How Did Earth Get United?

[FalTorPan]

Well, in his books the future Earth is divided up into the United Federal Republic (all of North America, Central America and some of South America), the Brazilian Empire (the rest of South America), the Euro-Union, Russia, the Kingdom of Allah (All of the Middle East and Africa) and the People's Hegemony (China and most of Asia).

Sounds like one possible way for my "sovereign nations that get along" idea to be implemented...

 

[Red Ranger]

I picture a process similar to what Clarke described in Childhood's End(without the end results of Humanity becoming Other, of course).

I'm not familiar with that one. Could you summarize for the uninitiated?

Rookie:

You ought to read Childhood's End. It's one of Arthur C. Clarke's best novels.

But allow me to be magnanimous. In the novel, an alien race called the Overlords lands on Earth and brings about an end to war, and Earth has 50 years of this new, peaceful golden age.

The Overlords keep themselves hidden for 50 years, figuring humanity isn't ready to see what they look like at the time of their arrival, but figures 50 years of their presence is enough time for humanity to become used to them. Once you read the book, you'll know why they remain hidden.

Red Ranger

 

[Mr. Fergy]

When aliens with superior tech land on your planet it's time to get your act together.

True that.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

"I for one welcome our new Vulcan overlords" -Z. Cochrane 2061

Yup, and why not Earth has been through WW III Hell and the Bell riots.

 

[Sci]

Well after WWIII most of the politicians and political systems that kept us separate were destroyed, so any corrupting or nationalistic elements from the old order would've gone up with them. Plus I'd say that enough people were killed off that humanity had to become more interdependent on each other considering the state Earth was in to survive especially with the greater universe staring them down.

So all that together, plus 100 or so years between FC and ENT would be enough to get us on the track to a more United Earth.

The problem is that nationalism still exists even in 2151. Remember, the British Royal Navy still exists in some form in the 22nd century. That implies that United Earth still is not quite developed.

No, it implies that United Earth is a federal rather than unitary state. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has never abolished its navy, but that doesn't mean that the United States of America is not quite developed.

I suppose one could argue that United Earth was an out growth of WWIII (Just as the League of Nations was an outgrowth of WWI and The United Nations was forged in the fires of WWII).

I wouldn't. It's rather explicitly described as an outgrowth of the philisophical implications of knowing with absolute certainty that humanity is not the only sentient species in existence.

Ultimately, the answer to this question I suspect lies in the nature of WWIII. Lilly's comment about "factions" in 2063 indicates that WWIII Earth had become very divided. The DS9 Episode "Past Tense" paints a picture of earth in 2029 that was gradually slipping into chaos. The US constitution clearly was not fuctioning properly and there were reports of Neo-Trotskite riots/revolutions breaking out all across Europe. Its likely that the nation state system started breaking down, which is why the New United Nations was not in a position to manage the situation. If we throw in the possibility that there was also a religious aspect to some of the conflict, and the left over paranoia from the Eugenics War....WWIII makes alot of what we seen in 23rd/24th centruy Earth seem more plausible. A world wide holocaust caused by rampant tribalism/nationalism and religious fervor might explain why these things vanished or diminished in the aftermath of the war. They simply burned themselves out.

Weeeeellll.... Sort of. Really, I think the situation is more comparable to the development of the European Union in the wake of World War II.

Certainly, World War II's sheer destruction did a great deal to cure -- or at least inhibit -- the aggressive nationalism of the European nations. Germans and Frenchmen and Britons no longer had an appetite for conquering one-another. But that wasn't the whole of it; they needed the influence of a more powerful neighbor, the United States, to prompt them towards genuine unity and habits of cooperation. They also needed the influence of a looming threat -- the Soviet Union and its satellite states -- to speed that process along. And, sure enough, while there are certainly a lot of disagreements over the European Union's ultimate goals, a fundamental goal of the EU seems to have been reached (for now); it is virtually inconceivable that France or Germany or Britain could go to war with one-another now.

The Vulcans would seem to be America to Earth's Europe. Habits of cooperation being developed at the urging of a more powerful ally. The question, of course, is whether or not there was something else that made humanity feel threatened, too -- as though it needed to unify if it wished to survive. I would contend that it is those three elements -- the demonstration of the self-destructive influence of extreme nationalism, the encouragement of unity by an allied force, and a feeling of threat resulting from disunity -- would tend to be needed for Earth's nations to unify in the wake of WW3 and First Contact.

