TLIAW: Daughters of Elysium - The European Federal Election of 2019

[Major Crimson]

When will be the new update?

It's coming I promise! Hopefully today, maybe tomorrow. I mean the whole "TLIAW" thing fell through (but thats par for the course) but I hope to be done by the end of this week!

I don't actually have anything productive to add. other than this is fantastic, well written stuff very enjoyable and decently plausible

Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Oh, come on, billions of German MPs and not even an Italian one?

Poor Italy! Being fair only one MP has actually been German, they're Swedish, Austrian, Portugese, French, Czech and finally German respectively. Also Italy is slightly fringe with its large Vigilant contingent so they're often a little left behind when it comes to the highest ranks of leadership.

 

[Bulldoggus]

What is Pimentel's full name? I can't find him. Also, Kalousek can't have been M-P for too long.

 

[ert44444]

Just wondering but will we get a map of Europe at some point because Im intrigued to see the borders of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia/Czech Rep and Slovakia.

 

[Major Crimson]

What is Pimentel's full name? I can't find him. Also, Kalousek can't have been M-P for too long.

José Menéres Pimentel and Kalousek is a pretty oft forgotten MP, beating Mitterand's chosen successor only to fall to internal party strife and a Merkel-led coup.

Just wondering but will we get a map of Europe at some point because I'm intrigued to see the borders of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia/Czech Rep and Slovakia.

There'll be a world map at the end, I'm half done with it and boy is it confusing. I'm not the best map maker in the world so it'll probably be messy but it is coming!

 

[Historygeek03033]

Great timeline.

 

[Major Crimson]

​

Oxford Union Bar
4.00 AM

"And remember that one nutter woman who kept going on about how Scottish people were mostly neanderthals?" "Yeah, or the old bloke that tried to get us to investigate a UFO he was sure had crashed near Burford." Debate among the five students in the union had devolved from fretting over the French into who had met the craziest voter. A long bong, informing them it had just turned four, ripped them out of their conversations and focused their eyes on the screen.

"Charlie has just nipped off to grab a coffee so I'll be filling in whilst he's away." Louis Theroux began, attempting and almost pulling off a natural smile that was more than a little undermined by the massive bags under his eyes. "And joining me now are the leaders of the European Democrats and the Confederal Party, thank you both.”

On a small television screen opposite Theroux, Francois Fillon and Annie Loof broke into awkward smiles, the former from his Parisian office and the later outside on the streets of Stockholm.

“Mr Fillon I’ll start with you, this has been a good night for the Confederal Party to be sure, however, your electoral success increasingly looks to be overshadowed by your newfound friendship with the Vigilant who many see as extreme or dangerous.”

Fillion tutted lightly and in heavily accented English replied, “Louis, please. The Vigilant has always been a legitimate and fair part of the system of government within Europe, certainly no more extreme than the Left-Ecologists, simply on another side of the debate. For that matter Mrs Widdicombe currently heads the party in an even more moderate direction, herself having served in the governments of both your Conservatives in Angleterre and of course for us at the Confederal party in the past. The fact that many members cross over between these two-“

“I’m very sorry Louis,” Loof interrupted, her face curled into a vicious scowl, “But what Mr Fillion is saying is utter tosh. The Vigilant’s founders, let us not forget, were the literal sons of Mussolini and Franco – not their ideological successors but quite literally their sons. A few months ago, Mr Fillon was fully commited to the European Project, to its allies and to his coalition. No doubt he has proven himself a fairweather friend indeed. The very fact that Mrs Widdicombe came from the Confederal Party shows how the Confederals themselves were rubbing shoulders with fascists even before tonight. In fact, the CPP have elements who would rather work with them than us and of course during the 1960s when Mr Mosely was leader of the Co-Operatives,” the word was tinged both by her Swedish accent and by what appeared to be utter disdain, “he was a major proponent for an alliance with these fascists. Only we Democrats remain above links to these un-European-“

“I’m sorry Ms Loof, I understand tonight has been trying” Louis chipped in, “But I’d like to keep it civil. If what you say is true, why do you think that the voters have said no to you?” Theroux dragged out the last word as Loof went bright red.

“Well Louis you see last election was very good for us and uh we were never um, expected to, well-“

“You don’t think it has anything to do with your abstention on the vote to intervene in Turkey?”

