America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
- Thread starter CountDVB
- Start date
Sorry if things are a bit slow or rather uneventful here everyone... ^^;.Spring 2003- Conflicts and Clones
Old Man of the Mountain on April 26, 2003, seven days prior to collapse
After a few weeks of debate, some finetuning of the details, adding legislation to protect the interests of workers and pay raises, President Bill Clinton would sign in the bill that would create the Department of Internal Security, shuffling around several organizations into them. The Department of Internal Security functions like the ministry of internal or home affairs long with related organizations found in different countries. Skeptics remained wary of the the reason for the department's formation, especially in a time of peace and prosperity. However, Clinton rebutted, citing the Oklahoma City bombing and past domestic terrorism as reasons for this department's creation. In a sense, it would help manage the internal issues of the United States. However, it would be a diverse portfoilo and beyond the basics he revealed, it had additional underlying purposes, such as public safety and disaster relief as with more united coordination, it could deal with natural disasters along with miscellaneous issues. One example was to further tackle the issue of illegal arms smuggling. While the end of the War of Drugs would help cripple the presence of gangs over in Latin America, there was the concern that the looser gun laws of the United States could lead to more firearms smuggling. While some reforms were passed regarding the acquisition of firearms, the concern remained as it was suspected some institutions were not cooperating as well or letting things slide. Others believed that it could be more insidious matters like it being connected to things like embezzlement or things happening at the manufacturing levels. Despite this, the Department of Internal Security was here and would seem to be good enough over for President Clinton, at least for now. Apparently, while he was taking into account Vice President Gore's advice on a potential technological advisor, he believed that it was way too early for an official executive office for such things given the infancy. That said, some plans were being made to expand on government understanding of the rapidly evolving Internet landscape, especially given the presence of the American public ISP.
Meanwhile, Europe would be getting quite a bit of attention due to the various phenomena regarding the international organizatiosn there. The big one would be the large increase of members over into the European Union. Over in April, the Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens between the European Union and the following ten countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, concerning these countries' accession into the EU. As such, it would be set that by 2004 the European Union would increase. Such matters were having rammifications in the political sphere of other nations. [1] In the United Kingdom for example, where the EU remained something of a complicated issue among some, it came up a bit as a discussion point. However, a new camp would start rising who would blend elements of different sides. They were pro-EU and saw it as important for Britain's future, but additionally, as a way to increase British prestige by taking on a leadership role. As more and more European nations were accepting joining the EU, it was becoming clear that such international organizations and spheres were part of the future along with the need of reform. Of course, not all places were undergoing as pleasant of transition. Over in Africa, new conflicts were still springing up. There was also the growing Darfur conflict which was drawing in further Ethiopian interest in the area. And then a new conflict would arise over thanks to a mlitary coup over in Central African Republic by François Bozizé. This was leading to some concerns in the UN and related groups on how such issues should be resolved and the concern if UN peacekeeping forces would need sharper teeth and more involvement. Their neighbors were also wondering on potential involvement, such as Zaire, who had been good strides in recovery after the conflict from a few years prior.
But of course, not everything was about politics in the news. One cause of celebration over in the scientific community was the completion of the Human Genome Project, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. And speaking of genetics, cloning successes would be seen with Dewey, the first cloned deer, and the first cloned horse in Prometea. [1] Of course, not everything was good news. A dangerous cyclone would make landfall in Sri Lanka and caused a massive amount of havoc. Over 250 people were killed and considered the nation's worst natural disaster in 50 years. [1] However, plenty of nations would be sending in Sri Lanka to help the nation. Besides their northern neighbor in India, the Sovereign Union and China also send financial aid and assistance, though some experts were saying they had another motivation. With the SUSR having mostly recovered and China also rising up in further prominence, many would be expecting these nations to begin flexing their diplomatic muscles and grow their influence. Despite this, there was no antagonistic undertones and often, the Sovereign Union and China would be speaking with another and even with the US on these sort of international matters for peacekeeping and disaster relief. Another such would be the massive earthquake over in Algeria, specifically Algiers and resulting in the deaths of over 2200 people in the disaster. [1]
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[1]- Information and phrasing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003
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"MR PRESIDENT! MR PRESIDENT! IT'S ABOUT SAUDI ARABIA!"
