Damaskopolis Timeline

In the making for over ten years is my alternate timeline for the world of Damaskopolis and the Middle East of 2082. The politics of this world have shaped the life of Detective Yossi Ormonde:

2020 Ronald Klump re-elected to the White House

2021 White House declares state of emergency following attempted military coup. The coup leaders are captured and summarily executed. Democrat Party disbanded three months later.

2023 January Congress declares President Klump - First Citizen for life and suspends presidential elections, whilst expanding the powers of the Office of the President of the United States of America

2023 May The People’s Republic of China establishes its first permanent base on the moon.

2023  December Outbreak of first EU - Russian war. The EU is defeated within three weeks while the United States of America declares its neutrality.

2024 Virtual and augmented reality become mainstream technologies that revolutionise the world of work and entertainment.

2024 Synthetic drugs, legalised since 2019 - overtake alcoholic beverages in annual sales.

2024 September United States defaults under a public debt of $222 trillion. Military deployed in the streets to quell riots. Canada and Mexico close their borders.

2024 December Russia annexes Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and invades Poland. EU declares a state of emergency. Polish army establishes North-South defensive line around Warsaw.

2024 8th December Sixteen year old Syrian revolution ends with defeat of the rebels in the north. Assad regime declares victory.

2025 January - President First-Citizen and former Vice President Colin Farlane refuses further debt payments, prompting diplomatic crisis with the People’s Republic of China.

2026 June Asian Commonwealth, headed by Beijing, declares boycott of all American goods, increasing economic instability in the United States.

2026 August Democratic Federation of California declares independence from the United States. First-Citizen Farlane mobilizes armed forces, sparking the Second American Civil war which lasts for seven months.

2026 August Arab-Israeli peace process concludes, as waves of Arab and Jewish refugees from Europe and North America flood back to the Middle East.

2026 November Islamic Republic of Iran protests and declares the Arab states traitors to the cause of Palestine. Places armed forces in a state of emergency.

2029 Increasing instability in the Middle East, as Gulf states begin an arms race with Iran. Outbreak of conflicts across the region.

2030 Dissolution of the United Nations and the Human Rights Council.

2030 May African Economic Forum established to facilitate trade between the continent’s major cities, under Beijing’s blessing.

2030 May Second EU - Russian war begins. EU forces launch surprise attack. Reach Moscow suburbs. Russia retaliates with nuclear missiles against Berlin, Paris, Munich, Geneva, and London. World leaders condemn Moscow and embargo the Russian Federation.

2031 The People’s Republic of China brokers a peace deal between Europe and Russia, creating a demarcation line. Russia’s economy goes into freefall. Europe devastated

2031 Advanced Aerial Vehicle - “lev-car” - sales surpass terrestrial car sales for the first time in history in China. Chinese and Emirati consortiums spearhead production and begin first exports to African market, followed quickly by Latin America.

2032 China abandons base on the moon to focus on an “Earth First” policy.

2033 The internet devolves into regional networks, with little inter-connectivity apart from closely guarded “Streams” for international financial transactions.

2033 October Internal struggle between Islamic Republic of Iran hardliners and moderates results in victory for the hardliners - national cult of the Mahdi re-established.

2034 North American Trade Federation, under the leadership of Canada, set up, ostracising the DFC (Democratic Federation of California) states. DFC strengthens trade ties with the People’s Republic of China in retaliation.

2035 Series of terror attacks rock the Middle East as Mahdi cultists seek to provoke the Final War. Gulf states break off diplomatic relations.

2035 Right Wing Middle Eastern and North African governments, including that of Israel, establish a blockade of all refugees from the European continent. Thousands perish in illegal boat crossings.

2036 Sultanate of Oman, with its mildly progressive government, is invaded by the United Arab Emirates, following the fate of Qatar and Bahrain. Political right dominates the Middle East and North Africa. Newspapers and online media outlets are shut and activists are executed or imprisoned.

2037 Military coup in Cairo establishes the People’s Democratic Republic of Egypt, toppling the populist government and executing Najib Jumaa and his family. Neighbouring Arab countries declare war immediately. Israel announces neutrality and shuts borders.

2037 June Egypt emerged victorious, using chemical weapons across its frontiers to eliminate transgressors. Sudan collapses into several warring statelets.

2037 Sarkissian Industries founded by Aldo Sarkissian. Focused on localised software solutions. Expands into microchip and computronic technology that interfaces with the human brain.

2038 Israeli populist government toppled by far-right religious extremist parties. Civil war breaks out, leading to the total victory of the religious right and a total rout of Israel’s secular movement.

2039 Second Nakba Far Right religious government in Israel exiles all secular Israelis, leftists, Arabs, and homosexuals. Yossi’s family escapes to the newly formed city-state of Damaskopolis.

2047 Yossi Ormonde born in Damaskopolis

2051 China begins policy of non-entanglement with the world. “Great Firewall” of China declared operational, sealing off its networks. Sarkissian Industries gets exclusive franchise rights for Middle East connectivity.

2060 Judgement Day. Russians once more launch weapons to stop encroaching FNA forces. North American continent, Europe, and Russia bombarded with retaliatory nuclear attacks. Mass refugee crisis, rise of warlords, and collapse of organised government across most of the Northern Hemisphere. Middle East and North Africa close border and sea routes indefinitely under unprecedented refugee movements. The Fascist European Federation emerges from the ashes of Western Europe. Expels all non-ethnic Europeans.

2062 Iranian nuclear strike against Israel thwarted because of inexplicable technology malfunction. Israel responds with conventional means instead of nuclear weapons, leading to ten-year war that decimates both countries. Depleted uranium munitions and equipment across the Middle East lead to vast areas of desert becoming contaminated with radioactive dust.

2062 Popular uprising in Aleppo. Cairo Marxists declare support for the movement. Damaskopolis declares war on Cairo, citing meddling and interference in its internal affairs. European Federation declares Middle East nuclear free zone, under pain of immediate extermination.

2074 Aleppo Commune uprising crushed by the Assad regime in Damaskopolis

2072 Government collapses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as oil revenues vanish. Iran-Israel war dwindles into quasi-permanent ceasefire.

2080 Marxists launch a massive invasion force across the sea from Sinai into what was the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, bypassing the closed Israeli borders and airspace. Damaskopolis forces caught totally unprepared and suffer severe setbacks before the battle lines are fixed approximately one hundred kilometres south of the Metropolis. War of attrition begins.