Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England

[CosmicAsh]

Apartheid in South Africa is the term used to describe the ongoing conflict in southern Africa that has to do with the Republic of South Africa and its dealings with its neighbours and internal struggles. While the term Apartheid first meant simply the system of racial separation enacted in the country stating in 1948, it has become shorthand for the state-sponsored Ethic Cleansing of southern Africa by South Africa, which began in 1953 with the Xhosa Genocide. The ethnic cleansing spread across South Africa, to which the Natal province put up fierce resistance, with an English-Zulu alliance being formed in the province to resist South Africans. The United Kingdom has been involved since 1951, fighting with South African forces and attempting to maintain control of former colonies. At its maximum extent, South Africa controlled all of Namibia, Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Southern Rhodesia, and portions of northern Rhodesia. With the signing of the 1990 Ceasefire, combat operations between South Africa and the Commonwealth has ceased, resulting in the de-facto independence of Namibia, Natal, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Botswana was able to sign a peace treaty with South Africa in 1975, declaring total neutrality in the conflict. The Southern Rhodesia Government-in-Exile still claims authority Rhodesia, which is a bi-racial democracy after the Shona genocide and other state-sponsored ethnic cleansing in the region. South Africa is currently the only nuclear-armed nation in Africa, and has used its nuclear weapons as a deterrent from future invasions, despite widespread condemnation from the international community.

 

[CosmicAsh]

 

[CosmicAsh]

Can we get a (provincial) map of South Africa itself, including the alt-Bantustans?

The Republic of South Africa officially consists of the Cape Province, Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal, Bechuanaland, and South West Africa. Of these provinces, the Republic only fully controls Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Bechuanaland is de facto independent as Botswana, South West Africa is de facto independent as Namibia, and most of Natal is independent as the Commonwealth of Natal.

While the status of the "Black homelands" I/E Bantustans are unknown as of 2018, they are believed to still be in operation with some nominal form of self government. It is known that they are host to labour camps, where the Government will contract them for labour across the country, before having them returned to the Bantustan. It is believed that indigenous Africans are not allowed to leave Bantustans without special permission, and doing so is punishable by death. The South African border is patrolled at all times, and it is host to a large border wall.

 

[CosmicAsh]

Good question.

The Ratification of the Commonwealth Constitution was the 4th nationwide referendum in New England, and the most recent one to have taken place. As the British Empire began to transform away from an Empire dominated by Britain to an organisation of (mostly) equal states, it was determined by London that a constitutional document was required to legally chart the structure of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth Parliament, having sat for two sessions already, was grossly uneven in representation. New England had 5 members, Australia 6, Canada 15, the United Kingdom 54, New Zealand 4, while there were no African or Asian countries represented at all, despite the White Rajas of Sarawak petitioning and being granted entrance into the Commonwealth a few years prior.

The 1953 Imperial Conference (the first of Queen Elizabeth II's reign) was also the last. It was here that the Prime Ministers and Premiers of the Imperial realms meet to formally begin deliberations on the drafting of a Constitution. Legal scholars from around the Empire were brought in to assist in its drafting, as well as what specific powers to grant to the Commonwealth Parliament (the name Imperial Parliament rejected in the first round of talks), as well as the power dynamic between each constituent country and the Commonwealth Government. The Constitution included a section on rights, which would be one of the most progressive documents of the era, surpassing that of the United States, where segregation remained legal. At least legally, a citizen of a Commonwealth country in Africa would have the same basic rights and privileges as granted to an Englishmen. In some cases, the ordeal dragged on, attempting to settle differences between cultures and the British desire to truly craft a document that would maintain British prestige and power, while at the same time reducing their burdens and obligations, and dealing with her former colonies on an equal basis - this part of the Labour platform that swept the government into power after the disastrous Conservative government under Winston Churchill.

After a year and a half of negotiations, the document was unveiled to the public and openly distributed across the Empire. Printing presses in Boston were contracted to produce copies for both domestic and foreign consumption, and it became the most printed document in history for the Boston publishing industry, which was one of the world leaders in volume. It was the first Constitution, to be named as such, promulgated under the auspices of the British government. Inherently progressive and focused on mutual aid and defence (an important factor, given the ongoing war in French Indochina and China), the British Parliament passed it with ease, its passage being given a standing ovation in the House of Commons. Given Royal Assent in late 1955, the document then went to each Commonwealth realm to ratify.

