So it seems an acorn became famous over the weekend. A sheriff deputy was arresting a car thief, had searched, handcuffed, and secured the guy in the back of the patrol vehicle, when an acorn fell. The deputy mistook the sound for a gun shot and it would seem ran for cover as he returned fire on the secured prisoner. And missed the guy. All of this caught on camera. I really can’t make this stuff up. Seriously… an acorn…
The Russian Federation that entered space and the stars did so as part of an economic boom that brought new opportunity to anyone who could grasp it. The Russian Federation made its way to the stars by harnessing the wealth of its wealthiest citizens and the hopes of its poorest. The Russian Oligarchs and State worked together, and sometimes against each other, to colonize new systems in mixed private/public ventures looking for new resources to pour into Mother Russia. And their own pockets of course. Many new oligarchs have arisen over the years and others have fallen as they fight over a piece of the pie. The Russian Federation is a rough and tumble home to great opportunity to those who can grasp it and more for those who can hold it.
The Russian Federation expansion did not generally use the traditional method of invading armies crossing borders, but it manifested itself through the simple expedient of calling on local peoples of Russian ancestry to ask Mother Russia for help. Mother Russia was of course happy to go and help them, and shoot all the nasty terrorists who threatened them. It was a simple matter after that to run new elections, and one region or entire nation after another joined Russia of its own free will. Russian observers were always happy to make certain that the elections were fair of course. It was all very legal. Very proper. Very Russian. The Russian Federation and all the Russian people were one big happy family again.
The Russian Federation took the Second Great Depression as an opportunity to solidify their control over the traditionally Russian territories the West had taken from them over the years. They capitalized on old Russian pride to bring their far-flung people together, and shot all the terrorists that resisted the return of Mother Russia. The Russians were very accomplished at finding and killing terrorists. They never seemed to run out of them. Though they did run out of old Russian territory to reclaim. With the Western Alliance standing up to face them, the Russians took a step back to gather their reunited peoples into the all-inclusive Russian state. It was a good time to be Russian. Not so good to be not-so-much Russian.
The Chinese Co-Prosperity Sphere that entered space and then the stars was blessed with a ready supply of compliant lesser races they could send out to claim the wild frontiers. They moved entire populations off Earth to settle far off worlds and the true Chinese expanded into the empty lands. They built their greater Hegemony in the stars on the backs of the riffraff they didn’t want. It was an elegant way to dispose of the excess population while turning their corner of Earth into a paradise for the true Chinese people. China became the Middle Kingdom once more, masters of all the corners of Earth that mattered, and wealth flowed to Earth from the far off colonies. It was a Golden Age for China. One they planned to maintain forever.
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