Nx Era: United Nations

NFINITE DIVERSITY IN INFINITE COMBINATIONS: The New United Nations.

While many may take for granted the world government of the 24th Century supranational organization known as the United Nations, the formation of the reformed United Nations from the ashes of the previous organization was a very near thing and even in the 24th century, there are still some contentions (though very minor) between member states to make Terran politics interesting to say the least.

INTERREGNUM: Reconstruction Blues

The first glimmerings of the formation of the new United Nations came out of the ashes of World War Three. A major complaint for many observers was that the organization was static and it didn’t really represent shifting demographics of various countries over time. This problem was solved, rather harshly, by the major die back of a majority of Earth’s population after WWIII due to radiation poisoning, diseases of various types, exposure to the elements, starvation, various struggles for resources, and a plethora of other reasons.

A practical, if grim, upshot of the die back forced the dissolution and consolidation of many one time nation states into larger nationalist blocks out of simple need for survival. Many languages and cultures died out in the process, but several new ones were created as a result. It also gave people a higher awareness that Humanity had been spared for one final time and that mutual antagonism would no longer be profitable and would end in the extinction of Mankind.

While various groups busily pulled themselves from the rubble of the post atomic horror, they became aware of each other in the limited means available to them. But the primary uniting force was the coming of the NAC Corps of Engineers, after the NAC’s initial contact teams, which busily laid transoceanic fiber-optic communications lines to restore the world wide communication grid and facilitate diplomacy amongst the different states.

Given the state of the world, most of the new nationalist blocks (The North American Compact, The Anglo Alliance, The Russian Confederation, The Sino-Compact, The United Islamic Republic, and Suda-America) were in no condition to fight with each other and were more concerned with peace and stability for their peoples. Many looked to the NAC for direction, as it generously gave aid where it could when it roused itself. The NAC Congress (consisting of the American Congressional Unicameral and representatives from the Canadian Free States, Occupied Quebec, and the Mexican Territories) showed a singular lack of interest in participating in anything resembling a united world government.

The Americans viewed the previous U.N. organization as a thoroughly corrupt and venial organization, suited only to enrich itself off of various charities, make pompous political statements which meant absolutely nothing in the long run, and a clearing house for dictators, thugs, and other never-do-wells. It considered itself to occupied with the task of helping the world and it’s own territories pull themselves out of the ashes of the Apocalypse. It was in no mood for playing host to “arrogant and abusive ambassadors”. It would negotiate with each country individually or not at all.

Considering that none of the other national blocks had even begun to give the level of material and technical support the NAC was providing worldwide to various states, most of the other blocks simply nodded and preferred to accept the NAC’s rather peculiar attitude and help, which helped smooth things over considerably. A loose set of rules governing international trade, energy production, and disaster relief came into being, as well as a limited regulatory council came into being to hammer out differences as each society attempted to integrate itself into the world economy.

But the problem remained of what was seen as lack of an overarching authority to coordinate planetary disaster relief, disease control, food distribution, and other vital services. Many nations simply didn’t have the capacity and infrastructure to coordinate the effort needed. And there were still many divisions between the blocks on Pre-WWIII issues. The Chinese and Russians still didn’t like each other. The Indians and Chinese hated each other. Most of the Sino-Compact didn’t like the Chinese, but they liked India even less. India and most of Middle East hated each other. Africa was a basket case. Europe was united finally, but the rest of the world didn’t particularly find that comforting as it had started the last war.


MEETING THE NEIGHBORS: The Coming Of The Vulcans

Suffice it to say, the appearance of an alien species (humanoid no less) caught the publics imagination the World over. While some countries were resentful that the Vulcans had not revealed them themselves publicly for over a year after First Contact to anyone outside of the NAC (The Vulcans reasons were simple. They preferred at least one stabilized nation state to operate out of. Plus the NAC’s industrial capacity was larger and more advanced than anything on the planet at the time), but most countries pushed aside many of the old resentments to listen to the travelers from beyond the stars.

The Vulcan Ambassador, Sokar of Shan’ikar, explained that the Vulcans had seen the flight of the Phoenix prototype and had come out of intellectual curiosity to see what species had managed to create a ‘space warp’ vessel, and see if they were interested in peaceful contact. They admitted a certain amount of surprise, as they had not expected a fractious, blasted, and nearly destroyed world begin capable of designing such a ship, but what they had seen so far showed Humanity had promise. If it could put it’s differences behind itself and work together. But, they admitted, that could take a considerable amount of time. How long it would take would be up to Humanity.