Remember, after WWII, amongst the people themselves (if not strictly speaking the governments) there was a sense that things had gone too far. The Brutality of the war led many people to want an institution that could make such wars impossible. The United Nations was supposed to be that body. It was initially concieved of as an embryonic world government.

No, it was not. It was never concieved of an an embryonic world government. It was always designed as a mechanism for the resolution of disputes and the launching of joint ventures between sovereign states -- that's why they gave the veto to the great powers in the Security Council.

 

[raleighrob]

It was probably a combination of factors. From advancing technology (not just Cochrane's warp engine) to a "Never again" mentality developing in the post-WWIII planet (maybe the right people came into the right positions and said, 'fuck this constantly fighting amongst ourselves bullshit, we've killed over 600 million people!'), as well as the realisation from First Contact that our tiny differences don't mean squat in the grand galactic scheme of things.

Pretty much read my mind there....I've always thought it was a combo of these things.
Also, I imagine that, although the Vulcans were protective about sharing sensitive technology like higher warp capability or weaponry with the humans, one would think that certain humanitarian technologies (better food production & medical) were more easily shared.
It's likely that they made a stipulation of "only if you have a united planetary government to represent you because we don't want to have to bother with a bunch of petty nation-state governments to talk to".
And later on other friendly races like Denobulans did similar.

 

[MichaelJCO]

I believe that like WW2 was in a sense the result of unfinished business from WW1 in our universe ,WW3 in the Star Trek universe was the result of unfinished business from the Eugenics War. The conflict between the Eastern Coalition and the New United Nations in the 2050's rose from the conflict between the Augment empire in the Third World ( ie the Great Khanate) and the West in the 1990's. So in a way the Eugenics War had as much to do with ultimately unifying Earth as WW3 and First Contact with Vulcan.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Necessity isn't really enough of a reason in itself, IMHO.

The Dollar collapsed and NAFTA spread the "Amero" around as the new global currency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hiPrsc9g98

Good one.

Linky

 

[Mistral]

Why are wars fought? Over resources. If the Vulcans pushed our tech levels to the point where there weren't any shortages of food, clothing and reasonable shelter the need to fight diminishes. After a generation of peace the perception of that state as the status quo becomes the opinion of the man on the street. Once consensus is reached the governing bodies drift towards a general unification because when they wake up in the morning, the leaders believe that peace amongst ourselves is the way things should be(are) and they work to strengthen that status quo(because that's what all politicians do-preserve their positions by keeping things the same.)
If you combine all of this with the outlets for wildchilds to work out their streak of adventurism(Starfleet and the re-building of wounded parts of the Earth) it becomes natural for people to start looking on themselves as "A British citizen of Earth" rather than just British. Make sense?

 

[alicelouise]

I haven't read all the posts. Things can change. During the 15th-17th Century Reformation of Christianity a Catholics and Protestants hated each other. A Catholic would never admit that Martin Luther might have a point; and vice versa with the Protestants. Today a Protestant can admire a Pope Benedict or a Mother Teresa. A Catholic can admire Billy Graham. No one would be accused of heresy. It would simply be common sense.

Who is to say that late in the 21st or 22nd century a similar turnaround might take place? As one poster has stated when meeting an alien species all of a sudden differences will seem to be tiny in a real sense.

 

[Sci]

I believe that like WW2 was in a sense the result of unfinished business from WW1 in our universe ,WW3 in the Star Trek universe was the result of unfinished business from the Eugenics War. The conflict between the Eastern Coalition and the New United Nations in the 2050's rose from the conflict between the Augment empire in the Third World ( ie the Great Khanate) and the West in the 1990's. So in a way the Eugenics War had as much to do with ultimately unifying Earth as WW3 and First Contact with Vulcan.

Keep in mind that we have no data to indicate that the New United Nations was a participant in World War III. All we know canonically is that at least two of the combatant political organizations were the Eastern Coalition and the United States.

 

[Timo]

Uh, how so? The Eastern Coalition is mentioned as one of the factions participating in the war, but I don't think there is any mention of the United States there.

