Part XIV: The Dawn of
the Next Century
ELECTIONS SET FOR END OF SEPTEMBER
LONDON, AUG 27- Caving to pressure from the many opposition
parties that have been formed in the four months since the approval of the
Political Speech and Association Act, Prime Minister Prince has announced that
there will be a General Election on September 30. This comes after months of rallies and speeches by various
opposition leaders calling for an end of what some call the last BUF
parliament. Many expect that the New Labour Party, which recently elected Ms.
Margret Roberts of Grantham, Lincolnshire, as their party leader, to sweep the
upcoming election, which would make Roberts the first female Prime Minister of
Great Britain, and the first time since 1965 that someone not a member of the
British Union of Fascists would be in charge. Proponents of the rulling party
believe that people will stay loyal to “a party that has strived to do nothing
more than make Great Britain truly great”, but outside observers think
otherwise.
-“Elections set for end of September,” The Times (London), August 28, 1994.
SOCIALIST-LIBERTY COALITION ON ROCKY GROUND
WASHINGTON, SEP 14- The coalition in the House of
Representatives between the Liberty Party and the Socialist Party may be on
much shakier ground than originally believed back in 1992. There have been
several heated debates between members of the two parties concerning the Liberty
Party’s prized policy item, the reinstatement of affirmative action. Party
leaders, including Vice President Rosenberg, have stated they believe a new law
similar to the infamous 1-4 law should be passed into law, and “wipe away the
sins of the previous administration”. Most socialists, however, do not want any
affirmative action law in place, and are refusing to cooperate with their
coalition members, siding with Republicans and leading to a deadlock in
Congress. Currently, Speaker Henry Duvall (S-Cal) has said that this issue will
be resolved peaceably and that the current coalition in the House will weather
the storm. Some pundits aren’t so sure, and think that this debate could lead
to Republican gains in the upcoming election.
Most
polls show that nearly 40% of Americans do not agree with affirmative action,
while only 30% are in favor, with the rest being undecided. However, nearly 60%
agree that the old “1-4 Law” did more harm than good and should not try to be
reinstated.
-“Socialist-Liberty Coaltion on Rocky Ground,” The New York Times, September 14, 1994.
NEW LABOUR SWEEPS ELECTION!
LONDON, SEP 30- As the polls closed, it became clear that
the people of this country were ushering in a new era, ending nearly 30 years
of fascist rule, voting en masse for New Labour and the other newly created
parties in an utter rejection of the party of Mosley. New Labour received 69
seats in Parliament, the Democratic-Republicans 11 seats, the Conservatives 10,
and the BUF was reduced to just 8 seats, and the Communists took 2. There have
been impromptu parties celebrating the end of the BUF rule all over London,
people taking down the lightning-bolt banner of the fascists and burning them,
taking down portraits of Sir Oswald Mosley, and many other acts of anger
directed at the former ruling party.
Soon-to-be
Prime Minister Margret Roberts told a jubilant crowd gathered in Trafalgar Square
that “tonight, we’ve taken back our Country. We’ve taken it out of the hands of
power-hungry blackshirts and placed it back into the hands of the people of
Britain. My fellow citizens, pat yourself on the back, and congratulate
yourself for bringing back our democracy. May we never have to relearn the
lesson of what happens if we give it away.” Roberts, a former member of the
Conservative party until she was arrested in 1971 for blatant attacks on Sir
Oswald Mosley’s government in a session of Parliament, she was released this
spring from Glasgow CSP Prison, and has become the central figure of the “New
Britain”, and many Britons have been referring to her as “Grandma Margret.” At
69 years old, the grey-haired Roberts will be Great Britain’s first female
Prime Minister and also one of the oldest Prime Minister’s in history.
Outgoing
Prime Minister Robert Prince stated that “the people of this country have
spoken. Our party no longer has the mandate to rule, and so we shall step aside
and allow New Labour to take office. I congratulate Margret Roberts and her
fellow party members for a great success and wish them wisdom and good luck as
they prepare to lead our great country.
-“New Labour Sweeps Election,” The Times (London), October 1, 1994.
