V a p o r v e r s e - Or, a Vaporwave inspired Timeline.


While I was sitting in my room doing Online School, Gaming, and Watching the world burn last year, I was able to rediscover the hidden Musical gem of the internet known as Vaporwave. I found that the discordant jazzy tones of Faux-Utopian and the Hype filled upbeat sick beats of Future funk were amazing for sleep aids and productivity respectively. I happened upon the album above sometime in mid-July, "Katsuo Corps, News at 11". it turns out that it's based off of the September 11th 2001 attacks. The clippings before the music are of actual news reports and Commercials from 9/11. It always cuts to vaporized smooth jazz before the attacks would've been announced. It sounds like You are watching the TV on the fateful september morning, always switching the channel just before you would learn. completely unaware of the tragedy unfolding.

This gave me an idea. Vaporwave, in specific the Faux-Utopian Subgenre, is meant to use it's sound to portray a retrofuturistic "Better World". With the attitudes of 90's American Capitalism. My idea is the Vaporverse, an Alternate History where the attitude of the early 90's live long into the 2000's and at least the mid 2010s. This thread will depict a world, as good as it can realistically (or plausibly at best) be.

For the purposes of the thread, I am not averting 9/11 by not allowing a Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Soviet's would've invaded it was the cold war. The POD is rather a world where Desert Storm never actually occurs. And that's just POD 1.
 

While I was sitting in my room doing Online School, Gaming, and Watching the world burn last year, I was able to rediscover the hidden Musical gem of the internet known as Vaporwave. I found that the discordant jazzy tones of Faux-Utopian and the Hype filled upbeat sick beats of Future funk were amazing for sleep aids and productivity respectively. I happened upon the album above sometime in mid-July, "Katsuo Corps, News at 11". it turns out that it's based off of the September 11th 2001 attacks. The clippings before the music are of actual news reports and Commercials from 9/11. It always cuts to vaporized smooth jazz before the attacks would've been announced. It sounds like You are watching the TV on the fateful september morning, always switching the channel just before you would learn. completely unaware of the tragedy unfolding.

This gave me an idea. Vaporwave, in specific the Faux-Utopian Subgenre, is meant to use it's sound to portray a retrofuturistic "Better World". With the attitudes of 90's American Capitalism. My idea is the Vaporverse, an Alternate History where the attitude of the early 90's live long into the 2000's and at least the mid 2010s. This thread will depict a world, as good as it can realistically (or plausibly at best) be.

For the purposes of the thread, I am not averting 9/11 by not allowing a Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Soviet's would've invaded it was the cold war. The POD is rather a world where Desert Storm never actually occurs. And that's just POD 1.
Ok, I wasn't sure if I would follow this one or not but I'll give it a try. If for no other reason than I was born not long after and it would be cool to see what my life by proxy could've been like.
 
Prologue: How to Avoid Desert Storm
First Things first, the point of divergence is that Desert Storm never happens. Iraq does not Invade Kuwait, and Coalition forces don't push them back. But to understand how this could happen, an understanding of the reasons for the Conflict that led to Desert Storm is needed.

In the case of Iraq, Saddam's Personal justification is not perfectly understood. However, likely reasons are as follows:
  • To Gain access to the large oil Deposits that Kuwait sits on
  • To be able to have access to a Seaport, which Iraq never had.
  • To be able to extend the range of Iraqi SCUD Missiles.
Just before Iraq invaded Kuwait on the 2nd August 1990, many attempts were made by various outside powers to cool the situation down. As Iraqi armies began to mass along the border with Kuwait, the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie met with Saddam on July 25th 1990. During this meeting, Saddam expressed concern with the potential of US Interference with the conflict. Glaspie responded exactly how all US Diplomats would've responded. That the US would not take a stance on a Border Conflict between two neighboring Arab Countries unless it directly threatened the strategic interests of the US, Although they would prefer the conflict be resolved diplomatically. Saddam would respond that he would seek last-ditch negotiations. Now, Glaspie did not give Saddam a Green-Light, in fact, she, nor anyone else in her office thought that Iraq was after all of Kuwait, just a specific town in the north with an oil well.

However, on the 23rd of July, 2 DAYS before Glaspie's meeting with Saddam, US Military Central Command (CENTCOM) Had already intercepted messages indicating that an invasion and annexation was imminent. They even passed these messages to the State Department the same day. But they were too late to pass this important information to Ambassador Glaspie, therefore she was not able to make the correct statement to Saddam.