Indeed, for the supposedly Statesian Lily Sloane to speak of "factions", a rarely used term in connection with Earth's recent historical wars where nation-states or ideological coalitions fought each other, one might suspect that preexisting political entities had fractured to create the warring sides. Also, Sloane mistakes the English-speaking Picard and his Caucasian friends (plus Data) for representing one of the "factions", first and foremost suspecting ECON. A factionated United States at war with itself sounds a fairly probable interpretation here, with Massachusetts perhaps the ECON capital...

True, though, that the NUN was never mentioned as having survived past its 2030s declaration of a few important human rights. And since all the talk about "factions" seems rather opposite to the idea of "unitedness", I'd indeed hesitate to give the NUN any role in WWIII or its aftermath.

It's perhaps remarkable that none of the references to Earth's Last Big One, from "Space Seed" and "Bread and Circuses" to "A Matter of Time", ST:FC, "Borderland" and so forth, discusses the conflict in terms of nations fighting each other. Rather, one emphasizes the role of leaders and "supermen" and later of their perverse ideologies, and the genocidal and inhumane nature of the conflict. Perhaps "globalization" had reached such a level that the warring groups would be divided across ideological rather than geological borders, and technology had advanced to a point where superpowers no longer existed and the battlefield was more or less even?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[MichaelJCO]

Uh, how so? The Eastern Coalition is mentioned as one of the factions participating in the war, but I don't think there is any mention of the United States there.

Indeed, for the supposedly Statesian Lily Sloane to speak of "factions", a rarely used term in connection with Earth's recent historical wars where nation-states or ideological coalitions fought each other, one might suspect that preexisting political entities had fractured to create the warring sides. Also, Sloane mistakes the English-speaking Picard and his Caucasian friends (plus Data) for representing one of the "factions", first and foremost suspecting ECON. A factionated United States at war with itself sounds a fairly probable interpretation here, with Massachusetts perhaps the ECON capital...

True, though, that the NUN was never mentioned as having survived past its 2030s declaration of a few important human rights. And since all the talk about "factions" seems rather opposite to the idea of "unitedness", I'd indeed hesitate to give the NUN any role in WWIII or its aftermath.

It's perhaps remarkable that none of the references to Earth's Last Big One, from "Space Seed" and "Bread and Circuses" to "A Matter of Time", ST:FC, "Borderland" and so forth, discusses the conflict in terms of nations fighting each other. Rather, one emphasizes the role of leaders and "supermen" and later of their perverse ideologies, and the genocidal and inhumane nature of the conflict. Perhaps "globalization" had reached such a level that the warring groups would be divided across ideological rather than geological borders, and technology had advanced to a point where superpowers no longer existed and the battlefield was more or less even?

Timo Saloniemi

I agree that its less than clear about exactly who opposed the Eastern Coalition in WW3. While I love Federation and the backstory of the Optimum one thing I dont like much is the idea that the Optimum was strong in the US. Wether it was the NUN,the US or whoever that opposed the Eastern Coalition/Optimum in WW3 it seems clear that they "won" . If the West was divided into factions or had Optimum/Eastern Coalition cells in force it seems alot more likely that they would have "lost". If the goal of the Eastern Coaltion/Optimum was conquest or control of the West they seem to have failed. Since it was a nuclear exhange they inflicted damage but like the Great Khanate in the 1990's they got the worst of it. As per the post atomic horror of 2079 they probably maintained contol of some of their own territory for a while longer but this was probably broken by the Western powers once Vulcan help arrived.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And we know the USA will have 52 states up until 2079 - over 20 years after the war ends - so I doubt it could have had another civil war before then.

We also know that all references to the ECON (in ST:FC) were supposed to be China. The writers changed it at the last minute. It says so in the audio commentary on the DVD. So that, coupled with the obvious Chinese influence in 'Farpoint' court scenes, pretty much proves that the ECON is in fact China.

(FWIW, Lily doesn't suspect Picard of actually being ECON. He's the first one who brings up that term. All Lily asks is "who are you with? What faction?")

 

[Mistral]

And we know the USA will have 52 states up until 2079 - over 20 years after the war ends - so I doubt it could have had another civil war before then.



(FWIW, Lily doesn't suspect Picard of actually being ECON. He's the first one who brings up that term. All Lily asks is "who are you with? What faction?")

See any conflict here? We have a unified USA in 2079 but Lily is concerned with "factions" that can affect her little piece of Montana with their physical presence-which sounds like that mess described in Jericho with 6 different politicians claiming to be the President. I have no answer-just pointing it out.

