The Union Forever: A TL
- Thread starter Mac Gregor
- Start date
The Kingdom of Bohemia has had a better go ITTL than ours. However, it is much more heavily influenced by Germany.
2004 Presidential Election
2004 Presidential Election
The national mood was decidedly against the status-quo heading into the 2004 presidential election with the economy never having fully recovered from the 1998 globtrix recession, disruptions caused by the IEF Civil War, and high fuel prices. President Elias Zaal fended off two potentially dangerous primary challenges but managed to secure re-nomination from the Democrats. The Republicans would have a contentious primary before eventually settling on dark horse candidate Peter Rowland.
Peter G. Rowland
Born on September 15, 1959 to middleclass parents in New River, Florida, Peter Guetta Rowland was a precocious child who from an early age showed great aptitude at public speaking. Rowland attended Florida State University-Tampa and later Brown University eventually earing PhDs in American and European History. Rowland’s path to politics was atypical. After a few years as a college professor, Rowland garnered national attention with his book Light of the West: America and Geopolitics in the 20th Century. Over the years, Rowland became a common face on cable news and political talk shows. In 1992, Rowland married actress Betty Sheeran. In 1995, Rowland became the host of The World and You a popular weekday program on the Harper News Network. After the death of Florida congressman Eddie Lloyd in 1999, Rowland was tapped by the Republican Party to stand in the special election and easily won the seat. In Congress, Rowland became one of the most outspoken critics of the Zaal administration, especially on foreign policy. While Rowland entered the 2004 Republican primaries relatively early few gave the young congressman high odds for success. However, the Republicans remained heavily divided between two other candidates and a late push to re-nominate former president Blanton ensured that the Republicans entered the national convention in San Jose, California without an agreed upon candidate. After nine ballots, Rowland began to surge. After Blanton formally gave his endorsement, Rowland soon clinched the nomination. Senator Rufus Carmichael of New Hampshire was chosen as his running mate.
The Campaign
During the general election, President Zaal claimed with some justification that he had reduced unemployment since taking office and kept the country from becoming embroiled in the IEF Civil War. Rowland argued that “the so-called economic recovery came too little, too late.” Moreover, Rowland painted Zaal as aloof from the gains made by the German Empire and Technate of China at the expense of the IEF. In an attempt to siphon votes from the Ecoists, the Republicans included a strong environmental plank in their party platform. The Zaal campaign made several personal attacks against Rowland regarding his youth, inexperience, and accusations that he was a “second rate TV celebrity. “
The Results
Peter G. Rowland
Republican from Florida
39th President of the United States
When the votes were tallied, the American people had clearly decided to ditch Zaal and the Democrats. Zaal and Torres captured only 46.3% of the popular vote and a mere 18 of 58 states. Rowland and Carmichael scored 51.8% of the popular vote sweeping most of the country except for the South and some western states. The Republicans also expanded their majority in the House of Representatives and captured the Senate.
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'Cuz you know, it's the birthplace of the modern Lithuanian language and of many famous Lithuanian independence figures and everything.
Does Poland have any problem with the big Lithuanian population in Sūduva?
Hahahaha, a cross between Bill O'Reilly and Joe Scarborough is President! Love it!
BP Booker
Banned
"The Zaal campaign made several personal attacks against Rowland regarding his youth, inexperience, and accusations that he was a “second rate TV celebrity.“
Well, former President Zaal was kinda right, 5 years as a congressman in what assume wasent a competitive district is pretty much no experience. And second rate Tv celebrity? Ouch! Well at least he wasent a tacky actor or crappy game show host. College professor and political author (In hope that book was good) sounds more dignified. Lrts hope Rowland didnt try to bite more than he could chew
Well, former President Zaal was kinda right, 5 years as a congressman in what assume wasent a competitive district is pretty much no experience. And second rate Tv celebrity? Ouch! Well at least he wasent a tacky actor or crappy game show host. College professor and political author (In hope that book was good) sounds more dignified. Lrts hope Rowland didnt try to bite more than he could chew
Personally it sounds more like Joe Scarborough than Bill O'Reilly.
Either way this should be good to see what Rowland does here.
IMO it would take a fairly big idiot to do worse than Zaal did. Rowland doesn't strike me as such. So hopefully he leads to the United States to even newer highs.
And rebuild the military, stand up to China, all that stuff too.
