Update: 2003
Peaceful Events
The Treaty of Mali was signed between all nations of Dar al-Islam and the Comintern, officially creating the Eastern Coalition as a similarly-sized counterbalance to the Chicago Pact.
Many ordinary Alaskans reconciled with their government in the wake of achieved OLF independence and a multitude of massive victories on the battlefront.
(Alaskan approval increase)
(See Military Events)
The Oregon Liberation Front and the Theocratic State of Deseret began a troubled detente, with orders from Deseret leaders implying that OLF forces could man some coastal defenses in Oregon and Washington. Without any further detail on what that meant, and with Alaskan demands for Cascadian independence hanging over their heads, local Deseret commanders withdrew from most of coastal Oregon, allowing the battered OLF to take control of the Portland area and establish a menial but independent government.
(+Cascadia)
As a policy of quarantine zones and aggressive vaccinations began to defeat the smallpox virus in the American Federation, the nation resurrected some of its economic potential. Too, as its civilian population was fully mobilized to help the war effort, a determination emerged to see the United States reformed under the great President Condoleezza Rice.
(+1 American ASP, American approval increase)
Expeditionary forces from the countries of Iberia, the Central European Union, and ASEAN gathered to aid the American Federation for the continuation of its storm.
At the beginning of 2003, the Confederate States refuted all rumors that they were surrendering to the American Federation and geared up for a last-ditch offensive, trashing the remainder of their economy through the preparations needed to bring the fight straight to New York.
Venezuela invested in its construction industry.
(+1 Venezuelan ASP)
Wealthy Venezuela's influence began to spread in Amazonia. Engaging advertisements started to appear on Amazonian televisions that seemed to support a 'join Venezuela' option on the eventual referendum that would decide the long-term status of Amazonia, even though joining Venezuela had never before been considered as a viable option.
Through a comprehensive domestic program, the draining the 'Chicago Pact Development Fund,' and the employment of Lima's repaid loan, Brazil catapulted itself to a more reasonable level of economic strength.
The last remnants of the South African Union’s ‘technology prude’ conflict with the rest of the Chicago Pact fizzled out when South African scientists quietly shared elements of their discoveries with the rest of the alliance.
The Treaty of the Congo ended the 2002 Nigerian War and created a new order in much of Africa. Nigeria itself was reduced to an exile region surrounding Angola and the Congo, to which many of its notables fled even while Sudan and the Islamic Courts Union snipped off and annexed pieces of the east of the old country. Even the noncombatant South African Union got a piece of the action, accepting Ovamboland as a new constituent area. Still, the most dramatic changes happened to Morocco, whose influence, population, and territory seemed to double overnight. Core Nigeria and the Congo were added to Morocco as new constituent regions, and in the Treaty of the Congo rump Nigeria agreed to call on Morocco if it ever came to a time of need. (Again.) In any event, the war was quick enough to do little to the economic stability of the region, and many talking heads were starting to refer to Morocco as the new face of Dar al-Islam, replacing Indonesia as first among equals.
(+1 Moroccan ASP, -2 Nigerian ASP, Nigerian approval decrease)
Morocco’s newly annexed lands of Core Nigeria and the Congo were filled with Christians, and thus filled with large amounts of dissent, even despite promises of citizenship and full rights. Too, the decision to shift the capital to a nationally-central city in the State of Mali created some unrest and confusion, though in the long run this may have proved an efficient administrative decision.
(Moroccan approval decrease)
The new Moroccan capital was renamed New Rabat, and it was from there that Moroccan administrators proclaimed an Empire, which really changed very little except to give the nation a new flag and a new self-image. Many pointed out that the Empire of Morocco was now verbally on par with the Empire of Indonesia. In any event, this new Empire of Morocco made a number of international business sales and arrangements, and then used the proceeds to strengthen both the country’s oil industry and infrastructure, though the later investment provided more dividends. Railroads and ports were always useful, but many nations all around the world had already spent the last couple years expanding their oil production to dizzying heights, and there was somewhat of a glut on the market.
(+1 Moroccan ASP)
The Tunisian Arab Jamahiriya began to heavily develop port infrastructure.
