Alternate Timeline of the 20th Century Part V (1976-2000)

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20/1/1976 – After delivering his State of the Union address, Robert Kennedy announces that he will run for another term as President. The front-running Republican candidates are the California Governor, Ronald Reagan, as well as George Bush, a Congressman from Texas and the son of former President Prescott Bush.

26/2/1976 – The South Vietnamese people vote for unification with North Vietnam. The Russian observers declare the election free and fair, but the South Vietnamese Government refuses to accept the result.

11/3/1976 – Israeli agents in Frankfurt assassinate what they believe to be a leader of the PLO and a mastermind behind the Munich Olympics terror attack. Unfortunately the murdered man turns out to be a Turkish banker. Three Israelis are arrested and charged with murder, while one escapes. The three Israelis are tried and executed. Helmut Schmidt states: “Germany will not tolerate being the playground for petty feuds and vendettas that have nothing to do with us”.

6/4/1976 – Riots break out in Tel Aviv in response to the hangings of the three Israeli secret agents. The German and Austrian embassies are targeted resulting in sanctions against military hardware being sold to Israel by the EEC. The United States sells military hardware instead and relations between Israel and Europe remain frosty.

7/5/1976 – American troops continue their mass pullout out of Vietnam, along with the Russian election observers and their Austrian and Danish protectors. Desperate pleas by the South Vietnamese Government for the Americans to stay fall on deaf ears.

27/6/1976 – News of Khmer Rouge atrocities begin to reach government officials in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand as those three nations in particular start to take in refugees.

11/7/1976 – In spite of the crushing defeat of the Soviet Union, far left ideologies had had a revival among disaffected youth in Germany and other European countries such as Austria and France. Up to now this revival had only expressed itself in peaceful and lawful means. However, this changes when, funded and trained by leftist totalitarian regimes in Albania and Romania, a group calling itself the Red Army Faction, murder a senior banker during a kidnap attempt.

20/8/1976 – After ruling Spain for nearly half a century, Francisco Franco dies in his sleep. Power is vested in the Spanish King, Juan Carlos who sets Spain on a gradual transition to democracy, assisted by the other democracies of Europe.

9/9/1976 – The Republican convention selects Ronald Reagan as its candidate for the Presidency. Reagan’s running mate is George Bush.

11/10/1976 – Members of the Red Army Faction attack the Austrian consulate in Gothenburg, Sweden, holding about 10 diplomats and staff hostage. After negotiations only result in the murder of two hostages, Austrian and Swedish commandos storm the consulate; kill 7 terrorists and capture two more.

2/11/1976 – Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Carter defeat the Reagan/Bush ticket by 297 EC votes to 240 in the election, giving Kennedy his second term as President.

5/12/1976 – The last U.S troops leave Vietnam as North Vietnamese forces cross the border en masse to unify the country. The 11-year conflict has cost the lives of 58,200 Americans and wounded 305,000 more. At least 2,000,000 Vietnamese civilians, 1,100,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers also died in the war.

20/1/1977 – Robert Francis Kennedy is sworn in for his 2nd term as President, with Jimmy Carter being sworn in as Vice-President.

18/2/1977 – China’s supreme leader, Mao Zedung, dies in Beijing. After a short power struggle, Deng Xiao-Ping takes over the leadership of the Party and the country.

12/3/1977 – Malcolm Fraser crushes Gough Whitlam at the election winning 77 Seats to 50 seats in the 127-seat parliament. The Senate remains unchanged with 34 Labour Senators, 35 Coalition senators and 7 from the Greens, Democrats and Independents. Whitlam quits the Labour leadership and parliament to be replaced as leader by Bill Hayden who beats the newly elected Bob Hawke in a close vote.

30/4/1977 – North Vietnamese tanks crash through the palace gates in Saigon and North Vietnamese troops occupy the city. South Vietnamese government officials either flee or are arrested. The last western diplomats and other citizens have left the city weeks before.

27/5/1977 – A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people, the worst single aviation accident on record.

5/6/1977 – Australian spy satellites show that the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and other big Cambodian cities look almost deserted. This, combined with information obtained from Cambodian refugees prompts the Fraser government to send spies to the area in an attempt to find out what is going on.

14/7/1977 – Free and fair elections in the Central African Republic institute a multi-party democracy and prompts the French government to announce the withdrawal of most of its troops.

30/8/1977 – The German “summer of terror” which was marked by the kidnapping and murder of various Government, legal and industry officials by the Red Army Faction ends in a violent shootout in Cologne in which five senior RAF members are killed. Several other senior members are arrested over the following weeks, and the terror group never recovers.

9/9/1977 – Australian spies report tales of horror from Cambodia. The large cities have been evacuated, and most citizens are working in slave labour camps. Torture and summary executions are common and conditions for ordinary people are harsh.

12/10/1977 – Robert Kennedy becomes the first sitting US President to visit Australia. Top of the agenda is a discussion about the conditions in Cambodia and measures that can be taken to address these issues. Kennedy is reluctant to involve the US in another Asian war, but pledges non-military support to whatever actions Australia undertakes.

17/11/1977 – North Vietnam announces that the country will be officially reunified on January 1, 1978. The capital will be Hanoi. There was a move to rename Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City, but that idea was disregarded.

30/12/1977 – Citing gross human rights violations by the Khmer Rouge, Australia invades Cambodia. The major cities and airports are quickly captured by about 40,000 paratrooper and Special Forces. Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders are not in Phnom Penh, but in Cambodia’s north-west.

2/1/1978 – The main Australia invasion force of 100,000 troops lands on Cambodia’s beaches in the Gulf of Thailand. At the same time, a further 50,000 troops arrive in the major cities to reinforce the Australians already there. Because most radios and other communications equipment are banned, the Khmer Rouge leadership is only now becoming fully aware of what has happened.

1/2/1978 – A month-long campaign has cleared southern and most of eastern Cambodia along the Vietnamese border of the Khmer Rouge. Once the Khmer Rouge realised what was happening they launched counterattacks but are no match for the highly trained, well equipped and disciplined Australian soldiers. The Australians have uncover numerous mass graves, torture chambers and slave labour camps during the campaign which confirm the reports of atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime.

29/3/1978 – Around 40,000 Khmer Rouge along with its leadership are trapped in the north-western town of Battambang and are preparing for a siege. Surrounding the city are 120,000 Australian troops.

2/4/1978 – A tactical nuclear missile with a yield of about 50 kilotons explodes over the centre of Battambang. The blast results in a fireball 160 metres across lasting just over one second. The radiated heat causes lethal burns to any unprotected person within 3.4 kilometres and the blast effects destroy most residential and industrial structures within a 2.7 kilometre radius. Within 1 kilometre virtually all above-ground structures are destroyed and blast effects inflict near 100% fatalities. People within 1.8 kilometres receive a dose of radiation sufficient to cause a 50% to 90% casualty rate - though most people have already been killed by the thermal and blast effects at this distance. The city, save for a few outlying suburbs, is virtually annihilated. Australian troops wearing protective gear storm the city and quickly overwhelm the dazed survivors. It is estimated that the blast killed around 32,000 people in less than half an hour. Most of the 8,000 or so survivors are badly injured and affected by radiation. Around half of them will die by the end of the year, bringing the total death toll from the missile to around 36,000 people. Malcolm Fraser defends the use of the nuclear missile as being in the interest of saving lives.

1/5/1978 – Mop-up operations against the last Khmer Rouge holdouts are complete and the military campaign ends. Australia has lost 246 soldiers in the entire campaign. The death toll from the 3-year rule of the Khmer Rouge is later estimated at around 2 million, including the deaths from the 4-month war to overthrow them. With the military campaign at an end, Australia sends government officials and administrators to the country to facilitate a transition to a democracy beginning with the reinstatement of Prince Sihanouk.

17/6/1978 – Tsar Feodor IV dies in St Petersburg at the age of 84. He is succeeded to the throne by his son, Ivan VII.

28/7/1978 – The Chinese sponsored Marxist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrows Afghanistan’s president Mohammed Daoud Khan and replaces him with pro-communist leader Nur Mohammed Taraki. The Democratic People’s Republic of Afghanistan is proclaimed 2 days later.

6/8/1978 – Pope Paul VI dies in Rome. He is succeeded four days later by Pope John Paul I.

13/9/1978 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days in the papacy. He is succeeded on September 18 by John Paul II, the first Polish Pope.

11/10/1978 – President Robert Kennedy and Menachem Begin of Israel sign the Camp David Accords, which promises US assistance in the event of an attack on the Jewish State by Egypt, Syria or Jordan. It is the closest that the US has come to a formal military alliance with any nation.

18/11/1978 - In the Jonestown incident in Guyana, Reverend Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder-suicide that claims 918 lives, including over 270 children.

22/12/1978 - The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.

26/1/1979 – Islamic radicals in Iran burn 400 people to death in a cinema. It is the culmination of a year of unrest and mayhem in the country.

10/2/1979 – The Shah of Iran flees the country with his family, escaping to the United States where he has large holdings. Other family members escape to France and Australia.

1/3/1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile in Egypt. He creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution as his supporters take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration. The Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution.

13/4/1979 – In Kabul, Afghanistan, Muslim extremists funded by the CIA kidnap the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.

1/5/1979 - Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, consigning the Shah to the dustbin of history.

20/6/1979 – The relaxation of travel restrictions on Fidel Castro’s Cuba has enabled Cuban communists to travel to Central America in particular and stir up trouble there. The communists score a major coup in Nicaragua when the corrupt Somoza regime is forced from office and the communist Sandinistas under Daniel Ortega take power.

31/7/1979 – Overcome with religious fervour, hundreds of Iranian pilgrims occupy the Grand Mosque housing the Kaabah in Mecca. The efforts by Saudi security forces to get them out result in a massacre in which four hundred people are killed. Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia as a result.

27/8/1979 – The IRA, fighting for a united Ireland score a major coup when Lord Mountbatten and 3 others are assassinated. He was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, Irish Republican Army members attack a British Convoy at Narrow Water, County Down, killing 18 British soldiers.

7/9/1979 – Cable Television is rolled out to a mass audience in the United States when the sports channel ESPN and the music channel MTV begin broadcasting. The technology spreads around the world within a year.

16/10/1979 – The first astronauts, two Americans, two Australians, one French, and one German, settle in to Skylab, an orbiting space station jointly built by the three space-faring agencies.

4/11/1979 - In order to bolster the local Communist forces against increasingly violent Muhjaheddin, China, citing the 1978 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness that had been signed between the two countries invades Afghanistan with over 100,000 troops backed by another 100,000 pro-communist forces of Afghanistan. America and NATO countries protest the invasion but do nothing.

29/12/1979 - The Iranian hostage crisis begins as 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. and Australian Embassies in Tehran and take 90 hostages (the French had closed their embassy in March). They demand that the United States send the former Shah back to Iran to stand trial. President Robert Kennedy and Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser condemn the incident as an act of war and state that they hold Ayatollah Khomeini personally responsible for the welfare of the hostages.

3/1/1980 – In a daring night time raid, the US and Australian hostages are rescued by commandos from the two nations. At 10:00PM Iran’s radar installations are destroyed and those Iranian planes that manage to get into the air are quickly shot down. An hour later, a hail of cruise missiles hits Tehran, taking out power stations, and communication equipment. In the midst of this, large “Chinook” helicopters land in the grounds of the two occupied embassies and disgorge squads of US and Australian Special Forces who storm the embassies. Any Iranian getting in the way is ruthlessly shot and the hostages are on the helicopters in less than 30 minutes. The hostages and their rescuers arrive safely in Turkish airspace less than an hour later, while US and Australian ships and planes continue to pound Iranian infrastructure. The following day, Iranian diplomats are expelled from the US and Australia and diplomatic relations are severed.

2/2/1980 – Iranian assets in the US and Australia are frozen, exports to Iran are banned and the purchase of oil from Iran is prohibited.

6/3/1980 – Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy is complete with the adoption of a constitution and multi-party elections won by a centre-left government.

18/4/1980 - Yuri Andropov of the Russian Socialist party retires at the election. His successor, 49-year old Mikhail Gorbachev retains power.

