I have not thought about it. But to quickly toss up some thoughts...
Both the Tiananmen Square protests and the collapse of the Berlin wall in -89 could have sparked a much more severe situation. But then, it would probably more have been Twilight 1993.
Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985, so replacing him with with a hawk; then create a chain of communication breakdown between the new GS and Reagan; that could result in a volatile situation. But in that scenario, I don't think it would be a Soviet/China war -> Germany sends troop westward -> WW III chain of event. The Chernobyl disaster could probably be used as a part of the escalation, directly or by giving an opportunity.
|