So, Why did the United States and every other Coalition Country intervene? One word. Oil.

It's a common misconception that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was over Oil, this is false, America went in after Iraq claimed to have had a Nuclear Bomb. This was 2 years after 9/11, Do you really think that Bush would've been willing to take a chance on that?

The Invasion in 1991 however is about Oil. The Annexation of Kuwait lasted from the 2nd of August to the 4th of August 1990. Now, Iraq was within striking distance of Saudi Oil Extraction Facilities. If Hussein decided that Kuwait wouldn't be enough, and invaded to take those as well, Iraq would then have control over the majority of the Global Oil Supply at the time. This of course would be a threat to Western Strategic Interests, and George H. W. Bush ordered Operation Desert Shield on August 7th, which was a massive buildup of American troops on the Saudi Iraqi Border in preparation for the Counterinvasion.

So, to Avoid the Gulf War, and not have any American troops in the Islamic Holy Land for Al Quaeda to get pissed over, We just need either CENTCOM to intercept the invasion information a week earlier or to have the State Department able to get the proper info to Glaspie in time.

So that's our POD: Glaspie gets the correct information and knows that Iraq is going to invade and annex Kuwait.
so on the 25th, She basically tells Saddam not to fuck with Kuwait or the US will rip his Nuts off.
 
A rather charitable reading of the motives of the people involved but otherwise a solid POD plan. Very excited to see where this goes.
 
A e s t h e t i c
A p p r o v ed


I'd add one critique, though, in that Vaporwave is not so much utopian as a subversion of utopia. It plays on cultural ephemera as a collective dreamscape signifying something lost or always unreal or achieved but what it looks like is a groteque mockery of the promised dream. I've heard it said that its that we got the future we were promised and it sucks. Often, I'd say Vaporwave looks at 80s/90s Pop Capitalism the same way the people of the Eastern World looked at the Soviet bloc in dying days of Communism: the complete disconnect between the message and the ideal and the reality, and a crippling sense of stagnation and death. I would highly recommend watching Dan Bell's Dead Mall series on youtube. Similarly, the American Mall embodies that: the Cathedrals of the 80s/90s/Millenial Pop Capitalism paradise that was promised to last are now dead and dying.


[That's not to say I'm a Marxist. Far from it. Capitalism evolves. Communism doesn't: too ideological and rigid and if it does evolve, it really isn't Communism because "Communism" kind of has to entail setting society up as the ideal of one true final answer to the human condition. Capitalism is a dialogue of rational self interests, and it doesn't die so much as go through periods of transformation to adapt to the market. So Capitalism (of some form) is pretty great. My point is that the a e s t h e t i c of 80s/90s/Millenial Capitalism went bust and is dying or already frankly dead (and many in business and we ourselves cannot accept that or at least do not understand how or what the future holds because this is what we know....similar to a Soviet in 1992 not knowing whats coming next). Microsoft training videos for Windows 95 are to Vaporwave as rusting statues of Lenin in the former Warsaw Pact are to Post-Communist historiography]

Other than that element, its something of a loss of personhood, depersonalization and a loss of tangible physical value in the post-digital age. Everything becomes thought, and imagination replaces experience. Personal or shared memory is ephemeral, as much as advertisements or the other bits and pieces of the Capitalist age are ephemeral. We perhaps become one with the digital bit-rate and the signal frequency, or at least the way or brains operate and develop very much resemble it; perhaps it can be said our collective and personal and sensory waves are expanded to maximum, the nuanced highs and lows are cut off and we are compressed into a wave range of limited variability; but there remains digital artifacts and undeleted content in the saved /stored files of that metaphorical hard drive that linger like ghosts and forgotten dreams -- they are no longer connected to parent programs that were uninstalled, forgotten, corrupted or which became too outdated and are things that had meaning but that meaning is no longer known; without context they become remixed and recontextualized and have something haunting to them. The past is as real as the present; memory (often half forgotten / barely remembered and remixed and recontextualized) is as real as the *now* because the world beyond the computer is all a post-digital percetion forged in the mind. This very forum is an excercise of that post-reality / virtuality era.

Also, are you familiar with Chuck Person`s Eccojams? Or Macintosh Plus`s Floral Shoppe?
 
