Another modern timeline

[Mohoender]

I hesitated sometimes before posting this but as some of you indirectly fueled my thinking I found it fair to share it with you. I know, someone already told me that timelines are very personnal and I agree; it's my timeline, I'm not saying its free of defaults.

This is the timeline I designed after posting the first one at the now defunct RPG host. At that time some told me that it had some weak points and their observations were right or so I think. Therefore I changed it and came up with that one.

Of course, it still has some weak points to it. The first, is that (unlike with my first timeline) I used and kept some texts of the original T2K v2.0 timeline. My apologies for that but I wanted to go faster, had not enough time to do otherwise, and wanted to keep part of the atmosphere given by the original game. Something else, I used several real life political characters for it. No offense intended and their supposed actions don't reflect what I'm thinking about them as this is fiction (actually, I don't really have an opinion about many of them). Over time, I took them out of the picture as I figure that the point made by 93's game studio was well made on that issue. Another thing, some historical facts have been changed on purpose and do not reflect the reality of recent history while some events of 2008 have been changed very recently with the oportunity given by real life events (that's over now as I posted this).

Anyway, thanks to all for your help about this.


THE 1990's

1989
The year the Cold War ended. All across Europe, communist governments topple in response to pro-democracy demonstrations or, in the case of Rumania, armed insurrection. Voting with their feet, East German citizens flood into the west. In Poland, a number of German ethnic organizations form in response to West Germany's policy of accepting as a German citizen anyone who can prove themselves of Germanic descent (it is rumored that membership in ethnic clubs will be good enough).
The Soviet Union's new policy of encouraging political pluralism in Europe makes the end of Bureaucratic Communism a certainty. Mao Tse Tung's forgotten maxim, "Let 10,000 flowers bloom," becomes reality as dozens of new parties spring into being. The only European communist governments which survive the Revolution of 1989 are those outside the Warsaw Pact: Yugoslavia and Albania. The Berlin wall is torn down in spots, and German reunification is now spoken of openly: The question is no longer "If," but rather "When?" Riots in in the soviet republic of Azerbaijan (over alleged repression of Armenians) require intervention by Soviet troops. As a result,
the republic remains a powderkeg for months.
Elsewhere, the Chinese political reform movement is brutally crushed by government military forces and Tien An Men becomes a symbol. An attempted coup against President Aquino of the Philippines is foiled (with the help of American air cover), and the republic of Panama is invaded by the U.S. to remove the government of Manuel Noriega.

1990
A coalition of opposition parties headed by Violetta Chamorro defeats Daniel Ortega's bid for re-election in Nicaragua. Spring elections in the Soviet republics of Byelorussia, the Ukraine, and the RSFSSR sweep local reform candidates into office. Before, during, and after these elections, ethnic unrest continues to simmer in Azerbaijan, and spreads to the minority republics of Tajikstan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, mostly in the form of ethnic demonstrations and occasional riots. Low-level armed violence spreads throughout the Moslem parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia, although most of it fails to come to the attention of the rest of the world, who are distracted by events in Germany.
Iraq stuns the West by invading Kuwait in August. With the Soviet Union in disarray, the world rallies behind US leadership in resisting Iraqi aggression, and troops from three dozen countries, a few of them still formally members of the Warsaw Pact, pour into Saudi Arabia.
The long awaited (and long-feared, in some circles) reunification of Germany becomes reality in October. The four power conferences (representing the United States, the United Kingdom, the USSR, and France) that recognize the inevitable, also guarantee Poland’s territorial integrity. As a part of the agreement, NATO troops will maintain a presence in the newly unified republic (the only way some European nations will agree to the deed). Officialy, the newly united Germany renounces any territorial claims outside of its post-WWII boundaries, but asserts continued interest in the welfare of ethnic Germans living outside of Germany. Membership in German ethnicorganizations in western Poland grows, particularly in Silesia.
Poland attempts to negotiate a border treaty with Byelorussia, but it is rebuffed and the official Byelorussian statement describes the city of Bialystok as “occupied” by Poland. Later in the year, Romania refuses a summit offer by Hungary to discuss the condition of ethnic Hungarians living in Romania. By the end of the year, Soviet troop withdrawals are under way from Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.


