JCC PACMUN 2015 Pacific Model United Nations Joint Crisis Committee Joint Director: Tristan Wisont Bloc1 Director: Elias Alstead Bloc1 Chair: Arthur Taylor Bloc1 Assistant Director: Rachael So Bloc2 Director: Andy Kruse Bloc2 Chair: Alexis Choi Bloc2 Assistant Director: Julia Gavigan 1 JCC PACMUN 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .....................................................................3 History ..............................................................................3 Timeline ............................................................................8 Current Situation ...........................................................10 General Bloc Introductions ..........................................11 Composition of Blocs .................................................11 ECU:............................................................................11 EPAC: .........................................................................11 Systems of Government .............................................12 ECU:............................................................................12 EPAC: .........................................................................12 Factions........................................................................12 Current (2085) World Map .............................................14 2 JCC PACMUN 2015 ECU Versus E PAC INTRODUCTION Several events in the past have offset the course of history, notably, the two World Wars. Within the last 70 years, conflicts similar to those seen in WWI and II have developed, resulting in high tensions comparable to those of the Cold War. Two blocks known as the European Colonial Union (ECU), and the Eastern and PanAsian Confederation (EPAC) emerged from the struggle as the two superpowers. Currently, researchers are investigating a new source of energy. As oil supplies continue to dwindle, this new substance may soon power the world. Each hoping to secure the power for itself, the two blocs will inevitably clash. HISTORY Throughout the first quarter of the 21st century, the Chinese government begins to make major progress in developing its nation, a state of more than 1.5 billion. Lax labor laws and rising unemployment due to population explosion and little job growth incentivize large, multinational corporations to further outsource jobs to China, with the rate of employment turnover to international workers nearing 75% in the early 2020s. The influx of work opportunity and corporate attention creates a boom in China’s industrial development, but a crumbling effect in its workers’ rights. Progressing from an industrial, laissezfaire powerhouse with a massive populace, China’s government begins to leverage its position economically to gain political and military strength on the global landscape. As the percentage of goods manufactured in China and East Asia nears 90% in 2034, Greece and China negotiate a new trade agreement. The other member states of the European Union are outraged, seeing the deal as an attempt by China to gain more global economic sway. This outrage proves to be the tipping point in the EU’s internal instability crisis. A special referendum headed by Germany is passed, forcing Greece out of the European Union. The resulting political and economic backlash is severe. NATO begins to weaken as discord between its members increases exponentially. Citizens show signs of unrest and lack of trust toward their governments. Demonstrations begin in Greece and several Baltic states, quickly escalating toward violence. The Islamic State, originally thought beaten when its leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi was killed in an American air raid, begins to catch media attention once again with an offensive into Turkey heading toward the Bosphorus Strait. In order to withstand further deleterious instability in the region and to combat China’s growing strength, the EU moves to strengthen its internal ties, proposing measures to more completely connect member nations economically, politically, and militarily. As NATO starts to disintegrate, its members align with the ideological system of the European Union complex and begin to alienate the United States of America. In 2043, the largest series of coordinated suicide bombings ever reported, allegedly perpetrated by the infamous Islamic State, target United Nations, European Union, NATO, and European government buildings, as well as densely populated civilian areas in Paris, Moscow, Rome, Berlin, and London. The ensuing death toll is estimated to be upwards of 10,000 civilian and 3,500 soldiers. 