Iberia spent much of its year preparing for the 2004 World Cup, even as the world’s continuing warfare cast doubts on whether the sporting event would be able to take place.
The Socialist Republic of France began efforts to fortify its side of the already heavily militarized Franco-Iberian border.
Central European Union tried to continue its program of social reform. However, economic growth efforts were stalled by invasion...
(See Military Events)
The leaders of Poland came to a decision to focus heavily on improving the nation’s tourism industry.
The President of the Constantinople Federation, Yuri Kallis, was assassinated by a Turkish nationalist, causing the nation to enter a period of civil strife. Various nationalist groups seemed on the verge of pulling away from the center until a group of Greek right-wingers known as the Syncretic Party came to the fore, crushed all opposition in farcical elections, and established a new government. Much more popularly known as the Dark Eagle Party, the Syncretics under their oratorical leader President Cronus Xanthou illegalized all other parties in the name of combating the “emergency situation.”
The Muscovite Republic surrendered to the restored Russian Empire in exchange for a mass amnesty for everyone involved in the rebellion, which somewhat undermined the whole purpose of the two year civil war, considering that those same Muscovites basking in their freedom were the last remnants of the same mafias that had run the old Russian Republic into the ground. Before the year was out, new criminal organizations sprung up across the country, and old ones were reestablished.
(-Muscovite Republic, Imperial Russian approval decrease)
The Arabian Umma tried to raise world oil prices by decreasing production, but this act was not as much of a cash cow as it could have been due to a lack of coordination with other nations. Railroads and a growing cruise ship industry proved to be more of the backbone for Arabian growth.
(+1 Arabian ASP)
At great expense, the Arabians attempted to build some naval prototype of a sort of island battleship, but it promptly sank. Still, useful discoveries came from the effort.
FEAR reorganized its internal structure per the Democratic Order of Municipalities (DOOM) plan and the Reconstruction and Amalgamation phases of the Reconstruction-Amalgamation-Progress-Evolution plan (RAPE). Many questioned the political correctness of the later acronym, but few could doubt that the new levels of autonomy and development in northern FEAR were vastly improving the nation’s productivity. FEAR’s successful sales of its newly created People’s Crushers design were one element of the system that helped catapult the nation into a new level of economic strength.
(+2 FEAR ASP)
FEAR successfully annexed their areas of China as allotted in the Treaty of Shanghai. Along FEAR’s side of the Yangtze, a new Iron Curtain of bunkers, barbed wire, and minefields was unveiled.
One of the many tactics FEAR used against Chinese resistance involved flooding major rivers with chemical and bacterial agents like Agent Orange. Most importantly to ASEAN, the Mekong River became heavily polluted, damaging the health of hundreds of thousands in the states of Cambodia and Laos and endangering the area’s tremendous biodiversity.
The American Federation leaned on its Japanese territories to provide warm bodies for its Pacific Theatre, leading to native protests and demonstrations demanding independence.
(+5 American conscript divisions)
India tightened security against the threat of new terrorist attacks, and Indian forces moved out of old PRC Burma in deference to the ASEAN's claims.
The remnants of the People's Republic of China continued efforts to shove a gun into every vaguely capable citizen's hands and send him or her to the front.
(+30 Chinese conscript divisions)
Spurred by belated annexations of Southern China and Burma as per the Treaty of Shanghai, the ASEAN's economy picked up. In the new ASEAN member state of South China, the port of Fuzhou was rebuilt. Steady ASEAN activity at restoring order in former PRC lands convinced much of the traumatized populace that ASEAN was a very different regime than FEAR, and many of the most violent forms of unrest began to die down.
(+1 ASEAN ASP)
ASEAN responded to various terrorist attacks 2002 in a multitude of ways. November 3rd was declared a national day of mourning for all those killed in the June and November attacks, and a memorial was built outside the damaged Kuala Lumpur Hospital. President Adanan repeatedly denounced the People's Republic of China as a vile government of murderers that had to be destroyed. His government put in place the Anti-Terrorism Acts, which shuffled around assets to make various bureaus more efficient, even as it organized a detailed system of responses to and punishments for terrorists. Quickly, other laws were also passed. The Airport Security Measures Act created new regulations for flight safety in the wake of the 2/02 Attacks against the American Federation. The Triad Prevention Act made clear that there would be harsher punishments than ever for being a member of such an illegal group. All of this convinced many worried citizens that their government would protect them.
