The SEU has instituted a public bus program, and commissioned thousands of buses from State-Owned Enterprises. When the SEU commissions things, the SEU prefers SEOs. These Buses will use Gasoline, in order to be more environmentally friendly, and SEU has offered some to UBR so that they can use it too. The Buses are very resistant against Cold, but is not very fuel-efficient. It is cheap and reliable, and has incredible clearances to allow for easy repair and manufacture. In any case, SEU has confirmed the use of high-speed trains and infrastructure to use it. The Infrastructure to use those trains will be able to support 400km/h trains, even though the trains will operate at 150km/h at most. SEU intends to surpass the Caliphate in trains.
Multiple satellites have been sent into space, to widen the gap between the Caliphate and the SEU, specifically the smaller more specific scientific research probes, like the Beacon series, which will soon be outclassed and replaced by the Stardom series, a selection of smaller satellites that will study the earth's atmosphere, gravity, electromagnetic forces, radioactive belt etc. Asennu makes his spaceflight upon the X-5/87 Launch Vehicles in the Macera I space capsule, becoming the first human ever to adventure into space. His 1 hour and 50 minute flight was a success, as he orbited around the earth within that time frame. His capsule landed safely in a splashdown technique, landing in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Caliphate Naval Base in the Canary Islands. He returned to Casablanca at a CSA research facility where multiple tests were done on him to see the affects of space travel on the human body, gaining MUCH needed experience and research. He was sent on a decorated train through North Africa to his home town in Alexandria, Egypt. He made a speech and it was documented on international television and radio, dubbing him the world's first human to enter space and live. His feat was so recognized that he received dozens of awards, was dubbed a hero by the country, had a private dinner and ceremony with Ashqar Ayyad, had multiple roads and TOWN in EGYPT named after him, and is expected to see his name on many things in the future. This is not only a scientific success, but a propaganda success. You bet the socialists are shaking right now, to be beat to space by a desert nation... Information was gained on food and nutrition in space, especially after Asennu quite literally threw up. The flight also tests to an Islamic feat, with many pictures documented of Asennu holding the Quran as he got out of his capsule in the sea. It's not only a scientific and political victory, but in some cases....cultural and religious. *** OOC: Even if the SEU lands on the moon first, according to some gimpy generator, the Caliphate will literally land right after it, meaning that in the end, SEU propaganda and Caliphate propaganda will collide and make little difference. For example: The SEU lands on the moon, well, who is gonna broadcast it? Socialist nations, not Caliphate, Islamic, or WCA influenced ones. Maybe yes, but not really. In the end, both nations are going to be basking in their own spitful glory, but to what? To their own influenced nations, the Caliphate will be a KING above all Islamic, Caliphate influenced, and the WCA and WCA influenced countries, as well as the SEU and their influenced nations etc. Everyone is gonna hear about the SEU landing on the moon first, but if you're under Caliphate propoganda and influence, you're gonna celebrate the Caliphate's landing harder, and if you're under the SEU influence you're gonna celebrate it harder as well, etc. Basically what i'm saying is that these two realms of power are only going to get pride in their own realm of influence and touch the hearts of some neutral nations.
List of Caliphate Spaceshuttles, Probes and Satellites: Gök Beacon Rüya Stardom Macera List of launch vehicles: X-4 X-5 X-5/87 X-Rüya X-6 (PLANNED)
Diesel is not an option (even worse than Gasoline), no one's invented Biofuels yet and even if there was it would be prohibitively expensive (Brazil, a Caliphate ally is the main source of Biofuels IRL), and the Lithium-Ion battery isn't a thing yet. Gasoline is the best SEU could find.