HOUSE COALITION COLLAPSES
WASHINGTON, DEC 1- Speaker of the House Henry Duvall
announced today that negotiations had broken down between leaders of the
Socialist and Liberty party members about continuing a coalition between the
two parties, and that the Socialists, as the largest minority in the House,
would continue as the leadership in most positions, offering some committee
posts to both Republicans and Liberty members.
Overall,
the Republicans have come out of this year’s mid-term elections as the victors.
Although they did not take the majority in either house of Congress, they are
now the number two party and are in a better position to get some parts of
their agenda through the legislature, as opposed to the Liberty party, which
seems to be falling further out of touch with the electorate, clinging to
ideals of two decades ago when the party formed from the ashes of the old
Democratic Party. There are some in Washington that believe that, if the
Liberty Party continues down this road, they might not hold together. One
analyst said that “if things don’t change at the LP HQ and soon, the party will
fold, with members jumping ship and either joining the Republicans or the
Socialists, and will return our country to the old 2-party system that had
existed prior to the collapse of the Democrats in the late 1970s.”
Vice
President Rosenberg stated that “the Liberty Party is as relevant and strong as
it was in the 1970s. We’ve just got to repackage our goals so that they make
more sense to the people. I’m deeply saddened that my party and the President’s
party could not come to an agreement in the House, but it’s not the end of the
world.”
-“House Coalition Collapses,” The Washington Post, December 1, 1994.
ZGI TO LAUNCH PROTO-TYPE HYBRID CRAFT
AKRON, DEC 12- Officials at Zeppelin-Goodyear International
have announced that on February 1, the long-awaited Hybrid Zeppelin (H-ZEP), will
leave the hangar at the Friedrichshafen Luftschiffwerks on February 1, 1995.
The Hybrid project at ZGI has been in the works since 1979, trying to develop
an airship that is lifted both by the buoyancy of its lifting gas and also the
forward thrust of it’s propellers.
The interest in this hybrid technology is that, if successful, future
H-ZEPs could carry far more passengers than current conventional airships, that
have really capped out at about 500 passengers, and have to be truly mammouth
in size. The HZEP-001, which has yet to receive a name, is nearly 200 feet in
length, and should be able to carry nearly 180 passengers. It took an airship
the size of the historic LZ-129 Hindenburg
to carry nearly that number, and modern airships built by ZGI, BAW, and CAW are
nearly twice that size to carry their current payloads.
Heinrich
Eckener, great-grandson of the famous Hugo Eckener who was appointed head of the
company four years ago, stated to the press that “Zeppelin-Goodyear was the
first pioneer in airship technology, and the proliferation of the airship is a
testament to those efforts. However, I will admit that for the past few
decades, we’ve become complacent and not as innovative as in the past. This
ends with the H-ZEP. ZGI will retake it’s place at the forefront of
lighter-than-air technology.”
-“ZGI to Launch Proto-Type Hybrid Craft,” The New York Times, December 13, 1994.
During
the 1970s, Zeppelin-Goodyear was accused of slipping into a really complacent
and un-innovative stance, doing little more than small refinements to the
gargantuan craft that they’d been building since the 1940s. Under the
grandfatherly leadership of Friedrich Eckener, grandson of the great Hugo
Eckener, the company just chugged along, nearly unchanging. During this
climate, two frustrated ZGI designers would revolutionize the industry.
In
1979, George Freemont and Kyle Howards, who were senior designers at
Zeppelin-Goodyear, had met with frustration for the last time. They’d pitched a
design for a new breed of airship, a semi-rigid, and were rebuffed by the chief
designers of the company. Tired of being ignored by “grandpa Fred”, they both
left the company. The following year, they founded Pacific Airbuilders in Los
Angeles, with support from Californian, Japanese, and Chinese businessmen, all
of whom thought that there was a real market for newer, smaller designs in the
airship industry. In 1981, the PAC-0001 was launched from the newly completed
Pacific Airyard outside Los Angeles. The 350ft. long semi-rigid airship could
carry 90 people. Within 5 years, PAC Air had ships flying in China, Japan,
Australia, and the Vladivostok Republic. PANAM still continued it’s regular routes
in the Pacific, but local airlines purchased these airships from PAC AIR
because they were cheaper, less expensive to maintain, and could still carry a
decent passenger load.
