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

[Derpsternium]

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.

 

[Derpsternium]

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​

 

[Derpsternium]

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】​

 

[Derpsternium]

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​

 

[Derpsternium]

The election of 1992 is one of the strangest events in American Political History. It was the closest America had come to a new party system in decades. The Election had three major Candidates.​

• George H. W. Bush (Republican Incumbent): Bush is the Incumbent, who won the ’88 election after Reagan’s second term. His policies mostly built on Reagan's domestic Policy, and Internationally he was keeping America out of the Eastern Blocs' imminent collapse. On the New Union, he hopes that America will be able to co-exist with the new power.
• Bill Clinton (Democrat): The Arkansas Governor with a penchant for the Saxophone, Clinton hopes to move America into the new modern age. With the Cold War over, he wants to move America to Cooperate with the new union. Stimulating the growth of the “Information Superhighway” is another one of his talking points, recognizing the importance the Internet will have on the world. Another big plan of his is NAFTA, a compact with Canada and Mexico to increase free trade.
• Ross Perot (Independent Newcomer): Ross Perot is the election's third-party candidate. The Owner of a large IT firm, he has no prior experience in US Politics. he does however have a very different platform to both Bush and Clinton. Perot’s Politics can best be described as centrist, but he has a wide range of opinions. Perot Advocates for a Public Healthcare System, a Ban on the ownership of Full-Auto Assault Rifles, and a policy of Cooperation with The New Union. However, he also holds positions traditionally held by Republicans. He calls for a strong southern border, Internal focus as opposed to diplomatic entanglements, lower taxes on the 99%, and a Strong Support of Small Business. One of his most important points, however, is the National Debt, which America has one of the highest debts of any other country. Perot wants to propose a constitutional amendment that will make the Federal government required to make budgets that have as little deficit as possible, with the goal being the elimination of the accumulation of debt altogether so that it can be paid back.

Perot becomes surprisingly well-liked among both Right and Left Wing voters. After the Rodney King Riots were ended by Bush federalizing the National guard, Perot became more popular among some republicans. Perot was able to get a large base due to his savvy use of TV and Internet-based Advertising, with him buying 30-minute infomercials to lay out his goals. While a few gaffes almost made him withdraw, He was able to be convinced to remain in the race.

The Final results Had Clinton win with 366 Electoral Votes, Bush was the runner up with 168, but Perot had won 4 votes by taking Maine. This result would make Perot the most successful Third-Party candidate in the history of the United States, and compel him to start a new Political Party called the Reform Party. Whether or not the new party would fare in the 1994 midterms remained to be seen, however. But the fact that the American Political Landscape had changed is undeniable.

 

[Derpsternium]

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​

 

[Derpsternium]

​

1992 is not just a big year for international politics with the Soviets growing pains, but also a huge year for Technological developments and Video Game culture. First, the foundations for the Web’s extension into the New Union were fully laid as consumer Bulletin Board Systems could now be created by Soviet Geeks. But the biggest event we’ll discuss in this update is pertaining to the console war between Nintendo and Sega.

In 1983, the North American Market for Console Video Games crashed due to multiple factors. These included Bootlegging, poor-third party support on the part of Console builders, and most importantly, the oversaturation of the market with cheaply made consoles and poor-quality games. The result was the downfall of many American Video Game companies, including the bankruptcy of Atari, and the withdrawl of Magnavox. American Consumers, tired of poor console games, turned to Personal Computers.

In Japan, the Crash presented a major opportunity for Japanese companies. Nintendo and Sega were among the first to exploit this, and the battle for dominance in the North American Market would achieve legendary status. Nintendo vs Sega, NES vs master System, SNES vs Genesis, Mario vs. Sonic. Playground Debates, Crazy Ad campaigns and Innovative designs would define this period in gaming. By the early 90s, console makers began to look to the new “Compact Disc” Format. “CD’s” were easy to produce and could hold more data than a Cartridge ever could hope to. It was clear that the Disc was the future.

Nintendo was the first to attempt implementation of a CD format. Announcing the SNES-CD, a Peripheral attachment for the Super Nintendo that had a Compact Disc Drive, as part of a collab with Sony. Sony would also design a Standalone Console compatible with CD and SNES Cartridge games, unveiled at the June 1991 Consumer Electronics Show as the “PlayStation”. The next day, Sony would be surprised when Nintendo announced that they would also collab with Phillips, a Rival of Sony in the production of Compact Discs. Nintendo would never be able to repair the relationship, and SNES-CD fell through with Sony preparing to unveil their own CD console.

Sega however was far more successful in their implementation. The SEGA CD would be a Compact Disc Module for the Sega Mega-Drive/Genesis which would allow for the use of Compact Disc based Games. The peripheral came with all the needed hardware built in, including a second CPU, GPU, and separate power adapters. Since the Sega CD was an add-on to the Mega-drive/Genesis, this allowed for less production costs and lower prices. This made it attractive to Consumers of course. But the kicker was that the console would have the best Third-Party of any major console release at the time.

Sega knew it still had a lead over Nintendo from when they won the 16bit race with the Mega Drive. However, Nintendo was steadily gaining with the SNES. Sega of America knew that to keep the lead a binary metric of “profit/loss” would not work, and wanted to shift their business model accordingly. Executives began to look for weaknesses in Nintendos business model, and found one that was so big they wondered why they had’nt exploited it before. Nintendo had a reputation among third-party game developers as a bad business partner. They had very high standards and tended to shoehorn devs into contracts which would heavily favor Nintendo.

This lacking third-party support meant that the vast majority of games on Nintendo Consoles were in-house productions or console exclusives. Sega of America had a roadblock in the form of Sega of Japan. Sega of America was largely kept in the dark on the CD’s development. The Americans were told to hype it up stateside, but wouldn’t get much info to work with. When the CD dropped in Japan over the 1991 holiday season, it did relatively well commercially, but third-party support was lacking.