3 JCC PACMUN 2015 Panic and antiterrorist hysteria spread like wildfire through the EU. Citizens call for a more united front in the War on Terror. On September 12, 2045, European member nations of NATO and the EU come together, signing the Treaty of Berlin to form Unified Europe (UE), a powerful governing body that presides over Europe as a unified whole. The Russian government, although offered inclusion in the Treaty, rejects it in hopes that it can regain its former dominance, even though its population wishes to be a part of UE. With a sore need to supply the ever expanding population with the comforts of first world living, the UE begins an aggressive new resources program called the Final Drops Act of 2046, aimed at obtaining the last of the Earth’s oil before competitors do. This frenetic rush to exploit the remainder of oil generates more dire predictions of when the strategic resource will finally be depleted. While numerous states take exception to this program, the historical dependence on oil has begun to cripple the global energy economy, as no viable alternative has been developed on a sufficiently massive scale. The value and reach of the global mining industry strengthens after decades of decline. Newly erected oil rigs dot land and ocean, and a thick smog descends over Western Europe. To protect against the expanding effects of climate change, manifested in the melting polar ice caps, the UE in 2046 begins construction of a massive network of seawalls. Two years later, Turkey joins the UE and begins constructing a seawall spanning the Bosphorus Strait. As petroleum resources continue to be ruthlessly exploited, no end to the destructive climate change can be foreseen. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States (U.S.) suffers sharp divisions in political ideology between its two main parties, the Democratic party and the Republican party. The first 20 years of the millennium becomes a forming ground for a dangerous state of token objections between the two, where each party refuses to cooperate with the other on the grounds of opposing identity. With the corporate world outsourcing labor to China and other Eastern Asian countries, unemployment skyrockets to above 20% and continues to rise as the national debt tops 25 trillion USD by the 2020s. The Democratic party begins to implement several costly new social service programs to bolster employment through direct aid, and in so doing, puts the U.S. government further in debt. In response, the Republican party refuses to cooperate in any regard, shutting the government down at every turn. Agriculture, once a staple of the U.S. economy, becomes unpredictable as droughts and floods plague California and the Midwest. As unrest grows in the populace, interest rates explode upwards; foreign investors begin to lose confidence in the U.S. as a stable investment possibility. U.S. exports plummet as jobs move overseas and luxury and agriculture goods imports continue to rise. The unrest in the population is only further augmented by the binary Liberal Conservative ideological split. Racial tensions grow stronger as incidents like the Lighthouse Believers Mission shooting of 2028, in which 136 members of an all-black church in South Carolina were murdered by a radical white supremacist group, grow more commonplace. Unrest in the people is magnified by the government’s inability to reach a consensus on what should be done in regards to ease tensions. On top of its domestic issues, the United States begins to involuntarily withdraw from the global power scene by the late 2020s. Crippled by political, economic, and social issues, the former superpower slips away from the international arena. A new era of politics is ushered onto the scene in the 2030s. Seeing an opportunity to turn a profit, as well as stagger the Chinese economic behemoth, the CEO of the Peach Contracting Corporation runs for the U.S. Senate, securing the position in the highly controversial election of 4 JCC PACMUN 2015 2034. Following his example, positions of political leadership are quickly filled with business leaders at every opportunity. This leads to a fracturing of the Democrat Republican dual party power base and initiates the rise of numerous independent parties competing for seats in the House and Senate. With this shift in power comes a new national political ideology. The government casts “by the people, for the people” aside in favor of a new “by the business, for the business.” Commercialism runs rampant, as product placement and advertisement take over popular American media. A volley of cyber exchanges occur between China’s government and the United States’ government, the so called “Second Great Compromise,” a breaking of the Department of Defense’s virtual archives in 2049. With its leadership increasingly accused of corruption, foul play, and conflicting interests, American unrest explodes into rioting. In the midst of the turmoil, a strange Sinophobia grips the public imagination, egged on by vicious anti-Asian labor marketing and foreign policy. With the United States' decline from international relevance and the destruction of its economic prowess by rabid over commercialism and deeply ingrained consumer mindset, China is in a position to call in the U.S. debt, which it does in 2050. This is a sum far too large for the ravaged U.S. Treasury to pay. The UE watches this situation carefully, looking for its own chance to gain sway over this once prosperous nation. On November 14, 2051, the United States, presumably in retaliation for the Second Great Compromise and the calling in of the debt, launches a full scale cyber assault on China’s economic and military infrastructure. The results are devastating, crippling