Re: [gundam] G00: HRA and AEU splitting Russia

[Joseph Riggs]

I'm not sure about the Russia thing, of course, but if I had to hazard a guess it was at least partly decided just on the fact that Russia is "too darn big", and it would be easiest to handle it by splitting it between Russia proper and Siberia.  That way the AEU still gets a sizeable chunk of territory, and doesn't have a huge extension sticking out just north of the HRL.   But I have to admit it's more fun to look for real-world connections.   I suspect that Japan's debated militarization (which includes things such as debate over whether or not the Japanese can tie into a US missile defense system, or would need to use one that's exclusively their own) is missing for one or both of two possible reasons.  The first is bias on the part of the writers.  Part of the reason that there is actually a debate on the Japanese militarization is because there are people opposed to it, and it's possible that whomever designed Japan in the setting prefers that Japan does not increase its military footprint.  The second is that the setting assumes an arrangement between Japan and the US very similar to the one that exists today.  Ever since MacArthur wrote the Japanese constitution (wondering - is there any other instance in which a victorious foreign power has allowed the losing power to remain a sovereign nation but blatantly rewritten its constitution without even pretending that it was done by natives! ?), it's been understood that the US would help provide military support for Japan.  The current situation in Gundam 00 appears to be that setup taken to extremes, with the Union (which is presumeably much more powerful than the US alone) now providing the military aid.   The lack of ethnic Indians that you noted in the HRL is also rather odd.  Given India's current status and population, you'd expect that it would have a strong presence.  But so far the HRL names have all seemed to be either Russian or Chinese, and every member that we've seen has been fair-skinned (the only dark-skinned individual that I recall seeing anywhere so far is one of the members of Graham's unit). Environment - they got their panacea in the form of solar power and trade restrictions on fossil fuels, so I'm guessing that the writers are ignoring environmental issues.   WMD - In reality, they're pretty hard to smuggle in and use properly.  Since none of the super-powers are weak (unlike Russia immediately following the post-Soviet collapse), I'm guessing that there's been pretty good control of the nuclear weapons stockpiles.  Assuming that the Iranians and other Middle Eastern states never got the bomb, then it's quite possible that the only nation outside the three super powers with nuclear weapons would be Israel (South Africa did have them at one point, but voluntarily got rid of them - the only nation to do so to date).  So nuclear weapons are out.  Both bioweapons and chemical weapons are apparently difficult to transport and deploy properly.  In most cases a good old conventional bomb is the weapon of choice for terrorists.     junior ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : Re: [gundam] G00: HRA and AEU splitting Russia Date : Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:06:34 -0500 From : "Dr. Core" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To : list@gundam.com But it's a very eclectic mix of fringe and mainstream headlines. I've been following east Asian news from decent sources and this particular article still come as a surprise to me. China may have an economic temptation for the Asiatic Russia but I would think that cultural and language barriers are still too high, from a cost/benefit analysis POV. Where did the G00 writers find these odd (real world) stories to guide their vision? And just as they have borrowed a lot of real world events and trends, they have reversed or ignored many major themes. Japan's militarization doesn't materialize, India and Indians are nowhere to be seen, environment is completely forgotten, WMD also becomes off-topic. Japan's status as a (demilitarized?) special economic zone in the Union is very odd. Why not a full member? In the real world, Japan, Australia and India are all eager (at least tempted) to form a kind of semi-NATO arrangement with US to contain China. A major theme in Japanese politics for the past year is the SDF's Afghanistan and Iraq missions and constitution reform aimed at (re-)militarization. Most of the world, including Japan view India as a equal rival to China, why not show at least a brown face or two in HRA? Environment is traditionally a secondary theme in many Gundam shows (particularly ZZ, CCA, V, Turn-A, maybe X?) and AD 2300s is supposed to be a transition period from fossil fuel to solar power, why doesn't anyone talk about the environment? WMD is also a primary theme in many Gundam shows, and THE primary real world theme in globalized conflicts, another mysterious omission. CB's existence seems to be stomping out all conventional weapons conflicts, using conventional weapons. Why won't Taribia or Azadistan try to advance their agenda with a nuke or two? Why don't Union/AEU/HRA use nukes against each other, or minor annoyance (Sri Lanka etc) or CB? They invented a La Idenda which plants simultaneous bombings against soft targets (patterned after you-know-who), but no attempt to make/steal/use WMD. Generally peoples of the South are getting no love from the G00 writers, Africa and Middle East are 4th-rated or non-players. Sri Lanka, Africa and South America are conflict zone or proxy wars. Indians/Latinos don't show up in HRA/Union government, military and research organizations. -- Dr. Core -------------------------------------------------- The Gundam Mailing List MK-II list@gundam.com Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the BODY: help list

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