Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegyrius
Given the LAV-75's design intent as deployable light armor for a Middle Eastern intervention force, the Gulf War happening in-timeline is an elegant and appropriate rationalization for its in-game existence.
(It does raise the question of how a T2k with a Gulf War remains compatible with RDF Sourcebook and King's Ransom.)
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I've often thought that Saddam Hussein would not have ordered the invasion of Kuwait if the USSR, one of Iraq's main military suppliers, had disapproved*.
Then again, I've wondered whether, in an alternate timeline, if perhaps Moscow would have encouraged Saddam's plan to conquer Kuwait, hoping that it would raise global oil prices, giving the Soviet energy industry a much-needed boost. It seems plausible, but then I started looking into the USSR's IRL relationship with Kuwait, c.1990.
Apparently Kuwait was one of only two Gulf oil states to maintain diplomatic relations with the USSR. The Kuwaiti government apparently saw the Soviets as a stabilizing force in the region, and a guarantor against Iraqi or Iranian aggression. I still need some corroborating evidence but, if true, this information would lead me conclude that Moscow would in no uncertain terms dissuade Saddam Hussein as soon as the KGB became aware of his intentions (in an alternate Cold War continuation timeline).
I'm going to have to think on this some more. Maybe Hussein ignores Moscow and acts unilaterally, putting the new Soviet leaders in a bit of a pickle. What then?
*Similarly, I'm not sure if Yugoslavia would have disintegrated as violently as it did if the Soviet Union had still existed.
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