Austria and Hungary have moved to attack Czechia and Slovakia under the pretense of restoring the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Italians are none too pleased at this, but sends some troops to aid their Roman Ally. Italians figure that the new Austro-Hungarian Empire might be useful at countering the Balkan Federation. They act to instate the second son of Franz Ferdinand, Prince Ernst, as Archduke Ernst of Austria. Maximillian, the first son, is counting worms/quite dead so they can't make him Archduke. Of course, he isn't a real ruler. He's a figurehead for the Austro-Hungarian plan to split power between the four component states. He is charismatic, humorous and apparently inherited his Father's charm. But he is vehemently anti-Serbian and anti-Balkan Federation. His dad was shot by a Serbian Nationalist; this is to be expected, after all he lost his great nation thanks to Balkan nations. He is somewhat like Hitler, in a sense. He isn't hateful to the Balkan people as much as the nations. He loves Balkan People, if they are Austrians. As in, he hates Balkan culture but not the people. He is not a racist as much as a culturist. France is very enthusiastic to help; Austro-Hungarians are better than some Muslim Caliphate and they want to try out their new toys and weapons, made for them by Italy. Czechia surrenders immediately after negotiating a good deal; they will become a co-equal union and the four component states will be equal in power. Slovakia, realizing that resistance is futile takes the same deal; co-equal union. The capital will be Vienna, but the city will be made into a zone of collective ownership between the four component states and Bratislava will be given many positions. Czechia and Slovakia are given control over most military positions and arms production factories; the two Southern states both get the Economic positions and political power. But If they're co-equal, they can't have the name Austro-Hungarian Empire. Their new name? Austrohungaria-Czechoslovakian Union. Yes, it's stupid. The Fascists grow in power.
RUM's election gets very close and the 3rd party candidate officially drops out of the race for the leader as he attempts to try and "prop up" the Liberal's female contender for the leader of RUM. The conservative party is spineless as no one wants to stand up to their front-running candidate who calls people out and calls them names. (All while spouting fake populism.) One of the key points that divides RUM residents are the words that the conservative candidate is saying about others who do not use nuclear power. He says that they are peasants who are too weak to understand the "awesomeness" of nuclear power. He promises to make all of RUM and territories all nuclear powered, even if it means putting a nuclear power plant in someone's backyard. Half of RUM needs power in villages, but... the other half of RUM knows that nuclear energy, while cheap, does have health concerns. The social fight between both sides of the political "aisle" socially split RUM in half as tensions grow stronger.
SEU, normally vehemently loathing of Political Conservatives (SEU political conservatives are Socially Conservative, not Economically conservative, everyone has basically the same Economic Policies, what the Party is doing now.) actually loves Nuclear Power. Nuclear Power has been a boon for SEU; SEU has a goal of 100% Nuclear Power by 1980, and Nuclear Power has made electricity cheap and affordable in SEU.
Europe is becoming like the Caliphate, rulers trying to mimic the past. Except, the most successful nation of mimicking of the past is of the Sunnyad Caliphate succeeding the Umayyad Caliphate and even Abbasids.