 

[MichaelJCO]

Here are a couple timelines I wrote a while back about the Eugenics War and WW3. They include canon and non-canon info plus some items I made up. This is an era of Star Trek history I have always been interetsed in so any comments are appreciated.


The Eugenics Wars-A Brief History


April 30th 1991-A young charismatic man named Khan Noonien Singh is
elected to India's parliment.


September 7,1992-This is the date that has come to be accepted as the
day the Eugenics Wars began.China ,under the leadership of a eugenic
superman Chairman Hikaru Minsei,attacked Taiwan with the stated goal
of bringing order and evoultion to its most important "lost"
province.


April 20,1993- On this day 41 African,Asian and Middle Eastern
nations
lead by the young eugenic supermen formed the Great Khanate of
Nations
with Khan Noonien Singh of India as the titular leader.The experience
of the people of these nations varied wildly from the essentially
peaceful rule of Khan in India to the food rationing and forced
selective breeding in Minsei's China to outright genocidal killings
in
General Muhammad Hasan's Iran.


September 28,1993 The Great Khanate attacks Australia and New Zealand
with the stated goal of" bringing genetic order to the West".Great
Britian,South Africa and Japan declare war on the Great Khanate the
following day.


May 4 ,1994 Shocked by the surrender of Australia and New Zealand the
previous day France , Germany and Italy declare war on the Great
Khanate.


June 1 ,1994 President Bill Clinton reaffirms American neutrality in
the widening war but declares that the United States will help supply
the anti-Khanate alliance.


June 22,1994 San Diego, California-USA,Tel Aviv,Israel and Seoul,
South Korea are hit by nuclear weapons as the Great Khanate declares
war on those 3 nations.Those 3 nations and several others (including
Canada and Mexico) follow suit the next day.


May 14-15,1995 The Battle of the Sea of Japan is fought.This battle
is
acknowledged as the turning point of the Eugenics Wars as the
resulting allied victory fractures the Great Khanate into waring
blocs
of nations.The American aircraft carrrier U.S.S Enterprise-CVN 65 is
destroyed in this battle.


October 1 ,1996 The Eugenics Wars end as Khan and his cadre of
eugenic
supermen are presumed killed in the battle to liberate
Sydney,Australia- where they had held out in a last stand.Chairman
Minsei signed an unconditional surrender document in Beijing, China.


September 27,1997 Chairman Minsei,General Hasan and 59 other
surviving
eugenic supermen are put on trial at the International Military
Tribunal in Paris ,France.This is the 1st such trial since the
1945-1948 trials of German and Japansese WWII leaders.Minsei,Hasan
and
the rest were convicted and executed for crimes against humanity and
peace the following year.


August 11,1999 Historian and author Travis Mitchell claims in his
seminal work- The Eugenics War that there is next to no evidence that
Khan Singh and his clique of eugenic supermen were killed in the
liberation of Sydney on October 1,1996.Mitchell puts forth the widely
unaccepted theory that Khan and his people escaped death and
punishment on a DY-100 vessel launched from a samll Indonesian island
that same day.


GK-slang for a memeber of the Great Khanate alliance or army.


normal-a slur used by the eugenic supermen for non-enginerred humans.


Below are the 2 major alliances during the Eugenics Wars of 1992-1996


The Great Khanate of Nations 1993-1996


Afghanistan
Algeria
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Burundi
Brunei
Cambodia
Chad
China
Cameroon
Congo
Egypt
Eritrea
Gabon
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
North Korea
Kuwait
Laos
Lebanon
Libya
Malaysia
Mali
Mongolia
Morocco
Myanmar
Nepal
Niger
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Syria
Tajkistan
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen


The Democratic Alliance 1993-1996


Australia
Angola
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Democratic Republic of Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Ethiopia
France
Germany
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
South Korea
Liberia
Mauritana
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Philippines
Russia
Senegal
Singapore
South Africa
Taiwan
Tanzania
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States of America
Venezuela
Zambia


