Western Alliance

The Western Alliance was the result of a 2002 economic and defensive agreement between the United States of America and the European Union, as well as a few other nations, that was crafted upon the un-planned failure of the (original) United Nations in 2001. Where the original treaty (Barrik-Rosewater Mutual Cooperation Agreement) was seen as an expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), critics and then media were quick to label it the 'Western Alliance', as it was noteworthy that the only participants invited to the agreement were traditional allies and completely Western. Even the prime minister of Japan noted that his country, a long-term ally of the US, was absent from any inclusive language associated with the treaty. Over time, the appellation stuck, so much so that by 2022, all self-descriptive language from Alliance spokespeople utilized it.

And a force for the West it was: almost as if to prove the point of how the United Nations was needed to mediate between differing cultures, the Western Alliance was quick to demonstrate it was all about furthering the needs of its members at the cost of the non-members. Even traditionally honorable efforts, such as humanitarian assistance, were flown under the overly-proud banner of the Western Alliance. In 2008, the American NASA and European Space Agency launched the first Aventeur mission to Jupiter and Saturn.

In what seemed like a tremendous conciliatory gesture, in 2018 the Alliance turned over the control of the Aventeur missions to the New United Nations's new International Space Agency (ISA). Two years later (2020), they also transferred their military headquarters staff and assets to the NUN, as an offering to best administrate the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. As this came also with considerable allocation of permanent troops from the Alliance member states, the inherent political power over the NUN was unarguable...and noticed.

In 2026, however, the benefits of this coordination came to light. A series of 17 asteroids were detected on collision courses with the planet, timed to occur over a three year period, starting in 2031. The NUN, through the efforts specifically of many of the world's nations, was able to not only send manned and drone craft to intercept and divert every single one of these cataclysmic-level threats, but six were actually captured and placed in Earth's L5 position, becoming mining and scientific habitats. The benefits to humanity were immediate.

But this collaboration also came with lessons. Premier Lee Kuan of China, though very appreciative of the results of the planet's efforts, was inspired by how important the Eastern role was to the success of the mission. The same year, he convinced like-minded nations in both the Far and Middle East to form an alliance similar to the Western one, with the intent to grow a political base to rival that one in the New United Nations. However, it became even more clear, when the Eastern Coalition made overt attempts to re-balance authority in their favor, that the Western Alliance held most of the best cards. This became even more apparent in 2052 when the NUN ruled against the ECONs on the matter of oil field access. While Antarctica was a loss, the fact that the NUN ruled for British and American oil companies in the South China Sea was considered to be blatant hypocrisy. As a block, the ECON nations seceded from the NUN.

Numerous conflicts would break out, most especially in the South China Sea. It didn't help that Western Alliance forces that were engaging ECON forces would often be returning from peacekeeping operations for the NUN. Impartiality was now no longer a goal; an energy crisis was looming and the world's collective 'temperature' was getting hotter. The (apparent) failure of the Columbus missions saw the United States seizing the remaining craft, the UNSS Columbus, and arming it for orbital combat. The threat to ECON facilities was implied and clear and the ECON would have none of it: just weeks after the ship was destroyed by them, the ECON's decided a nuclear war was inevitable and they took pre-emptive action. The world was at war once again.

The major devastation to the war occurred on May 1st, 2053, with the Western Alliance losing London, Berlin, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Toronto and Mexico City in the nuclear devastation and hundreds of millions killed. The New United Nations responded with its own nuclear weapons against Eastern targets and three fleets invaded India and neighboring countries. The ECON struck the west coast of North America with conventional forces, itself, quickly striking the United States all along its under-defended border with Canada.

The nuclear and conventional devastation was so extreme, with military units leaderless and stranded throughout the world. Enough political leadership existed to form a ragtag convention in San Francisco at the end of the year, declaring a cease fire. The Western Alliance formed the political basis for emergency relief and recovery for its member states, though it's efforts were stretched extremely thin.

Though times were extremely difficult, especially even just for survival in many parts of the world, it was almost 10 years to the day after WWIII began that everything changed. Zephram Cochrane demonstrated humanity's mastery of warp drive on the same day that the Vulcans announced their presence. Within two years, the New United Nations was reconvened and two years after that, the [[UESPA] was formed. In 2069, the US had turned over all NASA facilities, spacecraft and assets to the new agency.