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Chapter3: The Russo-Chinese Crisis and the Creation of an Empire

In January 2009, the Great American Civil War of Morality was declared over. Now the USA had to deal with the devastation that followed. During the Civil War, instead of profiting, essential American Wartime enterprises came close to collapse, not only due to America being torn in two, but largely because of the Financial Crisis experienced by the country during that civil war. This stood as proof that although countries may profit from war, no one ever really benefits from a civil war. Seeing their money in a shaky situation due to the infighting in the USA, angered international investors ended up withdrawing most of their investments not only as a form of penalty for atrocities committed by the GANR (Greater American Nazi Reich), but in an effort to salvage what they could. Still, the world economy would collapse if its' reserve currency - The US$ did, thus as it became clear that the US Federal Government had no intention of negotiating with the neo-Nazi rebel state, world support for the USA returned, although a shell of what it used to be. Even so, the US economy suffered nonetheless and unfortunately for the world, with the pillar of economic progression under a stability crisis, the financial crisis the USA went through did as predicted and went global. This was among other factors, because America withdrew most of its' own investments and debt owed to it from around the world in order to preserve the stability of the dollar, help fund the war effort in both arms and in the home front, have money for a post-civil war rebuilding process and protect the US economy. Even so, the US Federal debt skyrocketed as economists around the world had predicted. This Great Recession was not only similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s in effect, it proved yet again that fluctuations in the US economy always affected the world. As a result of this, a number of economies around the world collapsed.

By the end of the American Civil War however, the world economy began to recover, not because America's internal turmoil had died down, but because many of the world's investments, especially ones that once belonged to the USA itself, ended up going to the ever growing RCU, a country that wasn't affected by the Great Recession, let alone the Great Regression that followed. With the Russian economy continuing to thrive as entire economies collapsed around it, many countries ended up asking for huge loans from Russia in order to repair their economies and in a gesture of good faith, Russia had spent billions of Rubles funding economic aid world wide. Even the IMF and the World Bank had asked for a series of huge loans from the Central Reserve Bank Of the Russian Union. To protect global economic stability and in the search of riches in Russia, many investors, businessmen and other capitalists had taken most of their business to the country. With so much money coming into the Superpower, the Capital City - Moscow, already the biggest urban complex in the world and the most prosperous in Europe, was officially recognized as the world's richest and most busiest city, putting great cities like New York, Tokyo, Shanghai etc. to shame. The world's most self-sufficient and prosperous country was reluctantly linking it's massive economy with the rest of the world. Moscow was now the 'Global Financial Hub' of the planet. By this time, there wasn't anything the Russian economy wasn't producing and selling all around the world. The RCU was now in command of a new world order, or at least were in the process of doing so.

By May 2009, Russia had long become the world's leading Economy with a staggering nominal GDP of 21.489 Trillion USD, which was not only far larger than the projected annual growth of 21% (because of all those sweet investments), but was much larger than the EU economy. In fact, its' economy was even larger than that of the EU combined with that of the USA, as the US economy had shrunk to 8.01 Trillion USD because of the civil war, whilst its' greatest ally - the EU (combination of different world powers) had an economy of about 10.789 Trillion USD, of whom the Great Recession of 2007-8, and the Italian exit from the transnational alliance, hadn't helped. Even so, the EU saved itself from a worsened economic recession by conceding to RCU economic dominance and by having long lifted their failed 2007 sanctions on Russia (which many attribute as a cause of the recession) in an effort to ensure the economic stability of Western Europe whilst the United States destroyed Hermann Hitler. This was a smart decision from the EU, as they could not possibly hope to derail the massive Russian economy through sanctions, as "A trade war with Russia might end up destroying the European Union's economy", said an acclaimed economist from the UK. The economist was correct, the only time analysts such as himself found a way to rank Russia as being behind economically was when getting the People's Republic of China's economy involved and mixing it's massive nominal GDP of 9.1 Trillion USD together with that of the EU and the USA and then comparing them against the RCU. Although the US$ remained the reserve currency of the world, it was becoming clear that the R₽(Russian Ruble) was the future as the proportion of countries accumulating this currency into their national reserves was steadily increasing at the expense of the dollar, who's international accumulation rate was decreasing, thus affecting it's value. The RCU was in an overly dominant global position and its' massive economy was growing faster than any economy in world history, not even America's boom years of the 1920s could compare, plus it's newly built cities (including existing cities), as well as its' population began to grow faster than anything ever seen, with an immigration rate similar to the great migration of Europeans to the USA during the 19th and 20th centuries. The large migration to Russia was not only caused by the demand for a labour pool large enough to sustain growing Russian industrial capacity, but by the established conviction that the new economic driver of the world was the RCU, creating an explosion in the number of people going to the country in search of a better life and untold riches. Even citizens of the EU, people who had long hated Russia because of it's Soviet history, were also beginning to be attracted to it despite the fact that Russian officials had a kick out of passing bills making such an emigration difficult for them specifically.

Although the US economy had shrunk, it remained the third biggest economy in the world behind the RCU and China, thus proving that America's massive economy truly was a force to be reckoned with and largely self-sufficient in many areas, even during a crisis. However, for the mere word "Was", the President of the USA was worried. As a result, President Roland F. Spencer had called for an easing of tensions with Russia and a focus on repairing ONLY the crippled US economy. The Military Advancement Act's provisions were to be suspended until economic stability and growth was restored and the US Congress deemed it's re-enactment fit. Thus after the mourning of the five million Americans killed during the bloody civil war, America began the lethargic journey of rebuilding itself with only the EU to aid it in this quest. This was after American demands for the RCU to compensate America by paying huge reparations for its' hand in the Civil War as a whole were denied by the RCU, thus shattering any hopes of easing tensions with Russia as planned by the President. Although they had pushed a resolution through the UN General Assembly in order to force Russia to pay war reparations to America, the world owed huge debts to the RCU and knew that if Russia withdrew its' loans as well as aid to most of the countries in the world, the global economy would collapse instantly. Because of this, many countries in the assembly accepted Russia's argument that "We as the RCU offered aid to America during the civil war as repentance for misconducts committed NOT by Russia or her people, but by Vostok. In response to our offer the Americans spat on our face with a big fat NO. Now I ask the United States, who are YOU to demand such aid now", said the RCU Representative to the UN Assembly.