The SEU Public demands that the SEU outpace the Caliphate. The SEU Government had a plan to give funds to the SEUSA starting from 1960, maintaining at least a 2:1 (preferably more) lead to the Caliphate in funds, infrastructure and launch rate starting from 1963 after raising the SEUSA's priority year after year. But the SEU People demand the SEU Government pull the plan forward by a year, as in do it right now. How can the mighty Han Chinese be losing to some desert herders? How can the peoples of the greatest Empire on the planet Earth and masters of Asia be losing to some Islamic Caliphate weirdos who prays to a nonexistent god five times a day? It does not compute, the mighty SEU, with money to go around for the entire world, control of many natural resources, the largest economy on Earth, the most powerful military ever (questionable), serving the "best and greatest ethnicities in the World" (massive air quotations) (Han Chinese and Koreans, Korea is close enough to Han China), is losing to river valley farmers! How can this be? No, the superiority of the Confucian-Socialist system must be made self-evident! The Government is failing, the SEU must perform better! This is in the SEU Han Chinese's heads. This is racist, Han-biased and Sinocentric. But right now, Caliphate, SEU, RUM, UBR, everyone is racist. But they're the nice ones. Let me make this clear, this is the Han Chinese and Koreans, and short of Kazakhstan (full of actual Muslims) they are the nicest ones to the Caliphate. The West is even worse and even more racist. Let's just say that the thoughts of the Eastern Orthodox Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians are considerably less pretty. Kazakhstan is ambivalent. If I wrote down their thoughts, it would get me banned for advocating Racism and Genocide against Muslims. So let's just say that most of them want the SEU to pull a Genghis Khan against the Caliphate. Of course, the SEU is not going to do that. The Socialist Party wants to live. The SEU Government decides to raise the tax rate yet again to afford money to help the SEUSA. The SEUSA and SEUMFs' funding has been raised for the next Fiscal Year, and the SEU is allocating emergency funding to the SEUSA. For the Socialist Party, the Mandate of Heaven is on the line, and the very survival of the Socialist Party. If the SEU loses the Space Race, the consequences won't be pretty. There is nothing the SEU won't do to win the race to the Moon.
Shortage of money has left the CSA somewhat broke, as the Rüya and Macare programs have drained their finances. The government looks to increasing taxes to help fund the space race to hopefully beat the SEU. Luckily Emirates have good money and can be taxed. Oil money is abundant, but so much is being spent at once, at the end of the race the CSA will be deeply in debt.
SEU correctly points out that this would complicate things in case of war and disrupt the SEU initiative to make all Soviet Union infrastructure self-contained, which in turn would affect the survivability of the Soviet Union. In addition, the SEU is well aware of just how vital the car is. Unlike UBR, the SEU has massive cities. The SEU wants to build railways, no doubt. SEU wants to build subways to all of their major cities and high-speed rail lines to go from city to city. SEU is currently instituting a system of buses. But right now the cities are optimized for cars. SEU highly doubts that in UBR or the Guianas, public transportation can support the load. SEU requests the UBR let this sit for 10 years while SEU develops new types of public transportation, such as High-Speed Rail.