New England was the second to schedule a referendum after Northern Rhodesia, making the two very closely watched countries to see how the debate went and how well it was received. The Yes campaign was strong, it lauded the progress made in the negotiations, and promised to appeal to the country's English heritage (a sore point for Acadians, who felt that the document did not do enough to protect regional languages and cultures). It also was billed as a way to fully obtain independence from the United Kingdom, while all powers had been repatriated to New England from the United Kingdom in the 1930s, the Commonwealth Constitution explicitly stated that this would be the sole remaining legal link between Britain and former colonial holdings, pledging to respect, uphold, and defend the complete and total independence of the Commonwealth realms.

Strong opposition by Acadians caused northern New England to swing against the document, but they were overpowered by the support from the rest of the country. Interestingly, the constitution was rejected by southwestern New England on the basis they felt it had the potential to seriously damage United States-New England relations, and it was this area of the country that was closely connected to the United States.

It took until 1959 with the ratification by Sierra Leone for the Constitution to be considered valid and in force, with New England being the third to approve it.

 

[CosmicAsh]

The War in Burma is part of the ongoing anti-Communist operations in the country, often called the Commonwealth's "Greatest Quagmire." Combat operations have been ongoing for over 24 years, mainly between forces of the National Democratic Burmese government, the British Armed Forces, and the Communist guerrillas operating across Burma. More recently, partisans against both the Communists and the British-backed National Democratic government have risen to try and install a popular democracy in the country, which they have found support from the United States, China, and Vietnam, much to the ire of the United Kingdom, which maintains that they remain in Burma at the full request of the National Democratic government. Ethnic minorities in Burma have also risen in a bid for their own independence, with the Shan expressing a desire for entrance into China for protection, and other minorities seeking their own state. Despite Burma being described as an indivisible country, the British have given near recognition to the Islamic Republic of Arakan, which had driven its Buddhist minority out and has welcomed in hundreds of thousands of Muslims from India, despite Burma still claiming it as Arakan State.

The War began with the Communist overthrow of the democratically elected government of the Commonwealth of Burma in September of 1993, triggering the fallen government to call in support from the Commonwealth of Nations. The first combat operations began with the Royal Navy's bombardment of Rangoon using short-range missiles, followed up by a "shock and awe" areal bombardment of all Communist military installations with planes launched from the HMS Horatio Nelson and the HMS Empress of India, the two aircraft carriers operating in the Indian Ocean. The initial bombardments destroyed much of the military infrastructure the Communists inherited, but also greatly hampered the anti-Communist response. The Communist government fell apart shortly after the invasion in January, which saw a coalition of forces from most Commonwealth countries launch a ground invasion of all of Burma. The official resistance was over by June, and it quickly devolved into guerrilla warfare which continues to this day.

The pro-British Burmese government dissolved itself and passed a new constitution, withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations, and signed a defence pact with the United Kingdom in an attempt to shore up its popularity at home. The Union of Burma has never been accepted as the legitimate government of the country, due to the rule of the National Democratic government which some European observes parrot a phrase attributed to the Holy Roman Empire, that the National Democratic government is neither national, democratic, or a government. It exists only as far as the Burmese (or more recently, the British) government extends its control to. The country was under relative stability outside of the jungle territory, with the British drawing up plans to withdraw from the country in a few years, when there was a flare up of Communist activity in cells in several cities, as well as the Shan State uprising, which forced the United Kingdom to trigger an article in the Commonwealth constitution for countries to contribute more soldiers to the fight, this time only in auxiliary positions so the British Army could take to the front lines. Only the United Kingdom and Australia still had forces on the ground when the British enacted this clause, and it was so fiercely resisted by Canada and Nigeria that the two announced their withdrawal from the Commonwealth if the British did not rescind their declaration, which they did not.

