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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 4, 2021 1:17:42 GMT
Yeah, and he might be scared enough to not learn how to fly, given TTL’s Bill Clinton meeting a gruesome end over Cuban airspace.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 5, 2021 8:10:27 GMT
Chapter Ninety-Three: The Broken Ladder
"Sierra Leone's Civil War was one of the most brutal post-Cold War conflicts to have broken out in Africa, as the country's condition was marred by rampant corruption and a broken economy that was the byproduct of the nation's rampant corruption. Despite possessing ample resources that would have sustained its broken economy, Sierra Leone remains one of the poorest nations in the world. It is also where the interests of the various powers converged, often with violent results. The United States under the previous Bob Dole and Jesse Jackson administrations had given backing to Joseph Saidu Momoh, before Momoh's government collapsed, leading to the Sierra Leonean Civil War. Already, the CIA had started to operate in the African continent during the Cold War, but it was the CIA Cowboys, not the Corsairs, that really took charge of the CIA operations in Sierra Leone. At the same time, the other members of the CIA Corsairs were looking for someone to help stabilize the country, before coming to a difficult decision between Moinina Fofana, the leader of the loyalist-controlled Civil Defense Force, and Valentine Strasser, an ambitious military officer whom the CIA had nicknamed the Sierra Leonean Napoleon, for his ambition of becoming the undisputed dictator of Sierra Leone. On the opposite side, stood the Revolutionary United Front, which had been fighting against the Momoh dictatorship, and was led by Foday Sankoh. The RUF would initially be a fighting force for political reform in Sierra Leone, but would acquire a horrific reputation for a series of atrocities that it committed, including the abduction of children and training them into child soldiers. The RUF was initially backed by Burkina Faso and Libya, before a major power would emerge to back the RUF: China. The Chinese had been looking foward to expanding its influence in the African continent, even during the Cold War. Its military modernization had now allowed them to set aside obsolete equipment that could be donated to any nation that is willing to become a Chinese client state. Sierra Leone seemed to be a perfect fit for the ambitious Chinese regime, and it was under the previous government of Jiang Zemin that agents working for Chinese intelligence would scout for any African rebel group, and assess them for reliability, before making a decision on whether they should support them or not. One of these rebel groups that was assessed was the Revolutionary United Front, and once they were assessed to be reliable, the Chinese government would start sending military aid to them. It was not clear as to why they chose the RUF to back up, but unconfirmed reports had revealed that China was also looking at Sierra Leone as their first client state in Africa that could enter into an economic assistance with China. Moreover, the Chinese economy was growing large enough to lift people from abject poverty, and that it was hungry for more resources. Not only Sierra Leone was looked at as a potential future Chinese client state, but Guinea-Bisseau and even the entirety of East Africa was looked at as a future site of Chinese economic investment.
China's decision to back the RUF however, was controversial, even within the inner circle of the Chinese government, once news of atrocities and abductions of child soldiers broke out of Sierra Leone. Officially, they cut off military aid to the RUF in 1993, but had resorted to using middle men to smuggle weapons to the RUF. One of these smugglers was a former Soviet loyalist officer named Viktor Bout, who would make a career for himself in the post-Second Russian Civil War era as a mercenary and an arms smuggler. Bout would personally oversee the training of RUF rebel soldiers, but had balked at the idea of training children to become soldiers. Still, the people of Sierra Leone were stuck between the brutality of the RUF and the ineptitude and corruption of the government forces. The conflict was essentially a free for all firefight, with no concrete records of several battles that had occurred, except for one battle that took place in the town of Gonghu, where various RUF bands had ambushed the Sierra Leonean Army in a series of skirmishes that sapped the SLA's fighting force, leading to the fall of Gonghu within a single day on July 17, 1994. The increasing expansion of RUF control all over parts of Sierra Leone had an effect on neighboring Liberia, which had been under the rule of Hezekiah Bowen since his coup in 1989. The RUF would now be poised to launch an attack on Liberia, with one of the rebel leaders named Charles Taylor being in control of one of the anti-Bowen rebel groups. Liberia's junta led by Bowen had formed closer military partnership with the United States, and much of the American defense industry was eager to supply Liberia with its defensive needs. However, the degraded condition of the Liberian economy had made the ascending Kemp administration hesitant to give military aid, and General Bowen started to consult with foreign economic advisors on how to rebuild the country. While Liberia has become a de facto client state of the US, it now found itself facing a neighboring nation that became the latest casualty in the newly emerging proxy war between the US and China, with the US backing the loyalist Sierra Leonean government, and China backing the Revolutionary United Front. While there was a UN Security Council meeting in August of 1994, to discuss the situation in Sierra Leone, ultimately they could not come to any agreement until after the Second Russian Civil War was over, and the National Redemption Army forces had essentially taken over the Russian capital, merging what was then the Russian Provisional Government with the official new caretaker government established in Moscow. Around 1996, it was Russia who proposed a UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone that would come and break up the conflict, but soon found its proposal being vetoed by China. It was one of the few rare moments when a Russian proposal would be torpedoed by a Chinese veto, as American usually vetoes the decision made by its adversaries. The result of the Chinese veto was that the conflict in Sierra Leone had gone out of control, with Liberia and even Guinea mobilizing their own miitary forces to prevent the spillover from affecting their nations as well. Ultimately, the conflict in Sierra Leone would not end until 2004, when in a surprising act of diplomatic aggression, France and the East Slavic Federation would come up with a concrete plan of restoring stability in Sierra Leone, with Britain's help, and they would go through the General Assembly first, before going to the Security Council. By this time however, the news of the RUF atrocities had gone out of control to the point where even China dropped their client in favor of the loyalist government. By then, much of West Africa had become hostile to Chinese diplomatic and economic ventures." From 'The Sierra Leonean Conflict in the Post -Cold War Era', repeased by BBC Documentaries, March 27, 2017.
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"The Kemp administration's decision to back the Liberian junta led by Hezekiah Bowen was unsurprising, given that Liberia almost became a Chinese client state, but with the Sierra Leonean Civil War being a brutal free for all conflict, the US saw Liberia as a pillar of stability. Immediately, American investments in Liberia's degraded economy had began to pour in, with a heavy focus on disease prevention and infrastructure repairs. Liberia is also prone to being the center of various pandemics, as reports of the Ebola virus outbreak had been confirmed by international sources in 2000, at the height of the Sierra Leonean Civil War. The WHO had also pitched in to help Liberia prevent the Ebola virus from entering its territory, with various vaccines to help it. Although the Ebola virus pandemic was just as deadly as the 2006 Zambezi Flu Pandemic, which had been responsible for the deaths of over 24 million people worldwide, and thus far, has not reported to have a breakthrough in the cure for the Zambezi Flu. Liberia between 2000 and 2005 emerged from the Cold War era as an upcoming minor power, albeit with many of its social issues still unaddressed. With China being unwelcome in West Africa, Liberia would also turn to India for economic assistance. Luckily, India was not mired in any military adventurism, and it has managed to take advantage of China's military adventurism to grow its economy to the point where it is close to overtaking Japan as the number 4 economy by 2015. India would invest heavily in upgrading the port facilities in Monrovia and construct a new harbor in Greenville, as well as in Buchanan. Additionally, with Liberia being the closest West African state to Brazil, the Brazilians were able to take advantage of the distance between itself and Liberia to pitch in the economic investment, as Brazilian consumer goods started to find its way into Liberian markets. Indeed, Brazil and India would improve their diplomatic relations with each other by joining together in the joint venture project between themselves and the Bowen regime by launching a construction project that would connect the entirety of the Liberian coastline. Because of a lack of rail transport that connected all parts of Liberia, the project was extended to include the construction of more rail lines that can connect Liberia to Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, though this project ran into difficulties with the Sierra Leone Civil War being a major issue, until 2004, when the RUF was decisively defeated by the combine forces of Sierra Leonean government forces, the Liberian military, and various nations that chose to intervene in the conflict, namely the United States, Great Britain, and France. By 2010, the United States, India, and Brazil would become Liberia's top three trading partners, with the ECA being the fourth, and the ESF being the fifth. The ESF's presence in Africa was minimal from 2000, until 2010, when ESF President Dmitry Rogozin would establish diplomatic relations with the Bowen regime, and signed a free trade deal with them." From 'The Controversial Legacy of the Hezekiah Bowen Regime', released by ABC Documentaries, December 12, 2017.
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KAILAHUN RETAKEN BY REVOLUTIONARY UNITED FRONT AS SIERRA LEONEAN FORCES FACE SHORTAGES OF SUPPLIES AND FOOD, DESERTIONS AND MUTINIES REPORTED AS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REMAINS DIVIDED OVER INTERVENTION PLANS
The Sun
March 14, 1997
(Kailahun, SIERRA LEONE) - The Sierra Leonean forces suffered their third worst defeat in recent memory as they were ambushed by rebel troops belonging to the Revolutionary United Front. The number of casualties that government troops suffered raned from 500 to over 1,300, and the deaths had occurred from starvation, rather than combat related deaths. In addition, the RUF victory in Kailahun has allowed them to extend their control of the borderlands between Sierra Leone, and its two closest neighbors in Guinea and Liberia. However, their victory has alarmed the two governments of those nations as they announced a partial mobilization of its armies to deter the RUF from spreading its influence into those areas. On the other hand, the Sierra Leonean forces have also suffered from mutinies launched by disgruntled government troops, due to chronic shortages of food and medical supplies. Coupled with West Africa's notorious reputation as a region prone to epidemics, some of the government troops had already come down with various illnesses like malaria and cholera. Moreover, the Sierra Leonean government under Saidu Momoh had come under intense scrutiny when it was revealed that Momoh had withheld the funds needed to purchase enough medical supplies and military equipment to help repay an IMF loan that he had to take. The IMF loan that was lent to Sierra Leone was used to clean up the country's infrastructure, which had been neglected as a result of previous Sierra Leonean governments' instability. The revelation of Momoh's IMF loan had angered much of the Sierra Leonean military leadership, which threatened to launch a coup against the Momoh regime.
"We understand why Momoh had to borrow money from the IMF, but at the same time we wouldn't be able to repay the loan for a long time, with the economic activity grinding to a halt, as a result of the RUF activities in the south," says prominent Sierra Leonean military officer Moinina Fofana. "All the same, General Momoh should have consulted with the Sierra Leonean people about this kind of loan, because the IMF has a bad habit of forcing austerity measures on any nation that chooses to accept the loans."
Meanwhile, within the Sierra Leonean military leadership, there were various officers who grew frustrated with the pitiful state of the military, and had corralled around an ambitious captain by the name of Valentine Strasser. His command of the Sierra Leonean forces stationed in the northern regions had also come under RUF attacks, but they sustained less casualties than their counterparts that were led by Julius Maada Bio. Recently, Captain Strasser, on his own initiative, and without President Momoh's knowledge, had approached the former East German NVA officer turned CEO of Clausewitz Academy Heinz Kessler for help with training some of the Sierra Leonean troops, while he himself would go to the Clausewitz Academy to undergo officer training as well. By the time the Momoh regime found out about Strasser's unauthorized trip to Zaire, he had stripped him of his ranks and sentenced him to death in absentia for desertion, along with 400 other Sierra Leonean troops who joined him in Zaire. The absence of Strasser and his followers resulted in a bold series of RUF offensives that nearly pushed what remained of the Sierra Leonean forces to the brink of collapse.
"Our army is pitiful, and half of the soldiers who joined us had barely finished their basic training. What was I supposed to do? Throw them into the meat grinder?" Captain Strasser asked angrily, during an interview in Kinshasa. "We had to change the way we operate, and it was a good thing that the former East Germans were willing to help train us in modern warfare."
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Portions from the Interview with Former East German Official Gunter Schabowski
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, broadcasted on September 9, 2007
Discussing the Role of the Clausewitz Academy in the Post-Cold War Conflict in Africa
Interviewer: You've mentioned in the past that once the East German communist regime fell, you joined Heinz Kessler and his mutineers in the formation of the Clausewitz Academy. This is strange, coming from a man who inadvertently caused the fall of the Berlin Wall. How did you manage to survive being with former East German General Kessler?
Schabowski: I survived, simply because Kessler had to rely on a civilian politician, or should I say, ex-politician, in helping to run the Clausewitz Academy. Our first assignment was to help reform the Indian military, and once we were done with that, we moved on to Zaire, where we built our first academy. In a way, we'd also copy what the Americans had done with the infamous School of the Americas.
Interviewer: But wouldn't that result in the Clausewitz Academy coming under scrutiny for turning out possible war criminals?