I've wanted to discuss this for a long time. The many, many differences of the NN2 Timeline and IRL Timeline mean that many words have been changed. The most prominent example: Authoritarian. In our world, it has very negative connotations (at least in the Western World). It is seen as tyrannical, despotic and oppressive. In New Nations? It is positive, to an extent. Both the Caliphate and SEU can be termed as Authoritarian Governments, and they're doing fine (more or less; the SEU Government can be incredibly brutal at times despite its godly efficiency and the Caliphate Government has a single point of failure, namely the Caliph.) When someone wants to win points with the public, they say that they are Authoritarian. Authoritarian is synonymous with stability, economic growth, and a government that gets crap done. The meaning of the label is questioned, argued and thrown around. The SEU Government likes to term itself authoritarian, but some question whether the Government deserves to have such a label of honor. Label of Honor. Let that sink in. If anyone in Real Life termed themselves as Authoritarian as a label of honor, they would be deemed insane. Just shows you how different NN2 is from IRL. However, Totalitarian is as negative as ever. The SEU Government (the prime Authoritarian Government of the day and age) fiercely disavows totalitarianism as a ideology counter to Socialist ideas. The SEU Government outright states that they being totalitarian would be many things such as morally repugnant, but making themselves more efficient and powerful would not be one of them. There is no secret police, the SEU is very public with who it punishes. Another: Protest. No one cares. A protest does not make headlines; the SEU Government explicitly forbids most political organization regardless of purpose, whether it be pro-Socialist Party or anti-Socialist Party (they come in a roughly 5:1 ratio), and protest is included. Protesting has no real connotations because nobody cares. Another: Corruption. Oh god. Corruption is loathed. A lot. As in even more than in real life. People demand the heads of corrupt officials on a pike regardless of nation. Particularly in SEU, where corrupt officials are often simply sent to "Gulags". The practice of Gulags have ceased, but at this point Prison is synonymous with Gulag, and certain SEU prisons are actually renovated Gulags. Speaking of which... Gulag. Gulags are a complicated subject in SEU. The SEU Government considers it both just punishment and necessary evil. Let's make this clear. The SEU did not have a functioning prison system until 1925 due to its low degree of industrialization. For 5 years, SEU sent many people to Gulag. One of the most atrocious things the SEU Government has ever done was send many tens of thousands to Gulag. Given, they were treated much better than in real life; the aim of the Gulag was to maximize efficiency in order to industrialize the nation in the short time of 15 years, not work people to death. Even so, people died. Horrific accidents, just plain disease, and incompetent management all resulted in death. All in all, around 2,000,000 people entered Gulag at some point in their life for the 10 years the system existed. 40,000 never made it out (2% death rate. Keep in mind US prisons, infamous for their unsafe conditions have a death rate of 0.275%, 7.23 times more people died in SEU Gulags. I mean, it's a hell of a lot better than the IRL gulags where 10% of prisoners died, but still bad.), and 80,000 sustained grievous harm to their bodies. Now that you understand this, let's just say that the SEU Government has downplayed the gulags to an extent, and fudged the numbers slightly. However, SEU has acknowledged them and erased the names of most of the entrants from the criminal records for their Meritorious Service to Socialism. The SEU Government has never made an attempt to completely erase it, and the SEU Government has compensated injured people (although under the name "Award for Meritorious Contributions to the Development of the Socialist Eurasian Union". The Gulag is Prison in SEU, even if it's not.
SEU has made it a goal to make the birth rate stay at more or less 2.1 or more, because the SEU wants to avoid Demographic Decline. SEU's advantage is size, and the SEU must not lose it. In any case, Japan is actually doing really well. As in they are outperforming the UBR and DRC. It seems that the SEU totally steamrolling Japan has done it some good. Japan is now a premier economic power. It has no allies and the SEU has put high barriers on trade, but despite that it has experienced an economic miracle and surpassed even the Abyssinians. SEU is not pleased, but decides that Japan could be a decent trade partner and lowers restrictions on Japanese trade. Japan now has a huge consumption and export policy. In addition, their high-quality products outpace SEU in performance and reliability, although SEU products continue to be more affordable to the average family man thanks to government taking notice and demanding that the massive SEU companies lower prices in order to compete with the Japanese high-quality products as well as improving quality and wages. Given, SEU products aren't trash, but it's that the Japanese products are just that good. In any case, the Socialists are not in the best state. Infighting between DRC and South