(ASEAN approval increase)
The Treaty of Perth, signed between ASEAN and FEAR, barely lowered tensions a notch in East Asia. Still, ASEAN peacefully evacuated Cheju and allowed FEAR administrators to take over, even while they moved a small army to occupy most of upstart Oceania in accordance with other provisions of the agreement. Indonesia quickly annexed Eastern New Guinea as plainly stated in the Perth treaty, but what ASEAN did in the rest of Oceania caused FEAR observers to cry foul. In simple terms, the nation was dismembered. President Anderson, architect of Oceania's audacious assault on FEAR, was arrested and set to be shipped off to the Constantinople Federation for trial, though he was allowed to go on somewhat of a tour spouting anti-FEAR rhetoric before he was ushered onto a plane. ASEAN annexed all of Oceania's northern archipelagos as a new member state: the Federation of Pacific Islands. Emergency elections were held in the newly declared Republic of Australia to create a new government, and New Zealand was considered separately, its people being offered a referendum on whether to become a part of Australia, attain independence, or become an ASEAN member state. Those in favor of independence narrowly won out, though a surprisingly strong showing for ASEAN membership was led by Maoris. By the end of the year, Oceania was no more, replaced by ASEAN regional hegemony. Both the Republic of Australia and New Zealand were labeled protectorates of the ASEAN, and the remnants of Oceania's navy was incorporated into ASEAN. How did all of this happen? For one thing, ASEAN acted with the tacit support of the outgoing and humiliated Oceanic government. For another, ASEAN forces in the region had a clear plan of action, and they took advantage of the dearth of Oceanic nationalism to convince the various regional peoples that they would be good stewards for the region. With Oceanic President Anderson discredited, not much resistance stood in the way of the ASEAN's new order. Indeed, ASEAN occupation forces had left Australia and New Zealand by the end of the year, their job accomplished.
(-Oceanic Confederation, +Republic of Australia, +New Zealand, +3 ASEAN squadrons)
While President Anderson was en route to his trial in the Constantinople Federation, his plane was hijacked by terrorists over Sumatra. Most passengers were evacuated safely, but the plane crashed with Anderson still onboard.
Military Events
Various North American armies geared up for supposedly war-deciding invasions...
(See Spotlight)
(-1 Alaskan division, -1 Alaskan group, -1 Quebecois group, +1 Confederate ASP, -4 Confederate divisions, -2 Confederate groups, +1 Deseret ASP, +30 Deseret conscript divisions, -13 Deseret conscript divisions, -4 Deseret divisions, -5 Deseret Marines divisions, --2 Deseret groups, -2 American ASP, American approval decrease, -17 American divisions, -5 American conscript divisions, -2 American groups, -1 Iberian division, -1 Iberian group, -1 CEU group, -5 ASEAN divisions, -1 Venezuelan division)
Loyal Confederate guerillas continued to operate inside Venezuelan-occupied Cuba.
The Socialist Republic of France decided in tandem with the People's Republic of Europe that the Central European Union had to be liquidated; neither nation would stand for continued capitalist encirclement. The French attacked the Lowlands and French-speaking areas of the CEU even as the PRE smashed into the German regions, and then the two nations started working in tandem down the Italian peninsula, though the PRE quickly outpaced the French to seize both Naples and Rome. Overwhelmingly outnumbered and ill-equipped to deal with such a multi-fronted onslaught, the forces of the Central European Union pulled back to redoubts around Sicily and their capital in Switzerland, even as its diplomats in distant embassies urged the Chicago Pact to come to the rescue of an almost defeated member.