Even so, the USA still had the IMF and the World Bank and even though both institutions owed huge debts to the RCU, and were also largely spent from using most of those loans in an effort to help Russia in its' efforts to restore the global economy, both institutions still had a few billions left and since these were mostly controlled by America's allies, the USA could still get loans worth billions to aid it in it's quest to repair it's economy and reputation. Even so, after all that had happened, it was obvious that it would take way more than that to rebuild the American economy, plus since they owed so much money to the World Bank and the IMF (now insolvent organizations that were barely being kept alive), they knew that they now indirectly owed a lot of money to the RCU, whom began to stop the flow of cash into the latter institutions as well as block American efforts to enter the lucrative Russo-Japanese trade bloc in order to slow down American economic recovery. It was now clear as day that the Cold War rivals would never co-exist.

By November 2009 all of Eastern Europe - Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Bos and Herz, Macedonia, Albania and even Turkey had all become official RCU Satellite States. These were countries were Russia had direct control over them(including juridical control) but maintained autonomy from the union. This control had been gained after the Premier Supreme of the RCU promised massive economic and military aid to any Eastern European country that would exit NATO and the EU and no longer maintain substantial alliances with them between 2007-2009. The Premier Supreme had even gone so far as to draw up a plan worth hundreds of billions. With the Great Recession at it's peak, all Eastern European nations would fall for what historians from both Russia and around the world dubbed as "The Great Trap". After all Eastern European nations a part of the said organizations of NATO and the EU exited them as signatory states whilst those that weren't dissolved agreements which made them allies with the organizations, they would be swiftly attacked and have their governments quickly overthrown by the massive Russian military.

Sweden, of whom was an EU member and Norway, a country which was a founder of and loyal to NATO since the start of the Cold War would take advantage of their Eastern European status as granted by the Russian government and would also exit the latter organizations during Orlov's promises of substantial economic aid, only to be attacked and have their governments quickly overthrown by Russian agents and the Motherlands' extremely powerful military. This had happened so fast that like its' eastern European counterparts, both countries surrendered way before they could ever even think of signing back into NATO. The Swedish Armed forces had been divided for some time and the Norwargain military was nothing compared to Russia's, so their defeat was swift and sure. Plus for the mere fact that both nations, like other Eastern European nations, were threatened with nuclear fire should they even attempt to sign back or into NATO or refuse to surrender, were both too shocked to counter Mother Russia effectively. Finland, one of the main staging grounds for these attacks on Norway and Sweden had been under occupation and Martial Law (which ended in October 2008 after the nations' Resistance movement collapsed) were thus along with Norway and Sweden, also declared a Russian Satellite State. The Turks, whom also fell for the Great Trap had also become a Satellite State in a similar way to Norway and Sweden (of course it's more complicated than that, as this invasion of Eastern Europe by Russia happened simultaneously). The USA had it's hands full with not only it's the civil war and the subsequent Second Mexican-American War, but those same hands were tied down as all these nations had left NATO and the EU, thus preventing the USA from doing something about Russian aggression in the East. Plus many American policymakers had reacted angrily to the defection by these countries, and felt that they were getting what they deserved, whilst policymakers that were against this occupation firmly believed that the Russians would not be able to maintain their control. Even so, America assured Russia that should it make even a single aggressive step into Western Europe, it would mean war with NATO and the USA.

With half of Europe under his massive Empire, by December 2009, before entering the next decade, the Dictator of the RCU - Maksym Orlov would give himself the new title of Tsar of the RCU, and would rename himself Czar Maxim i Orlov(Trans:Emperor Maxim "the first" Orlov) remaining Head of the Empire/State whilst the office of Presidency in the RCU would retain it's power as Head of Government in the union. Then after forcefully integrating all Russian Satellite States(RSS) into the new Russian Imperial Constitution, the Tsar would officially dissolve the RCU, forming the Confederated Russian Empire(CRE) on January 1, 2010. The CRE would encompass Russia proper along with all it's RSS(Russian Satellite States). The Tsar would also form the Russo-Confederated Armed Forces(RCAF), which was an aggregate of the Russian Imperial Army(RIA), the Russian Imperial Navy Force (RINF) and the RIAF(Russian Imperial AirForce). On the same day of the New Year, the Tsar would have the most powerfullest military in the world pledge undying allegiance to him, his now Royal family and the Russian people. This worried the world, but most importantly the USA and its' western allies, and so began NATO's efforts to separate the Russian Military from Orlov using the UN. Their protests were simple, "NO MAN should hold so much power alone. This was a threat to the entire world". But the Russian people, loyal and loving to the man that had dragged them out of obscurity, did not sympathize with them, and adored their beloved Tsar.

Moscow, the richest, busiest, biggest and most advanced City in the world would become the CRE Legislative Capital. With the country's "economic destiny" now found, the Tsar so no use in blocking the sustainable elements of democracy from penetrating Russian politics. Besides, nothing threatened his power inside Russia, his legacy was secure, thus creating no need for tight control. It would be this reason that the Imperial Constitution would grant the right to free press, speech, expression and assembly, allowing the courts to order the dismantlement of the RCU Department of the Interior's (now the 'Ministry of the Interior') Division for Internet Censorship in Moscow. Now the rule of law was absolute in Russia, and legitimacy had been brought to the power of the state and the Tsar. The Kremlin in Moscow would act as the base of operations for the CRE elected President as well as the country's newly founded Parliament, with the Sanate Building (also know as the 1st Building) in the Moscow-Kremlin Complex acting as the primary residence for the President of the CRE. Moscow, the greatest city on earth would also become home to the newly built Neoteric World Trade Centre building towering the luminous Moscow skyline as the tallest building in the World at 297 Floors whilst being surrounded by similar skyscrapers, such as the Vostok Industrial Corporate Tower, which increased the prestige of the city.

However, this change in the political scenery in Russia had led to Moscow losing the title of being the country's Supreme capital, even though it was one of the three capitals of the Empire. The main Capital had moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. This huge cultural centre was now the Imperial Capital of the CRE(Confederated Russian Empire), with the newly rebuilt Winter Palace acting as the official residence for the Tsar and his family. The Winter Palace also became a place where Parliamentary meetings overseen by the Tsar himself were to be held. By this time, the Imperial Capital's skyline was one of the most fascinating things of the 'Neoteric World', surpassed only by a few in the world e.g. Moscow Skyline, Volgograd Skyline. The city would also become home to Imperiyá Tower and the Svobóda Citadel, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

