bgreman Oct 8, 2005

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On April 1st, 2012, after nearly two years of internal strife in Syria, the United Nations Security Council put forth yet another resolution condemning the violence and the regime, and prompting for further UN action. As was the case in the last SecCouncil resolution, Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, exercised their right to veto the resolution. Stymied again, the United States and its European allies circumvented the Security Council by exploiting a procedural loophole to drive a nearly identical resolution through the main UN voting assembly, where Russia and China's vetoes were powerless.



Furious that their bloc-veto plan was neutralized, China and Russia presented a united face and threatened the signatories of the resolution with economic sanctions. The Western powers recognized this as an obvious bluff, as either China or Russia cutting economic ties with the west would haved drastically disrupted their economies. However, the situation did drive Russia and China closer together, despite their ideological differences.



As conditions in Syria deteriorated, the UN began to publicly mull the idea of a Libya-style intervention. Once word of initial plans reached Russia in late November of 2012, they responded decisively, warning the West against any sort of intervention. They cited the questionable successes of former Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and claimed that Syria was within their sphere of interest in the region. Unwilling to risk a proxy war, the West backed down. For the time being, the Russian sabre-rattling had succeeded.



Things in Syria went from bad to worse, and the situation finally erupted into a full-scale civil war in mid-June of 2013. Surprising everyone, Iran spoke up, asserting that the West had no real interest in promulgating democracy or upholding human rights. With this rationale, Iran declared its support for the al-Assad regime and sent in several battalions of what it characterized as "peacekeeping forces," via a corridor in northern Iraq. Speculation ran rampant in Western intelligence and media that these forces were funded, armed, or advised by Russian or Chinese military agents, but no hard evidence was forthcoming. Israel demanded an immediate Iranian withdrawal, and was supported in its demands by the US. Several highly placed Russian diplomats unofficially supported Iran's actions, under conditions of anonymity.



Aware that the situation was incredibly precarious, Russia began to quietly build up troop concentrations in the Caucasus, along the Georgian border, hedging its bets against the feared Western retaliation against Iran. As the Western allies debated their options, the war in Syria continued to escalate, with the rebels being pushed back several times by regime forces supported by Iranian combat elements. Other regional powers began to mobilize their military assets, but the conflict remained localized to Syria for the time being.



In August 2013, three months into the fighting, a video was released by WikiLeaks (who refused to disclose its provenance), appearing to depict Russian Spetznatz special forces assisting Iranian troops with the pacification of a village in northern Syria. The Western allies immediately lodged formal protests, and a multinational NATO peacekeeping force was hurriedly mustered. Composed mostly of European combat elements, US forces were conspicuously absent, as UN planners believed that the fighting wasless likely to escalate if US forces were left out for the time being.



The United Nations Syrian Peacekeeper (UNSP) mission saw its first combat troops arrive in western Syria, still held by the rebels, in late October of 2013. The rebel control of the region was tenuous, and the UNSP's orders were to establish a military cordon around the rebel-controlled area and to provide humanitarian support. The idea was that once the UNSP established the cordon, a demilitarized zone would be implemented, giving time for the combatant factions to negotiate the future of their nation. Strikes were targeted at Syrian command and control facilities only within the confines of this proposed DMZ, a gesture the UN hoped would persuade Syria and its allies that its intentions were, on the whole, in Syria's best interests.



By early February of 2014, the first phase of the UNSP's mission was judged complete, with complete UNSP/rebel joint control of all of Syria behind a line stretching from the Lebanese border, through Homs, to Aleppo, and to the Turkish border. Organized fighting dwindled to minor skirmishes, but in its place rose a pair of competing insurgencies: one composed of rebels and striking regime and Iranian targets in the rest of Syria and abroad, and the other composed of Syrian loyalists and Iranian jihadists, striking UNSP positions in Syria and civilian and governmental targets in UNSP contributor nations in Europe.



A peace conference took place in Crete in May of 2014, but little progress was made. Neither side advocated partition of the nation, but the rebels refused to entertain any solutions that did not call for the ouster of al-Assad's government, and the loyalists refused to be a party to any such solution. The rebels objected to the Iranian troops still present in most of non-rebel-controlled Syria, and regime diplomats made the same arguments about the UN peacekeepers. After several weeks of aimless debate, the mood of the conference was altered by the presentation of further video, very recent, of Russian troops still inside Syria. The UN delegates to the conference, infuriated, demanded an immediate Russian withdrawal, which was met with disavowals and evasion by the Russian delegation.



Incensed, the UN hurriedly passed a resolution calling for Russia's complete withdrawal from the region, and threatening a forced removal if necessary. The Russians responded with diversionary tactics, and actually increased the number of Russian troops on Syrian soil, moving into Iran via Azerbaijan and from there into Syria through the same transport corridor in northern Iraq that the Iranians had already secured. Aware that negotiations had broken down, the UN prepared to follow through with its threats and augmented the UNSP with several new combat units throughout the months of June and July 2014.