Before the election went underway, Prime Minister Aleksič and President Nassatos reintroduced national service all across the Balkan Federation. Every male, the week after his eighteenth birthday, will be sent off the barracks for his first round of military training - this will last a year; the second year will be spent on combat duty, or functioning as a reserve if there is no war; and the third will be spent functioning as construction workers, foreign peacekeepers, and responders to natural disasters. The formation of the Austrohungaria-Czechoslovakian Union proved to be an election gift for Stamados and the Nationalists, who used it to their advantage against the Conservatives and the Liberals. In Bosnia, the Alliance of Orthodox Serbs formed a pact with the Alliance of Nationalists, further gentrifying the Nationalist-Muslim feud. The results are as follows. Greece - 78 seats Stamados: 44 seats (+1) Nationalists: 17 (+13) Liberals: 8 (-2) Conservatives: 8 (-9) Communists: 1 (-3) Serbia - 71 seats Stamados: 36 seats (+/-) Nationalists: 29 seats (+15) Communists: 4 (+/-) Conservatives: 1 (-12) Liberals: 1 (-3) Croatia - 39 seats Nationalists: 21 seats (+9) Stamados: 13 seats (+2) Communists: 2 seats (-3) Conservatives: 2 seats (-5) Liberals: 1 seat (-3) Bosnia - 28 seats Muslim Alliance: 14 seats (+1) Nationalists: 13 seats (+13) Stamados: 1 seat (-12) Slovenia - 15 seats Stamados: 9 seats (+3) Nationalists: 6 seats (-1) Macedonia - 13 seats Stamados: 9 seats (+4) Nationalists: 4 seats (+4) Albania - 13 seats Muslim Alliance: 8 seats (+2) Stamados: 4 seats (-2) Nationalists: 1 seat (+1) Montenegro - 4 seats Stamados: 4 seats THE THIRD SENATE OF THE BALKAN FEDERATION1960 Stamados (Red): 120 seats (-3) Alliance of Nationalists (Grey): 91 seats (+53) Alliance of Muslims (Green): 22 seats (+3) Alliance of Conservatives (Blue): 11 seats (-33) Alliance of Liberals (Yellow): 10 seats (-13) Alliance of Communists (Weird red): 6 seats (-7) Stamados, to form a government, needs 131 seats. They are eleven seats short. They have entered coalition with the Conservatives and the Liberals. Apostolis Sarkotis, the Alliance of Conservative's leader and former Presidential candidate, has returned as Deputy Prime Minister. The Alliance of Liberals have also had several Senators named to government positions, which should help them break out of their inexperience-caused rut they've been suffering since the Balkan Federation was formed. The Alliance of Nationalists, however, is incredibly unhappy. Despite regulations banning paramilitaries, they have an unofficial one, called the 'Narodna Armija', made up of ex-soldiers and governed by a disgruntled former general who served during the War of Independence, who regularly attack Muslim Alliance Senators and supporters and patrol the streets of Bosnia, Albania, and Kosovo, regularly attacking women in hijabs and niqabs and often getting their own voters when they assume things. In the Senate, they dedicate most of their time to demanding large scale war project in preparation for when Austria-Hungary attacks and developing a complete autarky (they have basically morphed from classical nationalists to fascists) and demand that the Muslim Alliance be banned and that the Federation sever ties with the Caliphate. Their 91 seats give them a powerful bargaining position to the right-leaning Conservatives and Stamados Senators too, who may jump ship in certain votes when they are more closely aligned with the Nationalists than their own parties. For now though, we are in peacetime, and the government formation is a stable arrangement.
The Caliphate warns that breaking the bond with the Caliphate would be a bad idea, as the Caliphate is the only thing stopping Italy from fulfilling the dream of becoming the New Roman Empire. TBF would also suffer trade loss and suffer tariffs. It's a bad idea, and relationship wise the two would never religiously get along, except the SC treats it as business, as with most of their allies.
Governments: Economic Efficiency: SEU: Low S, due to the fact that SEU Government is meritocratic and brutal in its elimination of incompetence. Very savvy, unrivalled in competence. Sunnayyad Caliphate: A, SEU Government culture but less extreme. UBR: A, excellent Economic system but management is suboptimal. TBF: B, constant political instability means there are problems. RUM: C, what did you expect? It's anarcho-Capitalism! Foresight: High S. SEU is also unrivalled in this respect due to the meritocracy. They are very, very, able to see far ahead. Workplace Culture: UBR: Low S, their whole culture revolves around it. Sunayyad Caliphate: A. TBF: Low A, despite instability things are actually halfway okay if you ignore the paramilitaries running around. RUM: C, is the epitome of failed Democracy and all-around crappy government, it's a parody of 2016 US for god's sake, what did you expect? SEU: High D, SEU Government culture is brutal, no one wants to join, and suicide rates are sky-high (5% (!)). There is no mercy, no second chances. Only brutal meritocracy. This means disabled people are very much excluded. The only people that join the party are either insane, really patriotic or desperate. Uniting in Crisis: Sunayyad Caliphate: Low S, religion is good at this. SEU: Low A, the promise of a future Communist Society and good nationalist propaganda is useful. TBF: B, there is very few reasons to fight for an artificial nation and infighting is rampant. RUM: Low B, ditto UBR: ? Human Rights Record: TBF: High A, they are actually very good in this regard thanks to many factors, but especially [REDACTED] UBR: A. They are one of the leading champions in Human Rights. RUM: B, in theory it should have human rights but its underdevelopedness means this is theory. Sunayyad Caliphate: Low B, the Caliphate has some very brutal punishments and is somewhat anti-free speech. SEU: C, restrictive on protests and free speech, as well as committing ethnic cleansing twice. This is internally consistent with their own ideology and they do mean well, so that saves them from a D. In addition, many of their atrocities were demanded of them.
The Socialist Party, after crushing Democracy movements decides to actually do its job and improve the Economy; they feel their legitimacy comes from their economic competence, and they really don't want to lose legitimacy. Things aren't great. The Socialist Party enacts policies to improve the quality of the lives of the people. This is broadcasted to all centers of life by the Media; with the same message. The Economy sucks, but we are doing X, Y and Z about it. They reform the entire tax system in order to improve both revenues and fairness; Corporations pay less, rich people pay more, and the middle class doesn't change at all. In any case, SEU intends to boost revenue by around 5-10%. This increase will pay for SEU's emergency fund stash, which is basically for things like fighting wars and dealing with economic crises. The SEU Government has an extensive revenue over that of any developed nation that is around 5%. This is good for SEU because they always have a reliable source of emergency funding should things get hairy. In addition, SEU is using their stash to improve labor-heavy industries and otherwise to improve employment; secondly SEU is outright giving some low-income families money, and building new roads as well as creating new Schools. The Socialist Party intends to bring education to even the most far-flung Siberian villages. Elementary and Middle Schools, as well as the High School are built in order to ensure everyone gets something. SEU has a reputation as Suicide Nation. The SEU Civil Service Exams are not revealed to universities, and the actual standard exams are far less stressful. However, even with all these measures the SEU student exams cause an exceptionally high rate of suicide. It's a far cry from, Korea for example in real life because SEU is in a much better place to tackle such things, but it's still bad. The SEU Meritocracy is a cold machine, uncaring for its participants and brutal to those who fail. If you don't fail, the repercussions aren't fatal. If you fail, repercussion are swift and brutal. In practice, the SEU meritocracy ensures talented people get to the top and everyone else is screwed over in some fashion and the bottom people are screwed over a lot. This was long offset by the fact everyone was getting richer at the same time due to development, but now this is not true. If the people demand change, SEU will oblige them. The Party institutes new policies to break people out of the cycle of poverty and to give them a chance at winning. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds are given benefits to help them succeed.
Hong Kong Democracy activists have fled; this is because people kept trying to kill them, and they were pretty blatant about it; they are pretty clearly pro-Socialist terrorist organizations rather than Socialist Government hired because the SEU Mainlanders hate them, even more than the Socialist Party.
RUM's election arrives and the residents of RUM cast their votes as the polls remain open. The residents are super anxious to see what the results will be. The third candidate accumulates a small amount of support, however, he was not included on the ballot for the general election. This may have a bad thing coming towards RUM...
SEU Propaganda Boogiemen: Capitalists and RUM-Style Democracy. Caliphate Propaganda Boogiemen: Socialist Hegemony. BF "Propaganda" Boogiemen: Fascists and Socialists Italian Propaganda Boogiement: Sunayyad Caliphate
The night runs late for the RUM election. Residents hope that they get the weak Liberal candidate, but as the early hours of the next morning come around, it turns out that the loud-mouthed conservative won the election. Some on the left sour that perhaps another country interfered with the election. The right fully backs up the new president, and his first outrageous claim is to "build a wall" around the entire border of the country so that no "illegals" can get in or out... His other plans to fully convert RUM to nuclear power is just beginning as he imposes slight tariffs on non-nuclear energy companies. His plan is to increase the tariffs slowly over time until the only thing left is 100% nuclear energy. In the new leader's freetime, he loves to speak on radio and TV about how insane the neighboring nations are (even though his claims are ludicrous and severely unfounded). The left take a strong disliking to him while the right tells them to "suck it up!". Things do not look good for RUM residents, and it's just the morning after the election too...
The SC cares little about RUM'S new president, and instead decides to keep the golden age going before it ends
SEU, as the Economy starts improving again and the growth rate is steady decides that an increase of the Naval budget is in order; most of the Guided Missile Cruisers and Destroyers are rather old and SEU decides that the AA capabilities on those things have to be improved. Thusly, the SEUN will modernize many of the Destroyers and Cruisers for antiaircraft ability and new AA missiles as well as guns. In addition, the SEUN is planning a new class of Supercarriers. The SEUAF is also getting a new fighter eventually in the form of the MiG-23; this will be an all-around improvement of the SEU Non-army armed forces. In addition, the SEU army is given some modernization for the T-55 tank so they can keep up with the latest Caliphate tanks.
SEU does not guarantee Free Speech or Protesting as a right. As a matter of fact, SEU legally disclaims that they reserve the right to shut down any protest that does not follow certain rules. This is because the Socialist Party is unable to comprehend the importance of Free Speech and Protest, like at all. The people have channels to complain to and they can complain about just about anything and the Socialist Party listens quite keenly to them. The Party cannot understand why they want free speech. The Socialist Party cannot comprehend it; they want the best for the people, but they cannot understand why free speech is good. It's sort of wired into the structure of the Party in and of itself. What could they want?
After a week in power, RUM's new leader gives tax breaks to the top 1% of the country and slightly increases taxes for everybody else. Meanwhile, he releases regulations on all nuclear facilities so they can conduct their own safety inspections, in an attempt to save them money. All the same, he heavily promotes making RUM 100% nuclear powered, even if it means putting a nuclear reactor behind every building in the country. The public hears how nice nuclear power will be accessible for everyone, especially how cheap it is. They are not aware of the tax raises on their end and will not find out until later that same year. Health activists speak out against nuclear energy being everywhere, due to the health and safety risks. However, like everything, the right and left attack each other and fight on the issue.
SEU condemns the President for helping the Capitalists. Capitalists are basically SEU's number one enemy; despite the fact that SEU has many Capitalists, SEU calls them "Enterprenuers" which are friends of the Society to distinguish them from the much more brutal Capitalists, which are enemies of the Society. SEU however does state that the fears of the Health Activists are extremely overblown; Beijing and Seoul are both no longer filled with Smog thanks to Nuclear Power, and that as long as there are sustainable solutions to Nuclear Waste (MOX reprocessing, Breeder Reactors, and straight up putting it in the ground), that Nuclear Power is great and that there are less risks than Coal or Dams, both of which create smog.
The Caliphate is in support of Nuclear Energy, for the reasons that the Caliphate has plenty of uranium from Niger and Canada, and the fact that its clean and powers heavily, compared to coal and basically smog factories, which would destroy the Caliphates low plant based environment's oxygen. Dams? They work, but there are not enough rivers, and causing flooding and little water to keep flowing down the river causes safe and abundant water problems. Solar? It works, but it can't power a massive city. Wind? Very optimal, its designated to be a massive energy source alongside nuclear energy. Basically, the Caliphate could not afford the unhealthiness of coal factories. The Caliphate doesnt even produce coal anyway.
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: RESERVED FOR LONG POST: GIST OF IT IS... SEU Engineers attempt to test capability of Chernobyl RBMK reactor. The safety measures are turned off in violation of SEU Protocol. The Engineers run the reactor overtime to make up for several other reactor maintenance events in Ukraine. This is a very bad idea; the measures attempt to react but are stopped. Combined withs several other factors, the SEU technician attempts to use the reactor again and pulls out all the control rods to restore power. This is a bad idea, and Police move to arrest the technicians. This creates a runaway reaction; the reactor violently explodes, and then the Graphite (used in the RBMK reactor) catches fire. SEU Ministry of Information informs population of a Red Level Nuclear Disaster and evacautes City of Pripyat. Liquidators are dispatched to the scene, some without proper protection. However, most are well protected.
Italy's faction is undergoing substantial infighting; the Roman Initiative has worked wonders for unity as Italy has ceded its place as official leader, and an equal union of European Nations to fend off... IDK, Islamic People has more or less united the many factions of Christianity. In any case, the idea of rebuilding Rome seems quite appealing when Rome might be just what they need to fend off external enemies. However, the UK is unwilling to work with Italy or the French. The French are arguing with Italy as to how to proceed. However, all of them are more or less united under their Fascist nature and Anti-Islam stance. In any case, they all decide that the place they make their stand against the Muslim hordes is the Balkans. But the BF owns the Balkans. But France and Italy have nukes. The BF doesn't. So, they could defeat the BF. But they decide to bide their time. The Caliphate is too much of a looming presence. They decide to assist the Serbs covertly so they can attack Islam. SEU has only apologized once for something. East Turkestan and SEU's attempts at ethnic cleansing was that one.