Africa has only worsened matters in Africa and Venezuela continues to advocate for war against RUM, which would be bad. The SEU Economy is experiencing slowdown after extensive reform, but the government knows this is all too natural and on the path to a more sustainable growth and does nothing. As the SNE collapses, the SEU makes its move. Socialist Troops blockade Hong Kong. SEU demands the UK repeal the imperialist treaty of the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, or SEU troops will roll in and take it over by force. The SEU Government is secretly negotiating with the Triad gangs within Hong Kong to side with the SEU. The Triads are a powerful force in Hong Kong, and the SEU wants their support when they roll in by force. In a time where the fervor of Han Nationalism is at an all-time high, the Chinese demands that the SEU take back what was once China's. Whether the Native Hong Kongers want to be British is a questionable matter. But the SEU doesn't care, and the people urging the SEU to take over don't care either. Mussolini has decided to retire after one more conquest. The old man's 76 and he wants to go retire, he's old and the Fascist Senate (an Oligarchical Advisor Government to the Il Duce) wants him to retire anyway. Mussolini has backed his Son-in-Law, Galeazzo Ciano, as the new Duce, because he'd been grooming Ciano for this role for a while now. Ciano was in Mussolini's favor for a while now, and was a competent leader. If Mussolini is Alexios Kommnenos, Ciano is John Kommnenos. Basically, the Italians are doing great. France had been an incredibly unstable since the SNE collapsed. The continental France had no real ruler for a while and the Germans were unable to help, given that they were busy trying to assist themselves and their problems. The Neo-Roman Empire, led by Mussolini plans to attack Belgium and the Netherlands soon after this by asserting itself as the legitimate successor of SNE and the reunifying nation of Europe against Muslim hordes and Russian troops. The Neo-Roman Empire has made the decision to make all of their conquests into puppet states. Only Italy will be a part of the Neo-Roman Empire officially, and in theory the Neo-Roman Empire will be the leader of a theoretically equal union between European Nations. Of course, it's not really equal or a union and it's an Italian hegemonic ambition. It's basically a web of states controlled by Italy with some autonomy. The campaign is being led by Giovanni Messe, whose conquests had been obliterated by the Balkan Federation's reformation. Mussolini took back his Triumph and promised to let him conquer new territories if it was possible. Mussolini has given Giovanni Messe that opportunity. The Italians are also starting up Supercarrier research; they want 1:1 parity with the Caliphate. Italy, France, and Spain have all "agreed" to build 1 Supercarrier each under a common design made by Italians, since Italy is the most experienced in warfare. Each nation will pool its resources under a common European military, which basically means Italy controls them. In any case, the Italians have seized many port cities and in particular the Islands of Malta and is building Military Bases there. This is an aggressive action, and will be the final legacy of Mussolini, a Supercarrier base that will one day, he hopes will allow Rome to regain the province of North Africa. Europe once again destabilized, and the Socialists continue to get into a swamp where they cannot move forward. Or so it seems. Are the Socialists not moving forward, or making preparation? Are the Socialists simply building up a steady foundation, or are they in trouble? Well... it's a little bit of both.
Cars. Becoming the biggest aspect in the Sunayyad Caliphate than ever before, now that the Sunayyad Caliphate manufactures a percentage of their own vehicles. Lets talk about the car industry itself. Beforehand, having a car in the Sunayyad Caliphate was quite rare in the 1920s and 30s, only the military, the rich and politicians had vehicles. However, ever since an initiative to construct roads, which was planned decades ago mainly for military and trade transportation, the use of the car has expanded by a massive percent. As of 1959, for 9 years the country has seen the biggest boost in construction of gas stations, roads, and car dealerships. The new education system in the Caliphate has also opened up to educate and train people in the automotive industry, mainly mechanics and those who produce these vehicles in factories; the government has even given away free scholarships in this department. The Caliphate is even producing their OWN car brands, losing their reliability on European manufacturing companies which saw the imports of 99% of their vehicles. New upcoming brands in the Sunayyad Caliphate: Motorlu Based mainly in Turkey with their headquarters in Constantinople, Motorlu is the prime producer of cars, mainly: hatchbacks, sedans, coupes, convertibles, etc. There are no words to describe it. They produce cars, as well as motorcycles. Öküz An Arabic company with a Turkish name meaning Ox (everyone loves the Turkish language, don't get me wrong), their headquarters are in Casablanca and are run by an Arabic Moroccan company. They are like the sister company to Motorlu, and instead produce trucks, SUV's, jeeps, vans, humvees, semi and utility