“NO!” Loof blurted, “No,” regaining her composure, “the issue was a difficult one but I maintain to this day that it was the correct one.”

Fillon chuckled in the background, content to let the Swede dig.

“Given that your former leader was so against the war that he resigned over the issue, and given his personal popularity, surely you must see some link?”

“Listen!” Loof jabbed a finger at the screen, “What happened to Nick was a real, real shame but he was out of step with the party. However much of a boon “Cleggtopia” might have been to us, his unwillingness to work with conservative parties were dragging us down, I absolutely did not push him from power and there was no factional move to-“

“Ms Loof,” Theroux said softly, almost apologetically, “I’m afraid no one has mentioned you pushing him. Or factions for that matter.”

“Yes, well-“ Loof sighed deeply, “I apologise. It has been a tiring night.”

“I won’t keep you too long Ms Loof but will you commit to the rumours that you will support the Cooperatives?”

She held up her hands in surrender, “Yes, yes. Although I announced my resignation a few hours ago and thus it is up to my successor how long this support lasts, for the sake of government formation the European Democrats are fully committed to the uh- Popular Alliance.”

“Cleggers will be back in,” Arthur smiled, “Mark my word.”

“You think they’d have three British party leaders at the same time? It’d look too unbalanced.” Simon replied.

Leaning in, Marie whispered “There’s no way both Widdicombe and Oor boy,” she attempted to put a Scottish accent on the nickname lovingly bestowed to the Cooperative leader – to horrendous effect, “will still be here tomorrow. Whoever loses is out.”

"Personally," Fillon interjected, "It is clear to me that the people want reform but not the radical, destructive reform of the left - instead Europe has, how you say, come home. The Justice Coalition is Europe's natural state of affairs and it is a shame that we have been subjected to such socialistic legislation for so long, in fact-"

"I'm sorry to both of you," Theroux intoned, "But I'm being told told that the results from Portugal have just come in."

As the camera duly cut to a large, modern conference centre, Arthur's heartbeat began to rise.

Portugal, where the European Federation had funnelled billions of Euros into the tech market in a bloated but successful attempt to steal Japan’s technology crown, no longer had much use for humans. They were a long way off the robots taking over to be sure, but the little Iberian state had become obsessed with digitising and automating anything they could get their hands on. When nearly two thirds of the population built computers and designed robots, it wasn’t much of a surprise that the results were spewed out of a slightly eerie metallic android.

“Greetings,” the crisp, English accented droid announced to the conference call, her voice so life like it could almost have come from a real person. Almost.

“I am Ava from Eurotech and it is my honour to announce the Portuguese results tonight.” ‘She’ smiled, a little too wide and a little too long.

“Saudações” she repeated in her ‘native’ tongue. “Eu sou Ava da Eurotec e tenho a honra de anunciar os resultados portugueses esta noite”

Arthur had a version of Ava as a runt on his PDA but never used her, even without having a face she still creeped him out.

“The results are as follows: Independents garnered one thousand, one hundred and fifty four votes. No seats. The Marxist-Solidarity Front gained forty two thousand, one hundred and twenty nine votes. No seats.”

“Come on,” someone muttered, “Get to the good bit.”

“Democrats, seventy five thousand, two hundred and fifty one votes. One seat. Christian People’s Party four hundred and fourty five thousand, nine hundred and one. Four Seats…”

She rambled on, just over five hundred thousand votes along with four more seats went Left-Eco before the final showdown:

“And now, with one million, seven hundred thousand, seven hundred and thirty votes-“

“Oh my god the stupid robot’s dragging it out.”

“-is the Vigliant Alliance on fourteen seats.” Arthur and friends, now almost alone in the bar that had somehow stayed open all night, jumped to their feet and cheered.

“Which means that the largest party for Portugal is the Cooperatives on two million eighty five thousand, four hundred and fifty five votes gain seventeen seats.”

“A good result there for the Popular Coalition and as the Confederals don’t run in Portugal, this was always going to be hard for their Justice counterparts.”

Arthur noted how in a matter of hours, ‘Justice’ and ‘Popular’ had gone from hastily constructed slogans to seemingly official terms.

