Prelude 01: What Comes After
The story in brief so far..
Open in new tab for background music
Axis, the Axis
The Axis of World lies Broken
Stolen, Stolen Future
Our Future has been Stolen.
Control, Out of Control
We are spiralling out of Control
Fire, Set on Fire
The World is Set on Fire
Our freedom is consuming itself
What we've become
Is contrary to what we want
Out of Control
The World is Spiralling out of Control,
And the Axis lies Broken.
Prelude 01: What Comes After
______________________________
'The Cold War may have been as close to utopia as we are ever likely to get.'
______________________________
What I have done, I cannot live with. If there will be written records know that the we have at first tried to do the right thing, and at the end we strove to pick the lesser of two evils.
This is not so much a confession but a statement to history. The fact it is a suicide note should not diminish its value nor make it sacrosanct.
As I ready the bullet into its chamber, let it be known that the road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but with selfish ones. And we only followed the road we started out on to its disastrous conclusion.
______________________________
Arnaldo Pomodoro, Sphere within a Sphere, 1996, United Nations, New York City
Should United Nations be Disbanded?
How many states are there in the world? According to CIA World Factbook there are over 220 states, yet only 186 or 194 (depending on how you count various frozen statuses or successor governments) are UN members or have some measure of wider international recognition.
Recent events have shown that by the end of the year, more than 40 nations may leave the organization and more will surely follow. There is no doubt that revelations about the absolutely disgraceful way of handling crises in Kongo and Balochistan was the tipping point.
Since the Security council is effectively paralysed with the question of disputed permanent seats and United States occupied with its own issues, UN has been reduced to empty quarreling in the General Assembly which has recently resorted to physical altercations. At the same time U.N. has been unable to prevent proliferation and the use of weapons of mass destruction as well as several past and ongoing genocidal conflicts.
By far, the most successful U.N. actions were those in Korea in 1950. and in Kuwait in 1991. and both were led by more confident USA. Without USA to wield its force, United Nations are not only powerless but counterproductive to any peacekeeping effort.
--New York Times, op. ed., [date redacted]
______________________________
National Bureau of Economic Research to declare Second Great Depression?
--Times Square news ticker, [date redacted]
______________________________
American comedian Wili Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, NBC
'Of course we are ruling the world! Why do you think every map of the world is rendered obsolete after six months?'
'Expiration date?'
'No you fool. You see, every time the chart sales go down we create another new country, sometimes two or three at a time.'
[Wil Ferell brings out the Spin the Wheel chart]
[starts to sing] 'What country will be next? Who will fight for freedom? Who will just declare it?
'Will it be Quebec, again? Will it be Katanga, Ireland or Texas? Only the wheel knows.'
[everybody joins in except Phil Hartman]
'A civil war, a coup d'etat or a nuclear attack? / There will be more maps, borders and flags.'
--transcript of the controversial Saturday Night Live skit, [date redacted]
______________________________
Martial law declared in Britain; Spain, Germany close borders; President to address the nation tonight
--Times Square news ticker, [date redacted]
______________________________
'The future of the Third World may finally be our own.'
______________________________
In 1914. two bullets fired from a gun in Balkans started the chain of events that would ruin the century long Concert of Europe.
In 1991 the two bullets would be replaced by two MK-82 bombs.
______________________________
[0.1.1] Basically an ATL (and earlier) version of what OTL became Take a bow.
[0.1.2] Actual quote, The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War, 2001, p. 169
[0.1.3] Also an actual quote, “Was Democracy Just a Moment“, The Atlantic, 1997, p. 169
In early October 1992, an innocuous thing occurs in Yugoslavia. Croatia is hours away from declaring independence. One of the Croatian politicians decides to speak up where OTL he didn't. This causes an air attack to succeed, decapitating Croatian and federal leadership, starting a chain of events which ends up with a mentally unstable Yugoslav general ordering a nuclear terrorist attack in Slovenia, causing a massive international outcry and NATO air strikes.