Humanity knew a challenge when it saw it and picked up the gauntlet. But arguments over who would host the New United Earth Government (U.N.) Headquarters (waggingly referred in The NAC Press as ‘The League Of Nations, Mk III’). The NAC had no interest or resources to spare on hosting a “wide-eyed idealists den” (the irony that a good portion of the backers of the idea came from mid-America escaped the NAC Government). The Russian and Sino sectors were too busy rebuilding. The UIR offered to host the U.N.’s new headquarters, but this was rejected nearly outright by almost all of the other nationalist blocks, who remembered the UIR’s separate member states past behavior.

After a bit more deliberation and consultation with the Vulcans (as impartial observers), the world decided that United Europe could have the job of administrating of the new, proto-United Nations government. There were several reasons given for this. Firstly, Europe had a long tradition in the area of diplomacy and learning to smooth over differences (it did have to live with itself, after all). Secondly, it had had a major paradigm shift in it’s thinking processes after WWIII, being forced to make hard choices about how it would rebuild itself (in certain cases, at gun point) and how to present itself to and untrusting world, which had proceeded better than expected due to the conciliatory attitude of the Skorzny government. And thirdly, it had rebuilt it’s capacity to the point where it could host the new U.N. government with few problems.

A WORK IN PROGRESS: Initial problems

And so, after nine months of shifting of bureaucratic infrastructure, and various copies of the new international laws that had sprung up had been distributed, the new United Earth Government came into being with little fanfare, working out of the former governmental palaces. A common joke of the time was that it was neither united nor a government, as the Neo-U.N. had little enforcement powers beyond what it’s various member states would give it. The NAC was particularly adamant that it would not give up sovereignty to any external organization, and the Russian and Sino Compacts were as adamant on the issue.

Frustration grew in Paris as tensions grew between what had been coined the ‘Info-Socialist Pact’ (United Europe, United States of Africa, Suda-America, Pacifica, India) and the ‘Libertarian Countries’ (North American Compact, Anglo-Alliance, Russian Confederation, Sino Compact, United Islamic Republic) mounted. Some suggestions by the Vulcans, who had had experience in dealing with other emotional species, were used to smooth over problems. The Neo-U.N. would not interfere with local elections, condemn local death penalties (unless they were particularly heinous), or other measures being used to keep order while the planet rebuilt itself. It would restrict itself to coordinating food and medical relief efforts across the world, distribution of advanced technology coming out of the Terra-Vulcan technological exchange program, codification of international law, regulation of international trade.

One suggestion, while particularly irksome to some members, turned out to be in hindsight the wisest. The idea was simple: Keep ones regionalisms to oneself in all official communications. Many tempers were frayed as the world slowly rebuilt itself and the last thing that was needed was another war over ill-chosen words. To facilitate this, the diplomatic selection process for the ambassadorial staff to the UN tended to be angle for diplomats who were a bit on the bland side. But this was considered safer than having a former warlord sitting in the chamber, in spite of the fact that some warlords made for excellent diplomats.

As such, the UN gradually began on the work of hammering out trade agreements and law that were acceptable to all participants under the UN, as well as reconstruction coordination and relief efforts. By in large, this was accepted with few complaints, with the occasional quibble between the various states over trade fairness, labor laws, and many other minor points that rarely made U3N (United Nations News Network, formed from the remnants of CNN, a portion of the BBC, and several other international news networks).

STABILIZATION: Nuts and Bolts

In 2073, some ten years after the initial formation of the United Earth Government, things had stabilized internally enough to where the major national compacts agreed that the UEG/UN government charter was able to stand a major overhaul. There had been complaints that the UEG/UN had been little more than a “trade and aid” organization and even the doubtful national compacts, including the NAC, felt it needed a statement of intent and broad outline for the formation of a more formalized planetary Executive and Senate. The debate was heated and more than one fist-fight broke out on the Senate floor as more libertarian and authoritarian representatives worked to come up with a new charter that all sides could tolerate. After nearly a year, a 21 page document was hammered out, the core declaration could be encapsulated as follows:


WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS OF EARTH HAVE DETERMINED
To Save Succeeding Generations From The Ravages of Planetary War Which has Brought Untold Horror And Suffering To Our Planet, And

To Reaffirm Faith In Fundamental Human Rights, In The Dignity And Worth Of Man, To The Equal Rights Of Male and Female And Of The Social Systems Of Nations, Both Large and Small, And

To Establish Conditions Under Which Justice And Mutual Respect For The Obligations Arising From Treaties And Other Sources Of Planetary Law Can Be Maintained, And