1991
In January, the Gulf Coalition began a stunning aerial offensive against Iraq and followed it up with a blitzkrieg ground war in February which liberated Kuwait and crushed the flower of the Iraqi Army. Although Saddam remained in power, his authority was reduced to the central third of his nation and his military was no longer capable of aggression against neighboring states.
In March, both Croatia and Slovenia secede from Yugoslavia, and Bosnia-Hercegovenia follows in short order. Violence soon broke out between the Serbian dominated federal government and militias of the breakaway states.
Ethnic and religious violence in the Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union escalates, and the Soviet Union increases its troop withdrawal schedule in order to use the forces inside its own borders. Fighting is particularly heavy between Armenians and Azeris in the enclave of Nagorno Karabak. As the republics seize greater autonomy, Gorbachev continued to vacillate between an all-out drive for reform and an all-out commitment to a strong central government in the old style. Nevertheless, Gorbachev hold to his previous line and the Sino-Russian Border Agreement is signed in May. On July 1 the old Warsaw Pact is formally abolished, the last straw for many Moscow hardliners. In August the hardliners try to seize power.
On August 19th, elements of the Taman Guards and Kantemir Motor Rifle Divisions move into the center of Moscow and seize the most important public buildings and radio stations. An eight-member Emergency Committee deposes Gorbachev (for "reasons of health") and bans strikes, protests, or public assemblies. Defiant protesters gather at the Soviet Parliament building, along with a few dissident military units and a cadre of armed Afghan War veterans, to defend Yeltsin and the Parliament. This move is a success and the troops withdraw.
On August 24th Gorbachev resign from the CPSU and, the following day, President Yeltsin nationalize the properties of the CPSU. The CPSU is disolved on November 6th. On August 24th, Ukraine adopted Declaration of Independence of Ukraine and called for a referendum on support of the Declaration of Independence. On August 27th, Moldava declared independence. On September 6th the newly created Soviet State Council recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This move continued with Tadjikistan, Armenia and Turkmenistan.
On December 8th, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (which adopted that name in August 1991) Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and annulled the 1922 union treaty that had established the Soviet Union. Another signing ceremony was held in Alma-Ata on December 21th to expand the CIS to include the five republics of Central Asia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

1992
In February and March, democratic governments win elections in both Bulgaria and Albania. At the same time Bosnia demands that Yugoslavian federal troops withdraw from the province, a request which the Serbian-dominated central government refuses. At last, the United Nations Security Council approves United Nations Resolution 743 to send a UNPROFOR peacekeeping force to Yugoslavia. On April 5th, Serb troops, following a mass rebellion of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Bosnian declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, besiege the city of Sarajevo. Meanwhile, Greece and the new government of Albania sign a border treaty providing at least one point of stability in the region.
By mid-year, Slovakian separatists have gained enough seats in the Czech parliamentary elections to force the division of the country into two sovereign states: Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Catalan and Basque separatists in Spain accelerate their demands for independence. Turkish and Iraqi Kurds become increasingly active and Turkish military sweeps of Turkish Kurdistan are hampered by the ability of guerrillas to seek sanctuary in the UN protected northern third of Iraq.

The exposure of long-time links between the Mafia and key figures in the Italian government causes ascandal which shakes the very foundations of post-war Italian politics as well as crippling its economy. As the Lira loses value against every other western currency, there is open talk in industrialized and wealthy northern ltaly of secession from Southern Italy.
During the year, several major treaties are signed. In Europe, the Maastricht Treaty is founding the European Union. The People's Republic of China ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and it is the first country to admit the idea of not using nuclear weapon against a country which doesn’t hold such weapons. In the meantime, Deng Xiaoping accelerates market reforms to establish a socialist market economy in the People's Republic of China.
Russia meet with general success in holding down the Central Asian unrest and strong ties are built again with these former soviet republics. Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons. On May 5, Russian leaders in Crimea declare their separation from Ukraine as a new republic but they withdraw the secession on May 10.
In the United States, Bill Clinton defeats incumbent U.S. President George H.W. Bush and businessman H. Ross Perot. By the end of the year, UN Security Council Resolution 794 is passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, tasked with ensuring humanitarian aid gets distributed and establishing peace in Somalia. U.S. military forces land in that country on December 4th.
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign a pact ending a 12-years civil war.

