RE: Tuffleyverse, States of Europe

On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Steve Pugh wrote:

> > > Independents: Netherlands, Switzerland
> 
> There's also the Scandinavian Federation which takes care of Norway, 
> Sweden, Denmark, and probably Iceland and Finland.

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't this the ScandFed a non-canonical
user
addition? i was never entirely convinced myself, and put it more like
this:

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland - independent, but allied through
economic and possibly security organisations, not unlike the old EC

Finland - independent, isolationist, aligned with RH

but then i'm not exactly an expert on northern european history or
politics. i know some people on this list are better informed (after
all,
some of them live in these places), and i'd love to see this matter
looked
into properly (if it has been, but before my time, please ignore
everything i have said ...).

> > > Ireland
> 
> NAC? FSE? Independent?

i'd say independent; a strict reading of the canon history would put
them
in the FSE - they are, after all, members of the EU and are not
mentioned
as leaving (unlike the Netherlands and the Swabian bloc). however, given
the cultural and geographical position of Eire, and given that the FSE
seems to be a romance-speaking, predominantly southern european entity,
this doesn't seem quite right to me.

that said, Ireland is mostly catholic, like the mainland FSE, and is
currently (i think - please correct me if i'm wrong) one of the 'poor
four' in europe - the other three being Spain, Portugal and Greece, all
of
which are FSE members; whilst i'm not saying that the FSE is poor, it
might well be the case that it would have an economic infrastructure
well
suited to handling less well-off regional economies.

> > > Turkey (FSE, IF, Independent?)
> 
> I'd say IF.

i'd say independent. Turkey is a member of the EU free market, and at
present has strong pro-western elements, which would have to be subdued
before it would go willingly into the IF. of course, if it were taken by
force, that's different.

also, Turkey is in quite a pivotal position geographically, and thus as
an
independent state would be an interesting component in the near-middle
eastern geopolitical dynamic (mmm, jargon).

i should declare (although it should by now be obvious!) that i feel
that
more little states is better than few big states - the cold war was not
interesting, from a gaming point of view, because of the shortage of
sides. two is only just enough.

tom

ps does this thread belong on the 'pedia list?