After the formation of the Empire, it's laws were also slightly different from it's predecessor, apart from the fact that the country would now have a Parliament, Volgograd would be renamed after the Tsar himself - Maximgrad, and would become the Judicial Capital of the Empire, with the Duma State Complex not only acting as the Supreme Court of the Realm, but as the main base of operations for the Eight democratically appointed Cardinals of Imperial Justice (also know as the Imperial Cardinal Council) for the Empire. The complex also acts as the Headquarters for courts from all corners of the Empire. Maximgrad is also home to the Imperial House of Integrity (IHI), a huge building where the Duma Assembly meets (but this assembly primarily meets in the Duma State Complex, although when it meets in the complex, it is under the supervision of a maximum of three of the Eight Cardinals of Imperial Justice) with regards to justice and laws of the country the Kremlin in Moscow must review, change and repeal altogether (whether new laws or not). Together with the Eight Cardinals of Imperial Justice, the Duma Assembly is basically the entire judiciary itself. This assembly is the glue that keeps the separate branches of the Imperial government together, and is primarily responsible for the Ministry of Imperial Justice, which the Imperial Cardinal Council, together with it's head - the Supreme Tribune, lead. All in all, the main function of the huge IHI building is to house the HQ for the Quadrilateral League of the Empire (QLE), which acts as the centre for the alliance between the four main ruling bodies of the Empire, which are the Judiciary (Courts), Legislature (Parliament) and the Executive (State Authority), in allegiance with Tsar (including the Royal Family). Maximgrad also boasts the biggest and most breathtaking Courts in the world, having the world's largest concentration of courts into one city.

As a reminder of the power held by the Tsar, many of those who refused to recognize the Empire were on orders of President Dimitrovo Putin, punished severely, if not executed outright. Unfortunately, due to being the new Tsar, the leader of the Empire, Czar Maxim 'the first' was now forced by the Imperial Constitution to sever all ties with his original political party - the UFAR (United Fascist Alliance of Russia), as his calling was with the lord and he would have to rule on his behalf benevolently, and without fear or favor. The President of the country - Dimitrovo Putin who had been re-elected in 2007 had as a result of the Tsar's move from the ruling party in the CRE, would also become the Head of the UFAR. With his rise to power, he would convert the party into the Fascist Union Alliance of Russia(FUAR). As a result of the new Imperial Constitution stipulating a more democratic empire so long as it did not threaten the Tsar's divine role, another political party would be created - the Fascist Labour Alliance(FLA), which would become extremely popular among Russians not satisfied with the FUAR's policies. These two political parties would become instant rivals in elections, and would thus be based in the Kremlin in Moscow as they both competed over the seats in the Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium, which is the Parliament of the CRE. It would also become common culture in Russian politics, whereby the President of the Empire can only be elected if he or she leads or at least originates from one of these two political parties, which as a result of the Imperial Constitution, would be compelled to pledge undying loyalty to the Tsar and the Royal family. Although the Tsar was conspicuous as to which of the two he actually supported, these new reforms would revitalize and add new life into Russian politics.

The formation of the Confederated Russian Empire was a huge shift in the political landscape of Russia, and was obviously Czar Maxim i Orlov's true plans for the RCU, particularly when it began to thrive. The huge Empire, which encompassed all of Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, half of Central Europe and Turkey in the Middle East, had a total populous of 395 Million Citizens, absorbing more than half of the European population. These numbers would continue to grow due to more prosperity having shifted from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, although Western Europe was still a moderately good place and largely having a stable economy. With the creation of the CRE, Russia had returned to the age of the Monarchy, but the birth of the Empire would cause a re-emergence of the Iron Curtain system separating the East from the West as tensions between the two continued to rise exponentially, particularly after the Great Trap.

In mid-2010, prominent Russian Nuclear Physicist Georgi Kurulenko pitches to the Tsar in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg what possibly could be the biggest military discovery as well as technological creation in the history of science since Mitsuko Kuji and Andrei Zhukov's BAPA. These were the results of the many Nuclear Research Facilities secretly set up by there then RCU government on the Russian Arctic Regions since 1997 after the Tsar had passed Initiative 97 in order to industrialize Russia and produce more Nuclear weapons. Georgi was a 42 year old brilliant and ambitious scientist who had been taught during the Soviet era. His research on radiation technology and nuclear energy had helped the RCU, a country now converted into the CRE (Confederated Russian Empire), into producing new and more powerful Nuclear hardware in massive numbers. Although costly, the RCU economy could handle it. Georgi had found a new and better way of controlling the nuclear radiation used to build these weapons, and although extremely expensive, the Tsar had always stressed the importance of protecting the newly built empire against enemy forces, in particular NATO and the USA. So, the massive military budget of the CRE mostly went into this nuclear research, allowing the nation to produce nuclear weapons on a massive scale.

With Georgi's new research, CRE scientists would successfully install an Aerial Nuclear Defence Grid all over Russia, with specific defence protocols that either diffuse nukes before they hit by tempering with their energy core or by Artificially and automatically hacking its' delivery systems and thus redirecting it elsewhere (e.g. the ocean). This Grid's systems could not be hacked or jammed, and could also intercept incoming nuclear fire with strategic anti-ballistic missiles. Georgi would name this groundbreaking discovery - the Nuclear Radiation Defence Terminals(NRDTs). On March 2011, the CRE, a country that had been rebuilding it's nuclear arsenal since 2000, is found by the CIA and MI6 to have a built an arsenal of 157 000 Nuclear Weapons, with tens of thousands of nukes having already been deployed. The American arsenal was enough to devastate many countries in the world, but paled in comparison to Russia's, a country that had the largest nuclear arsenal in history. What worried the US President was the massive number of ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) the Russians probably had with an arsenal that big. ICBMs were Missiles that could be fired directly from the CRE and reach America as well as any other part of the world with ease. So the Americans, more or less no longer had the upper hand on Russia by having some 192 nuclear MRBMs installed in Western Europe. Now the Russians had enough firepower to destroy the entire world over and over again. Russia had firmly established itself as the biggest and strongest military in the history of there world.

These news were not well received by the USA, a country that had lost their Sole-Superpower status in terrible fashion. But at leat they were still considered a Superpower, a nation with the ability to fight two major theatre wars at the same time. Although eager to begin Nuclear re-armerment due to the INF treaty and the SALT agreement with the Russians having been broken, the USA couldn't afford another Nuclear Arms race with Russia without gravely threatening their economy. According to re-elected US President Roland F. Spencer, to the American High Command, "We can't allow ourselves to fall for the same strategies we used against the Soviet Union, another Cold War with the RCU will drain the US economy instead of helping it recover". America would ignore the revelation concerning the Russian nuclear arsenal and even though Russia was yet again guilty of a gross violation of international law, the nation would instead give full attention to repairing it's economy. Even so, the CIA's Document 11 (The document which revealed Russia's nuclear arsenal) had yet again caused an increase in tensions between NATO and the CRE.

