An Opportunity

June 4th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, at the instigation of the Kansas rebels, the Missouri side of Kansas City explodes, with Missouri's militia being cast out of the city. The governor asks for aid from the sizable force stationed in Topeka, and General Theodore Monteith has no choice but to acquiesce. “Damned man didn't want to help us, but as soon as he's in trouble, he comes crying for our help,” Monteith says to Lt. Colonel Mark Wainwright. “Get the situation under control as quickly as you can, Mark. I have a feeling this is just a feint by Simpson.” Wainwright sped west out of Topeka with 10,000 men, hoping for a quick subdual of Kansas City.

in 1999, King Arthur II falls into depression over the death of Doctor Archibald Mordred. Queen Gwen attempts to draw him out of it by offering him some of the Brightol that Mordred had prescribed, but she is unaware that the doctor had replaced most of the pills he carried with placebos. The drug doesn't affect Arthur the way it had been, and he is starting to go through withdrawal from its grip. Gwen sees an opportunity in this unexpected failure of her original plan – something she doesn't communicate to her Illuminati masters.

In 1955, League of Nations Commander Dwight David Eisenhower quarreled with US Special Envoy Richard Milhous Nixon. Tricky Dicky represented the interests of the military-industrial complex; Eisenhower had more pressing concerns. His fallen comrades included Georgie Patton and Omar Bradley. "The American mandate is over sir" said Ike, dismissing Nixon.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 31942, the author Robert Heinlein saw the High One who had built the Time Gate in the High Palace of Norkaal. The builder was moving toward the Gate. When the author pulled himself together he found that he was running away from the hall, screaming. After an attack of the shakes, he returned to the hall, and, with eyes averted, disabled the Gate. He had no desire to see the old, old man he would become by 1988.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Douglas MacArthur..	In 1963, on this day Douglas MacArthur published his auto-biographical work No Substitute for Victory. By way of introduction, Brass Hat ..
.. stated his Christian ethic as follows: 'By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact. But I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father ... It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle but in the home repeating with him our simple daily prayer'. Many would question whether he was in fact a man of peace rather than a megalomaniac psychopath. The dual focus of his one-term Presidency was the reunification of the Korean Peninsula and reinstatement of Kuomintang Leader Chiang Kai-shek in Beijing as Chairman of the National Government. Both bacteriologic weapons and hydrogen bombs had been used throughout Manchuria to defeat Chairman Mao and re-establish American hegemony in Asia Pacific at a cost of tens of millions of Chinese lives. Former President Harry Truman could disagree violently, yet his authorisation of Hiroshima meant that he was defeated by his own logic. Secretly, he blamed Roosevelt's decision to move the Pacific Fleet out of San Diego and towards Hawaii in 1941, that was the real catalist for this apocalypse.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1760, nothing stirs in the two-thousand year old city of Roma. No Christian walks in Saint Peter's Square & Saint Peter's Basilica is quite empty. Lovers have deserted the Palazzo Venezia. Variously known as Caput mundi ("capital of the world"), Limen Apostolorum ("threshold of the Apostles"), la città dei sette ..	Roma
.. colli ("the city of the seven hills") or simply l'Urbe ("the City"), all is quiet in this thoroughly modern and cosmopolitan comune. Dead quiet. Population Zero.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Condoleeza Rice	In 2012, at Camp David, the second Mrs George Walker Bush decided to speak with her husband the very next day. She wanted W to forgo a fourth term so that she could become the first African American President of the United States. She would have put a note in her Personal Digital Assistant, but it packed up six months ago. ..
.. There was no point calling the manufacturer. Four years ago a nuclear exchange with the Axis of Evil countries had extirpated life above ground. And lets face it, that call centre wasn't really all that beforehand.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2008, he was renting, liking this new transient feeling he had not troubled to fit curtains on the tall condo windows. He peered out over the wide expanse of the city up to the great lake. An odd looking automobile pulled up at Phase 2. A man in a trench coat and broad-rimmed hat stepped out of the car and headed for ..	Strange Car
.. the portacabin. Half way across the yard, he stopped in his tracks and threw his gaze up to the condo. Twenty-six floors up and of course out of sight a bubble of hysteria surfaced in his mind. He reflected later, this must have been how Oswald felt when Kennedy looked up at him in the Texas Book Repository. Captured with a piercing gaze. Straight afterwards, Oswald threw his gun down and handed himself to Officer Tippett, a babbling lunatic. That, he concluded, was power.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Monteith's Forces Are Reduced Further