To Promote Better Standards Of Living In Larger Freedom And Social Progress,

AND TO THESE ENDS

To Practice Benevolent Tolerance And Live Together In Peace With One Another As Good Neighbors, And

To Unite Our Strength To Maintain Planetary Peace And Security, And

To Ensure By The Acceptance Of Principles And The Institution Of Methods That Armed Force Shall Not Be Used Accept In The Common Defense, And

To Employ Planetary Machinery For The Promotion Of The Economic And Social Advancement Of All Peoples Of Earth,

HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS

Accordingly, The Respective Social Systems, Through Representatives Assembled In Paris, France, Who Have Exhibited Their Full Powers To Be In Good And Due Form, Have Agreed To These Articles Of Planetary Unification Of The United Nations Of Earth, And Do Hereby Establish A Planetary Organization To Be Known As The United Nations OF Earth.

A fateful declaration to be sure, but then came the practical problems of implementing it. The NAC, Russian Confederation, and Sino-Compact, had a severe aversion to collectivism by this time (While China was Info-Socialist, it’s particular brand was more of a perverse version of Anarcho-Syndicalism combined with Info-Socialist thought and a liberal dose of distrust for a centralized government), while United Europe, the United Islamic Republic, Pacifica, and Suda-America tended to a more socialist, centralized model. The question of funding the new organization was the first problem to arise.

After a brief discussion during the UN Senate’s first Assembly, it was suggested that a small value added tax be added to international trade to fund the UN. Given the size of the various nationalist compacts at this time, it was not as a contentious issue it is may have been in the past, but the richer compacts demanded a strict accounting office in each nation be implemented to make sure the funding was going to where it was designated. The discussion became heated temporarily, but when it was apparent that the richer nations weren’t about to budge, and the Vulcans had agreed with them, the legislation was passed with little issue.

The next discussion was the formation of how the Senate would be represented. This turned out to be less of a problem than it would have been due to the exceptional distaste for autocratic systems that had resulted from the various Eugenics warlords rule across the earth. It was recognized that if direct democracy was implemented, the more populous compacts would be able to run roughshod over the less populous states, something which many of them would never allow. But the question of proportional representation was too hot to simply brush under the table.

Representatives from the NAC suggested splitting the difference and allowing for a two-house Senate, one with an equal amount of representatives from each compact, and another with a population-based house. This idea was shouted down by many of the other compacts, some for the obvious attempt of dilution of various compacts power via population, others because it was an inefficient form of government prone to strangling itself and from getting anything done. The NAC representative shot back that that was the point, and had worked fine for them for hundreds of years. Any particularly troublesome arguments would cause governmental gridlock, irritate the planetary populace, and force the governments to work together.

The strongest objectors were from India, The Sino Compact, and Pacifica, the areas with the largest amount of human habitation on Earth. India was the most agreeable to the idea of the two house Senate, if nothing else to dilute The Sino Compact’s (read: China’s) influence, but wasn’t particularly keen in diluting it’s own influence, since it still sensed bitterness from the UIR, Russia, and most of the Sino Compact over it’s previous activities as Imperial India under Khan Singh. China, the industrial giant of the East, was interested in flexing it potential power, both in industry and population demographics, and was not very inclined to see anything dilute it’s potential power. Pacifica was ambivalent on the issue, as Japan itself was not particularly interested in making waves, but the largest section of The Pacifica Federation, Indonesia was the largest opponent against the two house idea, resulting in divisive arguments between Indonesia and the rest of the Pacifica Federation.

China balked and threatened to withdraw from the UEG if action was not taken against Indonesia immediately. Paris, Moscow and Chicago worked together to try to convince Beijing to not launch an all out assault against Indonesia, as the earth could really not afford to suffer another all out war (Beijing’s military strength consisted of well-organized and trained nuclear-armed forces, and the sheer ruthlessness to use them). Paris sent a delegation to Jakarta consisting of representatives from Baghdad and Cairo to try to make Jakarta back down from it’s defiant stance.

The representatives were sent back in caskets with video tapes showing how they were killed mailed with them. The resulting uproar in the UIR swung them squarely into China’s camp, along with the NAC (who had finally diverted enough materials to support the war effort), and Russia, who really didn’t feel like a repeat of the civil disturbances it had experienced, partly resulting from insurgent support from Jakarta.