On September 2011, the CRE Ruble would be recognized as the strongest currency in the world after overtaking the Pound Sterling due to the Russian Government finally allowing it to appreciate again after years of downplaying it's value so as to keep Russian products cheap. The West was shocked, the economy of Russia was continuing to flourish and was undisputed on the world stage. By January 2012, the world economy had grown staggeringly under Russian leadership, a country which took an overwhelmingly big share of the economy of the world. By January 2012, the top 5 leading economies looked something like this:
2012 Top 5 World Economies
Confederated Russian Empire(CRE)
-GDP: 32.768 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 26.7%
People's Republic of China(PRC)
-GDP: 11.121 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 6.9%
United States of America(USA)
-GDP: 10.398 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 4.2%
Japan
-GDP: 5.667 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 4.7%
Germany
-GDP: 3.157 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 2.2%

Russia had a massive economy and Western Leaders didn't like it, as a result the West, using the CIA and MI6, had begun destabilization missions against the CRE in an effort to collapse the empire's economy. Although they were no longer Communist, it was clear the West and NATO was still incredibly hostile towards Russia, some might even say with good reason, taking into account it's takeover of Eastern Europe. The Iron Curtain was strengthening with every passing day and the CRE was refusing to grant aid to the USA, let alone allow the nation to join the Russo-Japanese Trade Bloc (the biggest trading bloc in the world), with Czar Maxim i looking to sever all diplomatic ties with the West, who's EU was using Moscow as the bridge to Eastern Europe and Asia. The EU would meet in Berlin, Germany to re-sign their EDA, making it clear that their alliance against the "Russian threat" was still strong. These Berlin Accords also allow the USA to secretly ship a massive arsenal of 500 nuclear missiles from America to Western Europe as show of strength against the CRE. The Berlin Accords also serve promulgate western efforts by encouraging the international isolation of Russia for breaking the SALT and INF treaties and thus threatening the whole world with it's massive nuclear arsenal. Many around the world believed that the Cold War was finally re-emerging.

On May 2011, during the nationwide birthday celebration of the Tsar at Maximgrad, Czar Maxim i would delivers his greatest speech as a celebration of how far the Russian Empire had come. They had evolved from a nation that conducted it's international policy through intimidation and military means, to one that used diplomacy very effectively. They went from a nation that could only profit from arms, oil and gas to one that produced a wide variety of goods for the world to use. They had truly gotten far regardless of how the west oppressed them, but after Maxim's marvelous speech, he had been shot in the heart before leaving the podium. He died instantly. The IF(Imperial Force), an organization converted from the FF (Fascist Force) of the former UFAR to become the Tsar's elite bodyguards, would close of the entirety of the district where the event was being held, and instantly went on a manhunt for the criminal, whom they would subsequently capture an hour after the assassination. The assassin was identified as Spanish hitman - Cayetano Munoz, whom they would send to Siberia for torture and interrogation.

Under the captivity of the Empire's newly formed Imperskoye Podrazdeleniye Taynoy Razvedki(IDSI) or simply the Imperial Division for Secret Intelligence(IDSI), Cayetano would be gruesomely tortured, revealing that China was behind the assassination, and that India had helped bankroll it by getting him a visa into the CRE. To the Russians this made some sense, if it wasn't for the RCU, then China would've become a Superpower. It was clear that they always saw the Tsar as an obstacle, if he never came then Russia would've never gone through the economic boom it did because the economic reforms would not have been there. Plus, the Tsar's excommunication of China from the Russo-Japanese Trade Bloc as well as the subsequent Rareethrum Embargo personally imposed by the him on both India and China had their effect. As a result of this, China's annual nominal GDP growth rate had gone from 13-14%, to just under 7%, so all this gave motive as to why both India and China would want Czar Maxim i Orlov gone. CRE suspicions were then confirmed after an IDSI Spy infiltrates the building in Beijing where the President's of both India and China were to meet. The evidence of the meeting was then provided to the Imperium, who's representatives along with the President began debating on what to do with both nations, of whom began drawing their forces to the Russo-Chinese border, strengthening up defences there and making China look even guiltier. This was not very smart for China, considering the fact that many in Moscow supported China, and wanted to avoid war at all cost. All of this would begin what would be known as the Russo-Chinese Crisis of 2011.

After months of mourning the Tsar, on August the 5th Russia would recognize their deceased leader's son and heir of 26 years old as the new Tsar of the CRE. Prince Viktor Orlov, as he was known, would instead of following royal custom by inheriting his father's name to become Tsar Maxim ii (Emperor Maxim "the second"), declare himself as Czar Viktor Orlov i(Emperor Viktor Orlov "the first"), according to him not out of hate for his father, but out of respect for his name, "I realize that if I am truly destined to become a fraction of what my father was, I must give respect to his greatness by allowing his name to be distinguished to him and only him until the heavens deem it otherwise", he said during his inaugural crowning. Meanwhile, months had passed since the Russo-Chinese Crisis had begun and military drills on the Russo-Chinese border increased tensions. The Chinese had set up a massive defensive line along their border with Russia, made up of a series of bunkers, barbed wire, machine gun nests, mortars, tanks, artillery, mines and booby traps. Russian reconnaissance flights over this line increased tensions even more, many in the Imperium were beginning to believe that China was preparing for a preemptive invasion of the CRE. Tsar Viktor i was furious to see no progress in the Kremlin concerning the matter, and with more and more Chinese troops lining up on the Russo-Chinese border, his impatience got even worse. In the Tsar's view, the Chinese government was responsible indefinitely, and felt that the continued investigations were pointless and unnecessary, he therefore wanted to exert terrible revenge against India and most importantly - China, through nuclear devastation. Fortunately, he would be advised against it as China and India had a joint arsenal of about 430 nukes, which could still cause them troubles along the way. So the Tsar came up with a better solution.

Cayetano Munoz, after months of being tormented, was to be the only criminal in modern day Russia to be condemned to death by beheading. On the same day of his execution, the RIA (Russian Imperial Army) and the RIAF(Russian Imperial AirForce) would shockingly assault China through Russo-Chinese border under the pretext of "Driving away Chinese aggression from the Russian border in an effort to protect the Motherland from invasion" as said by Imperial Defence Minister Vlatsnov Trotsky after personally signing the decree for the attack to happen. But the most prominent justification for the attack, was "Retribution for the assassination of the Tsar" as said by Czar Viktor i. The attack was swift and sudden and although Chinese forces were guarding the border, the devastation that came from the initial attack wasn't like anything anticipated due to the fact that after the Imperium argued for months without taking any decisive action, they didn't think Russia would actually attack. August 25th, 2011 (Day of the attack) proved only one thing, and that was that the Russo-Chinese Crisis had escalated into a full blown war, and this would be the war that would lead to the Age of Cataclysm, were human history was so turbulent that no day seemed to come as the long night continued. The Russo-Chinese War had begun.

