First of all, I have not read the timeline but I hope to do it very soon. Only two small comments about the matter
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Originally Posted by sglancy12
3) I was never convinced that NATO allies like Italy and Greece would first duck out of the war and then enthusiastically join in again on the side of the Warsaw Pact. I can see the Greeks getting into it with Turkey... after all, what are Greeks and Turks supposed to do except shoot each other? But Italy? I kept Italy on the side of NATO, where they would be bogged down fighting in the Balkans.
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I totally agree that this is one of the weak points of the Twilight timeline. I've been working in Italy for months and while in Kosovo we were (I don't know if still they are) under Italian jurisdiction. I've been working and living together with soldiers from the Ariete Armored Brigade and the Garibaldi Bersaglieri Brigade. Our close languages make our communication easier and, my feeling is that , though Italy probably would not leave NATO in the beginning of the war depicted in the v2 Twilight timeline, it would be a political decision against a very reluctant population that would put the country in a very difficult situation. Riots and civil disobedience are probable. I cannot imagine Italy leaving NATO to avoid the war and then entering in the fight for an alliance (without precedents) with Greece.
About the gazeteer I've only have a quick look to it, searching for the references to Spain. The situation depicted seems very plausible. An evacuation from Ceuta and Melilla and a fighting withdrawal from these two enclaves are credible and, most probably, it is an old studied maneuver in the Spanish army high command. They are not military valuable. Canarias and the Balearic Islands are a total different matter and they will be defended for their strategic position. The coming together between Spain and France seems plausible, too. About the Basque country I think that sometimes the situation is enourmously exagerated for the foreigners. I think that If you want to create enough instability to force the Spanish army to send there "limited resources" (as stated in he gazeteer), a conscription could be the suitable trigger.