Universe ZZ04ZSX

Universe ZZ04ZSX (Spivey) is a parallel universe which shares a history with Universe ZZ02ZSQ. It is the home universe of Kyle Roberts.

Ford Election
Gerald Ford narrowly defeats Scoop Jackson for the presidency in 1976. It will be the last time an Incumbent wins until 2008.

Ford’s second term is an unmitigated disaster. Tensions in the Middle East are at an all-time high, and Ford is unable to bring resolution to the longstanding Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula. Things reach a breaking point when Iran takes Americans hostage in late 1979. Through quiet diplomacy, Ford comes to a tacit agreement with Brezhnev: with the Soviets clearly moving toward an invasion of Afghanistan, the US agrees to not interfere, so long as the Soviets do not interfere in an American invasion of Iran. By early 1980, the US invasion has begun, with Americans taking heavy losses in early battles. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is similarly disastrous, as even without American assistance, various insurgent forces hunker down for a long guerilla war.

With America bogged down in early fighting in Iran, Ronald Reagan, who has defeated Bob Dole for the Republican nomination, loses the 1980 race to Edward Kennedy, the brother of the late John F. Kennedy. Teddy is caught leading a war that he opposed in congress, but one that he can’t easily extricate America from. Things take a turn for the worse in 1982, when a coalition of Arab states invades Israel in an attempt to win back the West Bank for Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula for Israel. Unlike the Six Day War of 1967, this war goes much better for the unified Arab forces, and within a few weeks, forces have moved as far as Bet Shemesh in the southwest, and hold Ramallah and Bethlehem. With a likely invasion of Jerusalem imminent, Prime Minister Yitzahk Shamir does the unthinkable, and orders deployment of one of Israel’s nuclear missiles.

Armageddon War
The bombing of Damascus on October 7, 1982 is a turning point for the Middle East and the World. The Kennedy administration had not been forewarned, and President Kennedy is forced to condemn the act, even as he is forced to admit that the United States was aware Israel had nuclear capability. However, things are not much better for the Second World; the Soviets rush aid to Syria, but are understandably loath to return fire directly against America. They don’t make the choice, however; rogue elements within the KGB smuggle a warhead to the PLO, which detonates the weapon in Tel Aviv on December 31, 1982. The type of blast is obviously Soviet, and President Kennedy threatens retaliation, forcing the aging and ailing Brezhnev to contemplate a first strike, which Soviet military planners think is their best chance of a Pyrrhic victory.

For four days in early 1983, people stream out of cities, desperate to avoid what seems to be certain nuclear catastrophe; the Soviets and Americans both are looking for ways out of the box, a way to save face and avoid the annihilation of humanity. Finally, on January 5, 1983, an agreement is reached: the United States will vote in the UN to return Israel to its 1947 borders and remove Israel’s nuclear capability. Jerusalem will become a UN mandate. The rest will become a Palestinian state. In exchange, the Soviets will provide aid to rebuild Tel Aviv, and Israel will not be punished any further for using nuclear weapons.

The plan is hailed in the West and the Second World, and angrily denounced in the Arab world, and Jerusalem. Acting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promises to defend Jerusalem to the last man, while Acting President Bassel al-Assad, the son of the late President Hafez al-Assad, pleads with the Russians to let his army finish the job.

The inability of the Americans and Soviets to stop the war from resuming, even with both having troops in the region, is disastrous for both sides. It was made all the worse when six of Israel’s fourteen remaining warheads were looted by the PLO from the wreckage of the Kirya.

The world’s powers looked on helplessly over the next month as the Levant was laid to waste. Jerusalem itself was hit by two nuclear attacks, Gaza City by three. Damascus was struck again, as was Cairo, Beirut, and in an act of sheer malice by a rogue pilot, Mecca.

The nuclear exchange only ended when both sides ran out of warheads, and while fifteen relatively-small warheads were not enough to destroy humanity, they did a good job on Israel. Over four weeks, the two holiest cities in Islam, and the holiest in Judaism and Christianity, were catastrophically wounded. 1.5 million people were killed in the attacks, and four million suffered severe injuries; by the end of 1983, over half of them would succumb to their wounds.

