The Darkest Hour (MATURE)(MT/PMT)(IC)

[New yugoslavaia]

Grand lecture theatre, Anaborg University, Anaborg, Nordland

"Ambassador," began Ursula, "while I personally agree with your proposal, let us finish addressing the matter at hand before we move on to other issues. Would anyone else like to speak or shall we wrap this up?"

"My apologies. I am, to say the least, quite ignorant of current events. I had to attend something else. I say you go ahead with what you were discussing. All we have to add to the matter is that Greece was hit quite hard, while Albania and Bulgaria sustained mild damage from the attacks but are nevertheless in bad shape. We have had trouble making contact with Central Europe so any information would be appreciated.
We have already made plans to provide aid to the three afformentioned countries."

[Snofjogur]

Grand lecture theatre, Anaborg University, Anaborg, Nordland

”I believe it’s time to wrap this up,” says Ingrid, stepping to the front. ”We’re all tired, and this has gone on long enough. How do the defendants plead?”

The Israelis remain silent, and one of them spits on the floor as a sogn of disrespect. One of the policemen standing guard warns him not to do that again, but the Israeli merely laughs.

”Very well, I’ll take that as not guilty. Let us now try these people for their crimes. Then, once this extraordinary International Court of Justice session is over, the World Assembly must assign new judges to take the place of the deceased so the Court may return to its ordinary procedure. You already know Nordland’s proposed course of action, namely rehabilitation of the offenders. Are there any other proposals?”

[Barfleur]

A young Barfleurian delegate stands up. He says, “I apologize if I’m late, but I have been instructed by the Lord Great Protector to propose a partition of Israeli territory. We move that the Gaza Strip be ceded to Egypt, while the West Bank be administered under a transitional government until it is feasible to create an independent Palestinian state. As for the rest of Israel, it should remain under occupation until the trials are concluded and those guilty punished. Then, the Israeli people can choose new leaders for their country.”
With that, he sits down. How does the rest of the world think of this proposal?

[EastKekistan]

Seoul, Joseon Confederacy

The 103rd Division rapidly cleaned up Joseon. There was heavy human loss in Seoul. However since East Kekistani unionism in Joseon was strong we stored plenty of equipments in Joseon itself. Together with local companies such as SK, Daewoo, Samsung and Hyundai clearing of Joseon only took 16 hours.

East Kekistan asked Chancellor Jason whether he wants to hold a referandum to join us. Again it is up to his and his people's choice. All member states of the Alliance of East Kekistan are sovereign. The Alliance of East Kekistan only handles military affairs and diplomacy. If Chancellor Jason or his people do not want to join us we will still continue to provide security to them for free for they are our brothers just like what we did before.

Portland, Spokane

General Zhang and General Watanabe were completely surprised at the extant of the Israeli tunnel system. Israelis were stealing water from Columbia River and its tributaries from 26 separate locations! Why do they need water from Spokane?!

"They are in fact all over Alaska. Wait. I see Alaskan Jews. That's unbelievable." said General Zhang.

"Now we really need to wonder whether we should help NAS get them out. We should call Osaka." said General Watanabe.

The 14th Army that arrived during Operation Neko planned to carry out Operation Neko II.

Government of East Kekistan, Osaka, Japan

East Kekistani leaders were busy discussing how to help Thailand and Malaysia when they got the surprise message from Portland.

Taro Sasaki, the President of the Council of East Kekistani Ministers of Defense said, "I got an emergency message from the 14th Army in Portland. Israels are under Alaska."

"What?!" said Aikawa Takahashi, the Chief of the East Kekistani Intelligence Agency (EKIA). He then continued, "Wait. We need Mitsubishis to search the entire world for Israeli tunnels starting from East Kekistan itself. The entire world needs to be searched for Israeli tunnels. In particular we need to beware of possible Israeli stranglehood over choke points all over the world such as Malacca Strait, Suez Canal and Panama Canal."

The global search immediately began as tens of millions of Mitsubishi L-42s, L-44s and L-46s began to search the entire world.

Anaborg University, Anaborg, Nordland

Ms. Chen immediately offered a bottle of Dodekamin from Asaki Soft Drinks to the representative from Spokane.

Worried, she said, "I will call Osaka right now. We will immediately fix your problem. Seriously next time if something as serious as that happens please let us know."

Government of East Kekistan, Osaka, Japan

East Kekistani leaders were shocked at the artificial drought in Spokane.

"What? They are depriving the entire West Coast of Americas from Baja California to Alaska of water?" asked an astonished Taro Sasaki.

After another emergency phone call this time it was General Sasaki who was the one that announced a piece of even more shocking news.

"A tunnel system has been discovered in Brazil near Joao Pessoa, a city on the Atlantic coast. Another had been found near Panama City. Moreover Panama Canal isn't behaving normally. Thankfully it is all clear in East Kekistan and nearby nations though."

Panama City, Panama

Panama has become utterly chaotic as the sudden loss of the white and Lebanese elite has caused the country to lose most of its leaders. Lawless reins over Panama. The few East Kekistani expats who were mostly well off are also dead, causing even more chaos.

Similar chaos was going on all over Latin America. However Panama was a lot more important strategically than many countries in the region because it had the Panama Canal.

Almost nobody was even aware of the damage done to the canal several days ago before Mitsubishi pilots checked the canal. Since there was almost nobody trying to deliver goods through it due to the global chaos nobody discovered that the canal had been deliberately damaged.