The
new structural design, along with other new innovations like pivoting engine
pods, really increased pressure on ZGI to change their course. When PANAM
announced in 1990 that they would be purchasing some of PAC Air’s ships, it was
the final straw for the shareholders of ZGI. In June of that year, Friedrich
Eckener “resigned” as President of the company. Later that month, Heinrich
Eckener, Friedrich’s nephew, took over the company, and announced that a “new
direction” was soon in coming.
-Anderson, Dr. Alexander. The Air War: Competition between ZGI and PAC Air. New York: Colombia
University Press: 2009.
VICE PRESIDENT ROSENBERG WILL NOT BE ON ’96 TICKET
WASHINGTON, DEC 3- In the continuing saga of the decline in
good relations between the Socialist and Liberty parties, Vice President Jacob
Rosenberg will not be running for reelection with President Clinton in next
year’s election. Rosenberg announced this news to the press this morning at a
news conference at the White House with the President. Clinton would not state
who his new running mate would be. Rosenberg stated that he was not resigning,
and would stay in office until January of 1997 and the end of his elected term.
There
has been some speculation among the press corps in Washington that Vice
President Rosenberg will run on the Liberty Party ticket in the upcoming election,
however when confronted by this question today at the conference the Vice
President said, “at this time that option is not on the table.”
-“Vice President Rosenberg Will Not Be on ’96 Ticket,” The Washington Post, December 4, 1995.
The
election of 1996 was the death knell of the Liberty Party, and ended up
restoring the two-party system to U.S. politics. Throughout the remainder of
1995 and into the election year of 1996, the debate raged in the halls of
Congress and across the nation as to whether or not a new affirmative action
law should be enacted. The Liberty Party leadership, including Vice President
Rosenberg, spoke ardently for creating such a new law. However, many of the
general public were against such a law, and there were frequent protests across
the country.
In
January 1996, Rosenberg announced that he’d be running for President on the
Liberty Party ticket, surprising some, but not many of the Washington elite. In
March, President Clinton announced that socialist representative Dan Boren of
Oklahoma would be his new running mate. The debate over new affirmative action,
along with other issues such as a proposed national healthcare system, took the
headlines of the debate. Many in the Liberty party kept asking former President
King to speak out on the issue. On September 1, shortly after all the party
conventions, King did speak out on the issue, and his statement to the press on
the steps of his former church in Atlanta would shock the country.
Stepping
up to the microphone, the former president said, “As our nation prepares to
once again practice our great democratic tradition of selecting our leaders, a
debate rages across our land as to how we can better handle our race relations.
For many years, I believed that the law of this nation should force employers
and government institutions to have so many people of color for every white
person they employed. I believed so strongly in it that when I resided at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, I made such legislation my number one priority. In my desire
to do good, I ignored many experts who said this course of action would not
work, and so this legislation became law.
Those
good intentions were a disaster for the country, and I can honestly say that I
regret making them such a priority. This country needs to let the race wounds
heal, and the 1 to 4 Law did little but rub salt in old wounds. And the desire
of the Liberty Party to resurrect these types of policies will do more harm
than good. I call on all Liberty party candidates, including Vice President
Rosenberg, to disavow this course of action, so that together, Americans of all
colors and creeds can continue on the path to building a society of racial
harmony and equality in a way that doesn’t cause outrage or violence.”
This
short speech in Atlanta rocked the Liberty members to their core, and deeply
divided the party. Many leaders, including Rosenberg, proclaimed that they
thought King was misguided, and that affirmative action was the only way to
guarantee continued racial equality in the work place. This stance would kill
whatever slim chance Rosenberg had at the Presidency. In the 1996 presidential
election, Rosenberg only carried his home state of New York and neighboring New
Jersey. Clinton won reelection with 56% of the popular vote, beating Republican
candidate Mark McDonalds of Pennsylvania who received 40% of the vote.
The
following February, only a few weeks after Clinton and Boren had taken been
sworn in, the Liberty Party gathered in New York to discuss their party’s
future. There was very little consensus on new party policies or new
leadership. Finally, on February 17th, Representative Edward Kennedy
of Massachusets made a motion to dissolve the party. And after only 2 rounds of
voting, the Liberty Party ceased to exist.
-Franks, Howard. The
Politics of Transition: The American Political Landscape from 1970-2000.