“With just Ireland and the United Kingdom remaining, it seems that Portugal has balanced out the big justice wins in France. It’s rare, if not unprecedented for an election to remain so tense until the end but with just Britain and Ireland remaining, it’ll be worth staying up to see just who can squeak across the finishline.”

Throwing back what must have been his tenth whisky of the evening, Arthur realised his knuckles were white, gripping the glass so hard he thought it might shatter. His heart, slowly beating its way out of his chest, seemed to stop for a second. Had he worked hard enough? He’d slept in some mornings of the campaign, hadn’t made it out to the London meetups, he was rude to a VA voter that he might have won over, what if it was him that doomed Europe? As the whisky kicked in, he quickly realised how daft this all sounded and after a particularly bawdy joke from Simon about Mrs Loof and the granting of a “stimulus package”, his heart returned to a nearly healthy speed. For a brief second, it felt like things were on the up.


Results as of 4.09 AM

JUSTICE COALITION
379 Council Ministers
(264 Vigilant + 113 Confederal)

POPULAR COALITION
449 Council Ministers
(240 Cooperative, 79 CPP, 72 Left-Ecologist, 58 Democrat)

MARXIST-SOLIDARITY FRONT
28 Council Ministers

145 Undecided

Popular - Largest Coalition
Vigilant - Largest Party

Likely Outcome: Unknown​

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

This reminds me, what happened to the monarchs of the countries now part of Europa?

Do they remain titular monarchs as "regional" heads of state? Or have they all been quietly sidelined?

 

[Major Crimson]

This reminds me, what happened to the monarchs of the countries now part of Europa?

Do they remain titular monarchs as "regional" heads of state? Or have they all been quietly sidelined?

Still there, most countries have very similar internal structures to their pre-Federation days and whilst the Federation itself is a republic the UK, Italy, the Belenux and the Scandis are all constitutional monarchies, as is Austria, notably.

 

[Analytical Engine]

Is Iceland a member of the federation, or is it part of Denmark, in the same way that Greenland and the Faroe Islands are?

 

[Magyarország]

Still there, most countries have very similar internal structures to their pre-Federation days and whilst the Federation itself is a republic the UK, Italy, the Belenux and the Scandis are all constitutional monarchies, as is Austria, notably.

Whoa, Austria restored the monarchy?!

Should've gone all-in and restore it in Hungary, too, and keep the fascists out

 

[Analytical Engine]

Whoa, Austria restored the monarchy?!

Should've gone all-in and restore it in Hungary, too, and keep the fascists out

Habsburgs FTW!

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

The Vigilant’s founders, let us not forget, were the literal sons of Mussolini and Franco – not their ideological successors but quite literally their sons.

Did Paco have more than his only daughter ITTL?

 

[The Professor]

Did Paco have more than his only daughter ITTL?

Seems like.
I'm currently freaked out a little by Robo-Portugal.
And the names of the 2 coalitions are disturbing if plausible in a world lacking Nazi excesses.

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

Still there, most countries have very similar internal structures to their pre-Federation days and whilst the Federation itself is a republic the UK, Italy, the Belenux and the Scandis are all constitutional monarchies, as is Austria, notably.

So Mussolini abolished the Italian one or was it like OTL and the House of Savoy didn't recover?

I suppose I might aswell ask after Spain aswell, did Franco also not bring back the monarchy on his death?

Sorry to be a bother about this, it just intrigues me.

And also, if you'll permit me will you be returning to ImpSoc at some point after finishing this? I'm not too familiar with your style and so this TLIAW (TimeLine in a Week?) thing has me confused.

 

[Analytical Engine]

So Mussolini abolished the Italian one or was it like OTL and the House of Savoy didn't recover?

He wrote that Italy was a constitutional monarchy.

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

He wrote that Italy was a constitutional monarchy.

I can't read apparently. Cheers for that spot, my eyes passed over Italy in that list.

 

[Major Crimson]

Did Paco have more than his only daughter ITTL?

Seems like.
I'm currently freaked out a little by Robo-Portugal.
A1nd the names of the 2 coalitions are disturbing if plausible in a world lacking Nazi excesses.

Son in law, really, but its easier for Loof to make her point by saying it this way. Robo-portugal is indeed freaky and yeah it's odd, I'm glad its plausible though.

So Mussolini abolished the Italian one or was it like OTL and the House of Savoy didn't recover?