17/5/1980 – In Britain, the Labour Party is dumped from office after one term when the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher wins government. Thatcher is Britains first female Prime Minister

22/6/1980 – France replaces conservative President Giscard D’Estaing with socialist Francois Mitterand as its president, while the Austrian Conservative Party regains office from the Austrian Social Democrats.

23/7/1980 – Chancellor Helmut Schmidt is beaten by his CDU opponent and namesake Helmut Kohl, who becomes the new German chancellor.

11/8/1980 - The conservative coalition in Italy retains power for another term in a narrow election.

19/9/1980 – The US Republicans nominate Congressman George Herbert Bush as their candidate for the presidential election. President Kennedy had decided not to run for another term and is replaced by Vice-President Jimmy Carter as the Democrat candidate.

12/10/1980 – The Australian Labour Party makes massive inroads into the majority of Malcolm Fraser’s Coalition government, but still loses the election by a margin of 67-60 seats. The Democrats and Greens retain the balance of power in the Senate.

4/11/1980 - Republican challenger and Congressman George Bush of Texas defeats incumbent Democratic Vice-President Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory, winning 44 States to 6 and 489 Electoral College votes to 48.

8/12/1980 – The former lead singer of the most famous band in history, John Lennon, is murdered by a deranged fan outside his apartment complex in New York.
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20/1/1981 – George Herbert Walker Bush is sworn in as the 38th President of the United States. His Vice-President is an ex-Senator from Kansas, Bob Dole.

22/2/1981 - Iraq invades Iran following a long history of border disputes and demands by Iran for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Although the Iraqis attack without formal warning, they encounter fierce Iranian resistance and fail to make the progress they had hoped for.

26/3/1981 – Following a car accident in Kampala, Uganda, the Austrian ambassador to Uganda and his wife are shot dead by a senior Ugandan general. Austria protests and demands compensation as well the General being tried for murder. Idi Amin declares that Austria is a “soft touch” and that its requests will be ignored.

29/4/1981 – Austria announces the severing of diplomatic relations with Uganda. It cancels all business and aid contracts and announces the withdrawal of its diplomatic staff from Kampala. Germany also announces the recall of its ambassador in solidarity with Austria. Idi Amin accuses both nations of spying and when the diplomatic personnel attempt to leave the country they are ruthlessly gunned down by Ugandan police. 42 Austrians and 8 Germans are killed.

2/5/1981 – Idi Amin wakes at 3:00AM when Austrian soldiers kick in the door to his bedroom. Amin is dragged from the bed, taken to the palace courtyard and shot. His adult sons and some senior generals and politicians suffer the same fate while his 4 wives, children and adult daughters are locked up. While all this is happening, Austrian and German forces take over the country by storming TV and Radio stations and killing or capturing every Ugandan politician, soldier and police offer they can find. By the end of the day, the Austrian takeover of Uganda is complete.

18/6/1981 – Six weeks after invading, and after mopping up pockets of Idi Amin’s supporters as well as sending Amin’s family into exile in Libya, the Austrians exit Uganda, leaving economic, political and social chaos behind.

29/7/1981 – The 33-year old British heir to the throne, Prince Charles, marries 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

19/8/1981 - Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends 2 fighter jets to intercept 2 U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The Americans had been training with NATO forces. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters and President Bush warns that any repeated incidents will be “severely punished”.

7/9/1981 – Mobuto Sese Seko, dictator of Zaire, takes advantage of the chaos in neighbouring Uganda to invade. His well-armed and disciplined troops make rapid progress towards the Uganda capital of Kampala.

16/10/1981 – The United States becomes the first nation to use a reusable spacecraft when it launches the first Space Shuttle mission using the Space Shuttle Columbia.

18/11/1981 – IBM unveils its personal computer at an exhibition in Las Vegas. The IBM PC is designed to compete with the PC brought out by the Apple Corporation a year earlier. It will run on an operating system developed by a small software firm based in Seattle called Microsoft. The PC has a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor and is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

8/12/1981 – After overrunning the country, Mobuto announces that Uganda will be annexed to Zaire on January 1, 1982.

16/1/1982 – The black population in Rhodesia, led by Robert Mugabe, rises in revolt against its white rulers. Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith appeals to his South African counterpart P.W. Botha for help. Botha sends police and troops to help suppress the uprising.

5/2/1982 - The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems. The syndrome causing this weakened immune system is later named as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.

19/3/1982 – Argentina had been ruled by a military junta since 1973 and was now facing economic difficulties. The ruling general, Galtieri, needs a diversion and therefore creates one by sending 41 Argentinean workmen (actually members of the Argentine Special Forces) to the largely unoccupied island of South Georgia. South Georgia is a part of the Falkland Islands, a British possession. The Argentineans raise the Argentine flag. When a British vessel is dispatched to lower the flag, it is chased off by an Argentine Corvette.

2/4/1982 – While negotiations over South Georgia go on, Argentina invades the more populated East and West Falklands. The British governor has very little in terms of military defence and quickly surrenders. Margaret Thatcher is furious and vows to get the islands back – “come hell or high water”.

4/5/1982 – A large British fleet of aircraft carriers, battleships, other warships and troopships arrive in the Falklands. Argentina hasn’t been lazy and has built its troop strength in the islands to about 15,000 men. The Argentine navy attacks the British fleet, but is beaten off with the loss of one cruiser and the British forces manage to land on the islands.

14/6/1982 – The last Argentine forces surrender as the British flag is raised in the Falklands capital. Casualties from the 2-month war are relatively light – 650 Argentines and 260 British have lost their lives.

2/7/1982 – Mass protests break out in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities as a result of the defeat in the Falklands conflict. The junta tries to repress these but is teetering.

12/8/1982 – The black uprising in Rhodesia is quashed as Robert Mugabe dies in a battle with South African troops and the rest of his cohorts flee to Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Rhodesian Prime Minister Smith begins to crack down on the black middle class and academia.

15/9/1982 – Rioting, demonstrations and other forms of civil unrest finally force the Argentine military junta from power. The Supreme Court appoints a governor and announces elections for the following month. The US and neighbouring countries offer to send observers to ensure the elections are free and fair. The offer is accepted.

30/10/1982 – Raul Alfonsin, of the Unión Cívica Radical, or UCR, becomes the first democratically elected president of Argentina in 10 years, when he defeats the Peronist Justicialist Party (PJ).

13/11/1982 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.

20/12/1982 – A mass exodus of blacks from Rhodesia has lowered the population by nearly 2 million. The remaining blacks are poor farmers or traders, firmly under the control of Rhodesia’s whites who number no more than 15% of the population.

18/1/1983 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, after having been appointed by President Bush a month earlier.

22/2/1983 – Zairean President Mobuto buys the enclave of Cabinda located between Zaire and Congo from Angola. He promises Angola 50% of the profits that result from oil production in the enclave.

5/3/1983 – An economic downturn and rising unemployment in Australia causes Malcolm Fraser to lose office in the election. The ALP under Bob Hawke wins 75 seats to the Coalitions 52 seats. Malcolm Fraser resigns the leadership and his seat in parliament. Andrew Peacock takes over.

16/4/1983 – After two years of Iraqi occupation, the Iranian city of Khorramshar is liberated by Iranian human wave attacks. The Iranians are now at the border of Iraq, having liberated virtually all of the Iranian territory that Saddam captured during the early days of the war.

15/5/1983 – Iran crosses the border and launches two offensives towards the Iraqi city of Basra. They run into well entrenched Iraqi forces who greet the invaders with withering artillery fire. Eight days later, the offensive breaks down, still 15 kilometres from Basra.

19/6/1983 – A second Iranian offensive into southern Iraq fails, mainly due to Iraq’s use of mustard and sarin gas, and the war degenerates into stalemate. Attempts by Iran to take some Iraqi Gulf Islands also fail, with only one island falling into the hands of Iran.

6/7/1983 – Iraq approaches Libya to mediate a ceasefire with Iran. Libyan ruler Gaddafi agrees to try.

2/8/1983 – Gaddafi, with the help of the Arab league persuade Iran to enter into negotiations with Iraq in Cairo, Egypt. Both sides meet in Egypt on July 5, for a meeting moderated by Sadat and Gaddafi.

19/9/1983 – The President of the Republic of Congo is assassinated and a civil war breaks out between military factions consisting of various Congolese tribes.

18/10/1983 – The Australian dollar, fixed to the Swiss Franc in the Great Depression, is floated by the Hawke government. It is the first of a number of financial reforms undertaken by the Hawke government.

14/11/1983 – Negotiations in Cairo drag on and Gaddafi and Sadat apply pressure to Iraq and Iran to reach an agreement.

23/12/1983 – President Mobuto of Zaire sees the civil war in neighbouring Congo as an opportunity to further expand his empire and invades. The disorganised and divided Congolese military quickly crumbles.

30/1/1984 – Iran, Iraq, Libya and Egypt announce a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war, effective from February 1, 1984. There will be some minor border changes and Iraq will pay reparations of $US5 billion, but apart from that the status quo will return. The nearly three year long war was the most destructive war since Vietnam and has cost the lives of 305,000 Iranians and 190,000 Iraqis.

10/2/1984 – Zaire announces the annexation of the Republic of Congo. Mobuto’s Empire now dominates Central Africa, is resource-rich and has a population of nearly 68 million people. The Europeans view Zaire warily, but try to maintain good relations with the country.

25/3/1984 – After more than 30 years on the throne, Kaiser Frederick IV dies at the age of 82 and is buried with great pomp and ceremony at a funeral attended by more than 100 Heads of State. His son takes the throne as Frederick William V.

5/4/1984 – The government owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia is listed on the stock markets and other banks are deregulated by the Australian government.

8/5/1984 – Paul Keating, Bob Hawke’s treasurer announces a new raft of economic reforms in the budget. These include the dismantling of the tariff system, privatisation of some state sector industries, ending subsidisation of loss-making industries, and reform of the tax system with the introduction of fringe benefits tax and a capital gains tax.

11/6/1984 – The Spanish government, backed by a letter from King Juan Carlos, petitions for membership of both the EEC and NATO. The two organisations meet in Brussels and Luxemburg to debate the matter.

19/7/1984 – While in Tokyo for trade talks, Bob Hawke is approached by Japan and South Korea with proposals about the formation of an Asia-Pacific trade alliance as well as a military alliance. Hawke has a favourable view and promises to give the proposals serious consideration.

4/8/1984 - The Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempts to assassinate the British Cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing.

2/9/1984 – In one of Australia’s worst gun massacres to date seven people are killed and 12 wounded in a bikie shootout between rival bikie gangs in Sydney

31/10/1984 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi, and some 2,700 innocent Sikhs are killed.

6/11/1984 – President George Bush defeats Walter F. Mondale with 59% of the popular vote carrying 40 states in the Electoral College.

12/12/1984 – Rajiv Ghandi succeeds his mother as Prime Minister of India after a party room vote.

20/1/1985 – George Bush and Bob Dole are sworn in for their 2nd terms as President and Vice-President of the United States.

16/2/1985 – The heads of government as well as the foreign, and trade ministers of the major Asia-Pacific democracies meet in Auckland, New Zealand to discuss the formation of a trade alliance. The countries involved are Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. Indonesia and the Philippines, ruled by dictators Suharto and Marcos respectively are excluded from the summit. Burma and Pakistan, ruled by military juntas, are also excluded, as are the communist countries of Vietnam, Laos, China and North Korea. The defence ministers hold a similar summit in Seoul, South Korea.

6/3/1985 – Due to a booming economy, fuelled by a high tech and weapons industry and underpinned by Russia’s vast natural and mineral resources, Mikhail Gorbachev is easily re-elected as Premier of Russia.

19/4/1985 – The Austrian Social Democrats beat the incumbent Austrian Conservatives to regain power after one term in opposition

27/5/1985 – In Britain, Margaret Thatcher, still riding high on a wave of popularity after the Falklands War, the Brighton Hotel bombing the previous year and crushing a crippling coal-miners strike, is re-elected to another term in office.

25/6/1985 – France re-elects socialist Francois Mitterand as its president for another term in office.

