatwā - which not only declared war on the United States and United Nations, but also called for the entire Muslim world - from Morocco to Mindanao - to the lone militant fighter to the armed dogmatic cells - to unite and rise up against what he proclaimed as the “Last Trinity of Zionism”. The core components of which consisted chiefly of the United States, the United Nations, and Israel. The greatest sins of this so-called “Trinity of Zionism” - the grievances of all Muslims - included the following:
While many outside the Muslim world would dismiss Bin Laden’s fatwā as a fringe declaration not supported by much of the population, the declaration - which was released around the time of an unpopular American foreign policy decision - was observed by some as having resonated with a not-insignificant number of Muslims. Consequently, al-Qaeda's decentralized cells saw an abnormal swelling in their ranks - often drawn to Bin Laden’s promise of a new Caliphate capable of determining its own destiny. In addition, the publicity brought by the fatwā greatly increased the number of wealthy patrons - primarily those from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - willing to finance the organization’s operations. These funds would be funneled to the organization via compounded layers of money laundering - often to the organization’s Manila cell, where Yousef and Mohammed would base themselves out of for the next two years.[6]
Al-Qaeda - now flush with new recruits and critical liquid funds - finally had the means of which to execute Mohammed and Yousef’s new plot. Bin Laden himself would give the final sign-off on the plot in September 1993. All the while, the West would remain blissfully unaware of the danger presented by the organization.
[1] From 1992 until 1996, al-Qaeda was based in Sudan - after Osama Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia for his relentless criticism of the Saudi government for….
[2] ….basing American troops in the country during the Persian Gulf War. When this happened, Bin Laden heavily denounced the move as a “Crusader attack against Islam”. Most importantly, the move was a critical stepping stone to the group eventually committing the September 11 attacks a decade later.
[3] IOTL, while Yousef did indeed perpetrate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed only started truly working with al-Qaeda in 1996 and was mainly independent beforehand. Here, the Somalia occupation forces the organization to regroup and rethink their strategy.
[4] Alright, let’s Keep It Simple, Stupid. So basically planes like the 747 and A340 (mainly for Euro airlines) were used on these routes since they had incredibly long range pre-777/787/A350. The twinjets actually came about as early as 1972 with the A300, but it was only in 1985 - with ETOPS coming - that they became economically viable.
[5] IOTL, Bin Laden’s two fatāwā were issued in 1996 and 1998 respectively. For obvious reasons, a variation of OTL’s fatāwā is released earlier. And while the whole “Islamic Caliphate” feels more in line with OTL’s ISIS - I want to stress that said “Caliphate” rhetoric is simply the OTL goal of kicking the Americans out of the Middle East, cranked up to eleven. And yes, much of the grievances towards American foreign policy in the Middle East are still there - such as support of Israel, military presence in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq/other mistreatment of Muslim nations.
[6] Al-Qaeda had a cell located in Manila, The Philippines as a result of the Moro conflict.
A Storm Brews in Sudan
Excerpt from Phase 3…2…1: An Overview of Islamic Fundamentalism From the Iranian Revolution to the Seven Days of Terror (2027)
The “Rape of Somalia” - as referred to by the main critics of American foreign policy and those of the nascent al-Queda - and the failure of the bombing plot in New York City by Yousef, had left bin Laden enraged. His anger simmered beneath the surface, fueling his desire for revenge against the perceived injustices inflicted upon Muslim nations by Western powers. As he stewed in his rage, bin Laden found solace and support in the fertile grounds of Sudan, where he had established a base of operations following his expulsion from Saudi Arabia.[1]
The damage done
versus the status of the towers themselves
Within the country, a storm brewed not only in the desert skies but also within the clandestine corridors where bin Laden and his followers plotted their next move. To bin Laden, Somalia was the gateway that opened up the Holy Sites to the outside world - allowing the influence of Islam to spread. Yet, this occupation - which came merely three years after the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia during the First Persian Gulf War - convinced him that the Americans were inviting themselves into the Middle East by diplomacy or by destruction. Godless American capitalism - taking advantage of easy trade routes that linked the increasingly connected economy together - would then deliver the finishing, emasculating blow to Islamic society and way of life.[2]
If Al-Qaeda’s goal was the eviction of American influence from the Middle East, it was increasingly clear that these results were desperately poor. Bin Laden and his associates needed a hook to ordinary Muslims - one that would galvanize those to their cause and give them the resources necessary for their next plan of action. Simply sending the Americans running with their tails between their legs was not going to cut it anymore - they wanted something that would strike inspiration. In the dimly lit rooms of their base operations, bin Laden and his inner circle - which included the likes of WTC bombing architect Ramzi Yousef and his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - would spend restless nights meticulously researching and reviewing Western society and way of life in order to exploit any perceived cracks in the American Empire. It was in their heavy research that the group were able to identify the three Achilles’ heels of Western imperialism. Three weak spots that if stressed enough, would bring the entire house down and al-Qaeda to victory.[3]
Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
The first was the Roman Catholic Church - as commanded by Pope John Paul II. The Catholic Church was the cradle of Western civilization - and the prime engine of the West’s imperial conquests during Islam’s prime years. Yet even in these “godless” times, the Church under John Paul II had paved the way for the rebellions in Eastern Europe that brought down the Soviet Union - and thus securing the United States’ total domination of the world. Targeting this pillar of Western society would thus compromise and fracture the West’s cultural backbone.