I suppose I might aswell ask after Spain aswell, did Franco also not bring back the monarchy on his death?

Sorry to be a bother about this, it just intrigues me.

And also, if you'll permit me will you be returning to ImpSoc at some point after finishing this? I'm not too familiar with your style and so this TLIAW (TimeLine in a Week?) thing has me confused.

Italian one is still kicking, as discussed above! Spanish one was never restored because Franco left power earlier and there was a general Spanish thaw in the 70s which saw the old government in exile return. Civil War went largely as OTL but was a longer and much closer run thing than OTL due to lack of Nazi's (which was balanced out in part by somewhat more desperate Moussolini becoming more directly involved.)

ImpSoc will be getting more love as soon as I'm done! This was meant to last a week but now we're three weeks in :| nearly done with Daughters though, over by monday I would imagine.



Also side note, I've started very basic work on a potential national anthem, general thought being that there is one generic pan European verse and then each country gets their own one, everyone sings their own or different verses are chosen based on the occasion. The base is Ode to Joy and I'm still working on the generic verse but the rule for that is going to be one line each in English/French/German, one in latin and then repeat. These are the British, French and German Verses in their easy state. Now I'm crap and languages and at songwriting so I apologise for any flaws, its just meant to add a dash of flavour:

Free forever and united,

‘Cross the sea we sail to you

Scotland's honour, old Welsh glory

England firm and Ulster true


From our sceptered isle we call you,

Brothers one and Brothers all,

Queen and Country, Sheathed in Glory,

Britain strong and beautiful,




Nos beaux fils et belles filles,

Prenez garde tous, Europa,

Soldats, marins et travailleurs,

Tous serviront votre pouvoir


Liberté des rois aux mendiants,

Égalité pour tous et tous,

Fraternité de l'ancien à l'enfant,

La quête de la France pour vous tous,




Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Für das Europa muttiland!

Danach lasst uns alle streben

Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!


Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;

Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,

Blühe, Europa, muttiland!
​

Yes the German verse is literally ripped from Deutchlandleid but its good and fits! Update nearly done and I hope this adds some depth!

 

[Magyarország]

Hm. Using muttiland instead of vaterland is quite strange indeed. Did the latter become unacceptable after the Nazis were coup'd?

 

[Major Crimson]

​

4.52 AM
Oxford

“Well I know it's getting late, or rather early but stick with us because the final result is just around the corner” Charlie Brooker’s smile was more and more forced by the minute. “With me now and answering some questions on the relative success of their party is the leader of the British branch of the Marxist-Solidarity Front, Mr George Galloway and the Soviet Ambassador to the United Kingdom one Mr-,” Brooker checked his note for the name of the moustachioed Russian, “Pew-ten?”

“Putin.” He corrected, unflinching.

“Well thank you very much Mr Galloway, Mr Putin. Starting off, what do you both make of our results tonight.”

“Well”, Galloway began, “What is clear is that Capitalism and the decadence of the European Federation are reaching its breaking point. For many years now me and my comrades have been explaining that the line between the Social Fascism of the Cooperatives or Democrats and the actual Fascism of the Vigilant was but a hairs breadth wide. We see now that the people have been fully corrupted and the system fully exposed as fascists, not only capable of but enthusiastic about cooperation with reactionaries in Washington D.C., are about to win power.”

“Is that your prediction then? That the Vigilant will win.”

“Yes.” Putin replied without blinking, in fact Arthur couldn’t tell if the man had blinked at all.

“I agree with comrade Putin here, it seems inevitable that the fascists will take control of this intrinsically fascistic union. After all does it not wage a war of genocide against the noble turk? Are brave warriors of the proletariat not being slain as we speak in the streets of Ankara?”

“Do you think that the war in Turkey is racially motivated, Mr Galloway?”

“Racially and religiously, I have no doubt.”

And Mr Putin, do you share this view.”

“It is not the opinion of the Soviet Union.”

“All well and good,” Brooker added, “But is it your opinion.”

Putin finally blinked, deliberately and now staring directly at Brooker.

“It is not the opinion of the Soviet Union.”

Brooker straightened his notes and coughed awkwardly. “Well certainly your party has made some progress tonight Mr Galloway in Eastern Europe particularly and yet it doesn’t seem like you have been able to capitalise on the same discontent that the Vigilant and Cooperative have, indeed it appears that even the Left-Ecologists have had much greater success than you.”