The so-called "Shan Surge" began in 2008 and involved an increase of 70,000 men (35,000 from Australia, New Zealand, and New England) to the country. Heavy fighting saw the loss of nearly a thousand British soldiers during 2009-2010 period, the deadliest portion of the war since the initial invasion. Since then, communist recruitment has picked up and pro-Democracy fighters have caused trouble for the Commonwealth forces. The United States and Vietnam actively provide aid and support for the pro-Democracy forces, with the United States leading the case at the United Nations. China supports both the Shan rebels and the pro-Democracy forces to maintain favour with the United States and to advance their own strategic goals, another source of tension between China and the United Kingdom. While there remains no possibility of Chinese, American, or Vietnamese intervention into Burma, they continue to provide some non-military aide to them along with international credibility. Many across the Commonwealth view the war as having no easy outcome, and many expect it to continue well into the future. It is a topic heavily debated in the Commonwealth Parliament, but the British Government has a number of methods to stall and block discussion on it, and have exercised that option liberally.

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I'm really terrible at wars. I might just leave it at this, but I really wanna expand it in the future. Hopefully it's not too bad!

 

[CosmicAsh]

The Heathrow Airport 2009 Bombing was a terrorist incident in which members of the Irish Republican Army were able to smuggle explosives on a British Airways flight from Hong Kong to London. The explosives were believed to have originated in Burma, and smuggled into Hong Kong through Vietnam before being placed on the aircraft by sympathetic airport workers, although none were ever charged of a crime. The flight was concluding as planned, with the aircraft descending towards the airport. When the landing gear was dropped and fully engaged, one bomb went off, causing initial panic and a slightly rushed decision to try and land quicker, taking a steeper angle. Fifty seconds after the first bomb, the second, much larger, bomb detonated, splitting the aircraft in two. The front part of the plane (which contained the wings) swooped down and made a hard landing on the tarmac, where it careened out of control but did not hit anything. The force of the explosion sent the chunk of the tail section towards Terminal 4, where it slammed in between two gates and damaged two other aircraft there were in the process of boarding.

Miraculously, nineteen people were able to survive the crash of Flight 372, but a further 244 people perished on the ground from parts of the aircraft slamming into Terminal 4. The incident was mourned internationally, and resulted in universal condemnation of the IRA's activities, even by the Irish government, which had a policy of non interference with the IRA within their borders, saying it remained a British problem. While this had long caused tensions between the two countries, the Republic of Ireland agreed to begin to enforce their own anti-terrorism laws and fought against the IRA. This lasted until mid August, when Prime Minister Peter Mandelson ordered what amounted to an invasion of Northern Ireland, deploying thousands of British soldiers to troublesome areas and engaging in open combat with suspected IRA members. In what has been called the "Northern Ireland surge" was lauded by all members of British society, they wanted to get revenge for the world's worst terrorist incident. The Irish, viewing the shock and awe as a threat to their own sovereignty, suspended their campaign against the IRA. It wasn't until British soldiers crossed the border to pursue IRA fighters that the Irish diplomatic protested, cutting off formal diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom on 5 April 2010, which have yet to been restored.

The United Kingdom's treatment of prisoners in Northern Ireland has been condemned worldwide, with the Soviet Union vetoing several issues on the security council that would benefit the United Kingdom. The United States has made it known it sees Northern Ireland's future as untenable within the United Kingdom, and has long backed peace talks to take place between the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the IRA. All of Britain's major parties support a continuation of the crackdown in Northern Ireland, but all parties do hold those who would like to see peace talks commence.

 

[CosmicAsh]

The Suez Territory is a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in northern Africa. The territory encompasses the strategic Suez Canal which was built and financed by a consortium of French and British interests. Originally known as the Suez Canal Zone, the territory around the canal evolved into a crown colony after the Egyptian Revolution which saw the rest of Egypt separate from the British Empire. The Suez Territory occupies a unique space of the British Commonwealth, with it not being a constituent country, but afforded more rights than normally given to a Crown Colony. The British Military is the largest employer in the territory, boasting the largest Royal Air Force Base outside of Great Britain, two Royal Navy bases, and the largest British military instillation in the world, Victoria Barracks. The territory has had Responsible Government since 1935.