Quite annoyed with the unwillingness of the Japanese executives to apply his branches research, CEO Thomas Kalinske called Hayao Nakayama, his Japanese counterpart, the day after the release. He expressed displeasure that Software Development Kits for the CD were not ready. He also disapproved of the poor communications between Sega of Japan and the American and European Branch. Nakayama responded that he was only doing what the Board of Directors had told him to do. Kalinskes response would be almost as legendary as the Console War itself.

Kalinske: “Nakayama-San, Okawa-Sama made you CEO because he thought you could maximize the value of Sega as a Company. You made me CEO of the American Branch for the same reason. In 1991, when we were trying to boost the sales of Genesis? You approved my plan despite the boards objections.”

Nakayama: “what of it?”

Kalinske: “When you did that, you told me that I was hired to make the decisions for Europe and the Americas, and that was what I was supposed to do. The decisions you let me make gave us the lead. Now, the decisions your board is making is jeapordizing it.”

Nakayama: “I can’t just go against the Board”

Kalinske: “You were hired to make decisions for the Japanese market, so do it. I’ve already told you that third-party support is an absolute must if we want to continue being on top. Nintendo’s not going to improve third-party, so the logical business decision is that we should. Nintendo’s created a monster by scorning Sony. Sony has the capability to produce their PlayStation with 100% in-house Sony parts, and both us and Nintendo are still using third-party suppliers. I give us a year at most before Sony announces something, and we’d better have substantial Third-Party support by then.”

Nakayama: “What do you need me to do?”

Kalinske: “When the CD drops stateside next October we NEED to release SDK’s alongside it. Same with mars, Neptune, and Saturn. If we can’t convince your branches board to do this, Sega has already lost.”​

The conversation paid off, when the SEGA CD released in North America in October 1992 SDK’s were ready. The CD would be a massive success post US release, as third party developers began producing games for the System, driving Consumers to purchase the Sega CD (and Genesis if needed) to be able to purchase these games. This took back Segas lead over Nintendo in both profits and market share. If Nintendo wanted to continue competing than first and second party games would not be enough.

Ｓｅｇａ　ｄｉｄ　ｗｈａｔ　Ｎｉｎｔｅｎｄｉｄｎｏｔ　壱化しコ

 

[Derpsternium]

1993 is a watershed in international politics, cementing the future of the relationship between east and west after the cold war. The future would be in cooperation instead of hostilities. The two spheres could do more like one than they could separately. 1993 showed this. Internal reforms would also be made. The important part is the rise of a new threat to the post-cold war that spurred this cooperation.

The Soviets ironed out plenty of kinks in the fabric of their society. Many new Republics were added to the ranks to appease restive ethnic minorities, including the Transnistrians and Chechens. Along with the United States, the Soviets would apply economic pressure upon South Africa to abolish the system of Apartheid. Reformist movements in opposition to the current leaders of the republics (most of whom were members of the old unions' government) began to rise.

The United States also saw their own reformists plan for the future. Ross Perot’s Reform party had gained a lot of steam. After (predictably in retrospect) losing the 92 elections, the Reform movement would focus on taking congressional seats in the ’94 midterms. This, in theory, would provide a buffer in the center of the floor preventing either the republicans or democrats from having an outright majority, forcing them to make concessions to the Reform Party to pass bills. This would in turn allow for the Reform Party to get a headstart on some of their more trivial goals leading into 1996’s presidential election.

1993 was also known for being when a new threat reared its ugly head. A ghost from the cold war and the mistakes made during its prosecution, coming back to haunt the new world. They had many ideologies, motives, and methods. They called themselves “Liberators” while the evening news called them “terrorists”. From Sri Lanka to Bishopsgate, Bombay to New York, civilians are caught in the crossfire as radical members of numerous groups make their messages heard through violent means. Maoists, Islamists, Nationalists, and others are among these groups.



The world may not end tomorrow, but the threat to the citizens of all nations is clear to see. Co-operation to end the threat is needed. One of the most prolific of these groups is Al-Qaeda, a Wahabbi Islamist group seeking to expunge all non-muslim influence from the middle east. Based out of Afghanistan, they were originally a mujahidin group bankrolled by the Pakistani ISI with the CIA’s money to fight the Soviets as a proxy. After simultaneous car bombings at the World Trade Center and Red Square are claimed by Al-Qaeda, NATO and the Soviet Union agree on something for once.

ｔｏ　ｓｅｃｕｒｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｕｔｕｒｅ　ｗｅ　ｍｕｓｔ　ｓｔａｂｉｌｉｚｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｒｅｓｅｎｔ　ふイサリス衣ゟっざ

 

[Derpsternium]

​

In 1993, the Internet would begin to skyrocket in global popularity. Portals such as America Online and Relcom provided access to curated content, including E-mail, news, and games. Along with a web browser such as Netscape, a whole new world of digital opportunities was just one ear-piercing ring away. Of course, you had to make sure nobody was on the phone at the same time. Companies began creating their own websites to expand their reach to the chagrin of many original users.

1993 would mark the start of an era known in the UseNet community as the Eternal September. AOL would add Usenet access to their portal in September ’93, leading to a massive influx of consumers to the previously geek/researcher-dominated network. The preexisting culture was all but overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the early web was the wild west, with many scrambling to nab sites with “valuable names”. As in, names related to celebrities and/or massive companies. This would hopefully be profitable as brands would pay good money for these scalped websites.

