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  1. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Well, not quite. All of these policy steps could have turned out much better than I described. However, it is definitely an exercise in unintended consequences, and particularly a reflection on how lucky we are that the United States never turned the War on Terror into WWII. Yes. How rapidly...

  2. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    To ease any confusion, the ultimatums delivered to other countries were nowhere near as harsh as that delivered to Pakistan, which the US already suspected was the origin, directly or indirectly, of the nuclear attack. But the intended effect was certainly to intimidate them. Keep in mind that...

  3. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    I did get the PM you sent me, sorry for not replying back. It was very helpful indeed - I plan on going back to some of the regions and catching things up to the present moment in the TL just so the stuff that comes afterward can unfold with the global situation min mind.

  4. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Right, the early part of the TL is what I thought would be a reasonable response to terror. Of course a lot of other stuff occurs too, mainly involving Pakistan, and allowing a coup in Iraq was high on the Saudi agenda but I'm not sure how much the US wanted to play that game in OTL. As for the...

  5. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Kind of a rough workup. A lot of details might change/be retconned. This wasn't originally written in, but thinking through my original plot for this update, it actually seemed too optimistic. There's hardly such a thing as a splendid first strike to begin with, and it certainly can't happen...

  6. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    You know, that's not at all now I intended it to play out. I really just looked for a POD to ensure McCain would win in 2000. Will work on the next update tomorrow. Lots of stuff in store.

  7. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    PART XXXI: November 2004 “A state struck with nuclear weapons will never get over it.” - Philip Bobbitt --- The bomb was delivered via an LNG tanker in Boston harbor. The ship on its own would have been devastating, but its effect was overshadowed by the 25 kiloton...

  8. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    OTL wars were certainly not the cause of the recession. However, TTL's wars will have a very big role, as losing a city does wonders to wreck global finance. Oh, no, thank you for reminding me. Proofreading is a persistent weakness of mind, and it's good that there are people like you out...

  9. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Well, that's the thing. The US doesn't actually know who's behind the attack, nor do they know the location of the remaining nuclear weapons. Nuking Pakistan could invite a broader nuclear war involving India, which the US isn't eager to invite. It's a tricky situation. I still haven't quite...

  10. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    You're getting on the mark. Yes, Boston will still win the World Series. Them winning the world series and then the city being hit by an atomic bomb is one of those stories you can't make up... Only I did, so I suppose that takes away from it somewhat. Yeah, Germany is a bit more hawkish, and...

  11. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Thanks for the comments, everyone. Australia also contributes ground forces to the war in Afghanistan. Its special forces are more controversially deployed along with the US troops and British SAS in Pakistan. So far an Indonesian-Australian war would take a bit more to it. It might require...

  12. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Yes, I will deal with Russia and surrounding states separately. McCain in OTL surrounds himself with anti-Russian hawks so Russia policy will be a lot more complicated, even though the US and Russia have a greater convergence of interests on Islamic terrorism. I figured if I was going to...

  13. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    PART XXX: May 2004 – November 2004 “The blade itself incites to violence.” - Homer’s Iliad --- “For all our criticism of the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda, they have correctly identified this: Pakistan is no longer a sovereign state. The Pakistani government no...

  14. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    A lot of Very Bad Things happen in 2005. Some of them to Iran. Still haven't decided how it will all play out... I do want to continue the timeline to 2009, if only to emphasize how very different history would be. It will, not sure when... I'd be interested to hear your ideas about South...

  15. Been Winning So Long, I've Lost It - The Long War TL

    Saddam started stockpiling them by reviving the program/purchasing on the black market in 2000, because McCain made more belligerent statements about Iraq during his campaign. Sorry everyone! I didn't get back to it spring semester and then I was in Argentina for a month during the summer...

  16. November 1st 2001: US dropes a nuke in Afghanistan

    Something tells me it's a really poor idea to nuke a site right on the Pakistani border. Even if it wasn't near the Pakistani border, nuking Afghanistan would almost certainly put Pakistan in the awkward position of being the Muslim world's only nuclear deterrent against the United States. On...

  17. Dewey wins TL (ex-contest entry)

    Nope. I'm pretty sure I wrote that into the timeline, but the idea became more popular after the Eastwood administration ended.

  18. what if the cold war did not end

    Yes, but people rarely measure their standard of living against the worst hypothetical outcome. And you're assuming that Western/Pakistani/Saudi support of anti-communist Islamic fighters and governments would not continue even if the USSR remained an intact superpower. This seems rather...

  19. what if the cold war did not end

    Yes, but ayatollahs are Shia Iranians. They are representative of a minority of Muslims and their opinions have no truck among the Sunni takfiris who attacked the United States on 9/11. The Sunnis were notably more anti-communist, and the more religiously-motivated they were the less tolerant...

  20. Dewey wins TL (ex-contest entry)

    Here's a final epilogue focused on the issue that I think will give the best summary of the world in 2009. Everything else people might want to know I'll handle on a question by question basis. 2008-2009 “… Islamic terrorism is a threat not only to our nation, but to the world at large...
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