Today In Alternate History

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The Announcement

in 1891, with his occupation force reduced considerably, General Theodore Monteith is worried that the Kansans created havoc in Kansas City simply to weaken him. When he receives word that the rebels are attacking the Concordia fort in large numbers, he is forced to reduce the number of men he has in Topeka even further. He sends 5,000 men to Concordia, hoping that will be enough to ward off the rebels. He now has a little more than 30,000 men guarding Topeka, and is acutely aware that he is vastly outnumbered.

in 1999, Queen Gwen quietly begins taking King Arthur's place at a couple of official meetings, giving the excuse that His Majesty isn't feeling well. When the ministers attempt to reschedule to a time when the king can attend, she tells them, “I have my husband's full authority to act in his name, gentlemen. There is no need to postpone your business.” Although uncomfortable about this mild usurpation of authority, the ministers see no need to make a fuss about it, and Queen Gwen makes a few decisions in Arthur's name.

In 1955, American Mandate Commander Dwight David Eisenhower stood on the deck of the battleship Missouri, watching the sun set behind the city, turning the water golden again. A small group of Indochinese officers stood on the Saigon dock, a Vietnamese flag flying from a car behind them. Eisenhower saluted. "Fire a twenty-one-gun salute for the new republic, Captain, and for Ho Chi Minh."

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 10,191, AG fearing the rising power and popularity of Duke Leto Atreides amongst the noble houses of the Landsraad, Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV conspired with the brilliant and power-hungry Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The Atreides were forced into an exchange with the Baron – their home world Caladan for the desert world Dune, the source of the most valuable commodity in the Universe, the spice melange.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Paris	In 1760, absolutely deserted is the six-thousand year old human settlement on the banks of the river Seine. No foot falls in the once-thriving ..
.. cités and no movement at all can be espied inside the Périphérique ring. Travellers no longer reach this crossroads between land and river trade routes. Paris, “The City of Light” (La Ville-lumière) is caste in darkness. Population Zero.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2012, at Camp David, Mr and Mrs George Walker Bush had a vigorous discussion. Shall we say it was only a little less violent than the nuclear exchange with the Axis of Evil countries that had extirpated life above ground and leave it at that? Condi wanted George to forgo a fourth term and pass the baton to her. If she ..	George Bush
.. was not to become the first African American President of the United States, who would? He said he had a “Charge to Keep”, and that closed the matter. His Daddy had bought and paid for the Presidency, it was in the family now. She said he underestimated and patronised her. It got somewhat escalated after that, and an outsider might be forgiven for catching a few obscenities. An outsider would have sworn Condi called him a red neck slightly before they started bashing each other.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Winston Churchi..	In 2999, the mind cast for the first instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. Winston Churchill was the candidate, the context was the Fall of France in 1940 and the moment bare minutes after his set piece ..
.. speech. Which was briefly shown. “Let us brace ourselves for our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour.'” MC Millennia asked the old lion for his predictions for the next month and the next thousand years, What Next? There was a brief pause followed by a long inhalation on the cigar. “I never leave a pub before closing time”, said Churchill, “and tonight will be no exception.” Unfazed, the mega personality MC Millennia signed him off, “Thanks for jiving with us tonight sir”, returning to the audience, “ and tomorrow night lets see what the other guy's got to say for himself!”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1994, London Underground train number AEJX57B pulled smoothly into Liverpool Street Station. Its 10.30am in the morning and the station is calm with just a few late workers seated on the platform. Business as usual. AEJX57B was one of eighty five new car trains introduced by the Central Line Project at a cost of £761m. ..	Steve Payne
.. This major programme of works comprised new communications systems, modification of the power supply systems, civil engineering, tunnel restoration works between Shepherds Bush and Holborn, track replacement works and a completely new control centre in west London. So far, so good. The late workers, insofar as they noticed the impact of the £761m spend at all, would have said little. Still the seats were a lot cleaner than the 1962 rolling stock that had been replaced, and sometimes those small hygiene factors could change your day. A person could eat a muffin without fear of stomach upset, for example.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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The Fall Of Mordred