I'm not typically the type to add in sudden conflict, that's never really been my strong suit with these timelines. I go off what's already been happening and how that could go from there. Hopefully everyone is still having fun.
2003- Saudfall
2003- Saudfall
Saudi Arabia... born from the victory of the House of Saud over the other prominent royal families in Arabia, they have occupied a place of prominence on the global stage thanks to the presence of mighty oil deposits and the House of Saud maintaining close ties to the West for a few decades now. However, time erodes all and the House of Saud has gradually been left more and more behind. The 1980s would see the perspective on petroleum shift, causing a massive need to grow beyond it and other fossil fuels. With Saudi Arabia highly dependent on oil exports, this would spell trouble for it. However, things would be made worse by the royal family itself. Their highly conservative stances along with their ties to Salafist and Wahabbist groups would become more burdensome for them, especially in the face of modern secularism. Pakistan, a nation founded with Islam as a key pillar, would fall apart due to the intense enforcement of the faith or rather an interpretation of such by the government and in doing so, lead the nation to ruin. In fact, Pakistan was now a relic of the past, replaced by the Sikh homeland of Khalistan. And to contrast this development, there was the fate of other nations as well. The people of Afghanistan would find success as they embraced secularization and the culture wars between the tribal aspects of old and the growing modernization would see the latter crush the former more and more. Iran, who was under its own revolution, would follow the path of a secular republic when the dust settled. And what did they get for that? They would defeat Iraq after years of antagonism, rebuild from the ashes and even solidify themselves as the main power of the Middle East after defeating Turkey in war, expanding their sphere of influence notably and becoming a true regional power. More and more, the times were showing that religious radicals would be swept aside by the inevitable winds of change and those embracing the new ways would succeed.
Saudi Arabia would not be immune to this. The House of Saud had grown decadant and bloated from taking the lions' share of the wealth gained from the petroleum resources, using it for their own desires rather than invest in the nation. And now they were paying the prices as the people would further and further turn against them. Meanwhile, an old enemy returns, evolved, in the form of the Neo-Baathists, and with them having succeeded in Qatar and Syria, now seek the ultimate prize over in toppling the monarchy in Saudi Arabia. With the growing discontent at the royal family and the subsequent clamp down and repressive measures, war would become an inevitability. The government instituted harsh crackdowns and brutal punishment on suspected dissenters, which would turn off their allies against them. As such, when war began breaking out, not many were willing to provide martial aid to them. The monarchy and the loyalists of the army on one side and for the rebels stood a coalition of liberals, reformers, socialists and Neo-Baathists to fight back against the House of Saud. The Coalition would quickly gain the upper hand, having the support of Qatar and Syria and fueled by armed forces who had experience in this sort of warfare. Additionally, their ranks were bolstered by mercenaries, specifically former Turkish soldiers who fled and or deserted with the defeat of Turkey in their war with Iran. Over a year, the Coalition would begin their campaign of guerilla warfare, capturing cities and rallying support among the civilians. More and more people were siding with the coalition, desperate for change and angry at the House of Saud's rule, a boiling contempt that has stewed quietly over the years.
