If I could make two Nineties Aeterna suggestions: keep Sonic the Hedgehog and Sinbad popular. Crystal Pepsi would be nice too.
V a p o r v e r s e - Or, a Vaporwave inspired Timeline.
- Thread starter Derpsternium
- Start date
I was thinking on *ahem* *ahem*, Sampling Some of @Megafighter3 's "mario goes Hollywood" timeline, since video games are a big part of the 90s aesthetic.
ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ５： Ｔｈｅ Ｔｒａｎｓｉｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｙｅａｒ イこんヹポ
On the opposite side of the post-cold war world was the New Soviet Union. As promised, republics which did not sign the treaty were allowed to leave. The Republics which stayed were given the increased freedoms the treaty stated. To review, the Treaty had given individual Republics the freedom to develop their own resources and manage their own internal economies. They could also have external Trade Relations. Essentially, Moscow cannot tell Ukraine what to do with its resources, and if Ukraine wanted to trade with Germany but Russia did not, Ukraine could still trade with Germany.
1992 was still a time when the economy was not doing so well. 1992 would be a transition period during which the USSR transitioned from a Highly Centralized Communist State to a Decentralized Federation of Sovereign States. In the context of International Relations, the USSR was still one entity, since the Military and External diplomacy was jointly shared by all members. However, each republic would determine its own political Identities soon enough, as all kept Council Democracies in place.
The Leaders of the Post-Communist Republics are basically OTL since many were either already in office before the Treaty would have been signed or would have been voted in otherwise. Gorbachev would remain in Office, wanting to make sure the reforms are implemented smoothly. Since the Union Level Government is no longer calling all the shots short of Currency and International Diplomacy, many Ministries are disbanded, their responsibilities devolved to Republics.
The New Union does not do much on the Global Stage in 1992. The first major action being the resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the mostly Armenian region was a disputed territory between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan since before the treaty. Armenia did not sign the treaty, but Azerbaijan was one of the signatories, and there was a low-level armed conflict over the Breakaway state. The Other Republics now had the ability to give input on diplomatic policy, the decision was to just give the region to the Armenians. The Armenians were de facto independent since the late 80s, and the “Ethnic Tensions” would in modern contexts be considered a “War”.
In general, 1992 is not an easy start for the New Union, but one which shows great promise. With the Sovereign Republics in control of their domestic Economic and trade policies, Downturn should start slowing. problems still exist with the system. As Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrated, even before the Union began Devolution the republics had bones to pick with each other. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are not the only restive Minority wanting better Representation, and Corruption in certain Republics has begun to show. Can the Union patch the cracks in it's walls? Or does "A House Divided" apply just as much to an Apartment Complex?
Ａｒｅ ｔｈｅ ｃｒａｃｋｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｗａｌｌｓ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｐａｔｃｈｅｄ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ Ｌａｎｄｌｏｒｄ ｏｒ Ｈｉｓ ｔｅｎａｎｔｓ？ 援 衛コとギー囲プゑ波往ふ猿ン旺
1992 was still a time when the economy was not doing so well. 1992 would be a transition period during which the USSR transitioned from a Highly Centralized Communist State to a Decentralized Federation of Sovereign States. In the context of International Relations, the USSR was still one entity, since the Military and External diplomacy was jointly shared by all members. However, each republic would determine its own political Identities soon enough, as all kept Council Democracies in place.
The Leaders of the Post-Communist Republics are basically OTL since many were either already in office before the Treaty would have been signed or would have been voted in otherwise. Gorbachev would remain in Office, wanting to make sure the reforms are implemented smoothly. Since the Union Level Government is no longer calling all the shots short of Currency and International Diplomacy, many Ministries are disbanded, their responsibilities devolved to Republics.
The New Union does not do much on the Global Stage in 1992. The first major action being the resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, the mostly Armenian region was a disputed territory between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan since before the treaty. Armenia did not sign the treaty, but Azerbaijan was one of the signatories, and there was a low-level armed conflict over the Breakaway state. The Other Republics now had the ability to give input on diplomatic policy, the decision was to just give the region to the Armenians. The Armenians were de facto independent since the late 80s, and the “Ethnic Tensions” would in modern contexts be considered a “War”.
In general, 1992 is not an easy start for the New Union, but one which shows great promise. With the Sovereign Republics in control of their domestic Economic and trade policies, Downturn should start slowing. problems still exist with the system. As Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrated, even before the Union began Devolution the republics had bones to pick with each other. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are not the only restive Minority wanting better Representation, and Corruption in certain Republics has begun to show. Can the Union patch the cracks in it's walls? Or does "A House Divided" apply just as much to an Apartment Complex?
Anything for the post-Soviet world is good. The 90s were Pax Americana but for Eastern Europe (and other areas of the developing world) it was Mad Max minus the fun adventure parts.
@Derpsternium
Have you seen the movie "Falling Down"? Its one of the coda movies of the 90s White American psychology (along with Roseanne, Fight Club, Office Space and probably a few other examples. I'd even add X-Files and the Matrix to that).