Schabowski: Nope, because our recruitment criteria prevents certain bad apples from joining, as to preserve our reputation. We had to expel several recruits because they lied about their past. Other than that, we helped some African nations with reforming much of their militaries, with Zaire being a perfect example. In fact, the Zairian graduates from Clausewitz had been among the volunteers that participated in the Sierra Leonean Civil War.
Interviewer: (sighs) Your competition with both Sandline International and Executive Outcomes was the most prominent of the post-Cold War era rise of PMCs, but out of the two rivals of Clausewitz Academy, Sandline International was the most powerful of these PMC companies. Did your expertise actually helped the African nations whose soldiers were trained under Kessler's command?
Schabowski: It did, but we were also outmaneuvered by Executive Outcomes, which the South African officers of the apartheid period was able to capitalize on the civil war in Sierra Leone. However, what worried us the most, was the rise of Executive Outcomes's other rival in the Special Security Service Group, which was staffed by other ex-SADF generals. Their knowledge in counter-insurgency operations came from the Bush Wars, so in that regard we had the disadvantage, mainly because the soldiers who also served as instructors in our academy did not partake in the Bush Wars. The former East German government sent the rebels only material aid, and so the employees of both the Executive Outcomes and Special Security Service Group are far more knowledgeable of counter-insurgency operations than us. It is also why they were also hired by the Liberian government in the first place: because the Hezekiah Bowen regime was fearful of the RUF's potential invasion of Liberia, and that there were also opponents of his regime that could have revolted as well, with a rebel leader named Charles Taylor being prominent.
Interviewer: But wasn't the Bowen regime capable of handling such internal threats?
Schabowski: Yes, but the Liberian police force has suffered from underfunding, which left them vulnerable to corruption as well.
Interviewer: That would explain why the RUF was able to recruit many disaffected members of the Liberian police force to their cause.
Schabowski: That's true, and it also explained how the RUF was able to incite instability within Liberia: with the help of those police officers that defected to the RUF. The Liberian border guards were taken by surprise by these defectors. By then, the Liberian Civil War of 1999-2004 had broken out, and it was just as brutal as the civil war in Sierra Leone. The RUF by then, had grown from merely another rebel group to a terror organization that was capable of resorting to terrorist attacks within West Africa, and it didn't help that China at one point, had given them aid. Luckily, their brutality and atrocities caused the Chinese government to stop giving them aid, but the damage was done.
Interviewer: Did the staff at Clausewitz Academy partake in the conflict as well?
Schabowski: Initially, I advised Herr Kessler to not get the instructors involved because of the potential political fallout that we may suffer from it. However, Kessler had ignored my advice, but only sent 50 staff instructors to help ensure that our graduates were capable of launching military operations. You can imagine the shock when the international community learned about the deaths of 12 ex-East German mercenaries who died in the middle of Sierra Leone. There was a reason why the Gisiwulo Affair was the most talked about scandal in post-reunification Germany. It was this affair that led to the intense criticism of the Schroeder government, leading to the 2002 German election in which Edmund Stoiber's CSU had increased their seats from 248 to 259.
Interviewer: Did your academy suffer from the scandal as well? Given that some of the instructors who died in combat, I'm sure that Clausewitz Academy's reputation had been tarnished.
Schabowski: Its reputation had suffered from the Gisiwulo Affair, but we were able to demonstrate to the world that the honor of the former East German soldier was still intact, albeit it wasn't a good gesture in post-reunification Germany. In fact, after the Gisiwulo Affair had broken out in 2000, I resigned from Clausewitz Academy and returned to Germany, only to be arrested for the crimes that I was responsible for. Initially, I was going to serve for five years in prison, but because I denounced my own past, they only reduced it to three years. It was at this time that I started to write my own memoirs, called 'The Last Post', which recalled my life as a member of the Communist Party of Germany.
Interviewer: (chuckles) Your memoir was actually popular in Europe, and was seen as the most controversial book to come out of Germany since Hitler's Mein Kampf. In fact, the German government wanted to ban your memoirs, because they saw it as potentially damaging to the politicians that are in the German government that came from the former German Democratic Republic. How did you feel about your memoirs being compared to Mein Kampf?
Schabowski: I felt amused and shocked at the same time, because while Mein Kampf was written by a madman responsible for the Holocaust, The Last Post was seen as a pamphlet written by an opportunist. It certainly didn't help that the people who purchased my memoirs were former East German officials who denounced me for renouncing my past. In addition, the growing sense of globalization had also alarmed the less globalist-minded politicians who were fearful that the ECA would one day have political ambitions of its own.
Interviewer: What do you mean about that?
Schabowski: The German left has become divided between those who advocate for globalization and those who opposed globalization. The latter were the ones who eventually joined the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, but their defection to the NPD was scrutinized because of their previous left-wing positions. The NPD did not have a voice in the ECA Council, but they were instrumental in causing enough political chaos for the CSU and the SPD to get their act together.
Interviewer: All right, going back to the Clausewitz Academy. Just how many surviving Clausewitz instructors returned to Germany after the post-Cold War conflicts in Africa were over?
Schabowski: I believe it was just 120 of them, but eventually we filled up those positions with our alumni. The presence of former Clausewitz Academy graduates who took up the teaching positions eventually became prominent figures in the governments of the various African nations. You recall Valentine Strasser?
Interviewer: Yes, I do.
Schabowski: Valentine Strasser eventually took over Sierra Leone and ruled the country from 2004 onwards. He's still stabilizing the country the last time I spoke with him, but many junior officers who followed Hezekiah Bowen also became prominent leaders in the Liberian Civil War. I could proudly say that our academy still remains open, and we've also changed the curriculum in response to the evolution of modern warfare. However, Clausewitz Academy almost had to close its doors at one point.
Interviewer: Almost? How?
Schabowski: We came under suspicion because in 2005, German intelligence had uncovered an attempted putsch plot by various military officers within the Bundeswehr to capture and assassinate various far-right politicians. These officers had been a part of the NVA, but they were junior officers at the time of the NVA's disbandment, allowing them to join the Bundeswehr. The soldiers and officers who were stationed in the Storkow base had been at the center of this plot, but it failed when one of the plotters had accidentally revealed his plan to an undercover BND agent. We were almost forced to close, but the Zairian government purchased Clausewitz Academy. So now, we're basically owned by the Zairian government. Thankfully the plot was uncovered, or Germany would have become the center of another political scandal.
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Excerpts from "How a Civil War Paved the Way for an Independent Casamance"
by: Yves Olivier
University of Lisbon Printing Press, published on April 16, 2018
Chapter Two: The Downfall of Joao Bernardo Vieira
When the Guinea-Bissau government learned of former Chief of Staff Ansumane Mane's role in the smuggling of weapons to a Senegalese separatist movement called the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance, their reaction was to suspend the controversial Brigadier General. Yet, it was not only Brigadier General Mane's suspension that would lead to further instability within Guinea-Bissau. Various demands for new elections to be held were organized by opposition groups who condemned the delays that took place in the elections, before they realized that the delaying tactic was used as a pretext to re-elect the increasingly unpopular Guinea-Bissauan President, which triggered a mutiny within the Guinea-Bissauan military, now led by the suspended Brigadier General. It was not until June 7th, 1998 that BGen. Mane had launched a mutiny, with rebel troops seizing control of all military bases around Guinea-Bissau. While France and Portugal had vested interests in West Africa, the United States under the Jack Kemp administration had eyed the region as an extension of its covert activities. When the arms supply to the Casamance separatists dried up because of the Civil War, the CIA was sent to replenish much of their arsenal. Because Casamance was separated by the Gamia from the rest of Senegal, coupled with the religious and ethnic differences that are rife within Senegal, Casamance separatism was more focused on the ethnic interests of the majority Jola people of Casamance. In addition, while Senegal was overwhelmingly Muslim, Casamance was majority Christian. However, it was Casamance where the CIA would form an unholy partnership with the various Christian fundamentalist groups that dominated the American South and the Midwest. Pastor John Hagee saw Casamance as a fertile ground for spreading the Evangelican brand of Christianity that promoted solidarity with Israel, and it isn't by accident that the Israeli government had also gotten on board with promoting Casamance separatism.
Unfortunately, the Casamance conflict was tied to the wider civil war within Guinea-Bissau, and it was one of those few rare instances where American interest actually clashed with that of the ECA. If anyone mentions the Casamance conflict in various European cities, they would criticize the Kemp administration for trying to break up an African country for the sake of control, profit, and strategic interest. Say the same conflict in any American city however, they would say that Europe's time in Africa is up, and that the borders that were created in the post-colonial period were byproducts of European colonialism, which did not address the ethnic interests of the people living under European rule. Of course, this last part is ironic, given that Liberia's origins lay with the repatriation of African-Americans descended from African slaves that were sent to the New World by the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and that Liberia was carved at the expense of the African tribes that did not end up being enslaved by Europeans. While Casamance's economy relies primarily on agriculture and tourism, the capital city of Ziguinchor has emerged as one of the few rare African financial centers that expanded as a result of American and Israeli investments. In addition, the diplomatic backing by the two states towards Casamance is also a source of diplomatic tension between Israel and the ECA, and the former's involvement was the reason why one of the delegates from the Council of Europe, a certain Theodora Bakoyannis, had called for the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state. Radicals within the Council of Europe, such as Matyas Eorsi, had called for the Golan Heights to be transferred to Palestine, which in itself would allow Palestine to serve as a buffer state between Israel and Syria, coupled with an additional demand for Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. What was Israel's role in the Guinea-Bissau Civil War though? Israel played only a minor role in the conflict, but it collaborated with the United States in undermining the Vieira dictatorship, mainly by the backing of the rebel groups. A leaked document released by a whistleblower who deserted from the CIA and is now living under protective custody in Stockholm, Sweden, revealed that around $39 million US dollars was spent on supplying the rebel forces with modern weaponry, including the M41 Walker Bulldogs that were slated to be decommissioned, as well as the M551 Sheridans and artillery pieces as well.
Why did the United States suddenly have an interest in the Casamance conflict, and what did they have to gain from they conflict in the first place, if they wanted to create another client state in West Africa, even at the expense of the ECA? The Kemp administration did not see any ideological conflict in Guinea-Bissau, but they saw the West Africa region as a place where a new kind of ideological war would emerge, with the Revolutionary United Front causing chaos in Sierra Leone. The Americans took advantage of China's failed attempt to use the RUF to their advantage, as their wild behavior and their brutality had shocked even their patron to the point where they simply cut off aid to the RUF. Still, the sheer speed of the RUF's expansion within Sierra Leone had resulted in the mobilization of the Guinean and Liberian militaries in case the RUF decided to expand their control southwards. However, RUF leader Foday Sankoh had a different idea. One idea that puzzled most of Africa's other leaders who watched the conflict in Sierra Leone unfold like crazy. The RUF would attempt to expand their activities into the neighboring nation of Guinea, which had been under a two man dictatorship of Colonels Lansana Conte and Diarra Traore. The pair of military officers had seized power from the interim Prime Minister in Louis Lansana Beavogui, who in turn emerged as acting ruler upon the death of Sekou Toure. It was this insane move by the RUF that ultimately destabilized the Guinean nation to the point where RUF rebel soldiers and Guinean forces would engage in a series of border clashes. It is not understood as to why Guinea was chosen by the RUF to expand their operations, but it soon became clear that China did not give up on their desire to secure a West African client state. In fact, the idiotic decision by the RUF to attack Guinea had a desirable outcome in that the two colonels were forced to turn towards China for help in stopping their RUF attack dog from destroying much of their country. Of course, while this might have a distant connection to the Casamance conflict, it made sense from the Chinese point of view. Guinea shares a border with Guinea-Bissau and Casamance, and that if the Chinese government could secure Guinea as their client state, that would compensate for the loss of control of the RUF. Moreover, Guinea shares a small strip of border with Casamance, meaning that it could also enter into an economic agreement with Casamance, should it become independent. This was something that Jack Kemp had feared the most, because if Casamance would declare independence, and then invite Chinese investors, they would essentially be able to expel American and Israeli economic influence in the region. Thus the MFDC would align itself more with the anti-Vieira rebel forces, the United States, and Israel against both the pro-Vieira loyalist government and the Chinese, plus the ECA as well.