11/7/1985 – Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany also makes use of a strong economy to get re-elected as German chancellor.

20/8/1985 – Italian voters, fed up with an unstable coalition that has given it 5 prime ministers in 5 years, boots the conservative coalition from power and replaces it with a one-party centre-left government under Aldo Moro.

19/9/1985 – New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, the host of the Auckland summit, announces the formation of a trading bloc to be named the Asia-Pacific Economic Community or APEC. APEC will come into existence on January 1, 1986 and comprise the nations of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.

20/10/1985 – South Korean President Kim Dae-Jong, the host of the Seoul summit of defence ministers, announces the formation of a defence alliance called the South East Asian Treaty Organisation or SEATO. The charter is based on that of NATO and the member countries are the same as those belonging to APEC. Like the trading bloc, the Alliance will come into existence on January 1, 1986.

11/11/1985 – Both NATO and the EEC announce that Spain’s applications to join the organisations have been accepted. Spain will join the EEC and NATO from January 1, 1986.

22/12/1985 – The Chinese Army, bogged down in an increasingly vicious guerrilla war in Afghanistan, suffers a major humiliation when a battalion of troops is wiped out in the south-east of the country. The group inflicting the defeat is made up of fundamentalist religious students calling itself the Taliban.

28/1/1986 – The US Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 93 seconds into what is supposed to be a routine mission. A faulty seal on the booster rockets is found to be the cause, but the explosion sets the space programs of all three agencies back by a few years.

19/2/1986 – An accident at the nuclear power plant at Palo Verde in Arizona results in a partial core meltdown in the plant. The accident is contained with few radiation leaks and no directly attributable deaths, but the clean-up is slow and the event has serious economic and public relations consequences for the nuclear industry.

11/3/1986 – Bob Hawke’s Labour Party beats the Coalition under Andrew Peacock by 86 seats to 62 in the federal election. Peacock resigns as leader and from parliament. Former Treasurer John Howard takes over.

18/4/1986 – The first meeting of SEATO debates what to do about Australian-occupied Cambodia. Australia is quite willing to leave – the occupation is a drain on financial and military resources – and asks the alliance to come up with a coherent plan for the country.

10/5/1986 - Britain hangs more than 20 senior IRA members convicted of organising or carrying out the 1984 Brighton Hotel bombing. The executions break the back of the IRA, which breaks up into smaller, more independent cells, instead of a coherent organisation.

18/6/1986 – In the wake of Palo Verde, Australia and the European powers using nuclear energy institute a major safety review of the power plants. When President Bush is asked about a US safety review, he states that the accident was a one-off and that nuclear power plants are safe.

12/7/1986 – Bob Hawke provides $A1 billion in funds to scientific organisations to research alternative renewable energy sources. He states that while nuclear reactors are generally safe, “less is more”.

23/8/1986 – Germany, Austria, France and Britain follow Australia’s lead and provide significant funds to alternative energy research.

11/9/1986 – SEATO proposes a plan for Cambodia. The plan involves Asian SEATO troops taking over the occupation from Australia and Thai and Singaporean officials administering the country until elections can be held. The Khmer Rouge or any other communist party are banned from elections held no later than 1988. Australia agrees to the plan.

10/10/1986 – Closest approach of Halleys Comet to Earth making it visible from most of the Earth for the first time since 1910.

22/11/1986 – The assassination of prominent Philippines opposition leader Benigno Aquino sparks mass demonstrations against the Marcos regime.

4/12/1986 – Unable to repress the mass demonstrations, Ferdinand Marcos shocks the Philippines when he calls for a snap presidential election to be held in March, 1987. The opposition parties scramble for a suitable candidate and choose Aquinos widow, Corazon.

13/1/1987 – A Berlin discotheque, popular with military personnel is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230. Telex messages from Libya to its embassy in Poland congratulate Libyans based there on “a job well done”. The telexes are intercepted by Polish authorities and passed on to Germany.

5/2/1987 – Germany and Austria hit back at Libya with 35 air strikes against air defence networks, airfields, military barracks and Ghaddafi’s private residences. 15 civilians, including Ghaddafi’s adoptive daughter, and 58 Libyan soldiers are killed.

23/3/1987 – The Philippine presidential elections end with both Marcos and Corazon Aquino claiming victory and preparing to be inaugurated.

16/4/1987 - The Israeli magazine Haaretz reports that the Bush administration has been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to fund anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. Both the weapons sale and the funding of the Contras are practices that are illegal under several US laws.

13/5/1987 – Massive, but peaceful demonstrations, force Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos to flee the country after he loses the support of the military. He manages to escape to Hawaii, where he has significant real estate.

2/6/1987 – Corazon Aquino is inaugurated as the first President of the newly proclaimed Fourth Philippine Republic. One of her first actions is to apply for membership of SEATO and APEC. The application is successful, and the Philippines join both organisations on 1/7/1988.

8/7/1987 – The last Australian troops leave Cambodia. They are replaced by Thai, Malaysian, South Korean and Taiwanese troops. The election is scheduled for February 1988.

14/8/1987 - U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua. U.S. President George Bush announces the formation of a commission (the Tower Commission) to look into the scandal. Bush denies involvement in the scandal.

9/9/1987 – After a two year transition from military rule, Portugal elects a left-wing civilian government under Mario Soares to office. Applications to join NATO and the EEC follow swiftly.

19/10/1987 – On Black Monday, the US Dow Jones Index falls by 508 points or more than 22%, the largest one-day percentage fall in stock market history. Causes for the crash include program trading, overvaluation, illiquidity, and market psychology.

12/11/1987 – The death of prominent African national Congress leader Nelson Mandela in a South African prison leads to widespread riots across the country. The riots are ruthlessly suppressed and Black South Africans start to leave in droves for Zambia, Botswana and Zaire. At the same time South Africa begins to encourage white and Hispanic immigration.

16/12/1987 – President George Bush announces his intention to run for another term as President. If successful, he would be the first President since Roosevelt to serve more than two terms.

26/1/1988 – Australia celebrates the bicentenary of it’s founding with a Tall Ships parade, parties, and state visits by Queen Elizabeth II, Kaiser Frederick William V of Germany and Crown Prince Ferdinand of Austria.

4/2/1988 – Elections in Cambodia go off without a hitch and bring a right-wing government to power. The poll is seen as a triumph for the organisational skills and cooperative powers of SEATO.

14/3/1988 – After discovering that vital document pertaining to the Iran-Contra affair have been shredded by National security Advisor John Poindexter and his deputy Oliver North, the Tower Commission rebukes U.S. President George Bush for not controlling his National Security staff.

28/4/1988 - In Pennsylvania, one of the reactors at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many more die from cancer in later years, and many thousands more are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.

27/5/1988 – The EEC and NATO both approve Portugal’s applications for joining the organisations. Portugal will become a member of both alliances on January 1, 1989.

11/6/1988 – Emperor Leopold VII of Austria-Hungary dies in Vienna, aged 81. His 47-year-old son succeeds him as Ferdinand V.

18/7/1988 – The U.S. Senate and House panels release reports charging President George Bush with 'ultimate responsibility' for the Iran-Contra affair. The report is a further blow to Bush’s already faltering re-election hopes.

17/8/1988 – Albanian Dictator Enver Hoxha dies in Tirana, aged 89. He is succeeded by his deputy, Ramiz Alia. The transition is smooth and Alia has a strong grip on power.

2/9/1988 – The Democratic convention in Seattle selects Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton as its candidate for the presidential election. Clinton’s running mate is Tennessee senator Al Gore.

16/10/1988 - Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and his boss, Vice Admiral John Poindexter, are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. They are convicted the following year and jailed for 2 and 5 years respectively.

8/11/1988 – Battered by the Three Mile Island explosion and the Iran-Contra scandal, George Bush is hammered by Bill Clinton in the presidential election. Clinton carries 40 States and wins 426 EC votes to 112.

8/12/1988 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections were held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August. Bhutto becomes the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

20/1/1989 – William Jefferson Clinton is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States of America. Albert Gore is sworn in as his Vice-president.

10/2/1989 – Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke announces that he will resign at the election to be held this year and hand over the leadership to his Treasurer, Paul Keating. Hawke then promptly calls the election for March 25.

25/3/1989 – The ALP loses a number of seats in the election, but not enough to lose power, winning by a margin of 79-69 seats. Paul Keating is sworn in as Australia’s new Prime Minister on March 30, while John Howard resigns the Liberal Party leadership, but stays in parliament. The new Opposition leader is the former Shadow treasurer, John Hewson.

14/4/1989 – President Clinton calls the fact that 37 million American are without health insurance a “national disgrace” and puts a bill providing for universal public health insurance before Congress. Clinton states that if countries like Canada, Australia and most of Europe can afford such a system, so can the United States.

26/5/1989 – The death of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping prompts thousands of students in Beijing and Shanghai to take to the streets demanding democratic reforms. The Chinese leadership is caught by surprise by the demonstrations and fail to react quickly when students occupy Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

4/6/1989 – The setting up of a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square is too much for the Chinese leadership under newly elected chairman Jiang Zemin. A brutal crackdown occurs, more than 1000 students are shot by police and the army, and hundreds of dissidents are arrested and jailed or thrown into labour camps. Western Nations protest, but take no action to help the students other than granting asylum to some escaped dissidents. Britain cancels scheduled talks on a Hong Kong handover, and Portugal does the same with Macau handover talks.

14/7/1989 – France celebrates the 200th anniversary of the French revolution with much pomp and ceremony. Ironically the event is attended by virtually all of Europe’s monarchs.

17/8/1989 – Coal miners and steel workers, encouraged by Chinese protest earlier in the year go on strike in protest at the brutal regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.

2/9/1989 – Ceausescu blames foreign agitators, in particular Austrians, for the industrial unrest, which he ruthlessly crushes. Strike leaders are arrested and imprisoned or even executed and other prisoners take over the work that striking workers do not do. The strikers appeal for foreign assistance, but this is not forthcoming and a week later, the protests are quashed.

25/10/1989 – The American Voyager 2 space probe makes a fly-by of the planet Neptune, which officially ends its mission. It does, however, continue to transmit data as it leaves the Solar System.

10/11/1989 – Bill Clinton’s universal health care bill passes Congress. Named Medicare, the universal health care system covers basic medical doctor-provided diagnostic, treatment and preventive services such as GP visits, treatment in public hospitals and some dental care.

30/12/1989 – Indonesia’s exclusion from APEC has caused its export markets to shrink, currency to fall, and unemployment to rise. As a result, Islamic extremism became become more prevalent and President Soeharto begins to feel the pressure as demonstrations, strikes and unrest begin to grip the country. Unlike Ceausescu, Soeharto does not have the strength to suppress all the unrest and begins to look for an outside enemy to take the heat off.

10/1/1990 – After being unable to subdue Afghan mujaheddin led by the Taliban, the Chinese army begins a phased withdrawal from Afghanistan. The withdrawal is completed by March 31. China has lost more than 16,000 men in the decade-long occupation.

12/2/1990 – Indonesian agitators stage demonstrations in Timor, demanding a referendum on joining the Australian territory with Indonesia. Prime Minister Keating rejects such a demand out of hand.

10/3/1990 – With the Russian economy still on a high, Mikhail Gorbachev is re-elected to his third term as President. Two days later, the Moro government is re-elected in Italy.

17/4/1990 – There is more violence in Timor, with both Indonesian agitators and pro-Australian Timorese being killed and injured. Suharto states that he will not tolerate an Indonesian island being occupied by a foreign power for much longer. Keating responds that Timor was never Indonesian and that most Timorese do not think that are under occupation by a foreign power.

18/5/1990 – Margaret Thatcher of Britain retires after ten years in office and is replaced by the new conservative Prime Minister, John Major. A few days later, French President Mitterrand is re-elected to another term.

5/6/1990 – Citing “threats to Indonesian security”, at 8:00am Indonesia invades the Australian protectorate of Timor. In spite of the increasing tension over the previous few months, Australia is taken completely by surprise and the 1000 Australian troops there are restricted to their barracks in Dili where they hold out while Indonesian troops overrun the island. That evening, Australian paratroopers land in Dili under cover of darkness to begin counterattacks. The Australian Navy leaves Darwin to try and seal off the island from further reinforcements, while the Australian Air Force begins to bomb Indonesian harbours and other infrastructure on Java and other islands.