The East Kekistani military and the Obayashi Group immediately began to repair the Panama Canal using robots only because nobody knew whether Israelis had saboteurs or robots near the canal who might try to disrupt the work. If no other incident would happen then the work should be over in a year.

Government of East Kekistan, Osaka, Japan

East Kekistani leaders debated and finally agreed to continue with Operation Neko II. Since no other place had Israeli presence the operation was only carried out in Americas.

Just like Operation Neko we decided to use robots to get the Israelis to sleep first. Moreover we broadcasted messages in Hebrew calling for their surrender. They generally surrendered with a few attempting to commit suicide before getting stopped by our bots.

The tunnels under North America, South America and Central America were stormed simultaneously. More than 2,000 Israelis and more than 75,000 diaspora Jews were found. All remained alive and were sent to Area 75.

Columbia River, Sacramento River, San Joaquin River and numerous other rivers were restored.

According to Israeli POWs their mission was to permanently destroy the Silicon Valley, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver as well as farms of the West Coast to punish Spokane for supporting or at least not opposing NAS. Panama Canal was similarly sabotaged to punish the antisemitic Americas.

Portland, Spokane

Millions of Kawasakis brought aid from East Kekistan to Spokane. From ramen noodles to fresh fruits and meat from the Philippines, Palau and Hawaii Kawasakis brought life to the thirsty regions of Spokane. Fresh seeds were airlifted from Japan, China and Taiwan to Americas for the farmers who lost their livelihood.

General Zhang, General Watanabe, Spokanians, Nigerians and Central Africans were sitting at the table, eating udon, hot pot and Fuji apples together. Peace had returned to Americas. Everyone was happy.

Pyeongyang, Joseon

Chancellor Jason walked into the temporary Chancellor room, and called for a meeting with EastKiekistan leaders.

Capital City of East Kekistan

The Joseon Ambassador knocked and asked to meet with the Minister of Foreign affairs.

Osaka, Japan, Alliance of East Kekistan

Ms. Weiping Yang, the Chief of East Kekistani Ministers of Foreign Affairs, opened the door and offered the Joseon Ambassador a proposal:

"We invite your great nation to join the Alliance of East Kekistan. Members of East Kekistan are independent states and that Osaka only takes care of military affairs. If you or your citizens don't that's also fine. We will still provide security for free for we are brothers."

*****

Hundreds of millions of Baidu MA-735 microbots were cleaning up nuked cities all over the world.

Dead regions were returning to life. The first new bridges in Southeast Asia got completed with Bali connected to Java and Flores connected to Rinca. More bridges would be finished soon.

Settlers rapidly arrived at unpopulated parts of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Rebuilding was very swift.

*****

Jeddah, former Saudi Arabia

An Uyghur Muslim leader, Imam Abdul Samedi arrived at Jeddah Airport in an Mitsubishi MRJ-450 together with his family and students. Imam Samedi would be one of the leaders of the Muslim community in the post-disaster Middle East.

Supplies were sent from Kashgar to Karachi by road and then from Karachi through Socotra or Aden to Jeddah where they were transported by East Kekistani Muslims to Mecca.

Meanwhile East Kekistani companies were extending the Israeli water pipes from Eilat to Mecca and Medina so that some water from Euphrates could be diverted to feed Mecca and Medina. Large-scale farming resumed in Mesopotamia. Some grains and vegetables produced in Mesopotamia would then be used to feed Hejazis and Hajji pilgrims.

[American Pere Housh]

A young Barfleurian delegate stands up. He says, “I apologize if I’m late, but I have been instructed by the Lord Great Protector to propose a partition of Israeli territory. We move that the Gaza Strip be ceded to Egypt, while the West Bank be administered under a transitional government until it is feasible to create an independent Palestinian state. As for the rest of Israel, it should remain under occupation until the trials are concluded and those guilty punished. Then, the Israeli people can choose new leaders for their country.”
With that, he sits down. How does the rest of the world think of this proposal?

"We have no problem with this proposal though Israel will remain under Egyptian occupation until the trails have ended and they have chosen new leaders. Once this happens, Egypt will withdraw its troops from Israel." Sohaila spoke

[EastKekistan]

Grand lecture theatre, Anaborg University, Anaborg

Mr. Yamaguchi stood up and said, "We propose that the worst offenders guilty of genocide should be incarcerated for life with possibility of parole after 10 years of imprisonment. As for those only guilty of resource theft they should be sentenced to 3-5 years of imprisonment."

Jakarta, Southern Malaysia, Malaysia

East Kekistani leaders all travelled to Jakarta, the new capital of Malaysia. They greeted the surprised Malay migrants who just relocated to the area who waved at them.

Prime Minister Abdul Wahaab bin Moosha told other East Kekistani leaders things were improving rapidly and that Malaysia could be integrated into East Kekistan without issues.

"However I'm really concerned about the next Hajj. I will go with my fellow faithful. This time we need to really clean up Hejaz ASAP and ensure the supply of food. Arabian peninsula isn't exactly the best place for farming and that the Arab herders in the region and most of their flocks are dead. Hajj is about two months away. How can we make sure that diseases, terrorism or starvation won't be issues?"

Jie Zhang, the President of China, said to him, "Don't worry. We also have a large Muslim population. Governor Ma Bukui of Gansu is also a Muslim and will go with you together with Governor Bai Muqing of Ninxia and Governor Mahmud Azizi of East Turkestan. We have reopened the Kashgar-Karachi Highway and that we are sending a lot of Hajj supplies down the highway every day."