trucks. Motorlu and Öküz are for the most part Private Companies, promoting themselves through capitalism, and producing of commercial and citizen vehicles. The government produces their own military vehicles through (unnamed) private government companies. These vehicle manufactures produce actually good cars, obviously not top notch since they are literally a decade old new to the industry, they produce literally 70% of the countries vehicles, while the rest are imported from the SEU and Western Europe. That is subject to change very soon. Obviously with the new education basis and hundreds of top universities, one of which in Baghdad is ranked top 4 in the entire world, these manufacturing companies are hiring skilled and well trained workers, engineers and designers, making the best vehicles they can possibly produce. The population reaction: Gone are the times of transportation by camel, villages in the Arabic peninsula who have been using camels and carts to travel for hundreds of years were literally shocked to see the first Motorlu vehicles go through their dirt roads, some Yemen tribes people ran in fear and some called it the devil. (Obviously this is in rural communities, don't go thinking this is everyone!). Cities have begun making their roads which were once full of people walking with baskets, riding bicycles, pulling animals and carts through the street have now had to be assimilated by the car, and realize its dominance on the road. Every city has cars running through it now, and even rural urban areas as well, which are even gaining car owners! Now that the economy is improving and the average GDP and annual income is rising faster than in history, with a report of nearly 25% of families and people in the Sunayyad Caliphate to own one or more vehicles. That number is expected to reach 40% within 20 years, and possibly 60% in 40. However, even though the car industry is becoming a massive player in the Caliphate, many people still prefer riding bicycles in the city, as well as even walk. However, the train is incredibly popular, and now that its technology is improving, subways and city trains are becoming the norm. Does the Caliphate care about the environment? Not really, no one should, this is 1959, if you cared about the environment you must have been some time traveler. A percentage of the materials used to produce these vehicles is imported from Brazil and Canada. Motorlu and Öküz have a 6 year plan to begin exporting to other countries, specifically RUM and Brazil if they are up to it. Japan, watch out.
The Sunayyad Caliphate reacts to the growth of the Italians by making sure to one up them in their own technologies. The Caliphate has many more naval units than the Italians, and will stay that way for a while. The Sunayyad Caliphate nudged their obvious triumph towards the Neo Romans, reminding them of how they got defeated by a Liberation army and a desert nation. Protection in Gibralatar has been boosted, with rockets, AA, and fortified locations protecting the region. The Caliphate doesn't trust the Italians, and knows that they will attempt to return to what they once were, the Roman Empire. It is quite literally now the nations of the world trying to become the past, with the Italians trying to rebuild the Roman Empire, and the Sunayyad Caliphate rebuilding the Umayyad Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire. This time however, the Sunayyad Caliphate is the Umayyad Caliphate, except much larger and more successful, while the Neo Romans are poor in their attempts to cross the straits. Turkey and North Africa will never belong to them, ever, the Caliphate is sure of it, their defense will rise so greatly that not even the Russians or the SEU could break their courage. The mandatory service of men between the ages of 18-24 who are able to fight is a an aspect in the great defense. Occupying the Caliphate would be hell, it's not like occupying the Taliban, it's like occupying an entire army, except this time stronger than the Vietcong ever was or ever will be. People are being trained in reaction to warfare, and multiple groups have sprung up as Militia defense forces. IT has gotten to the point where any nation attempting to invade and hold the population of the Sunayyad Peoples will break within months and retreat back, all from the citizens. The Caliphate has a ton of experience in deflecting their own problems, and has shut down many insurgencies, gaining incredible experience. They also know how to make their own insurgencies which would defeat any power holding them. The only problem, is that training a nation to rebel against a foreign pour can turn on your own government. Basically, the Neo Roman Empire will never get past the Balkans or cross Gibraltar. The Caliphate has expanded their own anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, creating high tech radar and gaining knowledge on defeating any enemies submarines and ships. Dozens more Anti-Ship Missile Cruisers and Destroyers have been produced, as well as multiple more SSBN's. They are trying to stay on par with the SEU and protect their submarines while being an anti-submarine force to the SEU. The helicopter is also becoming a common sight, and multiple aid and peacekeeping missions have been done in Africa and South America, and even Indonesia where they are seeing the Caliphate positively.
