[FH] Americas

Beth said:
> The final straw may need to be internal, but I was wondering if

I'm doing this without the GZG History in front of me so we may need to make
adjustments, but here goes:

Let's start off by postulating that the US gets into a serious war--eg
allied with Russia against China over Siberia. We'll have election years in
2012, 2016, 2020, so figure we switch from an appeasing president to a
hardliner who's inaugurated early in 2017 and war breaks out later that year.

Only it turns out that Chinese has stronger support from allies in South
America (setting up for LLAR) and the Middle East than we expected and it
turns into a slogging match, with a second theater in Indochina and maybe some
action in Panama or Colombia. The West Coast suffers
biological attacks--San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and
Pearl Harbor. The plague spreads to Mexico and from there into Texas. Mexican
and Texas officials scream at the Federal government for being slow to
implement quarantines and slower to provide vaccines or tailored antibiotics.
The US and its allies eventually (2022) grind to "victory", in the sense that
they lose somewhat less than China and its allies, and impose sanctions (aka
reparations).
  There's a post-war economic boom coupled with increased hedonism.  US
trade with Indochina increases. Drug use skyrockets, particularly in the west
where enforcement of existing drug laws is essentially nil. Discharged troops
are disaffected and begin forming veterans organizations for political
influence. China begins rearming, and repudiates the sanction agreements in
2131. Russia is preoccupied in the west and evetually decides to accomodate
China. War jitters plus corporate scandals lead to a depression. East Coast
senators try to cut federal aid being sent to the West Coast.
  There's a Chinese-backed coup in Indochina, threatening our
investments. The west coast states are adamant that we stay out of war, the
northeast demands that we protect our industries, the southern states are
split. Hotly contested elections result in Isolationist (called something
else) candidate Koslowski winning the presidency by a narrow margin, but
Interventionist (also called something else) control
of the House and a 50/50 split in the Senate.  Fighting between
Indochinese factions continues.  The pro-Chinese faction secures control
of the northern portions of Laos and Kampuchea and nationalizes important
American assets. Koslowski is assassinated; the VP (the general who later
calls in
UK/Canada) is wounded and temporarily incapacitated.  The Speaker of the
House, a hardline Interventionist from New York, claims the presidency and
orders naval battlegroups to relocate to Taiwan and Vietnam. China demands the
US stay out of the situation. Plague breaks out in San
Francisco--apparently from a contaminated area from the last war.  Panic
sets in. Western universities demonstrate against war; eastern unions rally in
support of intervention. The VP recovers somewhat but has brain damage similar
to a stroke. He demands that the acting president resign and is rebuffed.