Brezhnev suffered a heart attack during the second bombing of Damascus, and in the chaos, Gen.-Lt. Vladimir Gorov led a coup d’etat, bringing Minister of Defence Dmitry Ustinov to power. Ustinov was in ill health, and Govrov seized power outright after Ustinov’s death in 1984.

Post-War Decline
This began a period of decline for the major powers. The sudden collapse of the Levant drove up the cost of oil dramatically, and caused a series of economic shocks throughout the 1980s. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, struggled under Govrov, but his ouster by troops in 1987 did little to stabilize the situation. By 1989, the Soviet Union had collapsed, and the new Russian Republic sought closer ties with the United States’ president Wendell Anderson, who was happy to find a supplier of oil.

The 1990s were a slow climb back for the Americans, but for China and Europe, they were a boom time. Europe, with an economy less dependent on oil, was better able to manage the shocks to the system. NATO troops ended up occupying what parts of the Sinai were inhabitable, and they managed to open the Suez Canal by 1986, allowing China to sell in their markets. This triggered a boom in both regions. When Russia began to reach out to the Americans, it also reached out to Europe, lowering energy costs and fueling more growth.

Of course, it was not all bad; the Americans had invested in alternative energy under Presidents Dole and Anderson. While they struggled under the nativist policies of President Donald Trump in the mid-1990s, his impact was blunted by more pro-trade members of his own party, and American computer technology began to build wealth starting in the 1990s, especially with the launch of the internet into the general population during the administration of Bill Clinton. President Newt Gingrich continued to push the internet, but it was under the presidency of Hillary Clinton, the wife of Bill, that the country finally began to stabilize. Hillary Clinton refocused foreign policy on building connections with other nations, and increased trade with China and Russia, pushing the United States into its first lasting period of growth since the early 1970s.

Clinton was replaced by Harold Ford, an Independent and the nation’s first black president, who had run as a centrist technocrat. Ford was unpopular, however, and lost to Felicia Spivey, the country’s first black woman to serve as president, in 2017. Russia, meanwhile, is led by Alexey Andreev, a liberal reformer.

Current Political and Geopolitical Status
Universe ZZ04ZSX has no nation that can clearly claim to be a superpower; while the US and Russia remain regional hegemons and China has grown significantly in power, none has the kind of reach they did in the pre-Armageddon War era. Perhaps the most powerful organization is the European Union, which has had a significant role in shaping western policy. Japan also is a major regional power, and a close ally of the United States.

The United States and Russia both have chaotic internal politics; the U.S. has three major political parties and a nascent socialist movement, while the Russians continue to deal with graft. China has taken some steps to liberalize since a 1988 protest movement sparked reforms, and Africa and Asia have grown significantly economically. Unfortunately, the Middle East remains in tatters; Jerusalem is only now becoming safe to inhabit, and there continue to be arguments over building on the Temple Mount, despite it having been almost leveled in the war.

Technological Status
Universe ZZ04ZSX is slightly behind Universe ZZ02ZSQ in technology, though it has a significant internet and technological sector. It is somewhat ahead of ZZ02ZSQ on decarbonization; of course, that was inevitable given the collapse of oil infrastructure in the early-to-mid 1980s.

Known Inter-Universe Connections
One outbound portal is known to exist in the universe, a portal located in the apartment of Kyle Roberts, which connects to an inbound portal in the apartment of Alex Carter in universe ZZ02ZSQ.

Reference List of American Presidents
 1974-1981          Gerald R. Ford, Rep 1981-1985          Edward Kennedy, Dem 1985-1989          Bob Dole, Rep 1989-1993          Wendell Anderson, Dem 1993-1997          Donald J. Trump, Rep 1997-2001          Bill Clinton, Dem 2001-2005          Newton L. Gingrich, Rep 2005-2013          Hillary Clinton, Dem 2013-2017          Harold Ford, Prog 2017-present      Felicia Spivey, Dem 