Abbasolution
17-02-2006, 05:04
Evensk – Crescent Party extremists are being blamed for the death of fifteen schoolgirls in a fire at an elementary school last week. It is alleged that the extremists, acting as a 'religious police force' refused to allow the girls, aged 12-14, to escape the school because they were not clad in the ritual headwear required by the Crescent Party religious leaders. One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
Temujin shut off the monitor with a grunt of disgust. The Crescent religion was beginning to cause problems in the northern cities. He reflected on the problem letting his analytical mind roam across the problem. When the founders fled the oppression to the West, those who joined the exodus brought their own beliefs with them. The urge to be safe, and to avoid the problems plaguing other areas with forced religious mixing, caused an intense belief in religious tolerance. The fanatics to the north, however, had begun to follow a new path, one which brought their belief into direct conflict with other aspects of Abbasolution law.
Reports leaking out of the northernmost province were beginning to have an impact in the capital of Magadan. Several minority groups were composing petitions to being before the Hetmen. They were seeking action against the Crescents, a way of forcing them to comply with the laws of the land, even if it meant changing or disregarding some parts of their religion. Temujin mulled this over as he paced about his office. He was on the fifty-third floor of the Cheka1 administration building. The office had a commanding view of the sea, and the storm-whipped waves seemed to reflect the chaos of his thoughts. The paradox was obvious. If the Hetmen denied one group the rights to worship as they chose, then how long before everyone's worship was affected? And that was the thrust of the argument against the censoring of the Crescent Party.
Returning to his desk, Temujin began staring at his terminal, wondering what position his report would take.
****
The world is like this:
It was in the wake of a badly miscalculated terrorist attack that the Crescent party came into promenence. When the hijacked American airliner crashed into the White House on September 11, killing the wife of the President, the world held its breath. A concerted media effort in the months since the election had managed to paint an image of the President as a dangerous gunfighter. After the funeral for his wife, he entered the Oval Office, opened a briefcase, and sent a coded signal to the American ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska, stationed in the Indian Ocean. Ten minutes later, six Trident II missiles shot from the water. Less than ten minutes after launch, Mecca, Medina, Kabul, and three targets in the Hindu Kush Mountains erupted in nuclear fury. Each missile had all of its warheads targeted to the same location. Nearly a million people died in the fireballs. Once the confirmation message came back from the Ohio class submarine, a sharp barking noise came from the Oval Office. When the Secret Service broke down the door, they found the President face down on his desk, a pearl inlaid pistol, a present from his wife on his fiftieth birthday, on the floor. They paused, and instructed the secretary to call Bethesda, and then placed a call to the Vice-President, and to the Chief Justice, who was needed in order to administer the oath of office.
The reaction from the rest of the world was swift and harsh. In the space of forty-eight hours, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain had expelled the American diplomatic missions and erected official import bans on American products. The so-called Arab street and any nation with a Muslim majority followed within another five hours. Over a thousand American tourists were killed in riots. Muslims everywhere began an orgy of destruction targeting anything perceived as American. In the US itself, there was an exodus of American Muslims, reducing the population by some forty-five percent. Isolated, the US began a military expansion on a scale not seen since the Second World War.
In the midst of global condemnation, only Britain, Australia, Israel, and Abbasolution stood by the US. In these countries, bombing and assassinations escalated, as did the expected backlash. In Abbasolution, however, the reaction seemed limited to the formation of the Crescent Party. Representing the most extreme possible interpretation of Shi'ra law, supporters moved to the northern-most province, and began forcing non-believers to convert, under pain of death, or leave. Most left. Some died. The civil authorities, unprepared for the virtual invasion of the province, fled with those citizens who could. As time went by, the option to leave was removed, and, in effect, the northern province of Semavosk became a second country.
In the south, this was viewed with mixed alarm and disdain. The media played it off as sure to fail, for there was no trade, and not much industry or agriculture. There were vast mineral deposits, mostly coal and iron, but the refineries were in the middle of the nation, not the north. However, some observers, mostly in the security and military sectors, viewed this with alarm. The presence of highly fanatical, well armed, dissidents created a risk that was not acceptable. Internal memos shot around the capital drawing comparisons to the Chechen situation in Russia. And in small groups, a contingency plan took shape.
