1980s - Soviet Liberation of Afghanistan succeeds.
1990s - PRC Sovietizes, becomes part of USSR.
2000s - Middle East and India become People's Republics.
2010s - European Union petitions to become part of USSR.
2020s - United States economically collapses, civil wars erupt.
2030s - The Old United States and Canada are a dozen new nations now.
2040s - Mexico and the Bear State Republic Sovietize. The Confederacy recognizes both.
August 21, 2044 Garden Grove, Bear State - The attempted deportation of accused war criminal Jack Palin did not go as quietly as State Party Secretary Trumbull had wished. People's Protective Police went to Palin's home to take him to the airport where he is due to be forcibly deported to the People's Democratic Republic of Vietnam for crimes he is said to have committed against that nation in 1968.
But a large crowd of Vietnamese-Californian protestors blocked access to Palin's house, and the PPP were unable to do more than just set up a temporary station across the street while waiting for further orders. Orders that have not, as yet, come.
Palin, a former citizen of the old United States had served in Vietnam in his youth, and reliable testimony has been heard that he was the driver of the jeep of Lt. William Calley.
Yet his case has been plagued with many difficulties. No other nation of the former U.S. wanted to take him in, and Vietnam has only with great reluctance agreed to accept him. Hanoi still has yet to comment on whether they will try him, concerns seeming to do with how much responsibility can be assigned to an - at the time - 19 year old "following orders".
Hanoi has not been so reticent in the past, and their agents in the 2020s had gained some degree of notoriety for their exploits in capturing American war criminals and spiriting them back to Vietnam to stand trial. Most notably, they kidnapped William Calley in 2029, when he was 86 years old and in a hospital in Boston, New Anglia Union.
Even then, Moscow and Beijing had expressed ethical concerns about how high a standard of accountability could be levied upon officers and enlisted men in times of war. And it has been noted more than once that only the old Capitalist Imperialist Powers - such as the former U.K. and U.S. - had been known to be so strenuous in pursuing rank and file soldiers for crimes that are generally committed by all sides and in every war.
Palin came to notice in 2039, when the PPP were apprised of his likely status, and thus were able to make a case that he'd lied on his Residency Confirmation Forms, the paperwork that all citizens had to sign when the Bear State originally broke away from the war-torn United States. One of the questions in particular, "Have you ever participated in atrocities on behalf of the United States of America?". Palin had checked "no".
In the one and only interview Palin permitted in 2041, he related, "I wasn't even a part of his (Calley's) command. I was on my way back to my own unit when he said that his jeep was broke and he needed mine. He wanted to take it, and I knew I'd catch hell if I went back to my unit minus a jeep! I told him I'd drive him where he needed, and then he could get a ride back later from one of his own. He was steaming mad, but was in a hurry, so agreed. I took him there. I dropped him off. I left. What was I supposed to have done? Said no? How was I to know what would happen to that village later? Am I sorry? You bet - but only for those poor people. Me, I never wanted to be in Vietnam in the first place, I was drafted. But yeah, I'm sorry. I wish I could have stopped what he did. Had I known, well, I'd love to say I'd have done something to stop him, but what? What?"
That last plaintive question, from an old man crying into the camera, touched the hearts of many expat Vietnamese in the Bear State, and specifically in Garden Grove which is nearly 84% Vietnamese-Californian.
Before today's planned deportation, diplomatic messages from SLC, Chicago, Atlanta and Montreal had come in, urging Sacramento to let Palin remain there in his final years. No word from Moscow or Beijing has come in, but sources say they are content to leave it as a matter between the two nations.
Interviews with neighbors last week showed solid support for Palin. "I did not think they should have executed Calley back in the twenties, and I sure do not think they should harm this man either. When a war is over, it should be over. No one in a war ever wanted it, anyway. Only the old men in charge who never fight themselves.", said one who - perhaps wisely in these times - refused to identify himself. Others were of the opinion that if he had said "no", he'd have likely been shot or jailed for disobeying an order. Many questioned how much responsibility those at the bottom truly have, including Calley, who had been a junior lieutenant at the time.
"Why were none of the Generals punished? No, never Generals, only little soldiers face consequences. They face them if they disobey - so none ever do. Now we are to make them face consequences for obeying? Where's the win for the men in the next war?", asked Palin's grandson.
As additional reports come in, we will keep you updated as to Palin's status, and the status of the crowd of his defenders, who are not believed to have a Citizen's Assemblage Permit.
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