Two border crossings were taken by rebel forces in the MFDC offensives between September of 1998 and November of 1998, which allowed the US and Israel to resume their arms shipments to both the rebel forces and the MFDC. In addition, the loyalist government relocated their cabinet to the town of Quebo when it became apparent that the capital of Bissau had fallen to rebel control, and the US was using the port of Bissau to ship in more weapons, as well as humanitarian aid. When the news of Nino Vieira's corruption had become so widespread, it only fed into the anger of some of the loyalist officers who felt cheated by their President's lack of awareness into what has happened to his country's military. Even more so, Vieira's decision to ask Senegal and Guinea to send their troops to help restore his regime to power had been a godsend to the Casamance rebels, which had now begun to openly collaborate with the rebel forces. Luckily, President Kemp's address in Congress had shattered the Vieira dictatorship's reputation to the point where he was calling for Vieira to resign and leave the country. Regime change was not something that was taken lightly in Guinea-Bissau, but the level of corruption that the Vieira regime had amassed was shocking, he even surpassed Artemio Tadiar's level of corruption. Surprisingly, when Vieira would eventually leave Guinea-Bissau for exile, the Philippines had slammed its doors to the ousted president in 2000, fearing that another corrupt ex-dictator would have competed with the already corrupt officers that were taking advantage of their position as military governors of the regions that they were assigned to. The Portuguese government intervened to have Vieira placed under house arrest while in exile in the island nation of Cape Verde, which was a perfect place to keep him under guard. The British offered to host Vieira in the island of Saint Helena, the same place where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last years in, under heavy guard, but the Portuguese government declined, stating that both the Portuguese and Cape Verdean navies would do the job of preventing Vieira from escaping. Vieira's political downfall would result in the triumph of the rebel forces, only for General Ansumane Mane to seize power and become an acting leader until new elections would be held.
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CRISIS IN TETOVO UNFOLDS AS ALBANIAN SEPARATIST MOVEMENT TAKES CONTROL OF TOWN, NORTH MACEDONIAN MILITARY DEPLOYS TO ALBANIAN-POPULATED REGIONS OF NORTH MACEDONIA-DARDANIA
Moscow Times
May 16, 2001
(Tetovo, NORTH MACEDONIA-DARDANIA) - An Albanian separatist group operating in northwestern Macedonia has launched an uprising against the North Macedonian government. Backed by numerous volunteers from Albania and its overseas diaspora, the Albanian National Liberation Army has engaged other Macedonian military units on the border between Yugoslavia, Albania and Macedonia, in an attempt to carve out areas of Macedonia where the Albanian minority dominated the area. In addition, the Albanian National Liberation Army has been encouraged by the recent referendum in which the former Yugoslav autonomous province of Kosovo had been split between the Serbs and Albanians of that region, and Albania has also expanded its borders as a result. Not wanting to be left behind in the ever expanding Albanian state, the Albanians of North Macedonia have also taken up arms and began to raid North Macedonian police checkpoints. In response, Macedonian military units began to deploy into the affected regions as special forces troops have also been deployed to the border with Yugoslavia as well. Although the main reason for the uprising in the Tetovo region was mainly due to the long standing discrimination that the Albanians face in North Macedonia-Dardania, there was also the growing instability within Macedonia that stemmed from the junta years in Yugoslavia. Pande Petrovski, the junta leader that ruled North Macedonia-Dardania when it was still a part of socialist Yugoslavia, had stepped down from his position in 1998, paving the way for new elections that was ultimately won by Tito Petkovski. Petkovski's government was noted for its tussles with Bulgaria, particularly on the official history of North Macedonia-Dardania, which the Bulgarian government accuses the former of rewriting it, with various Bulgarian nationalist figures being recasted as Macedonian ones. Yet, at the same time, Bulgaria was also the first nation in the world to recognize Macedonia's independence, and the Bulgarian government under President Petar Stoyanov has also sent military aid to the North Macedonian military as well.
"The security issue of North Macedonia-Dardania is also a major issue for Bulgaria as well, because of the growing instability as a result of the previous government," says President Stoyanov, during a press conference in Blagoevgrad, on a rather obscure domestic issue. "We're doing our part to ensure that a wider conflict in the Balkan region is avoided."
Additional reports of anti-Albanian Macedonian vigilante groups have also sprung up in areas of northwestern Macedonia where NLA activity is widespread, with various acts of counter-terrorist operations being launched against the Albanian minority, often with tragic results. In one instance, a unit of the Macedonian Army had cooperated with self-defense paramilitaries in launching an assault against the Albanian fighters that have fortified the famous Sarena Moque in Tetovo. However, the damage that the mosque had sustained was received with worldwide condemnation, especially from the Muslim world, which had called on most of its followers to travel to Macedonia and help the Albanians out in fighting the Macedonian army.
"The time for jihad has come to the Balkans, where our brothers and sisters in Islam are facing oppression from the Christian infidels who will not hesitate to expel the followers of Islam from their territory," says new Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, during a sermon in the Uzbek-Afghan border. "If they will permit it, we shall join in the fight against the Balkan infidels who dared to raise a hand against the Muslims of Macedonia."
Earlier on, reports of foreign volunteers have been confirmed by the North Macedonian government, which also included a few Middle Eastern nationals from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. However, volunteers from Central Asia and Azerbaijan have also been spread as rumors by various Macedonian nationalists, which had clearly wanted to attract enough volunteers that would fight on the side of the Macedonian government. The rumors of the Turkic volunteers have so far been dispelled, as neither the Turkish government, nor the governments of Central Asia have confirmed the Macedonian rumors, calling it an anti-Turkic propaganda used by Balkan Christian nationalists who remained hostile to the presence of Muslims in the region formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
"Our government condemns the fearmongering acts committed by the Macedonian government, and we call upon the international community to punish North Macedonia for its racist behavior," says Turkish foreign minister Tansu Ciller, during a press conference in Ankara. "We also call on that very same government to respect the wishes of the Albanian minority, as their claims of discrimination and maltreatment have been supported by reports of such activities."
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"What happened in Lima, Ohio was one of the major challenges of the Kemp administration, when 70 Al-Qaeda terrorists have seized control of Lima Senior High School, and turned all of Lima Senior High's students and teachers into hostages. Why did they target a random school in the United States when most of their activities were being aimed at the former Soviet Union? It was mainly because of the American alliance with Israel, and the corrupting influence that the US had on Gulf Arab states and Saudi Arabia as well. The hostage crisis happened during the graduation ceremony of the 1998-1999 Grade Twelve class, and it happened between June 4th, to June 6th. What were their demands though? It was simple: they simply wanted the Americans to recognize the sovereignty of Palestine, as well as to withdraw its forces from the Casamance region of Senegal, which the Senegalese government was fighting against the Casamance separatists that was being backed by the United States and Israel. President Jack Kemp's hardline stance towards Al-Qaeda was instrumental in getting the Anti-Terrorist Force and the FBI to collaborate in the rescue mission, which they also included the Ohio National Guard as well. The assault against Lima Senior High began with the ATF police officers storming the building, while the Ohio National Guard had come under fire by Al-Qaeda operatives. In the first hours of the rescue mission, over 10 Ohio National Guard personnel had been killed in the attack, along with 12 high school graduates that were executed as well. By the time the Al-Qaeda operatives were captured, and the hostages were rescued, Ohio state authorities would confirm that over 50 high school kids had died, including the 12 high school graduates and 38 Grade 8 students, as well as 4 high school teachers who died from starvation. Although Lima Senior High would commemorate the tragedy every year, not all high school graduates who survived the incident would be able to heal mentally and psychologically. In fact, the Grade 8 students who were traumatized by the event, would eventually emerge as the leaders of a far-right Islamophobic organization called the Order of the Globus Cricuger, which Dominic Bradford and Arthur Jamieson emerged as its leaders. The OGC would gain notoriety for the 2012 Masjid Bilal Mosque shooting, in which several OGC members had shot over 34 Muslims inside, before fleeing from the scene. Another incident that the OGC had gotten themselves involved in was the publicized video of two Muslims who were gagged by four OGC members. The perpetrators of the infamous Steubenville Execution Incident of 2013 had stated their intention to strike back at the Muslims for the Lima Senior High School incident, which they would justify for taking revenge, before beheading one Muslim and shooting the second. The incidents were condemned by the international community, and even US President John Edwards had harsh words for the OGC. What was shocking about the OGC however, was that it also had one international branch that was established, and it was in Armenia. The left-wing nationalist Armenian government of President Ishkhan Saghatelyan had not been informed of the existence of the notorious Islamophobic organization that was established in Armenia by several American members, but did not take action on it, because of his ultimate goal of retaking the region of Nagorno-Karabakh that they lost to Azerbaijan. In addition, Saghatelyan's National Revolutionary Agenda Party, which was primarily an Armenian social nationalist party built along the lines of the Chinese New Left and the Worker's Party of North Korea, did not hide its irredentist ambitions, and indeed, it was also a primarily Turcophobic party that also adopted certain elements of Islamophobia. By the time the Edwards administration started to crack down on the OGC, most of its members left for Armenia. In fact, between 2004 and 2012, when both Bradford and Jamieson founded the OGC, most of its members were primarily of Armenian descent, which came from Cuyahoga County.
One additional motive for the Lima Senior High School incident was the United States' role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, when the Jackson administration wanted to stay out of the conflict, but had actually sent covert aid to the Armenians fighting in the disputed region, as a way of enticing Armenia to adopt a pro-Western stance. Moreover, several American politicians from both the Democratic and Republican Parties have advocated for the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, causing much anger among the Turkish and Azerbaijani community within the United States. In fact, only seven Al-Qaeda operatives who took part in the hostage crisis came from Turkey and Pakistan, two nations that did not have diplomatic relations with Armenia. Out of the 12 high school graduates that were killed, five of them were of Armenian heritage. Eventually, the bid to pull Armenia into the American orbit failed, as China would swoop in and take over the old Soviet military base in Gyumri. In addition, the growing ties between the OGC and the Armenian government became so strong that the Armenian Embassy in Washington, DC, has received over 300 applications from various Americans who were increasingly uncomfortable with the growing population of Muslims within the cities they resided in. Most of them were Armenian Americans who wanted to return to their homelands, but a few of them were OGC members that wanted to resettle in Armenia. The growing threat of Islamism has unfortunately resulted in the Islamophobic backlash as various other Islamist branches had formed an unholy alliance with the Chinese New Left to form the infamous Islamo-Maoist movements, of which the Uzbek Revolutionary Brotherhood Party is among the most prominent. The Islamophobic backlash in the United States was partly due to the growth of immigration from Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia that had been affected by the post-Second Russian Civil War conflict. Not only that, but the OGC would eventually spread its deadly influence in parts of Europe where the tradition of conflict between Christians and Muslims are common place, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Croatia, and Yugoslavia. Out of those nations, Poland and Hungary had the most number of OGC members in Europe. The Organization of the Globus Circuger would become the most notorious of these Islamophobic movements in the world." From 'Between Jihad and Crusade: The Resurgent Religious Conflict in the 21st Century', released by TRT News, February 21, 2019.
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"I was one of the volunteers in the Philippines during the aftermath of the Spratlys conflict, and like all volunteers, we helped out with the reconstruction and providing medical and other humanitarian aid to the needy. I noticed one of the volunteers who was rather lonely. He seemed to be a decent fellow, but learned that he had some mental issues. He's only good at growing enough food to feed the refugee camps, but he was capable of repairing the water pumps that were still useful. At one time, when I was about to fall asleep, I found him crying silently. He was scared that someone might tease him, and had gotten scared when I approached him. I calmed him down and asked what was wrong. Only when I was able to coax him out of his shell, did he reveal to me that he's lonely because of a series of troubles that plagued him in his life. I also found out that he arrived in the Philippines, just before the bombs started dropping down on the country, and as a result of one bomb blast, he was traumatized. He was staying at an inn, when it was bombed to the ground. Suddenly, I started to ask myself: how did he manage to get into the Philippines, despite the notorious reputation? Well, my answer came to me by the guy's own admission. His father had traveled to the Philippines back in 1993, to search for some land in which he can purchase and retire. It was not a common thing for Australians to look for land in the Philippines during the early years of the Tadiar regime, but then again, Australia kept its doors open to the Philippines throughout the Tadiar years. Of course, by the time the Philippine government learned of the situation involving Martin Bryant, they asked him if he's willing to become a volunteer for certain medical experiments. I had to explain it to him what it meant, but at this point, he simply gave up on his own life. The next thing I heard, he's being used by military and civilian doctors as a guinea pig on the research into the human brain. It was rather odd though: that the Tadiar regime would be using certain kinds of people for their medical experiments, and his brain was prodded. They also acquired a blood sample from him, as well as his DNA material, which was going to be used for various research into physical and mental disabilities. It certainly didn't help that the current Australian Prime Minister at that time, John Howard, was paying Artemio Tadiar to take certain Australians with various disabilities into his control, in exchange for the data acquired from the experimentations. I suddenly found myself asking uncomfortable questions, such as 'why is our government handing over Australian citizens to a military dictatorship?' and 'what's the point of all of this?'. I did not like the answer that I found, because one of the people that was involved in the medical experiments was a Filipino officer who defected to Australia, through the former embassy in Manila. I believe it was a medical doctor who served with the Philippine Army named Honey Lacuna, who disclosed the awful experimentations that the Tadiar regime was doing, not only on captured political opponents, but foreign citizens, some of whom had arrived in the Philippines as volunteers, ended up as experimental guinea pigs. Unfortunately for us, we didn't learn much about Lacuna's real motives until she applied for an immigration visa to Korea, and once she was cleared to move to Korea, her medical research fell into the hands of Korean intelligence. Naturally, the intelligence agency of the reunited Korean Federal Republic shared the contents of the experimentations with China and Japan, which tragically led to the ever growing widespread ableist sentiment, as evident by the shocking scandal where a school for the physically and mentally disabled children was revealed to have a string of incidents in which those students were abused daily by the teachers. The movie, Suffering in Silence, was based on the scandal in Gwangju Inhwa School. When the movie was released in 2012, the popularity and controversy surrounding the movie had reached a point where the Korean Federal Republic had to reopen the past cases. However, by then, discrimination against the physically and mentally disabled have reached a boiling point where vigilantes, in league with Huh Kyoung-young's National Revolutionary Syndicalist Party of Korea, had started to beat up those disabled kids.