Have you seen the movie "Falling Down"? Its one of the coda movies of the 90s White American psychology (along with Roseanne, Fight Club, Office Space and probably a few other examples. I'd even add X-Files and the Matrix to that).
Making an idyllic world based on the good times and blend of the 1990s... Well, I love vaporwave, so let me give it a shot.
The thing is that the 1990s would see the rise of the neoliberal order under Clinton and neoliberal economics could be traced to alot of the problems due to the focus of over-consumption and short-term gains. As such, you would need to figure out how to deal with that mentality to get the reforms that the US really needs.
After all, if the people ae happy and taken cae of, the good times continue. So, what would be things that would be needed for this? Well, boiled down to three things, it would be the economy, the availability of healthcare and the energy situation. While it's pretty late here, I think you could address these here in some form:
- The economy is run by people spending money and thus keeping the flow going. And by people, I mean the common folk. Them having money to spend on stuff is why economies are healthy rather than the uberrich hoarding their wealth like dragons and thinking they're the reason. This would require economic reforms, but also a bit of shift in thinking. Not sure if possible with Clinton or even Gore, though there could be a few here that may help, mainly Paul Wellstone and Russ Feingold.
- Healthcare is pretty freakin important and shouldn't be left to an out of control free market. Even having a system like Canada or perhaps Australia's would allow more people to have more money and feel secure of their future. Howard Dean with his Dr. Dynasaur could be a good platform for this too.
- The energy situation. America needs to deal with its coal and petrol addiction. Here's a long shot idea; go full nuclear. France invested in it and was able to go pretty far. I imagine the US could take some money from that military budget and invest in nuclear energy for that green vibe and also providing new jobs.
Some other stuff could be well, raising wages, something with job training associated with nuclear and so on. Look at these through your leisure and see what could probable be done.
The thing is that the 1990s would see the rise of the neoliberal order under Clinton and neoliberal economics could be traced to alot of the problems due to the focus of over-consumption and short-term gains. As such, you would need to figure out how to deal with that mentality to get the reforms that the US really needs.
After all, if the people ae happy and taken cae of, the good times continue. So, what would be things that would be needed for this? Well, boiled down to three things, it would be the economy, the availability of healthcare and the energy situation. While it's pretty late here, I think you could address these here in some form:
- The economy is run by people spending money and thus keeping the flow going. And by people, I mean the common folk. Them having money to spend on stuff is why economies are healthy rather than the uberrich hoarding their wealth like dragons and thinking they're the reason. This would require economic reforms, but also a bit of shift in thinking. Not sure if possible with Clinton or even Gore, though there could be a few here that may help, mainly Paul Wellstone and Russ Feingold.
- Healthcare is pretty freakin important and shouldn't be left to an out of control free market. Even having a system like Canada or perhaps Australia's would allow more people to have more money and feel secure of their future. Howard Dean with his Dr. Dynasaur could be a good platform for this too.
- The energy situation. America needs to deal with its coal and petrol addiction. Here's a long shot idea; go full nuclear. France invested in it and was able to go pretty far. I imagine the US could take some money from that military budget and invest in nuclear energy for that green vibe and also providing new jobs.
Some other stuff could be well, raising wages, something with job training associated with nuclear and so on. Look at these through your leisure and see what could probable be done.
The other thing I'm trying to do with this timeline is prevent both 9/11 and the 2008 Economic Crisis, since even without 9/11 2007 would've done a severe number to the 90s good feelings. To avert 9/11 without averting Operation Cyclone my objective is to try and stabilize the Middle East as much as possible. Thankfully, with the Soviets willing to cooperate with America (to a certain extent) this should not be incredibly hard. I'm having to do a lot of research on the 90's geopolitical situation, which we really don't learn a ton about in American Schools.
Well, with 9/11, that could be with greater intelligence measures and dealing with Al-Queda.
The Great Recession will be a lot harder since the factors set in there since the 1980s, but this could help: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/ahc-prevent-the-great-recession.326218/
In simple terms, you have to undo all the deregulation shannigans that happened in the 1980s. Big problem is Clinton and his ilk are for deregulation because the Dems came to associate that with success and the neoliberals took over the party. But that economic system is what led to pretty much every sort of crash and problem except for the Dotcom Bubble, which was a bit of an inevitability given new technologies, but that still could be lowered the effects.
You'd either have to change Clinton or basically get some of the more reformatory folk in to put in the fixes now since it'll be harder to do so over time. This mau require screwing Clinton in the shortrun and then later the GOP so reformers could claw back power.
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Hello again, sorry for the lack of major updates this past couple weeks, I returned from a trip up north last week, and have been getting used to my first job. I have a good idea of how much free time I have now, so I wanted to ask what the next update should be.
I either want to make a final small update for 1992 to set up for a massive console war stretching into the 2000s by somehow keeping Sega in the console business.
Or get on with 1993 and touch on the Soviet Unions first moves in the post-communist world internationally as well as setting up for the American midterms in '94.
Which one should I do?
