"It'll be pleasant to return to normality."
Moshe Tasiru ben-Talal, Israel's ambassador to the USA, after the electoral defeat of President Trambach, 2052, in his diary.
2050-2059
President Trambach remained somewhat popular with the American electorate, although the Republicans lost seats in Congress during the midterms.
That same year, the leaders of the USA, South Africa, Israel, China, and Korea gathered in Soeul to mark the 100th anniversary of the Korean War. It was at this gathering that Paul Trambach displayed his lack of empathy and diplomatic fortitude. As Israeli Prime Minister Golda Tasiru Ring remarked to an aid:
"This is what 'Living America' means?" Trambach, in his hasty remarks, misplaced the names of several key battles, and smugly claimed that General MacArthur alone was responsible for the eventual victory (he refused to acknowledge the UN). This caused an ugly diplomatic incident. In the USA itself, the backlash from the previous administration's policies began to wear off, as many questioned Trambach's ability to govern.
Tactless, President Trambach, in a desperate bid to fully secure his base, withdrew from several popular international accords, including the 2003 Accord with banned land mines, and the Rio Accords of 1997, which had ensured that the industrialized nations would reduce carbon emissions.
Instead, this caused the pendulum to swing the other way. President Trambach, in yet another desperate bid to secure reelection through his nativist base, expressed his full support for an amendment that would have made English the official language of the USA. The effects were ugly. The Latin American members of NAFTA threatened to withdraw, and the Hispanic base in the USA itself swung sharply to the Democrats.
In the end, President Trambach not only lost to 2052 elections (to New Mexico's Governor Samuel Martinez), but the Democrats managed to retake Congress. President-elect Martinez promised to reauthorize the International Accords that Trambach had withdrawn from. The world breathed a sigh of relief.
In the USA, this pounded the last nail into the coffin of America's Nativist Wing. As Barakan Prime Minister Ishmael Mahmoud Tafa remarked in his diary in 2052:
"God bless the Americans. In the end, they always do what's right."
In 2054, representatives from NAFTA, SAC, APTO, EU and the FDN met in Baraka to hammer out the International Space Accord. The new document called for the formation of the Earth Space Agency, which would pool the planet's resources into scientific development and space exploration. The key points of the accord occured as followed:
The Central Command of the ESA shall be in New York City, under the control of a Space Habitation Council, to be governed under the guidence of rotating (every two years) representatives from the different trade zones and power blocs. A President shall command the ESA for a single six year term.
- Rocketry development shall take place in Woomera, Australia, Karoo, South Africa, and Huntsville, USA.
- Launch sites of the ESA shall be based in the Soloman Islands, Khazakstan, Xinjiang, Israel, Baraka, Florida, and French Guinea. Tracking centers shall be established in Houston, Reclife, Honolulu, Baikonur, Port Shalom, and Singapore.
- Research into robotics shall be based in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and Lagos.
- Terrestrial vehicle testing shall take place in Arabia, Australia, Brazil, and the Congo.
This marked a totally new begining for mankind as a whole. For the first time united in a common goal, the sky itself would cease to be a limit.
By 2055, the Brooking Institution's Freedom Index showed that, for the first time in the history of civilization, human rights and democracy was enjoyed across the world stage.
In the USA, President Martinez, fresh from reelection in 2056, would call forr a Constitutional Convention for the NAFTA zone in St. Louis in 2059.
However, even as the world was finally settling down to savor this new calm in geopolitics, yet another major disaster struck.
The last time the New Madrid faultline had ruptured, it had been when the 19th century was young. On July 2, 2058, New Madrid ruptured with an 8.3 quake, which killed over 60,000 Americans making it the deadliest earthquake in American history. The fact that this quake erupted as the 4th of July weekend was approaching only made things worse. Whole sections of Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, and Des Moines were reduced to rubble.
This newest disaster sapped the now highly integrated world economy, causing a two year recession. Foreign aid from the Federation of Democratic Nations and the other members of the NAFTA zone was heavy, once again smoothing reconstruction, although it would be almost five years before the affected regions was restored.
As a long term result, the world began examining other possible zones where such disasters could strike. The 2060s would see these projects come into full effect.......
To be continued.......