The Mongolian President, Amarkhuu Khulan, added, "We aren't Muslims. However we Mongols are traditionally very good herders. What about we hire some herders from Mongolia to take care of herds in Arabian peninsula from now on?"

Jie Zhang said, "China is pretty much doing all of the logistical work related to Hajj in the Middle East. Don't worry. Just enjoy your trip. We will cover the logistics."

*****

East Kekistani leaders agree that there are no longer major urgent issues in East Kekistan any more. However issues outside our borders are often concerning.

Taro Sasaki, the President of the Council of East Kekistani Ministers of Defense, said, "I think outside Sub-Saharan Africa, Alaska and Latin America the entire world has largely returned to normalcy. Now we have to think about planetary defense. Humanity needs to be defended from hostile aliens. Right now we aren't doing enough to address the problem of hostile aliens."

Aikawa Takahashi, the Chief of the East Kekistani Intelligence Agency, said, "Yes. We humans need to unite and confront the hostile aliens together. This requires us as a species to get rid of problematic trends from within. Right now a large part of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are completely lawless. I'm afraid that this will become a significant problem in the long run."

"How?" asked Yoritaka Ishida, the Prime Minister of Japan.

Aikawa Takahashi said worriedly, "I'm afraid that both the chronic underdevelopment of Sub-Saharan Africans & Papuans and the racist backlash will become serious problems. In fact I know that EKTM yellow Nazis are becoming a problem again. Good people go to 'the tropics', somehow get offended by locals and then become radicalized. This happens all the time. I think there is only one way out. We must give underachieving humans nootropics, good nutrition, good hygiene and good education. To ensure social racial equality we must make sure that nobody is underachieving too much."

"Maybe. Is that Nigerian girl Jessica Udene coming soon?" asked Jie Zhang.

"Yes, she is. It is not just enough to get a smart and educated African woman here." said Chief Takahashi. "I think 20%-25% of our troops in New Guinea and 20-25% of our folks in Africa especially East Africa don't like natives too much. We have to actually develop Sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea and Latin America for real. That is, we need to give them East Kekistan level education, health care, infrastructure and safety."

"This shouldn't be hard. In Sub-Saharan Africa let's try to partner with that Udene woman and her friends. In Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Solomon Islands etc we are good friends with their leaders. In Latin America maybe we should encourage Mayor Manuel Garcia of Panama City to have a larger role in his region." said Jie Zhang.

"I think I will talk to that Udene woman about this idea." said Yoritaka Ishida. "Well, maybe we should do it together. From what I have heard she really wants Nigerian businesses to become truly competent."

"OK let's do it together, shall we?" said Amarkhuu Khulan.

The leaders agreed and flew on three Kawasakis back to Osaka.

[Enugu League]

Udene Hotel, Ibadan, Nigeria

Stefan knocked on the door to room 1402. In his exhaustion, heh ad forgotten to ask his hosts where he could find them after sleeping, so he had had to phone the reception, identify himself and ask for Mrs Udene.

He was back in his hazmat suit, although being able to take it off to sleep had been wonderful, so he didn't mind now. He had had a wonderful sleep, if slightly too long; he felt embarassed.

As the door opened, he stood straight and greeted his hosts. "Please forgive me; I have overslept. I am now yours for as long as your nation needs me."

Josephine smiled and said, "That's OK. I think we need to have a good chat."

She took out a tablet. "Look, here is a map of Nigeria. We want to be self-sufficient in agriculture and industry. Your great tech, vitrogrow, should work well between Enugu and Makurdi on Benue River. Also the area between the coast and Ilorin."

[Pere Housh Alpha]

Grand lecture theatre, Anaborg University, Anaborg

Mr. Yamaguchi stood up and said, "We propose that the worst offenders guilty of genocide should be incarcerated for life with possibility of parole after 10 years of imprisonment. As for those only guilty of resource theft they should be sentenced to 3-5 years of imprisonment."

Jakarta, Southern Malaysia, Malaysia

East Kekistani leaders all travelled to Jakarta, the new capital of Malaysia. They greeted the surprised Malay migrants who just relocated to the area who waved at them.

Prime Minister Abdul Wahaab bin Moosha told other East Kekistani leaders things were improving rapidly and that Malaysia could be integrated into East Kekistan without issues.

"However I'm really concerned about the next Hajj. I will go with my fellow faithful. This time we need to really clean up Hejaz ASAP and ensure the supply of food. Arabian peninsula isn't exactly the best place for farming and that the Arab herders in the region and most of their flocks are dead. Hajj is about two months away. How can we make sure that diseases, terrorism or starvation won't be issues?"

Jie Zhang, the President of China, said to him, "Don't worry. We also have a large Muslim population. Governor Ma Bukui of Gansu is also a Muslim and will go with you together with Governor Bai Muqing of Ninxia and Governor Mahmud Azizi of East Turkestan. We have reopened the Kashgar-Karachi Highway and that we are sending a lot of Hajj supplies down the highway every day."

The Mongolian President, Amarkhuu Khulan, added, "We aren't Muslims. However we Mongols are traditionally very good herders. What about we hire some herders from Mongolia to take care of herds in Arabian peninsula from now on?"

Jie Zhang said, "China is pretty much doing all of the logistical work related to Hajj in the Middle East. Don't worry. Just enjoy your trip. We will cover the logistics."

*****

East Kekistani leaders agree that there are no longer major urgent issues in East Kekistan any more. However issues outside our borders are often concerning.