However, it was the worst in China, because the Chinese government's usage of depleted uranium and white phosphorus on Vietnamese and Filipino territories had resulted in the births of deformed children. There was one Chinese defector who used to tell me that his friends would often say 'make sure that your future offspring is born capable, or they'll be as crippled as a Huan-a or Nanyue', which they used as derogatory words to describe the Filipinos and Vietnamese respectively. It certainly didn't help that Bo Xilai's successor in Wang Shaoguang had started to adopt the more unsavory policies that Huh Kyung-young was proposing for rejuvenating their nation's society. It certainly didn't help that the NRSPK talked of the invalids as if they're a burden on society as a whole. It was that when I realized that one of their proposals was to ensure that all the invalids would be sterilized, for the greater good of their society, as those fools would say. It was in Asia that eugenics was beginning to make a brutal comeback. I didn't realize it then, but I realized it now. Martin Bryant and many other invalids were experimental guinea pigs in a geopolitical tussle that didn't care much about human lives. Even the Kemp administration didn't care about human lives when they were dropping napalm on Cuba and Nicaragua, and luckily for Venezuela under Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, they only had to deal with John Edwards, and not a Republican Kemp wannabe like Richard Perle. He almost brought the Republicans back to the American political arena, but Edwards was a clever man who realized that military interventions around the world would be more costly to the American taxpayer. Yes, it was Edwards who called out the Howard administration and its successor in the Mark Vaile government for their role in the disgusting sponsorship of the Tadiar regime's human medical experimentations. That scandal was known in Australia as the Bryant Affair, and it would lead to Julie Bishop splitting from the Liberal Party of Australia and forming a new party called the Australian National Unity Party. Julie Bishop would initiate her own Halloween Massacre when over 50 sitting MPs and other party officials from across the Australian political elites were arrested for collaboration with a foreign power, despite Australia and the Philippines not being at war, but also for partaking in illegal human experimentations by handing over physically and mentally disabled Australian citizens to the Tadiar regime. Not surprisingly, those 50 MPs would also end up testifying at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Republic of the Philippines. The Bryant Act that Julie Bishop passed this year had enshrined in law that any Australian citizen that wishes to work overseas on a working holiday visa, should also disclose their health information. Of course, we still wanted the mentally disabled Australian citizens to enjoy being able to work overseas, but the Bryant Act provided extra measures to protect them from possible abuse by their foreign employers. In a way, Martin Bryant was the icon needed to force humanity to face the chronic issue of marginalizing the physically and mentally challenged human beings." Amanda Carroway, from her documentary, "The Tragic Legacy of the Martin Bryant Affair", released by Journeyman Pictures, Australia.
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
Posts: 12,609 
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Post by gillan1220 on Dec 5, 2021 10:19:36 GMT
Fuck that was a crazy chapter. Now we have Second Cold War over Africa, just like OTL where in the USA and the PRC struggle to influence much of the continent to there sphere.
Would we also see an equivalent of the Russian PMC known as Wagner Group operating in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
I'm curious about the Zambezi Flu. It appears to be the OTL equivalent of the SARS outbreak and COVID-19. I hope we get to see more of that.
Now we also have an AQ attack on the U.S. but with elements of the Belsan school siege in 2004.
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Dec 5, 2021 13:07:21 GMT
Just when you think it can't get any darker. Sierra Leone becoming a tool in the brutal war between Kemp's US and China, the revolting experiments on the handicapped which by the sound of it has resulted in a revival of eugenics in China among other place. A Belsan type incident in the US, although fortunately less bloody but then it results in a extreme anti-Islamic group being formed and sounds very grim for Armenia in the forthcoming years.
Also I can't remember that Zambezi Flu being mentioned before but sounds worse than any disease outbreak in Africa OTL. Mind you things do seem overall to be getting somewhat better for Africa and the DRC isn't the basket case it is OTL.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 5, 2021 20:17:30 GMT
Fuck that was a crazy chapter. Now we have Second Cold War over Africa, just like OTL where in the USA and the PRC struggle to influence much of the continent to there sphere. Would we also see an equivalent of the Russian PMC known as Wagner Group operating in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. I'm curious about the Zambezi Flu. It appears to be the OTL equivalent of the SARS outbreak and COVID-19. I hope we get to see more of that. Now we also have an AQ attack on the U.S. but with elements of the Beslan school siege in 2004. Yeah, and it's also a kind of incident that causes PTSD on the far-right leaders who planned the attacks on the mosques ITTL, so there's more elements than the Beslan school siege. This would actually be featured in TTL's version of Glee (Jocks) as well. Zambezi Flu Pandemic is TTL's version of the SARS pandemic, although it might be more potent than SARS, but it could potentially damage more people if they got sick with it and survived. Just when you think it can't get any darker. Sierra Leone becoming a tool in the brutal war between Kemp's US and China, the revolting experiments on the handicapped which by the sound of it has resulted in a revival of eugenics in China among other place. A Beslan type incident in the US, although fortunately less bloody but then it results in a extreme anti-Islamic group being formed and sounds very grim for Armenia in the forthcoming years.
Also I can't remember that Zambezi Flu being mentioned before but sounds worse than any disease outbreak in Africa OTL. Mind you things do seem overall to be getting somewhat better for Africa and the DRC isn't the basket case it is OTL.
Not only China, but a reunited Korea might also be calling for eugenics ITTL as well. Think of TTL's Order of the Globus Cruciger as a mixture of every far-right vigilante group you can think of, dialed up to 11. The Zambezi Flu would be TTL's version of SARS, as China's military adventurism would mean that the events leading to SARS is butterflied away. And keep in mind, human medical experimentations are certainly not new. The Philippines in this case has also adopted one horrifying practice from the Japanese Empire, which is using the handicapped people as Maruta, or logs, as the Japanese Army doctors working at Unit 731 would say. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 7, 2021 6:05:35 GMT
And a happy 1st anniversary to 'Rogue Generals', with another update to commemorate the TL:
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Chapter Ninety-Four: To Awaken a Sleeping Tiger
Portions from the 2nd Season of 'Jocks', titled: "Trauma"
by: Fyodor Bondarchuk
Cast:
Artur Smolyaninov as Dmitry Bratoshenko
Shohruhxon as Jahongir Qomilov
Aleksander Petrov as Borislav Mitrofanov
Max Adler as Damir Karovsky
Lea Michele as Rebecca Berry
Jane Lynch as Susan Sylvester
Matthew Morrison as Bill Schuster
Cory Monteith as Chris Bailey
Chris Colfer as Jack Hamilton
Amber Riley as Michelle Jones
Jenna Ushkowitz as Valentina Leung
Dianna Agron as Ivana Mikushova
Naya Rivera as Isabella Martinez
Heather Morris as Lois Kent
Mark Salling as Reuben Weiss
Harry Shum Jr. as Frank Ong
Jake Pempengco as Max Hernandez
Ozan Guven as Principal Higgins
Farah Zeynep Abdullah as Nurgul Cerkesoglu
***
(Scene starts with SUSAN SYLVESTER walking to the stage, following PRINCIPAL HIGGINS. All the students sit down on the gym floor as CHRIS BAILEY and JACK HAMILTON carry a wreath on both sides)
PRINCIPAL HIGGINS: (approaches the podium) I wanted to start this commemoration ceremony with a simple speech. Now I know that you might have sensed what this is all about. Back in 1999, McKinley High was the center of a hostage crisis. We will never forget the students whose lives were changed as a result of this. We will also never forget the students who will never go to college again. What did the events of Lima teach us about terrorism? It can manifest anywhere, without any warning at all. Now, I believe that Vice Principal Sylvester has something to say about this as well. (leaves the podium)
SUSAN SYLVESTER: There is a time for healing, and a time to extract the toxins from the wounds. However, certain kinds of wounds heal a lot longer than the ones we can see. (gestures at CHRIS and JACK) these two boys will lead the procession to the memorial, just outside the soccer field. Just follow their lead. We will be right behind you.
MAX: (approaches DAMIR) Who are we following?
DAMIR: (points at CHRIS and JACK) See those two guy with the wreaths? (MAX nods) We follow them outside.
(all the students get up from the gym floor and begin to walk through the fire exit doors. ISABELLA and NURGUL notice DMITRY and JAHONGIR walk a bit slower than usual)
ISABELLA: Is there something wrong with them?
NURGUL: I don't know, but we can't ask them right now. (sees REBECCA and MICHELLE approach them) Does this school do this every year?
REBECCA: (nods) Yeah. We've commemorated our dead classmates since it first started. I don't think Principal Higgins was here when the incident happened.
MICHELLE: (spots the memorial) We're almost there.
(In another part of the procession, MAX and DAMIR spot BILL watching the rest of the students walk into the field)
DAMIR: Mr. Schu was one of the graduates that was taken hostage during the hostage crisis. Luckily, he survived by luck. They were going to shoot him, just before the SWAT guys took them down.
MAX: (looks at DAMIR with surprise) Really? I would have thought he'd be as shell shocked as the guys who shot up the mosque.
DAMIR: Nope. I can't tell any more, but let's say that he managed to get some support from his friends who also survived the whole ordeal. (approaches DMITRY) Dima. Dima!
DMITRY: Shto, Damir?
DAMIR: Kak ty khorosho? Ty ne smotrit khorosho.
DMITRY: (shakes his head as BORISLAV walks from behind) Ya smotril eto kogda byl u Rossii. (BORISLAV lightly slaps his shoulder as DMITRY turns around) Boris! Ya tebya ne smotrit ot nazar!
BORISLAV: (shakes his head) Nyet, no my ne mozhem zhdat dlya nash drug. (sees VALENTINA and FRANK walk behind them) Valya. Frank.
VALENTINA: (sighs in annoyance) It's Tina, Boris. Not Valya. I'm not from Russia.
BORISLAV: My apologies. (points at DMITRY) We might need to get Dima to the nurse if he's not okay.
DMITRY: (turns around) I'll be fine, though thanks for the offer.
(the students stop in front of the memorial as CHRIS and JACK place the wreath in front of the memorial. In the audience, NURGUL, DMITRY, and JAHONGIR watched as their eyes widen, small flashbacks appear, with gunfire and explosions being heard in the distance. Next scene changes to the school entrance as the school bell rings for dismissal, before shifting to the classroom where BILL is finishing up his class)
BILL: All right, class! Don't forget that the final exams are in a couple of weeks, so we're going over the material that we've covered all year.
STUDENTS: Thank you, Mr. Schu! (leaves the classroom as SUSAN enters)
SUSAN: Bill. I gotta talk to you for a bit. (sits down on a chair) I had to escort three students to the nurse this afternoon because of the memorial. You do know whom I'm talking about, right?
BILL: (nods sadly) Yeah. Nurgul, Jahongir, and Dmitry. I can't say much about what happened to them, because it's confidential.
SUSAN: I get that, but Bill. We have a psychologist in the school grounds, so at the very least we'll have to get those three students to see her.
BILL: I'll see what I can do. (sighs) They're not the only ones who felt awful about the commemoration.
SUSAN: (shakes her head) You still remember it?
BILL: (laughs lightly) Yeah. I remember the previous principal before Higgins came along saying my name wrong. He said Will Schuester, instead of my actual name.
SUSAN: (frowns) Any word from Dylan and Nicky?
BILL: Nope, and I wouldn't want to talk to them at all. Ever since the hostage crisis, they've started to go down the dark path. Last time I heard, they were fighting in Armenia.
SUSAN: (gasps) Armenia? Why?
BILL: They haven't gotten over the ordeal yet. (packs his stuff as BILL and SUSAN leave the classroom for the staff office)
(Scene switches to the streets of Lima, OH, as IVANA joins ISABELLA and NURGUL on the streets, while watching JACK, CHRIS and REBECCA go through the shops)
IVANA: (whistles) I don't see what Chris sees in Rebecca. He's been out of the loop ever since he broke up with me.