To be continued...

IMPORTANT TRIVIA

Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium: Mostly referred to as the Kremlin (where it's based), is the Unicameral Parliament of the CRE and can only convene in two places i.e. The Kremlin in Moscow (where it's overlooked by the National Orator) or the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (where it's overlooked by the Tsar). It is made up of 420 seats, which can only be occupied via nationwide elections. The Imperium (as it's widely known) has the power to draft, pass, amend and repeal legislation. It also has the power to purse, power to declare war, power to ratify treaties and the power to Impeach the President of the CRE.

N.B: It is important to note that citizens from Russian Satellite States can only vote in elections partaking to those states, and thus cannot vote in Russian elections, or elections involving other Satellites.

National Orator: Is a government official responsible for Presiding over the Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium when it convenes in the Kremlin in Moscow, and is Constitutionally elected into the seat by members of the Imperium. The runner up in these elections, automatically becomes the Vice Orator, whom can assume the position of National Orator should the one in power be deemed unable do carry out his or her duties. Both Orators also oversee the Imperium when it convenes in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg side by side with the Tsar. Although the National Orator is the Presiding officer in the Russian Parliament, he or she does not have a vote in motions passed by the Imperium (although the National Orator can act as a tie breaker) and can be impeached by the same Imperium via a motion of no confidence (although this decision can be overturned by the Tsar via a National Interdict Order or the Supreme Tribune should the impeachment be deemed unjust by the Supreme Court of the Realm).

Supreme Court of the Realm: Is the highest court in the CRE, and is presided over by the Supreme Tribune and the other seven members of the Imperial Cardinal Council. It's decisions are reached via a 'verdict voting system', where each presiding officer gets one vote (If it happens that the vote results in a tie, the matter is taken to the Throne, where the Tsar will get the tie breaking vote after a careful assessment of the case in hand). The court acts as a last resort tribunal, meaning it's decisions cannot be appealed or overturned. It also deals with the interpretation of the Imperial Constitution of the CRE, and can thus overturn legislation passed by the Imperium should the court deem it unconstitutional.

National Interdict Order: Is an order that can only be passed by the Supreme Tribune of the CRE, and thus does not require a vote from the other Cardinals of Imperial Justice (although they do take an advisory role). The order is meant to stop two things: the Impeachment of the National Orator by the Imperium if deemed unjust (although if he or she does not pass the order, the Tsar can do so if he deems it fit), as well as the President's attempt to run for office for the third time onwards, should he or she deem such a re-election unnecessary. Even so, the interdict order concerning the President's re-election for a third time is not always final, and can be overturned by the Tsar via a hearing before the Throne, to which if overturned, that particular President can run for office for a third time.

Duma Assembly: A Judicial Assembly made up of every major judicial official in the Empire's Judiciary. The assembly has a variety of responsibilities (e.g. electing the Imperial Cardinal Council of the CRE). However, it rarely meets, although it's mandated by an amendment of the Conventional Judicature Act of 2002, to convene at least once a year. The assembly's role is mainly advisory, although it does have the power to impeach Judges, including the Supreme Tribune. This assembly allows a more centralized coordination of law in the CRE, improving the effectivity of country's uniform legal system.

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Chapter3: The Russo-Chinese Crisis and the Creation of an Empire

In January 2009, the Great American Civil War of Morality was declared over. Now the USA had to deal with the devastation that followed. During the Civil War, instead of profiting, essential American Wartime enterprises came close to collapse, not only due to America being torn in two, but largely because of the Financial Crisis experienced by the country during that civil war. This stood as proof that although countries may profit from war, no one ever really benefits from a civil war. Seeing their money in a shaky situation due to the infighting in the USA, angered international investors ended up withdrawing most of their investments not only as a form of penalty for atrocities committed by the GANR (Greater American Nazi Reich), but in an effort to salvage what they could. Still, the world economy would collapse if its' reserve currency - The US$ did, thus as it became clear that the US Federal Government had no intention of negotiating with the neo-Nazi rebel state, world support for the USA returned, although a shell of what it used to be. Even so, the US economy suffered nonetheless and unfortunately for the world, with the pillar of economic progression under a stability crisis, the financial crisis the USA went through did as predicted and went global. This was among other factors, because America withdrew most of its' own investments and debt owed to it from around the world in order to preserve the stability of the dollar, help fund the war effort in both arms and in the home front, have money for a post-civil war rebuilding process and protect the US economy. Even so, the US Federal debt skyrocketed as economists around the world had predicted. This Great Recession was not only similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s in effect, it proved yet again that fluctuations in the US economy always affected the world. As a result of this, a number of economies around the world collapsed.

By the end of the American Civil War however, the world economy began to recover, not because America's internal turmoil had died down, but because many of the world's investments, especially ones that once belonged to the USA itself, ended up going to the ever growing RCU, a country that wasn't affected by the Great Recession, let alone the Great Regression that followed. With the Russian economy continuing to thrive as entire economies collapsed around it, many countries ended up asking for huge loans from Russia in order to repair their economies and in a gesture of good faith, Russia had spent billions of Rubles funding economic aid world wide. Even the IMF and the World Bank had asked for a series of huge loans from the Central Reserve Bank Of the Russian Union. To protect global economic stability and in the search of riches in Russia, many investors, businessmen and other capitalists had taken most of their business to the country. With so much money coming into the Superpower, the Capital City - Moscow, already the biggest urban complex in the world and the most prosperous in Europe, was officially recognized as the world's richest and most busiest city, putting great cities like New York, Tokyo, Shanghai etc. to shame. The world's most self-sufficient and prosperous country was reluctantly linking it's massive economy with the rest of the world. Moscow was now the 'Global Financial Hub' of the planet. By this time, there wasn't anything the Russian economy wasn't producing and selling all around the world. The RCU was now in command of a new world order, or at least were in the process of doing so.