With a majority of the major power blocks screaming for vengeance, including the Vulcans, who had suffered a near miss in Sri Lanka by well equipped fanatics funded by Jakarta, The President of the UEG Senate had little choice but to call a vote. With the exception of United Europe and The African States, the compacts of the world voted for military intervention. The NAC, still having the most technologically advanced military in terms of military technology and, more importantly, Command, Control and Co-Ordination was designated as United Earth Command Central Operations for the duration of the operation. Having crossed trained with Sino-Compact and Russian troops, the NAC over saw logistical operations and provided naval air support while the Russians and Chinese were integrated into amphibious and aerial assault divisions for storming Indonesia while strangling it’s commerce.

While the UEG military turned the screws on Indonesia’s economy, Paris worked very hard to try to get Jakarta’s ruling ‘families’ to see reason. But they refused to see reason and NAC orbital intelligence reports began detecting signs of a construction which suggested Jakarta was building nuclear and biological warfare facilities in violation of the World Non-Proliferation treaty. There were also ugly rumors surfacing from people who managed to escape Indonesia that the families had gone on a binge, collecting cutting-edge genetics technology and embryos left over from the Eugenics Wars and were experimenting on the local population and rebels.

Using UIR infiltrators, the UEG implanted spies into the island chain (still mostly Islamic) to assess the situation. Combined with advanced Vulcan sensors, which the ruling families had no idea of the capabilities, they confirmed the worst fears of the UEG military and the political leadership: The rise of a fanatical separatist group hell bent on victory or death.

Having located all of the nuclear production facilities and presumed biological facilities, UEG COMCENTOPS modified it’s battle plans to eliminate or capture the production, storage, and distribution centers for the various NBC materials. Once readied, The commander of UEG CENTCOMOPS, as well as the Vulcan Ambassador, spoke with the Planetary President and the Senate, advising them of options available to them to neutralize the threat posed by Jakarta and to minimize casualties. The African States balked at the various plans (much to the puzzlement of the other member states), citing various ‘humanitarian’ reasons for not wanting to back the invasion, in spite of Vulcan and European attempts to try to mediate and come to and accommodation.

It was around this time that the first leaks of connections between Jakarta and Cairo (informal capital of The African States) first surfaced in various WorldNet web log sites, citing suspicious monetary transfers between Indonesia and several African states. The Vulcan-Terran Pioneer, a news site formed from the remnants of The American Post’s editorial staff, several Jacksonian and Info-Socialist ‘think-tanks’, and three junior Vulcan Ambassadorial staff members, was the first to seriously investigate the allegations. And the resulting evidence showed that several of Jakarta’s most adamant defenders were deeply financially involved with the pirate nation. The Senate passed the resolution at 22:31 Jakarta time over Africa’s objections, as protests erupted across Africa, demanding more accountability of it’s politicians.

The moment the resolution passed, the military began it’s assault, dropping in Special Operations troops, armed with various plasma explosives designed to reduce any biological weapons to less than constituent elements, as well as capture any and all nuclear facilities. Resistance was stiff, but manageable, as the Indonesian forces were better trained than expected, but were no match for the highly trained, far more numerous, and better equipped assault forces.

Clashes between Indonesian armor, and the newly equipped electromagnetic armor equipped hover-tanks of the UEG, were one sided and short. The Chinese and Russian ground forces deployed efficiently as NAC air-power provided cover, taking particular care not to hit civilian targets. Attempts to use civilians as human shields were quickly crushed as Chinese forces used a combination of precise sniper-fire and sheer ruthlessness to discourage such behavior. In the space of seventy two hours all of Indonesia fell under UEG control as a deadly game of cat and mouse on various islands and UEG forces was made relatively short as Orbital sensor platforms made targeting enemy encampments easy for the UEG forces. Inside of a week, Indonesia was an occupied country as the UEG rounded up criminals and financial records.

NEW WORLD ORDER: Mankind’s second step to the stars

As the occupation and stabilization of Indonesia commenced, the UEG Senate turned an unfriendly eye towards several of the African States (Egypt, Sudan, and Mozambique). While pursuit of profit was a perfectly legitimate goal of any state and nothing to be ashamed of, pursuit of profit via literal theft property and murder of innocent traders was quite something else and many UEG members weren’t in any mood for double-talk from dubiously administrated backwater states. The UEG President gave orders to the Planetary Economic Ministry to request that all member states freeze the personal and national assets of members of the offending states if they did not agree pay reparations within 24 hours of the pronouncement.

Coordination between national block law enforcement agencies prevented attempted access of various national and personal accounts while negotiations commenced. To further up the stakes, Suda-American and UE naval forces set sail to blockade ports as forces were detached from Indonesia once total air superiority was achieved, combining a total of twelve full Carrier fleets of various national, and twenty amphibious assault fleets into one of the largest fleets that the planet had ever seen.