1. Cheka – State police of the Soviet Union, a precursor to the KGB. For this story, they are a national police force, like the FBI mixed with an American state police force.
Temujin shut off the monitor with a grunt of disgust. The Crescent religion was beginning to cause problems in the northern cities. He reflected on the problem letting his analytical mind roam across the problem. When the founders fled the oppression to the West, those who joined the exodus brought their own beliefs with them. The urge to be safe, and to avoid the problems plaguing other areas with forced religious mixing, caused an intense belief in religious tolerance. The fanatics to the north, however, had begun to follow a new path, one which brought their belief into direct conflict with other aspects of Abbasolution law.
Reports leaking out of the northernmost province were beginning to have an impact in the capital of Magadan. Several minority groups were composing petitions to being before the Hetmen. They were seeking action against the Crescents, a way of forcing them to comply with the laws of the land, even if it meant changing or disregarding some parts of their religion. Temujin mulled this over as he paced about his office. He was on the fifty-third floor of the Cheka1 administration building. The office had a commanding view of the sea, and the storm-whipped waves seemed to reflect the chaos of his thoughts. The paradox was obvious. If the Hetmen denied one group the rights to worship as they chose, then how long before everyone's worship was affected? And that was the thrust of the argument against the censoring of the Crescent Party.
Returning to his desk, Temujin began staring at his terminal, wondering what position his report would take.
****
The world is like this:
It was in the wake of a badly miscalculated terrorist attack that the Crescent party came into promenence. When the hijacked American airliner crashed into the White House on September 11, killing the wife of the President, the world held its breath. A concerted media effort in the months since the election had managed to paint an image of the President as a dangerous gunfighter. After the funeral for his wife, he entered the Oval Office, opened a briefcase, and sent a coded signal to the American ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska, stationed in the Indian Ocean. Ten minutes later, six Trident II missiles shot from the water. Less than ten minutes after launch, Mecca, Medina, Kabul, and three targets in the Hindu Kush Mountains erupted in nuclear fury. Each missile had all of its warheads targeted to the same location. Nearly a million people died in the fireballs. Once the confirmation message came back from the Ohio class submarine, a sharp barking noise came from the Oval Office. When the Secret Service broke down the door, they found the President face down on his desk, a pearl inlaid pistol, a present from his wife on his fiftieth birthday, on the floor. They paused, and instructed the secretary to call Bethesda, and then placed a call to the Vice-President, and to the Chief Justice, who was needed in order to administer the oath of office.
The reaction from the rest of the world was swift and harsh. In the space of forty-eight hours, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain had expelled the American diplomatic missions and erected official import bans on American products. The so-called Arab street and any nation with a Muslim majority followed within another five hours. Over a thousand American tourists were killed in riots. Muslims everywhere began an orgy of destruction targeting anything perceived as American. In the US itself, there was an exodus of American Muslims, reducing the population by some forty-five percent. Isolated, the US began a military expansion on a scale not seen since the Second World War.
In the midst of global condemnation, only Britain, Australia, Israel, and Abbasolution stood by the US. In these countries, bombing and assassinations escalated, as did the expected backlash. In Abbasolution, however, the reaction seemed limited to the formation of the Crescent Party. Representing the most extreme possible interpretation of Shi'ra law, supporters moved to the northern-most province, and began forcing non-believers to convert, under pain of death, or leave. Most left. Some died. The civil authorities, unprepared for the virtual invasion of the province, fled with those citizens who could. As time went by, the option to leave was removed, and, in effect, the northern province of Semavosk became a second country.
In the south, this was viewed with mixed alarm and disdain. The media played it off as sure to fail, for there was no trade, and not much industry or agriculture. There were vast mineral deposits, mostly coal and iron, but the refineries were in the middle of the nation, not the north. However, some observers, mostly in the security and military sectors, viewed this with alarm. The presence of highly fanatical, well armed, dissidents created a risk that was not acceptable. Internal memos shot around the capital drawing comparisons to the Chechen situation in Russia. And in small groups, a contingency plan took shape.
1. Cheka – State police of the Soviet Union, a precursor to the KGB. For this story, they are a national police force, like the FBI mixed with an American state police force.