(-2 CEU ASP, -8 CEU divisions, -6 CEU groups, -1 French division, -2 French groups, -2 PRE divisions, -2 PRE groups)
The Egyptian Arab Socialist rebellion continued growing into the beginning of 2003, but came under heavy attack by the middle of the year as the forces of the Mesopotamian Union started pouring into the revolting areas. Oddly well provisioned, the Egyptians held up well, engaging in a fighting retreat in some areas and holding the Union to a stalemate in others. Moreover, their continued resistance sent shockwaves of anxiety throughout the Mesopotamian Union's disparate populations. The Syrians in particular seemed on the verge of their own rebellion.
(-1 Mesopotamian ASP, Mesopotamian approval decrease, -2 Mesopotamian divisions)
The Imperial Russians, having defeated the Muscovites, haphazardly turned towards defeating the rebelling Uzbeks in the south of their nation. However, the minimal forces deployed to the region were unsuccessful in pacification efforts, and the Uzbeks were joined by other Central Asian ethnic groups as their revolt spread. Pakistani missionaries were spotted among the rebels, raising a cry of outrage in Volgograd over their neighbor’s interference.
(-1 Imperial Russian division)
Indian forces moved from Burma to Northern India, and succeeded in liberating the area from the PRC, which had already mostly abandoned the area and dug in around the Himalayas. Thus, efforts by the Indians to invade Tibet were inconclusive, as the PRC had destroyed almost every path through the mountains.
(-3 Chinese divisions, -7 Chinese conscript divisions, -2 Indian divisions)
Towards the beginning of 2003, in their already largely-pacified areas of central China, FEAR brutally cracked down on the remaining resistance, destroying whole cities and entire populations in response to the slightest acts of defiance. Death totals rose into the millions. The greatest recourse of the Chinese was to smuggle out videos and pictures of the various abominations they suffered, with new pictures of mangled freedom fighters appearing in the world media every day. Still, while public opinion of FEAR in the Chicago Pact countries sunk to an all-time low, democratic disgust of distant events wasn’t saving anyone.
ASEAN crushed the remnants of the PRC armies along the Mekong River before settling into a defensive position along their expanded border as per the Treaty of Shanghai.
(-1 Chinese division)
By 2003, the Great Far Eastern War against the People’s Republic of China had seemed to become less of a war and more of a wholesale slaughter, but the Chinese had one last trick up their sleeves. Even though terrorist activities liked to the PRC became more and more muffled as the various anti-Chinese nations cracked down on the Triads and other groups that the PRC used to operate, even though Chengdu was quickly recaptured by FEAR and completely demolished, the Chinese still had the juice for one final gamble. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers under General Jing Zhiyuan surged and tried to punch a hole in the FEAR front line around Sichuan. With barely any air support, many of Jing's troops were massacred, but eventually his army succeeded in reaching central China. Horror awaited them. Major rivers, even the Huang He, had been poisoned, and many of the millions of Chinese they had expected to rise up and support them were either dead, traumatized, or dying. Due to FEAR's policy of doing their best to kill all Chinese within 100 kilometer radius of any resistance, vast areas were depopulated, and Jing Zhiyuan could find no suitable area to rebase, so his entire army was slowly annihilated, albeit at the price of significant numbers of FEAR soldiers. Desperation had proved a powerful weapon. In the end, the Sichuan Front of the war stabilized once again within this boundaries of that old province, quite near the new ruins of Chengdu, with FEAR's forces too out of sorts from the PRC's bold maneuvering to launch any game-ending offensive into Tibet.
(-20 Chinese divisions, -30 Chinese conscript divisions, -7 FEAR divisions, -1 FEAR People's Crushers division)
Despite the destruction of the PRC's finest armies in central China, resistance around the area of Xinjiang continued apace, and the FEAR commanders in the region found themselves stubbornly unable to destroy the local opposition in detail, though said troops were driven back. Local Uyghurs, thoroughly indoctrinated in FEAR ideology, took out their frustrations by killing all the Chinese stuck on the wrong side of the front lines.
(-1 Chinese division, -8 Chinese conscript divisions, -1 FEAR division)
. Merry Christmas from the Northern Collective and also merry celebration to those of FEAR.
(Even if its boxing day for me already)