1993 saw the release of films such as Jurassic Park and Super Mario Bros. as well as the legendary series “the X-files”. Fans of these movies and shows would congregate in forums, newsgroups, and in real-life conventions. Early web culture was an evolution of the BBS and Usenet communities, clashing with an influx of “mainstream” consumers. Spam, phishing, and flaming were concepts that many newcomers would quickly learn the hard way.

The console wars remain contentious, as the titans of Sega and Nintendo anxiously await Sony’s inevitable entry. The war is taken to the floor of the US congress during hearings related to the depiction of violent content in video games leading to the foundation of the Electronic Software Review Board. Sega gained an edge by prioritizing SDK Development alongside Console Development. Nintendo had to think of something innovative to take back the lead, and a concept for a 64-bit console was drafted.
Looking to the internets growing popularity, they decided to make online play possible on this console as well.

The web is mainstream now, despite the protests of the geeks with bones to pick with corporations. Questions about the influence of the web on society remain. How best to regulate the internet? Will the net guard freedom or destroy it? What is the effect that anonymity has on conversations? What about Piracy? P**nography? Hacking? Is it even practical to regulate or censor a network being used by more and more people each day?

ＴＨＥ　ＩＮＦＯ　ＹＯＵ　ＷＡＮＴ　ＷＨＥＮ　ＹＯＵ　ＷＡＮＴ　演線維うべ河鬱​

 

[Derpsternium]

INTERLUDE​

Alright, here’s the pre-1994 interlude update. This update will be to cover my bases and make sure I’m not going to have many major continuity errors going forward. I’ll make some corrections, explain neglections, respond to suggestions, and layout the future direction of this timeline. I’m really honored that this timeline has gotten as much attention as it has, and I’m looking forward to continuing working on it. With that being said, I’ll start with correcting some faulty assumptions which I don’t want to risk coming to bit me in the ass later down the line.

To start, I began with a flawed assumption that Desert Storm and Desert Shield not happening would prevent Al Qaeda from being pissed off enough to do 9/11. This is because one of Al Qaeda's primary motivations was the continued presence of American “Infidels” in the Holy Land, but after looking a bit deeper there were other reasons. These included support of Israel, domestic policy, intervention in the internal affairs of Muslim Countries, etc. but Since the Americans and the Soviets are working together with little that’s also important to consider since Al Qaeda going to be especially pissed off that we’re working with the same people we funded them to fight. That being said, Recruitment and radicalization would be a tad harder without the Western presence in my opinion.

Another assumption I felt I had to correct was I had assumed that the internet did not exist in the Soviet Union until after 1990. Usenet, Fidonet, and BBS systems were around in the late 80s, and something called “The Soviet American Teleport” which from what I can gather was a sort of research network co-op had been around since 1987. Of course, these were rarely in the hands of average Soviet citizens, but they did exist. That actually works out, however, since it means there is a pre-existing Soviet infrastructure to expand the World Wide Web into.

Now, onto the second part of the interlude. There are some points I did not touch on or glossed over in the official updates due to clarity or time constraints. Here I will add some detail to the most important ones. Starting with the New Union.

The New Union or the Soviet Union without communism is a Confederation with shared armed forces. It has an interesting dynamic in that Republics can conduct commerce with non-union members. The Union also has many semi-autonomous regions similar to the autonomous oblasts in Russia. These are minorities that would better be represented by their own polity. These include Chechnya, Transnistria, Crimea, and many more that would be too long to list here. The leaders of the republics currently are the same that would lead their IOTL post-collapse counterpart, which means that Yeltsin’s drunken ass is in charge of Russia. This shouldn't be for much longer, however.

Another thing to discuss is how China and the rest of the Communist world are affected by this. North Korea is probably going to view China as their new closest ally, and it’s possible Cuba would try and strike out on their own. Either way, it’s going to shake up the Communist world that the Soviets, the harbingers, and model for the movement just abandoned it entirely.

The 1993 Elections in Japan are likely going to have relations with the Soviets a major issue like the United States, but I don’t know if this would lead to the Liberal Democrats maintaining a majority or dampening their loss.

One final point to touch on is Ross Perot, I knew it would’ve been very unrealistic for him to win in 1992, so I had him take Maine as even 1 state is not red or blue is enough to make a lot of people take your third party seriously. I actually found a copy of his book “United We Stand” while visiting grandparents in New England, which greatly helped in understanding his Ideology. That being said, With Clinton in charge, NAFTA is going to go through, and do exactly what Perot warned. The industry would move south to Mexico where labor was cheaper, exacerbating a problem of deindustrialization which had been causing job loss nationwide, but especially around the Great lakes “Rustbelt”.

Now, for the third part of this update. Here I will respond to some commentary from the readers. It has some interesting viewpoints and helps me, a 16-year-old to better understand the decade. So thanks for that, and keep it coming.

So, first, we have the most prolific commenter on this thread, Emperor Norton the 1st. In Posts 21 and 22 you make some amazing points about the more cynical themes of vaporwave. That of how capitalism has become about selling a lifestyle instead of a functional product. It’s a good point since Consumerism in America is especially weird. I saw an ask Reddit thread the other day about what people from the UK think is strange about American Culture. One of the responses was from someone who took a British friend to a Football game, and during a long pause, the American explained to the confused friend that they were waiting for a commercial break to end. The British friend was dumbfounded that a Sporting event would be put on hold for 10 mins so people at home could watch commercials.

It is an excellent point, especially how you contrast vaporwave's romanticized depiction of the 1990s with the Grunge aesthetic of the time period. As I understand it, grunge was a sort of counterculture movement against the increasingly sanitary and commercial music trends of the time. Today, most popular artist's songs are about love, as in, very suggestive romance songs. Vaporwave critiques that it's kind of funny that we want to go back to the music we once hated with a bitter passion.