The second was the so-called World Wide Web - a seemingly innocuous tool of communication over interconnected computer networks. Yet this early forerunner of the modern-day GlobaLink was a free-for-all jungle of ideas - nigh completely unfettered by restrictions placed upon by government regulations - and therefore, a secret line of communication that could be exploited by those with the cunning to do so. Al-Qaeda recognized the potential of harnessing the proto-GlobaLink's power to coordinate large-scale crippling terrorist attacks from miles and miles away.
Lastly, yet most importantly, was the proliferation of international air travel - and the occasional, unfortunate accident that kills hundreds - unintentionally or intentionally. The early 1990s has been considered a transitional period for commercial air travel. This period - following the deregulation of the 1970s/80s and the fall of communism opening up new air routes - yet predating the rise of the ultra-efficient “Super Cruisers” of the late 2000s/early 2010s - involved an industry of contradiction and transition. Long-range and transpacific flights continued the widebody - or “jumbo jet” - trend established by the Boeing 747 in the early 1970s - with aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340 serving multiple stop flights from Asia to Europe and North America and vice versa. Yet, the early 1990s also continued a trend established in the early 1980s - the use of more compact, twin-engined airliners such as the Airbus A300, Boeing 767, and Boeing 757 to operate point-to-point flights over transatlantic and transcontinental routes, dramatically saving jet fuel and allowing greater nonstop travel. Yet unlike mere car bombs or suicide bombers, al-Qaeda had realized the destructive power of airliners if weaponized. They knew of the mere accidents that occurred in Tenerife in 1977 and Japan in 1985. They knew of the infamous hijacking incidents of Entebbe and D.B. Cooper. Most shocking of all, they even knew of the bizarre instances of planes flying into buildings - such as the 1945 crash of a B-25 into the Empire State Building, or the little-known near-miss incident of an Argentine jet towards the World Trade Center in 1981. Terrorist destruction was also not entirely unheard of - given the high profile bombings of Air India Flight 182 or Pan Am Flight 103 - even if the former was perpetuated by Sikh extremists and the latter by secular Libyans.[4]
Before and after
It was on the topic of Libya that the group received further inspiration. While the group had little love for secular pan-Arabism and its offshoots - its cowardice and spinelessness having exposed itself in both the Yom Kippur War and the Camp David Accords - there was one redeeming factor of its stench. Namely, it was its desire for unity amongst Arab nations - and a desire to rebuild a strong Islamic world. Bin Laden and his ilk would thus take a page from the shattered dreams of pan-Arabism, and intensify them to appeal to a new generation of Islamic thought. No longer would the Islamic world be shoved around by outside powers - from the now-disintegrated Ottoman and British Empires, to the fallen Soviet Union, to the current American hegemony.
And so it was. In July 1993, Bin Laden would officially issue a fatwā - which not only declared war on the United States and United Nations, but also called for the entire Muslim world - from Morocco to Mindanao - to the lone militant fighter to the armed dogmatic cells - to unite and rise up against what he proclaimed as the “Last Trinity of Zionism”. The core components of which consisted chiefly of the United States, the United Nations, and Israel. The greatest sins of this so-called “Trinity of Zionism” - the grievances of all Muslims - included the following:
- The existence of Israel and its support by the United States. Israel is considered a vassal state for the occupation of the Holy Land by the Trinity.