By May 2009, Russia had long become the world's leading Economy with a staggering nominal GDP of 21.489 Trillion USD, which was not only far larger than the projected annual growth of 21% (because of all those sweet investments), but was much larger than the EU economy. In fact, its' economy was even larger than that of the EU combined with that of the USA, as the US economy had shrunk to 8.01 Trillion USD because of the civil war, whilst its' greatest ally - the EU (combination of different world powers) had an economy of about 10.789 Trillion USD, of whom the Great Recession of 2007-8, and the Italian exit from the transnational alliance, hadn't helped. Even so, the EU saved itself from a worsened economic recession by conceding to RCU economic dominance and by having long lifted their failed 2007 sanctions on Russia (which many attribute as a cause of the recession) in an effort to ensure the economic stability of Western Europe whilst the United States destroyed Hermann Hitler. This was a smart decision from the EU, as they could not possibly hope to derail the massive Russian economy through sanctions, as "A trade war with Russia might end up destroying the European Union's economy", said an acclaimed economist from the UK. The economist was correct, the only time analysts such as himself found a way to rank Russia as being behind economically was when getting the People's Republic of China's economy involved and mixing it's massive nominal GDP of 9.1 Trillion USD together with that of the EU and the USA and then comparing them against the RCU. Although the US$ remained the reserve currency of the world, it was becoming clear that the R₽(Russian Ruble) was the future as the proportion of countries accumulating this currency into their national reserves was steadily increasing at the expense of the dollar, who's international accumulation rate was decreasing, thus affecting it's value. The RCU was in an overly dominant global position and its' massive economy was growing faster than any economy in world history, not even America's boom years of the 1920s could compare, plus it's newly built cities (including existing cities), as well as its' population began to grow faster than anything ever seen, with an immigration rate similar to the great migration of Europeans to the USA during the 19th and 20th centuries. The large migration to Russia was not only caused by the demand for a labour pool large enough to sustain growing Russian industrial capacity, but by the established conviction that the new economic driver of the world was the RCU, creating an explosion in the number of people going to the country in search of a better life and untold riches. Even citizens of the EU, people who had long hated Russia because of it's Soviet history, were also beginning to be attracted to it despite the fact that Russian officials had a kick out of passing bills making such an emigration difficult for them specifically.

Although the US economy had shrunk, it remained the third biggest economy in the world behind the RCU and China, thus proving that America's massive economy truly was a force to be reckoned with and largely self-sufficient in many areas, even during a crisis. However, for the mere word "Was", the President of the USA was worried. As a result, President Roland F. Spencer had called for an easing of tensions with Russia and a focus on repairing ONLY the crippled US economy. The Military Advancement Act's provisions were to be suspended until economic stability and growth was restored and the US Congress deemed it's re-enactment fit. Thus after the mourning of the five million Americans killed during the bloody civil war, America began the lethargic journey of rebuilding itself with only the EU to aid it in this quest. This was after American demands for the RCU to compensate America by paying huge reparations for its' hand in the Civil War as a whole were denied by the RCU, thus shattering any hopes of easing tensions with Russia as planned by the President. Although they had pushed a resolution through the UN General Assembly in order to force Russia to pay war reparations to America, the world owed huge debts to the RCU and knew that if Russia withdrew its' loans as well as aid to most of the countries in the world, the global economy would collapse instantly. Because of this, many countries in the assembly accepted Russia's argument that "We as the RCU offered aid to America during the civil war as repentance for misconducts committed NOT by Russia or her people, but by Vostok. In response to our offer the Americans spat on our face with a big fat NO. Now I ask the United States, who are YOU to demand such aid now", said the RCU Representative to the UN Assembly.

Even so, the USA still had the IMF and the World Bank and even though both institutions owed huge debts to the RCU, and were also largely spent from using most of those loans in an effort to help Russia in its' efforts to restore the global economy, both institutions still had a few billions left and since these were mostly controlled by America's allies, the USA could still get loans worth billions to aid it in it's quest to repair it's economy and reputation. Even so, after all that had happened, it was obvious that it would take way more than that to rebuild the American economy, plus since they owed so much money to the World Bank and the IMF (now insolvent organizations that were barely being kept alive), they knew that they now indirectly owed a lot of money to the RCU, whom began to stop the flow of cash into the latter institutions as well as block American efforts to enter the lucrative Russo-Japanese trade bloc in order to slow down American economic recovery. It was now clear as day that the Cold War rivals would never co-exist.

By November 2009 all of Eastern Europe - Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Bos and Herz, Macedonia, Albania and even Turkey had all become official RCU Satellite States. These were countries were Russia had direct control over them(including juridical control) but maintained autonomy from the union. This control had been gained after the Premier Supreme of the RCU promised massive economic and military aid to any Eastern European country that would exit NATO and the EU and no longer maintain substantial alliances with them between 2007-2009. The Premier Supreme had even gone so far as to draw up a plan worth hundreds of billions. With the Great Recession at it's peak, all Eastern European nations would fall for what historians from both Russia and around the world dubbed as "The Great Trap". After all Eastern European nations a part of the said organizations of NATO and the EU exited them as signatory states whilst those that weren't dissolved agreements which made them allies with the organizations, they would be swiftly attacked and have their governments quickly overthrown by the massive Russian military.

Sweden, of whom was an EU member and Norway, a country which was a founder of and loyal to NATO since the start of the Cold War would take advantage of their Eastern European status as granted by the Russian government and would also exit the latter organizations during Orlov's promises of substantial economic aid, only to be attacked and have their governments quickly overthrown by Russian agents and the Motherlands' extremely powerful military. This had happened so fast that like its' eastern European counterparts, both countries surrendered way before they could ever even think of signing back into NATO. The Swedish Armed forces had been divided for some time and the Norwargain military was nothing compared to Russia's, so their defeat was swift and sure. Plus for the mere fact that both nations, like other Eastern European nations, were threatened with nuclear fire should they even attempt to sign back or into NATO or refuse to surrender, were both too shocked to counter Mother Russia effectively. Finland, one of the main staging grounds for these attacks on Norway and Sweden had been under occupation and Martial Law (which ended in October 2008 after the nations' Resistance movement collapsed) were thus along with Norway and Sweden, also declared a Russian Satellite State. The Turks, whom also fell for the Great Trap had also become a Satellite State in a similar way to Norway and Sweden (of course it's more complicated than that, as this invasion of Eastern Europe by Russia happened simultaneously). The USA had it's hands full with not only it's the civil war and the subsequent Second Mexican-American War, but those same hands were tied down as all these nations had left NATO and the EU, thus preventing the USA from doing something about Russian aggression in the East. Plus many American policymakers had reacted angrily to the defection by these countries, and felt that they were getting what they deserved, whilst policymakers that were against this occupation firmly believed that the Russians would not be able to maintain their control. Even so, America assured Russia that should it make even a single aggressive step into Western Europe, it would mean war with NATO and the USA.

