Qilai! Qilai! - A History of Modern China and The World

[Red Arturoist]

Another question, @Asami , would be how "communist" (in the original sense of Marx) the Soviet Union is. Is the USSR state capitalist like OTL China? Liberal capitalist? Or do workers really have more power than in e.g. the USA or Central Europe? What about labour law and workers' rights?

 

[Asami]

That would mean that the overton window has moved even further to the left than in OTL Germany pre 2015.

Ja.

Isn't there a notable far-left (e.g. Ryzhkovist or Dengist) party?

Both groups largely cluster under the SPD and ÖSP banners.

What is the furthest right that you can go in Germany?

Angela Merkel as she exists in our universe would be considered to be the farthest right one could go before crossing into allegations of fascism.

 

[Red Arturoist]

Ja.

Would it be okay to go openly communist (i.e. Thälmann/Lenin/Liebknecht/... communist) in Germany if Angela Merkel would be considered the most far-right you can legally go? Or is there a "border" to the overton window at the far-left, too?
Did Germany experience any refugee crisis yet? And if yes, how was that handled? What is going on on Germany's western border - after all, they have a totalitarian mega-Estado Novo just over the Rhine...

 

[Asami]

Would it be okay to go openly communist (i.e. Thälmann/Lenin/Liebknecht/... communist) in Germany if Angela Merkel would be considered the most far-right you can legally go?

There's a limit to that as well? Like, Stalinists aren't very well liked, so no Thalmann; Lenin's reputation has been healed to a degree but is still rather controversial in Germany, but Liebknecht and Luxembourg have a very popular status in Germany as freedom fighters. The SPD has co-opted them by drawing a line in the sand between the pre-WWII SPD and themselves.

I'm exaggerating a bit when I say Merkel's the farthest right you can go. Let's just say there's not a lot of room on that side of the overton window, and Angela Merkel would be considered the most palatable conservative candidate.

Did Germany experience any refugee crisis yet?

Save for a minor deluge of Bangladeshi and Indian refugees in the early 2000s and some Arabs in the 2010s, nothing of substantive note. Nothing quite to the scale and trouble of the OTL one.

What is going on on Germany's western border - after all, they have a totalitarian mega-Estado Novo just over the Rhine...

Germany has standing claims on the 1914 borders with the EF, and as a result, a lot of Germany's military policies are aimed at a quick and rapid defeat of European forces on the Western Front. Germany has a lot of backing from the CETO, Warsaw Pact and NATO, but the Bundeswehr has become a force of their own, drawing a clear line along the German border that the Europopulists shall not cross it.

Also, Germany and the EF are atomic powers (EF inherited theirs from France, Germany developed theirs independently in the 2010s with Soviet and American help), so any war between them won't be conventional for long.

 

[Red Arturoist]

What is and was going on in the Levantine Confederation politically? How far left (or right) is the Levantine overton window? What parties exist there? How is secularism guaranteed - are religious parties outlawed? How widespread is religion still?
Are they good in the FIFA World Cup - what is the furthest they have got?

 

[Asami]

What is and was going on in the Levantine Confederation politically?

Relatively peaceful, all things considered. There's some tensions stemming from the historical background of the assortment of nations who have crammed themselves under the flag of the Confederation, but everything's... floating along okay.

How far left (or right) is the Levantine overton window?

The overton window is rather centrist. There's a strong right-leaning conservative/traditional Arab nationalist party, a similarly-leaning Jewish party, and then there's a lot of secular pan-Arab/pan-Levantine/Dengist/Ryzkhovist parties to the Left. Coalitions tend to reach across the aisle and meet compromises between some major factions.

How is secularism guaranteed - are religious parties outlawed?

Secularism is enshrined in the Levantine constitution; and no, but religious fanaticism has a really bad reputation among all three of the major faiths that occupy it's territory because of the legacy of the Islamic Caliphate and their horrid war against human civilization.

How widespread is religion still?

Quite widespread, Islam is still the majority in the LC, but Judaism and Christianity are actually finding traction in many communities.

Are they good in the FIFA World Cup - what is the furthest they have got?

Levantine Confederation is considered a middling-power. Farthest they ever got was semi-finals in 2022.

 

[Red Arturoist]

I'm exaggerating a bit when I say Merkel's the farthest right you can go. Let's just say there's not a lot of room on that side of the overton window, and Angela Merkel would be considered the most palatable conservative candidate.

Interesting. Thomas de Maizière might just about be acceptable, but probably even Jens Spahn - and most certainly Horst Seehofer - would probably be considered far-right or even fascist already...

There's a limit to that as well? Like, Stalinists aren't very well liked, so no Thalmann; Lenin's reputation has been healed to a degree but is still rather controversial in Germany, but Liebknecht and Luxembourg have a very popular status in Germany as freedom fighters. The SPD has co-opted them by drawing a line in the sand between the pre-WWII SPD and themselves.

Lovely! So the German SPD once again harks back to grand people like August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, Phillip Scheidemann, Friedrich Ebert, Gustav Noske, Otto Wels et al.
And Germany is quite a bit more militarised than OTL it seems... which would in OTL be considered right-wing. So maybe a stable version of Weimar Germany? The 20s forever?

 

[Whiteshore]

What became of Merkel ITTL anyways? A Zentrum leader?

 

[Asami]

What became of Merkel ITTL anyways? A Zentrum leader?

She never becomes a politician IATL, instead, she remained a quiet academic, working as a professor for a couple German universities before her retirement in 2023, and her subsequent death in 2028.

 

[DimensionalZodiac]

Are the Nordic countries democratic?

 

[Asami]

Are the Nordic countries democratic?