- The presence of American military troops in Saudi Arabia - the seat of the Holy Sites of Islam - and its traitorous alliance with the Trinity. This was cemented with the outbreak of the First Persian Gulf War - where the Trinity’s influence upon the holy sites was dramatically expanded.
- The endless, unremitting destruction and subversion of Islamic society wherever it exists. The tragedies of the plundering of Arabian oil to fuel the Trinity’s power, the mauling of Lebanon, the strangulation and suffocation of Iraq, and now the Rape of Somalia are seen as unforgivable acts that underscore the Trinity's contempt for Islamic societies.
While many outside the Muslim world would dismiss Bin Laden’s fatwā as a fringe declaration not supported by much of the population, the declaration - which was released around the time of an unpopular American foreign policy decision - was observed by some as having resonated with a not-insignificant number of Muslims. Consequently, al-Qaeda's decentralized cells saw an abnormal swelling in their ranks - often drawn to Bin Laden’s promise of a new Caliphate capable of determining its own destiny. In addition, the publicity brought by the fatwā greatly increased the number of wealthy patrons - primarily those from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - willing to finance the organization’s operations. These funds would be funneled to the organization via compounded layers of money laundering - often to the organization’s Manila cell, where Yousef and Mohammed would base themselves out of for the next two years.[6]
Al-Qaeda - now flush with new recruits and critical liquid funds - finally had the means of which to execute Mohammed and Yousef’s new plot. Bin Laden himself would give the final sign-off on the plot in September 1993. All the while, the West would remain blissfully unaware of the danger presented by the organization.
[1] From 1992 until 1996, al-Qaeda was based in Sudan - after Osama Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia for his relentless criticism of the Saudi government for….
[2] ….basing American troops in the country during the Persian Gulf War. When this happened, Bin Laden heavily denounced the move as a “Crusader attack against Islam”. Most importantly, the move was a critical stepping stone to the group eventually committing the September 11 attacks a decade later.
[3] IOTL, while Yousef did indeed perpetrate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed only started truly working with al-Qaeda in 1996 and was mainly independent beforehand. Here, the Somalia occupation forces the organization to regroup and rethink their strategy.
[4] Alright, let’s Keep It Simple, Stupid. So basically planes like the 747 and A340 (mainly for Euro airlines) were used on these routes since they had incredibly long range pre-777/787/A350. The twinjets actually came about as early as 1972 with the A300, but it was only in 1985 - with ETOPS coming - that they became economically viable.
[5] IOTL, Bin Laden’s two fatāwā were issued in 1996 and 1998 respectively. For obvious reasons, a variation of OTL’s fatāwā is released earlier. And while the whole “Islamic Caliphate” feels more in line with OTL’s ISIS - I want to stress that said “Caliphate” rhetoric is simply the OTL goal of kicking the Americans out of the Middle East, cranked up to eleven. And yes, much of the grievances towards American foreign policy in the Middle East are still there - such as support of Israel, military presence in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq/other mistreatment of Muslim nations.
[6] Al-Qaeda had a cell located in Manila, The Philippines as a result of the Moro conflict.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - 2/24/2024
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Well everyone, looks like I’ve won the Turtledove Award for Best Pop Culture Timeline. This calls for a celebration!!!!
Thank you all so much for the time and attention - especially help - you've given me - I really appreciate it a lot! And that's not even speaking of some of the other great TLs I've seen get nominated for the award, such as @QTXAdsy 's The Fingerprints of Epstein, @Tacomaster 's Merrily We Roll Along, and @Jay_Maxu 's Ease on Down the Road. Any doubt in my mind about me completing the TL or starting over are basically gone now, so this TL is here to stay - and it will continue to receive updates thanks to the recognition I have received.