CountDVB, you made an interesting suggestion in post 48 about American energy. You suggest that going full nuclear is the best solution to removing dependence on foreign oil. While I would agree with that sentiment it’s probably going to be incredibly difficult to plausibly achieve. Chernobyl’s only 7 years ago at this point and still has a bad taste in the mouth of many.

Polemic and Paradoxer, you both make great points about the future relationship between the US and the USSR. As shown in the ’93 update, the USSR is just as much a target of terrorism as the US. And the USSR being cooperative with NATO Is a boon to the US should they decide to have the Soviets get their hands dirty. However, I don’t imagine the Union would want another invasion of Afghanistan after the Clusterfuck they went through.

That leads into the final part. What's the plan going forward? It should be clear that Perot winning ’96 is a major goal. I just want to do it in a way that does not make it too saccharine or too parodic. The goal is to create a timeline that was possible, is plausible, but is in no way the most likely set of events (because let’s face it, it isn't).

That being said, the elephant in the room is how I plan to deal with terrorism. Terrorism is the biggest threat to good feelings right now. Here’s my plan. Terrorists are radicalized and trained in conflict areas. Places with incredibly low stability and power vacuums allow for them to gain ground. Places like Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Yes, Yugoslavia, should be stabilized as soon as possible. This means support of a preferred faction in these conflicts. In the case of Afghanistan, directly supporting the northern alliance will be much easier with the lack of a hostile state between the US and Afghanistan. Of course, to avoid any clusterfucks, we need to figure out how to do this without placing a massive military presence. I’m thinking of spec ops raids and financial support instead of fighting the war for our supported faction.

That concludes this interlude, thanks for reading up to this point. I can’t wait to continue this soon.

ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ　ｔｈａｔ　ｙｏｕ＇ｒｅ　ｗａｔｃｈｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｖａｐｏｒｖｅｒｓｅ　ｔｈｒｅａｄ，　ａｎｄ　ｗｅ　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｐｒｉｍａｒｙ　ｓｏｕｒｃｅ　ｏｆ　ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ　ａｌｔｅｒｎａｔｉｖｅ　ｈｉｓｔｏｒｙ，　ｓｏ　ｓｔａｙ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｕｓ，　ａｎｄ　ｓｔａｙ　ｉｎｆｏｒｍｅｄ　流卸 のュ易にヤ意ーゖ　淫エーン影　ニし　医ド　悦　桜ぶ運位ぞ​

 

[Derpsternium]

Alright, guys, Vaporverse is back. I’m starting to find a balance between my work life, school life, and this, so updates should start becoming more frequent. This is very good because things are going to get very interesting from here. Let’s get into 1994’s political update. I was originally going to do something about the Rwandan genocide, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it plausible. I’ll make it up later though I promise. Let’s start with our favorite stuff, Elections.

1994 has two big Elections for our Timeline. First off, we have the 1994 Midterm Elections in the United States. IOTL, 1994’s election is called “The Republican Revolution” because the Republican Party was able to take control of the House, Senate, and most governorships in these elections. However, this timeline is a little different. In 1992, Ross Perot took Maine, leading him to find the Reform Party in 1993. 1994 is the first chance the Reform Movement has to get into Washington.

Using the growing platform of the Internet Reform Candidates can disseminate their platforms quicker than ever, many with their own websites laying out their policies on all sorts of issues from Free trade to Public Healthcare, Border Security to LGBTQ Rights, each candidate is a little different. The one thing all of them have in common is a genuine desire to reform American Politics into a “System that works for the people” instead of a group merely voted in every 4 years. Even though the candidates jumped in late (By Perot’s direction, many didn’t start until 5 months before Election Day). The Internet-based campaign pays off. Instead of the 1994 midterms being called “The Republican Revolution”, they go down as “The Indigo Wave.” The House is split evenly in three, among the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Reformists. Maine, Texas, and The Rustbelt elect Reform Senators largely due to a campaign against the recently ratified NAFTA Agreement. While no Governors' seats were taken in the election, the writing is on the wall. America is no longer dominated by 2 political parties, and any idea the Republicans or Democrats have will need to go through the “The Purple Buffer” in the house.

Meanwhile, the stage is being set for the first truly free elections in the Soviet Union. Since the fall of Communism in 1991, The Soviet Legislatures have seen many former communists defect to new Parties of all sorts of ideologies. Each of the republics has its own soviet and president, semi-subservient to the policies of the All-Union Supreme Soviet and the General Secretary. Also, Complicating things is the additional Republics set to be officially created. Elections are set for 1995, and all seats in all legislatures and executive branches are up for grabs. Also notable is that Mikhail Gorbachev has announced his intention not to run for election in 1995, and to retire from politics after seeing as smooth a transition to Democracy as he could. The 1995 Elections in the New Union will certainly be a turning point in not just Soviet Politics but international politics as well. The Future of the New Union is on the bargaining table.

These two elections will set the stage for the changes to come. Can the Reform party build on their successes and implement their desired changes? Or will they fall victim to the Political Midlife Crisis that befalls all parties who make it into Washington? Will the Soviet Union’s election bring stable and free prosperity? Or will they bring a messy ruin filled with corruption? You’ll have to find out, in the 1995 update.

(Still got to do the techno culture update though)

 

[Derpsternium]

Alright, 1994 tech/culture update let's go.

So, as the title update suggests, 1994 brings many new kids on many blocks. We’ve seen the Reform Revolution last update; in this update, we’ll dive a bit deeper into that of course. But the main course is the arrival of Sony to the Console race and China to the Internet.