The territory has a heavily militarized border with Israel which has occupied the Sinai Peninsula since capturing it during the Lightening War in the 1960s. While fighting between Britain and Israel has never been declared, there have been several skirmishes along the border wall which separates the two. Egypt maintains a border fence with the Suez Territory, and has reasserted its claim to the region in 2016 after renouncing sovereignty in 1964.

Port Victoria is the largest city in the territory, and holds over half of the territory's population. The territory has six cities and numerous towns and villages, and an ethnically diverse population. Just over fifty per cent of the population are Anglo, while another thirty per cent are Egyptians. The remaining twenty percent are mostly South Asians and other ethnic groups. Most Egyptians live either in the capital of Port Victoria or in the territory's rural areas.

The cities of New Shrewsbury and Haxey are the only two settlements which fully or partially occupy the Eastern Suez. Due to the geography and the volatile nature of Israel, settlement in this region is prohibited and normally restricted to military personnel. The city of Haxey serves as the main population centre for Royal Air Force Base Suez, while the New Shrewsbury neighbourhood of East Bank does not have any residential buildings and is instead limited to industrial and civic buildings. Suez City is the second largest city in the territory, and one of the busiest ports in the Commonwealth.

 

[CosmicAsh]

Princess Isabella is the only child of Prince Afonso Duarte, and the niece of the current Emperor of Brazil, Pedro Carlos. She is the wife of Prince William, and the two were made the Duke and Duchess of Albany in 2011 upon their marriage. With the Commonwealth Parliament passing the Victoria Falls Accords in 2010, her Roman Catholic faith was removed as a barrier for her husband, William, to take the throne upon the passing of his father, Prince Charles. She met Charles through her mother, Princess Cecilia of Kuching, a member of the Brooke Family, the ruling monarchs of Sarawak. With the birth of her daughter, Princess Victoria, the line of succession to the British throne passes from Charles, Prince of Wales to William, Duke of Albany to Victoria, Princess of Albany.

 

[HongCanucker]

Threw together something to catch things up with more current events.

John Tory is the 25th Premier of Ontario, serving since August 10, 2018. Previously a lawyer, businessman, and political strategist who worked with the federal and Ontario Progressive Conservative Parties, he was first elected as a Member of the Provincial Parliament in the 2002 general election for the Toronto riding of Don Valley West. After serving as the party's critic for Municipal Affairs and for Finance during the PCs' time as Official Opposition from 2002 to 2010, Tory was chosen as Minister of Finance by Premier Vic Fedeli following the Cabinet reshuffle of 2012.

As Minister of Finance, Tory's tenure was marked with an expansion of Ontario's healthcare infrastructure, new transit investments, reorganisation of the Metropolitan Toronto Council, and a renewal of economic and trade negotiations with the Commonwealth of Nations. These developments have been cited by observers as continuing the tradition of Ontario's longtime Progressive Conservative dynasty of the 20th century, particularly the Big Blue Machine of Premier Bill Davis, whom Tory has been strongly associated with.

In the wake of Fedeli's resignation in June 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations brought to light by MPP Patrick Brown, himself also the subject of such allegations, Tory contested and won the party's resulting leadership election that August. Since becoming Premier, Tory inherited his predecessor's work to reorganise the PCs in light of the 2018 federal election and the formation of the federal Liberal-Progressive National government. On January 22, 2019, Tory announced the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario with the Reform Party, a grouping of NDP MPPs disaffected with the leadership of NDP leader Giorgio Mammoliti, and the Commonwealth Loyalists, a party advocating a renewal of Commonwealth ties, to form the Ontario Progressive Party.

 

[CosmicAsh]

First Patreon request of March!

 

[CosmicAsh]

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The Commonwealth of Rhodesia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa bordered by Katanga to the north, Hurueneo to the northeast, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, and Angola to the west. Rhodesia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and a multi-racial, multi-party democracy. A country with roughly 25 million people, Rhodesia has 19 official languages, with English being the most commonly used in all aspects of daily life.

