arrested and immediately tried and executed by military commissions. We know now that only four individuals arrested were involved in bombings, suspected traitors in the nationalist group ranks, while the other eighty persons, all persons of color and/or Muslims, were set up.
Foreign relations continued to deteriorate after the Mexican invasion. Ambassadors and foreign ministers from the core group of American allies had discussions with the Secretary of State or the Vice President in February and March, requesting that the United States adhere to international norms of behavior. The United Kingdom, plus sometimes Russia and China, would help control any actions by the United Nations Security Council. However, there were growing discussions in the General Assembly to take significant actions or even economic sanctions against the United States.
Relations with China were rocky, especially in view of the Japan and Korea security agreements and capture of the artificial islands. However, the economic relationship was strong because of the large amount of trade between the two companies. China had replaced American leadership in many countries because of Powers’ desire to deport illegal immigrants to various countries, with those protesting losing American foreign and military aid, with the Chinese willingly jumping into the void.
Russia - American relationships were confusing. In certain areas, there was cooperation between the two countries. American had not withdrawn from NATO, but the Russians knew that the Powers Administration was negotiating to receive payments from individual NATO members for security by threatening to withdraw troops, training, military aid, and the security of the nuclear umbrella. Russia still desired to return Ukraine and the Baltic States to greater Russian control, as well as divide NATO and the European Union with increasing its influence in eastern and central Europe.
Regarding Ukraine, the United States had rotated about 10,000 troops in and out of this country since the 2033 invasion. NATO had similar forces in the Baltic States, one being led by the Americans. Russian diplomats felt that the Powers Administration was beginning to waive on defending Ukraine, so the military put into motion plans to establish a land corridor to Crimea through Mariupol in mid-March.
On March 22nd, the Russians crossed the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian and American troops and air power responded to this attack. This surprised the Russian commander, who had been told that the Americans would not oppose his attack. His forces were quickly surrounded, cutting off a retreat back into Russia. The Russian forces, numbering about 12,000, surrendered. A small group of Arkansas Army National Guardsmen were with Ukrainian Internal Forces supervising about 5,000 prisoners. This Guard unit had a group of white nationalists embedded and found similar nationalist leanings with the Ukrainians. Together, they massacred the Russian troops.
Tensions escalated between the United States and Russia over the massacre and the invasion. An Army Inspector General on the ground was able to communicate with the Pentagon that American participation in the massacre involved at best fifty individuals, all of whom were now in custody of American military police. Senior leaders in America and Russia were able to de-escalate the situation, only because a military coup in Moscow removed and replaced the Russian President.
However, international outrage of the Americans’ conduct grew. With the Security Council useless, dozens of European, African, and Asian countries introduced proposed economic and other sanctions against the United States, with minor actions on Russia. The President was outraged, and on March 31st, the United States withdrew from its membership in the United Nations. All American payments to United Nations agencies immediately ceased. Due to the high percentage of American support, several of these agencies were unable to continue operations during the next year.
Hearings in Congress multiplied in April and May, questioning the foreign policy of the Powers Administration. Conservatives and Progressives were almost united, but senior Conservative leaders, influenced by the Alt-Right caucus, prevented any actions besides loud speeches to occur.
During the week of May 25th, President Powers held a three-day meeting with most Governors to review the internal security situation in the United States. There was much discussion on the current Martial Law situation, with opinions divided on whether to increase measures or reduce them. What Powers, Edward, and Schmidt took away from the meeting was to apply more restrictions to tighten down on illegal activities.
The Governors of California and Texas had been disturbed by the previous Martial Law orders plus all the trade restrictions around the world. California, by itself, was the fourth leading economy in the world. Texas, due to the demise of much of the Middle East oil production, was now second only to Russia as the world’s leader in exporting oil, and its economy separately would have been seventh largest in the world. California was perhaps one of the most liberal states, while Texas one of the most conservative. An accidental conversation between the Governors at the event in May led to continuing conversations between the two and a common viewpoint. Both saw the activities of the Powers Administration as a threat to the nation and their own states.
On May 26, 2037, the Department of Transportation announced that over 80% of all infrastructure projects had been finished over the last three years. These had employed almost 1.8 million individuals and generated over $565 billion to the economy. Unemployment was now at 12%. Wages had fallen again by 7%. More than 95% of the country’s wealth was held by 1% of the population. Many service industries struggled to fine technically qualified individuals. American math skills were rated below half of the countries in Africa.
DETENTION CENTERS MY ASS (JUNE 2037)
Brown, Jones, and Smith had been undercover for more than a year with white nationalist groups. After the execution of four associates turned on by the nationalist leaders, they thought that they may be vulnerable and accused of treason within these groups. They had seen the operations of the detention centers, with one of them receiving the Mortifero vaccine. They had followed how each person was set up to take the fall for so-called terrorist bombings. They had witnessed many burnings of houses of worship or schools. They saw how the groups had informed to the FBI and local law enforcement on American citizens, not doing anything wrong, but because of the color of their skin or how they worshipped. And one of them witnessed the death of nearly every criminal illegal immigrant at the detention center due to Mortifero virus.
So Brown, Jones, and Smith wrote together a series of ten detailed articles, each with detailed notes of who, when, where, and how the activities unfolded. The final article outlined how the white nationalists groups planned to expand from the expulsion of the mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants to eventually deporting all persons of color (all Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Muslims, and Jews) from the United States. In a sense, these articles were like this generation’s Pentagon Papers, as they would blow the cover on the Powers Administration’s and their allies’ deepest secrets. The three contacted quietly the Washington Post, who decided to organize a group of ten newspapers across the nation, and split the ten articles to each focus on events in their region, with the Washington Post providing national coverage. They were published all at once on June 15, 2037.
The Powers Administration immediately denied each and every charge, and said that no government official was involved with any group or had done criminal acts against Americans. FBI agents entered the ten newspapers and searched for information on the articles, finding only the detailed documentation. Despite calls from her FBI superiors to ignore this, a rogue FBI Special Agent organized a dozen experts to check these out, almost immediately confirming that these appeared accurate.
She held a press conference on June 22nd, telling the world that her agents had confirmed most of the articles just by analyzing the financial records of the nationalist organizations involved, and their interaction with several administration officials. As she was concluding her remarks outside a federal courthouse, three SUVs came by and
shot at the crowd, killing several prominent media reporters and critically wounding the FBI Special Agent. Local police cornered the vehicles and killed all ten individuals inside, all of whom were identified as being with a local white nationalist group.
The nation was in shock. One major network’s evening news moderator told the American people, “What we have seen in these reports, that appear to be true and factual, is a systematic process of illegally imprisoning and murdering Americans and those living here. They call them detention centers, I’m sorry, I cannot call them detention centers, my ass; they are something out of the 1940s.” Public demonstrations occurred every evening in almost every major city, demanding action by Congress or the courts. Only a few individuals resorted to violence, and local police arrested them. Concurrently, there were a series of terrorist bombings, sometimes in the middle of peaceful demonstrations.
Over the next several days, Congress began to organize impeachment proceedings against the President, Vice President, and several Cabinet Secretaries. Before these could be organized, Powers asked the networks to speak to the