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Also, apologies, I just huffed a Cassette Tape when I wrote that post. But it means something, I'm sure.
It's okay, I am aware of all the points made in the above post. I had the idea to make a Timeline where the "Subverted Utopia that never was" Was. I've listened to parts of eccojams, and just about everyone knows Floral Shoppe, I've never taken time to listen to the full albums, however. I'm actually listening to Eccojams right now.
 
It's okay, I am aware of all the points made in the above post. I had the idea to make a Timeline where the "Subverted Utopia that never was" Was. I've listened to parts of eccojams, and just about everyone knows Floral Shoppe, I've never taken time to listen to the full albums, however. I'm actually listening to Eccojams right now.

If I may music-drop, this is a decent theme song too.

 
CHAPTER 1: THE END OF HISTORY
So, The Gulf war is stopped. What does this mean? Well, this Timeline is somewhat of a Slow-burn. Not many changes occur immediately. The Soviet Union still continues its decline, East and West Germany officially Unite, The Eastern Bloc falls as it does OTL. What changes immediately is that Western troops are never placed in Saudi Arabia, which was one of the strongest motives behind Bin Laden’s planning of the 9/11 attacks.

But there are still very notable events that happen in 1990 that will have massive impacts down the line.

In October, Tim-Berners Lee begins work on the idea of the World Wide Web.

It is common to use the terms “World Wide Web” and “The Internet” Interchangeably. It makes sense today, as most of the Internet accessible to the “Average Joe” is what we find on the World Wide Web. But the Internet is a much older technology, with origins as a means of rapid dissemination of information for the US Military. Later, ARPAnet became licensed out to Academic Institutions in the ’70s, including MIT, the National Science Foundation, and even CERN. Companies used internet technologies to offer services to customers with the proper technical knowledge.

But the World Wide Web was more than that. The WWW Hypertext Protocol combined with Fiber Optics would allow for an information revolution. Larger files could be more easily accessed with the right address. You could even make your own.

While it started as a faster Academic Internet, The World Wide Web would become so much bigger than Lee could ever imagine.


THIS IS ONLY THE START OF A NEW WORLD ク意萎っト ゎ屋いヾ​
 
I can here a dial-up conneting sound effect in my head. :love:

If I can make two suggestions, possibly ones already considered:
1) I would suggest keeping the Russians our post-Soviet friends. The 90s were a hopeful time where Russia was no longer an adversary, and the Putin era has reversed that. That was a big part of Pax-Americana.
2) Japan staying in a stronger position (though not necessarily world supremacy) might help. The Japanese are basically Vaporwave. And I'll link to something here.
 
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C H A P T E R 2: A Union half Preserved
The year is now 1991. The year progresses much like OTL except for there being no Gulf War. Yugoslavia begins to fall apart, Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis, and Nicktoons begins to air Rugrats, Doug, and Ren and Stimpy. But this year marks another major Point of Divergence. The Soviet Union during this time, has not been doing so hot. Gorbechav has made great progress with Perestroika and Glasnost in the past, but this year it is clear. Communism in the Eastern Bloc is on the event horizon of it’s collapse. But while the ideology may leave, the Soviet State itself still has hope.

The New Union Treaty, first proposed by Gorbechav at the Communist Party Congress of July 1990, would be a total restructuring of the Soviet Union. From November of 1990 to March 6th of 1991, the treaty was debated and worked on. It was approved by the Soviet of the Union, and sent to each individual republics Supreme Soviet.

“The treaty stated that jurisdiction over most industries/resources and control over taxation and public expenditures would be turned to those republics that were signing it, and their sovereignties would be recognized, and those which wouldn't sign would be allowed to go their own way. The central government would retain control of the country's armed forces and security services, but with a reduced size and subjected to oversight by the republican legislatives, along with issuing currency, Soviet Rouble and control of its Gold and Diamond resources, although the republics would have the right to share them. The republics and the central government would jointly determine military and foreign policy and work out policies on the economy, fuel, and energy resources. The Congress of People's Deputies would be disbanded. The number of government ministries would be reduced, some ministries having their responsibilities transferred to the republics, some having to reduce staff or abolished, or turned into small co-ordinating bodies which would support republican ministries. The republics would also be given ownership of almost all their natural resources, including mineral deposits on their territories, along with the right to establish direct diplomatic and trade relations with foreign states. A new constitutional court would have also been established to resolve questions between republics and the centre. Lastly, republican law would take precedence over All-Union law.”
-Description of the treaty from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Soviet_Sovereign_Republics

Essentially, the Soviet Union was to become a very Decentralized Federation in order to prevent a Seccession Crisis. This would also come along with widespread liberalization.

9 of the republics agreed to sign the treaty, Namely
  1. Russia
  2. Ukraine
  3. Belarus
  4. Azerbaijan
  5. Kazakhstan
  6. Uzbekistan
  7. Turkmenistan
  8. Tajikistan
  9. Kyrgyzstan
5 republics did not elect to support the treaty, and were allowed to go their own ways.
  1. Armenia
  2. Estonia
  3. Georgia
  4. Latvia
  5. Lithuania
  6. Moldova

IOTL, 2 weeks before the signing was scheduled for August 19th, Gorbachev decided to go to his Dacha in Crimea. On August 18th, the day before, he was put under House Arrest by hardliners who were upset with his reforms and the restructuring he was going to do.

The august coup as it was known, would be a massive failure, and if anything only sped the collapse of the Union. It failed because of 3 reasons.
  1. A lack of Total Support from the Military.
  2. Assuming that Russian Soldiers would be willing to fire upon Russian Civilians
  3. That ordinary people were ballsy enough to walk up to fully armed soldiers to protest the attempt to end what were actually amazingly popular reforms.


ITTL, We are going to avert this coup, and preserve the Soviet Union. How? Gorbachev decides not to go on vacation. Knowing that Hardliners are very opposed to the Treaty, he says he is going to Crimea. But it’s a disinformation tactic. He actually spends the last two weeks crashing at Boris Yeltsin’s Place. Crimea is a honeypot trap to weed out any conspirators.

The treaty goes forward, and the gang of 8 is imprisoned. On August 20th, 1991, The Soviet Union begins anew. A New Era of Openness, Cooperation, and Democracy for the Soviets has begun.

【OUR DREAM IS NOT YET DEAD】​
 
Hey, so just so y'all know I'm not losing interest. 1992's update will be coming soon. Also, when I make the actual timeline in Finished, it's going to be an actual story and not just the outline this thread is.

Anyway, I'm just working on the update, it should be out before next week at the latest. I'll try to make it sooner. Here's a hint for the major crux of the update.

"A great big sucking sound"
 
C H A P T E R 3: 1 9 9 2 P A R T 1: A C H A N G I N G O R D E R

1992 Part 1: A Changing World​


1991 was the first amazingly huge POD. The survival of the Soviet Union (Albeit a more decentralized form) has vast ramifications for the Geopolitical World order. First, giving the republics authority to manage their resources and industry would allow for Economic Growth to begin. Second, Because the Soviet Union does not collapse overnight, there is no lengthy period of Anarchy that happened OTL. Thirdly, and most importantly, the Distribution of power changes from a Bipolar to a Dipolar geopolitical world order. In other words, instead of two superpowers with competing spheres of influence, there are two superpowers with cooperating spheres of influence.

There are still regions which are not very good places to be. Yugoslavia has essentially gone as it did in OTL. In all seriousness nothing could have saved that state. Somalia is still a Battle Royale, Afghanistan is still a battle royale. Most civil conflicts proceed as OTL for now. However, that is not the most important event of this year.

The Los Angeles Rodney King riots still happen. Just like OTL, Bush federalizes the National Guard in order to restore order. This move will cost him greatly in the 1992 elections. And this election season will set in motion a series of events that lead to America having their first third-party president. The 1992 elections are very important.

There are 3 main candidates in the ’92 elections. The Incumbent, George H. W. Bush runs as a Republican on a platform of Domestic Status Quo and Co-existence with The New Soviet Union. For the Democrats, we have Bill Clinton, Governor of Arkansas and Excellent Saxophonist. Clinton runs on a Liberal Platform of “Put people first” and co-operation with the New Union. But, there is a new challenger. An outsider, with absolutely no Political Experience whatsoever. Who is this brave man who dares to challenge the status quo of American Politics?

Ross Perot.


RossPerotColor

Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons​
 
I really wonder how the (reformed) soviet reacted to the fall of Yugoslavia. OTL it was a real sore point between Russia and NATO.
 
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