Taro Sasaki, the President of the Council of East Kekistani Ministers of Defense, said, "I think outside Sub-Saharan Africa, Alaska and Latin America the entire world has largely returned to normalcy. Now we have to think about planetary defense. Humanity needs to be defended from hostile aliens. Right now we aren't doing enough to address the problem of hostile aliens."

Aikawa Takahashi, the Chief of the East Kekistani Intelligence Agency, said, "Yes. We humans need to unite and confront the hostile aliens together. This requires us as a species to get rid of problematic trends from within. Right now a large part of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America are completely lawless. I'm afraid that this will become a significant problem in the long run."

"How?" asked Yoritaka Ishida, the Prime Minister of Japan.

Aikawa Takahashi said worriedly, "I'm afraid that both the chronic underdevelopment of Sub-Saharan Africans & Papuans and the racist backlash will become serious problems. In fact I know that EKTM yellow Nazis are becoming a problem again. Good people go to 'the tropics', somehow get offended by locals and then become radicalized. This happens all the time. I think there is only one way out. We must give underachieving humans nootropics, good nutrition, good hygiene and good education. To ensure social racial equality we must make sure that nobody is underachieving too much."

"Maybe. Is that Nigerian girl Jessica Udene coming soon?" asked Jie Zhang.

"Yes, she is. It is not just enough to get a smart and educated African woman here." said Chief Takahashi. "I think 20%-25% of our troops in New Guinea and 20-25% of our folks in Africa especially East Africa don't like natives too much. We have to actually develop Sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea and Latin America for real. That is, we need to give them East Kekistan level education, health care, infrastructure and safety."

"This shouldn't be hard. In Sub-Saharan Africa let's try to partner with that Udene woman and her friends. In Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Solomon Islands etc we are good friends with their leaders. In Latin America maybe we should encourage Mayor Manuel Garcia of Panama City to have a larger role in his region." said Jie Zhang.

"I think I will talk to that Udene woman about this idea." said Yoritaka Ishida. "Well, maybe we should do it together. From what I have heard she really wants Nigerian businesses to become truly competent."

"OK let's do it together, shall we?" said Amarkhuu Khulan.

The leaders agreed and flew on three Kawasakis back to Osaka.

"I will have to disagree with you that Mr. Yamaguchi. Those convicted of genocide deserve nothing less the death penalty." Sohaila said.

[Snofjogur]

Udene Hotel, Ibadan, Nigeria

"Is that where all the labs are in your country?" asked Stefan, looking at the map. "The key is to get all the temperatures right. It's imperative, otherwise the cells will all die or fail to develop properly. Or grow too much, and then you'll have an infestation. Fortunately, most of the temperatures you need are between ten and thirty-seven degrees, since all you'll be growing is plants and animals and yeast. In Nordland, where it's really cold, we use state-of-the-art air conditioning for the labs and incubators and freezers for storage; I suppose you could use the same here, just don't use conventional fans because they won't cut it.

You'll need a lot of empty and preferably flat space," he continued. "Your country has about three hundred and fifty times more mouths to feed than mine. We export most of what we produce, but even if you don't export anything you'll need at least some twenty times as many labs as we have. That means you'll also need at least twenty times as many human lab technicians and robotic assistants as we have. I've been instructed to say we'll provide all the robots and help build all the labs. As for training, we'll provide it as well, but back home, so we'll need you to send your brightest young bioscientists to Nordland.

You could have this up and running in three years, maybe two. The bottleneck is the training, you see, not the construction or the acquisition of source material, which your nation has plenty of. Starting source material is embryonic cells of all the species you want to grow. The key is then to differentiate them into the right proportion of specialised cell types and provide the right environment and stimuli to help them grow to maturity and achieve the three-dimensional configuration required by the tissue you want to grow. You'll then have enough muscle tissue to make meat or enough blood to make blood sausage, for example, without ever having full animals with a nervous system and having to slaughter them. With plants, it's even easier, since you require less stringent control. Yeast is the easiest. Of course, the final products will all be identical to the ones you currently get from animals and plants, so it's really just as healthy as food grown more... traditionally, but it's more sustainable and completely ethical and it doesn't depend on things like climate and soil type and natural disasters.

After your young scientists have been trained, you'll be able to do away with agriculture altogether in Nigeria. This is better for the environment, and production will increase." He thought for a moment, his gaze becoming blank before falling back on his hosts. "I've heard that some people are reluctant to give up their jobs to machines and labs even though it means they can focus on more-creative jobs and the nation's productivity goes up because robots can work better and more quickly than humans and don't need to be paid. I've never understood it, but cultural differences, I suppose. Do you think you'll have that problem in Nigeria?"

---

Nordlander Þing, Reykjavík, Nordland

Karl Ólsson sat alone in the interdisciplinary meeting room. Two back-to-back meetings had left him exhausted. He was looking forward to wrapping this up and going home for the day. Thankfully, there were no more meetings scheduled.

He reread the message he had just written before sending it:

"President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
President of the Republic of Kenya

Seeking to strengthen the ties between Nordland and your nations and believing all four nations can benefit greatly from increased cooperation in the fields of science and industry, we hereby propose a cooperation agreement with the following goals in mind:

• the industrialisation of Sub-Saharan African nations and training of scientists and technicians to bring said nations to par with northern-European nations
• the construction of a purely scientific underwater city in the Atlantic Ocean, administrated jointly by our four nations, with the purpose of furthering our understanding of the physics, chemistry and biology of Earth's oceans

We hope you will agree to meet with us by videoconference at the earliest convenience to discuss these matters in further detail.