While SEU has concern for the Environment, their attempts to prevent the Environment are inefficient. They've made massive efforts to protect the environment to some success. Massive efforts should translate to massive success, or at least just success. Given that SEU isn't that corrupt, the efforts should have translated to successes. Unfortunately for SEU, the only environmental initiatives that have been remotely successful have been the Efficient Factory initiative (6/10), the Great Green Wall initiative (4/10), and the Unleaded Gas initiative (5/10). The rest have been some sort of failure or inefficient results resulting in the SEU Government canceling them. Many of the SEU Government's environmental initiatives have been canceled due to sheer inefficiency or failure. The SEU Government is not pleased at this. They feel they are stuck in a bog where they cannot move. They fear the specter of Death, the decline of mighty Empires. The Socialists are trying to prevent the death of their mighty Empire that they have built, because they don't want to end up like the Qing or the Ming, or basically any Chinese Dynasty ever. How prudent, how wise. And how so futile. SEU has also attempted to remove Fatbergs in their sewer systems and convert them into Diesel. The removal part is going really well! The converting them into Diesel part isn't going so well!
After receiving a response from Britain that was in effect "P*** Off" on the matter of Hong Kong, SEU and Italy both have grievances with the UK. Italy is angry that Great Britain under SNE leased Gibraltar to the Caliphate of all places, and still has an Empire to rebuild. Western Rome cannot be complete without Great Britain. Keep in mind that the UK is currently more or less stable under a Democracy, and the only nation part of the former SNE that is more stable is Germany, even though the French and the Italians both agree that Germany might be a good nation to add to the Eurozone. Yes, that's what Italy calls its restored Roman Empire because only Italy is a part of the Neo-Roman Empire officially. The Eurozone. But the newer generations of Italians are starting to question Mussolini's competence. He was a reasonably competent leader, but not the genius the aging generation that saw Mussolini rise to power saw him as. He was no brilliant military leader and was only successful because someone helped him or the land he conquered was in utter chaos, nor was he particularly competent with the Economy. He wasn't crashing or burning it, (which is actually pretty good), but his economic success mostly came from massive unpayable loans and plundering the treasuries of the Balkan Federation and Austria, which made his unpayable loans suddenly very payable. In addition, Italy's borders hadn't expanded at all at the end of the day; Spain, France, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium are still in theory very independent of Mussolini's Roman Empire. And also, Mussolini failed to restore the provinces of North Africa or Anatolia, although this was not his fault given that he was fighting a massive Islamic Caliphate. In all honesty, most of Mussolini's success came from sheer luck rather than his skill. SEU invaded the Balkan Federation, SNE helped out with Iberia. So they agree to have a war of what is basically naked aggression. SEU will use Great Britain's failure to repeal the unequal treaty as a Casus Belli. The SEU has strong public support for this war; most of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine simply does not care, and China is enthusiastic as hell to get their territory back. SEU will provide bombing support and supply food and transports to the Italian forces that will invade Great Britain. In exchange, Italy will pressure Portugal to give back Macau to the SEU. Now, if Portugal was a part of Spain this would be different; Spain would resist and Italy would have to motivate it with a Carrot of some sort. But Portugal is small, and Italy could probably bully them into submission. However, Italy needs a Casus Belli too. SEU has a perfectly good Casus Belli in that the UK refuses to give back their rightful lands, but Italy doesn't have one. Fortunately for Italy, they're about to have their very own USS Maine. Keep in mind that Italy and SEU mostly have good relations because their needs coincide. It's a friendship of convenience. Should this cease, it is likely Italy and SEU would turn on each other faster than you can say "Han Dynasty verses Roman Empire" and tear each other to pieces.