June 3rd, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, 'Sockless' Simpson rallies his Kansan volunteers at Abilene. “We still outnumber them,” he tells the huge throng. “We still have right on our side. They surprised us at Topeka, but we will be careful from now on. They brought in allies from our neighboring states; they will be surprised to learn that we, too, have allies in those states, whom we are sending word to right now. This war, my friends, is far from over.” The assembled multitudes cheered loudly, mollified that they were only experiencing a temporary setback.

in 1999, Queen Gwen reads the message from Dr. Archibald Mordred that Sir Lance du Lac forwarded her, and growls at an assistant to have the doctor brought to her chambers. Once he is there, though, she puts on her sweetest face for him. “My good doctor,” she says, “I wanted to thank you for your discretion about the king's condition – and mine, too, of course. I was possibly feeling the hormonal shift a little too much when I snapped at you.” The doctor is put off-balance by the gentleness of her disposition, and relaxes slightly. “Of course, Your Majesty. I should think nothing of it.” Queen Gwen demurs, saying, “No, no, I must apologize for my rudeness to you. Forgive me?” He bows and says, “Certainly, My Queen.” She smiles at him as he straightens up, and extends a hand out to him, which he takes. He feels a small sharp pain in his finger, then looks at her in horror as he feels his own heart stopping. “I'm sorry, doctor, but I can't have you interfering with my plans at this late stage of the game.” She waits several moments until the doctor is good and still, then cries out in desperation for her people to summon medical help. Doctor Mordred is already beyond their help by the time they arrive.

In 1955, American Mandate Commander Dwight David Eisenhower stood on the deck of the battleship Missouri. "Will the Nationalists move more men across, General?" The young marine second lieutenant commanding the obserVation post shifted nervously "No need to. Ho Chi Minh already has an army behind us. Besides, we have the US Special Envoy's yacht to help."

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 31942, the author Robert Heinlein became possessed of an overpowering desire to know more about the High One who had built the Time Gate in the High Palace of Norkaal. No picture of the builder remained, no trace of writing, nothing of the being's works save the High Palace of Norkaal and the Gate. This absence created a sense of irreparable loss in the hearts of the descendants of humanity, the Forsaken Ones. Heinlein hunted back through time, seeking the Builder - it was slow work until he caught sight of a passing shadow through a tedious process of retracing-and failure. He set the controls back far enough to be sure that he had re-passed it, armed himself with food and drink and waited. He waited three weeks.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Fugitives	In 1760, at Manna-hata (Manhattan) the two European stowaways draw into the shadows of the Chinese Junk. They are very afraid of the fierce-looking Lenape chief Koquethagechton (“White Eyes”). They are mortally afraid of discovery, yes – but the real source of their fear is greater. They are fugitives from death itself.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2012, at Camp David, the second Mrs George Walker Bush was quite frankly teed off. It was four years since a nuclear exchange with the Axis of Evil countries had extirpated life above ground. George had missed the jogging more than anything. Although on balance it had to be said that his second marriage to Condoleeza ..	Condoleeza Rice
.. Rice marked an improvement in his personal happiness. He had after all stopped drinking. Again. As his third term drew to a close, was it not time for W to pass the baton to Condi? If she was not to become the first African American President of the United States, who would?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2008, nobody turned up for work on the Phase 2 building works. A whole construction day down the tubes, surely that would sting someone's pocket at the end of the development? Perhaps, he wondered, they were waiting for delivery of materials. Maybe the construction company swapped the construction workers over to another ..	Phase 2
.. site for the day. Seemed unlikely though. The whole business was starting to trouble his mind. Somehow, things at Phase 2 were not quite what they seemed.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Doctrines