I either want to make a final small update for 1992 to set up for a massive console war stretching into the 2000s by somehow keeping Sega in the console business.
Or get on with 1993 and touch on the Soviet Unions first moves in the post-communist world internationally as well as setting up for the American midterms in '94.
Which one should I do?
Paradoxer
Banned
Moldova has significant Russian minority too. So does Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to lesser extent. Moldova could very well rejoin to Soviets. Depends on Romanian speaking ethnic majority view on it which might be impacted on how well Soviets do in long term and at recovering vs Romania. They are small somewhat divided country stuck between two much larger ones that both have historical and cultural ties to it. Also Russians and Slavs there are very much loyalist to Soviet regime even in otl.
The Baltic will become issue. They might form Baltic Union and join EU or get “Finlandized” by Soviets if they don’t want EU and NATO more on its borders. Or they get resorbed by new Soviet Union too if they are struggling enough.
Georgia and Armenia might be more inclined to re integration in long run them Baltic those. Georgia already had bits that supported joining Russian federation in otl. Plus them and Armenia might struggle more economically.
Additionally, with survival of Soviet Union. They are still big boogieman and target of Islamist like Bid Laden who might try to spread into Central Asia to cause Muslims to rise up there. The Soviets will have freedom of religion now but they will still strongly support secularism like French if not more so. That distracts them away from US.
The Soviets might get their own 911 after recovering over perceived secularization and “westernization”/liberalization of Muslims in Central Asia and across the Union. Afghanistan still borders Union and is in recent memory. The Soviets might re invade place during 2000s but with US support if Bid Laden is up to his stuff. He did fight Soviets first and in Afghanistan along with more funding and continued ties with Saudi without falling out about US troops there with king.
The Russian oligarchs, billionaires, and mob likely still thrive and grow in 90s but much more “civil” and not running rough shot. More just high corruption and low level political(but petty) violence. Still a much more hopeful view among people there those even with set backs
Yep, I'm watching this. The idea of an early 90s that wanders into the 21st century is just too captivating for me to ignore!
Transnistria will be something to cover in '93. I should do some more research on the baltics though. To deal with 9/11 (or similar attacks by Islamists in 2001) I want to have collaboration between NATO and The New Union to stabilize the Middle East as much as possible. There's plenty of time, and of course, we probably know what happens in 1993 which could help spur this cooperation.
Paradoxer
Banned
If the New Union becomes as capitalist as Russian Federation even if not fully democratic like EU or US their a decent chance the US becomes closer with New Union especially when China becomes a growing concern. The Russian Federation is only allies with China in OTL due to its weaken position compared to USSR and mutual interests against US. This does depend how US politics play out too and how EU behaves especially in relationship to Iran and China.
If they are too “passive” with Iran and welcoming to Chinese the Americans could make appeals to New Union(people will still call it Soviet Union especially in US for convenience and so I am here). Iran Islamic regime likely still is at odds and got bad blood with Soviets compared to Russian Federation in otl who don’t even border them.
The US especially if USSR ain’t spreading polemic media or spreading opposing views to US might very well use Soviets to do “dirty work” and policing in regions like Middle East especially if Europeans in EU seem too timid.
If Islamic terrorist attack USSR and commit attacks in EU both them and US likely all work together on that. The US even hunted downed the cartel and coke smuggling partisans after Cold War in 90s because they were no longer “useful” and now a issue. The US likely give Soviets tips about Islamist once they become visible issue.
The Soviets will still border Afghanistan. Politics and culture might be becoming more “liberal” or open even compared to otl federation but these are not Brits or French. If they commit some attack like 911 in Russia or even French level terrorist attacks in Union itself they will be a lot more heavy handed and brutal then majority of Westerners. Putin in otl recommended to Bush to do tactical nuclear strike on the Afghan mountains where they hid. Add in fact this war might be seen as “payback” or “redemption” for failed ones in 80s, the Afghans might honestly prefer American invasion to Soviet one especially considering how first one went.
Simple put the Soviets might become more humanitarian in some regards but they are not screwing out or care or have to especially while still being superpower but “appearance” or formalities of modern international laws and medias in west bashing them over excessive force. They simply won’t care and no one in position to say anything but gripe. They would just be less subtle then US about doing this.
The US media often piggy back off whatever narrative the British or Europeans are pushing. Many Euros would be off put by amount of Americans who will watch news describing Russian and Israelis bombing of Muslims and see it in positive light or indifferent even when news described it in negative way.
The Soviets are actually golden opportunity for some Americans elites and people because they are willing to do stuff US and especially our military wish they could do without getting “heat”.
The only point of conflict is US Arab and Muslim allies. EU can’t do much but gripe when US and USSR can actually agree on something they can almost do whatever they want. The Saudis might not be happy about US working with “godless” Soviets but Soviets would now easily outmatched them in oil market weakening Saudi soft economic power and much less questionable on ethical grounds to get oil from Siberia or Central Asia SSRs then it is for Saudi especially if union is anywhere near as unregulated as Federation is. US investment could make Russia a much nicer place