The region the country occupies has been come to several organised states and kingdoms, as it sat along a major route for migration and trade for centuries. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes was the first to demarcate the present borders of Rhodesia in the 1890s, a process in which he lent his name to the territory. The Commonwealth's land south of the Zambezi River had held self-governance since 1926 within the British Empire, and in 1951, the rest of the territory north of the river, along with Nyasaland, now called Malawi, would unite to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Malawi would gain independence in 1967, and the federation was re-named the Commonwealth of Rhodesia. In 1962, the territory south of the Zambezi River had been overrun by pro-South African forces under the leadership of the Rhodesian Party and Desmond Lardner-Burke. Lardner-Burke issued the Unilateral Declaration of Southern Rhodesia, which was an unrecognised breakaway country from 1962 to 1981, until the Southern Rhodesian forces surrendered to the Rhodesian Armed Forces in Bulawayo. The extremist government had brought a reign of terror in the country, as well as a prolonged period of ethnic cleansing. After reunification, the country reinvested into southern Rhodesia, and transitioned away from a war-time, highly centralised economy to a free-market economy, under the leadership of Prime Minister Elliott Fletcher and the Minister of Industry Margaret Harper. While the country has had occasional border skirmishes with South Africa, there has been no other military activity in the country since 1981.

The country was minority-ruled until the passage of the Equal Enfranchisement Act 1994, which triggered the 1995 General Election, which saw the complete abolition of the mixed-seat, white-list system that Rhodesia had previously employed to effectively prevent the African majority from having a proportionate representation in government. Since the passage of the legislation, there have been three Black Prime Ministers, all from the National Union Party, the country's main centre-right political grouping. The Labour Party, the country's main centre-left party, has never had an African leader, but strongly upholds the party's commitment to negating the effects that white-minority rule has had over the country, and has sometimes advocated for limited redistribution of agricultural lands in the countryside.

The Monomotapa Liberation Front is the main left-wing party in the country, staking much of its platform on redistribution, the establishment of a socialist state, and the renaming of the country to remove the legacy of the colonialist past. Other parties often do not take a stance on the issue, but incumbent Prime Minister Godfrey Miyanda of the National Union Party has spoken in favour of renaming the country in the past. Rhodesia struggles with high inequality, and disproportionate political power concentrated in the hands of the traditional white elite. Successive governments have attempted to address these issues, but international pressure often leaves any progress fleeting or ineffective.

In 2019, the country passed the Law of Land Inheritance, where any landowner who held above a certain area of farmland (determined by province), would have a portion of it passed to the government depending on its size, to where it could only be purchased by those in the landowner's will or next of kin, otherwise it would become government property and placed into the National Land Trust. Any landowner who died without leaving it to anyone would see it pass to the state entirely. The measure saw riots break out in Salisbury by white landowners, but the unrest was quickly quelled. The law has been heavily criticised by the United Kingdom, Australia, Katanga, and Namibia. But has the support of all of Rhodesia's major political parties with the exception of the White League, a white-interests political party that brands itself as a centrist alternative to the other political parties. The Supreme Court of Rhodesia ruled on 18 September 2019 that the law was legal, and would remain in full force.

 

[CosmicAsh]

The Commonwealth of Australia is a sovereign country that encompasses all of the mainland Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and other smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country be total area. Australia has long been an important strategic ally and asset to the United Kingdom, being host to a large amount of Commonwealth soldiers and Royal Navy assets. Australia is also an important member of the Commonwealth of Nations, having one of the largest economies in the organisation and currently holds the chair of the Asiatic Commonwealth Countries Association.