We look forward to your replies. Sincerely,

The Representatives of the Sector of Foreign Affairs
The Representatives of the Sector of Industry
The Representatives of the Sector of Science & Technology
The Representatives of the Sector of Education
The Representatives of the Sector of Infrastructure
Nordland"

Satisfied, he sent the message, gathered his coat and headed home.

[Jasonvillee]

(Replying to East Keikistsan)

"In order to join you, we would need a vote for that(every law or decision in Joseonville is directly voted by the entire population). It will be very hard to get many Joseon people to vote for this. But we can be very close allied. Thank yo!"

[EastKekistan]

(Replying to East Keikistsan)

"In order to join you, we would need a vote for that(every law or decision in Joseonville is directly voted by the entire population). It will be very hard to get many Joseon people to vote for this. But we can be very close allied. Thank yo!"

"Cool! We are also a democracy. I think it is very likely that the referandum will pass in East Kekistan. I think before the referendum we will first build a bridge from Japan to Busan, shall we?" said Ms. Yang.

Panama City, Panama Canal Zone

Ambassador Kyu-ichi Yamamoto knocked on the door of Mayor Garcia's office.

"Come in." said Mr. Garcia.

"Osaka told me to give you some good news. We support you as the leader of Panama."

"What? That's great! However my police officers aren't numerous enough to keep peace in all of Panama." said Mr. Garcia.

"We will help you just like what we did in Papua New Guinea, Kenya and Mauritius. It is time to restore law and order to Latin America." said Ambassador Yamamoto. "Moreover we will send advisors to help you rebuild Panama."

*****

Based in the depopulated Santiago, Chile East Kekistani troops began to help re-establish Latin American governments. The formerly fairly white Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil were almost devoid of people other than East Kekistani bureaucrats and soldiers who just arrived. Elsewhere there were a lot more people. We recruited Spanish and Portuguese speakers mostly from Japan to assist locals in rebuilding their lives.

[Jasonvillee]

(Replying to East Keikistsan)

"In order to join you, we would need a vote for that(every law or decision in Joseonville is directly voted by the entire population). It will be very hard to get many Joseon people to vote for this. But we can be very close allied. Thank yo!"

"Cool! We are also a democracy. I think it is very likely that the referandum will pass in East Kekistan. I think before the referendum we will first build a bridge from Japan to Busan, shall we?" said Ms. Yang.

Panama City, Panama Canal Zone

Ambassador Kyu-ichi Yamamoto knocked on the door of Mayor Garcia's office.

"Come in." said Mr. Garcia.

"Osaka told me to give you some good news. We support you as the leader of Panama."

"What? That's great! However my police officers aren't numerous enough to keep peace in all of Panama." said Mr. Garcia.

"We will help you just like what we did in Papua New Guinea, Kenya and Mauritius. It is time to restore law and order to Latin America." said Ambassador Yamamoto. "Moreover we will send advisors to help you rebuild Panama."

*****

Based in the depopulated Santiago, Chile East Kekistani troops began to help re-establish Latin American governments. The formerly fairly white Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil were almost devoid of people other than East Kekistani bureaucrats and soldiers who just arrived. Elsewhere there were a lot more people. We recruited Spanish and Portuguese speakers mostly from Japan to assist locals in rebuilding their lives.

"Yes, that would be very good in helping us be good and close allies. My engineers and builders will help yours."

[Pere Housh Alpha]

Stephanie Jackson walks into the room to see her fellow ambassadors in the room and speaks in an Australian accent, "Sorry for being late, mates. My nation has miraculously been unaffected by the virus as my country didn't have any Israeli embassy or consulates. I'm Stephanie Jackson, Pere Housh Alpha's ambassador."

[The Federation of Spokane]

The ambassador to Spokane walked up to the computer, and plugged a USB in before announcing “Your Honors, I have damning evidence of the Israelis perpetrating crimes. Permission to present?”

[The Federation of Spokane]

He nodded after hearing the affirmation, and began to speak, the computer humming in rhythm with his voice.
“We were minimally affected with the virus, due to the fact that Spokane has had it’s borders closed since the devastating war in our nation where many civilians died. A 15th of our population has been affected, but due to the Madossans creating a vaccine we have had 1/20th of our nation die, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. The Israelis messed with two rivers in my nation, the Columbia and the Sacramento Rivers.
The slide changed to show a before and after picture of both rivers as he began to continue.
”As you can see, the water levels are dramatically different then compared to these pictures back in 2054, before our civil war. These pictures was taken in 2059, 5 years later. There is no way the water could have changed so dramatically in 5 years unless the Israelis were messing with them, which is both a breach of Sovereignty and human rights. People were significantly medically impacted, especially during our dry summers.
He pulled out a thick file full of medical papers and placed them on a table nearby, full of people who have been admitted to the hospital for severe dehydration effects’s case files for the other ambassadors to read.
“As you can see, there was a uptick in people being admitted to the hospital for severe dehydration in the Columbia and Sacramento areas. This had a impact on our people’s health, one that may never be fixed. I have a recorded conversation on the Israelis, which implicates them in their crimes, along with many reports from various nations which also implicated them. We also raided the only Israeli consulate, which there is a video of.
He proceeded to pull out a tape, and began to play.
(OC: Red is my OC Captain, Aharon Zagorski, blue is the Israeli Government)
A crackly voice came over the recorder, sounding like it was from a radio.
”Israel-101 control tower, you there?”
”Yes Israel 4040, this is Israel-101. Have you made it to the River Columbia? “
”We are there, set up and ready to teach these filthy Spokanites why they should have taken a stance against the filthy NAS instead of hiding away from the world. They are such a sh*tty nation, how have they managed to live this long?”
”Their leaders, who hold all of the power. Can’t wait to see the new king come crying and begging us to help him, when we started this problem anyway. I can’t wait to see them collapse, finally. I wished they would have collapsed back in 2055, when that oh-so devastating civil war began.”
The ambassador looked offended for his nation as he pulled out copies of East Kekistani reports and read “ Israelis from area 75 said “the reason why they started a underground Israel in Spokane was to teach the Federation of Spokane a lesson for not doing anything in this war, when they call themselves the bastion of democratic socialist ideals and a superpower.”
He groaned and sat back down, letting what he had said sink in.