Everything came to a head on August 12, 2014, the UN announced it would move forward with its plans to expel the Russians from Syria. It also announced that outside the DMZ, Syrian and Iranian forces would only be targeted if they retaliated on UNSP forces or were found aiding Russian forces. On August 14, the lead elements of the UNSP's push to expel the Russian spilled out of the DMZ and into eastern Syria. Initially surprised that the UN was actually acting on its threats, the joint Russian/Iranian/Syrian loyalist forces organized a brief retreat further into the interior. In many places, Iranian and Syrian troops abandoned their Russian allies for fear of attacks from the UNSP.



The Russian withdrawal was entirely bloodless for the first week. As per the UN announcement, no attacks were made on Syrian or Iranian positions outside the DMZ, and the Russians were permitted to withdrawal in an orderly fashion as long as it was clear that a withdrawal was happening. This changed on August 24th, as the Russians ceased their withdrawal on the northeast bank of the Euphrates river. Russian diplomats announced that the UNSP mandate was illegal per UN bylaws, that the Syrians had legally invited the Russian forces into Syria, and that therefore, the Russian forces were the legitimate peacekeeping mission and would be acting to eject the UNSP troops.



At this pronouncement, both sides dug in along the Euphrates, and minor skirmishes erupted all along its length. On the morning of August 24th, 2014, the first pitched battles took place at Ar Raqqah and Dayr az Zawr. The war had turned hot. Responding to these new developments, China sent a large combined arms combat force through Central Asia and into Iran, but remained outside Syria, citing solidarity with their Russian allies, but making token calls for peace. The combat was largely static, with neither side committing to attacks large enough to force its opponent from its fortifications along the river.



The US, in the meantime, had been content to let Europe shoulder the burden for this peacekeeping mission especially in the wake of the American public response to the Libyan intervention. Once the bullets started flying between the UNSP and the Russians, however, US President Mitt Romney was the first to call for an immediate ceasefire and Russian withdrawal. When none was forthcoming, the US threatened to involve itself military in support of its NATO allies. While technically the fighting had been initially instigated by the UN mission to expel Russia from Syria, the public was swayed by a new media propaganda blitz that portrayed the Russians as the aggressors and the UN peacekeeping mission as a legitimate humanitarian venture. The media campaign emphasized the US's place in NATO and its obligations to come to the aid of other NATO signatories when attacked. US forces were visibly mobilized in an attempt to encourage the Russians to back down. The Russians made no signs of surrender or withdrawal, and further threatened to disrupt Middle Eastern oil shipments to the West, and to cut off its own oil shipments to the West, unless the UNSP retreated back to the cordon.



With a major conflict between two superpowers looking more and more likely, the US was thrown into disarray when President Romney and several members of his staff were assassinated on November 13, 2014 by a Syrian loyalist terrorist. Acting quickly, new President Newt Gingrich managed to spin the assassination by placing the blame for its funding and planning on Russian intelligence members. An enormous multi-branch combat force was deployed to the Middle East and landed behind the UNSP cordon in Syria on Christmas Day and began heading for the interior to support the UNSP forces already present along the Euphrates. Meanwhile, further US and NATO forces were deployed to Eastern Europe along the border with Russia. President Gingrich made clear that no NATO forces would be deployed against targets in Russia so long as the Russians stayed on their side of the border in Europe as well. All fighting would be limited to the Middle East and the Caucasus.



Throwing a wrench into this plan, however, the Chinese committed their troops to assist their Russian allies in Syria. This caused Iranian and Syrian loyalist forces to rejoin the war and attack the Western forces from the south. Suddenly outnumbered and overwhelmed, US forces declared that unless Russian and Chinese troops withdrew immediately, and Iranian/Syrian forces returned to the ceasefire, the US would begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons. Rather than force a capitulation, this served only to cause the other factions to increase their nuclear rhetoric. Iran took this time to announce that with the assistance of Chinese scientists, it had a working, if crude, nuclear bomb.



With the threat of a nuclear war on their own turf, the Arab League threw in its lot with the Western Allies in February 2015, aware that the only thing now standing between them and a dominant Iran was Western combat troops. Member nations mobilized their troops and positioned them to defend their territory from Iranian expansion.



Conventional warfare continued for the next several months, neither side wanting to be the one to start the end of the world. The powder keg is finally ignited on June 3, 2015, when a B-2 bomber dropped a low-yield tactical nuclear bomb on a joint Russian-Chinese HQ compound in eastern Syria. With a nuclear exchange thus started, the bombs fell quickly and by early July, more than two hundred nuclear weapons had been detonated in Syria. Through all this, the forces along the Russian border remained on high alert, but no border incursions were reported by either side, both belligerents apparently deciding to keep the fighting off of their own soil.



