Newswatch

History of the Soviet Union

• 2000-2011: Soviet policies and society stay the same as they have for the past 90 years. Standard of living drops slightly. Central government increases pressure on Soviet satellites around the world. Afghanistan is completely controlled by Soviet forces. Soviet and Chinese forces engage in sporadic border clashes.
• 2012: The Grain Blight hits the Ukraine. Nuclear exchange that follows results in relatively minor damage, as satellite defences neutralize most inbound missiles.
• 2013: Russian equivalent of Food Riots spread throughout country: government loses all semblance of control.
• 2014: Socialist Politburo falls in a bloody rebellion started by the KGB and Red Army.
• 2015-2023: Anarchy throughout Russia. Several small factions made up of Party and KGB leaders try to take control, but fail. Small empires rise and fall in central Russia. Death tool from famine and violence over past 11 years estimated at over 35 million.
• 2024: A small group of scientists, philosophers, religious leaders, and other educated men who survived the Black Years (as they became known) come out of hiding and form a small society in south central Russia based on work programs and strict rationing of protein-enriched algae. (This Russian-developed algae is much like the algae foods developed in the U.S; but it is not quite as nutritionally efficient and even less palatable than the American type. It is, however, food.)
• 2025-2032: The New Peoples Party extends its programs and power, slowly reuniting Russia. Government is based on Socialist economic principles, but a large amount of personal freedom and free enterprise is allowed on the local level. The United States government starts sending small amounts of aid to the new government. Living conditions improve. The Russian military starts to rebuild, but is mostly organized in small local militias with members serving on a reserve basis. New Peoples Party invites former Eastern Bloc countries to formally be absorbed by the Second Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Only Poland and Afghanistan refuse.
• 2033-2036: Russian citizens enjoy a higher standard of living than anytime in past 200 years. S.U.S.S.R. is formally recognized by most other nations in world. Autoduelling telecasts from the U.S. gain in popularity, but autoduelling is officially a "public menace," not a sport, and illegal.