In January of 1992, Boris Yeltsin slips into a coma after falling down mid-flight to New York. Vice-president Rutskoi becomes the acting president. Deeply suspicious of conciliatory tone towards the West starts replacing Yeltsinites and encourages Russian irredentism in Ukraine, Moldova and elsewhere. Yeltsin upon recovery in May immediately reverses course back and starts blatantly ignoring the Supreme Soviet, certain he cannot trust it. The Supreme Soviet under Khasbulatov wants to make the presidency a ceremonial function and freeze any substantial reforms. Yeltsin dies in late June of 1992, leaving the country paralyzed between an ineffectual president and ambitious leader of the Supreme Soviet. The country is wrecked by anti-American sentiment, sputniks, (bureaucrats appointed to the same place by political opponents) and a myriad of other problems with no authority to assert itself.
In America, Bill Clinton manages to trigger an unending chain of scandals from February onwards and his campaign collapses after all other opponents have withdrawn except Jerry Brown and Paul Tsongas. By the time of the Democratic convention, neither candidate has enough delegates to win in the first round, and most primaries have shown an alarmingly large lack of enthusiasm for all candidates. Tsongas, fearing the establishment will stab him in the back in a case of an open convention achieves a last minute deal with Brown, forming an uneasy ticket.
George Bush is forced to defend claims he is trying to make the country interventionist after liberal reporters connect the Iraq and Yugoslavia. This is now conflated with support with NAFTA and has to deal with a conservative base and sluggish economy. Furthermore, he cannot risk withdrawing Baker to run his campaign due to the chaotic situation in Russia and believes the Democratic ticket is a Republican dream come through.
Ross Perot joins the race in April and nearly withdraws in July after shocking the nation by claiming Bush ordered the assassination of Yeltsin based on a comment Yeltsin made about Vietnam P.O.W.s, Perot's pet issue. Perot decides to stay in the race, encouraged by nightmare Democrat primaries and stabilized by the medicine he is taking. His campaign manages to convince Lowell Weicker to join the ticket under strange pretenses. Perot is initially sold on Weicker based solely on Weicker's rivalry with Bush, but the ticket soon devolves into an uneasy one over mutual distrust and Perot's paranoia.
As the Democratic convention in August 1992 approaches, the elections have backfired into a race with most of the candidates being outsiders, Russia is gripped by a general strike and government paralysis, Green parties around Europe have received a boost, Greece is toying with leaving NATO...
As the end of year approaches it is more likely that this trends will intersect radically altering the course of history.
In January of 1992, Boris Yeltsin slips into a coma after falling down mid-flight to New York. Vice-president Rutskoi becomes the acting president. Deeply suspicious of conciliatory tone towards the West starts replacing Yeltsinites and encourages Russian irredentism in Ukraine, Moldova and elsewhere. Yeltsin upon recovery in May immediately reverses course back and starts blatantly ignoring the Supreme Soviet, certain he cannot trust it. The Supreme Soviet under Khasbulatov wants to make the presidency a ceremonial function and freeze any substantial reforms. Yeltsin dies in late June of 1992, leaving the country paralyzed between an ineffectual president and ambitious leader of the Supreme Soviet. The country is wrecked by anti-American sentiment, sputniks, (bureaucrats appointed to the same place by political opponents) and a myriad of other problems with no authority to assert itself.
In America, Bill Clinton manages to trigger an unending chain of scandals from February onwards and his campaign collapses after all other opponents have withdrawn except Jerry Brown and Paul Tsongas. By the time of the Democratic convention, neither candidate has enough delegates to win in the first round, and most primaries have shown an alarmingly large lack of enthusiasm for all candidates. Tsongas, fearing the establishment will stab him in the back in a case of an open convention achieves a last minute deal with Brown, forming an uneasy ticket.
George Bush is forced to defend claims he is trying to make the country interventionist after liberal reporters connect the Iraq and Yugoslavia. This is now conflated with support with NAFTA and has to deal with a conservative base and sluggish economy. Furthermore, he cannot risk withdrawing Baker to run his campaign due to the chaotic situation in Russia and believes the Democratic ticket is a Republican dream come through.
Ross Perot joins the race in April and nearly withdraws in July after shocking the nation by claiming Bush ordered the assassination of Yeltsin based on a comment Yeltsin made about Vietnam P.O.W.s, Perot's pet issue. Perot decides to stay in the race, encouraged by nightmare Democrat primaries and stabilized by the medicine he is taking. His campaign manages to convince Lowell Weicker to join the ticket under strange pretenses. Perot is initially sold on Weicker based solely on Weicker's rivalry with Bush, but the ticket soon devolves into an uneasy one over mutual distrust and Perot's paranoia.
