Another WIP cutaway for my map. How many cutaways are too many?
One of the sentiments held by the average people in the Alliance for Humanity was one of confusion. They don't understand how their leaders could have allowed the Novus Ordo Seculorum to reach the size and power that it did. One of the reasons was that the other nations of the world were simply distracted and one of the biggest distractions was the Cradle Crisis.
By the late 2060s, the MENA region was divided between two supranational organizations. On one side was Arab League, a union of mostly Arab nations lead by Saudi Arabia. These nations were primarily followers Wahhabism, a very strict and traditional version of Sunni Islam. Since the rise of the NOS, and the return of American Isolationism, the primary supporters of the Arab League were the EU, India, and the rising East African Union. With the oil revenue and other investment, the Arabian population swelled, having the highest growth rate outside the Congo.
On the other side was the Silk Road Mutual Defense Pact, lead by the Islamic Republic of Iran, supported by the Russians and Chinese as a counterbalance to the Arab League. With the growing orthodoxy and Arabic chauvinism among the Arab league, Iran positioned itself as the the protector of minority groups. Iran's greatest ally in the Pact was Turkey, and a series of semi-Russified Central Asian nations. Population Growth in the Pact had been stagnant for the past few generations. On the other hand, as the beneficiaries of large amounts Chinese investment, the Pact nations were highly developed, allowing them to punch far above their weight class.
The first stage of the Cradle Crisis was the Arab-Iranian War, which began with a terrorist attack in Baghdad. Both parties blamed the other for the attack. Things escalated into a full scale war between the two alliances. Ultimately, this would end would end with the use of nuclear weapons and a Pact victory. The crisis would continue to smolder for the next 15 years, taking up the attention of most of the great powers. While the great powers were distracted, the NOS annexed the rest of the Americas . Meanwhile, the influx of refugees into the EU was one of the primary causes of the European Civil war.