The PlayStation was released in Japan around the same time as the Saturn. Sony was giving the establishment a run for its money, due to its ability to produce its console completely in-house, the price was low. They had amazing 3rd-party support as well, with a similar system to their Sony Music label. Sega had the games though, a Day-1 SDK Policy meant that someone could expect 3rd-parties to be pumping out games a month after a console's release. Sega was comfortable in the knowledge that they would have a high volume of games for all their consoles. Peculiarly, they decided they would not be releasing their next big game, “Sonic X-treme” until the Console dropped in American and Europe, a bold move some would consider cocky.

Meanwhile, Nintendo was having a terrible year. The Much-Hyped Virtual Boy had been a commercial flop and a critical pan, due to its monochromatic proto-VR headset inducing massive headaches in its users. Nintendo needed to pull something big of it was going to keep up, and soon. Sega announced that they would be collaborating with Time Warner Cable to create an online gaming subscription service for the Sega Genesis, Nintendo knew they had to get on the Internet Action. To counter the “Sega Channel” Nintendo announced, “Nintendo Net” in a collaboration between them and America Online. Both services would be competing for the American market. Meanwhile, in Japan, work continued on the BS-X Satellaview modem for the Super Famicom. 1995 would surely be a great year for gaming.

Game Developers were not the only ones new to the net, as the Reform Revolution showed the Internet was an important means of disseminating information to the platform. The Russian Internet was full of Political ads and campaign sites as the 1995 elections approached. Journalists and news agencies like CNN and RT saw the need to get online in response. In August of ’94, China allowed for civilian internet access. Of course, this was heavily restricted, but in the age of the wild west, it was hard for the censors to keep up.

The world keeps getting smaller but more complex. As The Internet is expanded further across the globe, it brings new opportunities for discussion and commerce. The Future is coming, and people are hopeful. However, the next few years will bring the first challenges for the freedom of the Internet in the Western and Post-Communist Worlds. It is normal of course for any evolution in Mass Media to be fearmongered about the impacts on children. It has been that way since Gutenberg first put stamps in a row and pressed a bible. But The Internet is set to not just be another thing one can willfully ignore, but an ever-present force in the global systems of economics and politics. Any meaningful attempt at censoring it, even if only to protect the eyes of children from explicit content, risks sliding down a slippery slope turning the internet from a boost for Democratic Expression to a tool for authoritarian oppression.

Ａｄｖａｎｃｅｍｅｎｔｓ　ｏｆｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｗａｌｌ　ゝめむフ​

 

[Derpsternium]

So, As you know, The Russia Elections of 1995 are set to be an absolute unit of an update. However, I have very little time on my hands, since I have to juggle this with School, my Job, Other online commitments and whatnot. So, there's some bad news and good news.

The Bad news is I don't have enough time to compile all the research I need to do an adequate election update for the Soviet Union in 1995. I need parties, candidates, all sorts of info about trends, opinions, and just the fact that the Soviet Unions Republics are in drastically better shape than they were in OTL '95 throws a bunch of spanners in the works. So, I can't get it out in a timely manner. By myself that is.

The Good NEws is that despite my incredibly slow update rate (I actually wanted to get to 2001 by September 11th for symbolism sake. That turned out well.) there is still a large amount of people who are interested in this project and are very helpful with pointing out details I may have missed and suggesting ideas for new stuff. So, I've come up with an idea that can get this confusing election update down right.

So here's the plan. I'm going to do something which has probably never been done on this website before. Something that should be quite fun for those who really like this timeline and allows us all to pool our collective braincells to change the course of a Country.

I am proposing that an Election Game be set up to simulate the 1995 Soviet Elections. It won't be a traditional EG, as it would only focus on this single election. Pick any historical post-soviet politician from this period you desire (Putin, Yeltsin, Anyone at all, heck a few newcomers would be welcome as well.) And let the controlled chaos begin. Manage the campaign, play your cards right, and with enough skill and luck (and if applicable, a slight hint of subterfuge) you might just be able to land a seat on the local soviet.

 

[Derpsternium]

Hello again. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I will completely understand if you are angry that I keep breaking my repeated promises of “I’ll start posting more frequently”. And I have decided to make this post a way to explain my absence. Tl;dr, I’ve not forgotten about this timeline nor do I intend to stop working on it. I’ve simply been overly optimistic about how much work I can get done with the limited time I have and need to deal with other priorities before this.

So, first off, as you know I go to an online school, am in 11th grade, and also have a weekend job at a fast-food joint. As such, I have to balance my recreational activities with my education, career, and ensure my parents are happy enough that they won’t decide to block everything under the sun or limit things beyond all practical use. Recently, like the past couple of weeks, I had fallen increasingly behind in certain subjects in school. Normally, I would work over the weekend to catch up since as an Online Student I can log into my courses anytime I want or need to. However, since I have to work at McDonald’s every weekend I don’t have that luxury anymore, so I’ve had to devote more time during the regular school week as well as time after my weekend shifts to catch up on the backlog. This can get hard since I can only do as much work as I can before my brain goes “mush” and the quality of work will go down substantially. (this is also why more recent updates may seem more rushed).

To make this worse I also have anxiety about telling people I’ve made commitments to bad news. This is why I am overly optimistic, Not only do I think I might be able to get 5 assignments on trig identities done in 1 day, I feel that I will get penalized if I tell them I can’t, even though my IEP exists so I can tell them it will take longer for me to complete those assignments and they won’t get mad. (Anxiety is one hell of a deceiver). This carried over here, I think I can get an expansive update out before the end of the week, I find out that backlog/work won’t let me start work on the said update until 2 days before my self-imposed deadline and I end up posting something I consider sub-par fearing everyone’s going to hate it. You all have been very understanding however and I thank you for that.