Li Quan (General) 1961-1995


When one thinks of the Eugenics War the name Khan Singh usually
springs to mind.Its becoming more evident that the "power behind the
throne" in the Great Khanate was General Li Quan.Li Quan was first
noticed as the brilliant eugenic Chinese general who lead the
campaign against Taiwan in September-October 1992 at Chairman Minseis
behest.Once the command structure of the Khanate was established in
1993 Li Quan quickly became the leading general.Quan argued
forcefully for an "East then West " military strategy for the
Khanate.The nations conquered first would be South Korea,Japan,the
Philippines,Singapore.Once the Khanate had firmly controlled East
Asia it could then move West striking out at
Australia,Turkey,Israel ,South Africa and eventually Russia, Europe
and the United States.Quan was overruled by Khan Singh who was eager
to bring the "order of the Khanate" to the West.Quan was against the
campaign but he lead the invasion of Australia with vigor.Despite the
huge loss of manpower and resources the Khanate captured the Pacific
superpower in only 7 months.After Australia and New Zealand's
surrender in May 1994 Quan clamored for a focus on South Korea and
Japan but was again overruled by Khan Singh and General Muhammad
Hasan of Iran who both wanted a worldwide front.Quan cringed at the
decision to attack the United States and Israel along with South
Korea in June 1994.He privately said "Khan Singh is determined that
we will win the world,even if were are defeated doing so".Quan threw
himself into the South Korea campaign and that nation was conquered
in less than 3 months.Quan's hoped for invasion of Japan was again
held up when General Hasan fumbled the invasion of Turkey in October
1994.The Great Khanate had to divert nearly half its army to Syria
and Iraq to prevent a total catastrophe.Li Quan always displayed a
balance of thoughtfulness and ruthlessness.He successfully argued
against General Hasans desire for an all out nuclear exchange with
Israel after it nuked Tehran in retaliation for Tel Aviv noting"Once
we conquer the world we will still have to live in it".However his
campaign in South Korea was brutal and civilian causalities were
high.Li Quan had always argued that the Khanate was overextending
itself but the arrogance of Khan Singh,Hasan and others on the
command staff didnt allow them to believe that their superior lot
could ever be defeated by a pack of weakling normals.It's ironic that
Quan ultimately lost his life in the fight he had longed for the
whole time he lead the Khanate forces-the Battle of the Sea of
Japan.That defeat did more that save Japan from invasion but
fractured the Khanate into several warring camps who either wanted to
stop the expansion and consolidate their current holdings or continue
to expand.This infighting created a valuable opening for the
Democratic Alliance and the Khanate was destroyed a year and a half
after that pivotal battle.What if Khan Singh had swallowed his
enormous pride and listened to the sound military advice of General
Li Quan?Scary thought but it would make a good book.


Travis Mitchell
The History Journal
April 10,2000



This is a WWIII timeline that ignores the "canon" established in First Contact. It is based on the 2079 date given in Encounter at Farpoint,the Judith and Garfield Reeeves-Stevens novel Federation and stuff I made up

It should be noted that Enterprise finally confirmed that Colonel
Green was American and operated in the aftermath of WWIII. - MEJ

World War III


October 5,2059- The Optimum movement,a neo-fascist organization in
the
tradition of Nazi Germany and the Great Khanate,forms the Optimal
Republics of Earth to replace the "so called New United Nations".The
movement continues to build support in Europe and Oceania.


March 16 ,2060 -The government of Australia becomes Optimal under the
leadership of Colonel Patrick Green who puts the Australian Prime
Minister under house arrest.New Zealand follows the same course on
March 27.


May 2,2060 - The Stockholm Massacre occurs.Colonel Adrick Thorsen,a
leading member of Colonel Green's cadre,quells a ration demonstration
in Stockholm Sweden by deploying battlefield pulse emitters against
unarmed civilians.Nearly 700 were killed and over 2000 injured in
that
brutal assault.


March 19,2061 - Colonel Adrik Thorsen unsuccessfully attempts to
obtain faster than light technology from American scientist Zefram
Cochrane.


June 2,2071- US President Christine Thomas,Secretary of State John F
Kennedy III and 11 others are killed in a hover copter explosion over
Paris ,France.Evidence,that is withheld from the American public to
avert a war,suggests Optimum involvement.


August 26 ,2075- To the shock and horror of the United States and the
remaining democracies in the world, The Optimum is victorious in
Great
Britain's parliamentary elections.


September 17, 2075- Queen Mary III is imprisoned for opposing Optimum
policies.