As the Democratic convention in August 1992 approaches, the elections have backfired into a race with most of the candidates being outsiders, Russia is gripped by a general strike and government paralysis, Green parties around Europe have received a boost, Greece is toying with leaving NATO...
As the end of year approaches it is more likely that this trends will intersect radically altering the course of history.
Open in new tab for background music
Axis, the Axis
The Axis of World lies Broken
Stolen, Stolen Future
Our Future has been Stolen.
Control, Out of Control
We are spiralling out of Control
Fire, Set on Fire
The World is Set on Fire
Our freedom is consuming itself
What we've become
Is contrary to what we want
Out of Control
The World is Spiralling out of Control,
And the Axis lies Broken.
Lead single, Spiralling Out,
unpublished album Accelerating into the Abyss by Muse[1]
______________________________unpublished album Accelerating into the Abyss by Muse[1]
Prelude 01: What Comes After
______________________________
'The Cold War may have been as close to utopia as we are ever likely to get.'
--Robert D. Kaplan [2]
______________________________
What I have done, I cannot live with. If there will be written records know that the we have at first tried to do the right thing, and at the end we strove to pick the lesser of two evils.
This is not so much a confession but a statement to history. The fact it is a suicide note should not diminish its value nor make it sacrosanct.
As I ready the bullet into its chamber, let it be known that the road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but with selfish ones. And we only followed the road we started out on to its disastrous conclusion.
______________________________
Arnaldo Pomodoro, Sphere within a Sphere, 1996, United Nations, New York City
Should United Nations be Disbanded?
How many states are there in the world? According to CIA World Factbook there are over 220 states, yet only 186 or 194 (depending on how you count various frozen statuses or successor governments) are UN members or have some measure of wider international recognition.
Recent events have shown that by the end of the year, more than 40 nations may leave the organization and more will surely follow. There is no doubt that revelations about the absolutely disgraceful way of handling crises in Kongo and Balochistan was the tipping point.
Since the Security council is effectively paralysed with the question of disputed permanent seats and United States occupied with its own issues, UN has been reduced to empty quarreling in the General Assembly which has recently resorted to physical altercations. At the same time U.N. has been unable to prevent proliferation and the use of weapons of mass destruction as well as several past and ongoing genocidal conflicts.
By far, the most successful U.N. actions were those in Korea in 1950. and in Kuwait in 1991. and both were led by more confident USA. Without USA to wield its force, United Nations are not only powerless but counterproductive to any peacekeeping effort.
--New York Times, op. ed., [date redacted]
______________________________
National Bureau of Economic Research to declare Second Great Depression?
--Times Square news ticker, [date redacted]
______________________________
American comedian Wili Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, NBC
'Of course we are ruling the world! Why do you think every map of the world is rendered obsolete after six months?'
'Expiration date?'
'No you fool. You see, every time the chart sales go down we create another new country, sometimes two or three at a time.'
[Wil Ferell brings out the Spin the Wheel chart]
[starts to sing] 'What country will be next? Who will fight for freedom? Who will just declare it?
'Will it be Quebec, again? Will it be Katanga, Ireland or Texas? Only the wheel knows.'
[everybody joins in except Phil Hartman]
'A civil war, a coup d'etat or a nuclear attack? / There will be more maps, borders and flags.'
--transcript of the controversial Saturday Night Live skit, [date redacted]
______________________________
Martial law declared in Britain; Spain, Germany close borders; President to address the nation tonight
--Times Square news ticker, [date redacted]
______________________________
'The future of the Third World may finally be our own.'
--Robert D. Kaplan [3]
______________________________
In 1914. two bullets fired from a gun in Balkans started the chain of events that would ruin the century long Concert of Europe.
In 1991 the two bullets would be replaced by two MK-82 bombs.
______________________________
[0.1.1] Basically an ATL (and earlier) version of what OTL became Take a bow.
[0.1.2] Actual quote, The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War, 2001, p. 169
[0.1.3] Also an actual quote, “Was Democracy Just a Moment“, The Atlantic, 1997, p. 169
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