Australia is led by Prime Minister Warren Truss, who ousted former Prime Minister Pauline Hanson in late 2016 after her Government was increasingly unpopular and seemed on track to collapse the National's minority government, the first time they formed a government since the 1990s. Warren Truss and Barnaby Joyce led an effort in the National Party to unseat the Prime Minister, culminating in the National Leadership Spill, 2016 which saw Truss replace Hanson and Barnaby Joyce replace Deputy Prime Minister/Leader Tony Abbott. Under Truss, the National Party has rejected many of the more radical elements of Hanson's platform, and instead built on her efforts to try to appeal to a wider electorate. The Australian federal election, 2015 was the result of nearly two decades of work by National leaders to widen their appeal past simply rural voters and farmers, seeking to compete in suburban district as well as the rural countryside. Hanson crossed Australia with her populist message and struck out against Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who had taken control in her own leadership spill in 2010 against Prime Minister Kim Beazley. She accused the Prime Minister of rejecting Australian values and attempting to import "dangerous foreign ideas" to the country's shores. Hanson also struck a nerve with her anti-immigration stance, pledging to "once and for all" end the "boat people" from coming to the country. Her platform called for the deportation of all "illegal immigrants" to the country, even calling for native South Africans, who fled the horrors of the Apartheid regime, to be sent back.

Gillard attempted to fight back against these claims, but Australia's nascent third party, the Liberals, appealed to voters in the country's urban and suburban areas who were scared of Hanson's rhetoric but also had no desire to return Gillard to power for her mishandling of the economy, and failing to secure a trade deal with the rapidly growing Republic of China. Malcolm Turnbull, the Liberal leader, spoke out against the radicalism in Hanson's platform and said in no uncertain terms that the Liberals would not support her in her efforts to form a government. Likewise, they felt that Labor needed a change before they offer their support. While Turnbull had a vision of expanding the Liberals into Australia's more rural regions, he also overextended his own resources. He opted for a strategy to compete against both the Nationals and Labor, to the point where the party simply could not compete in every division they had wished to due to lack of funding for campaign advertisements and campaign stops.

When the ballots were counted, Hanson's National came out ahead in the overall seat count, as well as in the TPP. Gillard's own government, which had been floated by some crossbench Liberal MPs, was defeated and lost 14 seats. Turnbull's Liberals saw the Independent Liberals under Julia Bishop spin off after they agreed to help the National's form a government, while two of the Liberals who supported Gillard opted to instead leave their party and sit as independents.

Turnbull's inability to expand his own voter base, as well as manage to lose seats in the past three elections, led him to step down and be succeeded by Ted Baillieu. Gillard herself also stepped aside, which allowed Wayne Swan, her former deputy, to take the reins of the party. Despite Warren Truss' own ousting of Hanson in 2016, for the sake of party unity he agreed to allow speaker Rowan Ramsey to remain in his position, as well as House Leader Bob Katter. Despite overtures to Baillieu to form an official coalition, the Liberals remained committed to their status as an independent federal party, although there was a brief period during Hanson's premiership that Swan and Baillieu would agree to a coalition to prevent her from governing the country any longer. With her departure, such a prospect was no longer possible.

The Truss Government has been unusually stable, advancing more moderate legislation that attracts Liberal and even some Labor support, and acting as non-controversial as possible. The resignation of Hanson from the House of Representatives bolstered his ability to keep his fragile government together, especially after Tony Abbott, seen as one of the premier party leaders, agreed to continue to support Truss.

New header graphics stolen inspired by both @CanadianTory and @LeinadB93​

 

[CosmicAsh]

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The Australian federal election, 2018 was held on 11 August 2018 to determine the composition of the Australian Parliament. All 150 seats of the House of Representatives and 76 seats in the Senate were up for election. Jason Clare of the Labor Party achieved a landslide victory over the government of Warren Truss and the National Party. The Nationals suffered the second largest landslide defeat in the nation's history, with their primary vote collapsing nearly thirty per cent. The election also marked the end of the shift in the right-wing towards the Nationals, with the Liberal Party under Malcolm Turnbull achieving their largest primary vote and seat count since the collapse of the coalition in the 1976 election. The Nationals also registered their lowest seat count since contesting federal elections in 1919. Their primary vote is also the lowest since 1937, and the first time since 1976 that the Nationals would not be the first or second largest party in Parliament.