New York: Colombia University Press: 2005.
NATIONALISTS TAKE CHARGE IN PETROGRAD
PETROGRAD, MARCH 5- The Russian National Coalition has swept
this year’s general election for control of the Imperial Duma, taking nearly
75% of the vote, in the largest landslide in the country’s post-Soviet
electoral history. Prime Minister Dmitri Gudov of the outgoing Royalist Party
has assured the country and the world of a peaceful transition, though some
doubt such prospects. Many think that RNC leader Andre Yulinkov is too radical
and possibly militaristic. Yulinkov and the RNC are calling for a unification
of Imperial Russia and the Vladivostok Republic, along with increasing Russian
influences in the former Russian republics to the south of the country, and in
other nations like the Ukraine, Poland and Finland. Yulinkov also promises to
increase military spending, along with creating new jobs in infrastructure
improvements around the country.
While
Chancellor Rothschild stated that Germany supports the strengthening of
Imperial Russia so that it is not so dependent on German aid, other nations in
Europe are eyeing the RNC with considerable pause. Chief among them is British
Prime Minister Margaret Roberts, who’s country is still trying to heal from
nearly 30 years of fascist rule under the BUF. British Foreign Minister Henry
Downs says that, “while we respect Russia’s right to elect whomever they
choose, we fear that the Yulinkov and the RNC have molded themselves too
closely to the fascist political movement.” Similar concearns have been
expressed by the Italian government.
-“Nationalists Take Charge in Petrograd,” Berliner Morgenpost, March 6, 1997.
PANAM BUYS FIRST HYBRID ZEP
NEW YORK, APRIL 17- It’s been two years since ZGI first
launched it’s new HZEP (Hybrid Zeppelin), the LZ-490 Träumer, and the
new class of airship is finally ready to join the long legacy of passenger
service with PANAM and Lufthansa. The German airline announced two days ago
that it was buying the LZ-490 and LZ-491 (newly completed last year and named Zeppeliner Traum), and that both ships
will see service by the end of 1997. Not to be outdone, PANAM officials today
announced that the LZ-492 and LZ-493, both under construction in
Ecknerstadt-Friedrichshafen, would be purchased by the company and hopefully
put in service by the beginning of 1998. In the announcement, the airline
officials also confirmed that the Akron Airship Yards would be building 4 HZEPs
for PANAM’s use.
The
Träumer can carry up to 195 passengers during a regular flight,
and has the ability to cross the Atlantic or Pacific oceans without landing,
something that early detractors of the design feared it wouldn’t be able to do.
Now that it appears that the HZEP is a success, ZGI officials feel confident
that the company has completed a “course correction” it undertook when it
resigned President Frederich Eckener back in 1990 and replaced him with his
younger nephew Heinrich. ZGI looks to be gaining ground back from it’s new
chief competitor, Pacific Airbuilders, which came onto the industry scene in
the 1980s and has really stolen the airship market in the Pacific rim, selling
craft to Australia, China, Japan, and East Russia, along with a smattering of
sales in Africa and South America. This new craft by Zeppelin-Goodyear may just
put PAC Air on its toes. In addition, there are rumors floating around that ZGI
might be working on a semi-rigid airship design of their own.
-“PANAM Buys First Hybrid Zep,” The New York Times, April 18, 1997.