[New yugoslavaia]

"This is quite concerning, but nothing too alien compared to their other actions. Also, it seems to prove my hypothesis that the attacks were motivated by a kind of extreme nationalism, maybe even ethnonationalism. Whatever the case, this adds to the large collection of evidence dammming the state of Israel. It is very unfortunate that they were motivated to do this out of extreme nationalistic pride and religious fanaticism. These actions will no doubt fuel a new age of antisemitism and far right thought. Not that I really care about the Jewish people. Don't love em, don't hate em, just recognize them. You could say I'm quite apathetic towards them.

Oh, and on the subject of what should be done to these perpetrators. Well, I personally believe, along with the citizens of New Yugoslavia that they should be put to death. Isn't it obvious that there is no hope of reforming such radicalized individuals? No straight thinking person would launch an attack intent on whipping out billions of lives. Death penealty of the masterminds behind the operation and the life sentence for the aids. Israel should be put under occupation with nationalist and religious groups being banned. If the Jewish people are to ever govern their country again, they must be secular with a mind set towards furthering the world, not the nation. That is all we have to say."

[Snofjogur]

Grand lecture theatre, Anaborg University, Anaborg, Nordland

"If there are no more proposals, I would like to repeat them before we take a vote," Ingrid said. She spoke loudly and clearly for all in the room to hear. "Nordland has proposed rehabilitation of the offenders; East Kekistan has proposed incarceration of the offenders; Pere Housh Alpha has proposed execution of the offenders; and Barfleur and New Yugoslavia have proposed a partitioning of Israeli territory. This last proposal pertains to the nation of Israel, while the others pertain to the Israelis guilty of everything we have been hearing about during this trial. As such, while the three proposals pertaining to the offenders are mutually exclusive, any one of them and the last one are not so. We will take two votes, one to decide the fate of the offenders and one to decide whether or not the Israeli territory is partitioned as determined by New Yugoslavia and Barfleur. All those in favour of rehabilitation?" She waited for hands to be raised and counted them. "All those in favour of incarceration?" She waited and counted once more. "All those in favour of execution?" Again. She wrote the results down on a tablet. "Finally, all those in favour of partitioning the territory of Israel?" Again she waited and counted, tallying the results against the number of invited nations to determine whether the proposal had a majority.

[The Federation of Spokane]

The ambassador raised his hand, going the same way as the East Kekistani ambassador.

[The Federation of Spokane]

TELEGRAM
To: East Kekistan
From: The Federation of Spokane
Encryption: Military

The Federation of Spokane is interested in joining the East Kekistan alliance, as it has been proven to us that we cannot keep our nation great without aid from allies. May we join? This would be beneficial to East Kekistan as well, as we have a powerful military and technology is pretty much Spokane’s main export. May East Kekistan live long and strong.

[EastKekistan]

TELEGRAM
To: East Kekistan
From: The Federation of Spokane
Encryption: Military

The Federation of Spokane is interested in joining the East Kekistan alliance, as it has been proven to us that we cannot keep our nation great without aid from allies. May we join? This would be beneficial to East Kekistan as well, as we have a powerful military and technology is pretty much Spokane’s main export. May East Kekistan live long and strong.

To: Spokane
From: The Alliance of East Kekistan

We are more than happy to accept you guys! We need to hold two referenda, one in YN and one in East Kekistan. When this passes you will be admitted. Welcome to our alliance!

[The Federation of Spokane]

TELEGRAM
To: East Kekistan
From: The Federation of Spokane
Encryption: Military

The Federation of Spokane is interested in joining the East Kekistan alliance, as it has been proven to us that we cannot keep our nation great without aid from allies. May we join? This would be beneficial to East Kekistan as well, as we have a powerful military and technology is pretty much Spokane’s main export. May East Kekistan live long and strong.

To: Spokane
From: The Alliance of East Kekistan

We are more than happy to accept you guys! We need to hold two referenda, one in YN and one in East Kekistan. When this passes you will be admitted. Welcome to our alliance!

To: East Kekistan
From: Spokane
Here are the results of the referendum in Spokane,
69.9 percent of our population said Yes
11.1 abstained
9 percent said No

[American Pere Housh]

Sohaila votes in favor of the death penalty for the accused and votes against partition of Israel.

"We disagree with East Kekistan and believe Israel should be fully independent. We already occupied Israel and believe they should be their own country once more. Any attempt by the International community to occupy the Holy Lands will be deemed illegal by the Egyptian government. Our troops will withdraw once the trails are over and a new Israeli government has been chosen."