Such tensions would lead to growing factionalism among the House of Saud. The cracks would grow and the House would begin breaking apart. Some of the members took what they could and began fleeing the country, either to neutral Jordan or even to outside the Middle East such as the United States, the UK or Canada. Others would defect to the coalition for clemency and so on. The House of Saud kept trying to call upon for aid, but none seem to come. With King Fahd has become incapacitated by a stroke back in 1995, Abdullah had been running the show since then unofficially. However, he would officially ascend to becoming king around the start of the war. While he did do his best to push for reforms, many saw them as not adequate enough to go and deal with the growing discontent over in the nation by that point. Additionally, given his position of head of the National Guard, he would be associated over with some of the violence going on in the area. Abdullah would be getting talks over with various western powers over potential support to bring peace. However, Abdullah's efforts would be undone by various factors, one of them being his ex-wife. Al Anoud bint Dahham Al Fayez, having long suffered the behavior of her husband and toward their 4 daughters, would finally have enough. [1] After her attempts of fleeing the nation failed because of the war, she began gather information and some allies. And then, in a secretive meeting, would provide plenty of crucial intel and information to the Coalition in exchange for the liberation and safety of her and her daughters, confirmed to her over by President Bushra of Syria. And thus, this would help spend the final days of Saudi Arabia with the occupation of Riyadh along with going into the halls of government. Al Anoud and her daughters would indeed be escorted to safety, and would flee the nation within hours over of the ending of the war. The House of Saud would fall into chaos as members tried escaping with their families, the women in particular doing so and were given clemency over by the Coalition. All of this while Abdullah would be abroad in trying to gather support. With the occupation would come the burning of flags and the declaration of the end of the House of Saud . Abdullah himself would try to fly over to the Hejaz to try and rally forces, but his plan would be forced to land in Jordan and ultimately be contained in the area, unable to return home.
A new government was rising from the ashes. A new Arabia was being born. With the taking of the city, coalition forces expanded thoughout from Arabia, looking to crush pockets of Saud resistance along with capturing various members of the family though others, mainly women and children, were allowed to flee the nation, usually to the neighboring Jordan. The coalition would rule through an interim council of some of the generals and other figures that led the coalition. While they called themselves the interim government, no one knows how long they would last. That said, the council has noted that they would likely have a full outline before the end of the year and they were already planning out various reforms to be instituted and mandated. Already, calls being held for things like a full blown secular constitution, questions of constitutional monarchy and republicanism were being weighed in and the full forces of the coalition were trying to keep peace and order, all while the interim government would call upon UN aid for the citizens over. The oil reserves would be undergoing reforms with the money to be reinvested into infrastructure development, renewable energy and the like.
It was the end of Saudi Arabia as people knew it
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[1]- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Anoud_Al_Fayez
Honestly, I am unsure there. I have been doing my best to keep this in being realistic/plausible, but we are deviating more from that. So what are everyone's thoughts here? While yes the coalition is dominated by the Neo-Baathists, they have proven flexible to work with monarchs. Hell, their revival really began in Qatar by convincing the crown prince to create a presidency as a republic, following the example of Afghanistan.
That said, they wouldn't let anyone in regarding the House of Saud into power, even as a proxy. And there aren't many figures that could serve as the "face" of the nation within the country. The new nation is on shaky ground after all.
So what do ya'll think? Would a Hashemite restoration make sense?
Summer 2003- European Heat
The end of the Arabian Civil War would cause quite the stir over on international affairs, especially given the size and scope of the nation. Diplomats and other bureaucrats began working overtime regarding negotiations, trade deals and all sorts of new deals and arragement, the world kept pressing forward. Petrol prices seem to stabilize with the end of the war and this helped a bit with the economy. The interim government was viewed warily by the major powers, but they were smart enough to begin offering positive deals and reassurances about the upcoming changes and reform being brought over to the nation, however that may look like. Already they were beginning to strike deals with the major powers and they began immediately rolling out various reforms such as removing the harsher punishments and releasing some of the various political prisoners that were held over by the House of Saud. As of right now, the nation had changed their name to be called the State of Arabia, with a new name to be determined when the interim government would decide on what system to approach like with the finalization for a basic constitution. For the most part, their immediate neighbors were happy that the conflict was over and was now focused on processing things such as refugee statuses regarding those running away (especially the women) and other disputes. Despite the war troubles, Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities of Islam, remained untouched and indeed the Hejaz saw some of the least amount of fighting in the area thus far. There was still unsurprising a large backlog of people wanting to visit the holy cities for their hajj. Overall, it was looking to be a busy summer over for Arabia with many questions needing to be answered.