IMPERIAL RUSSIA ISSUES DEMANDS TO VLADIVOSTOK
PETROGRAD, SEP 7- Russian Prime Minister Andre Yulinkov
presented a list of demands on the Vladivostok Democratic Republic “in order to
maintain peace between the two Russian states.” These demands include
surrendering the State of Baikal, devaluing of the Republican Ruble, downsizing
East Russia’s military, and allowing Imperial Russia to base troops in the East
to serve as a base for “Imperial Russia’s interests in the Pacific.” These
demands have shocked the international community and have drawn condemnation
from the United States, Japan, China, the Dominion of Canada, and from here in
the United Kingdom as well. Prime Minister Roberts decried the so-called Petrograd
Demands as “intolerable” and “little more that quasi-fascist bullying.” The
Foreign Ministry has stated that Great Britain stands firm behind the
independence and full sovereignty of East Russia, and calls on the Imperial
government in Petrograd to stand down. Similar sentiments were echoed across
the Atlantic in Washington where President Clinton stated that “America remains
committed to the sovereignty and independence of the Vladivostok Democratic
Republic, and calls on Imperial Russia to drop its senseless demands.” In
Berlin, German Chancellor Dietrich Rothschild stated that “Germany wishes to
see peace in Russia, and while we do not agree with all that Prime Minister
Yulinkov is asking for, we do pledge to support Imperial Russia in its internal
affairs, and offer our services in trying to reach a settlement with East
Russia.” Germany does not legally recognize the independence of Vladivostok,
which goes back to the 1950s when the German government, in helping to set up
Imperial Russia from the ashes of the Polish War, pledged to only recognize
that nation as the legitimate successor to the collapsing Soviet Union. Not
everyone in Germany agrees with this stance, however. Leader of the opposition
in the Reichstag Heinrich Lehmann of the Zentrum Party calls his nation’s
stance on the issue “shameful”, and says that the Zentrum Party supports the
independence of Vladivostok.
East
Russia itself has yet to respond to the demands, and many expect that such a
response from President Yuri Medinov may be a while in coming, if at all. The
Imperial Russian government has given the East until the end of 1997 to
respond, before they will “take appropriate action to see that our demands are
met.”
-“Imperial Russia Issues Demands to Vladivostok,” The Times (London), Sep 8, 1997.
GUNMAN STORMS ST. LOUIS HOSPITAL
ST. LOUIS, DEC 8- A lone gunman identified as Chris McClure,
a factory worker in St. Louis, stormed into the emergency room at St. Louis
Regional Medical Center and took the ER hostage and demanded that the doctors
present give his son a heart transplant. McClure’s son, Michael, collapsed last
spring while playing little league baseball, whereupon doctors discovered that
he had a rare medical condition and was in despirate need of a new heaert. The
McClures have no medical insurance, and Michael has been denied a transplant
twice. Desperate, McClure took matters into his own hands at 7:45 this morning.
Negotiations were made and Michael McClure received his new heart at 5:30 this
evening. After the surgery, McClure surrendered to police, and is now in
custody at an undisclosed St. Louis jail.
This
disturbing turn of events has occurred during the midst of a heated debate in
Washington over a proposed national healthcare system that is strongly
supported by President Clinton and most of the Socialist Party. This event will
likely add more fuel to the debate’s fire, and could be a turning point in the
legislative process.
-“Gunman Storms St. Louis Hospital,” The Washington Post, December 9, 1997.
CZAR VLADIMIR DEAD
PETROGRAD, DEC 19- Just days before Christmas, Russia’s Czar
Vladimir I, who took the throne on August 1, 1955, passed away in his sleep
last night. Russia’s Prime Minister Andre Yulinkov has declared a 90 day state
of mourning at the loss of the first Imperial leader in post-Soviet Russia.
Czar Vladimir was born on August 30, 1917, and lived the first part of his life
in exile in France, and later in Germany after his sister became the Empress of
Germany in 1939. After the Polish War, which ended with the defeat of the
Soviet Union in 1954, Vladimir was chosen to head the new Imperial Baltic
Federation, which dissolved in 1981 at which time Vladimir became the head of
the newly restored Russian Empire.
His
Imperial Majesty’s funeral will likely be scheduled for the day after
Christmas, and his son, Prince Alexi, will likely take the throne after the
first of the year.
-“Czar Vladimir Dead,” Frankfurter
Zeitung, December 20, 1997.
It
is believed by most historians that the death of Czar Vladimir I gave East
Russia the time it needed to hold onto its sovereignty. As the Russian nation
bid farewell to their beloved leader, his son would put real pressure on the
Russian National Coalition and the Russian Prime Minister Andre Yulinkov to
ease up on the Vladivostok Republic. On January 3, 1998, Crown Prince Alexi
became Czar Vladimir II, and soon thereafter sent a letter to Russian
government that forbade any military action against the eastern republic, and
in effect made the Petrograd Demands go away.
This
would not last forever, of course. Yulinkov and his men would work tirelessly
for two years to be able to get a handle on the new Czar, and when they finally
had it, they blackmailed him into quite submission, and would reassert their
demands and threaten to drag the world into a second world war.