ISABELLA: (laughs mockingly) Perfect Becky. She's trying to be a diva, but sucks at it. (sees her phone ring as she answers it) Hello?
LOIS: Oh, hi Bella! How's the spying so far?
ISABELLA: (growls) How do you know what we're doing today?
LOIS: Oh, probably because Boris told me about Becky's crush on Chris. Jack however, looks a bit lost.
ISABELLA: (sees the trio disappear) Good going, Lois! Now we don't know where they're going.
LOIS: (laughs) I have a good idea where they're going, all right. See ya. (hangs up the phone)
ISABELLA: (hangs up the phone) So, any ideas on where they're going?
NURGUL: (points at a coffee shop) I think the coffee shop from across the street is where they're going. (Sees VALENTINA and FRANK go inside instead) Oh, no. That's not them.
ISABELLA: (drags NURGUL) C'mon, let's go inside.
(Scene switches to the suburbs of Lima as DAMIR runs up to BORISLAV, DMITRY, and JAHONGIR)
DAMIR: (pants) Did you guys want to watch some football today?
DMITRY: Football? It's not the season right now, is it?
DAMIR: Oh, right. I almost forgot. What matches are coming up?.
BORISLAV: (grins) There's the Zenit match coming up. They're playing Krasnodar tomorrow.
DMITRY: (shrugs) I don't understand this football that Americans are crazy about. (looks at JAHONGIR) Do you, Jahongir?
JAHONGIR: (spaces out for a minute, before shakes himself off) Uh...what?
DMITRY: Are you all right?
JAHONGIR: (chuckles) Yeah. I think I would like to see this football that Damir is talking about.
DAMIR: (laughs) Now that's what I'm talking about.
BORISLAV: (grins) You do realize that we still got some studying to do, before the finals, right?
DAMIR: Of course. I still have some tutoring to do, and Jack probably needs some help with Physics. (fells his phone vibrate and grabs it) Yeah?
REUBEN: (stands in front of Breadstix) Damir, I found the lovely couple.
DAMIR: (whistles) About time. Did you tell Bella where they are?
REUBEN: No, because I didn't want their date to be interrupted by those divas.
DAMIR: (scoffs) I thought Becky is the diva.
REUBEN: (laughs) That's what Bella and Lois wants you to think. They're getting jealous because of her looks.
DMITRY: (moves to the side of the sidewalk and drags JAHONGIR to the side) Did the psychologist ask you about what happened?
JAHONGIR: (nods) I told her about the time that my parents were killed in Tashkent by terrorists. I became an orphan and was adopted by Nurgul's family. I'm staying with Nurgul here, before she and I have to return to Istanbul.
DMITRY: The nurse asked me and Nurgul some questions as well. I don't know about her, but I told her about the time that a bus blew up in front of me in Kostanay, a few days before I arrived here.
JAHONGIR: (sighs) I remember that time too. It was on the news. (feels his phone ring) Hello?
NURGUL: (stands in front of Lima Bean) Cihangir?
JAHONGIR: Nurgul! Where are you right now? I'm with Dmitry right now.
NURGUL: I'm with Isabella and Lois right now. We're trying to look for Chris and Rebecca right now though. Did you finish your chemistry homework?
JAHONGIR: (nods) Yeah. I was going to ask someone if they can help me with my calculus homework.
NURGUL: (sees ISABELLA drag her by the arm) All right, Cihangir. I gotta go now.
JAHONGIR: See you later, sister. (hangs up the phone as REUBEN hangs up as well) Uhh, Damir. Where is this Breadstix?
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SECTARIAN RIOTS BREAK OUT IN CENTRAL SULAWESI AS MUSLIM MAJORITY ENGAGED IN SKIRMISH WITH CHRISTIAN MINORITY
Jakarta Times
December 25, 2000
(Poso, CENTRAL SULAWESI) - An armed skirmish broke out between Muslims and Christians in the Central Sulawesi province as relations between the two communiities have worsened. The worsening relations was due to the transmigration of the Muslim population from the densely populated cities within Indonesia to Central Sulawesi, and the recent arrival of refugees from the Philippines had complicated matters when some of the refugees joined various Islamist terror groups that aimed at implementing Sharia Law in Central Sulawesi. In retaliation, various Christian militias have formed to defend their communities against the Islamists as they prepare for an inevitable showdown between them. The Christian community in Central Sulawesi had complained to the Sukarnoputri administration on how the transmigration of Muslims into their communities had resulted in the Christian minority facing persecutions from them. Although President Sukarnoputri has paid attention to how the sectarian conflict would breakout if her policy of transmigration remained unrepealed, various right-wing groups within Indonesia had in fact ignored their problems, seeing the Christian minority as an inconvienient group that should be removed. In addition, while the previous Subianto government has managed to crack down on sectarianism, relations between various religious communities within Indonesia have been on the verge of collapse. It was only after Subianto formally stepped down from his Presidency, did the sectarian conflicts began to flare up.
"Our community in Parigi have come under attack by the Muslims that settled here from Java and Aceh," says an unnamed Christian resident of Parigi, who asked to not be identified, for fear of reprisals. "Half of the Christian neighborhoods have been taken over by the Muslim migrants, and as a result, the original Christian inhabitants are making their way to North Sulawesi, or even to the Philippines.
Although officials within both the Philippine and Indonesian governments have confirmed the amount of refugees that have traveled to each other's countries, the actual number of those refugees remained unknown. In addition, the number of refugees does not include the wartime arrivals of Filipino refugees that fled from the Philippines during the Spratlys conflict, mainly because they did not stay in the refugee camps for long. Most of the refugees that stayed in North Sulawesi would go on to immigrate to Australia, Canada, and the United States. However, the few Filipino refugees that did stay in North Sulawesi would eventually settle down in the Indonesian province, where they managed to rebuild much of their community, despite the warm ties between the Indonesian government and the neighboring Artemio Tadiar dictatorship.
"There are lots of churches here in North Sulawesi, but the Christian population here consists of mainly Protestants," says Lourdes de Angelo, a Filipino refugee who now lives in Manado, North Sulawesi. "It was a tough adjustment for me and my children, as it was impossible to make a living back in Davao City, where I come from. My husband is working as a migrant worker in Japan, as an employee in the Toyota automaker factory in Aomori."
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YOKOHAMA MAYOR, JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, TO NEGOTIATE WITH BRITISH AND ARGENTINE GOVERNMENTS ON FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGES SUSTAINED DURING YOKOHAMA BROUHAHA
Japan Times
July 31, 2002
(Yokohama, JAPAN) - The Mayor of Yokohama, along with the Japanese government, had begun to launch a series of negotiations with their British and Argentine counterparts on the financial compensation that the city of Yokohama would received from the damages it sustained during the notorious Yokohama Brouhaha that occurred in the last day of the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, where England had won their second World Cup tournament, but their victory was marred by the brutal sucker punch by recently suspended midfielder Diego Simeone on Owen Hargreaves. The fights that broke out between the English and Argentine fans had become so violent that Japanese riot police were deployed to separate the combatants, resulting in several mass arrests. The ringleaders of the infamous brawl were punished by being banned from entering Japan for ten years, and the England and Argentina football federations also received severe sanctions for their actions. England would play its next ten international matches with no spectators, and their supporters will not be allowed to travel for the away matches. On the other hand, Argentina will also play its next ten international matches without spectators as well, and the same punishment that was meted to the England supporters has now been imposed on Argentina supporters as well. Although there isn't a finalized report on how much damages that the British and Argentine governments will pay for the riots in Japan, the infamous incident has also resulted in both Britain and Argentina recalling ambassadors from each other's embassies. Consequently, Japan has also recalled its ambassadors stationed in those two countries, and in return, the Japanese government has expelled the British and Argentine ambassadors to Japan, citing a diplomatic sanction for its citizens' behavior.
"The Japanese nation cannot tolerate this kind of hooligan behavior displayed by our foreign guests, who have disgraced not only themselves, but the countries they represented," says Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori sternly, during a session in the Japanese Diet. "Asia is a continent that never tolerates this kind of idiotic behavior, and will continue to express its intolerance for hooliganism and sports violence of any kind."
Residents of Yokohama were forced to close their business one hour before the final match was over, to prevent any more damages being sustained on their businesses, and many establishments were barred from serving alcohol to patrons one and a half hour before closing. However, the precautions taken did little to prevent the violence from occurring, as many fans of both teams were already intoxicated by the time the Yokohama Brouhaha had begun. At one point, three English fans were viciously attacked by seven Argentine fans when the latter saw the former wipe their bums with the Argentine flag they captured from rival fans, leading to an incident where the English fans were stabbed, just outside the Totsuka Post Office. Another incident occurred where skinheads who were connected to various English football ultras had thrown empty bottles at the Argentine fans, and even engaged the fans from the East Slavic Federation in a fist fight, leading to several hospitalizations.
"We were about to return to the hotel at Yokohama Bay when we were accosted by twelve drunken fans. One of our friends saw the English jersey on the drunken idiot when he spat on one of our friends, leading to the incident that happened," says ESF fan and prominent member of a Russian football ultra club Georgy Urzhakov. "Luckily, the Japanese police separated us, and prevented a potential tragedy from happening."
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CHINA CONDEMNS AMERICAN SALES OF HEAVY WEAPONRY TO TADIAR REGIME, REBUKES PRESIDENT KEMP FOR 'DESTABILIZING' SE ASIA AS AN OBSTACLE TO PEACE BETWEEN CHINA AND ITS NEIGHBORS
Los Angeles Times
August 17, 2002
(Beijing, CHINA) - The Chinese government had condemned the Kemp administration for what they saw as an 'act of destabilization' when it was announced that the US government is planning to send the first 20 batches of the recently developed and completed anti-aircraft weapon developed by Gerald Bull. The Tikbalang-100 anti-air weapon was originally developed as a planned rocket launcher overseen by former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, before the current Artemio Tadiar dictatorship had given the blueprints for what they called the Santa Barbara project that was later taken over by Gerald Bull. The Tikbalang-100 was essentially an anti-air missile launcher mounted on a discarded chassis once used by the M41 Walker Bulldog, before US military researchers suggested that the decommissioned M41 chassis can be reused for a new weapons platform. Once it's successfully delivered, the Philippine military will be able to station them throughout its territory, even including Palawan, where its proximity to the disputed Spratly Islands makes it a threat to the PLA military bases there. In addition, the Kemp administration also announced the delivery of the completed Aswang-1 missile launchers to the Philippines, as its missile range would allow the Tadiar regime to launch any missile strike at any front line Chinese bases in the disputed Spratlys.
"The United States should mind its own manners when dealing with China. We did not send weapons to your enemies, so why are you sending your weapons to our enemies to begin with?" Chairman Bo Xilai said, during a Politburo session where he addressed the issue of the Philippines in front of various delegates. "Moreover, American meddling in the South China Sea is a hindrance to our attempts at restoring any semblance of peace and order in the SE Asian region."
The Kemp administration however, simply rebuffed the Chinese criticism, calling it baseless and idiotic.
"Our ally has requested help from us, Mr. Bo, and your government is the last entity that should be lecturing us on destabilization in the Asia-Pacific region, when in fact it is China that is destabilizing all of SE Asia, just because it wanted to recapture its lost glory," said President Kemp, during an interview with local media reporters. "Moreover, the Philippines has exercised its right of self-defense, and will continue to do so, as long as your military presence in the West Philippine Sea remains active."
In addition to the American military aid to the Philippines, the Kemp administration has also offered Taiwan the latest batches of the Aswang-1 missile launchers and Tikbalang-100s to the Taiwanese military, as a way of bolstering much of its defensive capabilities. Unlike the Philippines, Taiwan shares only a few miles of its maritime border from its communist neighbor. The American offer of military aid to Taiwan has so far been a welcoming news for the Taiwanese government, but has infuriated the Chinese government.
"The Kemp regime does not intend to become a pillar of stability and peace in Asia as a whole, and what is stopping them from sending even more lethal aid to the Tadiar fascist regime in Manila?" retired politician and former PLA general Wang Dongxing asked rhetorically. "It is because of the dictator Kemp that he has enabled the fascists in Manila to constantly strike at China's national sovereignty. Make no mistake about it: the Philippines has volunteered to become America's catspaw in its quest to stop China's peaceful rise to power."