China's trading abilities and forcing their military into a shutdown for 36 hours. Backed by popular support domestically, the U.S. reinforces its military base on Okinawa with several thousand troops and the requisite munitions and supplies. China, in a show of force, blockades the base with several warships. At 0345 hours on January 4, 2052, U.S. troops attempt to break out of the blockade. Seven US troop carriers are shot down by the Chinese attempting to launch. By 0630 hours, two of the Chinese ships have been boarded, the Okinawa base is in flames, and at least 400 are dead on both sides, with upwards of 75 Japanese citizens and 300,000,000 USD in collateral damage. The escape is unsuccessful. The next day, January 5, 2052, the United States formally declares war on China. In the opening days of the war, US forces storm Okinawa, placing the island under military occupation. More than 2,000 Japanese civilians are killed in the confusion. Another incident occurs a few days later where ships evacuating Japanese civilians from Okinawa are attacked by US destroyers, leaving hundreds dead. Japan, worried by the increased show of force by the U.S. on nearby Okinawa, experiences a negative trend in public opinion concerning the United States. Additionally, the skirmishing in the waters of Southeast Asia disrupt Japanese trade. The unstable economic and political state is complicated by a number of frequent, small earthquakes centered on Japan, which Japanese geologists believe are precursors to a high magnitude, tsunami causing quake. China, recognizing that Japan’s resources are needed to win against the United States, reluctantly allows Japan to evacuate its citizens to the Chinese mainland. The Japanese experts are proved correct when two high magnitude earthquakes occur in quick succession. The famed 9.0 Cascadia Quake of the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States occurs on April 22, 2052, completely destroying the already decaying infrastructure of the 5 JCC PACMUN 2015 region, crippling the United States further. Japan was hit even harder with a 9.2 magnitude quake on May 3, 2052, which exceeded Japanese earthquake preemptive measures. The following tsunami combines with the already heightened sea levels to overcome Japanese seawalls and destroy the infrastructure on Japan’s main islands. In desperation, both nations are tipped into the formation of a tentative alliance between Japan and China to combat the United States. The tsunami effectively leaves the Japanese people homeless, forced to stay on Chinese lands. With the people of two nations forced to live within the borders of a single, already overpopulated country, overcrowding becomes a huge issue in major cities. Spillover expands into the more rural areas of China, yet the habitable land is simply not enough to accommodate two nations worth of citizens. Many Japanese refugees cannot find affordable housing that Chinese landowners are willing to lease out, leaving a huge number on the streets. With so few people living properly nourished or sanitized, disease and crime spreads throughout the cities. In the opening months of the war, the U.S. sees success against the Chinese, devastating their navy and confining the remaining vessels to their bases. Confident in victory, nearly 900,000 U.S. marines land outside of Shanghai, and are able to surround the city. Urged on by a jingoistic population, more than a million additional U.S. troops land on mainland China. Within a year, the U.S. expeditionary force advances 200 miles inland, and many of China’s industrial areas have been decimated by constant bombing from carrier based aircraft. In 2053, however, the war in Asia turns against the United States. Fearing the creation of a U.S. empire in the region, Japan launches a surprise attack on the U.S. fleet off the coast of China, sinking 8 out of the 11 aircraft carriers present. The battered U.S. fleet retreats to Hawaii, leaving more than two million American troops cut off in China. Upon returning to Pearl Harbor, the fleet finds Honolulu ablaze, torn apart by rioting that has already swept through the rest of the nation. Following the retreating American fleet across the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese and Chinese forces besiege the Hawaiian Islands. After holding out for eight months, the 400,000 remaining U.S. forces in Honolulu surrender. From there, the Chinese and Japanese forces sail to Alaska, arriving in late 2054. Simultaneous to the invasion of Alaska, Japan and China formalize their alliance on January 1, 2055, renaming themselves the Eastern PanAsian Confederation (EPAC). Using the United States as a distraction in Asia, the UE begins to retake the holdings of their former empires, namely Australia, Canada, and the most northern parts of Africa. Due to climate change, the majority of the African continent has been rendered uninhabitable as the Sahara Desert has increased dramatically in size. Southern African nations unite to maintain independence from the aggressive UE, forming a coalition of nation states known collectively as the South African Union, and a few isolated nations continue to persist, in