-Plaks, Dr. Jeffry, History
of Modern Russia, Cambrigde, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ACT IS LAW!
WASHINGTON, MAR 4- President Clinton’s landmark healthcare
proposal has been signed into law. Passed last week by the Senate and the week
before by the House, America will now have a semi-nationalized healthcare
system. The president, vice president, first lady, and the leaders of both
houses of Congress gathered at the White House for the historic signing
ceremony today.
“For
too long, our nation’s citizens have been victim to a mish-mash of healthcare
that benifited the rich more than the poor. The incident last December in St.
Louis only underscored this gap in good coverage. Well I am proud today to tell
my fellow citizens that those days are no more. From now on, all Americans are
garunteed first class healthcare as a right, not a priveldge for the most
wealthy.” The President said these remarks as he signed the legislation.
The
new law will place most hostpials under federal control, and states that no
citizen can be denied care. From now on, citizens will pay more out of their
paychecks to help cover the cost, however regardless of income care will be the
same. Private hospticals will remain under the system, however. Also, private
practices of the “family doctor” will remain in place, and citizens will be
covered under their new federal health insurance.
About
two thirds of Congressional Republicans voted against the law, citing what they
feared would be a mountain of expense that the federal government wasn’t ready
to handle. They also fear that they system will keep people from receiving the
best care possible, and that people will have to wait on lists to receive
medical proceedures. Their claims were not enough, however, to prevent the
law’s passage. The act will go into effect January 1, 1999.
-“National Healthcare Act is Law!” The New York Times, March 5, 1998.
FIVE PARTY TALKS SET FOR LONDON
BERLIN, JUNE 8- His Majesty’s government has confirmed that
the so-called Five Party Talks will begin on August 1st in London.
Consisting of Germany, the United Kingdom, Imperial Russia, the United States,
and the Vladivostok Republic, these talks are aimed at finding a solution to
the crisis that started last year when Imperial Russian Prime Minister Andre
Yulinkov issued the “Petrograd Demands” to East Russia. Things have calmed
somewhat since Vladimir II took the throne in Petrograd, and Chancellor
Rothschild stated that he hoped a peaceful solution could be found to prevent
any violence between the two Russian nations. The talks are the brainchild of
American Secretary of State Samuel Doughty, who had President Clinton bring up
the idea earlier this spring. Doughty, the great-grandon of Hugo Eckener, has a
long history of peace making behind him. His mother, Adrianna Eckener, married
Ohio senator Cameron Doughty in 1949. Cameron senior was appointed as
ambassador to Germany in 1959, when young Samuel was just 7 years old, and
continued at that post until 1976, when he returned to the United States
Senate.
Many
hope that when American Vice President Dan Boren and the American delegation
arrive in London with their counterparts from the other members of the talks,
that Secretary Doughty can work the same diplomatic magic that his
great-grandfather did in 1941 during the Danzig Crisis. The German and British
governments seem hopeful that some sort of an arrangement can be reached. Since
Vladimir II has apparently reigned in Yulinkov, this seems highly possible.
-“Five Party Talks Set for London,” Berliner Morgenpost, June 9, 1998.
[LONDON AGREEMENT SIGNED
LONDON, AUG 27- Imperial Russia and the Vladivostok Republic
have agreed to a peace settlement that shall be implemented over the next five
years. The brainchild of U.S. Vice President Dan Boren and U.S. Secretary of
State Samuel Doughty, this agreement is a compromise on the stringent Petrograd
Demands that were issued by the Imperial Russian government last year. On
January 1, 1999, the Vladivostok Republic will surrender the western half of
the State of Baikal, and will allow the Imperial Russian Armed Forces to
maintain a military base on the Imperial side of Lake Baikal, and a small naval
base on Vladivostok’s Pacific coast. However, the eastern Russian republic will
not downsize its military forces, nor devalue its currency. The American and
British delegations both believe this is a step forward, and hope that this
agreement can ease tensions between the two Russian nations and make talk of
conflict go away.