October 6,2075 - The Cambridge Riots occur.The Optimum government
sends in Fourth World Mercenaries to close down Cambridge
University.They use shredder bombs to disperse protesting faculty and
students-nearly 1000 are killed,hundreds wounded.


June 8,2078- Optimum forces invaded Belarus,Ukraine and Moldavia.The
next day they move into Venezuela,Ecuador,Columbia and Peru.The New
United Nations condemns these invasions.The United
States,Russia,Mexico and several other Central American,African and
Asian nations declare war on the Optimum over the next few days.


July 13,2078 -Colonel Green starts a nuclear exchange between the
Optimal Republics of Earth and the New United Nations.37 million are
killed in the initial exchange.Millions die eventually.


April 19,2079 President Littlehawk,former presidents Chang and Hogan
and 72 others are killed in an explosion at the Powell Institute
while
planning the defeat of remaining Optimum forces.It is later
discovered
that Vice President Tricia Brown was an Optimum operative
instrumental
in causing this tragedy.This date is considered the end of the old
United States government as no more presidential elections were held
and what was the remaining United States government lead the recovery
movement with the New United Nations and Earth colonies which
eventually formed the United Earth government in the 22nd century.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------­­-----
Patrick Stephen Green (Colonel) 2021-2083


Colonel Patrick Green was a founder of the Optimum movement and lead
the Optimal Republics of Earth from 2059-2079.Green grew up in one of
the few Australian families that had publicly supported the Great
Khanate when it occupied Australia from 1994-1996.His lifelong
obsession with finding what was optimal for humankind lead to the his
joining one of the fledgling neo-fascist organizations that sprung up
in the 2030's and 2040's on an increasingly poor and polluted
Earth.His tyrannical rule is well known and was of course topped by
the appalling atrocity he committed on July 13,2078 in causing a
nuclear exchange with the New United Nations that killed
millions.Green fled the earth when his forces neared defeat in
September 2079.He was found in an obscure asteroid colony in 2082
,having undergone reconstructive surgery, and was extradited back to
Earth.Green was found guilty and was executed for crimes against
humanity on October 5,2083.


Mary Anne McDonald (Colonel) 2030-2082


Colonel Mary McDonald was the notorious Optimum leader in Great
Britain who succeeded Adrik Thorsen (2028-2078) after his
assassination by resistance forces on June 21,2078.She was brutal in
her suppression of the resistance and increasingly restless British
public.McDonald is best remembered for the order to execute Queen
Mary
III on September 11,2079.Queen Mary had been held at Highgate prison
since 2075 as an enemy of the Optimal Republic of Great
Britain.McDonald was captured at an Ireland spaceport on October 25
2079 attempting to flee Earth in the wake of the Optimum's defeat.She
was put on trial ant the International military tribunal in San
Francisco CA and executed for crimes against humanity on April
18,2082.


The House of Windsor 1936-2079


George VI- 1936-1952
Elizabeth II- 1952-2013
William V - 2013-2066
Mary III - 2066-2079


United States Presidents 1989-2079


George HW Bush -R 1989-1993
William J Clinton-(D)1993-2001
Colin L Powell -R 2001-2009
Christine T Whitman-R 2009-2017
John F Kennedy Jr- (D) 2017-2021
Nadine O'Hara -(D)2021-2029
Michael A Jacobi- R 2029-2037
Jessica Collins- R 2037-2045
Erica Whittaker -R 2045-2049
Stephanie Garrison- (D) 2049-2053
Gabriel Mendoza -(D) 2053-2061
Rebecca Hogan -R 2061-2069
Christine Thomas -(D) 2069-2071
Mark Chang -(D) 2071-2077
Jonathan Littlehawk-(D) 2077-2079