Also, I imagine around this time there is a TUF version of the globrix AH.com that is having a politiyank thread on the 2004 election.
Another thing I'm wondering about is that environmental plank in the Republican ticket. What does this plank entail? Are we taking Manhattan Project levels finding green energy? Or something else?
Reality TV show star with zero experience with politics. Not chances!!! Wait...
Not really, Poland and Lithuania are on pretty good terms and both are members of the AES.
Indeed, there is some truth to Zaal's accusations. Rowland does lack experience. As BP Booker points out, Rowland is more of an intellectual/political commentator than an OTL reality TV star.
2004: Foreign and Domestic Developments
2004
Foreign and Domestic Developments
Foreign and Domestic Developments
On January 30, the Technate of China’s Directorate of Technology announced that it had successfully cloned human embryos using somatic nuclear cell transfer. While the embryos were destroyed after two weeks, many believed it was only a matter of time before human clones became a reality. The announcement generated considerably backlash from religious groups and anti-cloning ethicists.
Sudanese jockey Ali Osman Salih won the Doha Cup in the Union of Gulf Emirates, arguably the world’s most prestigious camel race, for the third time a milestone in the sport’s history.
During the summer, the American video game company Specter Entertainment released Desperados a globtrix based Western themed role-playing game than connected thousands of players. Reviews praised the game’s immersive environment and creative duel system. Not to be outdone, Specter Entertainment’s French based rival Aventurcom unveiled, Citoyens et Sujets, a similar game set during the French Revolution, later that year.
Throughout 2004, aid began to pour into the IEF and its former territories. Food was desperately needed, and seems to have arrived just in time to stave off a massive famine. Kuznetsov’s regime began the slow task of rebuilding the country’s severely damaged infrastructure but made little effort to normalize relations with its newly independent neighbors. While many of the millions of IEF refugees began to return, a sizable portion choose to resettle elsewhere. Most nations imposed some sort of quota on refugees. However, there were some noticeable exceptions. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became favorite destinations with exile communities sprouting up such as the Little Ukraine neighborhood in Toronto and the city of New Smolensk in Central Australia.
In August, Germany’s Imperial Space and Aeronautics Commission (IRLK) announced that they would be closing Mond Vorposten Ein by the end of the year after over a decade of operation. Many observers speculated that closing the lunar base was a prelude to the announcement of a manned mission to Mars.
Prime Minister Geoffrey Lever’s call for a British general election backfired when his Liberal/Democratic Labor government fell by a razor thin margin. A new coalition of Conservatives, Imperial Progressives, and Unionists was formed with Reginald Thorneycroft as prime minister. In a reassuring move, Thorneycroft promised to honor the terms of the Geneva Accords and support the nascent Fellowship of Nations.
After over four years of bloody fighting, the Greek Civil War came to an end. With some military hardware donated from the IEF, the Monarchists were able to crush the last Socialists holdouts in Thessaloniki. At a victory speech in Athens, King George III confirmed his nation’s close ties to the IEF and the Orthodox Council.
After months of negotiation, the Fellowship of Nations was formally established in Geneva on October 19. Its stated purpose was for "the peaceful resolution of international conflicts, promotion of the brotherhood of nations, and serve as a forum for the bettering of the welfare of all mankind." While the FoN would grow to contain a number of organs and agencies, at its core was the World Congress with each independent nation having one vote. The Central Committee, an executive of sorts, was composed of a representative chosen by each of the major power blocs; the League of American Republics, Association of European States, Technocratic Union, Turin Pact, and after some debate the Orthodox Council, and the Persian led Organization for Mutual Development created earlier that year. Nations that were not a member of any of those alliances, collectively elected a delegate who would sit on the Central Committee but not have veto powers. Former Syrian parliamentarian and humanitarian worker Husayin al-Tal was elected as the FoN’s first Secretary-General. While the FoN had many critics and detractors, nearly all independent nations would join the organization over the next few years.
On December 26, an earthquake off the cost of Sumatra caused a massive tsunami to sweep across the Indian Ocean. The Republic of Indonesia was the worst hit, followed by Ceylon, Madras, and India. Over a quarter of million people were estimated to have been killed. Nations and organizations around the world pledged support to the victims though some thought China’s offer of assistance to Indonesia had more to do with geopolitics than altruism.
Aceh, Indonesia after the Tsunami
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