[Enugu League]

Udene Hotel, Ibadan, Nigeria

"Is that where all the labs are in your country?" asked Stefan, looking at the map. "The key is to get all the temperatures right. It's imperative, otherwise the cells will all die or fail to develop properly. Or grow too much, and then you'll have an infestation. Fortunately, most of the temperatures you need are between ten and thirty-seven degrees, since all you'll be growing is plants and animals and yeast. In Nordland, where it's really cold, we use state-of-the-art air conditioning for the labs and incubators and freezers for storage; I suppose you could use the same here, just don't use conventional fans because they won't cut it.

You'll need a lot of empty and preferably flat space," he continued. "Your country has about three hundred and fifty times more mouths to feed than mine. We export most of what we produce, but even if you don't export anything you'll need at least some twenty times as many labs as we have. That means you'll also need at least twenty times as many human lab technicians and robotic assistants as we have. I've been instructed to say we'll provide all the robots and help build all the labs. As for training, we'll provide it as well, but back home, so we'll need you to send your brightest young bioscientists to Nordland.

You could have this up and running in three years, maybe two. The bottleneck is the training, you see, not the construction or the acquisition of source material, which your nation has plenty of. Starting source material is embryonic cells of all the species you want to grow. The key is then to differentiate them into the right proportion of specialised cell types and provide the right environment and stimuli to help them grow to maturity and achieve the three-dimensional configuration required by the tissue you want to grow. You'll then have enough muscle tissue to make meat or enough blood to make blood sausage, for example, without ever having full animals with a nervous system and having to slaughter them. With plants, it's even easier, since you require less stringent control. Yeast is the easiest. Of course, the final products will all be identical to the ones you currently get from animals and plants, so it's really just as healthy as food grown more... traditionally, but it's more sustainable and completely ethical and it doesn't depend on things like climate and soil type and natural disasters.

After your young scientists have been trained, you'll be able to do away with agriculture altogether in Nigeria. This is better for the environment, and production will increase." He thought for a moment, his gaze becoming blank before falling back on his hosts. "I've heard that some people are reluctant to give up their jobs to machines and labs even though it means they can focus on more-creative jobs and the nation's productivity goes up because robots can work better and more quickly than humans and don't need to be paid. I've never understood it, but cultural differences, I suppose. Do you think you'll have that problem in Nigeria?"

---

Nordlander Þing, Reykjavík, Nordland

Karl Ólsson sat alone in the interdisciplinary meeting room. Two back-to-back meetings had left him exhausted. He was looking forward to wrapping this up and going home for the day. Thankfully, there were no more meetings scheduled.

He reread the message he had just written before sending it:

"President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
President of the Republic of Kenya

Seeking to strengthen the ties between Nordland and your nations and believing all four nations can benefit greatly from increased cooperation in the fields of science and industry, we hereby propose a cooperation agreement with the following goals in mind:

• the industrialisation of Sub-Saharan African nations and training of scientists and technicians to bring said nations to par with northern-European nations
• the construction of a purely scientific underwater city in the Atlantic Ocean, administrated jointly by our four nations, with the purpose of furthering our understanding of the physics, chemistry and biology of Earth's oceans

We hope you will agree to meet with us by videoconference at the earliest convenience to discuss these matters in further detail.

We look forward to your replies. Sincerely,

The Representatives of the Sector of Foreign Affairs
The Representatives of the Sector of Industry
The Representatives of the Sector of Science & Technology
The Representatives of the Sector of Education
The Representatives of the Sector of Infrastructure
Nordland"

Satisfied, he sent the message, gathered his coat and headed home.

Udene Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

"I think we can do it." said Josephine. "Don't worry about Luddites. We don't have them here."

"In terms of education and training", said Jacob, "Jess herself is a biology graduate from Harvard. I'm sure she knows the right person to organize the recruiting of scientists."

Josephine then texted Jessica on the issue. Five minutes later she said, "Professor Jonathan Chimamanda at Harvard University is who we should talk to."

Yakubu Gowon Airport, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

A plane left Jos. Joshua Maduka and his girlfriend, Sarah Anozie were on their way. Their destination was Osaka. They would like to meet with East Kekistanis before Jessica went there.

However they were not alone. Another person was also on a secret trip.

Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria

A sister of the mining tycoon Anthony Machie, Deborah Machie, was on her way to another city. That city was Alexandria, Egypt.

Udene Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Sub-Saharan African leaders were holding a conference in Udene Hotel. The Nigerian President Emily Adeyemi, Sierra Leonean President James Caulker, Kenyan President George Odinga and four other leaders were pushing for a new political, economic and military union known as the Central African Union (CAU). Leaders of Ghana, Rwanda and Ivory Coast strongly disagreed.

In the same hotel Juliet Udene was monitoring the conference from her own room. The CAU treaty was likely to pass. However Ghana and Ivory Coast really need to be integrated into the EL system ASAP.

[EastKekistan]

Osaka, Japan, Alliance of East Kekistan

In East Kekistan almost everything is automated. However voting is a rare exception. People only vote using paper and pen to ensure that people can't cheat.

The referendum took a day to finish. 73.4% of all East Kekistani citizens voted. From Mongolia to Malaysia the referendum passed. The nation with the highest "Yes" percentage for accession of Spokane is Thailand with 91.3% of the people while in China-Nanjing the percentage is lowest at 65.7%. For the accession of Joseon the nation with the highest "Yes" percentage is Taiwan with 82.6% voting "Yes". The lowest percentage is Malaysia with only 56.1% voting for Joseon to be admitted.