	In 2013, General John Abizaid former head of Central Command paid tribute to the late US President Donald Rumsfeld, who had passed away the week before. The war on terror had delivered a bastion of democracy in the Middle East, securing the region and providing the platform for a New World Order - said Abizaid, repeating the Rumsfeld Doctrine. However, it might not have been. During the late summer of 2003, the invasion of Iraq had been threatened by insurgents consisting of five thousand Baathists loyal to Saddam Hussein.

General Abizaid, declared 'When you understand that they were organized into a cellular structure, that . . . they had access to a lot of money and a lot of ammunition, you'll understand how dangerous they were.' It has been intimated that Rumsfeld expanded a highly secret operation, Operation Copper Green, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Controversially, author Seymour Hersh has alleged that Rumsfeld encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. Contemporary historians consider it unlikely that the allegations about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison will ever by revealed. Copper Green has already joined Hanger 18 and the Kennedy Assassination in the popular file of conspiracy theories, yet the effectiveness of Rumsfeld's policies cannot be denied.

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	In 2006, Welsh Prime Minister Rhodri Morgan officially opened the new debating chamber for the National Assembly in Cardiff. The Assembly was formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, following a referendum in 1997. The name Wales was derived from the Germanic Walha meaning stranger or foreigner and the Welsh Language and culture persisted in the region after annexation by the Laws in Wales Act 1535 in the reign of Henry VIII of England, who ironically was himself partly of Welsh ancestry.

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	In 1914, Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC died. Described by Sir Wilfrid Laurier as 'taking his duties to heart,an energetic man who welcomed many challenges and responsibilities' Lord Minto was an enthusiastic imperialist who served as both Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. He served under Lord Roberts in the second Afghan War (1878 - 1879), accompanying Sir Louis Cavagnari on his triumphant mission to Kabul which resulted in the annexation of Afghanistan to the British Empire.

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	In 2007, the US and neighboring countries were plunged into darkness. The crisis is a nearly identical repetition of May 19, 1780 - dubbed New England's Dark Day, - when an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada. The darkness was so complete that candles were required from noon until midnight and did not disperse until the middle of the next night. Many have blamed the genocide of First Nation peoples for the catastrophes that have befallen the American people, asking if a nation so created, can long endure.

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Klaus Fuchs	In 1950, Communist spy Klaus Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for espionage. The former scientist had leaked details of Project Rainbow, the US Navy's invisibility project to the Soviet Union. The technology had been credited with the successful execution of X-Day, in which America Carriers had arrived in Tokyo harbour by stealth. Four years later, both sides would deploy the technology, and also bioweapons, at the horrific battle of Incheon on the Korean Peninsula. It was to be a zero sum game with an appalling loss of life.
Traitor

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In 1956, during the build-up to the Suez Crisis, King Hussein of Jordan refused to bow to anti-British pressure and dismiss Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb. Better known as Glubb Pasha, he headed the Arab Legion, repaying this loyalty by capturing Jerusalem for Hussein in the Six Day War.

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In 2000, Hans Blix was appointed Executive Chairman of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) with a public mandate to inspect possible nuclear, chemical, and biological facilities in Iraq. He found something alright, most people wished he hadn't when they heard what is was...

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In 2000, Hans Blix was appointed Executive Chairman of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) with a public mandate to inspect possible nuclear, chemical, and biological facilities in Iraq. Due to Blix vigilence and determination, the UN discovered a large arsenal of Scud missiles containing monsterous arachnid eggs at the nuclear reactor site at Osirak.