the form of isolated, nomadic groups, just north of this region. Emphasizing its Final Drops Act of 2046, the UE forms treaties with the few nations with oil deposits remaining, all of which reside in the Middle East. With this, it is given nearly singular control over the distribution of oil in exchange for protecting these trading partners. Intending to compete for colonial influence against the ever-growing EPAC, the UE declares war on the U.S. while it is preoccupied with fighting on its west coast. It launches a ground invasion through colonial Canada in 2055. Now faced with a war on two fronts, the U.S. negotiates a peace treaty with EPAC in 2056, as a stalemate in Alaska has lessened the hunger for war on 6 JCC PACMUN 2015 both sides. The Japanese Chinese conglomeration maintained control of Hawaii through these deliberations. The invading European army meets little resistance from a war weary and fractured nation, resulting in the surrender of the United States to Unified Europe on March 17, 2057. The next month, the UE holds a convention in London, and officially changes its name to the European Colonial Union (ECU). As the two major global blocs grow, they take measures to solidify and legitimize their power. Now in control of the U.S. government, the ECU pays off the debt to China, decreasing their rival's sway over them. In response to the defeat of the United States, China and Japan expand their power by allowing India to join their alliance, and annexing Mongolia, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the remaining Pacific Islands, removing all internal borders in the process. While these actions anger the ECU, no direct military action occurs, further fostering a hostile relationship, however, between the two empires. While the geopolitical map is being restructured throughout the 2050s, climate change is wreaking havoc as well, with wartime production increasing carbon emissions and depleting the ozone by 60% during that decade. In 2062, a period known as the Great Panic begins, and the polar ice sheets are depleted by about 10% per year. Globally, governments struggle to curb the effects of climate change, but despite their best efforts, it continues unchecked, with the economy and trade declining worldwide as a result. In 2069, Florida is swallowed into the Caribbean, along with much of the southern Mississippi River Valley and Eastern seaboard. The ECU is unable to stop the torrent of environmental calamities striking North America, from unpredictable weather patterns to freak tornadoes ravaging the middle of the former United States. Organized agriculture falls apart as the San Bernardino valley is flooded and the Midwest sees six straight years of drought during the 2060s. With a shortage of food from disrupted agriculture and thousands of relocated people due to flooding, complicated by the fact of a populace unfriendly to the new government, the ECU struggles to keep the former U.S. citizens both alive and complacent. For the most part, anarchy dominates. In Asia, EPAC, desperately needing more land for its enormous populace, declares war on the Russian Empire in 2066. Within a year, Russia cedes the vast majority of Central Asia and Siberia to EPAC. Immediately, China begins funneling some of its citizens away from rising tides to Siberia. While successfully moving 700,000 people away from China's eastern coast, almost 300,000 more citizens die from a wave of violent flooding and the resulting dearth of food and shelter before they can be relocated as well. In 2070, all of the polar ice has melted, and the seas stop rising at 216 feet. While the former U.S. and much of Asia has suffered from the rising sea levels, continental Europe has been nearly unaffected due to its elaborate system of seawalls. Thus in a relatively stable condition, the core of the ECU is able to muster enough troops to restore order to the colonial United States in 2072. While the rest of the world deals with lack of resources, war, and environmental issues, Southern Africa faces natural disasters. In 2070, a meteor slams into the region just north of the South African Union, causing a series of minor earthquakes and limited damage to infrastructure. This event is largely ignored by the world’s two new superpowers, the EPAC and the ECU. These two new giants busy themselves by competing for global influence. Their competition is driven by the increasingly desperate search for oil, with reserves still remaining in the neutral 7 JCC PACMUN 2015 nations of Persia, Russia, and the chaotic lands of central Africa. Territory disputes rise in the Solomon Islands, shortly after a small source of oil is discovered there in 2079. In both Persia and Russia, the two superpowers fund opposing political parties, and civil unrest flares up from time to time. With sporadic clashes occurring on the border between Persia and Russia throughout the early 2080’s, it is clear the fragile peace established after The Great Panic is in jeopardy. Adding to the global anxiety, an ECU spy plane is shot down over Siberia in 2084, and its German pilot taken into custody. As the governments of these fragile states become more and more desperate, it is clear humanity is in dire straits. TIMELINE 2020s Multinational corporations outsource most jobs to China United States unemployment skyrockets as the national debt rises above 25 trillion USD. Competing liberal and conservative ideologies damage the unity of the United States. United States racial tensions grow stronger, causing increased unrest among the population. The United States withdraws from global politics. 