Yes, all the Nordic countries have democratic governments and are members of NATO, except Denmark who is a member of CETO.

 

[Whiteshore]

She never becomes a politician IATL, instead, she remained a quiet academic, working as a professor for a couple German universities before her retirement in 2023, and her subsequent death in 2028.

I wonder who leads Zentrum ITTL, then.

 

[Asami]

I wonder who leads Zentrum ITTL, then.

The current leader of the Zentrumspartei is Christiane Baumgärtner, a 39 year old former schoolteacher and now famed politician from North Rhine-Westphalia. She is actually currently expected to win the next general election as the SPD and ÖSP are falling behind in the polls. Many attribute it to her very hard stance taken against the European Federation and her relatively warm attitudes towards the USSR despite her conservative ideological stance.

She's also super popular because she has emphasized Germany's "natural claim" to Alsace-Lorraine and Eupen-Malmedy, which the SPD and ÖSP have downplayed in order to keep tensions low.

SPD is lead by Sebastian Nerz, a 56 year old labour union leader from the former East Germany turned politician. He's stumbling a bit as his attempts to paint Zentrum as the party of European fascism has failed, as Baumgärtner has made clear her distaste for the cabal of fascists in the West.

 

[Whiteshore]

What countries have nukes by 2030, BTW?

 

[Asami]

Nations Which Have Possessed Nuclear Weapons

- United States of America (1945)

First test: Trinity; July 1945; New Mexico, U.S.
Most recent test: Clark Bridge; April 2018; North Pacific Ocean​

- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1949)

First test: RDS-1; August 1949; Kazakh SSR
Most recent test: Solidarnost; July 2019; Kazakh SSR​

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1952)

First test: Operation Hurricane; October 1952; Australia
Most recent test: Royal Thunder; January 2008; North Pacific Ocean​

- Republic of France (1960)

First test: Gerboise Bleue; February 1960; Algeria
Succeeded by European Federation (2010)​

- People's Republic of China (1964)

First test: 596; October 1964; Xinjiang
Most recent test: #116; April 2016; Subterranean Xinjiang​

- Republic of India (1974; e. 1999)

First test: Smiling Buddha; May 1974
Final use: Indo-Pakistani War of 1999; against Pakistan​

- State of Israel (1980)

First test: unnamed test; mid-1980; South Indian Ocean
Final use: Islamic War; against Arab tactical targets in Jordan
Succeeded by Levantine Confederation (2004)​

- Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1994; d. 1999, expended in Kargil War or in Black April attacks)

First test: Kirana; September 1994
Final use: Black April attacks, April 2002, multinational​

- Levantine Confederation (2004)

Inherited atomic arsenal from State of Israel
First test: Unity, September 2004, Libyan Desert
​

- People's Republic of Korea (2006)

First test: Joseon, July 2006, Northern Korea
​

- Federal Republic of Germany (2009)

First test: Einigkeit, October 2009, Kazakh SSR
​

- European Federation (2010)

Inherited arsenal from Republic of France
First test: Europa, June 2010, South Atlantic​

Known Active Nuclear Programs

- None as of 2030

Known Nuclear Sharing

- NATO Nuclear Sharing (via United States)

Commonwealth of Canada
Kingdom of Denmark
Kingdom of Norway
Kingdom of Sweden
Republic of Iceland
Republic of Finland
​

- CETO Nuclear Sharing (via Germany)

Republic of Poland
Republic of Czechoslovakia
Republic of Hungary
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Republic of Romania​

 

[Red Arturoist]

What has become of Central and Western Africa (from Senegal to the Congo)? What became of the Sahel Zone after the Anti-Islamic War?
Also, when did Switzerland give up neutrality and join the EF?

 

[Asami]

What has become of Central and Western Africa (from Senegal to the Congo)? What became of the Sahel Zone after the Anti-Islamic War?

Important distinction - it is not the Anti-Islamic War. It is the Islamic War, specifically meant to liberate Islam from the control of fundamentalists. Many Muslims died to free the Islamic holy land from fundamentalism, and their sacrifice is fondly remembered.

As for Africa, well...

How much development has Africa undertaken? Depends on the nation.

The former Sudan (Sudan, Nubia and Darfur) are still relatively poor, and have a hell of a time with financial management. Darfur is probably the least debt-saddled, but is also the weakest due to no resources of their own, having to import everything from the LC and Chad.

Zimbabwe-Rhodesia is around and is quite peaceful, the transition to total democracy and 'racial balance' having gone over smoothly, relatively speaking. Africa has largely avoided much of the traumatic dictatorial governments of the 20th century, save the Dar al-Islam fundamentalist alliance which dominated Northern Africa for some time. Nigeria is one of the most prosperous African states with quality of life rivaling that of some parts of the European Federation.

Speaking on the whole, Africa is a hell of a lot calmer and quieter of a place than it is in OTL 2018.

 

[Asami]

Also, when did Switzerland give up neutrality and join the EF?

2010. Internal coup d'etat. Switzerland is still the home of one of Europe's worst insurgencies as of 2030.

 

[Asami]

Relevantly so, the world's pre-eminent power blocs as of 2030. While it should be noted that the USSR, USA and China's power blocs largely overlap, they do have distinct spheres of influence.

 

[Red Arturoist]

Peru communist? Does the Sendero Luminoso govern?

2010. Internal coup d'etat. Switzerland is still the home of one of Europe's worst insurgencies as of 2030.

Where are notable insurgencies, beyond Switzerland? And what is the Swiss insurgency like? Guerilla fighting in the Alps? Is the insurgency communist so that it could be called Alpcong?

And how democratic is CETO beyond Germany? Germany seems to be really... ultra-democratic, but what about Poland? Yugoslavia? Turkey?