Yes, she was; check Renraku Arcology: shutdown and System Failure for details.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I think I'm thinking what I think, I think you're thinking!

the NR coup was not foiled. it went off almost exactly as it was planned. the NR didn't have the firepower to maintain a military hold on the UCAS, much less the CAS and the various NANs. so the upper echelons of the NR pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, including the rest of the NR. they set up a massive boogey man to scare everyone into thinking a military faction was taking over the US--and then the real NR pulled a countercoup in the name of the UCAS.

edit: for future reference, -X- is impossible to quote. his name gives the system fits when you try to use it as the author of a quote.

hrmf, didnt turn out as expected...

So the tippy top of the NR doesn't care about reuniting the old US? Or rather that isn't their point in existing. They created the NR just to gather enough support to take out the existing UCAS government and then take over?

As for the name..., well I would have just been plain 'X' but the system didn't allow it, hence the additional '-'s to get the nick up to three characters without being XXX or something. Not sure what I can do about it now but it is certainly lame that I can't be quoted easily.

I meant just

X

but the forum rules called for at least three characters. So the dashes are just filler really.

they simply knew there'd be no way to reunite the old US through military might. trying to put together an army and smashing all the other nations until they submit would grind the entire continent to dust--civil war is not, generally speaking, an event that makes a nation stronger. note that there were revolutions and upheavals in Tsimshian and the Tir. the Tsimshian revolt is especially interesting: just like in the UCAS, revolutionaries rose up, took over the offices of the nation's governments, and then were taken down a short time later--but not before the head of state (and god knows how many others in the power structure) were killed. i'm willing to bet that similar events occured all over North America.

this isn't the culmination of the NR's plan, it's just the first step. they got their people into power in at least two nations, possibly three (who the hell knows who's on whose payroll in the Tir?), possibly more.

i know what your both thinking and no we cannot turn this into a drop bear thread, and no the drop bear army is not ready to strike that deep into a seat of government.

*ahem*

Ute. Look what happened to them. They're now a part of the third-largest country in non-Aztlan North America, which probably has a considerable amount of influence over the rest of the CFS.

Also, according to Missions 02-003(?) ("The Grab," whichever that is) there was a concerted campaign mounted by UCAS Special Forces and most likely the rest of SOCOM and any intelligence agency paramilitary operatives to assassinate several remaining New Revolution leaders in hiding. In 2068.

I wonder what else happened in 2068.

If you think so...

You know, I really like that idea. It's sinister.

What about the Canada bit? Would they want to take the bits of ex-Canada in it, like Québec, Algokin-Manitou and the Arthabasca?

Yeah, a sort of protectorate methink.

I wonder if they want to make some sort of Uberanglostaneer...

Yes, but think of the HUGE military buildup that the NR would probably start, especially with an exclusive contract... It'll probably be more profitable than the current UCAS-Sioux Cold war. Wars, after all, are very profitable for the arms industry.

Remember that while the NR might think of a quick unification, too many factions are going to resist this - forcibly - and their war of unification is going to be quite long, especially against such powers as the Tir, Sioux and Aztlan. Several long years of extreme warfare, not to mention the need for a massive police buildup to keep the NR in power, are going to be VERY profitable, if not to Ares, then to another corp (Saeder-Krupp?). Plus, one central USA government with a cold-war-era mentality is going to be a very good client for Ares - big weapons and a big military are profitable.

And the NR, like many similar nationalistic military dictators in the past (Napoleon, Musolinni, Franco, Peron, Pinocet, the Tsimshian government, Saito), would probably cause some damage to the interests of big money but will, in the big picture, preserve big money in power. And, from a corp prespective, while an NR government is going to be uncomfortable, it'll be a good tool to crush their opposition - especially the more radical Metahuman movements - for them. When the very existance of the Corp system is at risk, some uncomfortability is preferrable (from their POV) than a collapse and/or a real revolution and/or serious reformers. Remember how Saito was profitable for the Japanacorps by keeping the huge Metahuman workforce opressed? Or how the Tsimshian government repressed the large national minorities and crushed any ecological resistance and thus made that state very profitable for MCT investment?

Sure, the NR has people inside Ares, but who says that Ares doesn't have people inside the NR too? Not to mention the way that Ares could utilize the NR to "americanize" foriegn corps right into the "patriotic" hands of Ares.

SR Japan served the Japanacorps until the mid-2060's and probably still serves most of their interests even with its new emperor. Was it impotent?

The military-industrial complex (present in all major industrialized countries) is, after all, the alliance of government with big busineses, aimed at creating a comfortable atmosphere (to say the least) for both government and big business to operate in.