This brings me to my last point, The Vaporverse Election Game will still be posted, but It will likely be a couple of weeks at least. It’s not because I’ve not started work or have no idea what to do. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I have the receipts to prove it. I just have no time to write all the ideas down and smooth out the kinks. (the good news is this would be the hardest part since all I would have to do once the game starts is look at the responses each turn and make the needed rolls.) so, here are some of the ideas.


The basic idea is not changed. Choose to play as a historical character or an original character you design. Any position (which would affect the politics of the Soviet Union on an all-union level in some way) can be chosen to compete for, any party can be run under and you can even create your party, be it a historical party which you think could form earlier than OTL or a completely original party of your design. This is an approval-based voting system, and seats are won by the candidate who won the most approval votes, and a voter can approve or disapprove of as many candidates as they want to. The game is going to be turn-based and has 52 turns, each being a week in length. The campaign season starts with week 1 (June 12th, 1994) and lasts until the end of week 52 (June 17th, 1995). And players have to ensure their party wins the most seats.

Some more rules about characters: If you choose to play as an incumbent running for reelection you must play as the historical holder of this position. If You play as a newcomer challenging a seat, you can play as a historical figure but must be true to the actual person’s beliefs.
Original characters cannot be incumbents, any OC’s backstory must detail how they got the recognition they needed to run a campaign. Such recognition must not have been obtained before the point of divergence of this timeline, which is October 18th, 1990.

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union is Bicameral.

• The Soviet the Union has 1 seat for every 300,000 people in the entire union, and acts as the lower house, directly representing the entire population.
• The Soviet of Nationalities represents the various ethnic groups within the Soviet Union and contains:
  • 32 deputies from each Union Republic (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.) 11 from each Autonomous Republic (Crimea, Komi, Chechnya, etc) five from each autonomous oblast, (Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, etc), and 1 from each autonomous okrug (Komi-Permyak, Nenets, etc)
  • This house acts like a senate, and each unit of each type sends the same number of deputies regardless of population size.

Further details on lower-level supreme soviets to come later.

Each Republican President (From the union republics) serves on the cabinet of the General Secretary (Who is voted by approval as well).


Sliders and rolls will play a part despite this only being a single cycle game. Different sets of sliders will exist for different roles. If you are running a campaign you have to deal with popularity, funds, grassroots, and other stuff. If instead, you are running a party, you have to deal with the stability and funds of the party as well as ensure that infighting is kept to a minimum. If you are an incumbent you of course still have a job to do alongside running for reelection which can be a double-edged sword. As the General Secretary, you have to deal with holding this mess altogether.

Lastly, let’s talk about traits. Characters have traits and attributes. I’ve mostly adapted them from the system of Crusader Kings 2 since I feel Elections and Party Politics have a lot in common with feudal bickerings. Essentially, attributes can determine how well you do at certain things, for instance, diplomacy helps with forming alliances with other parties as well as general popularity. Stewardship helps with managing campaign finances, learning adapts your campaign to the digital age. And of course, intrigue helps with *ahem* alternative means of securing your position.
Traits can determine many things. For example, a character who’s known as a Drunkard can be sure to have a hard time maintaining extremely high ratings. Someone with Lustful is at a higher risk of being subject to a potentially ruinous scandal.

Of course, this takes time, and time is a resource I have in VERY LIMITED SUPPLY So I’m no longer going to pretend it’s going to be out by Tuesday because chances are it won’t be out by Tuesday. I have other things to deal with first and while I still plan to work on this it’s just not at the top of the to-do list. I’ll post updates somewhat regularly just to ensure you guys know how it’s coming and when it’s ready it will be posted. As I said at the start of this text wall, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to post the EG for a couple of weeks at least. When it is ready, It’ll be ready, and by god, I’ll make sure it’s the best damn EG this site has ever seen.

 

[Derpsternium]

Alright, so since I'm looking to start this back up soon, I suppose I should post a recap for those of you who are new. While it is strongly recommended that you read the earlier updates (it is some neat stuff) I think that a recap will help get some bearings, and also help me to refresh my memory of what I might have forgotten.

So, Vaporverse as the title implies is an Alternate History Timeline I'm writing with inspiration taken from Vaporwave, everybody's favorite Retrofuturistic Musical Thorn in the side of the DMCA. To those not aware, Vaporwave is essentially a genre of Music, as well as an Aesthetic Meme that retrospectively celebrates/criticizes Nostalgia by completely mangling songs from days gone by to change their vibes into more A E S T H E T I C sounds. The idea is to portray a romanticized version of the period known at the time as "The End of History" A period of Optimism spanning from the unification of Germany in 1989 and crashing and burning in 2001 with the September 11th Attacks. Various Subgenres exist to tackle various aspects of the Western Pop Culture of the post-cold war period, but all you need to know for this timeline is that it draws inspiration from the themes of Vaporwave.

My idea for Vaporverse was to extend the era of good feelings that existed after the Cold War for as long as possible and make as idealistic a world as Possible without stretching the bounds of realism too much. All the events in the timeline are things I concluded through research that was possible, even if unlikely. The point of Divergence is probably different than most other "no-9/11" worlds. I chose to challenge myself by not averting Operation Cyclone, (The Reagan Era CIA Operation which funded the Afghan resistance against the Soviets, which later created Al Qaeda).

I chose instead to prevent Desert Storm, by ensuring that an intelligence report stating that Saddam had no intention of peacefully resolving the border dispute with Kuwait successfully made its way to Ambassador April Glaspie before she met with Saddam Hussein on the 25th of July 1990. With knowledge of Saddam's true intentions, April could reasonably inform Saddam that if he invaded Kuwait America Would Intervene militarily, thereby forcing him to seriously consider peaceful negotiations. Besides that, 1990 is mostly the same as OTL. Averting Desert Storm helps with averting 9/11 by significantly reducing the American Military Presence in the Region, which was one of the biggest grievances cited in the 1996 Fatwa calling for Jihad against the USA issued by Osama Bin Laden. While this does not completely prevent 9/11 (yet), what it does is take out a big point potential recruiters could use to radicalize people into joining Al Qaeda, or any other Radical Islamist Terror Group.

