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Triton

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  1. By self-rule, do you mean autonomous regions? It’s been a while since I’ve read the Rough Guide to the UK, so I would have to refresh my memory before commenting on what may have occurred in the various regions of the United Kingdom.

     

    This was my own invention after reading Wikipedia about active separatist movements, hearing Scottish nationalists, and going to the opposite side of the spectrum imagining the United Commonwealth to be a loose confederation. Pretty much self-rule in the regions like the European Union. These nations contribute to the combined military and have a common foreign policy and have a common currency (the Pound.) United Commonwealth Pound?

     

    I think you forgot India in there. India is an enormouse market and a full participating member in the Commonwealth’s space program. It’s proximity to the equator makes it an optimal location from which to launch payloads into space. Granted, there are other means than rockets to reach orbit, but the advantage of a launch location near the equator is still important.

     

    No, I didn't forget India. I intentionally omitted India from the United Commonwealth. This may be contrary to Cyberpunk canon, but India after independence seems to have a very close relationship with the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation. For example, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has a joint venture with Sukhoi to create a stealth fighter based on the Sukhoi T-50. HAL also has a joint venture with Ilyushin to create the MRTA (Multi-Role Transport Aircraft).

     

    Since I have concept artwork of aircraft and ships with the Saint Andrew's flag and the White, Blue, Red tricolor flag that I would very much like to use to create fictional aircraft and vehicles in my Cyberpunk campaign, I have started calling the neo-Soviet Union the Eurasian Federation. I also stole the idea from Frederick Forsyth's novel Icon of crowning Prince Michael of Kent as Tsar Mikhail Jurjevich of the restored House Romanov. Imagining that the Russian Federation would become a constitutional monarchy. The head of state for the Eurasian Federation would be Tsar Mikhail Jurievich. SovOil being renamed to Russian Petroleum or RussNeft.

     

    I was imagining that India would rather align itself with the Eurasian Federation than the United Commonwealth, or it should remain independent, I read one report that predicted that India would become the world's largest economy by 2040. The People's Republic of China would be the largest economy by 2030. These ideas might violate the Cyberpunk canon timeline, but the world has changed since the late 1980s when the Cyberpunk world was created.

     

    I also remember the Sikh violence during the 1980s, such as the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 and the bombing of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985. Therefore, I was thinking that the Punjabi regions of Pakistan and India would become the new nation of Khalistan.

     

    India would soon officially rename itself to Hindustan. I am doing additional research to see if other new nations are created in India's current territory. Thinking of Sri Lanka, what about the new naionn of Tamil Eelam?

     

    I imagined that Hindustan would have it's own space program instead of participating in the Commonwealth's space program.

     

    As for the United Commonwealth space program, I was thinking either Papua New Guinea (located near Port Moresby) or Belize, formerly British Honduras, (located near Belize City) would be the location for the launch center. I am leaning more toward Papua New Guinea.

     

    I am also imaging a war between the Republic of Indonesia and the United Commonwealth or the Empire of Nippon. The super carriers HMS Queen Victoria II, HMAS Australia, and HMAS Melbourne might flatten Djakarta.

     

    Funny that you should mention China. China stepped into the power vacuum created by the Fourth Corporate War and has become the economic powerhouse in the Pac Rim. One of the reasons that Commonwealth countries were eager to join the new economic bloc was to counter the growing power of China in the region.

     

    In our game universe, most of Hong Kong (Like Rio de Janeiro) was destroyed. The fighting between Arasaka and Militech got out of hand. Other groups joined in the fighting, leaving large portions of the city in ruins. The Chinese have a long memory and used the conflict as an opportunity to exact revenge upon the Japanese corporation (and by extension the country of Japan) for the atrocities Japan had committed in China during World War II and for the actions of Arasaka.

     

    A major contributing factor to Japan capitulating to the demands of the United States (ending the Fourth Corporate War) was the imminent threat of invasion...not by the US, but by China. After what had happened (and was continuing to happen) to Hong Kong, there was great fear among the Japanese of what China would do to the home islands.