Europe meanwhile would be heating up, albeit in a different way. The nation would undergo an intense heat wave, creating the hottest summer the continent has experienced in 500 years. [1] The heat wave led to health crises in several countries with France being hit the hardest regarding the temperatured and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. The death toll has been estimated at more than 70,000. The predominant heat was recorded throughout July and August and the heat wave was attributed to the western European seasonal lag from the maritime influence of the Atlantic warm waters in combination with hot continental air and strong southerly winds. [2] The countries had to deal with shortfalls regarding wheat harvests while grapes would had to have been harvested early. Interestingly enough, this alsi had an effect on urban infrastucture. Green roofing and other passive cooling techniques have been introduced in Europe, but has not reach the level of acceptance as in the United States. That said, the observed differences in temperature thanks to urban forest experiments, green roofing and other ecoinfrasturcture techniques that combatted the urban heat island effect would provide plenty of data for the various nations. Indeed, experiencing the effects up close and personal was enough for the various nations to push for such polices to be implemented on a national scale and to a more thorough degree. While it was a bit trickier given the older cities, alot of the policies were considered and newer techniques were looked into. While the heat was on over in Europe physically, things were still surprisingly peaceful and smooth as more and more nations were approved to join the growing European Union, their populations voting yes in joining. Another bit of news regarding European unity would be the proposal of the first European Constitution. [1] This would be the result of the "Convention on the Future of the European Union" or" European Convention." This was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration to draft a constitution for the European Union, with the draft finished this summer to be send in to be finalized and voted upon over in 2004.
Meanwhile, the technological sector would remain a prominent part of the economy, with various new start-ups and companies rising over to the top. One would be a social media company known as Myspace. Based on the legacy of Friendster and other sites, Myspace would become the first major social networking website to reach a global audience and become a massively popular online space. Indeed, even in its infancy, Myspace was drawing the attention of similar websites that saw the potential such as Artistshare and Napster. [1] Another major company that was on the rise would be the foundation of Tezla Inc, with the name a shoutout to Nikola Tesla. While originally envisioned as a car and technological company, the two founders noted how cars were on the decline in terms of being purchased. This along with the government's seeming shift to focus on renewable hydrogen as future fuel, they switched gears to focus on more general electric transportation and technology. Beyond the focus on renewable energy like solar power, they would focus on electric motor vehicles wth scooters and motorbikes on consideration. Tezla would also be in the process of getting a grant over from the government for research into renewables as well as electric motors, which the Clinton Administration saw a good way to keep growing the sector. Other news including the launching of the Spitzer Space Telescope over from Cape Canaveral, Florida or the indictment of Martha Stewart and her broker for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. [4]
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[1]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003
[2]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
[3]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Future_of_Europe
[4]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_in_the_United_States
@CountDVB Did Clinton play the saxophone on a talk show during his 2000 campaign?
Probably yeah. A good way to connect with the common man there!
Any questions or so on with the politics, global stuff or anything else of the era?