The poor performance of the National Government, which was plagued by scandals under both Prime Ministers Hanson and Truss was a major factor in their defeat. Several senior members of the party had declared their support for Turnbull, and retiring cabinet minister Tony Abbott announced he would support the Liberals in the upcoming election, and that the party's continued support for former Prime Minister Pauline Hanson was worrying. Only a few days before the election, the former Prime Minister had been arrested for physically assaulting an aboriginal elder at Uluru, in an altercation over the name of the rock formation. With the party refusing to condemn the action, both Clare and Turnbull gave a joint press conference stating that such an action had no place in modern Australian society, and that both parties strongly condemned these actions.

In the last days of the election, momentum began to shift away from Labor towards the Liberals, who offered a more moderate platform over both the Nationals and Labor, with a focus on economic growth and lowering taxes responsibly when possible, much unlike the Labor platform of increased spending and higher taxes on the wealthy. This effect was attributed to Warren Truss suspending the Nationals campaign a week before the election, effectively ceding their ability to seriously contest the election. While most polls showed Labor would win a majority of the primary vote, this last minute shift in the electorate saw their primary vote held to forty-five per cent, and the Liberals up to thirty five per cent. Other parties captured almost eight per cent of the vote, but were unable to win a single seat.

 

[CosmicAsh]

 

[CosmicAsh]

The Republic of Austria is a federal republic of two nations located in Central Europe. The 1959 Constitution of Austria declares the Republic an "Unbreakable Union" of the "German and Slovene peoples." The country's history is inexorably linked to the history of Europe, and its current borders come from the end of the Great War, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the Empire collapsed, the Austrian government soon found itself engaged in a war with the Kingdom of Hungary over disputed border territory, as well as Austria's intent to support the Republic of Czechoslovakia, itself fighting for independence against Hungary. With aid from the Allied Powers, the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated.

In exchange for Austria's steadfast commitment to many of the wargoals the Allies had in mind for the Austro-Hungarian Empire had it collapsed and the Allies been able to exact a punitive peace, both France and Britain came to the aid of Austria when Italy declared war on the country for Austrian Littoral, holding claims on its Italian minority. Only three brief engagements happened along the border region (all Italian victories), before serious French movements of soldiers to the Franco-Italian border caused the Italians to sue for a peace with the Austrians.

During the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, soldiers of the 8th Army briefly occupied Pressburg, until the death of Stalin the next day. The planned invasion of Austria was halted, and it remained the last time foreign soldiers stood on Austrian ground until the breakup of Yugoslavia, where Croatian soldiers entered Carniola to escape an advancing Serb army, but they had not done it in aggression.

Today Austria remains an important nation in Central Europe, being one of the founding members of the Central European Economic Zone along with Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Czechia, and Croatia. The Austrian Schilling is a highly regarded reserve currency, due to Austria's high credit rating and stable finances for over seventy years, being one of the few countries in Europe to not enter into a deficit during the 2008/2009 Global Recession, as well as one of the few that has seen constant population increases despite its strict immigration laws.

 

[CosmicAsh]

 

[CosmicAsh]

 

[CosmicAsh]

 

[CosmicAsh]

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The 2018 Austrian parliamentary election took place on 18 November 2018 to determine the composition of the Austrian House of Deputies. The incumbent Austrian government, led by the Democratic Party, saw a sharp decline in their support after new party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger promised to pull back from some of incumbent Chancellor's Matthias Strolz's (who was term-limited) legislative efforts to combat the effects of climate chance, and signalled that the party was seeking to adopt a more pro-growth stance, ending Chancellor Strolz's Citizen's Basic Income, and re-implementing the country's welfare system. The Socialist Labour Party, led by Daniela Platsch, saw a rise in their popular support, but still not enough to overtake the Democratic Party. This result, essentially tying with the Democrats, was the Socialist Labour's best result in the party's history, defeating their performance (as the Austrian Community Party) in the 1959 Election of 31.5%. The National Green Party was the main benefactor of the election, campaigning on their platform of "Green Growth," which would see the government invest in Green economic projects, while focusing on expanding Austria's economy. The party's leader, Ingrid Felipe, ruled out ever working with Socialist Labour during the campaign, noting that "Socialism has no place in Austria." The Autonomous League continued to campaign for a federal Austria, primarily seeking to try and expand their reach into German-speaking areas of the country.