1991 see's the Reforms of Gorbechev reach their ultimate conclusion. The August Coup is Thwarted after Gorbechev uses his Crimean vacation as a Honeypot to capture the Conspirators while he stays with his Frenemy, Boris Yeltsin. The Following Day, The New Union treaty is signed, officially reorganizing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into the Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics. Thanks to the August Coup not happening, and therefore the little legitimacy of the USSR being Preserved, the Soviet Union is on a path towards Democracy.

The World begins to move away from a Bipolar Order to a Dipolar one, with the United States under Bill Clinton looking to Co-operate with the Soviet Union on the pressing issues of the world just before the 21st-century rolls in. Among the most pressing matters is that of International Terrorism, which takes the headlines by storm throughout 1993, with one of the worst incidents being the coordinated dual bombings of the World Trade Center and the Kremlin by Al-Qaeda. The International Community begins to recognize the threat that terrorism poses to the Stability of the world, and looks to Stabilize areas such as the former Yugoslavia and countries with major internal conflicts to prevent terrorists from exploiting power vacuums. At home, Governments may soon have to confront the question of balancing Personal Freedoms and Privacy in the increasing internet-dominated world with the need to preserve National Security.

Speaking of the United States, a new political force comes onto the scene in 1992, as Ross Perot becomes the most successful 3rd Party-Candidate, running on a Populist Platform with a fusion of Radical Centrism, Social Democracy, and Third-Way Liberalism. He also becomes the first 3rd Party to gain a state in the Electoral College, taking the 4 Electoral Votes from Maine. While he did not win, he managed to be more successful than he expected and found the Reform Party soon after, and in 1994, the Reform Party rides a predominantly Infomercial and Internet Town-Hall driven Campaign to gain enough seats in the House to deny the Republicans and Democrats a Plurality, meaning most bills proposed by either side requires Reform Party Support to stand a chance at Passing.

Meanwhile, 1995 is set to be the first General Elections for the Soviet Union under the new Democracy, and with all seats up for grabs and a growing Internet Infrastructure, the results will not only determine whether the New Union can Survive as a stable democratic confederation, split apart under the pressure of nationalism, continue the Russian Tradition of Authoritarian Government, or Return to the old ways of Communism. The Results will also have massive geopolitical implications for decades to come.
Meanwhile, with the Soviets abandoning Communism, some of the remaining Communist States turn towards the People's Republic of China, still undergoing the Economic Reforms of Deng Xiaoping, while other elect to go separately and pave their path to the worker's paradise. China in particular looks towards the new technologies of the Internet age and how best to either Regulate them or use them as a means of control.

Let's move away from Political Changes, and move towards another aspect of the 90s culture. Technology! Throughout the early 1990s, the Internet goes from being reserved to Governments and Research institutions with limited Commercial and Consumer use, to be a platform for users from Boston to Vladivostok to talk about whatever they want. Online Cultures develop fast, fandoms begin growing at exponential rates, and everybody seems to own a website. While there are costs, as Criminals exploit the new opportunities in scamming and Software Piracy. Attempts to fully control the web are tempered by the efforts of free-speech activists and the average user, and in the United States, the Reform Party fiercely opposes proposals that could risk the free-spirited expression of the early web, leading to the DMCA being far more lenient and respectful of Fair Use.

Television enters the age of Cable, with News gradually becoming Sensationalist and Adverts becoming surreal, with Weather being presented alongside a soundtrack of smooth Jazz and MIDI Composition. The Super Mario Movie ends up being Successful and paves the way for a more interesting Console War.

Oh yeah, Console War is in this as well. After Sony gets stiffed by Nintendo and the SNES-CD Deal falls through paving the way for the ill-fated Phillips CD-I, Sega successfully launches the Sega CD in the United States after Thomas Kalinske convinces Hayao Nakayama to ensure that 3rd-party support is available the same day CD releases in America after a successful launch in Japan. The CD is Successful as a result, and Sega now has a new policy of ensuring that 3rd-Party Development Kits are released the same day as every new Console's public release. This in turn makes Sega a more attractive company to work with compared to Nintendo's exploitive contracts and strict standards. in 1994, Sony drops the Playstation, which can be produced entirely in-house thanks to Sony's already established presence in other Consumer Electronic Appliances. With the Sudden rise in Competition, Nintendo knows they must release a major console in 1995 to compete with the widely-anticipated Sega Saturn. While 3d Graphics are a must-have, Nintendo looks towards the Internet to create the first Online capable Video Game System.

1995 will be a massive year in many ways. and time will tell where the world goes from there.

 

[Derpsternium]

Mikhail Gorbechev had won. After almost ten years, his programs of Perestroika, Glasnost, and Demokratizatsiya were about to lead to their conclusion. Gorbechev had fundamentally changed Soviet Politics. Perestroika and Glasnost had allowed for Economic Liberties and for free criticism, and while the way they were first implemented could very well have led to a Collapse, the New Union treaty managed to work a compromise that kept the Union Together and allowed for it to become an Economic Powerhouse and Regional Superpower. Now, in 1995, Democratization would be achieved.