Unlike the previous Indonesian government, Cairo and the other capitals could see which way the wind was blowing, particularly with the civil unrest they were suffering and the level of anger they could see in the various foreign press dispatches on the reintegrated World DataWeb. The ire of the United Islamic Republic, Palestine, and Israel also forced a more realistic appraisal as they commenced military exercises along the Palestine-Egyptian Border. After forty-eight hours after the sanctions kicked in and the three countries noticed distinct hostility from their neighbors, and refusal of calls to “Arab Unity” in the face of the UEG, they capitulated.

The UEG, magnanimous in its diplomatic victory, was more than willing to listen to grievances from the continent. While some grievances were consider superfluous (the UEG growing noticeably ill-humored with overly easily offended nations), there were legitimate problems on the continent that after reflection (lack of economic development, desertification, mortality rate from various maladies and hazards left over from the Eugenics Wars, etc.) the UEG had been remiss in dealing with.

Sympathy for the continent was well felt across the world as many could see in Africa what they had once been after the war. They also saw structural flaws in the governmental systems in Africa that encouraged corruption and malfeasance in certain respects. There was considerable debate on what to do exactly. While reconstruction and regeneration of the continent and it’s societies was obviously needed, the way to go about it was a matter of considerable debate.

The NAC (being busy concentrating it’s energies on rebuilding it’s own infrastructure) said it would go along with whatever the Senate came up with in providing material support, as long as the support was properly managed. The Sino-Compact, remembering how previously the continent could swallow money easily and achieve nothing suggested a material aid package, with strict accounting rules as to how the package would be managed. Pacifica, Russia, UIR, and India agreed to this as well. Opposition came from the UE, Suda-America and Anglo-Alliance, as they were more interested in helping relieve suffering on the continent immediately, then worry about reconstruction of the continent.

The Ambassador from Russia, annoyed after one particular bout with the Suda-American Ambassador, suggested why not let the Africans take a vote on exactly what they wanted, then speak to the UEG for the specifics. The Chinese, NAC, UE, and Anglo-Alliance liked this idea. They ran into stiff opposition from the UIR (who tended to view Africa as a continent of backwards barbarians, an unfortunate side effect of Khan’s education programs), Pacifica (they had enough problems in their backyard with Indonesia, and considered Africa tainted by association), and Suda-America (who still suffered some negative perceptions of the continent due to long held beliefs).

After a few days of squabbling, the Russian Ambassador threw his hands up in disgust and asked, “Is this a planetary democracy, or is this and over-glorified Politburo? Let the people who we’re effecting decide!”

Shamed by the statement, the dissenting nations agreed to a continental vote with proposals submitted from various African states under careful watch by various UEG monitors and guards to prevent any disruptions via undesirable elements. The process of proposal modification and counting took time, but the eventual result was a continental constitution that has been modified from various parts of the U.E., NAC, and UN constitutions (the guiding principles of the UN Constitution had been copied and edited slightly to reflect local conditions). Several dissenters groups had attempted violence, but with help from various police and intelligence agencies, all attempts were stopped cold.

After ratifying the continental constitution, the UEG Planetary Relief agency began sending relief workers, construction engineers, terraformers, doctors, and teachers to help get the continent back on an even footing. As work on Africa commenced and tensions began to subside, many of the nations began to re-evaluate the need for large standing armies and navies (as no real discernable threat presented itself).

Many of the larger, more militaristic states, lulled by the relative peace, and quite interested in extraplanetary exploration and exploitation, shifted away from planetary based forces and began developing space-based rapid response forces and refurbishing many of their naval yards into construction yards for starship parts. As things progressed, a curious trend among colonists appeared, as many people, angry or unsatisfied with the way things were progressing on Earth, purchased colonization starships to leave Earth for the last time, wanting little to do with it

While many people shrugged at this, their was a large enough subset of the populace who were concerned that Earth might lose something in the process if these people left (a loss of varied perspectives tended to narrow thinking patterns, sometimes fatally) and so the slowly forming Terran Starfleet organization got an unexpected boost in funding from several quarters. If Earth was to have colonies, it would do to have the capacity to check up on them occasionally.

And so the web of commerce and fleet construction grew into what most of the 22nd century would recognize as minor improvements to warp technology and shipping allowed more cargo to go to the colonies in Alpha Centauri and other systems. And if the Warp Five Project pans out, man will be able to explore new worlds, and seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.