8/7/1990 – The Austrian Social Democrats retain office in the country’s elections, while a few days later Helmut Kohl and his CDU is re-elected to power in Germany.

2/8/1990 – Citing illegal oil exploration on Iraqi soil, Saddam Hussein invades neighbouring Kuwait. Iraqi troops reach the Kuwaiti capital within hours. President Clinton calls the act a wanton act of aggression and promises to send troops to Saudi Arabia to defend that country from any Iraqi attacks. NATO holds a crisis meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the situation. Australia, still embroiled in the Timor conflict with Indonesia, and independent of Middle Eastern oil in any case, stays out of the brouhaha – at least for now.

9/9/1990 – The conflict on Timor is moving along at a slower pace than Australia has expected. Australian troops have cleared all of Timors major cities and pushed the Indonesian forces to the centre of the island. As the fighting moves to the countryside, Australian troops uncover evidence of atrocities committed by Indonesian secret police.

12/10/1990 – NATO and the United States begin to send troops to Saudi Arabia to protect that country from Iraqi aggression. During the course of the month, more than 150,000 US troops and the same number of NATO forces, mainly from the four major powers start to arrive. More significantly, troops from Arab nations like Jordan, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar also join Saudi troops in Saudi Arabia.

30/11/1990 – The last Indonesian troops on Timor surrender. After giving up their weapons, they are allowed to leave for the Island of Flores. More than 90,000 of the 120,000 Indonesian troops and secret police that landed on the island in June are dead or in Australian prison camps. The Australian death toll in the nearly six-month long conflict is 2640. More than 25,000 Timorese civilians have also died, many of them executed by Indonesian secret police who are now facing a similar fate. Indonesian infrastructure and harbours are destroyed, the economy is in ruins and many ordinary Indonesians are facing hunger and disease. Some 50,000 Australian troops along with a Navy Carrier Group are transferred to the Middle East to join the anti-Saddam coalition.

29/12/1990 – President Clinton, the Saudi King and political leaders from NATO announce that Saddam Hussein has until January 15 to withdraw from Kuwait or face the consequences. Saddam replies that Kuwait is a province of Iraq and will not be abandoned.
[break=1990's]
17/1/1991 – The Gulf War begins with massive bombing raids against Iraqi military installations and infrastructure in Iraq and occupied Kuwait. The ground troops stay in position while the various Air Forces and Navy fighters pound Iraqi defences to rubble. Saddam Hussein’s various palaces as well as Iraqi government buildings in Baghdad are also targeted. Iraq retaliates with Scud missiles fired at Israel (in an attempt to get the Arab members of the coalition to switch sides or withdraw). The US prevails upon Israel not to retaliate and Israel agrees, provided the Scuds do not contain chemical or biological agents.

24/2/1991 – After 5 weeks of aerial combat, coalition ground forces move into southern Iraq and Kuwait. In the south, Iraqi forces stationed on the Kuwaiti-Saudi border are quickly overrun by French, Australian, Saudi and Kuwaiti troops, who make their way to Kuwait city the next day. Austrian and German forces, along with their Arab attachments, invade Kuwait from the west and catch large numbers of the elite Iraqi Republican Guards about 20 kilometres west of Kuwait City. The Guards are given the option of surrender or destruction and choose the latter. In a murderous battle, some 35,000 Iraqis are killed (mainly through air strikes) while 148 Austrians and Germans as well as 39 Arabs lose their lives. Further to northwest, US and British troops avoid Kuwait altogether and swing through southern Iraq towards Basra and the Iranian border. Basra and the Tigris-Euphrates delta are overrun and the remaining Republican Guards killed or captured. The war is over on February 28 when Iraq requests a ceasefire which, despite strong opposition by Australia in particular, is accepted. Total coalition casualties amount to 777 killed and 1275 wounded. Iraqi casualties amount to 63,000 dead, 75,000 wounded and nearly 200,000 prisoners. Kuwait is returned to its rulers and US troops occupy the Tigris-Euphrates delta to prevent Saddam retaliating against the minority Shia that live there.

17/3/1991 – In the wake of the Gulf war, President Clinton calls the prohibition on gays and lesbians serving in the military “ridiculous” and signs and executive order reversing the ban. Christian groups in America are outraged but a week later, Congress approves the measure.

16/4/1991 – A plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi is shot down as it comes in to land at Kigali airport in Rwanda. Minority Tutsis are blamed (even though Rwanda’s president is a Tutsi) and a well-prepared for and organised genocide begins.

11/5/1991 – French troops asked by Rwanda’s government to help stop the genocide are unable to cope and France asks other nations for assistance. Australia, Austria and Rwanda’s former colonial master Belgium respond and, after two weeks of sometimes vicious fighting, the killing slows down. More than 500,000 Rwandans have been killed in six weeks and some 2,000,000 have fled to Tanzania and Zaire. Australia withdraws its troops but the Europeans stay behind to administer the shattered country and prosecute war criminals.

12/6/1991 – Zaire build up its forces along the border with Rwanda, citing incursions from Rwandan militia and “other security reasons”. France states that it will not tolerate any Zairean aggression and makes a formal request to NATO for military assistance. The request is approved and more than 200,000 troops from every NATO country are soon on their way.

7/7/1991 – Zaire, shocked by the NATO build-up in Rwanda, backs off, but keeps its troops on alert. Meanwhile, EU bureaucrats and legal experts join in the rebuilding effort.

6/8/1991 – Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee of Britain creates the first webpage in his workplace in Switzerland, thereby completing his creation of the World Wide Web. This follows his invention of a web browser and creation of a web server. The site is hosted by the internet which had sprung from a network linking US defence computers and then computers between various universities in the US and Europe. The number of websites grows exponentially as the technology spreads to the US, Europe and then the rest of the world.

14/9/1991 – Confident that Zaire has got the message, NATO forces leave Rwanda with only 50,000 French and Belgian troops remaining behind. US and British troops also withdraw from southern Iraq after Iraqi forces have been disarmed a no-fly zone is established and Saddam agrees to regular inspections by NATO. Saddam Hussein, battered and bruised, remains in power.

19/10/1991 – The Rwandan crisis comes to an end with the hanging of more than 500 war criminals and the announcement of elections in early 1992. Refugees in Zaire and Tanzania are also starting to return.

14/11/1991 – Massive riots and demonstrations in Indonesia in the wake of an economic downturn following the defeat in the Timor conflict bring the Soeharto government to the brink.

21/12/1991 – Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi is assassinated by a female Tamil suicide bomber, in response to India’s backing of Sri Lanka’s mainly Sinhalese government. Ghandi is eventually replaced by Indian National Congress leader P.V. Narasimha Rao.

5/1/1992 – Indonesia’s President Soeharto resigns from office and flees to Burma. His successor is his deputy, B.J. Habibe, who promises democratic and economic reforms.

15/2/1992 – Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed begins an insurgency against the very unstable military government of Somalia.

10/3/1992 – On Super Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander all but wraps up the Republican nomination for President. Incumbent President Clinton is running unopposed for the Democratic Party. Alexander is widely seen as a sacrificial lamb due to Clintons overwhelming popularity.

21/4/1992 – The heavily obese son of Tsar Ivan VII, Crown prince Vladimir, dies of a heart attack in Moscow. Vladimir only has one child, a daughter, and Salic law prevents females from inheriting the throne. Heir presumptive to Ivan VII is his nephew, Nicholas.

18/5/1992 – Despite heavy rigging, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega is beaten by the Opposition leader in the Senate Guillermo Endara by a margin of 3-1. Noriega voids the result, claiming heavy US interference. The US immediately imposes heavy economic sanctions.

2/6/1992 – Guillermo Endara manages to escape into the American-controlled Canal Zone. Noriega demands that America hand him over, a demand that the USA refuses.

18/7/1992 – The Somali government ceases to function as President Barre is assassinated. The civil war has disrupted the harvest and food distribution and famine breaks out, especially in the south. Northern Somalia had declared its independence as Somaliland and is relatively stable, but the independence declaration is not recognised.

8/8/1992 – The United States, along with Canada, India, and some European countries like Italy and Spain, initiates Operation Provide Relief to alleviate the famine in southern Somalia. Tonnes of food from the three countries are sent to Somalia, however, significant amounts are stolen or hijacked by Somali gunmen from the four factions battling for power.

14/9/1992 – Manuel Noriega sends a company of troops into the Canal Zone in an effort to capture his errant opposition leader. The company is beaten off by US troops in the zone, and the US warns of “severe consequences” in case of a repeat.

18/10/1992 – Paul Keating is re-elected as Prime Minister of Australia when the ALP wins 80 seats to the Coalitions 65, with 2 Independents.

3/11/1992 – In the Presidential Election Bill Clinton crushes Lamar Alexander by 370 Electoral College votes to 168, winning 32 States to 18, thus being elected to his 2nd term in office.

20/12/1992 – The 34th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, dies in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, at the age of 75. His funeral is attended by every living President, Democrat and Republican, including his brother Robert, the 37th President.

20/1/1993 – Bill Clinton and Al Gore are sworn in for their 2nd terms as President and Vice-President of the United States.

9/2/1993 – President Clinton meets with other leaders of Operation Provide Relief to discuss the problem of food deliveries to Somalia being stolen or hijacked. It is decided to send troops to the country to safeguard the supplies. The US and India send 5000 troops each, with another 10,000 troops coming from Canada, Spain, Belgium and Thailand.

8/3/1993 – United States Marines and some Indian units land in Mogadishu as part of Operation Restore Hope. Other Indian units secure the port city of Kismayu, while Canadians, Belgians, Spanish and Thais secure the inland city Baidoa, where the famine is greatest. An agreement thrashed out with the various Somali factions to refrain from violence holds.

19/4/1993 – More than 70 members of the doomsday cult Branch Davidians are burnt to death when a fire breaks out during an attempt by the FBI to storm the compound that the FBI had besieged for 51 days. Six further Branch Davidians and 4 FBI agents had been killed in the initial assault on February 28.

27/5/1993 – Manuel Noriega makes another attempt to capture former Opposition Leader Guillermo Endara, this time by sending a battalion of troops into the Canal Zone. The attack is beaten off by US troops who kill more than 100 Panamanian soldiers while losing five of their own. This is too much for President Clinton who asks Congress to declare war on Panama. Congress complies.

2/6/1993 – Around 57,000 US Troops invade Panama beginning with an assault on strategic installations such as the civilian airport in Panama City, a Panamanian garrison and airfield near Noriega’s main residence, and other military command centres throughout the country. The attack on the central headquarters of the Panamanian Defence Force touches off several fires, one of which destroys most of the adjoining and heavily populated neighbourhood near downtown Panama City. During the fire fight in the area, the PDF downs two special operations helicopters and forces one AH-6 Little Bird to crash land in the Panama Canal. A day later, Guillermo Endara is sworn in at Rodman Naval Base. After a two-week manhunt, Noriega is captured as he tries to enter the Vatican embassy in Panama City and shot. The US suffers 24 men killed, while Panama loses about 500 soldiers and 100 civilians.

2/7/1993 – Kim Campbell becomes Canada’s 19th as well as its first female Prime Minister following the resignation of Brian Mulroney.

18/8/1993 – Australian Opposition Leader John Hewson is toppled in a party room coup and replaced by the young “dream team” of Alexander Downer and Peter Costello.

24/9/1993 – The agreement with Somali factions collapses as 24 Indian troops are killed in an ambush and mutilated by militia belonging to Aideed’s faction. India states that it will not tolerate its soldiers being used as target practice by “criminals and thugs” and that a “proper response” will not be long in coming.