The Soviet General Elections of 1995 were simultaneously the most confusing and ordered elections for outsiders to follow. All Seats that could be elected, would be up for election, which meant thousands of political positions from the mayor of Omsk to the General Secretary themselves would need to be up for grabs. The voting would be done with Approval Voting, meaning that a voter could either approve or disapprove of any number of candidates on their ballot, even ones vying for the same positions. Therefore, The winner would be the one who would be most liked. Internet Debates on the Soviet Web would be common. International Observers watched curiously to see if The Soviet Union could truly move away from Authoritarianism.

The Campaigns lasted around an entire year, and as the vote was an approval contest, many candidates could lose from scandals and exposures of Hypocrisy. Thanks to the growth of a free press, which was frequently keeping track of Political Platforms and Developments, the Turnout on Election Day was 87% on the Union Level, and stayed roughly 85-88% on Republican and Local level Elections. This showed that Apathy was almost non-existent, and a vast majority of Soviet Citizens were deeply concerned about what Government would lead them into the New Millenium. But, How did the results turn out?

On a Union Level, the results in the Supreme Soviet turned out to be as diverse as the Union itself. A chart of the seats colored by party would look similar to a European Parliament, as the chamber was split into various blocs. These blocs are as follows.

• The Popular Front: A broad Coalition of Moderate Left-wing Parties which currently holds the plurality, but not a majority. Some Highlight parties include
  • The Social Democratic Party of the Soviet union: An Offshoot of the CPSU Originally isolated exclusively to Russia, but later expanded to the entire Union after the New Union Treaty Passed. As one would expect, this party seeks to establish a Hybridized variant of Capitalism with an extensive network of social safety nets similar to that which exists in Denmark. Currently Dominates the Bloc
  • The Green Party: This is a party which generally agrees with the SDPSU on most policies, but pursues policies seeking to mitigate the effects of Climate Change.
  • People’s Patriotic Union: The Black Sheep of the Front, with more radical Democratic Socialist views and a strong Christian Democrat Faction. The PPU also distinguishes itself among the Soviet Left as being supportive of nationalist foreign policies.
• The Democratic Union: Originally an underground Democratic Party in the Soviet Union, as Glasnost fully took effect this party became a Big Tent for those opposed to Socialism in the USSR. When the 1995 elections were announced to be approval based, the union split as a Big Tent Party with no true defining ideology would not really do particularly well. The second largest bloc, it is composed of parties in the Center, the Center-right and the more Moderate Right. Highlights include:
  • The Liberal Party of the Soviet Union: The Party of Yeltsin, seeking to implement Neoliberal Capitalism around the Union. There is disagreement in this party on Social Issues, with one side being Social Liberal and the other being Social Conservative.
  • The Christian Democrat party of the Soviet Union: Centre-Right on Social issues, and Centre-Left on Economic Issues, and 100% Christian Social Gospel, perfectly balanced. As all things should be.
  • The Union party: A small party led by a former KGB Agent. What Could possibly go wrong. V̵̻̮͍̹͂̈́̂̍L̸̺̋͛̽̔͑A̷̲̥͉̻͂̍̊̎͒͂͒̿̕͝D̴̢̧̢̟̹̭̰͉́͒̂͗͝I̸͉̗̫̞͍̓̋͌̎̓͑M̸̧̮̦̼̘̒͐͝I̶̻̘̠͍͎͕̜̅̎̔̀R̸̡̰͎͂̑̋́̍̒ ̸̥̲̏͛͝͝P̵̡̮͊̅̏̓Ŭ̴͚͉̋̈́̈́͘͠͠T̴̡̛͚̝̞̲̳̙̭̎͐́̇͊̃̇͋̕I̸̛̥̰͙̙̻͊͂̒͗̒̎̇͘̕Ň̸̨͈̼̦͍̱͕ͅ ̷̨̗͔̳͖͔͎̭̥͂̒̇͗̈́͋W̷̡͇̭̪͔̮̠̠͓̉̾ͅǍ̵̢̩̙̒͊͑N̸͔̹̭̹̍̄̉T̸̪̪̤̹͉̃̚S̴̭̹̝̰̠̯͈̀̎͊̒̉̏ ̶̛̳͍͑̇̓̈̍́̀̀͜ͅT̴̯͇̱͍̮͔̒͌́̇O̴̢̳̹̹͓̺͔̼̳̾́̍̊ ̶̼̠͙̃ͅK̸̝͚̰̠͈̺͓̩̺̓N̸͙͕̑̓͑̔̄͋ͅO̸̳͎͓̲͒̈͆̈́̀͌͗̌̕͜ͅẀ̴̨͕͎̥͎̝̗̫̜̤̈͋͋ ̸̧̢̬͖̹̱̗̜́̉̏̋̃̕͘̕Y̴̆̋̒̈ͅȮ̶̺̼͈̞̟̗̱͆́̐̿U̶͎̦͈͋̉̆̀R̵̻̲̳̘͘̕ ̸̡̯̜͓̟͕̤̒̓̓̔͐̈́͆̀̇L̸̨̛̦̞̔̌̈́͊̈́͛͠Ọ̸̞̀͌͂͑́͜C̵͍͎̦̹͉͉̻͚̄̈́͛̔̍̈͋̾͠͝A̴̹̤͙̼͔̬̎̐̇̉̾T̷̛̖͂͒̈́̊̍͑͝I̸̮̙̺̘͗̈́́̈́̍͜O̵͉̝̱̯̠̣̮͌̃̐̈́̓͂́͜Ṇ̴̢̦͇͔̳͓̎̋̔͗͐̚
• Dang. This is getting quite long.

Maybe I should do a part two? My brain’s getting numb and I need to get this out. For now, enjoy some tunes.

Ｉ　ｗａｓ　ｎｏｔ　ｌｙｉｎｇ　ｗｈｅｎ　Ｉ　ｓａｉｄ　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ａ　ｄｏｏｚｙ．　ピじず汚　イべキ ヅ椅マ​