[natehale1971]

Twilight 2000: Countdown to Armageddon
by Richard A. Spake ©

1998. The 1998 Summit held between Danilov and Clinton lays down the groundwork that allows West German companies to invest in the modernization of their East German counterparts. This allows East German factories and industrial facilities to undergo a major modernization that will increase their productivity and improve their production capacities. Within a year East German produced goods become available in West Germany, as West German produced goods become available in East Germany.

1998. The Soviet Union allows the German Democratic Republic to take more direct role actions within the Warsaw Pact with the increases in the frequency of the yearly military trails and training exercises.

1998. The leadership of Polish Peoples Republic and the German Democratic Republic are allowed to begin a series of economic programs that allow the import of luxury goods from the West. With the advancement of the trade of luxury goods from the west, allows for a major wave of western luxury goods to be traded through East Germany and Poland with the other Eastern Bloc states (including the Soviet Union).

1998. The Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic is allowed to enter into trade agreements with the Western European neighbors thanks to the increased access to the internet.

1998. The Eastern Bloc technological programs are able to catch up with the West thanks to the continued trade and commerce that had been the hallmark of the Clinton Administration policies that ironically had allowed the Eastern Bloc to counter the effects of the Reagan Administration policies that had nearly broke their economy by trying to keep up with the technological advances of the West.


1998: The Year in Review

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January 1998

January 1998. D

1 January 1998. The United States Army undertakes a program that will reactivate the US XXII Corps, and reactivated 11th Infantry (Air Assault) Division, 17th Infantry (Airborne) Division and 2nd Cavalry Division that will become a second rapid reaction force capable of being sent anywhere on Earth at a moments notice. The US XXIII Airmobile Corps will also include the 4th Infantry (Mechanized) Division.

20 January 1998. The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet Cafes.


February 1998

February 1998. D

7 February 1998. King Hussein of Jordan dies from cancer, and his son Abdullah II inherits the throne.

7 February - 22 February 1998. The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participants contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice hockey, curling and snowboarding. National Hockey League players were allowed to participate in the Men's ice hockey.

16 February 1998. In the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, an apparent assassination attempt is made against the government leaders when a bomb detonates in the government headquarters.


March 1998

March 1998. D

3 March 1998. The Peoples Republic of China accepts the terms of the recently discovered Hong Kong Treaty, especially when they realize that they will be able to use the creation of these new ‘foreign concessions’ to strengthen their rapidly developing economic recovery. The major economic and political reforms have allowed the Peoples Republic of China to start and put the Tiananmen Square Massacre behind them.

4 March 1998. In a military court, United States Marine Corps Captain Richard J. Ashby is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable. This brings a great deal of resentment from the Italian people.


April 1998

April 1998. D

1 April 1998. Nunavut, an Inuit homeland is created from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories to become the third territory of the Dominion of Canada.

8 April 1998. The personal fortune of Bill Gates exceeds $100 billion due to the increased value of Microsoft stocks.


May 1998

May 1998. D

5 May 1998. Microsoft releases Windows 98 (second edition).


June 1998

June 1998. D

5 June 1998. <Excelsior> Rigid Airship Shipping Lines Company starts operation in a niche that provides heavy lift cargo transportation services of bulk cargo (and limited passenger services).

8 June - 12 June 1998. The 1998 Summit held between Danilov and Clinton lays down the groundwork that allows West German companies to invest in the modernization of their East German counterparts. This allows East German factories and industrial facilities to undergo a major modernization that will increase their productivity and improve their production capacities. Within a year East German produced goods become available in West Germany, as West German produced goods become available in East Germany.

4 July 1998: The United States Unified Medical Command is established, a major reform of the Public Health Service to better deal with major medical emergencies on a national scale. The reforms undertaken by the PHS also provides medical and healthcare to the average American citizen, and provides educational opportunities to those a desire to become doctors, nurses and paramedics... but lack the finical support to follow their dreams. Military medical research would become the responsibility of the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland who would oversee and manage such work in an effort to limit the Armed Forces from wasting time and resources. The opening of a network of US Joint Services Medical Centres that would provide medical centers all across North American and Europe. This network would be used as a model the revamped Public Health Service to provide health and medical care to civilians during national emergencies and other health crises as part of the Department of Health and Human Services during non-emergency situations (and brought under Department of Homeland Security during Wartime and other Emergency periods of the declaration of Martial Law).


July 1998

July 1998. D

August 1998

August 1998. D

September 1998

September 1998. D

October 1998

October 1998. D

November 1998

November 1998. D

December 1998

December 1998. D

19 December 1998 - 12 February 1999. Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, failed in the House. The charges arose from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones lawsuit. The trial proceedings were largely partisan, with only five Democratic Representatives voting to impeach and no Democratic Senators voting for conviction. With a two-thirds majority required for conviction, only 45 senators voted guilty on the perjury charge and 50 on the obstruction charge. It was only the second impeachment of a President in American history. Both Houses of Congress decide to officially censure the President for his behavior.