If one speaks of a curse related to American presidents one surely
applies to those presidents who were born in the 21st century.All
4-(Christine Thomas 2019-2071,Mark Chang 2005-2079,Rebecca Hogan
2010-2079 and Jonathan Littlehawk 2016-2079)died violent deaths as
targets of Optimum assassination.President Christine Thomas was
killed
in a hover copter explosion over Paris, France on June 2,2071.It was
later determined that an Optimum bomb was responsible.Thomas'
successor President Mark Chang (D) suppressed this information as he
was aware that public knowledge of the presidents murder would lead
to
a war with the ORE (Optimal Republics of Earth).The most striking
evidence of this curse occurred on April 19,2079.On that day
President
Jonathan Littlehawk and former presidents Mark Chang and Rebecca
Hogan
were killed in the bombing of the Powell Institute building in
suburban Washington DC(which had been partially destroyed in the
nuclear war the previous year).The 3 presidents were conferring there
with United States and New United Nations military officers and staff
about prosecuting the war with the ORE to its completion.Even more
shocking was the revelation that Vice President Tricia Brown was
instrumental in the bombing as an Optimum operative!Although the
United States government did not immediately collapse many consider
that day the death of the old United States.The later revelation of a
broad Optimum presence and sympathies in the US government and
society
drastically altered the American nation.The United States along with
the New UN became the driving force for a United Earth
government(which finally arrived in 2113 and was completed by with
the
membership of Australia in 2150-that nation held out all those years
in part due to long memories from its tragic role in the Eugenics
Wars
and World War III).Tricia Brown was captured,tried and executed at
the
International Military Tribunal trials in San Francisco CA in
2082-2083 along with 44 other major Optimum leaders including Colonel
Green.


Joshua Collins


Excerpt from a Brief Earth History-copyright 2152

 

[Mistral]

Very interesting timeline(s). I dabble in this era in my fan fics and have pondered "just what happened" myself.

 

[PsychoDan]

To me, the "united world" premise is like FTL propulsion. It's not very plausible, but it's necessary for the story to work (at least if the story is going to be Trek; we humans are learning and improving, the future looks glorious, etc.) ... so I just take it with a wink and a grain of salt.

[Post WW2 Europe] needed the influence of a more powerful neighbor, the United States, to prompt them towards genuine unity and habits of cooperation. They also needed the influence of a looming threat -- the Soviet Union and its satellite states -- to speed that process along. [...] The Vulcans would seem to be America to Earth's Europe. [...] The question, of course, is whether or not there was something else that made humanity feel threatened, too -- as though it needed to unify if it wished to survive.

That's the only scenario that really makes sense to me. It's true that if history teaches us anything, it's that you can kill anyone ... but it also teaches us that nothing else is quite as good at uniting bickering groups than a common enemy, or even the perception of a common enemy. Even the perception that a neutral and more powerful party could become a common enemy can be enough.

So to me it seems that the most likely cause would be a perceived possible common threat; the Vulcans. Think about humanity's probable reaction immediately after first contact ... here are these pointy-eared aliens, their technology is far superior to ours, they're obviously not terribly impressed with us; they're incapable of emotion to the point of apparent sociopathy ... and just what the hell WERE they up to in the first place, snooping around in OUR solar system?! We'd better get together behind a common front, just in case.

Granted, that's all very non-Trek, but ...

It's rather explicitly described as an outgrowth of the philisophical implications of knowing with absolute certainty that humanity is not the only sentient species in existence.

Yeah, that's Trek to a tee, but there is some wiggle room there. Every time Earth's unification is actually described, it's in retrospect, by Earthlings, long after the events happened. I have no doubt those shifts in philosophy did occur, but I also doubt that's all of the story. Any culture will view its own history through rose-colored glasses. But admittedly I'm reaching quite a bit here.

it implies that United Earth is a federal rather than unitary state.

That seems far more realistic to me, and I really don't see anything in Trek that contradicts that; to give an analogy, USN personnel may passionately see themselves as Southerners, Oregonians, etc., but they're always going to officially act on behalf of the US.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And we know the USA will have 52 states up until 2079 - over 20 years after the war ends - so I doubt it could have had another civil war before then.



(FWIW, Lily doesn't suspect Picard of actually being ECON. He's the first one who brings up that term. All Lily asks is "who are you with? What faction?")

See any conflict here? We have a unified USA in 2079 but Lily is concerned with "factions" that can affect her little piece of Montana with their physical presence-which sounds like that mess described in Jericho with 6 different politicians claiming to be the President. I have no answer-just pointing it out.

She could have thought Picard was a spy or soldier from the ECON army. Remember, she was on the Enterprise when she said that; she may well have thought she'd been kidnapped and taken back to ECON territory.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

No, it implies that United Earth is a federal rather than unitary state. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has never abolished its navy, but that doesn't mean that the United States of America is not quite developed.

Now wait just a damned minute! Are you telling me that Deval Frakking Patrick has command of a navy? That's about the scariest proposition I have ever heard! And I live in Massachusetts!