Kuwait is more important geo politically then East Timor though.
If there is no intervention in the war by the West or international community, I can see Iraq developing nuclear weapons and trying to become an atomic state in the 1990's. They now have the money and resources to do it with Kuwait under control. The US is not going to take action here.
However, an attack by Iran or Israel on the facility sparks a war a few years later. It mostly is an air and espionage war. Iraq bombs Israel or Iran, terror groups attack Israel or Iraq, and more. There could be a short war between the two. I don't think it'll be enough to create a regional conflict though.
Israel has bombed Iraqi nuclear and chemical facilities many times before and it didn't cause a war. Iraq lacks the airforce to actually attack Israel.
Israel has bombed Iraqi nuclear and chemical facilities many times before and it didn't cause a war. Iraq lacks the airforce to actually attack Israel.
That will end... poorly for him.
Kuwait was also the most Soviet-aligned Gulf State, while Iraq was much more American-aligned. The U.S. doing nothing would be seen as a signal that it isn't necessarily going to lift a finger to preserve Westphalian sovereignty for states that are hostile to it.
Anyways, most likely result is sanctions. The GCC are going to shit the bed and will probably integrate defense more closely than OTL. Saddam remains Western-aligned, and may end up having another go at Iran. Syria may also be a possibility—without the Gulf War, Saddam's proxies continue to stir up the Lebanese Civil War, which could further deteriorate relations with Syria.
Domestically, Mario Cuomo runs and defeats Bush easily. Lots of ripples from there.
absolutely, no question about it.Kuwait is more important geo politically then East Timor though.
http://articles.latimes.com/1991-01-13/news/mn-374_1_persian-gulf
' . . . The Senate adopted the resolution 52 to 47; the House vote was 250 to 183. . . '
I would be carful putting to much stock in the numbers of votes in the US Congress, pay attention to how the votes came out. In both cases the Democrats held solid majorities in both houses. If you check, I would bet most of the yes democrats where either in safe seats, or voting against would have hurt their reelection bid. Conversely, the no votes probably would have been hurt by voting yes. Don't listen to the rhetoric, or even how the voting numbers, look to see if anyone voting against the party is punished.Here are the votes in both houses of the U.S. Congress on Saturday, January 12, 1991, giving President Bush authorization to use military force: