Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 193
- 2
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Continuing my alt hist scenario- epistemic status, considering moving over to an alternate history forum, open to recommendations. https://www.themotte.org/post/1723/friday-fun-thread-for-march-7/306699?context=8#context link to previous.
The Commonwealth-Japanese cold war defined the post Pacific war world; not a difference in ideology(both being capitalist, highly militarized, soft ethnic supremacist constitutional monarchies with large colonial empires), but of the world's preeminent sea power. Commonwealth strategy until the disaster that was the Falklands war centered around confining Japan to the Pacific in order to ensure Commonwealth control of global trade routes; Japan fully intended to secure a route out of the Pacific in order to secure its own control of global trade. Early on, the Japanese diplomatic disadvantage was intense; even though Japan had more ships, the Pacific war had made enemies of Germany, the Netherlands, and Texas, and alienated France, despite its territorial gains. Needing powerful allies, Japan sought out positive relations with Russia and the United States.
Without the disasters of communism and WWII, Russia is much more populous in this timeline(https://akarlin.com/500-million-russians/), and experiences a steadier economic growth cycle to boot. But at this point, it's still poor and backwards compared to the other great powers, and Japanese imports proved essential for building military equipment. The Russian intervention in the Chinese Democratic Socialist People's republic after Mao's famine in the interior demonstrated a revolution in infantry tactics; the new Kalashnikov rifle convinced Germany to produce its STG platform(probably the most common rifle in use in global militaries today), and France and the Commonwealth began similar projects. Additionally, a steady flow of mostly Japanese and Russian built weapons flowed into restive regions of northern India; after a second Sepoy revolt white troops withdrew to south of the Indus, and largely Canadian pressure within the alliance convinced the central government to begin the process of withdrawing from the mainland subcontinent, although the process lasted until the sixties.
The United States was eager for importation from Japanese colonies into Seattle, but unwilling to commit to a cold war with the Commonwealth. President Long spent most of his fifth term assuring the Canadian ambassador that his ties to Japan were strictly commercial, and the primary threat to Canada was from Russian-controlled Alaska. Nevertheless, relations remained tense, and large portions of both armies were stationed on the border. Canadian war planning in the event of a second great war- expected to be waged against an alliance of Japan, Russia, and the USA- rendered the Canadian population the most heavily armed and militarized on earth, with infantry training a core subject for boys in the Canadian school system starting in Kindergarten, and state-supported but technically private militias present in even the smallest towns to serve as partisans during an invasion. Despite how badly president Long's 7 terms in office would trash the US economy over the long haul, America maintains a powerful navy, albeit with similar industrial rot issues to in our timeline(granted, here caused mostly by populist economic insanity), and the Commonwealth continues to classify it as a potent military threat despite other powers seeing it as a half-power with too many economic issues to do more than complicate.
The first Japanese attempt at breaking power projection out of the Pacific was obtaining a naval base in the Indian subcontinent; Australian troops quickly deposed the rajah who considered this a good idea. The second was in the Nicaragua crisis, where Japan and the United States attempted to build a canal through central America, to enable cheaper trade with the Atlantic- but more than capable of allowing Japanese capital ships through. Texas, whose rail links from the west coast to Corpus Christi fed the economy, turned the resulting instability in Nicaragua into a proxy war which escalated to Texan and Dutch troops directly backing the rebel entrance into the capital and then fighting a counterinsurgency against a variety of former-regime aligned groups along with Commonwealth soldiers, a conflict which led to military occupation of the Yucatan and Costa Rica.
The third attempt, however, went much better. Japan obtained Argentine vassalage and backed the Argentine invasion of the Falkland islands and south Georgia island, home of the British naval installations bottling up Japan from rounding cape horn at will, and immediately dispatched its two newest aircraft carriers, Misaka and Akagi, to guard its ally's sovereign territory. The Commonwealth fleet, led by the HMS Invincible, was simply outmatched- Japanese carriers were almost twice the size of their opponent's, and carried 2.5x as many planes- all of them newer than the British's, and the conflict would also proof-of-concept the use of missile cruisers as capital ships alongside aircraft carriers. The Ocean class supercarriers which were supposed to be an answer to the newest Japanese ships were still in West Australian shipyards, and no Commonwealth hull could launch then-new fourth generation fighters. The peace settlement acknowledged Argentine control of the Falklands, but although the Commonwealth had all but lost the cold war, it was able to keep its head high, and a naval rearmament program continued successfully. Most historians consider the Commonwealth loss of global preeminence inevitable at this point but assign the actual date of Japanese victory in the cold war to the Greek realignment with Japan, and the subsequent opening of the Suez canal to Japanese military traffic. Today the leader of the Commonwealth is actually Australia, not Britain, and the soft alliance with the capitalist pro-white colonialist league between Texas, the Netherlands, and South Africa is largely broken- although poor Japanese relations with the other four great powers prevent it from being clearly preeminent.
In the works in this series- a post on overviews of the great powers+middle ones and a post on continental Europe plus South Africa.
Online oldest and biggest AH place is here but beware. It is extremely PC, woke long before wokeness was a thing, space. Expect to be banned for the slightest infraction (mere mention of HBDIQ concepts, taken for granted here or other rationalist and post rationalist spaces is sufficient). Enter at your risk.
Just one example: short althistorian career of famous Eric S. Raymond
Others- few old time forums and bulletin boards exist.
Only I can think about is Axis History Forum unsurprisingly dedicated to WWII history with lively alt-his subforum. It is nerd paradise, highly technical discussion backed by proper citations is expected (and it is normie place, nothing resembling Nazi apologia and Holocaust revisionism is tolerated).
I wouldn't describe AH.com as "woke" so much as belligerently normie/grill-pilled.
You describe "urban youth culture" as a disease to be eradicated and people will either argue or agree with you but you start talking about the inherent biological superiority (or victim status) of one race over another and you'll be out on your ass in short order.
Naw Ian was pretty left-wing back in like 2004 BUT he’s not particularly “woke”. He does occasionally ban people who say stuff like “white man tears” etc that get a pass from “woke” people because of what he (correctly) calls “bigotry”.
He really doesn’t like Israel though…
Ian was always a Bill Maher/James Carville type "left wing", not a pink-haired tumblr thot left wing, and CalBear is a ArfCom-style angry Vet conservative.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link