Winter and Spring 1970
President Richard M Nixon of the United States of America invites world leaders to Seattle for a summit aimed at recreating the World Congress (sic), a body he claims that provided an outlet for aggression short of war, and which whilst it existed prevented nations from turning on one another
The result is less than enthusiastic. Some nations make no reply at all, chief amongst them Germany and France, others such as Great Britain and Japan send outright refusals.
The Joint Alliance Council of the Pact of Rome suggests instead that if the USA wishes to address Europe, then the US Secretary of Sate should fly to Rome and talk to the Council. Nixon makes no response to that
In the event, only the nations of the Pan-American Alliance, various neutral Central American and Carribean nations, and China attend. Lots of well-meaning words are spoken, but in the circumstances little can be achieved and the best that can be spun to the public is that all attendees agree to return in a year's time, when it is hoped that other nations will also feel able to put their differences aside and work together
The relative failure impacts negatively upon Nixon's perception within the USA. Up to now, foreign policy successes have taken the heat of what many see as a slow and lacklustre drive towards rebuilding after the One Week War. Now, increased pressure is put on him within Congress to explain why his administration appears to be lagging behind what everyone wants to see in terms of returning refugees to a safe home environment
The Ottoman Empire launches the spacecraft Zafer VIII crewed by the Euro-Ottoman Space Agency, and manned by two Frenchman (one a black from Senegal), a Ukrainian woman, and two Turks. It follows its three immediate predecessors in putting a capsule safely down upon the Moon's surface and conducting a series of experiments there, before returning to Earth and a safe splashdown in the Indian Ocean
The Regent of France has himself crowned King Charles XI in Algiers, in a ceremony attended by politicians and royals from across Europe and N Africa. King Idris of Libya attends in person, but the best that an embattled Egypt can do is to send their Foreign Minister. Great Britain sends the Prince of Wales, whilst the kings of Spain and Portugal attend in person
After the coronation, and the promulgation of a series of decrees building on the Regent's plans for the borders of France, elections to the general assembly are fixed for late May
In a move towards normalisation of relations, the US Secretary of State Herbert Kahn attends the coronation, and afterwards announces that the US Marine contingent based in Algiers since the One Week War will be withdrawn to Benghazi. In secret, he asks that King Charles in turn give his blessing to next year's attempt at a World Congress in Seattle. The king agrees to consider it
East Africa explodes back into the headlines when an Egyptian army corps, complete with armoured units, is annihilated in an attempt to enter the Ugandan kingdoms
In the aftermath, the Ugandans rise up as one throwing their weight behind Idi Amin, whilst his Kenyan allies carry their fight out of their traditional lands into the Abyssinian-populated cities
Emperor Haile Selassie makes a furious speech from Addis Ababa, proclaiming that the rebels will be crushed, and that if Egypt is incapable of dealing with its own subject peoples then perhaps Abyssinia will do it for them
Watching events from Kaiser Wilhelm Stadt (Youande) Fuhrer Schellenberg of Afrika is appalled. The whole concept of his state is that it should be multi-ethnic, a unity of peoples, but this explosion of black separatism and black supremacy on his borders is having a serious destabilising effect on his interior provinces, especially those recently 'liberated' from the Belgian Congo
The immediately affected powers are not the only ones to be concerned at this state of affairs. Although the war in Liberia had largely become an irrelevance even by the time that the One Week War broke out (the international black leadership had already been wiped out by the French hydrogen bomb), West Africa remains a hotbed of revolution and rebellion.
Often proclaiming a cause of black power, and black one nationhood, the rebel movements, although often weak and disorganised in themselves, manage to remain in the fight. From Senegal to the ruins of Nigeria, civil wars rage. Britain, France and Portugal all call for some kind of international alliance to "settle the continent down"
Ottoman agents meet with Haile Selassie and agree an Ottoman arms and aid package to Abyssinia that sees Ottoman produced versions of state-of-the-art Bulgarian jet fighters on their way to Addis Ababa, along with Ottoman-manufactured tanks, and armoured vehicles, and modern automatic weapons. A cadre of Ottoman advisors also accompanies the shipments in order to best train the Abyssinians quickly in their use
News reaches the West, that Russian forces in Turkmenistan have slaughtered over a thousand civilians in crushing a demonstration. This is soon followed by detailed reports on Russian military operations where "annihilating the rebels" has become Russia's aim. Whole villages have been massacred, isolated strongholds hit by a barrage of poison gas, hostages taken and executed in large numbers
The Pact of Rome calls for both sides to draw back and agree a ceasefire
President Oumansky counters by pointing out that under treaties signed by all nations, Turkmenistan is an integral part of the Russian Empire. It may be autonomous but it has no more right to seccede than does Bearn from France or the Basque provinces from Spain.