3/10/1993 – At 4:00AM, some 20,000 Indian paratroopers rain down on an Aideed controlled suburb of Mogadishu as cruise missiles from B-52 bombers borrowed from the Australian Air Force slam into a safe house occupied by elders of Aideed’s clan killing 20. At the same time, 60,000 Indian troops stage an amphibious landing near Mogadishu airport and swarm into the city as they hunt for Aideed and his senior operatives in a door-to-door search. Every male Somali who even looks like he is armed is killed on the spot and 3,000 Somalis lose their lives before dawn. At daybreak, Somali resistance becomes more organised and fire fights break out all over the city. Superior Indian tactics and technology soon suppress Somali attacks and Aideed is captured at 3:00PM. He and five of his senior lieutenants are hanged from Mogadishu street lamps. A number of other factional leaders meet the same fate as more paratroops seal off the city and butcher any militia trying to escape. Over the next few days, more than 15,000 Somali militia are killed while Indian deaths number less than 100. By October 10, India is in full control of the city.

25/11/1993 – Kim Campbell’s initial popularity had been fading rapidly and her part is almost wiped out at the elections. She becomes only the third Canadian Prime Minister to lose her seat as the Liberal party led by Jean Chretien sweeps into office winning 177 of the 295 seats. Kim Campbell’s party wins only two seats.

10/12/1993 – Mop-up operations against Somali militia in cities outside Mogadishu are completed and the leaders of the various countries involved in Operation Restore Hope meet in New Delhi to discuss how to rebuild the nation. American attempts to dominate the discussion, despite India having done most of the fighting, lead to more resentment.

1/1/1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA comes into effect. The Agreement eliminates most tariffs and frees up trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

26/2/1994 – After nearly six years, Britain and China resume talks over a possible handover of Hong Kong. Britain’s 99-year “lease” of Hong Kong is due to expire in 1997. The negotiations do not go well.

4/3/1994 –A lone terrorist kills 14 Jewish students in an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The gunman is captured and claims to belong to a previously unheard of terror group – Al-Qaeda.

22/4/1994 – Former President Richard Nixon dies of a stroke in New York at the age of 81. Nixon was the second man to serve two non-consecutive terms as President, serving as the 33rd President from 1956-1960 and as the 36th President from 1968 to 1972. Two former Presidents are still alive, Robert Kennedy and George Bush. Both attend Nixon’s funeral along with the incumbent, Bill Clinton.

16/5/1994 - Hong Kong insists on a referendum over their status to the British government via back-channels. With John Major's Conservative government looking increasingly shaky, he refuses.

18/6/1994 – After rapidly losing popularity with Australian voters, Alexander Downer is replaced by former Opposition Leader John Howard. Peter Costello retains his deputy spot and job as opposition treasurer.

21/7/1994 – In the most spectacular space show in centuries, the planet Jupiter is hammered by 21 large fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

23/8/1994 –John Major proposes a bill making Hong Kong essentially a part of the British Isles similar to the French model, which considers dominions like French Guiana as a part of France. The Chinese are not impressed and debate on the bill is slow.

13/9/1994 – President Bill Clinton signs the assault weapons ban which bans the manufacture of semi-automatic weapons and severely restricts their sale and importation. The NRA is not impressed and vows to make this law an election issue.

18/10/1994 – Iraq threatens to stop cooperating with NATO weapons inspectors and once again deploys troops near its border with Kuwait. In response, Germany and Austria begin to deploy troops to Kuwait, while the U.S. confines itself to diplomatic threats.

8/11/1994 – Playing heavily on conservative issues such as homosexuals in the military and the assault weapons ban, the United States Republican Party takes control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections.

19/12/1994 – A massive bombing raid by the German and Austrian air forces destroy Iraqi forces massed at the Kuwaiti border, killing about 19,000 troops. A few days later, Saddam Hussein agrees to the resumption of weapons inspections.

15/1/1995 – A decision by Mexico’s government to float the peso causes its rapid devaluation from 3.3 pesos to the dollar to 7.7 pesos to the dollar in the space of a week. The US has to loan Mexico $50 billion to stabilise the currency and prevent a major financial meltdown. NAFTA also helps save Mexico’s financial bacon because Mexico does not resort to the traditional Latin American policies in times of crisis (trade protection and capital controls which might have prolonged the crisis), but introduces strict controls on monetary and fiscal policy, open trade, and devalued currency. The boom in exports that follows eases the recession, which only lasts for ten months. The loan is repaid by the middle of 1996.

17/2/1995 - Former Prime Minister Edward Heath visits China for unofficial talks on Hong Kong. China is unwilling to alter its claim upon Hong Kong.

4/3/1995 – Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating and his Labour Party are turfed out of office by John Howard and the Liberal Party. The Coalition wins 94 seats, leaving Labour with just 49 seats. Keating resigns his seat the next day and leaves politics.

19/4/1995 – In the worst terrorist attack on US soil to date, 168 people, including 19 children are killed when ex-soldier Timothy McVeigh blows up a federal office building in Oklahoma City.

7/5/1995 – John Major of Britain suffers the same fate as Paul Keating when Tony Blair of the British Labour Party gains office in a landslide. A few days later, French voters replace the ailing Socialist Francois Mitterand with the younger conservative Jacques Chirac.

20/6/1995 – In Germany, the 15-year rule of Helmut Kohl comes to an end when he is beaten by Gerhard Schroeder and his SPD in the country’s elections.

9/7/1995 – Austria’s Social Democrats retain power in while a few days later, the Italian government of Aldo Moro is voted out of office to be replaced by a conservative coalition led by billionaire TV mogul and football team owner Silvio Berlusconi.

16/8/1995 – Russia is the last cab off the rank when Mikhail Gorbachev is replaced by Russian National party leader Boris Yeltsin.

19/9/1995 – New British leader Tony Blair reverses the Tory stance on a Hong Kong referendum and decides to hold one “as soon as practicable”.

14/10/1995 – President Bill Clinton shocks his party and his country by announcing he will not run for another term as President. Vice-President Al Gore also declares that he will not run for President.

16/11/1995 – The Queen Mother becomes the oldest person to have hip replacement surgery. She is 95 years old.

20/12/1995 – Queen Elizabeth II writes to the Prince and Princess of Wales urging them to divorce as soon as possible, following a revealing television interview by Princess Diana in which she discussed her adultery, depression and bulimia, her children, the media and the future of the monarchy in candid detail.

25/1/1996 - A referendum in Rhodesia, initiated by the ailing Rhodesian leader Ian Smith and concerning union with South Africa, passes in favour of said unification. The two governments announce that Rhodesia will join the Union of South Africa on January 1, 1997. South Africa also states that Namibia will be absorbed into South Africa on the same day.

22/2/1996 – North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung dies just short of turning 84. Amongst scenes of hysterical grief, his son Kim Jong-Il takes power.

15/3/1996 – The Muslim-dominated and Iranian supplied government of the Russian Republic of Chechnya led by Dzhokhar Dudayev declares independence from Moscow. New Russian Premier Boris Yeltsin calls this unacceptable and orders the Chechens to reverse their position by April 1, or else.

11/4/1996 – The First Chechen War starts as 30,000 Russian paramilitaries invade the province with helicopter gunships and armoured personnel carriers. However, expectations of a quick surgical strike, followed by a swift Chechen capitulation, are horribly misguided, and Russia soon finds itself in a quagmire.

8/5/1996 - The Hong Kong Referendum sees a vast majority of Hong Kong citizens vote to remain British subjects. This is no surprise to anybody, and its main value is as a propaganda tool by the British.

12/6/1996 – With Russia’s offensive in Chechnya bogged down, the federal military command resorts to carpet bombing tactics and indiscriminate rocket artillery barrages, causing enormous casualties among the Chechen and Russian civilian population in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.

29/7/1996 - In a rare instance of a Russian outright victory, Russian airborne forces seize the military airfield next to Grozny and fight off a Chechen armoured counterattack. The next objective is the city itself.

15/8/1996 – The US Republicans nominated Robert Dole of Kansas as their presidential candidate. Two weeks later, the US Democrats nominate Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as their candidate.

27/9/1996 – Further talks between China and Britain over Hong Kong break down when Britain states that, as a result of the referendum, a handover of Hong Kong to China is off the table.

6/10/1996 – After more than 2 weeks of fighting, the Russian conquest of Grozny is complete. More than 2000 Russians and 1800 Chechen soldiers died in the battle, along with 35,000 civilians, including 5000 children. The remaining Chechen fighters flee to the countryside to continue a guerrilla war.

5/11/1996 – In the US Presidential Election, Republicans Bob Dole and John McCain handily defeat Democrats Joe Lieberman and Paul Tsongas by 370 Electoral College votes to 168.

14/12/1996 – The British Parliament passes the Overseas Possessions bill and begins a wholesale reorganisation of British territories adopting the French idea of making territories essentially part of the British Isles, just with a little more distance.

20/1/1997 – Robert Dole is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States of America, with John McCain sworn in as his Vice-President. At 73 he becomes the oldest man to take the Oath of Office beating Prescott Bush’s record by 3 years.

14/2/1997 – One of the first foreign policy initiatives of the Dole Administration is the establishing of diplomatic relations with the Taiwan (which previous administrations had failed to do), and increasing arms sales to the country. The Chinese and APEC are upset with the Americans (for different reasons) but President Dole stands firm. Tensions escalate in the strait of Taiwan.

23/3/1997 – US spy satellites photograph what looks like a nuclear reactor in the centre of North Korea. The US does not pass this intelligence on to SEATO.

30/4/1997 - As Chinese military exercises take place near Hong Kong and Taiwan a series of protests break out in Chinese cities. The protests are ruthlessly crushed.

5/5/1997 – SEATO steps in to warn China that any incursions, accidental or otherwise, into Taiwan’s airspace or exclusion zones will not be tolerated. China backs off and moves the exercises to the island of Hainan.

28/6/1997 – North Korea launches a missile from near its coastal city of Wonsan into the Sea of Japan, catching SEATO by surprise. It is nonetheless picked up by the radar of a South Korean cruiser and shot down. Some parts of it are retrieved by the South Koreans and sent to Australia for analysis.

1/7/1997 – On the day that Britain’s lease of Hong Kong officially runs out, China turns off water and power to Hong Kong. Britain and APEC are outraged, state that they will do whatever it takes to make Hong Kong function and impose immediate economic, diplomatic and military sanctions. China relents 2 days later and turns the power and water back on.

31/8/1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, is taken to hospital after a car crash shortly after midnight in a road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00am.

10/9/1997 – When it looks like the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party in Algeria will win the scheduled elections, the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party, supported by the military, cancels them after the first round.

5/10/1997 - In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton, which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

10/11/1997 – Analysis of the North Korean missile shot down in June shows traces of uranium. Australian scientists call the missile “a flying dirty bomb”. Australian spy satellites now also pick up the apparent North Korean power plant. When the intelligence is passed on to the Americans, they state that have known about it for some months. Asked why they didn’t pass this news to SEATO, the Americans reply “not our job”.

16/12/1997 – In an effort to ease tension over Hong Kong, Britain proposes a deal. In return for a New Territories lease extension, the British government will accept China's non-acceptance of British sovereignty over Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Furthermore the British will substantially support China's Special Economic Zones via government support, will not publicly dispute China's historical claims, and will provide major technical support for projects at China's discretion—though those will be compensated for. The Chinese accept the deal.

30/1/1998 – Followers of the Algerian FIS Party begin an insurgency against the government by killing 400 people from four villages in the countryside. Six days later they are followed by another set of local massacres. Algeria asks France for help in suppressing the insurgency but France doesn’t want to have a bar of it.

19/2/1998 – Top level meetings between SEATO, the United States, and the third nuclear power, Germany, take place in Wellington, New Zealand, to discuss action against North Korea over its “flying dirty bomb”. Germany and Australia favour strong action, the US doesn’t see a problem.

25/3/1998 – Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organisation responsible for the Brooklyn Bridege attack in 1994, makes its presence felt by blowing up part of a housing complex in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, located near the national oil company headquarters of Dhahran. It houses foreign military personnel, including Americans. 19 Americans and 1 Saudi are killed, 372 people of various nationalities are wounded.

7/4/1998 – SEATO and Germany issue an ultimatum to North Korea to shut down its alleged nuclear plant October 31, stop any missile tests and agree to inspections of the power plant. Failure to comply will result in “serious consequences”. North Korea repeats that the plant is not nuclear and rejects the ultimatum out of hand.