     

    Still, the destruction of Hong Kong has allowed China to build an entirely new city.

     

    In the real world, China pulled out all the stops, leading up to the 2008 Olympics, to modernize Beijing, in order to showcase itself as a developed and prosperous nation. This public PR blitz was used to attract new investments to the country and polish the country’s image on the international stage. Rebuilding Hong Kong in the cyberpunk timeline would serve a similar purpose. The character of the city will also be very different, with much of the hundred years of English culture and rule erased by the destruction of the old city.

     

    Interesting. I would imagine that if China rebuilt Hong Kong it would officially rename the city to the Hanyu Pinyin spelling of Xianggang.

     

    I have also been playing with the idea of referring to China as "The Middle Kingdom" or Zhongguo as the Chinese currently refer to their country and not use the word China. Existing companies would continue to use China in their names such as China Commercial Aircraft Company (COMAC).

     

    I have also played around with the idea of pro-democracy demonstrations and violence as Zhongguo's economy improves. Moving away from a single-party state to a multiple-party state. Perhaps civil war in Zhongguo.

     

    I might use the ideas from the Shadowrun role-playing game (boo! hiss!) of breaking up Zhongguo into parts like the Canton Confederation etc. A free Tibet and the new nation of Uyghuristan, which took in the fleeing Muslims from the Middle East Meltdown. A separate Manchuria renamed Manchukuo friendly to Japan. Inner Mongolia becoming an independent state. The independent Republic of Taiwan.

     

    War in Spratly Islands over territorial disputes and oil.

     

     

    I am re-writing the canon Cyberpunk Timeline and changing some of the dates around since it is Spring 2012 that I have tentatively titled Third Millennium. The year of the campaign is 2037. The 2040 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, Nippon. Allowing me to throw in some ideas from Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell, Yukikaze, and Appleseed. Such as restoration of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula creating refugees and eventually a Unified Korea with a pro-Nippon regime.

     

    I am imagining that Nippon will abrogate, amend, or re-write its post-World War II constitution due to the Asian Arms Race that is arming Hindustan and Zhongguo. Perhaps there is little, or no, confidence that the United States will come to Japan's defense if it is attacked by another nation that has amiable relations with the United States.

     

    The Japan Self-Defense Force has become the Imperial Nipponese Forces (INF) with the Imperial Nipponese Army (INA), Imperial Nipponese Navy (INN), and Imperial Nipponese Air Force (INAF).

     

    Arasaka Heavy Industries (AHI) has built the new nuclear-powered Kii-class super carriers. Members of the class being:

     

    INN Kii (DDHN-156)

    INN Shinano (DDHN-157)

    INN Musashi (DDHN-158)

    INN Yamato (DDHN-159)

     

    Think JS Admiral 56 in Yukikaze.

     

    Arasaka is part of the seventh keiretsu group of the "Big Seven" horizontal keiretsus of Nippon. A fictional major Nipponese bank, the fictional Nakatomi Trading Corporation (I love its logo), and some fictional company names from Ghost in the Shell, such as Sagawa Electronics, and Gibson's sprawl stories, such as Ono-Sendai. KyoGen for Kyoto Genetics. Kiroshi?

     

    His Majesty Emperor Naruhito sits on the Chrysanthemum Throne. The heir apparent is Princess Toshi since the Imperial Household Law of 1947 was re-written to allow absolute cognatic primogeniture on the Chrysanthemum Throne.

     

    I want to use Blackwater Security as a fictional PMC in my Cyberpunk campaign because I love the name and logo. Since the real company has been named now to Academi, from Xe Services LLC, I don't see it being an issue.

     

    There's also the fictional Multi-National United (MNU) from the motion picture District 9 and its mercenary teams wearing white body armor and vehicles featuring the Kudu logo. MNU Security Services?

     

    I probably have deviated too far from the Cyberpunk canon which is why I am renaming the campaign setting and saying it uses the Cyberpunk rules and is based on Cyberpunk 2013 created by Mike Pondsmith.