In
Petrograd, Czar Vladimir II hailed the London Agreement as a resounding
success, saying that the Imperial government wants to restore peaceful
relations with its eastern cousin. Not everyone in the Russian capital was so
impressed, however. Prime Minister Yulinkov, while giving his assent to the
signing of the agreement, stated he had serious doubts whether or not this
compromise would really ease tensions on the inter-Russian border. Several
other members of Yulinkov’s ruling RNC party echoed their leaders sentiments on
Russian television throughout the day. Vladivostokian President Yuri Medinov,
who will be up for election next year, has hailed this agreement as “a bold
step towards peace” between the Russian people.
Here
in Germany, Chancellor Rothschild stated that he was pleased with how the talks
turned out, and was hopeful that the status quo in Russia was on its way to
being restored. Some in the Reichstag are not so satisfied, however. Opposition
leader Heinrich Lehmann, the great-grandson of Hugo Eckener and head of the
Zentrum Party, stated that Germany should have extended legal recognition with
Vladivostok, to add legitimacy to their cause, which was not a part of the
agreement signed in London. While this was suggested, The German government
stood by their 40 plus year old agreement with Imperial Russia not to legally
recognize any other state as the successor to the Soviet Union.
-“London Agreement Signed,” Frankfurter Zeitung, August 28, 1998.
CLINTON WILL NOT RUN AGAIN
LITTLE ROCK, NOV 29- While in Little Rock to celebrate the
Thanksgiving holiday, President Clinton announced that he would not seek a
nomination to run for a third term. This clears the playing field for Vice
President Dan Boren, who seems to be the most likely candidate to be nominated
by the socialist party for next year’s election. Other possible socialist
candidates include Secretary of State Samuel Doughty of Ohio, or Speaker of the
House Henry Duvall. Though none of these men have declared their candidacy yet,
rumors are flying wildely around the nation’s capital, and all three men formed
exploratory committees earlier this year to consider the idea.
-“Clinton Will Not Run Again,” The Washington Post, November 30, 1999.
BOREN PICKS DOUGHTY AS VP
WASHINGTON, MAY 9- Presidential candidate and current Vice
President Daniel Boren announced today that current Secretary of State Sameul
Doughty will be serving as his running mate for the November presidential
election. This new development has bolstered Vice President Boren’s already
high poll numbers, putting him further ahead of Republican candidate Mark
McDaniels of Pennsylvania, who ran back in 1996 as well and has been the father
of the Republican party for most of the decade.
Secretary
of State Doughty has been credited with crafting the recent London Agreement
that has eased the tension between the Russian Empire and the Vladivostok
Republic, and is seen by most socialist politicians and by many Americans in
general as a solid choice for Boren’s VP.
-“Boren Picks Doughty as VP,” The New York Times, May 10, 2000.
As
the Boren and McDaniels campaigns are gearing up for their first debate, Time magazine takes a look at the big
issues for the 2000 election:
-Russia: Though the Clinton administration was able to help
the two Russian nations temporarily ease tensions, a more permanent solution is
needed to prevent conflict. Boren and Doughty believe they can come up with a
peaceful solution. The McDaniels campagin wants to leave the Russians to
themselves and not support the Vladivostokains, esepcially if war does break
out.
-Health Care: The Boren camp wants to expand and fine tune
the Clinton Healthcare System, while the Republicans want to trim it back and allow
for more private healthcare services.
-Space: The socialists are for scaling down the individual
efforts of the ASEA and want to work the the Germans to form an international
space organization to handle further colonization of the Moon and of Mars, where
as McDaniels wants to bolster the ASEA and continue with independent
exploration and colonization of space.
-Energy Sources: Vice President Boren wants to accelerate
the devolopment of non-petroleum based energy sources, where as the Republican
party wants to go at a slower pace.
-“Election 2000: The Issues,” Time October 9, 2000.
BOREN WINS WHITE HOUSE!
WASHINGTON, NOV 4- Daniel Boren and his running mate Samuel
Doughty have won the White House, in one of the closest elections in recent
memory. The Republicans tried hard to take the presidency back from the
Socialists, who have held the reigns for 8 years, but were unable to do so. In
all, Boren took 52% of the popular vote to McDaniels’ 47%, with 1% going to
State’s Rights candidate William Humphries of Alabama. Boren and Doughty were
in Oklahoma City last night as the election results came in, and when NBC first
announced that the Socialist candidate had won, the watch party at the Skirvin
Hotel went wild with excitement.
-“Boren Wins White House!” The Washington Post, November 5, 2000.