“Well the leadership of this corrupt Federation, in their efforts to persecute and destroy the innocent people of the Popular Turkish Republic have tried to associate ourselves with the brutal terrorist attacks that have occurred in Venice and Lisbo-“

“Comrade Galloway.” The Russian interrupted, his gaze still had not wandered from the host. “I believe you are referring to the justified and proportional responses from popular liberation corps.”

Never had Arthur seen terror set in so quickly. “Uh, um comrade I apologise if I misspoke I simply-“

“As was outlined in this weeks edition of Pravda, it is the belief of the Soviet Union that oppressed peoples can only be expected to rebel against their oppressors, wouldn’t you agree?”

“…I thought that these were false-“

“Surely a man so intelligent as yourself, Comrade, would see the truth in Secretary Limonov’s statement.”

Galloway was truly panicking now, whilst unlikely to meet the same fate that one making that mistake might in Russia, his political future was certainly dead in the water.

"Well, well you see what I meant to say was of course, of course."

Brooker's mouth was drawn into a thin line and seemed glad to be able to move on.

"Thank you both for being here gentlemen but its time to go to Dublin for the Irish result."

Ireland continued her reputation as the most boring of the Federation's members as the large wooden hall chosen to announce the vote seemed full exclusively of stuffy greybeards in tweed jackets.

"The exact vote count is still in dispute, thanks to a minor recount and a technical error. This will affect less than one percent of the votes however and so I can announce the Republic of Ireland’s Council Ministers with total accuracy.”

There was a murmur at this highly irregular result but it had happened once or twice before, likely the rain had fried a voting machine or two in some town in the arse end of Donegal.

“The Irish Seats are as follows,” the announcer looked exhausted and an awful lot like his favourite side wasn't winning. “One seat to the European Democrats.” A subdued but genuine cheer went up at that, the Dems didn’t usually get anything in Ireland. “Three to the Christian People’s Party.”

“Ouch,” Mike said, “Poor showing for Fianna Fall.”

“Three to the Vigilant Alliance. Four to the Cooperative Party.”


A tiny cheer at that, small victories were still victories. “And eight to the Confederal party.”

​

Loyal as ever, the convient seat-count shot up onto the screen.

MSF - 28
LE - 72
COOP - 244
DEMS - 58
CPP - 79
CON - 113
VA - 264

POPULAR COALITION - 457

JUSTICE COALITION - 388
​

​

As the sound of Ireland faded away, Theroux popped back up, a coffee stain having appeared on his tie. “A strong showing for the Confederals there which gives the Justice Coalition a bit of a boost. Overall, however, with those results we actually see very little change at all, indeed Vigilant have made some minor gains but this shouldn’t change too much. I’m joined now by Vigilant Leader Mrs Widdicombe who has taken time out of her busy night to talk to me. Good evening Mrs Widdicombe.”

A picture in picture of the presumed Minister President appeared, leering threateningly out at them. Her hair and dress perfectly neat, both a dull grey and a raging bull pin on her collar, next to a union jack and the EF’s ring of stars.

“Good evening Louis and what an absolutely wonderfully good evening at that.”

“I take it spirits are high at Vigilant HQ.”

“Certainly, certainly. I feel confident in saying I have made a great many friends this evening, from multiple parties.”

“Indeed, I am to understand you have talked to Mr Fillon?”

“Oh extensively, extensively. Me and Francois spent nearly an hour outlining just what we want Justice to represent for Europe and I am confident that we have the beginnings of a deal that will please both sides, although of course negotiations are just beginning.”

“Of course, these are entirely unofficial Mrs Widdicombe, as you would have to wait for authorization from the Chairwoman of the Council to begin any major talks.”

“Absolutely unofficial although I await my conversation with Ms Rutten with great anticipation.”

“Well that is if you are the largest party at the end of the night, if the Cooperatives can beat you then it looks like we’ll be seeing that Popular Coalition after all.”

“We currently have a 20 seat lead over the Cooperative Party and at best they might gain 6 or 7 on us; if national polling is correct then Britain is going to come in well for us and poorly for them.”

“I believe you were estimated to be 10 seats behind in the UK.”