  2. The Frederick Forsyth thriller Icon restores the Russian monarchy selecting Prince Michael of Kent as the new Tsar, crowned Tsar Mikhail Jurjevich. His son, Lord Frederick Windsor, as the presumed Tsarevich Grand Duke Fyodor Mikhailovich of Russia.

     

    Perhaps a new Romanov dynasty in Russia in a Cyberpunk campaign making the Russian Federation a constitutional monarchy? The restored Romanovs living in the Alexander Palace, 30 minutes from St Petersburg.

  3. Postscript:

     

    I find the following articles on Wikipedia to be interesting in contemplating changes to the world's maps:

     

    "Lists of active separatist movements"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_acti...atist_movements

     

    "Irredentism"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irredentism

     

    "List of irredentist claims or disputes"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_irred...ims_or_disputes

     

    "List of proposed state mergers"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_state_mergers

     

    I don't know if you want to add a second Falklands War to your timeline, Destecado, or add the Falkland Islands to the United Commonwealth or if they become the Islas Malvinas.

     

    I have also been thinking about Belgium breaking apart into Flanders and Wallonia and whether they will stay independent. Or if Flanders will join with the Netherlands creating the United Netherlands adopting the Prince William of Orange flag.

     

    Or Wallonia deciding to merge with France.

     

    There's also the Basque Country between Spain and France. The new nation of Euskal Herria?

     

    Perhaps ethnic Kurds in Turkey secede creating Kurdistan.

     

    Portugal and Galacia (part of Spain) merge into a single state.

     

    Unification of Romania and Moldova.

     

     

     

  4. What's nice about a Cyberpunk role-playing game is that you aren't doing a technology or political forecast. You are free to develop what you believe to be a fun and interesting environment for role-playing campaign. Historical and political research allows you to make the environment much more realistic-sounding and plausible.

     

    I should preface my future comments and opinions by stating that the fictional scenarios and history that I may post on View from the Edge for the most part do not express my desired future world or reflect my own political beliefs.

     

    Looking at Tom Clancy's End War and early enthusiasm for the European Union in the early 1990s, some authors and commentators imagined a monolithic European Power Bloc, a sort of United States of Europe or European Republic growing from the EEC and then EU. With the Eurobuck as the world's reserve currency, I presume that the authors of Cyberpunk 2013 onwards imagined a monolithic European super state that doesn't match the reality that is 2012 European politics.

     

    Deric in his Datafortress 2020 materials uses the term European Defense Force (EDF), which conjures up visions of a European superstate. Some authors have gone to the extreme of imagining a Europe dominated by Germany or the return of Fascism to the content.

     

    I very much like your timeline, Destecado.

     

    Although the United Kingdom is part of the European Union, it has opted out of the Eurozone. The nation and government has historically had rather tepid enthusiasm to be more closely tied with the continent, the Chunnel not withstanding.

     

    I don't know why the Rough Guide to the UK made the creative choice to go with the offspring of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York as the new Queen. I presume that Queen Victoria II is Princess Beatrice of York. Unless they were thinking of a new Victorian Era with a young queen. Is there an Albert for this young Queen Victoria II?

     

    I don't know if Prince Charles will (would) ever ascend the throne. Has he become more popular in the Commonwealth Realms?

     

    He has stated that as monarch he would like to be known as King George VII. I was imagining that his son Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, may be crowned as King George VII in a Cyberpunk campaign, bypassing Charles. Or perhaps being crowned as King George VIII rather than King William V.

     

    I have been giving a lot of thought to a Commonwealth unification movement and whether I want to go with a loose confederation of states, recreation of the British Empire, or something in between these two extremes.

     

    I have been imagining that the name of Northern Ireland would be officially changed to Ulster in the Cyberpunk universe. That political unification would never occur on the island of Ireland. (Not to upset the Irish unificationists out there. Remember this is fiction.)

     

    A notional Royal Dominion, Royal Federation of Commonwealth Realms, United Commonwealth, or Commonwealth Confederation. I presume that the monarch would the head of state of tight federation or loose federation.

     

    There is also a question of self-rule of the territories that constitute the United Kingdom: England, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ulster, Scotland, Cymru (Wales). Perhaps we can throw a self-ruling Cornall and Wessex.