Remember the fact that Italy was building a Brand New Shiny Supercarrier to compete with the Caliphate? There was a Nuclear Reactor accident with the Carrier. There were three definite factors that may have created the disaster. One of the engineers was an immigrated British Person, but there is very little evidence to prove he was a British Sleeper agent. It is clear that the man had some links with the Government, but it's unclear whether he was an agent. Italian Inexperience with Nuclear-Powered Carriers. Italian Inexperience with Supercarriers in general. Incompetent Management. (Possible; there is evidence both for and against this) Bungled British sabotage. The Italian Government has blamed the Brits for this; the British did have some good reasons; they had tried to intervene in the Italian conquest of France, and has been threatening the Italians for some time and stating that they will Liberate Europe from the Tyranny of Italy. Italy uses this as a convenient Casus Belli and declares war. Italy has broad popular support; another nation going into the Eurozone is never a bad thing, and Britain has been Italy's enemy for a while now. Italy has emerged as the preeminent European Power after many wars and the success of Italy is great; many new young men are eager to fight for their nation. The SEU has also done so at the same time; SEU's pretense is that UK refuses to return Hong Kong to its rightful owner, and SEU promptly rolls into Hong Kong with many T-55 tanks as well as mobilize Socialistik Qazaqstan and Tang (Shu Han is undergoing some additional construction and sea trials) to attack the UK. The SEUN and SEUAF has been given free reign with the budget, and the SEUA has also been given a bone, being provided with approval for the production of the T-62 with its BRAND NEW 115mm gun. Given, the 115mm cannon is kind of pointless due to the T-55's 100mm also being able to penetrate Caliphate tank's frontal armor, but it's a nice touch.
One nation unhappy with the Neo Roman Empire is Germany, and they have voiced it. Germany is the last nation who is willing to become subject to another power, let a lone one trying to reminiscence from the past. Germany wants to be their own imperial nation in Europe, and would be the last to let some witty nation invade them. Luckily for the Caliphate, Germany has had some past experience with the Ottomans, although the Ottomans failed horribly as an ally, Germany has seen time and time again the success of the Caliphate, and the fact that they have grown from nothing to the Center World's greatest power within merely 40 decades. They strike a deal, Germany knows that the only other strong nation against the Neo Romans is the Caliphate, who could go one on one with the Italians and succeed. No other nations in Europe are like that, Britian is a whiny bunch of blokes, France is withering in pain, and everyone else is either apart of the socialist regime or just full on weak. The TBF stands a chance, but then again they had help from the Caliphate which without it would have left them apart of the Roman Empire. So, a defense pact against the Romans it is. However Germany is still sour and bittersweet to the Caliphate, they seem to only be in the situation just so Italy doesn't succeed, and nothing else. It's a deal then.
