Somehow it seems fitting to have Zhirinovsky being more blatant with "grabbing pussies" than Trump was considering the former's nature ITTL (and IOTL to an extent).
But anyway, I'm quite baffled as to having an ethnically different group taking power in Dominica of all places; like have there been Russians in Dominica for a while or so?
Well, it may not be quite as crazy as it sounds. A few days ago it was reported that the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati was seriously considering allowing a Russian investor reestablish the Russian monarchy in their nation:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...sman-seeks-restore-tsarist-empire-overthrown/
Russian businessman seeks to restore Tsarist empire overthrown in 1917 on Pacific atoll
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Kiribati faces an uncertain future due to rising sea levels CREDIT: ALAMY
30 JANUARY 2017 • 3:25PM
ARussian monarchist is seeking to buy three uninhabited islands in the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati to restore the Romanov empire and create an “alternative Russia”.
Anton Bakov, a businessman and former Russian MP, is visiting the tiny nation this week after he was invited there to discuss his plan to purchase or lease three southern islands.
He has proposed creating the capital of the new Russian nation on Malden Island, an empty coral atoll in the south Pacific, where he says he plans to invest £280 million on resorts.
Anton Bakov CREDIT: BAKOV.RU
An ardent monarchist, Bakov wants Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, a 64-year-old German noble who is apparently a great-great-grandson of the nineteenth-century Russian emperor Alexander II, to accede to the throne and
restore the Russian monarchy, which was overthrown during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Visiting Kiribati with his wife, who acted as an interpreter, Mr Bakov said the idea for the restoration had the backing of a large number of Russians who were dissatisfied with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
A typical House in Kiribati CREDIT: ALAMY
“This is the desire not only of the heir of the Russian throne but also a great number of Russian patriots who are not happy with Putin’s regime and would like to have their revival of Romanov’s empire visible – as an alternative Russia,” he told Radio New Zealand.
Mr Bakov, founder of Russia’s monarchist party, has previously made attempts to restore the monarchy in the Cook Islands, a south Pacific country which is in free association with New Zealand, and in Montenegro.
But the latest proposal is being seriously considered by authorities in
Kiribati, a series of 33 coral atolls which is roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
The low-lying nation faces an uncertain future due to rising sea levels and has been seeking fresh sources of income, as well as potential places of refuge for some of its 107,000 citizens whose homes and livelihoods are under threat.
Kiribati’s government said its foreign investment commission was considering Mr Bakov’s proposal.
Teburoro Tito, a former Kiribati president, said the plan could bring much-needed investment and turn the nation into a remote island tourist attraction akin to the Maldives.
"Assuming the things they're saying are true, then I would like to see it happen,” he said.
Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati CREDIT:KATSUMI KASAHARA
“If they can do it, without any cost on us, except from the land which we can host them, then I don't see any fuss at this stage."
But others have questioned the motives behind the unusual plan to set up a remote outpost of the old Russian empire on three isolated atolls.
Some have suggested Mr Bakov was hoping to create a tax haven.
Sitiveni Halapua, an academic based in Tonga, said the plan was “scary” and “very strange indeed”.
"I can understand the government of Kiribati trying to do its best to raise as much resources as they can to deal with
their own problems including climate change, but one has to remember that sometimes you think this is the solution to your problems and it turns out to make the problems worse," he told Radio New Zealand.
Now what is interesting is that this guy has proposed $350,000,000 for the project. Remember, Dominica is a nation that allows capital investment for citizenship, a policy that has been exploited in OTL by numerous individuals, the majority being millionaires seeking a tax shelter. In OTL it takes a capital investment of $100,000:
https://www.isla-offshore.com/services/citizenship-dominica/
And that amount was around $75,000 several years ago. In this TL it costs $50,000 and assuming the former ruling party had embezzled $350,000,000 (again, same amount the government of Kiribati is being offered), or assuming there is an eccentric billionaire in this TL, or assuming Lebed needs to create a crisis to reestablish Zhirinovsky's supporters as a legitimate threat...well then this is hardly out of the question. After all, in the last Election in Dominica in 2014 the ruling DLP party won with 23,208 total votes. In total there were 41,195 votes cast in the election.
http://www.caribbeanelections.com/dm/elections/dm_results_2014.asp
If we had the exact same scenario in TTL that we had in OTL regarding this Kiribati proposal (basically a 350 million dollar investment) then the UIS would now have 7,000 registered voters in Dominica. One third of the vote total of the winning party. And if we were to add them to the total voter numbers then that would be 14% of the total number of voters in the nation. Assuming there is graft (and knowing Zhirinovsky that is almost a certainty) then it isn't unthinkable to imagine a corrupt official allowing allowing the Russians to exploit this system even more by allowing individuals into the country without making the capital investment (perhaps we see the Russian individual giving a smaller down payment and a promissory note instead of the $50,000 investment. The official pockets the down payment and records the promissory note as a cash investment).
And keep in mind, there are many Russians who became rich under Zhirinovsky who are also looking for a legitimate tax shelter for their ill gotten wealth. The prospect of being arrested for corruption by Lebed is real, and so there are going to be many Russians who are probably legitimately looking for someway to protect themselves and protect their money in the event of a purge or in the event of a anti-corruption campaign in the UIS that targets members of the previous administration.