     

    Then add the Commonwealth Realms: Australia, Canada (without the provinces of Québec and Labrador), Aotearoa (formerly named New Zealand), Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu.

     

    Then we might add Singapore, Brunei, Cyprus, and Malta.

     

    This would create the world's fourth largest economy behind the European Union, United States, and China.

     

    I decided to ignore the republican movements in Australia etc.

     

    If we were really adventurous, we might imagine a Republic of Hong Kong joining this United Commonwealth. (In reality, I am skeptical that the People's Republic of China would let Hong Kong go. But this is science fiction near-future role-playing.)

     

    We could imagine that this organization creates the British Poundzone, competing with the Eurozone, and perhaps has a common military and foreign policy. Perhaps member governments have standardized on the same weapons, ships, vehicles, and aircraft.

     

    I presume that relations between the United Commonwealth and the United States are amiable. The often discussed "special relationship" that is purported to exist between the United States and the United Kingdom.

     

    Thoughts?

  5. I don't know the number of nuclear weapons, or their kiloton or megaton yields, but I imagine that wells in oil fields were broken in the nuclear blast and the thermal radiation set them aflame. Perhaps much of the Middle East resembles scenes from the Fires of Kuwait. The oil fields may be too contaminated with radiation to send in fire crews or the firefighting process has been greatly slowed because of the logistics of working in a radioactive zone. Maybe the oil infrastructure and oil fields were intentionally targeted. The oil in the wells under pressure with thousands of barrels of oil may burn for years.

     

    Perhaps smoke from the oil fires is worse than radioactive fallout? In areas, smoke from the fires may blot out 70 to 80% of the sun's radiation and by-products of the petroleum burn pollute soil, air, and water. The region may suffer from black rain and acid rain caused by the air pollutants from the oil fires. The pollution from the oil fires causing illness to populations not affected by the blasts or resultant radiation.

     

    For more information:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwaiti_oil_fires

     

    I presume that this would cause a mass exodus from the Middle East into other areas. The "Mideast Meltdown" may have climatic impact on a global scale.

     

    I was thinking maybe the Middle East isn't "The Glass Road", but "Black Sand". The sand in most of the region has turned black from oil pollution and the waters of the Persian Gulf are black from oil.

  6. I have started writing my aircraft source book tentatively titled Aluminum Overcast. Looking at the Maximum Metal rules, they use kilograms and tons as units for vehicle cargo and mass. My question--is this meant to be a short ton (2,000 pounds (907.18474 kg)), long ton (2,240 lb (1,016.0469088 kg)), or metric ton (tonnes) (1,000 kg (2,204.6226218 lb)).)

     

    It's confusing that R. Talsorian has decided to mix the U.S. System and the metric system in the Cyberpunk RPG. Why give the cargo capacity and mass in kilograms and then use miles per hour? Why not kilograms and kilometers per hour or lbs. and miles per hour?

     

    Is the Lockheed C-200 Universe in Maximum Metal supposed to be Lockheed's proposal for the United States Air Force CX Competition, which was won by the McDonnell Douglas that became the C-17 GlobeMaster III?

     

    The required cargo capacity for the CX Competition was 140,000 lbs. or 70 short tons.

     

    Which ton should I use when creating vehicles?

  7. I have been interested in creating a national service similar to Olympus E-SWAT or Night City C-SWAT. I believe that a national organization would offer more role-playing possibilities. I was originally thinking of the United States Police Force (USPF) as a uniformed service under the Department of Defense in addition to the current Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. I was thinking that this new service would have full-conversion cyborgs and ACPAs,

     

    Then I imagined that perhaps this new organization would be under the Department of Homeland Security. A sister organization to United States Customs and Border Protection, United States Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), United States Secret Service etc.

