[Mohoender]

With the elimination of China and the de facto dissolution of the Shanghai Pact, USSR finds itself in a very bad situation when NATO air units begin making some deep nuclear strikes against communication hubs in Belarus and western Russia. USSR responds with theater nuclear missiles, launching them against an array of industrial targets and port cities in Netherlands and Germany. In turn, NATO uses similar strikes on industrial targets and major port cities deeper in Russia. Meanwhile, boomers continue their cat and mouse game with attack submarines while both sides engage in a major anti-satellite campaign throughout spring as the exchanges remains limited, both sides hesitating to target the landbased ICBM of the other. Finally, the Soviet Union crosses the line on July 4 when a number of SS18 Satan wreak havoc among US ICBM and command bases. An additional SS18 is targeted at Australia and destroys communication centers there a few hours ahead of high altitude bursts that generate a large amount of EMPs and destroy much electrical power capability over Northern America and the Pacific. Most of the surveillance satellite networks had been dissabled and the US had been warn with some delay but their reponse if late comes and the escalation continues for two days until all boomers are rated as destroyed.

Netherlands, Poland and UK are the most hard hit nations but elsewhere industrial targets clearly vital to the war effort are also targeted (transportation, communication, oil fields, refineries). Even, some industrial and oil centers in neutral nations are blown with the last attack conducted by NATO on French oil and harbor facilities of the Atlantic coast. Then, as the overall destruction appears to be much lighter than expected, general chaos following the exchange prevents repairs outside of spared countries. In the fields, the situation gets out of hand and goes from bad to worse for both sides. The average strength of NATO combat divisions at the front has fallen to about 8,000, with US divisions often running at half of that. Soviet divisions now vary widely in strength, running from 500 to 10,000 effectives, but mostly in the 2000-4000 range. Lack of fuel, spare parts, and ammunition paralyze the armies, no major actions are taken during the second half of that year and military command structures increasingly refuse to obey orders. Nevertheless, military casualties have been much lower than casualties among civilians and only them retain the means of securing and distributing rations. Everywhere people are calling for peace but, as civilian political command structures crumble and, then, collapse, nobody seem to be willing to negotiate it. Finally, among civilians, fear and despair open the way to anger and the populations revolt. In the USA, various states even mobilize what they can (people’s militia or state controlled military units) and turn on the federal institution. Fighting is unequal but brutal and continues over the winter season.

Within, Western Europe and the Pact, the situation varies greatly with countries collapsing while other face revolts. In some regions, the military is strong enough to take over, establishing military dictatorships either at local or national level (This is the case in Spain and Turkey). Nevertheless, on this continent, countries that have not been party to the war mostly escape chaos and keep their pre-war political structure despite often declaring martial law. Within these countries living conditions are better but not ideal as everywhere the brutal stop of global exchange results in shortages of all sort.

In the Middle East, it seems that except for the small exchange that took place, no more nukes had hit the region. However, the level of destruction is really high and proves beyond any doubt that conventional bombing can still be highly destructive. All major cities are damaged to some extend, production facilities have been largely destroyed, energy supply is at its lowest and most oil fields are still burning and it seems that this should continue for months. As a matter of facts only a trickle of oil is now going out of the region while fighting continues.

In North Africa most oil fields and various cities have been destroyed (Casablanca, Rabat and Tripoli) but Egypt is the sole country subjected to major nuclear strikes that leveled Alexandria, Cairo and many cities in the Nile Delta. Moreover, the Suez Canal has been destroyed and the Hassuan Dam broke, flooding the Nile Valey on a biblical scale. In Algeria, the long lasting civil war becomes particularly bloody and chaos now prevails with only local governements remaining. Tunisia is spared. Meanwhile, in Sub-Saharian Africa, the various ethnic wars had turned to a real frenzy but the handfull of governments that survive seem to be slowly stabilizing. Thisi is obvious in South Africa where the new racial laws granting equality between White, Coloured and Asians, only leaving the Black aside, are paying back.

Asia which was hit early is, however, spared by the main exchange and suffers more from widespread instability. Most governement have collapsed and petty wars are everywhere achieving to bring chaos to the region. Casualty levels are therefore less important than in other regions of the world but local conflicts and the various natural disasters that start to hit the region hamper the governement’s ability to rebuilt stable societies. A major exception comes from Oceania which has been largely spared by the war except for the strikes on the empty spaces of Australia. As a result, governments don’t collapse and industries (damaged by EMPs) are quickly rebuilt. In addition, talk starts early about the establishment of a political union that could help the region defend itself.

Meanwhile, throughout Latin America, the situation remains mostly as it was with a balance between insurgent movements, drug cartels influence and fledging governments virtually unchanged. Then, the fairly large political entities (by that time standards) that have grown over the past years gain in stability and achieve an increased level of prosperity. The gap between poors and wealthy continues to grow but these societies appear to be functional and quite well of. People even look at these places with growing envy and hunger.