With that out of the way, I have a couple of things to share with y'all moving forward. First, as you can clearly tell by my last update - the butterflies that have flapped their wings since "Yodelin' Yaks" aired are now starting to have some serious ramifications. After this point, you will start to see these butterflies start to show later this year - as movies, shows, and even video games will all start to show noticable differences compared to OTL. This is something I have yet to fully address, because I have my own personal thoughts on the butterfly effect and how it relates to both "normal" TLs and "pop culture" TLs. In the meantime, my next updates will start showing more media outside of our main subjects to show how things are changing with regards to the huge success of both Ren & Stimpy and Nirvana. These will include fictional pieces of what we call clickbait "Top 10" or "Retrospective" articles, alternate movie reviews, alternate YouTube videos, and more standalone updates like my last one.
Speaking of which, I have the outlines written and planned out for the next seven chapters, and they will come out sometime in March or early April at latest. These should bring us up to January 1994. Speaking in the medium term, I should say that once we get to January 1995 sometime around May - I will take a rather long break to recharge my creative energies and look more into potential ideas and divergences that could effect things down the road as we inch further and further to the year 2000. I expect the next wave of updates - which I will upload consistently since they will be pre-written - will appear sometime around September.
And again, these are all a general idea of when they come out, since due to IRL obligations like school, writer's block, and just plain procrastination - I'm not really able to establish a consistent update schedule without seeing my writing quality dip or losing track of my studies. Things should hopefully get better once I return to updating the TL this fall.
With that all said and done, thank you guys once again for the support - and I hope you guys stay tuned for the next wave of updates coming soon!!!
Well everyone, looks like I’ve won the Turtledove Award for Best Pop Culture Timeline. This calls for a celebration!!!!
Thank you all so much for the time and attention - especially help - you've given me - I really appreciate it a lot! And that's not even speaking of some of the other great TLs I've seen get nominated for the award, such as @QTXAdsy 's The Fingerprints of Epstein, @Tacomaster 's Merrily We Roll Along, and @Jay_Maxu 's Ease on Down the Road. Any doubt in my mind about me completing the TL or starting over are basically gone now, so this TL is here to stay - and it will continue to receive updates thanks to the recognition I have received.
With that out of the way, I have a couple of things to share with y'all moving forward. First, as you can clearly tell by my last update - the butterflies that have flapped their wings since "Yodelin' Yaks" aired are now starting to have some serious ramifications. After this point, you will start to see these butterflies start to show later this year - as movies, shows, and even video games will all start to show noticable differences compared to OTL. This is something I have yet to fully address, because I have my own personal thoughts on the butterfly effect and how it relates to both "normal" TLs and "pop culture" TLs. In the meantime, my next updates will start showing more media outside of our main subjects to show how things are changing with regards to the huge success of both Ren & Stimpy and Nirvana. These will include fictional pieces of what we call clickbait "Top 10" or "Retrospective" articles, alternate movie reviews, alternate YouTube videos, and more standalone updates like my last one.
Speaking of which, I have the outlines written and planned out for the next seven chapters, and they will come out sometime in March or early April at latest. These should bring us up to January 1994. Speaking in the medium term, I should say that once we get to January 1995 sometime around May - I will take a rather long break to recharge my creative energies and look more into potential ideas and divergences that could effect things down the road as we inch further and further to the year 2000. I expect the next wave of updates - which I will upload consistently since they will be pre-written - will appear sometime around September.
And again, these are all a general idea of when they come out, since due to IRL obligations like school, writer's block, and just plain procrastination - I'm not really able to establish a consistent update schedule without seeing my writing quality dip or losing track of my studies. Things should hopefully get better once I return to updating the TL this fall.
With that all said and done, thank you guys once again for the support - and I hope you guys stay tuned for the next wave of updates coming soon!!!
That is FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!
I'm so proud of you! Cannot wait to see the next posts!
I'm so proud of you! Cannot wait to see the next posts!
Congrats on the win, THE KINGFISH! I wish you good luck with your timeline my friend.
I wonder how many things will change with the butterflies.
To spoil as less at possible, John Kricfalusi is in big trouble over these next chapters….
Good to know. Good to know!
I know of John K's gross actions in OTL, I wonder if that will be the trouble he'll get into in this timeline.
At this point in time ITTL, there are rumors going around the gaming industry that Sony is working on a video game console of their own. The PS1 will be unveiled in-universe very soon. Can't wait to see a TL where the PS1 has to work to compete against Nintendo and Sega.