     

    While browsing the RAND Corporation web site, I found the following document:

     

    A Stability Police Force for the United States: Justification and Options for Creating U.S. Capabilities

     

    by Terrence K. Kelly, Seth G. Jones, James E. Barnett II,

    Keith Crane, Robert C. Davis, Carl Jensen

     

    Executive Summary:

     

    Establishing security is the sine qua non of stability operations, since it is a prerequisite for reconstruction and development. Security requires a mix of military and police forces to deal with a range of threats from insurgents to criminal organizations. This research examines the creation of a high-end police force, which the authors call a Stability Police Force (SPF). The study considers what size force is necessary, how responsive it needs to be, where in the government it might be located, what capabilities it should have, how it could be staffed, and its cost. This monograph also considers several options for locating this force within the U.S. government, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in the Department of State, and the U.S. Army's Military Police. The authors conclude that an SPF containing 6,000 people — created in the U.S. Marshals Service and staffed by a “hybrid option,” in which SPF members are federal police officers seconded to federal, state, and local police agencies when not deployed — would be the most effective of the options considered. The SPF would be able to deploy in 30 days. The cost for this option would be $637.3 million annually, in FY2007 dollars.

     

     

    Excerpt:

     

    An SPF is a high-end police force that engages in a range of tasks such as crowd and riot control, special weapons and tactics (SWAT), and investigations of organized criminal groups. In its ability to operate in stability operations, it is similar to such European forces as the Italian Carabinieri and French Gendarmerie. Its focus on high-end tasks makes it fundamentally different from UN or other civilian police, who deal with more routine law and order functions. It is also different from most military forces, which are generally not trained and experienced to conduct policing tasks in a civilian environment. Second, if an SPF is necessary, what should it look like? This includes considering such issues as: its objectives, tasks, and size; its speed of deployment; its institutional capabilities; where it should be headquartered in the U.S. government and how it should be staffed (standing force, reserve force, and hybrid force); and its cost.

     

    Our conclusions are based on several facts and assumptions. First, it would be optimal to have SPF personnel with civilian police skills, orientation, and perspective do high-end policing. This is because civilian police have more experience working with the civilian population than do military personnel under normal circumstances. Additionally, police skills are created and maintained only by constant use, and only police forces that work daily with civilians can exercise the maximum number of SPF policing functions among the civilian population.

     

    Second, we assume that a new agency would be difficult to establish. It would be politically challenging and face resistance from a range of organizations in the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State currently engaged in policing. It would need some additional overhead, and would take significant time to establish. All personnel and all additional administrative overhead personnel would have to be recruited. Training facilities and programs would have to be created and established, rather than modified or expanded, as they would have to be if an SPF becomes part of an existing agency.

     

    Third, we assumed that stability operations are feasible only when the intervening authorities care a great deal about the outcome, and even then, only in relatively small countries or regions. We limited our SPF size estimates to countries under 20 million for reasons of cost and staffing. Specifically, we assumed that an SPF that cost more than $1 billion per year would be politically unpopular and would be difficult to get funded. If U.S. policymakers wanted to deploy an SPF to large countries with a hostile security environment, there are several options to deal with the shortfall: (a) an SPF size could be increased by augmenting it with additional federal, state, or local police from the United States; (B) an SPF could only be deployed to specific regions or cities in the country; © an SPF could be supplemented with highend police from other countries; (d) an SPF could be supplemented with military police (MPs); or (e) an SPF could be supplemented by local police forces from the host country. If a significantly larger force was feasible, this would make the military option more attractive, the management challenge for civilian agencies would be larger, which already call for significant expansion of management capabilities.

     

     

    Conclusions (excerpt)

     

    Given that it is unlikely that [Military Police] MPs would be permitted to perform civilian policing tasks in the United States, the USMS [united States Marshals Service], despite its capacity and management shortfalls, is the agency best suited to take on the SPF mission under the assumptions of this study. Placing the SPF in the USMS would place it where its members can develop the needed skills under the hybrid staffing option. Furthermore, the USMS has the broadest law enforcement mandate of any U.S. law enforcement agency and many of the required skills, though it would need to increase its capacity significantly. Furthermore,the Department of Justice stands at the center of the rule-of-law effort, with lead roles in policing, judiciary, and corrections efforts.