According to Article 4 of the Constitution of the Alliance of East Kekistan the Federation of Spokane has been admitted as a full member. Whether Joseon Confederation will join us on the other hand depends on the will of their people. East Kekistan is a democracy.

2059 is a minor election year in East Kekistan. Thailand which became a Republic after Israel murdered the royal family, would hold the first Presidential Election on the same day they conduct their Parliamentary election. Japan and Taiwan are likely to have general elections in 2060 and China and Mongolia will hold their next general elections in 2061. In 2062 East Kekistan will hold an alliance-wide parliamentary election.

In settler colonies in depopulated areas namely Colony of Burma, Colony of Indochina, Colony of Hawaii, Colony of Philippines and Colony of South Pacific the first colonial elections are going to be held in 2060. We plan to make these colonies independent states within 5 years.

**********

A black couple appeared before the East Kekistani government in Osaka. We know that they are Mr. Joshua Maduka and Ms. Sarah Anozie. We do mostly know why they came here.

"Ms. Anozie and Mr. Maduka, welcome to Osaka! I'm glad you are here." said Minister Weiping Yang, President of the Council of East Kekistani Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

"Take a seat and enjoy a cup of green tea from China." She smiled and said.

The Nigerians drank the tea. She asked them whether they enjoyed it.

[Enugu League]

Osaka, Japan

Sarah politely thanked her host and said, "I wish we could have it back in Nigeria. However we don't. See? This is why we are here. We Africans need help. You East Kekistanis have agronomists who developed your plants in your fields and companies that sold good seeds. We don't."

"That's just agriculture. Do you know how devoid of industry Sub-Saharan Africa is?" said Joshua. "My father owns a steel plant which has tech probably obsolete in Japan 40 years ago. And yeah, Nigeria is already the most industrialized black country in the world, ever. Yet even Nigeria is in this sorry state. We urgently need your help."

"We also need our own arms industry. Do you know how awful the state of Sub-Saharan African arms industry is? Can you guys just teach us how to manufacture just one tank, one missile or one plane? Right now Sub-Saharan African countries can hardly resist any form of military aggression from pretty much any nation outside the region." continued Joshua.

"Please, also help us fix our education system. Most people don't want to admit that. However the education system in Sub-Saharan Africa is completely abysmal. Look at the grades in international exams." Sarah almost cried. "Not every African child dreams of attending a university as good as Tokyo University or Tsinghua University. However we Africans should at least get something. I have heard that you East Kekistanis traditionally emphasize education a lot. Can you help fix our education system?"

Joshua also added, "Could you please station troops in Sub-Saharan Africa to defend us from possible foreign aggression? If you aren't willing can you help us build nukes or guarantee that if any Sub-Saharan African country is attacked you will retaliate for us?"

Alexandria, Egypt

Deborah Machie took a plane to Alexandria unannounced. She urgently wanted to meet with the Egyptian leader.

William Igwebuike and his friends such as the Machie family and the Nduka family were unhappy with the cooperation between Jessica Udene and both East Kekistan and Nordland. William Igwebuike is especially angry about the cooperation between Udenes and Nordland on agriculture for this can destroy his fertilizer business. Mr. Igwebuike is aware of the fact that Western and East Kekistani businesses have been setting up shop in Sub-Saharan Africa and dumping their goods here for years. Hence neither Western capitalists nor East Kekistanis who were notoriously mercantilist can be trusted. Halfront is a white minority regime in Southern Africa which can't be trusted either. He had to look elsewhere. He used to want to cooperate with Nordlanders because they were socialists. However due to Jessica Udene having saved a lot of non-black expats pretty much the entire world was in love with her and Udene allies had almost completely taken over the foreign ministry. There were not many places for potential allies left. Egypt is one of them. USSR is another one. However for whatever reason Russians hadn't responded to him at all so Egypt was his main hope.

Joseph Ijeawele agreed to facilitate the negotiation between him and the Udenes. William threatened to defect to the Hausas and their allies and spill the beans about the existence of EL to everyone if the threat to his fertilizer business was not adequately addressed. Jessica's proposal was letting him get 50% of the stock in the proposed African RealFood Company. He wasn't satisfied and wanted 100%.

After a long negotiation and with the only son in the Udene family, Jack Udene, being personally involved, William Igwebuike will control food supply of all of Sub-Saharan Africa. In return Udenes and their allies will be able to dominate the arms industry all over Sub-Saharan Africa and that Igwebuikes and their allies will not give up attempts to establish an arms industry with Russian assistance which never worked out since Russians haven't responded anyway.

Even though Udene and Igwebuike factions of EL had a truce William Igwebuike still sent Deborah Machie to Alexandria. He wanted to be able to expand his business and his allies' businesses to Egypt-controlled parts of Sub-Saharan Africa such as Somalia and hopefully Egypt proper. In order to do so he needed Egyptians to agree. Moreover since black countries were weak we had to get along with all superpowers and maintain a delicate balance of power which EL firmly endorses. From now on Udenes will ostensibly be the biggest fans of East Kekistan while Igwebuikes will ostensibly be the biggest fans of Egypt. Both factions will be fans of Nordland for real because as a socialist and unarmed state Nordland is one of the few rich and high-tech countries that don't and can't practice neocolonialism either militarily or economically in Sub-Saharan Africa.