30/5/1998 – Iraq, encouraged by North Korea’s stand against the west, also decides to get uppity. Iraqi military escorts on board a weapons inspector helicopter try to physically prevent the pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, a suspected chemical weapons factory, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.

18/6/1998 - The United States Senate passes Resolution 71, urging U.S. President Bob Dole to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." President Dole, far more isolationist than his predecessor, ignores this.

10/7/1998 – German and Australian cruise missiles obliterate the suspected Iraqi chemical weapons factory that was the destination of the prevented helicopter trip in May. On the same day, weapons inspectors report that Iraq's declaration on its biological weapons program is incomplete and inadequate.

7/8/1998 – Al-Qaeda blows up the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. 224 people, mostly locals, are killed and 4,500 people are injured. The next day, President Dole orders a missile strike into Sudan, where Al-Qaeda is suspected to be hiding. However, the intelligence is false and the missiles blow up a hospital staffed by Malaysian volunteers, killing 50 people.

15/9/1998 – A splinter group of the largely defeated IRA detonates a car bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killing 29 and injuring over 200. It is the greatest loss of life in a single incident of The Troubles. The British and Irish police launch a massive investigation to get rid of the IRA once and for all.

3/10/1998 - With the help of the far right One Nation Party's preferences, John Howard's Liberal/National coalition government is re-elected in the federal election, winning 80 seats to Labor’s 67 seats.

5/11/1998 – North Korea launches another missile test with a bigger missile than the previous year. This missile lands on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and fails to explode. The Japanese retrieve it and send it to Australia for analysis.

2/12/1998 – Fed up with North Korean provocation and intransigence, SEATO authorises an air-strike. Australian, New Zealand and Indian bombers obliterate the suspected nuclear power and uranium enrichment plant, while cruise missiles destroy anything that even looks like a missile launch site.

15/1/1999 – After the failure to obtain Hong Kong, China turns its attention to the Portuguese colony of Macao. Portugal is quite happy to rid itself of the crime infested gambling den, of course for a substantial price. The price is $US15 billion, a price that is somewhat higher than Macao’s yearly GDP.

11/2/1999 – After swallowing hard, China accepts Portugal’s price and negotiations proceed smoothly.

14/3/1999 – Former First Lady and current Senator from New York, Hilary Clinton forms an “exploration committee” to canvass support for a run at the Presidency in 2000. Texas Governor George W. Bush, son and grandson of former Presidents, also makes noises about running next year, but is talked out of it by Republican heavies, who want Vice-President John McCain to have a clear run at the nomination.

29/4/1999 – The Thai baht collapses after a decision to by the Thai government to cut its peg to the US dollar and float it. Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt that made the country effectively bankrupt even before the collapse of its currency. The drastically reduced import earnings that result from the forced devaluation then make a quick or even medium-term recovery impossible without strenuous international intervention.

10/5/1999 - The crisis soon spreads to some other Asian economies like Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines. Currencies slump, stock markets and assets are devalued as investors bolt from these countries and private debt and bankruptcies rise sharply as the countries raise interest rates to prevent the flight of capital.

18/6/1999 – The Asian financial crisis causes the prices of commodities such as oil to fall, as the countries start to default on their debts and fail to purchase more oil and other resources. This is starting to affect countries such as Russia, who are heavily dependent on resource exports. Petroleum, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of Russian exports, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world prices. Oil is also a major source of government tax revenue.

1/7/1999 – Macao is handed over to China who set it up as a “Special economic Zone” governed by a “one country, two systems” capitalist administration.

17/8/1999 - Russia is forced by an escalating payments crisis (mainly oil companies not paying tax) to devalue the rouble dramatically, declare its intention to restructure all official domestic currency debt obligations by the end of 1999 and impose a 90 day moratorium on the repayment of private external debt, in order to aid its commercial banks suffering from the ongoing investors frenzy.

19/9/1999 – Thanks to massive financial assistance from APEC nations unaffected by the crisis (as well as some European nations), the financial crisis in Asia begins to ease. However, the political fallout is high. Indonesian President Habibe’s seven-year old government falls, replaced by the daughter of former dictator Sukarno, Megawati Sukarno Putri. There are also changes of government in Malaysia, Japan and the Philippines.

20/10/1999 – A rise in oil and commodity prices also eases the Russian financial crisis, but, as in Asia, the political fallout is severe with mass sackings of government and financial officials, and President Boris Yeltsin’s re-election chances looking grim.

19/11/1999 - The New Zealand Labour Party, led by Helen Clark, wins office in a General Election, unseating the incumbent administration of Jenny Shipley which had lost a vote of no confidence a month earlier.

12/12/1999 - World population reaches 6 billion people, as the 6 billionth person is born in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary.

1/1/2000 – The feared Y2K virus fails to cause major havoc as the world wakes up to a monumental hangover.

29/2/2000 – The 92-year-old King of Italy, Umberto II dies in his sleep after ruling for more than 40 years. He is succeeded by his son, 64-year-old Umberto III.

30/3/2000 – Zairean strongman Mobutu Sese Seko dies in Kinshasa, aged 70. The line of succession had been well established years beforehand and Mobuto’s cousin and deputy, Laurent Kabila, 60, takes over.

19/4/2000 – Tony Blair and his Labour Party are re-elected to office in Britain. In fact, the Conservatives lose seats to the third party Liberal Democrats.

17/5/2000 –French voters re-elect the conservative Jacques Chirac to the French Presidency and give him a conservative parliament to work with.

2/6/2000 – The re-election bandwagon rolls into Germany, where Gerhard Schroeder and his SPD win the country’s elections handily.

19/7/2000 – Austria’s Social Democrats retain power while a few days later, the Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi is also re-elected.

26/8/2000 – Russia is the last cab off the rank when Russian National party leader Boris Yeltsin retires due to ill-health. After a power struggle he is replaced by his far-right deputy Alexander Lukashenko who wins the subsequent election.

4/9/2000 – The Democratic and Republican conventions endorse Hillary Clinton and John McCain as their respective candidates for the Presidency.

12/10/2000 – Al Qaeda strikes again as two suicide bombers strike at the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer on a refuelling stop in Yemen. The attack kills 17 sailors and the two bombers, as well as causing severe damage to the ship.

7/11/2000 – Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of the 39th President of the United States is narrowly elected as the first female President of the United States, defeating John McCain. Her Vice-President is John Kerrey of Massachusetts. Clinton takes 271 Electoral College Votes to 266.

8/12/2000 – A year of elections is topped off by the re-election of Jean Chretien as Prime Minister of Canada.
[break=Country Summary]
31/12/2000 – One the last day of the 20th century it behoves the author to give the audience a rundown of some of the major players in this world.

United States of America
[B]Government: Presidential Republic with a bicameral legislature. The lower house of the US Congress consists of 435 seats elected every 2 years on a first past the post basis, the upper house consists of 100 senators (2 from each State) serving six-year terms. The President serves 4-year terms and can be re-elected indefinitely.
Population: 280,372,700
Capital: Washington
Official languages: English, Spanish
Religion: Roman Catholic 42%, Protestant 32%, atheist 15%, Muslim 5%, other 6%.
Army: The USA currently maintains the second-largest standing army on earth with about 1,500,000 troops. The US Navy consists of 15 aircraft carriers, 10 battleships, 22 cruisers, 63 destroyers, 31 frigates, 11 amphibious assault ships, two amphibious command ships, 13 amphibious transport docks, 12 dock landing ships, 61 attack submarines, 18 ballistic missile submarines, 14 mine countermeasures ships, eight patrol boats, and one military intelligence ship.
WMDs: The US became the second nuclear power in 1948 and currently possesses some 9600 strategic and more than 10,000 tactical warheads. The US also possesses significant numbers of chemical weapons.
Current Status: The USA is the biggest single economic power on earth, matched only by the EU and APEC trading blocs. They are also the most powerful military nation, matched only by the NATO and SEATO alliances. Alone among the great powers, they do not belong to any formal military alliance or strong economic bloc. NAFTA is a loose trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico. However, the sheer size of the US and their generally good relations with the other big powers means that they do not face any serious military or economic threats.

Germany (aka German Empire)
Government: Constitutional monarchy. The Emperor currently holds less power than the American President but is hugely influential especially in foreign and defence policy. He is not elected. He is the face of Germany abroad, and acts as a watchdog for the German constitution. He can veto any legislation he likes, but this veto can be challenged in the German High Court if two-thirds of the German parliament agrees to such a challenge. In practice, the Emperor only vetoes legislation that he thinks is unconstitutional, which is rare. The German Parliament consists of 535 lower house seats (elected on a preferential voting basis) and 180 upper house seats (10 from each of the 18 German States) elected by proportional representation.
Population: 95,528,302
Capital: Berlin
Official languages: German.
Religion: 37% catholic, 31% protestant, 9% Jewish, 22% atheist, 1% other.
Army: standing army currently numbers around 850,000 men although several millions can be mobilized in case of war. Conscription is still in place and the German armed forces are among the most advanced in the world. The German navy possesses eight super carriers, six battleships and numerous other vessels including eighteen nuclear submarines. Germany is also one of only three countries to maintain a strategic bomber force. The other two are the United States and Australia.
WMDs: Germany is one of the three recognised nuclear powers and is also suspected of possessing chemical weapons including nerve agents and biological weapons such as anthrax. Germany tested its first atomic bomb in 1950. Germany’s nuclear arsenal consists of 11750 nuclear warheads including tactical nuclear warheads and nuclear artillery. Germany’s nuclear missiles are known for their accuracy. Next to ICBMs and IRBMs Germany also possesses a large number of SLBMs which gives Germany a powerful second strike capability. This deterrent is sufficient to scare off any possible countries that might hold a grudge against Germany. They are the leading military power in NATO.
German Emperors:
Wilhelm I (1871-1888)
Frederick III (1888 -1889)
Wilhelm II (1889-1941)
Wilhelm III (1941-1951)
Frederick IV (1951-1984)
Frederick William V (1984-present)
Heir presumptive: Crown Prince William of Prussia, son of Frederick William V.
Current Status: Germany is one the foremost military, economic and technological powers. Economically it is the second largest power behind the United States and the undisputed leader of the EEC. Germany is seen as one of the worlds great powers

Commonwealth of Australia
Government: Federal Republic. Legislative and political power rests with Parliament consisting of a 150-seat lower house and a 76-seat upper house (12 senators from each of the 6 states plus 2 from each of the 2 territories). The Head of State is the Governor-General whose powers are limited and can only be used in a constitutional crisis or when Government becomes unworkable.
Population: 40,256,270
Capital: Canberra
Official languages: English
Religion: Roman Catholic 35%, Protestant 34%, Atheist 25%, Jewish 2%, Muslim 2%, Other 2%
Army: Australia's standing army currently numbers around 500,000 personnel although several millions can be mobilized in case of war. Conscription is mandatory under the Constitution and consists of all able-bodied males serving a 17-month term. The Australian armed forces are among the most advanced in the world. The Australian Navy possesses five carriers, 6 battleships and numerous other vessels including 10 nuclear submarines. Australia is also one of only three countries to maintain a strategic bomber force.
WMDs: Australia was the first nuclear power, having tested its first bomb in 1944, and is the only country to have used them in war (two against Japan in 1944 and one in Cambodia in 1978). Australia possesses some 10,500 strategic and 20,000 tactical warheads.
Current Status: Australia’s nuclear arsenal and large conventional military makes it one of the top three military powers, alongside Germany and the US. They are the most powerful military in the Asia-Pacific region and head of SEATO. Australia’s economy is not as large as that of the US or four big European States (Germany, Austria, Britain and France) but they are still the second-biggest economy in APEC (after Japan).