1993
The year starts upon several major events. On January 1th, Slovakia and the Czech Republic separate in the so-called Velvet Divorce. On the same day, the European Community eliminates trade barriers and creates a European single market. On February 5, Belgium becomes a federal state rather than a kingdom, shortly before Albert II becomes king.
On January 3rd, in Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. This is signed two weeks before Bill Clinton succeeds George H.W. Bush as the 42nd President of the U.S. Later, on September 5th, a war starts in Abkhazia and Eduard Shevardnadze accuses Russia of passive complicity. A month later, a Russian constitutional crisis culminates with Russian military and security forces clearing the White House of Russia Parliament building by force, squashing a mass uprising against President Boris Yeltsin.
There are renewed tensions in Asia when North Korea announces that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites. On an other hand, hope rises again when the Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.
In Africa, at the beginning of the year, Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia. In October, A large scale battle erupts between U.S. forces and local militia in Mogadishu, Somalia; 19 Americans and 500 Somalis are killed.
In the Middle-East, President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in the Al-Mansur District of Baghdad, in response to the attempted assassination of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush during his visit to Kuwait in mid-April. In September, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shake hands in Washington D.C., after signing a peace accord.
Some other major events are marking the year. The World Health Organization declares tuberculosis a Global Emergency. The World Wide Web is born at CERN. Benazir Bhutto becomes the first elected woman to lead a post-colonial Muslim state, in Pakistan.

1994
In January, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.

A similar treaty is signed when Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other. The situation gets a little hotter for Russia, nevertheless, when, in December, Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders troops into Chechnya.
In Europe, The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers over seven years to complete, opens between England and France, enabling passengers to travel between the two countries in 35 minutes. The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations."
In the USA, on January 1st, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect with Between US, Canada and Mexico. On the same day, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation begins their war in Chiapas, Mexico.
In the Middle East, the road to peace seems to continue. Israel and Jordan sign the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.
In Africa, U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia in March. In April 6th, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira die when a missile shoots down their jet near Kigali, Rwanda. This is taken as a pretext to begin the Rwandan Genocide. While this ethnic war goes on, South Africa holds its first fully multiracial elections and Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first Black president. The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in an attempt to end the Angolian Civil War.

1995
The year is relatively quite and most events are taking place in Europe. On January 1st, Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union. The Schengen Agreement, easing cross-border travel, goes into effect in several European countries. On December 14th, the Dayton Peace Agreement is signed in Paris, ending the Bosnian War.
Sadly, this optimistic year is shaded when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

1996-1998
Outside some minor events in Africa and the taking of Kabul by the Talibans, it seems that the world will enter a long period of Peace. The first Chechnya War comes to an end. At the urging of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation drops its clause calling for the removal of Israel. The Israeli government responds by dropping a similar clause concerning the existence of Palestine. Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland but they are held without Sinn Féin. A permanent peace agreement is signed at the Malacañang Palace between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front. Guatemala and the leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36-year civil war. Bill Clinton is reelected as president of the U.S.

1999
This year will be a time of change again and it will slowly end the world’s hope for a long term global peace.
This changes can be felt through NATO. It is growing with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joining in March 12th and it takes a major turn when it launches air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on March 24th. A peace treaty is signed on June 9th.
The world’s attention was kept on Kosovo but some other major events are under way. In South America, Hugo Chavez becomes President of Venezuela. The Indian Air Force launches an attack on intruding Pakistan Army troops and mujahadeen militants in Kashmir and various incidents occur between the two countries as Pervez Mushharraf takes control over Pakistan. Hundreds of Chechen guerrillas invade the Russian republic of Dagestan, triggering a short war known as the second Chechen War. Finally, on December 31st, Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

2000
As Millennium celebrations are taking place throughout the world, Israel and Syria hold inconclusive peace talks. In July, Israel's prime minister Ehud Barak and PLO head Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David, but fail to reach an agreement. On September 28th, Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount, protected by a several-hundred-strong Israeli police force. Palestinian riots erupt, leading into a full-fledged armed uprising called the Al-Aqsa Intifada
On March 26th, Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia but he will be underestimated by the other world leaders after a major submarine accident. Indeed, on August 12th, the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
In Europe, on October 5th, President Slobodan Miloševic' leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia.
In the USA, Republican candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush defeats Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in history, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
On October 12th, in Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers, who placed a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.