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Excerpts from "When Civilizations Collide: America in the Age of Rogue Generals"
by: Paul Manafort
Simon and Schuster, published 2019
Chapter Thirteen: To Snatch Peace from the Jaws of Armageddon
We accompanied the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a lower part of the Pentagon on his initiative as we were needed for an urgent meeting. By the time we all settled inside the central command post, there were few more arrivals that we had to meet and greet. Steve and I were not impressed to see many unsavory people inside the room, including the new CIA Director, Oliver North himself. However, what shocked us was the arrival of his deputy, John Bennett Ramsey. We knew from his post in the Philippines that his children attended school there, and his wife was connected to the company that was competing with the Clintons for influence. To see both North and Ramsey in the same room can only mean one thing: trouble in the horizon. We were correct about it though: both President Kemp and Vice President Alexander looked exhausted, and I saw the visible bags in their eyes. So much for imposing a three day mandatory rest for the President, as the crises around the world is getting to his psyche. The Vice President on the other hand, didn't look as tired as the President, but he was still a bit cranky after the events that we were about to find out had awakened him from his nap.
"Gentlemen, we're receiving an urgent call," President Kemp started to say as we remained silent. "From Chairman Bo Xilai himself."
"Oh, joy. The last thing we need is another Chinese mandarin lecturing us about 'meddling' in their 'backyard', as if SE Asia was theirs to claim," Oliver spat contemptuously.
We didn't have to wait for long, as the image of Bo Xilai and his interpreter stood in front of the screen. The angry looks on their eyes could mean only one thing: what is the trouble this time.
"Mr. President, I did not want to meet you under such circumstances, but events had forced us to approach your government on a thorny issue that has faced us ever since the end of the Nansha Islands conflict," the interpreter translated Chairman Bo's words for us to hear. "Is it your responsibility to put a leash on your Filipino attack dog, or should we put it out of its misery?"
"That fucking slime ball!" Ramsey snapped angrily. "Does the Chinese government want war with both the Philippines and America at the same time!?"
Vice President Alexander stood up and glared at Ramsey. "Deputy Director, please control yourself! You're in the presence of a foreign head of state, so mind your manners."
"With all due respect, Mr. Vice President, the Chinese government wouldn't care less if they reduced the Philippines to rubble once again, as long as they can soothe their precious faces with dead Filipinos," Ramsey snarled, but when he looked at the President, all he can do is to shake his head in frustration.
"May I remind your government that you initiated a bombing campaign that resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilians that died because of it? Or the amount of illegal weapons were used on civilians, including agent orange, anthrax, and even depleted uranium?" the President snapped as he glared at the screen.
Both Chairman Bo and his interpreter shook their heads as the interpreter continued to translate what the Chairman said.
"And may I remind you gentlemen that it was the Philippines that escalated the conflict, when it refused to stand down as we punished the rebellious Vietnamese military for not recognizing our sovereignty over the entirety of the Nansha Islands? It is regretable that civilians had to die that day, but that is only to punish Vietnam and the Philippines for not knowing their proper place," the translator finished.
This time, it was Ollie who growled. "And by 'knowing their proper place', do you mean six feet under? Your government has committed mass murder against the Vietnamese and Filipino peoples. Before you bring up the whole attack on Shanghai-"
President Kemp stood up and beckoned for Ollie to sit down, before facing Chairman Bo. "As my colleague said, before you bring up the incident at Shanghai, while I wanted to console your government for such a senseless attack, did you really think that Tadiar would simply bow down to the likes of you? He's a proud patriot who despises the communists."
"Artemio Tadiar is a fascist monster, and he is far worse than even Hideki Tojo and Shiro Ishii combined. The fact that he has not only sponsored the attack that slaughtered over 3,000 of our citizens in Shanghai, but he has also managed to develop and improve on his chemical weapons arsenal." We were stunned at what we had just heard. Are the Chinese bluffing, or did Artemio Tadiar really have chemical weapons. "Thanks to the bravery of one man who sacrificed himself rather than to let himself get caught, he was able to warn us that the Tadiar dictatorship has somehow managed to create a mixture of various acids with agent orange, and even anthrax. I don't know how he got those forbidden weapons, but if he fires it at us, we will have no choice but to retaliate."
The screen just went blank as President Kemp's expression turned dark. We felt nervous at what we just saw, but to our surprise, it took a huge amount of strength for President Kemp to remain calm.
"Get ahold of Manila right away. I want to speak to General Tadiar." One of the operators nodded and began to press some buttons.
FIve minutes later, the screen opened up again as we were stunned at we had just seen. The last time Artemio Tadiar's photo was taken, he looked energetic. Now, we looked at what appeared to be an ageing man, albeit with a stern look on his face. To our surprise, Oliver recognized Colonels Doromal and Aromin standing behind Tadiar, followed by a bald man whom we've never seen before and a younger looking officer. Ramsey however, recognized the two other unknowns as Bato de la Rosa and Jovito Palparan.
"General Tadiar, can you please explain to us as to how the hell did you end up developing chemical weapons? That alone could earn your country multiple sanctions that can destroy your weakened economy," President Kemp asked sternly, but by the sound of his voice, he is trying hard to not scream too much.
Tadiar himself on the other hand, simply gritted his teeth. "Mr. President. If you're referring to the chemical weapons that we have here, we did not develop it."
"Don't lie to us, General," warned the Vice President, but Tadiar shook his head.
"No, we are not lying. In fact, you can thank your Iraqi colleagues for giving us the opportunity to test and improve on the chemical weapons that you've given to them, which in turn, they gave it to us." The pandemonium within the room was frightening. We knew that Tadiar could not have developed those chemical weapons, but to hear him admit to the President that they got it from the generals who used to serve Saddam Hussein was nothing short of shocking.
Vice President Alexander trembled as he too, struggled to keep himself under control. "How? How in the holy hell did you managed to get your hands on those chemical weapons?"
"How?" Tadiar repeated. "The Iraqi generals asked us to give them asylum, and we did. In return, they have to hand over the chemical weapon arsenal to us, so we could analyze and examine how they were made. We were lucky to obtain it, because we only wanted to use it as a last resort."
"Last resort?" This time, it was President Kemp who repeated Tadiar's words. "General, I'm not sure how we could deal with such a crisis. We were on the line with the Chinese government."
"I'm not surprised," it was Colonel Doromal who spoke up for a change. "Bo Xilai is a different adversary from Ye Fei, and yet he has somehow learned of our weapons development. Too bad that backstabbing asshole Trepashkin revealed everything before he killed himself."
Oliver frowned. "Who's this Trepashkin?"
"Director North, surely you've forgotten who Mikhail Trepashkin is. He's a Russian agent who pretended to defect to us in exchange for favors, only to stab us in the back and snitched to Chairman Bo about the chemical weapons. Although he didn't see much of the actual improvements we made," Colonel Aromin admitted. "This is our only means of defense against Chinese superweapons, and we are aware that they could easily nuke us as well."
The Filipino officers were correct about it; without those chemical weapons that we handed over to Iraq that fell into the hands of General Tadiar, the Chinese could simply destroy the Philippines once again. This time, the Tadiar regime would not hesitate to fire back, leading to yet another conflict in SE Asia. That is the last thing we wanted, because news from South Korea has arrived to Director North that the South Korean President wants to try and reunite the Korean Peninsula by force. Both Koreas have already taken a hardline stance at each other, and while we would love to take a chance at finishing what Syngman Rhee had started, I'm not sure if nuclear armageddon is worth the reunification. Finally, the President calmed himself down and started at the screen, with Tadiar doing the same thing.
"General, how about we come to a compromise?" the President told Tadiar.
"What compromise?" Tadiar replied back calmly.
"If you surrender your chemical weapons, we will provide your military with a much needed delivery of the latest Sheridan II tanks that we've developed, as well as the completed versions of the Santa Barbara Project that Mr. Bull has completed." Tadiar's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, general. We've analyzed your blueprints, and I think we can also adopt it for our own use as well."
Tadiar paused for a minute, before asking again. "So, we have to hand over the chemical weapons, in exchange for more military hardware. Are you true to your word, or will you ditch us like what President Jackson did?"
"We have no intention of playing the peacemaker, General. However, the deal I'm offering you is for your benefit. Yet, think about what will happen if you decline it," the President warned. "We would also talk to Prime Minister Mori to put some more pressure on your government if you hesitate."
"Are you coercing me, Mr. President?" Tadiar snarled.
"No, I'm advising you to be smart about the situation you've landed yourselves and us into. In addition, this diplomatic isolation that you've imposed on your own country will not help in the long run," the President paused for five minutes as he thought of something. "Perhaps, if you would be able to help us with something, we can make sure that the economic sanctions imposed on your country will be lifted."
The expressions on the Filipinos' faces were slackened. Tadiar nodded. "I'm listening."
"We'll need your help in planning an operation against the North Koreans. They're getting a bit too rough these days, and if you can help us depose the North Korean regime, we'll put in a good word to the UN and other countries to lift economic sanctions on your country," Kemp explained. "We need a diplomatically open Philippines that can engaged with the wider world, not a Philippines that imposes self-isolation on itself. You've already become a pariah in the eyes of the world, and not even we could do something about it unless you're ready to change your stance."
"It will not be easy. We've been fighting the Chinese for a long time, Mr. President," Tadiar explained as President Kemp nodded.
"I am aware, General. However, keep in mind that Chairman Bo might be saying the same thing to you if we didn't approach you first," the President warned him once again.
Luckily for us, we didn't have to wait that long for Tadiar to give his answer, but only after consulting with his subordinates. When Tadiar was ready to respond, the President paused.
"Ok. We will hand over the chemical weapons." We sighed in relief, but we were not expecting another surprise from him when he dropped the next news. "In addition to the data we've collected from our experimentations, we will accept your military aid. However, we only ask for one thing in return."
"Anything, General," Vice President Alexander told Tadiar.
"We need help in deposing the pro-Chinese regime in Burma. We even have the old Burmese junta that's willing to restore their authority and to kick out the communists out of Burma," Tadiar told the President.
Director North nodded in agreement. "That's a great idea. We could put pressure on China to ease up on its military adventurism through Myanmar."
"Deal," the President said as Tadiar saluted and the screen became blank. We cheered at the negotiations that became successful.
"Are we really going to enlist the aid of the Philippines for a potential war with the North Korean dictatorship?" Vice President Alexander asked the President, to which he nodded.
"I am not going to ditch General Tadiar the same way Jesse Jackson did. If I didn't abide by my own words, he could even do a deal with the Chinese on his own terms, or worse, approach President Azarov," the President replied back. "Let's hope that this offer doesn't come back to haunt us in the end."
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
Posts: 12,609
Likes: 11,326
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Post by gillan1220 on Dec 7, 2021 12:37:35 GMT
Bob Dole passed away just recently.
Holy fuck, the Philippines armed with chemical weapons. That's something I didn't expect.
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Post by kyuzoaoi on Dec 7, 2021 15:21:50 GMT
When they can't afford nukes, they go with poison gas.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 8, 2021 2:38:55 GMT
Bob Dole passed away just recently. Holy fuck, the Philippines armed with chemical weapons. That's something I didn't expect. Just remember, they didn't develop their own chemical weapons. They got it from the fleeing Ba'athist officers. When they can't afford nukes, they go with poison gas. Yeah, but their experimentations might come in handy. The next couple of updates will focus mostly on the Second Korean War, so it may take a couple of chapters to resolve it. |
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gillan1220
Fleet admiral
I've been depressed recently. Slow replies coming in the next few days.
Posts: 12,609
Likes: 11,326
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Post by gillan1220 on Dec 8, 2021 5:09:32 GMT
Bob Dole passed away just recently. Holy fuck, the Philippines armed with chemical weapons. That's something I didn't expect. Just remember, they didn't develop their own chemical weapons. They got it from the fleeing Ba'athist officers. When they can't afford nukes, they go with poison gas. Yeah, but their experimentations might come in handy. The next couple of updates will focus mostly on the Second Korean War, so it may take a couple of chapters to resolve it. Tadiar could create a dirty bomb, which is the closest to a small nuke. |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 8, 2021 5:33:16 GMT
Just remember, they didn't develop their own chemical weapons. They got it from the fleeing Ba'athist officers. Yeah, but their experimentations might come in handy. The next couple of updates will focus mostly on the Second Korean War, so it may take a couple of chapters to resolve it. Tadiar could create a dirty bomb, which is the closest to a small nuke. That would be plausible, but the consequences might be a tad too big, even for him. Eventually, self isolation might no longer work in the long run, which is why President Kemp is offering a huge incentive to coax the Tadiar regime out of its self imposed diplomatic isolation . |
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 16, 2021 5:09:01 GMT
Chapter Ninety-Five: The Second Korean War Part One
BREAKING NEWS! NAVAL ENGAGEMENT REPORTED OFF THE NORTH KOREAN COAST AS NAVAL FORCES OF TWO KOREAS CLASH WITH EACH OTHER
Japan Times
July 15, 2002
(Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) - An official spokesperson for the South Korean Navy had confirmed reports that the naval forces of the two Koreas have engaged each other in a live fire skirmish over the Northern Limit Line. At 0430 hours, local time, the South Korean Navy was in a middle of a training exercise when North Korean vessels attempted to ward them off from their territorial waters, but the South Korean naval officers insisted that they were holding their exercise in international waters, and not within the Northern Limit Line. A warning shot from one of the North Korean vessels however, had almost struck one of the South Korean vessels, leading to a heated exchange where a South Korean ship captain ordered his officers to open fire at the offending vessel, citing that the North Koreans fired first. Moreover, unconfirmed reports from the other South Korean naval fleet based in the coast off the Sea of Japan had revealed that they were also sailing closer towards North Korea's eastern coast. Yet, when news reporters attempted to ask the top South Korean military officers to verify the reports coming from the naval fleet off the coast of the Sea of Japan, they refused to answer, and the South Korean government had also made a surprise announcement.