With half of Europe under his massive Empire, by December 2009, before entering the next decade, the Dictator of the RCU - Maksym Orlov would give himself the new title of Tsar of the RCU, and would rename himself Czar Maxim i Orlov(Trans:Emperor Maxim "the first" Orlov) remaining Head of the Empire/State whilst the office of Presidency in the RCU would retain it's power as Head of Government in the union. Then after forcefully integrating all Russian Satellite States(RSS) into the new Russian Imperial Constitution, the Tsar would officially dissolve the RCU, forming the Confederated Russian Empire(CRE) on January 1, 2010. The CRE would encompass Russia proper along with all it's RSS(Russian Satellite States). The Tsar would also form the Russo-Confederated Armed Forces(RCAF), which was an aggregate of the Russian Imperial Army(RIA), the Russian Imperial Navy Force (RINF) and the RIAF(Russian Imperial AirForce). On the same day of the New Year, the Tsar would have the most powerfullest military in the world pledge undying allegiance to him, his now Royal family and the Russian people. This worried the world, but most importantly the USA and its' western allies, and so began NATO's efforts to separate the Russian Military from Orlov using the UN. Their protests were simple, "NO MAN should hold so much power alone. This was a threat to the entire world". But the Russian people, loyal and loving to the man that had dragged them out of obscurity, did not sympathize with them, and adored their beloved Tsar.

Moscow, the richest, busiest, biggest and most advanced City in the world would become the CRE Legislative Capital. With the country's "economic destiny" now found, the Tsar so no use in blocking the sustainable elements of democracy from penetrating Russian politics. Besides, nothing threatened his power inside Russia, his legacy was secure, thus creating no need for tight control. It would be this reason that the Imperial Constitution would grant the right to free press, speech, expression and assembly, allowing the courts to order the dismantlement of the RCU Department of the Interior's (now the 'Ministry of the Interior') Division for Internet Censorship in Moscow. Now the rule of law was absolute in Russia, and legitimacy had been brought to the power of the state and the Tsar. The Kremlin in Moscow would act as the base of operations for the CRE elected President as well as the country's newly founded Parliament, with the Sanate Building (also know as the 1st Building) in the Moscow-Kremlin Complex acting as the primary residence for the President of the CRE. Moscow, the greatest city on earth would also become home to the newly built Neoteric World Trade Centre building towering the luminous Moscow skyline as the tallest building in the World at 297 Floors whilst being surrounded by similar skyscrapers, such as the Vostok Industrial Corporate Tower, which increased the prestige of the city.

However, this change in the political scenery in Russia had led to Moscow losing the title of being the country's Supreme capital, even though it was one of the three capitals of the Empire. The main Capital had moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. This huge cultural centre was now the Imperial Capital of the CRE(Confederated Russian Empire), with the newly rebuilt Winter Palace acting as the official residence for the Tsar and his family. The Winter Palace also became a place where Parliamentary meetings overseen by the Tsar himself were to be held. By this time, the Imperial Capital's skyline was one of the most fascinating things of the 'Neoteric World', surpassed only by a few in the world e.g. Moscow Skyline, Volgograd Skyline. The city would also become home to Imperiyá Tower and the Svobóda Citadel, one of the tallest buildings in the world.

After the formation of the Empire, it's laws were also slightly different from it's predecessor, apart from the fact that the country would now have a Parliament, Volgograd would be renamed after the Tsar himself - Maximgrad, and would become the Judicial Capital of the Empire, with the Duma State Complex not only acting as the Supreme Court of the Realm, but as the main base of operations for the Eight democratically appointed Cardinals of Imperial Justice (also know as the Imperial Cardinal Council) for the Empire. The complex also acts as the Headquarters for courts from all corners of the Empire. Maximgrad is also home to the Imperial House of Integrity (IHI), a huge building where the Duma Assembly meets (but this assembly primarily meets in the Duma State Complex, although when it meets in the complex, it is under the supervision of a maximum of three of the Eight Cardinals of Imperial Justice) with regards to justice and laws of the country the Kremlin in Moscow must review, change and repeal altogether (whether new laws or not). Together with the Eight Cardinals of Imperial Justice, the Duma Assembly is basically the entire judiciary itself. This assembly is the glue that keeps the separate branches of the Imperial government together, and is primarily responsible for the Ministry of Imperial Justice, which the Imperial Cardinal Council, together with it's head - the Supreme Tribune, lead. All in all, the main function of the huge IHI building is to house the HQ for the Quadrilateral League of the Empire (QLE), which acts as the centre for the alliance between the four main ruling bodies of the Empire, which are the Judiciary (Courts), Legislature (Parliament) and the Executive (State Authority), in allegiance with Tsar (including the Royal Family). Maximgrad also boasts the biggest and most breathtaking Courts in the world, having the world's largest concentration of courts into one city.

As a reminder of the power held by the Tsar, many of those who refused to recognize the Empire were on orders of President Dimitrovo Putin, punished severely, if not executed outright. Unfortunately, due to being the new Tsar, the leader of the Empire, Czar Maxim 'the first' was now forced by the Imperial Constitution to sever all ties with his original political party - the UFAR (United Fascist Alliance of Russia), as his calling was with the lord and he would have to rule on his behalf benevolently, and without fear or favor. The President of the country - Dimitrovo Putin who had been re-elected in 2007 had as a result of the Tsar's move from the ruling party in the CRE, would also become the Head of the UFAR. With his rise to power, he would convert the party into the Fascist Union Alliance of Russia(FUAR). As a result of the new Imperial Constitution stipulating a more democratic empire so long as it did not threaten the Tsar's divine role, another political party would be created - the Fascist Labour Alliance(FLA), which would become extremely popular among Russians not satisfied with the FUAR's policies. These two political parties would become instant rivals in elections, and would thus be based in the Kremlin in Moscow as they both competed over the seats in the Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium, which is the Parliament of the CRE. It would also become common culture in Russian politics, whereby the President of the Empire can only be elected if he or she leads or at least originates from one of these two political parties, which as a result of the Imperial Constitution, would be compelled to pledge undying loyalty to the Tsar and the Royal family. Although the Tsar was conspicuous as to which of the two he actually supported, these new reforms would revitalize and add new life into Russian politics.

The formation of the Confederated Russian Empire was a huge shift in the political landscape of Russia, and was obviously Czar Maxim i Orlov's true plans for the RCU, particularly when it began to thrive. The huge Empire, which encompassed all of Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, half of Central Europe and Turkey in the Middle East, had a total populous of 395 Million Citizens, absorbing more than half of the European population. These numbers would continue to grow due to more prosperity having shifted from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, although Western Europe was still a moderately good place and largely having a stable economy. With the creation of the CRE, Russia had returned to the age of the Monarchy, but the birth of the Empire would cause a re-emergence of the Iron Curtain system separating the East from the West as tensions between the two continued to rise exponentially, particularly after the Great Trap.