The SCN improves their own Carrier Task Force, and has seen positive results. Although a mesh of a Carrier task force was assembled in the Italian Invasion of the Balkans, it was unorganized, but now, the SCN has more than one full fledged Carrier Battle Groups. Submarine warfare is becoming a massive threat, as the SCN produces much more, all under secret numbers, but nonetheless, probably matching the SEU's numbers. There is a total of 8 SSBNs, contributing to the Nuclear Triad. SCN submarines are fitted with top of the line stealth capabilities, hopefully being able to lie unnoticed. Anti-Submarine Task Forces are being developed, Anti-Submarine battle groups fit with high tech naval radar and Anti-Sub weaponry. New computers are being fitted within many of the Submarines, and the new Anti-Sub Task Force is being given updated computing systems, as well as the rest of the Modern Navy. Naval defense is key, and creating a hub of Anti-Ship Missile Cruisers and task forces which can easily deteriorate an attacking naval fortress is priority. Oh, also, AA, that's the most important and is overabundant in the Navy. The army is changing rapidly, and so is the infantry. Not only have grueling Infantry + Tank battle groups been revised, but the ethics of the army. The Sunayyad Caliphate looks at Defense over anything, and that means that even though an Islamic Nation, they are allowing all religions into the military. Even sub branches of the military such as the Christian Caliphate Fighting Force has been created, a sector of dominantly Christian fighters. Mostly Arab Christians however, there are literally no Christian's of European descent and Caliphate citizenship in the entire army. Arab Christians and Turkish Christians, how bout that? How does Ramadan and 5 times a day prayer work for Muslim Fighters? Although Ramadan and Salah are required in the Muslim faith, Ashqar is weary on it in military time. Of course, Salah is absolutely optimal during a non engagement, especially during days when soldiers stand at their posts all day with literally nothing to do, even during wartime. However, what about a wartime engagement where fighting has been going on non-stop, and your guard must be fully up? There's an exception to that, although when praying during an active battle, the prayers will bow in prayer, while a line of other prayer's will stand in line as defense behind them, and they would take shifts, etc. This isn't always optimal, and prayer may be missed, that's why Ashqar, as the Caliph is making an exception based upon Allah. The exception is that if the battle is dire and your guard and attention must always be 100% on the engagement, skipping prayer is okay, but when the engagement is over or at least silent, prayer is a duty. Does this make the infantry totally useless? No, in fact during WW2 there were no actual cases of groups of soldiers being killed because they were off guard during prayer, maybe from an artillery strike, but any on guard soldier would have been killed as well. Soldiers who practice Salah are trained to be alert during prayer, which is quick and doesn't require a mat, and respond to even the slightest engagement very quickly. It is successful, and Salah during wartime has been shown to not prohibit fighting abilities at all, but as been proven as prayer boosts soldier's morale. This is probably why the Islamic Caliphate has the highest morale of any fighting nation. Ramadan is a muslim tradition to fast for a few weeks, however starving an army isn't smart, although it is not only a fasting celebration, but also one where Muslims abstain from all wickedness and pleasures of the world. How can you abstain from wickedness in war time, which literally evokes killing? Yeah, Ramadan has many exceptions in wartime.
The war against the British are going... less than swimmingly. Despite extensive SEU assistance and SEU Nuclear Submarines attacking the Royal Navy, as well as the French Air Force and Italian Air Force conducting operations to attack the British, the French have bluntly refused to aid Italy in a ground invasion. France will provide aid as best it can without putting boots on the ground. Spain has agreed to send 2 divisions, around 50,000 troops to aid Italy, but no more. Franco and most of the Spanish people don't really like Britain, and they were willing to make war with Britain if needed, because Franco despite being propped up by Italy has lots of support because of his many successes and could in theory become independent. Franco sends those divisions mostly as a token force. Austria uses various excuses to say that they cannot send help. Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal all send some medical aid to the Italians. Italy is not happy, to say the least. Despite the SEU assistance and the French promise of Naval Aid, Italy still has a fair possibility of losing and coming home having accomplished absolutely nothing. Let's say they win. And then what? Another rebellious and uncooperative ally to work with. The Fascist Senate requests that unlike France, Belgium or the Netherlands which had been given the privilege of large donations to their treasuries, Italy plunders the UK treasury to fund the wars. And here we come to what is Italy's greatest problem. Italy cannot possibly control France, no matter what they do. France is on their weight class and despite the fact that Italy is gutting their Arms industry to prevent revolt, Italy has had to respect France's independence lest France rise up. Most of their supposed "Empire" is not under their control. This is the same problem SEU has. "Allies" refusing to obey the hegemon. Italy spends money conquering the lands of Rome, so what? They can't control the provinces. They're not an Empire, they are a loose conglomeration of semi-independent states with a leader that can't control them.