"All civilian aircraft leaving South Korean airspace are advised to steer clear of the Korean peninsula. This is for the safety of all travelers leaving the territory of the Republic of Korea," President Lee hoi-chang said, during a session in the South Korean legislative assembly. "In addition, we are also suspending all international land, sea, and air traffic involving the Republic of Korea."
The announcement also comes at the same time as the South Korean parliament's decision to formally tear up the armistice agreement that was made in 1953, when the previous conflict in the Korean peninsula was stopped by the armistice. However, no formal peace treaty was signed between the Pyongyang regime and the participants of the Korean conflict, and as a result, the United States and its allies who took part in the defense of South Korea are still technically at war with each other. Moreover, President Lee's hardline stance against the North Korean dictatorship had won him admiration from Asia's other anti-communist leaders, most notably the Philippine dictator in Artemio Tadiar. In fact, when news of the attack had been revealed to the world, the Tadiar government had offered to send its troops to defend South Korea, to which President Lee was lukewarm. However, it is not surprising that the United States will activate the provisions of its mutual defense treaty with South Korea, given the Kemp government's determination to root out all signs of left-wing presence in the world, and has in fact, admitted that it obtained the Tadiar regime's consent to deploying Philippine troops outside the Philippines for the first time since the controversial 1995 UNAACP peacekeeping mission in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"This national tragedy has stared at us since 1953, and the ongoing pain and suffering that all Koreans across the armistice line has resulted in the world giving us more sympathy. It is time for us to put an end to such a tragedy at hand," President Lee said in the same session in the South Korean legislative assembly. "Yet, at the same time, the troubling presence of communism cannot be tolerated any further. The final solution to the Pyongyang regime will be carried out, with such ruthless determination. We fought the communists in Vietnam during the 1960s, and we will finish the fight against communism today. When your children will ask you what happened when Korea reunited, you will be proud to tell them that you liberated your kinsmen from the tyranny of communism."
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TADIAR REGIME DEPLOYS OVER 20,000 FILIPINO TROOPS IN FIRST OVERSEAS ENGAGEMENT SINCE 1995, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WARY OF PREVIOUS CONDUCT FROM CONTROVERSIAL NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACEKEEPING MISSION
Sydney Herald
July 20, 2002
(Kabankalan, PHILIPPINES) - In an announcement that was met with overwhelming approval from the Filipino public that is eager to join any anti-communist crusade, the Tadiar government had announced that the Philippine military will send over 20,000 combat troops to South Korea to participate in its first overseas engagement since the infamous 1995 peacekeeping mission in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that was contested between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The international community was stunned at the announcement, since the Philippines had been in a state of self-imposed diplomatic isolation. However, the Kemp administration had revealed to the world that it obtained Philippine participation in the conflict, in exchange for surrendering much of its acquired chemical weapons arsenal that had been confiscated from two Iraqi Ba'athist generals who fled to the Philippines after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The revelation of the Philippine chemical weapons arsenal however, was not a surprise, as former ESF double agent Mikhail Trepashkin had managed to warn Chinese intelligence through a Filipino defector who slipped away from Mindanao and reached the Chinese controlled Spratly Islands, just before he committed suicide to prevent Tadiar's agents from capturing him and the defector. The defector in question, who chose to not reveal his identity, for fear of reprisals from Tadiar's other agents that have been posing as Filipino migrant workers, had been debriefed by Chinese intelligence officers and confirmed the reports of various chemical weapons that the Tadiar regime had experimented on. In addition, the defector also revealed the facilities where the Philippine military was conducting live human experiments on captured political opponents, as well as certain international volunteers who traveled to the Philippines to help with the reconstruction efforts, including an Australian citizen by the name of Martin Bryant, who was found dead just outside Banton Island, a few miles from a medical research facility that was built beside a concentration camp.
"The United States has lost a sense of moral authority when it was revealed to have sent chemical weapons to the former Saddam dictatorship in Iraq. Those very same chemical weapons were not only used on innocent Kurds, but on our troops as well," Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said, during a session in the Iranian Majlis. "So they cannot tell us to not pursue our nuclear program, while at the same time giving lip service to nations that will not hesitate to kill anyone with weapons of mass destruction."
The blowback from the revelation that the Kemp administration had somehow enlisted the Tadiar regime's aid for the conflict with North Korea had also met with outrage from the United States's primary adversaries in the East Slavic Federation and China. In fact, it was because of this shocking revelation that high level meetings between top diplomats from the ESF and China have increased over the last few days, with additional diplomatic interactions between the ESF, China, and the governments of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. However, it is the Kurds of the Middle East and the diaspora that were infuriated the most, because they now knew where the chemical weapons that were used to kill their kinsmen came from, and that the remaining surviving perpetrators of the genocide against the Kurds had been hiding out in the Philippines. Facing intense pressure from not only the Kemp administration, but the United Nations as well, the Tadiar regime has been persuaded to hand over both Abid Hamid Mahmud and Sultan Hasim Ahmad al-Tai to the UN, where they would stand trial for war crimes relating to the Kurdish genocide. So far, the Philippine junta has been at odds with itself, primarily because General Tadiar himself promised the two fugitives that he will not hand them over. However, the prospect of ending the crushing economic sanctions that have affected the Philippines as a whole, as well as gradually re-opening itself diplomatically, has nearly caused the junta some headaches. However, hardline radicals within the junior officer corps have opposed such a move, fearing that the end of diplomatic isolation would mean the end of the acts of piracy against Chinese shipping.
"I will try to reach out an agreement with the two gentlemen whom I have given refuge when they needed to flee from the country that they once built and ruled. Yet, although I do not approve of what they have done to the Kurds, there is a justification to it as well," Tadiar says during the meeting with his subordinates. "It is up to the two men in question on whether or not they would like to turn themselves in. Just as they cared much about their country, I have to put the interests of my country as well."
Among the planned deployment of the Philippine military to South Korea, one comes to mind the famous 'Pambato' Division, which had been reorganized with the arrivals of additional M551 Sheridans that were originally going to be decomissioned and sold off as scrap, but are now receiving their M551A2 Sheridan II tanks, as well as the requested Aswang-1s and Tikbalang-100s that the United States had developed from the Philippines. The completed versions of the Santa Barbara project would be deployed in South Korea for the first time, as the South Korean military had placed several orders for those equipment that originated in the Philippines. The Tikbalang-100s are also crucial in defending South Korea's airspace, as previous test results from its demonstrations reveal their capability of shooting down various aircraft, but could not disclose as to how far it is able to travel due to the sensitivity of the project in question. Once the Philippine military arrives in South Korea, the South Korean government has announced that they will donate much of their older equipment to the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, as those nations are also pitching in to volunteer to fight as well. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom are also expected to join in the conflict as well, as to honor their previous alliance with South Korea during the First Korean War.
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"The Philippines became the nation with the third largest amount of troops to deploy on South Korean soil, after the United States, which had its military base in South Korea, at a capacity of over 30,000 active troops. However, the amount of American troops that were sent to South Korea increased three fold to over 90,000, as Major General Paul Van Riper was recalled from his duties in Cuba and Nicaragua to spearhead the invasion of North Korea. Lloyd Austin was assign to take over for Van Riper in Cuba and Nicaragua, eventually creating an army group called United States Forces Caribbean, where he would oversee the command of over 35,000 American troops that are stationed in those two nations still under American occupation. It was not only Paul van Riper who would distinguish himself in the Second Korean War. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis would also earn a reputation as a fierce officer who would gain respect from all the troops he's commanded, both American and South Korean. It was General Mattis who would come up with a risky but effective strategy of luring the numerically superior North Korean Army into South Korean territory, with the villages and cities close to the border being ordered to evacuate to the southern areas of South Korea. While the North Korean Army could count on outdated weapons to launch an artillery barrage to Seoul, as well as the huge number of infantry soldiers, their main weakness is the obsoletion of their weapons, as the South Korean military hardware are much more advanced than their North Korean counterparts. At the same time, the South Korean defense firms have placed several thousand orders for various infantry weapons, as well as tanks, APCs, and other engineering vehicles that would be used to recover damaged equipment. As a result, the Philippine military would be given several hundred K2 assault rifles, which was a significant improvement over the M16s that were being worn out, as well as the captured Type 56 assault rifles that they captured from their NPA opponents. In addition, they did get most of their M16 rifles repaired by South Korean weapons manufacturers, upgrading some of them, and also issued several sniper rifles, mostly old M14s that had been coverted to sniper rifles. The upgrades that the Philippine military received was also significant in that it helped them improve their combat performance, but in return, the Philippines gave consent to the United States to export the Tikbalang-100 anti-air missile launchers, as well as the Aswang-1 rocket artillery pieces, to South Korea, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Myanmar. The military partnership between the Philippines and the United States was restored, but in addition, it has started to form an informal kind of military collaboration with South Korea, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. It was the South Koreans however, that would prove to become Artemio Tadiar's biggest critics, hitting his government with accusations of trampling on the memories of the people who suffered from the Japanese occupation of the rest of Asia, as well as ignoring the comfort women issue. Indeed, the Filipino soldiers who married Korean women from both the North and the South (Korean women from the North had fallen in love with Filipino soldiers when they liberated parts of North Korea from the Kim regime) would form the backbone of the anti-Tadiar opposition from within the military establishment. Indeed, it was Gilbert Gapay who advocated for closer relations between Seoul and Kabankalan, as a way of dislodging Japanese political influence in the Philippines. However, the fear of displacing the Japanese with the Koreans had also shook the old guard within the Tadiar regime, as they viewed their motives with suspicion. When Korea eventually reunited in 2005, 60 years after it was liberated from the Japanese after WWII, it became one of the most staunch advocates for opening the Philippines to the international community once again. By 2007, when economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation ended in the Philippines, the Koreans would join Turkey and Japan in investing in the Philippines. What was important was that the Tadiar regime was capable of developing its own weapons, albeit with much needed help, as they were not capable of doing it on their own. However, the surprising rise of the Philippine weapons development was not well received in the rest of Asia, especially China, since it had a vested interest in turning SE Asia into its backyard. The introduction of the Tikbalang-100s and Aswang-1s had changed the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region, but not enough to seriously threaten Chinese national sovereignty. Still, China was not idle in the opening stages of the Second Korean War, backing the North Korean regime with volunteers, plus the shipment of military aid to the Pyongyang regime. In addition, China called on its allies in Central Asia to provide volunteers to fight for the Pyongyang regime, as a sign of solidarity with the remaining communist regime. However, Central Asia was rebuilding from its brutal Al-Qaeda period, and only a few hundred volunteers would travel to North Korea, and all of them were former Soviet loyalist veterans who fought against the National Redemption Army during the Second Russian Civil War, and against the Islamic fundamentalists when Al-Qaeda launched its invasion of Central Asia during that civil war that was taking place at the same time.