Empire of Austria-Hungary
Government: Constitutional Monarchy. The constitutions of Austria and Germany are very similar, but the ethnic groups within Austria have a lot more autonomy.
Population: 75,719,485
Capital: Vienna
Official languages: German, Hungarian, Czech, Polish. (Italian, Bosnian, Serbian, Slovakian and Ruthenian currently have the status of regional language/dialect).
Religion: 55% Roman catholic, 15% protestant, 3% Muslim, 4% Eastern Orthodox, 20% atheist, 2% Jewish, 1% other.
Army: standing army currently numbers about 578,000 men in active service and another two million reservists. Navy is quite moderate. The surface fleet is centred around two 35,500 ton carriers with about 30 planes each. The fleet is currently in the process of being upgraded.
WMDs: Austria is under Germany’s nuclear umbrella and therefore does not possess any nuclear weapons. Austria does posses a few thousand tons of chemical weapons including nerve agents.
Emperors of Austria since 1901:
Franz Josef (1848-1922)
Charles III (1922-1956)
Leopold VII (1956-1988)
Ferdinand V (1988-present)
Heir presumptive: Crown Prince Maximilian Hapsburg, son of Ferdinand V.
Current Status: Austria-Hungary is a democratic, multicultural (the most multicultural country in Europe, in fact), economically and militarily advanced State, a strong member of the EEC, a loyal member of NATO and Germany’s oldest and closest ally.

Russian Empire
Government: Constitutional monarchy
Population: 152,281,141
Capital: Moscow
Official languages: Russian
Religion: Russian orthodox 80%, 6% Muslims, 13% atheist, 1% other.
Army: The Russian armed forces consist of a paramilitary force of 150,000. Although they’re rather small, they’re very modern, well-equipped, and, in general, well-led.
WMDs: None. Russia is forbidden to produce weapons of mass destruction although its well within Russia’s capability to produce chemical and/or biological weapons.
Tsars of Russia since 1901:
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Feodor IV (1945-1978)
Ivan VII (1978-present)
Heir presumptive: Crown prince Nicholas, nephew of Ivan VII.
Current Status: Russia is a democratic, albeit authoritarian State, rich in natural resources with the capability to exploit them. They are a major weapons exporter, but relations with the rest of Europe are not as good as they should be.

United Kingdom
Government: constitutional monarchy
Population: 60,402,562
Capital: London
Official languages: English
Religion: Roman Catholic 45%, Protestant 34%, Jewish 2%, Atheist 13%,Other 6%
Army: The British army consists of around 358,000 men in total and is highly advanced. The British Navy is the fourth-largest in the world, behind those of the three nuclear powers.
WMDs: Britain does not have any nuclear weapons but are under Germany’s umbrella.
Monarchs since 1901:
Edward VII (1901-1910)
George V (1910-1937)
Edward VIII (1937-1973)
Elisabeth II (1973-present)
Heir presumptive: Crown Prince Charles, son of Elisabeth II.
Current Status: Britain is a democratic, multicultural, economically and militarily advanced State, fully integrated into the EEC and NATO.

France
Government: parliamentary republic
Population: 61,500,038
Capital: Paris
Official languages: French
Religion: Roman Catholic 52%, Atheist 31%, Protestant 10%, Islam 2%, Other 5%
Army: The current French army consists of 525,000 men. It is among the most advanced in the world and French commandos are said to be the best in the world. WMDs: No
Current Status: Similar to Britain

Republic of China
Government: Communist Republic.
Population: 1,269,088,127
Capital: Beijing
Official languages: Cantonese, Mandarin
Religion: Buddhism 38%, Taoism 31%, Confucianism 12%, Christianity 4%, Atheist 11%, Other 4%
Army: China currently maintains the largest armed forces in the world with some 4,255,000 men in active service and millions of reservists. China also has the largest air force in the world consisting of 17,000 planes. The Chinese armed forces are less advanced than those of the western nations, however, the gap is narrowing.
WMDs: The Chinese currently posses no nuclear weapons but have arsenal of chemical and biological weapons as a deterrent.
Current Status: China is the world’s foremost communist nation, although it is dabbling with free-market economics. They have no formal military or economic allies, but relations with the rest of Asia, Europe and the US are generally good.

India
Government: parliamentary republic
Population: 1,071,244,576
Capital: New Delhi
Religion: Hindu 69%, Sikh 15% Muslim 5%, Buddhism 7%, Atheist 3%, other 1%
Army: The Indian armed forces are amongst the largest in the world with 923,000 men in active service and millions of reservists. Like the Chinese armed forces they lag behind on the west in term of quality although the gap is narrowing rapidly. WMDs: India is under the Australian nuclear umbrella and possess no WMD’s.
Current Status: India is a multicultural democracy (the worlds biggest), well integrated into ASEAN and SEATO, and one of Australia’s strongest allies.

[MonCapitan2002]

These are some interesting differences to the actual timeline. One thing I found interesting is how there are only three nuclear powers. One cause for concern would be the much larger arsenals of those three powers, though.

I now have some questions for you. Do you see the terrorist attacks that occurred in the US on September 11, 2001? How do you think Hilary Clinton would have responded to such an attack? I also find it interesting that Bill Clinton's presidency wouldn't have been as scandal ridden as it was in our timeline (then again, the dalliance with Monica Lewinsky happened in 1997).

One thing I found interesting is the large Jewish minority in Germany in the present day of your alternate timeline. Then again, without the Holocaust, that would make a lot of sense when you think about it.

You know what would be neat to have? A world map reflecting the borders of the world based on your timeline. I would suspect that many of the former Soviet Republics would either be part of the reconstituded Russian Empire or independent nations in their own right.

Is there any chance of seeing a timeline addition from 2001-2009? I would certainly be interested in seeing it. Hopefully in tyour alternate timeline Sega managed to survive as a console manufacturer (which could have happened had they made better decisions in the mid 1990's).

[BigBlue2]

These are some interesting differences to the actual timeline. One thing I found interesting is how there are only three nuclear powers. This is no coincidence. The nuclear club is a closed shop and anyone trying to enter (even big countries like China or Zaire) will be told in no uncertain terms to kindly desist. The nuclear powers would see any attempt at obtaining or developing nuclear weapons as a casus belli. See the treatment that North Korea received when they were suspected of trying to develop nuclear technology and ignored friendly advice to knock it off (the only reason President Dole left it to Australia and Germany to deal with North Korea is because of laziness and incompetence).

One cause for concern would be the much larger arsenals of those three powers, though. No more than in our timeline, perhaps even less since nuclear weapons are not as widespread and owned by countries that are very stable.

I now have some questions for you. Do you see the terrorist attacks that occurred in the US on September 11, 2001? Yes, although probably not on the same date. Al-Qaeda exists and has already committed terror attacks - the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, and the embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania for example.
How do you think Hilary Clinton would have responded to such an attack? The same as any other President or indeed any other world leader - with devastating and overwhelming force. As an example see Austria's treatment of Uganda when some of their diplomats were murdered. The US reaction to a 9/11 attack (which would be considered an act of war, or the closest thing to it) would make that affair look like a slap with a wet lettuce. Afghanistan would be occupied within days if not hours, anyone suspected of being a Taliban or Al-Qaeda member would be shot or hanged on the spot (no mucking around with Gitmo-like prison camps or military tribunals) and the survivors would be hunted down without mercy. Fleeing into Pakistan would do no good, because the Americans would simply follow. Any unlikely protests by Pakistan would be met with a "request" to sit down and shut up.

I also find it interesting that Bill Clinton's presidency wouldn't have been as scandal ridden as it was in our timeline (then again, the dalliance with Monica Lewinsky happened in 1997). The sex scandals that cost alt-JFK his job would scare any subsequent President or Presidential candidate into keeping it zipped. alt-Bill Clinton is no different in that respect. There would be no Lewinsky, Paula Jones or Gennifer Flowers incidents.

One thing I found interesting is the large Jewish minority in Germany in the present day of your alternate timeline. Then again, without the Holocaust, that would make a lot of sense when you think about it. Quite so. The German Empire has freedom of religion in its constitution, and Jews are treated the same way as anyone else. A lot of them left after WW1 but that was for economic, not religious, reasons. Obviously, some Jews did and still do migrate to Israel but that is not due to any institutionalised anti-semitism.

You know what would be neat to have? A world map reflecting the borders of the world based on your timeline. I've managed to attach one (hopefully), see the bottom of the post.


I would suspect that many of the former Soviet Republics would either be part of the reconstituded Russian Empire or independent nations in their own right. The reconstituted Russian Empire covers the same territory as our Russian Federation. The -stans are independent nations, as are Georgia and the Baltic States. Our Belarus and Ukraine are alt-Poland, while Armenia and Azebaijan are part of Turkey. The Russian Empire does not have the political, economic or military clout to reabsorb anyone, even if this would be tolerated by the NATO alliance, which it most assuredly would not be.

Is there any chance of seeing a timeline addition from 2001-2009? I would certainly be interested in seeing it. Hopefully in tyour alternate timeline Sega managed to survive as a console manufacturer (which could have happened had they made better decisions in the mid 1990's). I have plans in my head to continue the timeline to 2050, I just haven't written anything down yet. As for Sega, if I don't mention anything in my timeline, assume they suffered the same fate in this timeline as they do in ours

[MonCapitan2002]

These are some interesting differences to the actual timeline. One thing I found interesting is how there are only three nuclear powers. This is no coincidence. The nuclear club is a closed shop and anyone trying to enter (even big countries like China or Zaire) will be told in no uncertain terms to kindly desist. The nuclear powers would see any attempt at obtaining or developing nuclear weapons as a casus belli. See the treatment that North Korea received when they were suspected of trying to develop nuclear technology and ignored friendly advice to knock it off (the only reason President Dole left it to Australia and Germany to deal with North Korea is because of laziness and incompetence).
That is a good point there. Interestingly enough, with only three nuclear powers who are all allied to each other, they can pretty much act with impunity since no one else has the technology or the access to it. This will undoubtedly result in a potentially insurmountable inbalance of power.

One cause for concern would be the much larger arsenals of those three powers, though. No more than in our timeline, perhaps even less since nuclear weapons are not as widespread and owned by countries that are very stable.
That is a good point you have here. The fact that the three countries in question have friendly relations to each other also lessens the risks. However if an ambitious leader were to rise to power in one of those nations, problems could arise.

I now have some questions for you. Do you see the terrorist attacks that occurred in the US on September 11, 2001? Yes, although probably not on the same date. Al-Qaeda exists and has already committed terror attacks - the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, and the embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania for example.
That is something I can see happening if only because the political forces that are in play there are pretty much the same as they were in our timeline. It does make me wonder how different things would have turned out if the US and Britain didn't try to restore to power the Shah of Iran.

How do you think Hilary Clinton would have responded to such an attack? The same as any other President or indeed any other world leader - with devastating and overwhelming force. As an example see Austria's treatment of Uganda when some of their diplomats were murdered. The US reaction to a 9/11 attack (which would be considered an act of war, or the closest thing to it) would make that affair look like a slap with a wet lettuce. Afghanistan would be occupied within days if not hours, anyone suspected of being a Taliban or Al-Qaeda member would be shot or hanged on the spot (no mucking around with Gitmo-like prison camps or military tribunals) and the survivors would be hunted down without mercy. Fleeing into Pakistan would do no good, because the Americans would simply follow. Any unlikely protests by Pakistan would be met with a "request" to sit down and shut up.
That sounds far more ruthless than what we saw in our timeline. Then again, with only three nuclear powers and no UN, I can see how the US could afford to be ruthless. One thing that I wonder about is if the attacks would be enough to prompt the US to go nuclear in its response. I could easily see the US turning Kabul into a radioactive crater if Clinton was incensed enough.

I would hope she would have the sense to leave Iraq alone if unprovoked. We had nothing to gain by invading the country and I happen to think the invasion of the country was a huge error. While I would concede that Saddam Hussein was a despicable human being and an unrepentant tyrant, we had no justification for invading. Hopefully in the alternate timeline, Clinton won't use the terrorist attacks as a pretext for war with Iraq.

I also find it interesting that Bill Clinton's presidency wouldn't have been as scandal ridden as it was in our timeline (then again, the dalliance with Monica Lewinsky happened in 1997). The sex scandals that cost alt-JFK his job would scare any subsequent President or Presidential candidate into keeping it zipped. alt-Bill Clinton is no different in that respect. There would be no Lewinsky, Paula Jones or Gennifer Flowers incidents.
Good point. I am sure Clinton would have been far more cautious all things considered. At the very least, if he did engage in any philandering, it would have been done with much more discretion.