By the end of 2015, nearly 600 tactical nuclear devices had been employed throughout the Middle East conflict. Vast swathes of Syria, where the fighting was most intense, were rendered a smoking wasteland. With virtually none of the Syrian forces -- either loyalist or rebel -- able to fight, and the majority of both their administrative infrastructure destroyed, the two sides declared a truce on January 17, 2016. Fighting between the other factions roared on, despite the original cause being lost.



Early on, Russian and Chinese forces had begun to heavily bomb NATO allies in the region, with a huge Russian-Chinese-Iranian joint force being deployed to occupy as much of the Middle East as possible. The US committed a vast array of forces to interdict these troop movements, but the collateral damage was incredible. Retreating national forces from these regions also implemented a scorched Earth policy to deny the oil resources from the occupying troops.



By mid-2016, the drastic reduction in oil shipments from the Middle East was having resounding effects on the global economy. Fighting ground to a standstill as vehicles no longer had fuel to power them, and with the original cause of the war removed, a hasty ceasefire was declared. The Middle East lay in ruins, and the civilian sector around the world was on the brink of collapse. Recriminations were flung about from and at every party, with the heaviest blame laid on the shoulder of Iran, whose march into Syria in 2012 had been the instigator of the entire conflict. Iran as a nation was bankrupted and its remaining oil reserves confiscated by Russian and Chinese soldiers as they withdrew from the region. With the war all but over, the remaining combatants stood down and left the Middle East a smoking ruin.



Immediately the energy question was raised. How would the world power itself until the Middle East could be rebuilt? The answer lie on the Indian subcontinent. India and surrounding nations had long provided migrant workers to Middle Eastern energy concerns. Having not taken a side in the conflict, India was well placed to take a more direct role and began investing its hoarded resources in rebuilding the region. Already a rising economic powerhouse, its near-complete control over the rebuilding project made it the wealthiest nation in the world in the late 2010s.



However, the rest of the world quickly came to realize that the rebuilding effort would take time. Massive energy rationing programs were implemented in many nations around the globe. Those lucky enough to have sufficient domestic oil production found themselves insulated from the slow decline the rest of the world was facing. Russia and the US were forced to cut their oil exports in order to provide more oil for their own nations. Bans on offshore and Arctic drilling were very quickly repealed in the US to augment production. Still, these nations could not produce enough to satisfy demand, and many parts of the world began a drawn out struggle against major economic decline. Huge investments were made in any scientific program that could potentially ease the oil burden, but progress was slow, and made slower by the energy rationing.



In February 2021, India shocked the world by entering into an energy-sharing alliance with Russia and China, with many other Asian nations as ancillary members. This organization rapidly evolved into an alternative to the United Nations (from which China and Russia had withdrawn after the first nuclear exchange in 2015). By 2024, this organization, known in the West as the Eurasian Federation, had enough international economic and political clout to rival the remains of the United Nations.



Meanwhile, the remaining members of the UN, in a joint-support effort, drew closer and began to merge many of their common governmental organizations, such as national science foundations and space exploitation initiatives. Research and development programs were established under the UN umbrella in a desperate attempt to assuage the energy crisis by finding novel energy sources. In mid-2024, one of these initiatives finally paid off.



On May 24th, 2024, a research team at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland made a startling discovery: the existence of another dimension, close to our own, but with radically different physical laws, the most significant difference being that space-time in the other dimension had the properties of a fluid rather than a vacuum.



The theoretical work of the scientists resulted in the discovery of previously unknown elements with strange compositions that seemed to be affected by the presence of this dimension. A frantic geological survey for these new elements was implemented. Unfortunately, almost all of the elements were only found within the molten core of the planet using prototype sensors devoted to the search and would require significant effort to access. Given the significance of the discovery, sufficient funds were quickly made available by UN member nations and limited core mining techniques developed. Once in the possession of sufficient quantities of the minerals, the scientists discovered the minerals somehow intruded into the space-time of the alternate dimension and that objects built from these elements would be affected by some of the physical laws of that universe. They theorized that this would allow spacecraft to turn in space like ships in water but it would also quickly slow them to a stop if their engines ceased operating. A secondary effect was that the mass of such a ship would be dramatically reduced allowing much higher speeds from conventional power systems. It was discovered that sensors and communication systems constructed from some of the new elements could send energy signals through the other dimension at a speed much greater than light. Within a solar system, communication and sensors would effectively be real time. Finally, and most importantly, one of the new elements, dubbed sorium, was found to be able to be refined into a material with an energy density hundreds of times higher than even the best rocket fuels. Additionally, when burned, this new fuel produced no significant greenhouse gases.



This breakthrough meant that the energy crisis was effectively over, provided sufficient quantities of sorium could be found. The United Nations Science Administration, when learning of these developments, attempted to keep them secret. Such a discovery could not remain secret for long though and within six months a team of researches working on a sorium refining program defected to the Eurasian Federation, taking along with them detailed knowledge of the newly discovered dimension and the existence of the minerals, now known as Trans-Newtonian Elements. The Eurasian Federation immediately began its own work on exploiting this research.