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Old 08-18-2009, 08:54 PM
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sglancy12 sglancy12 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by natehale1971 View Post
The Sino-Soviet Border War that started all the fighting in the Far East would have been the prelude to the fighting in Central Asia... basicly the Jihadist start a war between the USSR and PRC, to give them the 'cover' they would need to preform a coup that would allow them to create a massive Central Asian Islamic republic. Hell, it could have been bankrolled by Osama with the help of Iran and other really wealthy Jihadists. And it could have even gotten the support of Indonesia if done right.
You mentioned Coyle's Trial by Fire, where drug lords provoke an American intervention in a Mexican military coup in order to destabilize the new regime. That's based on Pacho Villa provoking the American Expeditionary Force's deployment into Mexico to destabilize the Carranza government back in 1916.

It's not a bad idea, but, the point I'm trying to drive home with this alternative Twilight War is that the USSR and the PRC do not engage in a full-contact war. I just don't see the USSR being able to hold out during a 5 year slide into anarchy if they are fighting the remnants of NATO, the USA, the PRC, Japan, and an Islamic uprising all at the same time. For a long ugly (mostly conventional) war of attrition that grinds every combatant back to the 19th century, then I think you need the PRC and the USSR both fighting against the West.

Maybe the Jihadists can provoke a war, or at least a border incident or two, but when the USSR and the PRC figure out they've been played for fools they bring it to a close. I just can't imagine that a Sino-Soviet war could drag on for as long as the canon imagines, especially with a war in Europe and the Middle East at the same time. The USSR would have had to sue for peace or use their nuclear weapons sooner and in greater numbers. So, in my timeline the Jihadists replace the PRC as the grinding war in the USSR's backfield that prevents them from having overwhelming force to bear on Western Europe.


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