After the election produced no clear majority in the House of Deputies, coalition talks took place between the Democrats and the National Greens, with Felipe keeping her promise to not work with Socialist Labour under any circumstances. Such a position seemed to indicate that the Democrats would hold a large amount of leverage in the coalition talks, but due to the Clause of Political Stability in the Constitution of Austria, a contingency election would be held within two months should no coalition be formed, and the Democratic Party's poor performance would indicate they would suffer greatly at a second election. The talks between the two parties saw Meinl-Reisinger agree to several concessions to the Greens, pulling the coalition further to the right, and giving Felipe the Vice-Chancellorship and the Ministry of Finance. The new Democratic-National Green coalition of the Meinl-Reisinger-Felipe Government was sworn in on 17 December 2018.

 

[CosmicAsh]

The Empire of Brazil is the largest country in South America and in Latin America. The Empire is the 6th largest country by population and 5th largest by land, as well as boasting the 7th largest economy. Brazil is a member of several international organisations, notably the G20, NODO, the United Nations, and the UES (União dos Estados Livres). Brazil has a long history political stability, and is considered a future superpower, with an economy already on track to eclipse that of the United Kingdom by 2019.

Brazil is federation of states, each headed by a President appointed by the Emperor. Since 1958, the Emperor has held little more than ceremonial powers after Emperor Pedro IV supported the dictatorial President of the Council of Ministers, Getúlio Vargas, who was appointed first by his father Emperor Pedro III in the late 1930s. What has been known as the "Vargas Era" permeates Brazil to this day, which can trace its economic fortunes to the work accomplished in this time period. The aging Emperor Pedro III left control of much of the state to Vargas, to the point where he was known by democratic opposition members as "Emperor Vargas" and his "useful puppet," the Emperor. While the Vargas Era was characterised by restrictions on media and personal liberties, it was staunchly anti-Fascist and anti-Communist, which lead to conflict with the Fascist regime of Juan Perón in Argentina and the Communist insurgency in Bolivia which dominated much of the 1950s and threatened to drag Brazil into the war to assist then President René Barrientos.

After Emperor Pedro IV removed Vargas under pressure from state Presidents, a constitutional convention was called, in which the Emperor was stripped of his powers, and the President of the Council of Ministers was made responsible to the Chamber of Deputies, instead of serving at the whim of the Emperor. Since 1958, Brazil's politics have been characterised by stability, with few radical parties ever gaining representation in the Chamber, despite the turmoil and military dictatorships common elsewhere in South America. Due to the Empire's political stability and anti-Communist (and to a lesser extent anti-Fascist) stance, Brazil has been a strong ally to the United States throughout the Cold War and has enjoyed a nearly unbroken period of economic growth since the 1940s.

Much of this changed during the global economic downturn of 2008/2009, which saw Brazil's currency experience hyperinflation, and incomes collapse as the government responded by lowering protective tariffs on Brazil's industry, shuttering large swaths of the manufacturing sector and plunging millions of Brazilians into poverty. Elections held saw the dramatic rise of the fascist-inspired, populist Partido Patriótico do Povo (PPP), headed by the bombastic Jair Bolsonaro, which rose to second place following the 2012 elections, prompting a grand coalition of leftist Brazilian Labour Party with the right-wing Christian Social Union. Following the 2016 election, the PPP and their populist coalition won an outright majority in the Chamber of Deputies, prompting a constitutional crisis in which the outgoing government of Ricardo Berzoini attempted to re-write the constitution to allow the Emperor to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies under his own volition and to allow him to choose a President of the Council of Ministers without input from the Chamber. After mass street protests and violence breaking out in many of the poorer communities, Berzoini backed off his plan, and Bolsonaro assumed control of the Brazilian government, which has already shown signs of slipping into authoritarian tendencies with the reinstatement of the death penalty and seemingly arbitrary enforcement of the rule of law. The military has also grown much larger and powerful under Bolsonaro, with some fearing he may stage a political coup against Emperor Pedro Carlos and install himself as a dictator. If such an event happened, it would break Brazil's long-standing string of consecutive national elections, the second longest in the Americas, behind that of only the United States of America.