Nations

Nations of the New Millennium

*New China*
2003	The Chinese government puts a communications satellite up in geosynchronous orbit over eastern China. They make dish receivers available and broadcast government programming. However, there are some dissidents working in the Hong Kong lab where the satellite uplink is built and, covertly with aid from the Taiwan, they added a backdoor where they could uplink via a special code.
early 2004	A station in Taiwan broadcasts a signal which allows them to take over the satellite via the backdoor. They immediately upload some software which blocked out the Chinese signal and encrypt the uplink interface. Then, they begin broadcasting "Chinese Free Press" which is a network of former Chinese citizens (not Taiwanese, who might be construed as untrustworthy) which tells the people what the government is really up to.
2006	China cracks down on Tibet and Chinese students (who watch the conflict via the satellite broadcasts) riot.
late 2006	China launches a rocket and destroys the satellite.
summer 2007	Massive social upheaval in China is triggered when the a military squad refuses to kill Tibetans. The squad becomes a symbol of a "New China." Religious Chinese, and those who want freedom to decide their number of children, are prominent in the anti-government struggle.
2008-9	China is embroiled in civil war, with Taiwan supporting the revolution. During the Hong Kong conflict, there is danger of nuclear assault, but the UN intervenes on behalf of the revolutionaries. Tibet breaks free as does Manchuria and Hong Kong, while a new capitalist government is put in place in Shanghai. The new state (including all of the old China, minus Tibet, Manchuria and Hong Kong) calls itself New China.
*Palestine*
2005	UN intervenes in Israel as conflict heats up with the Jews and Palestinians
2010	Palestine is established in southern and western Israel including all of Jerusalem.
2012	Jewish terrorists set off a nuclear weapon in Jerusalem, making a 100-mile-wide corridor uninhabitable from Jerusalem westward due to fallout. The Jordan capital of Amman is evacuated and Jordan declares war on Israel. Other Middle Eastern nations remain neutral as the EU comes in to maintain peace. The US does not interfere, as there is considerable popular dissension about which side to join. There is a mass exodus of Jews to the EU, Russia, the US and Australia.
late 2012	Northern Israel is captured by the Palestinians, said to be payment for losses in the West Bank.
2013	When peace is established, Israel has only the Mediterranean coast, with Tel Aviv as the capital.
*European Union*
2000-2020	Every few years, another concession is made in the EU and the union becomes more tightly bound. No nation drops out, although several complain at various steps. By 2020 (amazingly fast), the EU is seen, economically and in terms of foreign policy, as a nation. Integration of laws is difficult, so the nations are given much autonomy in their own laws and enforcement.
2075-2086	The EU takes a beating in the Mars War and loses its last territory on the red planet. After, a scandal about secret bioexperiments in the military just make things worse.
2099	After a decade of instability and internal struggle, the EU breaks out in civil war. The British Isles and Scandinavia remain neutral, but even Switzerland's legendary neutrality falls. In 2102, a Spanish fusion bomb is detonated in Greece, which draws many other nations into the struggle. When the war is forcibly terminated a year later, much of the northern Mediterranean Sea has been devastated.
2106	After three years of occupation by external forces, the EU is allowed to put its government back together. Instead of one unit, the resulting nations are the Western Union of Islam, Greater Germany and the Balkan Republic.
*United States*
2039	The United States, continuing a trend of major government downsizing, passes the vast majority of federal control to the individual states. Several smaller states form economic unions just to stay alive, while giants like California become major international powers.
2053	Alaska secedes from the US as the Yukon and Northwest Territories do from Canada. Together, they form the Arctic Federacy.
2054	Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine officially merge, as do Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
2106	For the first time in 150 years, the United States adopts new states. Added are Puerto Rico, Gibraltar and Greenland, increasing the total to 48.

Mars China

It is not really clear when Mars China became a separate nation from New China on Earth. Officially, they are still one country, but in name only. When New China began its aggressive Mars settlement plan in 2015, they included a form of local "Leadership" that had surprisingly great autonomy in terms of internal control and relations with other Martian settlements. This turned out to be a blessing for the colony in the long run, since external control by a government which did not really understand the realities of colonial life doomed many other Martian settlements. Even in the early years, Mars China sent a few representatives back to Earth to recruit new colonists and drum up corporate interest in the "New Frontier." Through the 2020's and 2030's, Mars China represented about 95% of the population of the red planet. Naturally, much of the Martian infrastructure was begun by these early settlers. The Polar Pipeline project of the late 2030's allowed the population explosion of the 2040's to happen, although much of the credit is given to the MiniDrive ships. The Pipeline also represented a great source of revenue for the nation in later years, as they had a near monopoly on the water supply in the most water-poor regions of the planet.

Other Martian Nations

When the MiniDrive was invented and made intra-system travel effortless, vast hordes emigrated to Mars (and to the Belt and Luna in lesser numbers). Many started as corporate branches, rather than under government programs, so the relations and contracts between the various settlements were chaotic. For example, if the General Electric Colonial Office broke a contract to deliver water to the Malaysian National Colony, did it result in a lawsuit or a war declaration? This blurring of the government/corporate lines was even more obvious in the Belt colonies.

Some of the more prominent political entities off Earth at the time of this campaign include:

Geosynch Free Stations: A commonwealth of Earth-orbital space stations, not all of which are in geosynch orbits. They are quite wealthy as they control a significant fraction of interplanetary trade. They build many intra-system and interstellar ships, but often have trouble with the Ship Builders Union.
Farside: One of the first Lunar colonies. Farside started out as an operations base for the Farside Observatory Array and became the hub of all activity on the far side of the Moon. Although it is a major player in Lunar politics, it is tiny compared to the Martian states, due in small part to its restrictive immigration policy.
Republic of Tharsis: Closely tied to the State of California, Tharsis is most Earth-centric of the major Martian nations. Culturally despised by many "red-blooded" Martians, this country is the home to the heaviest-used spaceport on the planet: Touchdown Sity (sic), home to the Earthiest of the Earthy.
Kirkwood Consolidated: Originally a Belt mining outfit, Kirkwood owns most of Ceres and many other large asteroids. Headquartered in Piazzi on Ceres, this is the largest of the Corporate States, with suzerain subsidiaries on Mars, Luna and in orbital stations. While Kirkwood has offices (embassies?) on Earth, it has no territories there (not for lack of trying). Kirkwood's military (primarily a space naval fleet) is rumored to significantly larger than that of many Earth nations.

The Extrasolar Colonies

Right from their conception, it was clear to most that the Extrasolar Colonies must have governments independent of the Earth, since long communication time made the concept of centralized control absurd. However, it was not clear who would arbitrate when more than one population chose to settle on the same planet and conflicts arose over land rights and other issues. As in the case of the colonization of Lacaille 9352 I by two separate, radical religious groups, even a name of the planet was in dispute. News of political problems on the colonies arrives at Earth quite late (of course) and often heavily filtered.

See also: Warfare in the future, Solar System colonization

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