And there are many ways to dictate a policy to a superpower that dn't involve outgunning it. Economical ways. A narrow ruling junta such as the NR would have troubles countering such ways - it has a very narrow powerbase, and will need alot of economical assistance in order to consolidate its position. Big money and fascists are always on the same side - the Big Money provides the cred, the fascists provide the muscle, and togather they could further each other's interests (i.e. trade-union-crushing and empire-building). So, for the very least, an alliance between the NR and one or more corps is very paulsible.

Historically speaking, the interests of commerce were actually in the unification of small principalities and micro-countries into larger nation-states (Germany and Italy, for example), since more nations means more borders (and thus, more import/export tariffs) when transporting merchandise from point A to point B, more local taxes, more annoying rulers to deal with and more bureaucrats and politicians to bribe.

however, I agree with you that under normal circumstances most corps will not support the NR; but under the chaos of the Crash 2.0 they might especially if they'll fear that other, more radical forces would take over.

Yeah, but how would it prevent the corps from simply pulling out part or all of their investments and moving them to more lucrative markets? A tax will work well as long as the corps are around; if they leave, the only way around is mass nationalization, and it just doesn't seem to me to be in the bag of NR, atleast not in this scale.

On the other hand, the corps would be happy to pay such a tax if the NR will be better than the alternative (chaos or a radical revolution).

Generally speaking, why do corps pay taxes to governments IRL? Because the government expands most of it on things that, among other things, benefit the corporations and other big businesses as a whole:

1) Infrastructure (heavily usded by the corps).
2) Law Enforcement (keeps the have-nots out of the haves' way, protects corp property, and usually cheaper than corp-sec and far easier to conceal as the "public good" if they apply excess force)
3) Military (useful to apply pressure on resisting "investment targets" out of country and to prevent foriegn corps from taking the corps' property by force; in times of crisis, it also keeps the masses in line).
4) A very little bit of welfare and healthcare, i.e. "bread and circuses" to stave back a little bit of the masses' dissatisfaction with the system.
5) A legal system (both to referee disputes between corps and to protect their interests in a general way, such as property laws, intellectual property laws and so on).

Better yet, the middle class (if any) pays taxes, too, and far greater percentage of tax per dollar of income than the corps; so the corps get their interests served AND they get the middle-class pay for it, or, better yet, deduce it from their employees' salary (i.e. income tax) without the employees blaming the corp.

In SR, things are a bit different, as corps have extraterritoriality, nearly 100% of anything is privatised, and the middle class is small, but the avarage SR government looks like a "joint resource allocation committee" of the corps in general - they decide which corps get to run each needed utility (firefighting, law enforcement, power generation etc) for the benefit of all the corps. Plus, who will the masses be more loyal to - to, say, Ares Macrotechnology Inc., or to the "democratic" (yeah right, with most politicians in pay of the corps and/or the Mfia and/or the Yakuza) UCAS? People trust nations better than they do corps.

Another advantage of a big of a signle big government Less politicians to bribe to get your interests tended to.

Yes, but is the road from your store to your factory on Ares territory? Or that border crossing point between the UCAS and the CAS that your trucks have to pass through?

It is covered in canon that transports have extraterritorality by corporate contract and are immune to laws in a similar manner. See Queen Euphoria and Corporate Shadowfiles. Also note that long haul trucks are a rare form of transportation in canon (Rigger 3).

Who says that it will take back control of Law Eenforcement? Remember that LoneStar's predecessors date as far back as the Pinkertons and other law-enforcement and legbreaking agencies for hire that thrived under the big, all-powerful USA superpower. The USA always had alot of rent-a-cops even when the "normal" PDs weren't privatized yet. Plus, the NR might keep the LS contracts as they are an "american" police-corp, they aren't extraterritorial (IIRC; and thus pay taxes). If they play their cards right they could get exclusive security contracts all over the restored nation PLUS get Knight Errant, Eagle Security and Hard Corps off their tail. Or, they might officially "lose" their main law-enforcement contracts but stay the main contractor for privatized prisons and the main supplier of law enforcement equipment in practice, not to mention being the most major player in the private security field and becoming part of the new military-industrial complex.

Being pro-unification doesn't mean being anti-business or even anti-privatization or pro-real-competition; quite to the contrary IMHO. Just anti-foriegn-megacorp and anti-extraterritoriality.

Thanks for pointing this out.

So anyway, there ARE non-extraterritorial double-A and single-A corps that would benefit from a strong USA with protectionist trade policies and with just the right amount of anti-trust laws to keep the Megas off their backs, yet enough pro-(loacl)-market policies to keep these little corps comfortable. So the NR could end up being a united-front of liliputians banding togather to bind down the megacorp Gullyver.