     

    Sources:

     

    Full White Paper

    http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/.../RAND_MG819.pdf

     

    Summary

    http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/...D_MG819.sum.pdf

     

    RAND website:

    http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG819.html

     

    This got me thinking about a national E-SWAT or C-SWAT force that was part of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) that could be deployed internationally or on a need basis across the United States.

     

    The USMS in addition to providing security to federal courts, could also provide security to important infrastructure in the United States such as airports and powerplants. Perhaps replacing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Have assault rifle-armed and body armor wearing USMS agents at baggage claim and throughout an airport.

     

    The USMS could also be deployed internationally into United States Forces conflict zones, such as those in Central and South America and Africa. Or any conflict zone that you might have in your Cyberpunk campaign.

     

    To supplement the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the federal government could hire Private Military Companies (PMC) like Arasaka or Lazurus or other PMCs that you might use in your Cyberpunk campaign.

     

    Thoughts or observations?

     

     

  8. I might be necro-posting here, but I distinctly remember an article in The Economist stating that the apartheid-era South Africa government gave the Japanese "honorary" white status. I also remember South African troops involved in the Angolan Bush War (South Africa Border War). In the Cyperpunk world, perhaps Namibia did not gain its independence from South Africa.

     

    Incorporated Orange States (IOS) an Afrikaner homeland? Afrikaanse the official language? Apartheid-era politics.

     

    Perhaps the conflict spilling into Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)?

     

    Multi-National United (MNU) makes a wonderful evil megacorporation with their private military corporation with the Kudu logo.

     

    I would be interested in seeing what you have come up with Geist.

  9. The Gundam franchise has a fictional Eurasian Federation. The name Eurasian Federation, or EF for short, could be used to differentiate this political or economic organization from the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Community (EEC) used in the Cyberpunk franchise. Evrazian Federatsiya in Russian? The Rouble Zone?

     

    This gives me an idea to create a source book titled Motherland: The Eurasian Federation Source Book.

     

    On the cover, I would have a photograph of the statue designed by Yevgeny Vuchetich and Nikolai Nikitin and erected in Volgograd named The Motherland Calls.

     

    IPB Image

  10. What do people think of the secession of the Punjab (Sikh) regions of Pakistan and India creating the nation of Khalistan? Or perhaps civil war in the Punjab regions by the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF)?

     

     

    For further reference:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan_Commando_Force

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan_Liberation_Force

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_insurgency

     

  11. Mujahideen means people doing jihad in Arabic. Transliterations from the Arabic include mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedni, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more. Jihad being a struggle in the path of God. The term is not exclusive to Afghan freedom fighters during the Afghanistan War of 1978-92 and this could be the "Name of the Enemy."

     

    They could be led by the Mahdi or Messiah as "The Main Enemy",

  12. Soviet means "council" in Russian and sovietnik means councilor.

     

    In Imperial Russia, there was a State Council of Ministers known as the "Soviet of Ministers". There is also currently a State Council of the Russian Federation, an advisory body to the Head of State, which deals with issues of the highest importance to the state as a whole.

     

    I guess that the use of the word Soviet or Neo-Soviet does not necessarily refer to a state ruled by a single Communist Party.

  13. We all know that the Soviet Union was still in existence when RTG wrote Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020 with SovOil etc. We also see mention of the Neo-Soviets, which seems rather dated to me.

     

    As luck would have it, on 18 November 2011, the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement, setting a target of establishing the Eurasian Union by 2015. What if for game purposes, the Eurasian Union recreates the old Russian Empire and/or the Soviet Empire?

     

    Source:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Union

     

    To avoid confusion with the European Union, what if this superstate was named the Eurasian Consortium of Nations (ECON) or an evolution of the Commonwealth of Independent States becoming the Confederation of Independent States or Consortium of Independent States?

     

    Thoughts?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  14. I wonder if lines could be drawn between the Mideast Meltdown and the "Arab Spring" or "Arab Awakening" that began on December 17, 2010 to the present?

     

    That there wasn't a war between Arab states, but violence erupted when military force was used to crackdown on demonstrations. That the governments used all deadly force including the use of nuclear weapons and other WMDS to prevent the overthrow of respective governments and restore order.