2030s China and East Asia manufacture nearly 90% of goods. The twoparty system of the United States is destroyed as CEOs and business owners enter national politics. A new trade agreement between Greece and China is negotiated. Greece is forced out of the European Union. The Islamic State begins an offensive into Turkey heading toward the Bosphorus Strait. 2040s The largest series of coordinated suicide bombings ever reported occurs in Europe. NATO disintegrates, most members agreeing with the EU's ideology. Treaty of Berlin signed by most European nations, excluding Greece and Russia. Unified Europe builds a massive network of seawalls to protect against rising ocean levels. 8 JCC PACMUN 2015 Turkey joins the UE, and immediately begins construction on a seawall spanning the Bosphorus Strait. 2050s China demands that the United States pays its large debt. The US launches a cyber-attack on China’s defense network as well as their stock market. China retaliates by surrounding the US base on Okinawa. The US declares war, and launches a massive assault, which is initially successful. Japan and China create an alliance to their mutual benefit. Chinese and Japanese forces reach Hawaii, with the riots breaking out in the US, the Honolulu forces surrender. Tensions between the US and UE reach a critical levels. Japan and China formalize their alliance and rename it EPAC. EPAC makes peace with the US, while Japan annexes Hawaii. US surrenders to the UE, and becomes a colony. After a convention in London, the UE’s name is changed from “United Europe” to “European Colonial Union”. Carbon Emissions deplete the Ozone by 60%. 2060s The Great Panic begins. The polar ice sheets deplete by almost 10%. The world economy collapses, and global trade comes to a standstill. Desperately needing more land for their people, EPAC declares war on the newly formed Russian Empire. After less than a year of fighting, The Russian Empire cedes the vast majority of Central Asia and Siberia to EPAC. Anarchy dominates in the US after numerous environmental calamities. 2070s China and Japan relocate nearly 700 million citizens to Siberia. 9 JCC PACMUN 2015 A meteor hits habitable Northern Africa, the region just north of the South African Union, causing minor earthquakes and mild damage to South African infrastructure. All the polar ice finally melts, and the seas stop rising at 216 feet. Europe establishes order in the US. India, Indonesia, and the nations of Southeast Asia join EPAC. Territory disputes arise over small pockets of oil. 2080s Russia and Persia become sites for proxy wars between EPAC and the ECU. An ECU spy plane is shot down over Siberia. An explosion in the South African Union causes extensive damage to the area. Both the ECU and EPAC send aid. CURRENT SITUATION The year is 2085. The violent explosion of a South African research facility has led to international inquiries. In response, South Africa issued the following statement: “On December 29, 2084, a massive explosion occurred, centered on the Johannesburg Research Facility. A previously undiscovered substance was undergoing testing at the time of the explosion. However, any conclusions as to the cause of the accident would be premature. The research facility sustained a significant amount of damage, and further research will be placed on hold for the foreseeable future.” After the release of this statement, rumors began circulating about a possible alternate energy source, effective enough to replace oil fully. As the world threatens to run out of oil, these rumors provide hope to all those considering the ramifications of an energy crisis of that magnitude. As both the ECU and EPAC continue to question South Africa about the substance, intelligence reports discovered and released two additional facts about the substance: its origin and its composition. The substance first appeared on Earth in 2070, when a meteor shower came dangerously close to Earth. Approximately ten asteroids dislodged from the asteroid belt and made their way towards the planet. Four landed on the moon, one hit the Earth, and the rest passed through the atmosphere before continuing through space. The single asteroid that hit planet Earth made its way toward central Africa. The asteroid hit just north of South Africa, near one of the isolated tribes, which immediately went to investigate. South Africa, as the nearest developed nation, quickly sent scientists and soldiers to find the asteroid, drive off the natives, and study it to discover its origins. Upon finding the asteroid and its crater, the scientists noticed an unknown, 10 JCC PACMUN 2015 crystalline substance lining the crater. Taking samples, they returned to South Africa to begin testing. Testing immediately yielded