“Which is a very impressive result for us, isn’t it? In fact, that’d leave us as the largest party by 10 seats, that’s 9 more than we’d need isn’t it Louis?”

“Of course but it seems likely that you would be leading a minority government-“

“Oh well Louis,” Widdicombe interrupted, “I wouldn’t count on that at all.”


Theroux frowned. “It’s interesting to hear you say that Ms Widdicombe, do you know something we don’t?”

“Well I shouldn’t like to give anything away but shortly after my talk with Francois, I had an absolutely lovely chat with certain high ranking CPP politicians from Poland, France and Ireland, all of whom expressed their anger at Mrs Merkel’s ludicrous decision to back the Communistic left and their support for the Justice Coalition.”

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

“What would that mean? Do you imagine you have the numbers?”

“Oh, absolutely. Our internal polling suggests that Britain will be a big win for us too, we might get over the line without any Christian Party defections and I’m sure that my old friends in the British Branch of the Confederal party will have a very strong showing indeed.”

“Well, what could we expect from you, Mrs Widdicombe? What are your chief priorities?”

“Foreign affairs are the start, of course, do away with the old and irrelevant ties to the southern world and stop our ridiculous courting of the frozen north too. The War in Turkey will be brought to a close and we will fully realign ourselves in sharp opposition to Bolshevism elsewhere. Turkey is a lost cause but on our own borders, we need a firmer line. America is our true ally, as are the Rhodesians, South Africans and of course the Argies.”

“Racist dictatorship after racist dictatorship…” Marie muttered.

“And we shall need these allies, friends in the fight against communist plotting and Asiatic assault.”

“You refer to Japan?”

“In part,” she nodded, “But people aren’t calling this the Japanese Century, are they? They’re calling it the Asian one.”

Theroux’s jaw dropped a little. “So Mrs Widdicombe, are you implying that Asia is a threat.”

“I am implying that Asians are a threat.”

Arthur looked to his right where Marie sat, his eyes moved from her gritted teeth to deep brown eyes and finally to her long black hair. He wondered where she’d fit in to this brave new world.

“Mrs Widdicombe I’m afraid we’re running out of time and I’m sure no-one is more excited than you to hear the final, British result. So I wondered if we could quickly hear your thoughts on domestic policy.”

“Absolutely Louis. We’d institute a regulation and log of all internet activity and require special passes for those people of a background we deem dangerous to gain access. We would institute a national identity card system, as well as increasing police powers to verify identities within European cities. We would roll back Homosexual “marriage” and finally reform the voting system to better reflect the need for a strong, united federation.”

Arthur felt a shiver run down his spine.

“And you think you can achieve all of that?” Theroux asked.

“Well Louis,” she stared directly at the camera, teeth bared, “I’m not going to let anyone stop me.”

All around the table, glasses of alcohol were drained at breakneck speed.

“Well boys, ladies, it’s been fun. Are we running to Canada or Singapore?”

“You mean North North Dakota or Syonato?”

Marie’s head whipped around and she scowled at the use of that name, part of Tokyo’s attempt to bring Singapore into the "Co-prosperity Sphere" when they had occupied it in the late 40s and early 50s was the “Japanification” of its name. The entire period was more than a sore spot.

“Sorry,” Simon winced, “But when Pacific War Three and Atlantic War Two hit, we’re not going to bloody win are we?”

“Stiff upper lip.” Arthur said, ironically it seemed, as his own began to wobble.

Mike, meanwhile was more angry than sad. “What the fuck! Good thing the Jesus nuts are selling us out to Madam MacArthur up there or we just might have lived another five fucking minutes.”

“This is 100% a bluff.” Matie replied – face stoney, “I know those branches are more out there than most but it just won’t happen.” She held up three fingers. “First, their bases are pretty moderate as all the extremists went over to the Connies or the VA. Second, the right within the party are all committed to the war and Widdicombe would end it. Third, there’s no way they’d vote for her tax plan and that’ll probably be her number one priority.”

Arthur forced a smile. “You sound pretty sure, I hope you’re right. If you are we just might have a chance.”

Steely eyes met his and she replied, unwavering, “I am.”

 

[Magyarország]

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck."

Yeeeeeep. My reaction too, Artie.

To be fair, there's no way they could implement those insane plans without absolutely massive resistance.

A moustachioed Putin is fairly amusing, though.