     

    Or perhaps we can add al-Qaeda or a similar Jihadist organization that used nuclear weapons to strike at hated governments such as the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia or to punish people and governments within the Middle East.

     

    If oil production is cut by half, we must presume that there was much destruction of the oil infrastructure. Instead of nukes, what if oil wells were set aflame like when Saddam Hussein left Kuwait? Or IEDs designed to destroy pipelines or oil-loading docks.

     

    Further, what about a closing of the Strait of Hormuz? What if we steal the idea from the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough in which a nuclear accident from a ship irradiates an area making it too hot to enter?

  15. Am I the only who is bugged when reading RTG Cyberpunk materials that the European Union is still referred to as the European Economic Community (EEC)?

     

    The Treaty of Maastricht in 1992 established the European Union. Eurosource was written in 1991.

     

    So in the RTG Cyberpunk world from the perspective of real-world events up to 2012 what makes the most sense for handling the European Community?

     

    Does a United States of Europe make more sense? A new nation constituted by the old nations of Europe, what the video game Tom Clancy's End War named the European Federation? With a common currency, common foreign policy, and common military?

     

    Or do you believe that the current European Union framework makes sense?

     

    There has also been discussion that separatist and secessionist regions in Europe may push for their independence because of the European Union. For example. Belgium breaking up into two countries--Flanders and Wallonia. The Basque region leaving Spain and France to create the country of Euskadi?

     

    What would be the most fun for a Cyberpunk campaign? A European Superstate? Balkanized Europe? A Europe that looks like it does in 2012 with no changes in countries and borders?

     

    With the current troubles in Greece, there is speculation that nations may leave the Eurozone. Less nations belonging to the European Union?

     

    What would be most fun for a Cyberpunk campaign?

  16. The Muslim tribesman fleeing into Western China might be going into the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

     

    Source:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang

     

    There is currently an active separatist movement in Xinjiang or East Turkestan.

     

    Source:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_activ...s_in_Asia#China

     

    Perhaps the influx of Muslim refugees into Xinjiang will increase tensions in the region and secession from the People's Republic of China creating the new nation of Uyghuristan or East Turkestan?

     

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    Flag of Uyghuristan

     

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    Location of Uyghuristan aka East Turkestan

  17. The Traditional Definition of the Middle East contains the following countries and regions:

    • Bahrain
    • Bahrain
    • Cyprus
    • Egypt
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Israel
    • Jordan
    • Kuwait
    • Lebanon
    • Oman
    • Gaza Strip
    • West Bank
    • Qatar
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Syria
    • United Arab Emirates
    • Yemen
    According to "The Canonical Timeline for RTG's Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0."

     

    1997

     

    Mideast meltdown. Tensions in middle east escalate to nuclear exchange. Iran, Iraq, Libya, Chad, and the [united] Arab Emirates reduced to radioactive slag. World oil supply drops by half. U.S. military assets in the region are devastated. Moslem tribesmen flee into Western China, away from irradiated bomb impact sites. Other Islamic refugees swarm to the Islamic countries of SEA, compounding population problems

     

    Source:

    http://www.shoestring-graphics.com/CP2020/timeline/

     

     

    I don't know what SEA is.

     

    So a Middle East Supplement might include additional nations that constitute "The Greater Middle East"

    • Afghanistan
    • Algeria
    • Armenia
    • Azerbaijan
    • Comoros
    • Djibouti
    • Eritrea
    • Georgia
    • Kazakhstan
    • Kyrgyzstan
    • Libya
    • Mauritania
    • Morocco
    • Pakistan
    • Somalia
    • Sudan
    • Tajikistan
    • Tunisia
    • Turkmenistan
    • Uzbekistan
    • Western Sahara
    Source:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East

     

    Some of these countries were part of the Soviet Union and could belong what some call the Neo-Soviet Union.

     

    I believe that a Balkanization of the Middle East would be much more interesting for a role-playing campaign than a unified states such as the notional Islamic Union or the Caliphate in the Shadowrun role-playing game.

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