strange results. The scientists identified the substance as Ununoctium (Uuo), element number 118. Ordinarily, this element is extremely unstable and decays in milliseconds, but in this case, a crystalline structure traps the Uuo, chemically reinforcing the element's properties. Due to its structure, the crystalline form of Uuo contains extremely large amounts of energy, allowing it to be a solution to the predominate global issue of the time. GENERAL BLOC INTRODUCTIONS COMPOSITION OF BLOCS ECU: Minister of Defence (Germany) Minister of the Interior (Denmark) Minister of Energy Research (Norway) Minister of Energy Application (Portugal) Minister of Infrastructure (Spain) Minister of Military Finances (France) Minister of Domestic Finances (Netherlands) Minister of War (Austria) Minister of Technology (Turkey) Minister of Aerospace Development (Sweden) Commander in Chief (Belgium) Head Admiral (Britain) Head of Espionage (Italy) Governor of Australia (Britain) Governor of Canada (France) Governor of the United States (Britain) Governor of North Africa (France) Governor of Central America (Spain) HyperDrive Energy Corporate Representative Daedalus Iron Innovation Corporate Representative EPAC: Chinese Head of State Japanese Head of State Indian Head of State Military Commander (Japan) General (China) General (India) Head of Foreign Affairs (Japan) Minister of Technology (India) Minister of Energy (China) Minister of the Interior (China) Minister of the Interior (Japan) Minister of the Interior (India) Indonesian Representative Minister of Finances (Japan) Minister of Defense (China) 11 JCC PACMUN 2015 Intelligence Officer (Japan) Minister of Infrastructure (Japan) Minister of Aerospace Development (India) Hikari Technology Corporate Representative Tortoise Defensive Representative SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT ECU: The Treaty of Berlin, signed in 2045, fully unites the European Nations, effectively making member nations into states, which can work independently, but must submit to the direction of the overall government. The Treaty also establishes a monarch as head of state, who is voted in by the citizens of the ECU for his/her lifetime. The other major governmental positions are filled by leaders from specific member states. Each position is assigned to a specific nation for a 10 year period, at which point, the positions are reassigned to new nations. Each nation’s citizens vote for a representative to fill the position either for the duration of the assignment, or for a set portion of the assignment, at which point a new representative is chosen. Governors for the colonies, namely the United States, Australia, Canada, and North Africa, come from the nation who originally governed them, and are assigned by the current monarch for their lifetimes. The current King is British. EPAC: The Eastern and PanAsian Confederation is a loosely tied alliance between China, Japan, and India. The overarching agreement regulates the alliance by assigning each nation positions according to its specialty. For example, Japan heads the military. Each nation’s head of state is involved in decisions that affect all of them. FACTIONS Persia: The site of a proxy war between the ECU and EPAC, Persia is a pocket of the Middle East that has maintained its independence even against the competing powers. For the past decades, Persia has been able to play the ECU and EPAC off each other due to Persia’s massive oil reserves. The funds from the sale of oil have put largely into their military, making them a very formidable defensive force. Patagonia: A region consisting of the livable areas in South America, Patagonia is the home base of several infamous drug cartels. The region is governed by such bodies and most major nations do not recognize it as a country. Most major pharmaceutical research goes on in Patagonia. There is a high concentration of biochemical scientists residing within, and little to no ethical research restrictions. The vast majority of the populace belongs to one of two major cartels. Russian Empire: After rejecting the Treaty of Berlin, the Russian Empire hoped to regain global supremacy on or above the level it reached during the Cold War. However, it never reached this level, or even increased its holdings. Instead, EPAC took much of its land, leaving the Russian Empire simply trying to survive. 12 JCC PACMUN 2015 South African Union: The closest nation to the site of the meteor crash, the South African Union is in an excellent position in 2085. An enormous explosion at testing labs in Pretoria garnered the notice of both the ECU and EPAC, who immediately sent aid to the only known proprietor of the powerful substance. Claims full ownership of the meteor. North African Warring Tribes: Although not an official nation, the warring tribes of Northern Africa are an important consideration in the world politics of 2085. Ruled by warlords, they were the first to find the meteor, as it crashed in their territory, and are extremely wary and distrustful of South Africa. They do not taken invasions of their land lightly, and are very likely to retaliate in some way. 13 JCC PACMUN 2015 CURRENT (2085) WORLD MAP 14