The arrival of the Chinese volunteers however, was not large enough to tip the balance of power in North Korea's favor, because it didn't want to be seen as too aggressive in its next phase of its military adventurism. Yet, like their predecessors, they feared that a reunited Korean peninsula would inevitably lead to a new round of invasion of China from Korea. Just as Korea was used as a geopolitical dagger aimed at Japan by any foreign power that was also hostile to China, as was the case historically with Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution. Korea also served as a staging point for the invasion of China historically by Japan, as evideny by the 1931 invasion of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo. So while the Chinese volunteers were only a few, they were from the PLA's special forces that were disguised as paramilitary troops. Genuine paramilitary forces from China did not arrive in North Korea until December of 2002, by which time the North Korean Army was bogged down in the South Korean border town of Inje, while facing guerrilla attacks by South Korean paramilitaries, as well as international volunteers. Chinese special forces soldiers had been one of the most battle hardened troops within the PLA, mainly due to their experiences in Central Asia, so that might have an edge over South Korean and other international troops that have arrived in South Korea. Unfortunately, the first clash between Chinese and Filipino soldiers for the first time since the fateful Battle of Yultong was not in Kumchon, but rather in Cheorwon, where a Filipino defensive maneuver had failed to prevent the North Korean forces from taking the city, but once the Filipino and South Korean defenders surrendered, the North Korean forces simply shot their South Korean POWs, while turning the Filipino POWs to the Chinese volunteers, who also shot them in cold blood, but not before beheading the local commander of the surrendered forces as a way of sending a message to Artemio Tadiar. The Cheorwon Massacre of December 12, 2002, was a Pandora's Box of various violations of the rules of war, as the Battle of Kumchon was demonstrated later in 2003 as a tit-for-tat retaliatory attacks that saw Filipino soldiers execute captured Chinese and North Korean soldiers by burning them alive inside village huts. The arrival of the infamous penal battalions in the Bato, Berdugo, Redemption, and Outlaw Brigades (the Outlaw Brigades was another CIA creation that was done in conjunction with the FBI and NSA, and it consisted of hardcore neo-Nazis and far-right veterans of the Second Russian Civil War) certainly helped tip the balance of power back in favor of South Korea, but the brutality of these penal battalions had poisoned relations between the United States and China, as evidence of various war crimes had emerged that more North Korean POWs were being slaughtered by the penal battalion troops, as well as random massacres of North Korean civilians. The most notorious incident was the part where both the Bato and Berdugo Brigades launched an artillery strike at the Chinese border city of Dandong, which had aroused China's fury long enough to deploy much of their regular forces into the border with North Korea. However, as Tadiar stated that the Philippines was still at a state of war with China, they were perfectly legal to attack Chinese positions. In addition, the Tadiar regime would also use the opportunity to use the Tikbalang-100s for the first time in the Chinese attempt to launch an airstrike against Philippine military installations in Luzon, but it certainly proved to be costly, as over 13 Shenyang J-8 fighter craft were shot down. Another lethal weapon of the Tikbalang-100 was the anti-personnel machine gun that was installed to kill the pilots. The anti-personnel machine gun they used was the M167 Vulcan anti-air defense system that was chosen by Chrystler. Yet, it didn't prevent more Chinese bombers from striking their targets into the Philippines, with Vigan, Laoag, and Dagupan coming under aerial bombardment. Unlike the 1995 bombing campaign, the Philippine military was prepared this time, as additional Chinese fighter-bomber aircraft were lost in the anti-air attack. Fortunately, the United States under the Kemp administration saw what China was doing, and started to send more anti-aircraft weapons to the Philippines, and threatened China with an aerial bombing of their own if they didn't stop bombing the Philippines, but to no avail. The only unofficial military action that the United States undertook on behalf of the Philippines was the successful recovery of Scarborough Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The Second Korean War was the only time that the United States and China had gotten involved in a live fire combat situation that almost dragged the world toward a Third World War." From 'The Korean Continuation War and its Consequences', released by KBS on May 29, 2018.
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ESF AIR FORCE SQUADRON DEPLOYED TO BORDER WITH NORTH KOREA AS REPORTS OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS USAGE SURFACE FROM WITHIN NORTH KOREAN MILITARY OFFICIALS
Vladivostok Times
November 24, 2002
(Tumangang-Khasan Border Crossing, ESF-NORTH KOREA BORDER) - The East Slavic Federation has deployed much of its fighter and reconaissance aircraft into international airspace in response to a claim by North Korean military officials that rumors of chemical weapons usage was used in the border town of Kosong, close to the border with South Korea. ESF Defense Minister Alexander Lebed had also announced the partial mobilization of all ESF Far Eastern District military forces in response to the conflict in the Korean peninsula, and has also allowed the militant arm of the Moscow-backed Provisional Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to prepare for a possible liberation campaign against their rivals in the Pyongyang regime. Unlike the loyalist North Korean Army, which had obsolete weapons, the former soldiers of the renegade VI Corps had been covertly armed with the latest modern weapons that the ESF military had provided for them. Since the end of the Second Russian Civil War, the militant arm of the PGDPRK had been working in the ESF Far East as unofficial auxilliary troops that served alongside regular soldiers of the ESF military. In fact, the close relations between the PGDPRK and the ESF government was so close that Kim Jong-il had accused his defected brother, Kim Pyong-il, of being a Russian agent. Their contribution to the current ESF reconaissance mission in the Sea of Japan has been valuable, and various PGDPRK rebel soldiers were also crucial in their infiltration missions across the border.
"The time to liberate our fatherland from the criminal regime of my idiot brother has come. The true Korean government must cleanse itself of the corruption that has festered the nation since my father ruled the country," says Kim Pyong-il, during a national rally in Vladivostok, in which other North Korean defectors and local Vladivostok residents had attended. "We'll take Pyongyang and Chongjin first, and then onwards to Seoul and Busan!"
The United States remained suspicious of the PGDPRK, seeing it as a nuisance and a hindrance to the reunification of the Korean peninsula under the capitalist system, and indeed, the Kemp administration had designated the PGDPRK as a terrorist organization, and even drew up plans for a confrontation with them, should there be a conflict between the two groups were to happen. However, the reports of the chemical weapons usage was met with skepticism, as US military officials denied that they used them against North Korean troops.
"I don't know where they got that report from, but this is a serious accusation that the terrorist organization based in the Russian Far East has levied against us," says US General James Mattis, when asked by a reporter about such reports. "Until we've completed the investigation, we will consider the accusation to be pointless."
The presence of the ESF reconaissance aircraft in international waters however, was not well received with the US military, as they feared that any act of aggression on either the American or the ESF military would have resulted in a conflict between them.
"We do not accept the presence of the Russian military in international waters, especially where a major conflict has arisen, and we call upon the Russian government to withdraw its aircraft from the Sea of Japan, or there will be consequences," says US President Jack Kemp. "We will not hesitate to fire back, should the Russians not heed our advice. This is an unconditional request that we're making to the Russian government. Stay out of Korea, or we will attack."
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"The issue of the YF-17 has resurfaced when it became apparent that the US Air Force was looking to augument its aircraft fleet of F-16s. While the design of the YF-17 would eventually be adopted into the F-18 Super Hornets, the YF-17 was also looked at by engineers and researchers within the US Air Force, which felt that they needed to build a scaled down version of the YF-17 for exports to other nations. They had in mind a kind of aircraft that can be capable of countering both the Chinese Chengdu J-10s and Shenyang-J11s, and the ESF's current Sukhoi Su-27s and the Mikoyan MiG-31 fighter planes. What would come out of that conception was a revamped prototype that was renamed to the YF-19. The YF-19 preserved much of the main frame, except the installation of the F404 turbofan engine. It was a risky proposition, as the F404 turbofan engine might not have been suitable for the YF-19, but it did work on the F-18s. At the same time, General Electric also worked in the latest development of the YF-120 turbofan engine, which was going to be used in another prototype aircraft that was being developed, the YF-23. In the end, the prototype YF-19 would adopt the F110-GE-129 turbofan engine as its main engine, and it would be installed in pairs. The Pratt & Whitney F119 engine would be used for the YF-23, which ultimately evolved into the F/A-23 Condor, while the YF-19 would evolve into the export version of the F/A-18E Super Hornet called the F/A-19 Vulture. The F/A-19 Vulture would be one of the US Air Force's most popular export fighter planes to ever be sold in the international market, as Turkey, the reunited Korean Federal Republic, and Australia would be interested in purchasing those fighter aircraft, as well as Canada, the Philippines, and even the Netherlands. The F/A-23 Condor was unusual, as it adopted a forward-swept wing position for its fighter craft. The F/A-23 Condor however, would encounter various problems, as it proved to be unable to deal with pilot-related issues that arose. Insufficient multirole versatility, and inadequate supply of oxygen had plagued the issues surrounding the Condor, but the Kemp administration was determined to get the Condor fixed and issued as official US Air Force aircraft. Thus, he persuaded the RAND Corporation to get involved with the aircraft manufacturers to address the issues surrounding the Condor. In the meanwhile, the F/A-19 Vulture was first deployed in 2005, during the Patani War, when American fighter aircraft managed to shoot down over 12 obsolete F-5 fighter planes over the skies of southern Thailand, as part of Operation Pacific Force. The performance of the newly deployed F/A-19 Vultures used by Australia, along with the sketchy performance of the F/A-23 Condor deployed by the US Air Force, had gotten the results that the RAND Corporation wanted. Unfortunately, one of the F/A-23 Condors was shot down over Thai airspace, when it was flying over the town of Pattaya City. Ironically, it was an American-made M163 VADS that was responsible for shooting down the Condor, although other factors came into play, such as the pilot's degrading sense of focus as a result of the oxygen supply issues. The unfortunate incident over Pattaya City had shocked the US defense industry to the point where they considered retiring the Condor, until both Israel and Australia agreed to help the Americans fix the problems that they encountered on the Condor. The main issue that even America's allies could not fix was the rising cost of the Condor, which was capped at $380 million price tag. The simple solution therefore, was to streamline and simplify the production of the Condor. Moreover, the new and improved version of the Condor would also adopt the forward-swept wing position, with the wings folded when not in active service, and only spreading it to the side when it is deployed. Sadly, the F/A-23 Condor was the last aircraft to adopt the forward-swept wing position, as its successor in the F/A-27 Firestreak would return to the traditional fixed wing position. The lessons learned from the development of the Condor would be applied to the Firestreak, and the necessity of simplification of existing technologies would also be applied. The existence of the Condor and the Firestreak, as well as the Vulture, had also forced America's rivals to develop their own fighter jets, especially both China and the ESF, which developed their own fighter jets that would counter that of the three American fighter planes, as well as to invest heavily in advanced anti-air defensive weapons." From 'The YF-17 Revisited', released by the History Channel, October 6, 2017.
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"We have witnessed the growth of the American military technology with such alarm that we had to come up with ways to ensure that our military remains highly competitive in areas of combat prowess and technological edge as well. General Chechevatov had pointed out to me that our troops will become more vulnerable, unless we started to invest in the body armor that is sorely needed for future battlefields, as well as communications equipment. As a result, there was a great sense of urgency in the need to launch the Voynik Program. While we managed to accomplish what we had set out to do in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, poor communications and inferior equipment had resulted in unnecessary casualties that were far higher than what is acceptable. We developed such technological wonders that were applied to our communications equipment, and we have tested them, both in simulation and live combat. Most of our communications equipment, as well as satellites and other forms of gadgets, had presented its own problems that we were forced to address. We expanded the development of the body armor into various other areas, as well as developed night vision equipment that allowed our troops to engage in night operations. Joint Strategy Infinite Stratos demonstrated to us the benefits of night vision equipment, and its usage in military operations against terrorists and other enemy forces. We also took a good look at our weapons, and while we can still call the Avtomat Kalashnikovs our primary weapons, other nations have started to develop bullpup weapons. Nations like the UK, France, and even Israel have perfected such weapons, while we don't have a workable bullpup of our own. That was why we turned to our Ukrainian and Belarusian brothers for such help, and what they've come up with is nothing short of amazing. The Avtomat Malyuk is a truly revolutionary kind of bullpup weapon that is also a derivative of the Kalashnikovs that we're familiar with, and while we've only limited its use to the Spetsnaz troops, there's also the Vepr, which is the bullpup conversion of the AK-74. The Vepr was adopted mainly for our paratroopers, but they've been installed with the latest gimmicks into it, such as infrared vision that would allow them to engage the target at night, as well as in dimly lit areas. In addition, we also revisited the rejected TKB-0146 rifle that had chronic problems, mainly fouling. I think that the bullpup projects will have to be tackled with the help of our allies, and the reunited Korean Federal Republic has sent us one of their prototypes in the cancelled DAR-21 bullpup. The reformation of our military is an ongoing issue, and one that will never be completed, as long as we face constant challenges to our security, both internal and external." Former Defense Minister Alexander Lebed, addressing the ESF Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 14, 2019.
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miletus12
Squadron vice admiral
To get yourself lost, just follow the signs.
Posts: 7,470 
Likes: 4,295
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Post by miletus12 on Dec 16, 2021 6:41:32 GMT
This is going to take me some time to digest.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Dec 16, 2021 6:47:59 GMT
This is going to take me some time to digest. Sure thing. You might have some reservations on this TL, but PM me if you need to point out some issues. |
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miletus12
Squadron vice admiral
To get yourself lost, just follow the signs.
Posts: 7,470
Likes: 4,295
|
Post by miletus12 on Dec 16, 2021 17:24:12 GMT
This is going to take me some time to digest. Sure thing. You might have some reservations on this TL, but PM me if you need to point out some issues. I like the story. It is very imaginative. |
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