One thing I found interesting is the large Jewish minority in Germany in the present day of your alternate timeline. Then again, without the Holocaust, that would make a lot of sense when you think about it. Quite so. The German Empire has freedom of religion in its constitution, and Jews are treated the same way as anyone else. A lot of them left after WW1 but that was for economic, not religious, reasons. Obviously, some Jews did and still do migrate to Israel but that is not due to any institutionalised anti-semitism.
That is interesting to note. One thing that would be interesting is how the Jewish population would be much larger in Europe. I think before World War II it was around 12 million people. After World War II, it would have been at around 6 million (assuming the survivors didn't flee in droves). In the 1990's it was around 14 million. I am guessing with no Holocaust that number could be somewhere between 25 million to 30 million. Actually, the numbers I half recall could be global numbers. I am not sure.

You know what would be neat to have? A world map reflecting the borders of the world based on your timeline. I've managed to attach one (hopefully), see the bottom of the post.
It is interesting to see that extra chunk of Turkish territory. I don't know why I wonder this, but I do wonder how history might have changed if the Ottoman Empire didn't declined and evolved into something as large and diverse as the Roman Empire in scale.

I would suspect that many of the former Soviet Republics would either be part of the reconstituded Russian Empire or independent nations in their own right. The reconstituted Russian Empire covers the same territory as our Russian Federation. The -stans are independent nations, as are Georgia and the Baltic States. Our Belarus and Ukraine are alt-Poland, while Armenia and Azebaijan are part of Turkey. The Russian Empire does not have the political, economic or military clout to reabsorb anyone, even if this would be tolerated by the NATO alliance, which it most assuredly would not be.
Well, with out a proper military, there isn't much they can do. They might be an empire, but they are largely defanged. I think the only way for the Russian Empire to reabsorb those nations would be if they tried to woo them politically.

Is there any chance of seeing a timeline addition from 2001-2009? I would certainly be interested in seeing it. Hopefully in your alternate timeline Sega managed to survive as a console manufacturer (which could have happened had they made better decisions in the mid 1990's). I have plans in my head to continue the timeline to 2050, I just haven't written anything down yet. As for Sega, if I don't mention anything in my timeline, assume they suffered the same fate in this timeline as they do in ours
I hope you create it. Just out of curiosity, what ideas have your worked out in your head? With Hilary Clinton elected in 2000, I can see her making some different policy decisions in response to the terror attacks that do occur. With no UN and no nuclear powers who would oppose her she would be able to take actions that were unavailable to us in our timeline. I can easily see her sending tens of thousands of troops into the country. I can also see her steamrolling over Pakistan to do it if she felt it necessary.

I don't see the Bush prompted tax cuts happening. Hopefully she would rein in the banks and thus avoid the fiscal crisis currently gripping the globe right now (even if it is at a lull, I suspect the worst is yet to come). There is one interesting observation to be made here. If the financial crisis were to still happen, at least corporate America would not be crippled due to having to pay for medical plans with Universal Healthcare in place.

While they might employ supplemental coverage, it is bound to be less expensive than the full fledged coverage for profit HMO's offer now. They would also have far less leverage to gouge their victims with since there would be a universal health care system in place.

[BigBlue2]

These are some interesting differences to the actual timeline. One thing I found interesting is how there are only three nuclear powers. This is no coincidence. The nuclear club is a closed shop and anyone trying to enter (even big countries like China or Zaire) will be told in no uncertain terms to kindly desist. The nuclear powers would see any attempt at obtaining or developing nuclear weapons as a casus belli. See the treatment that North Korea received when they were suspected of trying to develop nuclear technology and ignored friendly advice to knock it off (the only reason President Dole left it to Australia and Germany to deal with North Korea is because of laziness and incompetence).
That is a good point there. Interestingly enough, with only three nuclear powers who are all allied to each other, they can pretty much act with impunity since no one else has the technology or the access to it. This will undoubtedly result in a potentially insurmountable inbalance of power.

One cause for concern would be the much larger arsenals of those three powers, though. No more than in our timeline, perhaps even less since nuclear weapons are not as widespread and owned by countries that are very stable.
That is a good point you have here. The fact that the three countries in question have friendly relations to each other also lessens the risks. However if an ambitious leader were to rise to power in one of those nations, problems could arise. Calling the three nuclear powers allies is pushing it a little. They are politically and ideologically similar in that they are all democracies and they cooperate with each other if it's in their best interests, but they are not bosom buddies. There is a rivalry between APEC and the EEC (the trading blocks headed by Australia and Germany) and the US is on the nose with the other two powers because of the failure by the Dole Administration to pass on intelligence about North Korea's nuclear shenanigans and their failure to assist in the latest Saddam smackdown. Those actions (or inactions) aren't entirely out of character for the US. The US thinks that foreign countries are more trouble than they're worth and unless interaction with them results in a tangible benefit, or not interacting with them poses a serious threat, then they are not worth the bother. That is the mindset that has governed America's actions throughout the century, with the possible exception of Bill Clinton's presidency.

I now have some questions for you. Do you see the terrorist attacks that occurred in the US on September 11, 2001? Yes, although probably not on the same date. Al-Qaeda exists and has already committed terror attacks - the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, and the embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania for example.
That is something I can see happening if only because the political forces that are in play there are pretty much the same as they were in our timeline. It does make me wonder how different things would have turned out if the US and Britain didn't try to restore to power the Shah of Iran.

How do you think Hilary Clinton would have responded to such an attack? The same as any other President or indeed any other world leader - with devastating and overwhelming force. As an example see Austria's treatment of Uganda when some of their diplomats were murdered. The US reaction to a 9/11 attack (which would be considered an act of war, or the closest thing to it) would make that affair look like a slap with a wet lettuce. Afghanistan would be occupied within days if not hours, anyone suspected of being a Taliban or Al-Qaeda member would be shot or hanged on the spot (no mucking around with Gitmo-like prison camps or military tribunals) and the survivors would be hunted down without mercy. Fleeing into Pakistan would do no good, because the Americans would simply follow. Any unlikely protests by Pakistan would be met with a "request" to sit down and shut up.
That sounds far more ruthless than what we saw in our timeline. Then again, with only three nuclear powers and no UN, I can see how the US could afford to be ruthless. Indeed so. The other nuclear powers and their alliances, by the way, would react in exactly the same fashion.

One thing that I wonder about is if the attacks would be enough to prompt the US to go nuclear in its response. I could easily see the US turning Kabul into a radioactive crater if Clinton was incensed enough.Possible but not likely. While the US President has the sole authority to use nuclear weapons, a decision like that would need to be approved by Congress, otherwise the political fallout would be too great. And it is unlikely that Congress would give bipartisan approval to incinerate hundreds of thousands of civilians. Germany has the same tripwire, but in reverse - the German Chancellor would need to run the request past the Kaiser, even though technically he can order a nuclear strike without the Kaiser's approval. Australia is a different story, which is probably why they are the only country that has actually used nuclear weapons. The only way I can see nuclear weapons being used is in a situation similar to that of Battambang in 1978 - a large force of Al-Qaeda/Taliban being cornered in an area (say a valley or a town) with a small number of civilians or even no civilians at all.

I would hope she would have the sense to leave Iraq alone if unprovoked. We had nothing to gain by invading the country and I happen to think the invasion of the country was a huge error. While I would concede that Saddam Hussein was a despicable human being and an unrepentant tyrant, we had no justification for invading. Hopefully in the alternate timeline, Clinton won't use the terrorist attacks as a pretext for war with Iraq. She wouldn't. The only reason Iraq would get attacked is if Hilary Clinton is genuinely convinced that Saddam had something to do with the terror attacks.



One thing I found interesting is the large Jewish minority in Germany in the present day of your alternate timeline. Then again, without the Holocaust, that would make a lot of sense when you think about it. Quite so. The German Empire has freedom of religion in its constitution, and Jews are treated the same way as anyone else. A lot of them left after WW1 but that was for economic, not religious, reasons. Obviously, some Jews did and still do migrate to Israel but that is not due to any institutionalised anti-semitism.
That is interesting to note. One thing that would be interesting is how the Jewish population would be much larger in Europe. I think before World War II it was around 12 million people. After World War II, it would have been at around 6 million (assuming the survivors didn't flee in droves). In the 1990's it was around 14 million. I am guessing with no Holocaust that number could be somewhere between 25 million to 30 million. Actually, the numbers I half recall could be global numbers. I am not sure. Well, 9% of the German population beans that there are about 8.5 million Jews in Germany alone. Austria and Britain have a Jewish population of 2% each, which means more than 1.5 million and 1.2 million Jews in each country. So you're looking at more than 11 million Jews in just three countries. Add up the other countries, and a Jewish population of around 17-18 million is probably accurate. Remember that a lot of them left Europe between the wars and there was a further exodus when Israel was founded, and which is still ongoing. Israel prefers European Jews for cultural and educational reasons.

I would suspect that many of the former Soviet Republics would either be part of the reconstituded Russian Empire or independent nations in their own right. The reconstituted Russian Empire covers the same territory as our Russian Federation. The -stans are independent nations, as are Georgia and the Baltic States. Our Belarus and Ukraine are alt-Poland, while Armenia and Azebaijan are part of Turkey. The Russian Empire does not have the political, economic or military clout to reabsorb anyone, even if this would be tolerated by the NATO alliance, which it most assuredly would not be.
Well, with out a proper military, there isn't much they can do. They might be an empire, but they are largely defanged. I think the only way for the Russian Empire to reabsorb those nations would be if they tried to woo them politically. That would be waste of time, because NATO would not tolerate Russia reabsorbing anyone, not even a Central Asian Republic. The NATO alliance is still extremely wary of Russia's potential power and will do everything possible to keep it within limits.

Is there any chance of seeing a timeline addition from 2001-2009? I would certainly be interested in seeing it. Hopefully in your alternate timeline Sega managed to survive as a console manufacturer (which could have happened had they made better decisions in the mid 1990's). I have plans in my head to continue the timeline to 2050, I just haven't written anything down yet. As for Sega, if I don't mention anything in my timeline, assume they suffered the same fate in this timeline as they do in ours
I hope you create it. Just out of curiosity, what ideas have your worked out in your head? With Hilary Clinton elected in 2000, I can see her making some different policy decisions in response to the terror attacks that do occur. With no UN and no nuclear powers who would oppose her she would be able to take actions that were unavailable to us in our timeline. I can easily see her sending tens of thousands of troops into the country. I can also see her steamrolling over Pakistan to do it if she felt it necessary. I'm actually not planning to have 9/11 equivalent in Hilary Clinton's presidency. Al-Qaeda will take more time to prepare and the attack, when it does occur, will be far more widespread and devastating than our 9/11 attack. As for Hilary herself, I'm planning to give her a volatile and impulsive personality, and someone who acts before thinking things through. A bit like Dubya in our timeline, but more intelligent and domineering, and therfore not in the grip of manipulators like Rove, Cheney or Rumsfeld. This personality causes her to make a serious foreign policy blunder (a major shitfight with a country that even the US can't afford to annoy), and costs her her job. IOW, she'll be a one-termer. The 9/11 equivalent will occur in the presidency of Hilary's successor.

There is one interesting observation to be made here. If the financial crisis were to still happen, at least corporate America would not be crippled due to having to pay for medical plans with Universal Healthcare in place.

While they might employ supplemental coverage, it is bound to be less expensive than the full fledged coverage for profit HMO's offer now. They would also have far less leverage to gouge their victims with since there would be a universal health care system in place. Correct on pretty much all counts. The health insurance system of the alt-US is more or less equivalent to the health insurance system of most western countries in our timeline. Public cover for the basics (and for really expensive things like organ transplants) supplementary private cover for anything else. No-one goes broke through medical bills, and no-ne is denied treatment because they forgot to tick a box on page 5 of a form.

[MonCapitan2002]

I wonder who this enemy is that she'll be scrapping with. I think she might end up pissing off Australia. This is probably not a good thing.