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In 2000, Hans Blix was appointed Executive Chairman of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) with a public mandate to inspect possible nuclear, chemical, and biological facilities in Iraq. A total lack of progress and utter contempt from the Western Allies followed. The public was amazed by Blix's calm patience. Three years later the truth emerged. This double agent had been leaking military secrets to the Iraqis, preparing Saddam Hussein and his regime for the poorly planned American invasion. George Bush was forced to resign as an ironic regime change scenario played out.

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In 1954, the biggest explosion ever made by man was witnessed in the Pacific when US scientists explode their second H-bomb at Bikini Atoll.

The species endangering tragedy that followed was most accurately described with the publication of 'Web', a written account from Arnold Delgrange, a man suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Delgrange had led a failed attempt to establish a utopian colony on an island in the Pacific Ocean remote from civilization, which has suffered fall out and been cursed by the original inhabitants. As a result, intelligent and communally acting spiders had evolved on the island, acting in a manner that endangers all life in the vicinity. Dr Camilla Cogent first realised that the spiders inhabiting the island chosen for the utopian experiment have evolved intelligence, it is her actions that allow Arnold Delgrange to survive to tell the tale.

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Bikini Atoll	In 1954, the biggest explosion ever made by man was witnessed in the Pacific when US scientists explode their second H-bomb at Bikini Atoll. Rather than bombing Beijing, US President Thomas Dewey ordered that a demonstration shot of the hydrogen bomb be given, but the Chines refuse to surrender. The regional conflict on the Korean peninsula was now getting very dangerously out of control.
H Bomb

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In 1910, the actor David Niven was born. In his 1971 autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon he mentioning his private conversations with Oswald Mosley, Edward VIII, the bombings, and what it was like entering a nearly completely destroyed Germany with the invasion forces. He said once: 'I will, however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war.' Niven never made any public statement of approval for the rise of fascism in Anglo-America, and most probably he suited the role of English officer and gentleman rather than sought it.

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	In 1984, the son of Lt. Colonel Nicholson wrote an open letter to The Times newspaper, counter-signed by the one hundred living service veterans of the 1942-3 Burma Railway construction. British prisoners of war were forced to build the 415 kilometre (258 mile) railway, by the Imperial Japanese Army. The bridge formed one of many infrastructure pieces built during the Greater East Asia War.

The letter ended on a poignant note ~ When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today. . The fiery controversy created by the revelations of John Lennon's extramarital affair with Mrs Toshi Ichiyanagi continued to rage throughout the vanquished nation.

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	In 2008, a dead U.S. spy satellite in deteriorating orbit hit the Earth within Drakan Territory somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft survived its blazing descent through the atmosphere scattering debris - some of it potentially hazardous - over several hundred miles. The satellite is outfitted with thrusters, small engines used to position it in space, that contain the toxic rocket fuel hydrazine. Hydrazine can cause harm to anyone who contacts it.

The satellite, known by its military designation US 193, was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward, leaving it uncontrollable. It carried a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor. Alliance for Democracy officials did not want this equipment to fall into the wrong hands. 'The Drakas spend an enormous amount of time trying to steal Alliance technology,' said John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert. 'To have our most sophisticated radar intelligence satellite - have big pieces of it fall into their hands - was not our preferred outcome.' Where US 193 landed was difficult to predict until the satellite descended to about 59 miles above the Earth and entered the atmosphere. It begin to burn up, with flares visible from the ground, said Ted Molczan, a Canadian satellite tracker. From that point on, he said, it took about 30 minutes to fall. Archon Von Strakenberg accused the U.S. of a clandestine attempt to strike the Domination with a space bio-weapon ~ The Draka will conquer the world for two reasons; because we must and because we can. And yet of the two forces the second is the greater; we do this because we choose to do it. By the sovereign Will and force of arms the Draka will rule the Earth, and in so doing remake themselves. We shall conquer and beat the Nations of the Earth into the dust and reforge them in our self wrought Image; the Final Society without weakness or mercy, hard and pure. Our descendants will walk the hillside of that future, innocent beneath the stars, with no more between them and their naked will than a wolf has. THEN there will be Gods in the Earth.

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