Autumn 2003- Storms and Powerouts
The State of Arabia would begin stabilizing itself over time, with the focus of the interim government to have some sort of federal elections by 5 years. When asked on the nature of the time period, concerns were pointed out on the time needed to implement such a system, especially since there has been a lack of politicians not affiliated with the Sauds. However, the State of Arabia have agreed to municipal elections on city levels by no later than 2005, which would help transition the nation to the voting mentality. While the Neo-Baathists were pro-democracy, they considered it a secondary priority. To them, the primary goal was to stabilize the nation and moreover, to push what they saw as modenization efforts, especially since democracy could hamper those efforts. An Arabian constitution has been drafted with help from various nations, with the noticable bit being that the State of Arabia would model itself under civil law (specifically inspired by German civil law) along with the official status of a secular nation. That said, Islam was given a courteous mention of historical importance along with civic duty when it came to managing and caring for Mecca and Medina in particular. Ultimately though, civil was would be the deciding law and the interim council would show little hesitation in enforcing them. Already the constitution had mentions of gender equality, religious equality and various other civil rights reforms. Even SATMIN+ folk were given legal protection against violence and discrimination, surprising more than a few nation and people. Then again, the government's purpose for doing this was to better court the various major powers and join the social democratic global hegemon. And at the same time, it also provided some justificiation for the interim government's heavy-handed rule. After all, the massive sweeping changes and switch to civil law uprooted alot of what was familiar overnight, with sharia being cast to the wayside along with other "traditions" such as multiple wives. Unsurprisingly, heavy policing was already being utilized and various norms were being challenged and met with harsh opposition, such as men found guilty of "honor killings" meeting with death themselves. For the interim government, they saw all this heavy-handedness as necessary to crush reactionary dissent and force change onto the nation, a carrot and stick approach.
Of course, the State of Arabia was not the only one having to endure rapid change and rough issues. South Korea would once more be hit with yet another storm. Typhoon Maemi would be the most powerful typhoon the nation would ever experience since the nation began keeping record nearly 100 years ago. Making landfall in Busan, it would lead to quite alot of damage and a fair bit of deaths over for South Korea. However, like with the previous storm with it, it served as a strong bonding opportunity over for North Korea to lend aid and support in their southern neighbor. North Korea provided plenty of aid in rescue and rebuilding their fellow Koreans after the storm and the est of the world would provide plenty of international aid to the Red Cross of the nation along with supplies. The Americans, Russians and Chinese would be those that would send the biggest aid along with Taiwan and Japan sending aid of their own. [1] This would not be the only nationwide disaster. Italy would make international headlines when the news would report that most of the nation would go under a blackout. For approximately 12 hours, nearly all of the country's 57 million people would be without power over in the entire peninsula. [2] The whole situation would certainly cause alot of effects in Italy regarding addressing the need for power generation and how to address the problem with solar power suggested as a solution down the line. It was also a reminder to the world that even with the growing peace in the world, there was still plenty of problems to address. From the devastation brought about because of natural disasters to the chaos and unpredicabilities caused by system failures and a lack of foresight regarding major issues, governments were busy with some of these floating questions, especially as the news would keep the public about all of these phenomenon.
Of course, noteverything was troublesome over in the fall of 2003. There were plenty of advancements made and positives to be shared. The Hubble Space Telescope starts the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, making 800 exposures and would last until the middle of January 2004, showing the progress of the Americans. Over for the Europeans, the ESA spaceprobe known as SMART-1, would launch from Kourou, French Guiana as the ESA's first mission to the moon. China meanwhile would celeberate the successful launch of Shenzhou 5, their first human spaceflight. [2] This would continue the interest in space over in the zeitgeist, fueling the overall sentimentality of growing technological wonders, especially coinciding with the growth of the Internet in its usage and its applications. On a more mixed example, the popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched over around this time. NexPleis were becoming more and more popular among the youth along with the growing overlap between Napster (plus parent company ArtistShare) and Myspace, which would be providing a large public space drawing more and more people in over in cyberspace. Despite the concerns of a "dotcom bubble", it appeared that things were far from done over for the Internet. In fact, with the growing implementaton of APISP across the United States, other ISPs like AOL and Prodigy using their grant money to remain competitive along with some other companies getting into it and even the growing usage of consoles such as the Sega Dreamcast and Microsoft Abox, it was looking like the Internet would become more widespread in usage.
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[1]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Maemi
[2]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003
I've been wondering since discussing the details of alot of these would be tricky here on the main thread. Though if I did, what would I start with? Especially considering still only early 2000s and the executions.