The Joint Alliance Council of the Pact of Rome begins to see internal discord as several nations pull back from the previously stated position, and call for talks to re-establish the status quo ante, rather than for a new settlement
China launches two spacecraft in quick succession, using her own resources and manning them entirely on her own. Both circle the Earth and return safely
To Russian and Indian complaints, Peking reports that it is leaving the quadri-partite space agency and going its own way
Observers in Europe and the USA reckon that it is only a matter of time before the political alliance between the three Asian powers collapses also
The French elections return a hung parliament, with the Socialists and the National Party equal in their share of the vote. Rather than form unstable coalitions with minor parties, King Charles XI suggests that they work together, and split the cabinet between them
The meeting between the party leaderships is surprisingly amicable. It is agreed that the First Minister post shall go to Socialist leader Francois Mitterand, but that Foreign, Interior and Defence shall go to National Party members. The Socialists pick up Finance, Colonies, and Industry, whilst the National Party gets Agriculture, Health and Education.
Afrikan, South African and Australian ministers meet in Johannesburg but cannot agree anything. Schellenberg is asking for aid, money and arms, with which to fight the black nationalists in Uganda and Kenya before their influence causes the breakup of his state. This aim is shared by both the USSA and Australia, neither of whom wishes to contemplate a central Africa dominated by black majority rule. But Australia refuses to have anything to do with Schellenberg's native and mixed-race units and would require any contributions to be ring-fenced for white only spending - the Fuhrer knows that there is no way he can sell this to the national assembly, and that attempting to keep it secret would doom him and the nation when it, inevitably, came out
South Africa are less worried about finances but wish to contribute armed units. Realising that these would consist of Apartheid's greatest supporters bent on a crusade against black rule, Schellenberg is unable to accept that either. Even if he could play down their significance in the announcement, as soon as the men were on the ground in Uganda it would be obvious to his commanders just what sort of people these new allies were
In the end, the Fuhrer has to make do with a few state of the art fighter aircraft that Sydney sends as a token, reckoning that Afrika has very few pilots and only white veterans would be able to fly them, and a sum of money from Johannesburg that is welcome in itself but won't last long once fighting begins
In Cairo, General Sadat rejects pressure to send some of the units holding down Darfur South into Uganda, arguing that to do so would be to risk losing both Darfur and the kingdoms.
Egypt's greatest problem is money and eventually Sadat recognises that there is only one ready source available to him. He heads off on a secret visit to Istanbul, leaving National Security Advisor Hafiz Ismail in charge of the empire
Negotiations in Rome, see the kingdoms of Albania and Montenegro accede to the Pact of Rome
Bulgaria and the Greek Socialist Republic request Observer status, the right to sit in at general meetings, but not to vote or be present at confidential ones. The Joint Alliance Council agrees their request
Fuhrer Schellenberg of the State of Afrika flies to Algiers, leaving his nation in the temporary care of recently-promoted Field Marshal Harald Quandt
He has a public audience with King Charles XI, then meets the cabinet and the leadership of both governing parties in joint secrecy. His message is a stark one - unless Afrika succeeds, then the future will not be an integration of European and African ways but a complete and violent rejection of Europe. He reminds them that France as now constituted has a vastly greater bulk in Africa than Europe, and that if this collapsed into chaos, what would be left of the blasted ruin of the European homeland ?
He advocates involvement in the Ugandan Crisis not through any racism or desire to destroy black ambitions, but because SEPARATIST and SUPREMACIST black ambitions threaten the whole European settlement in Africa. He prophesises that either this conflict is won, or within twenty years there will remain no European foothold on the continent, except possibly an Ottoman one, if one can consider them Europeans
Shocked by such forceful talk, First Minister Mitterand requests time out to confer with his colleagues in the Socialist leadership. Granted this, they discuss whether the Afrikan leader's words are true, or just fear and paranoia, whether even if true they would ever apply to France, and whether it is against Socialist ideals to crush self-determination because it is a danger to the universal harmony they wish to see elsewhere
This latter point erupts into a furious argument, and with several ministers threatening to walk out of the government, Mitterand requests another meeting, this time with just the Socialists, the king and the Fuhrer. Sending an explanatory note to the National Party leadership, Mitterand stresses that such a meeting is the only way to convince the waverers. Realising that this means that the First Minister and several others must have accepted Schellenberg's words the two heads of state agree, whilst the National Party, also making calculations at a global rather than national level raise no objection
An all-night meeting ensues. Once again Schellenberg lays out his points, emphasising in response to criticism that the Ugandan kingdoms were neither oppressed nor foreign dominated, but autonomous within a federal empire and that any talk of freeing themselves from oppression is merely a smokescreen.
Laying out possible scenarios and asking everyone present to follow them to potential conclusions, Schellenberg effectively uses gaming strategy to win round many of his opponents. By morning, only the Finance Minister and the Junior Health minister quit the government, and Mitterand is able to go to the National Party leadership and assure them that the Socialist Party stands behind any decision to aid Afrika
Talk then turns to what exactly this aid will be, and how it will be delivered
Best Regards
Grey Wolf