Something like that. It's got numerous of the negative associations traditionally held with port cities, something which curiously is not so evident in Port Said, which is actually just as important as Alexandria at this point. Due to its importance as a key Mediterranean port, Alexandria has also attracted criminal gangs from places such as Albania, Italy, Britain and elsewhere. It's pretty much one of the gang-capitals of the Ottoman Empire for various reasons.
Konstantiniyye is indeed a great place, though is not entirely perfect. It has its share of bad neighbourhoods and poverty. However, generally speaking its crime rates are lower than most European cities. And as in OTL, it is a very nice city.
Alexandria is one of the worst cities in the Empire to live in at the moment. Although it is popularly known as the Pearl of the Empire, it's a big center for drug smuggling and human trafficking, all of which invite gangs to establish themselves in the city. Don't expect this to be tolerated forever though.
And you can't blame poor Nixon. Genetics ensured that he'd be the kind of man who sells children's organs to zoos as meat.
You do as soon as I can think of one. I thought that the identity of Kissinger would be the harder one to guess.
Part of it is exaggeration of consequences and an underemphasis on what he'd said. He'd basically said some rather Robert Spencer-esque things about Islam, though he isn't really in trouble with the authorities about it. There is a backlash from the comparatively small Muslim community in Salonika, though Kissinger is mainly keen on moving as his ambitions cannot really be sated in the Ottoman Empire. Thus he is keen on setting up shop in a liberalizing United States. Also, I always thought Nixon came from a Quaker family, which is the reason I referred to him as one.Amazing update, Nassir! I like the fact that Richard Nixon's a Quaker ITTL, though I wonder what Kissinger had gone through to critique the system so harshly.
And I would really like to visit the Ottoman capital of this timeline; it sounds as if exploring it is an adventure in itself.
The Ottoman Capital is indeed a great place in TTL. A lot more multicultural and diverse than the Istanbul of OTL was.
I'd actually love to do the whole vignette thing again, I quite enjoyed writing for these places. Beirut would be an interesting one, as like Salonika it is a big city with a non-Muslim majority.
These two also go without saying.
You mean that cold and mountainous place near the Georgian border?
It would be interesting to cover at least some of the smaller cities of the Empire.
Well, the US is on the road to recovery. Anti-semitism is on the downturn there but that may be compensated somewhat by an upturn in other types of negative sentiment.
Hey, Marseille isn't so bad once you get past the crime and the shanty towns.
As I said, I did enjoy doing these vignettes. Between class, family and work I'm going to be a bit swamped this month but I'll see that it's computer games that are starved of my time rather than this TL.
Well, it all tends to vary a bit. The US still isn't as open as its lower than lofty OTL 1950s equivalent, though this is changing steadily. And it isn't a trial that Kissinger is thinking about, so much as possible opportunities elsewhere...
There's still unofficial discrimination in Britain, though due to the exodus of social conservatives, it's not so marked. Germany and France tend to have moderate rates of persecution. Think something like Switzerland today. Russia is still mixed, though without the Caucasus and Central Asia its Muslim population is now overwhelmingly Tartar, and efforts at toleration have been greatly improved there.
At least Cambodia may be safe from him in this world.Kissinger wouldn't be Kissinger if he loved peace and fairness
Well, the Gulf will be less significant in terms of population due to a lower immigration rate. In cities such as Dubai and Doha this will definitely be noticeable. It is likely to remain the case that Qatif in OTL's Saudi Arabia, as well as Bahrain are going to be the hubs of the Gulf. And this isn't just the horrible bias of a Bahraini speaking.