In mid-2010, prominent Russian Nuclear Physicist Georgi Kurulenko pitches to the Tsar in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg what possibly could be the biggest military discovery as well as technological creation in the history of science since Mitsuko Kuji and Andrei Zhukov's BAPA. These were the results of the many Nuclear Research Facilities secretly set up by there then RCU government on the Russian Arctic Regions since 1997 after the Tsar had passed Initiative 97 in order to industrialize Russia and produce more Nuclear weapons. Georgi was a 42 year old brilliant and ambitious scientist who had been taught during the Soviet era. His research on radiation technology and nuclear energy had helped the RCU, a country now converted into the CRE (Confederated Russian Empire), into producing new and more powerful Nuclear hardware in massive numbers. Although costly, the RCU economy could handle it. Georgi had found a new and better way of controlling the nuclear radiation used to build these weapons, and although extremely expensive, the Tsar had always stressed the importance of protecting the newly built empire against enemy forces, in particular NATO and the USA. So, the massive military budget of the CRE mostly went into this nuclear research, allowing the nation to produce nuclear weapons on a massive scale.

With Georgi's new research, CRE scientists would successfully install an Aerial Nuclear Defence Grid all over Russia, with specific defence protocols that either diffuse nukes before they hit by tempering with their energy core or by Artificially and automatically hacking its' delivery systems and thus redirecting it elsewhere (e.g. the ocean). This Grid's systems could not be hacked or jammed, and could also intercept incoming nuclear fire with strategic anti-ballistic missiles. Georgi would name this groundbreaking discovery - the Nuclear Radiation Defence Terminals(NRDTs). On March 2011, the CRE, a country that had been rebuilding it's nuclear arsenal since 2000, is found by the CIA and MI6 to have a built an arsenal of 157 000 Nuclear Weapons, with tens of thousands of nukes having already been deployed. The American arsenal was enough to devastate many countries in the world, but paled in comparison to Russia's, a country that had the largest nuclear arsenal in history. What worried the US President was the massive number of ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) the Russians probably had with an arsenal that big. ICBMs were Missiles that could be fired directly from the CRE and reach America as well as any other part of the world with ease. So the Americans, more or less no longer had the upper hand on Russia by having some 192 nuclear MRBMs installed in Western Europe. Now the Russians had enough firepower to destroy the entire world over and over again. Russia had firmly established itself as the biggest and strongest military in the history of there world.

These news were not well received by the USA, a country that had lost their Sole-Superpower status in terrible fashion. But at leat they were still considered a Superpower, a nation with the ability to fight two major theatre wars at the same time. Although eager to begin Nuclear re-armerment due to the INF treaty and the SALT agreement with the Russians having been broken, the USA couldn't afford another Nuclear Arms race with Russia without gravely threatening their economy. According to re-elected US President Roland F. Spencer, to the American High Command, "We can't allow ourselves to fall for the same strategies we used against the Soviet Union, another Cold War with the RCU will drain the US economy instead of helping it recover". America would ignore the revelation concerning the Russian nuclear arsenal and even though Russia was yet again guilty of a gross violation of international law, the nation would instead give full attention to repairing it's economy. Even so, the CIA's Document 11 (The document which revealed Russia's nuclear arsenal) had yet again caused an increase in tensions between NATO and the CRE.

On September 2011, the CRE Ruble would be recognized as the strongest currency in the world after overtaking the Pound Sterling due to the Russian Government finally allowing it to appreciate again after years of downplaying it's value so as to keep Russian products cheap. The West was shocked, the economy of Russia was continuing to flourish and was undisputed on the world stage. By January 2012, the world economy had grown staggeringly under Russian leadership, a country which took an overwhelmingly big share of the economy of the world. By January 2012, the top 5 leading economies looked something like this:
2012 Top 5 World Economies
Confederated Russian Empire(CRE)
-GDP: 32.768 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 26.7%
People's Republic of China(PRC)
-GDP: 11.121 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 6.9%
United States of America(USA)
-GDP: 10.398 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 4.2%
Japan
-GDP: 5.667 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 4.7%
Germany
-GDP: 3.157 Trillion USD
-GDP Growth rate: 2.2%

Russia had a massive economy and Western Leaders didn't like it, as a result the West, using the CIA and MI6, had begun destabilization missions against the CRE in an effort to collapse the empire's economy. Although they were no longer Communist, it was clear the West and NATO was still incredibly hostile towards Russia, some might even say with good reason, taking into account it's takeover of Eastern Europe. The Iron Curtain was strengthening with every passing day and the CRE was refusing to grant aid to the USA, let alone allow the nation to join the Russo-Japanese Trade Bloc (the biggest trading bloc in the world), with Czar Maxim i looking to sever all diplomatic ties with the West, who's EU was using Moscow as the bridge to Eastern Europe and Asia. The EU would meet in Berlin, Germany to re-sign their EDA, making it clear that their alliance against the "Russian threat" was still strong. These Berlin Accords also allow the USA to secretly ship a massive arsenal of 500 nuclear missiles from America to Western Europe as show of strength against the CRE. The Berlin Accords also serve promulgate western efforts by encouraging the international isolation of Russia for breaking the SALT and INF treaties and thus threatening the whole world with it's massive nuclear arsenal. Many around the world believed that the Cold War was finally re-emerging.

On May 2011, during the nationwide birthday celebration of the Tsar at Maximgrad, Czar Maxim i would delivers his greatest speech as a celebration of how far the Russian Empire had come. They had evolved from a nation that conducted it's international policy through intimidation and military means, to one that used diplomacy very effectively. They went from a nation that could only profit from arms, oil and gas to one that produced a wide variety of goods for the world to use. They had truly gotten far regardless of how the west oppressed them, but after Maxim's marvelous speech, he had been shot in the heart before leaving the podium. He died instantly. The IF(Imperial Force), an organization converted from the FF (Fascist Force) of the former UFAR to become the Tsar's elite bodyguards, would close of the entirety of the district where the event was being held, and instantly went on a manhunt for the criminal, whom they would subsequently capture an hour after the assassination. The assassin was identified as Spanish hitman - Cayetano Munoz, whom they would send to Siberia for torture and interrogation.

Under the captivity of the Empire's newly formed Imperskoye Podrazdeleniye Taynoy Razvedki(IDSI) or simply the Imperial Division for Secret Intelligence(IDSI), Cayetano would be gruesomely tortured, revealing that China was behind the assassination, and that India had helped bankroll it by getting him a visa into the CRE. To the Russians this made some sense, if it wasn't for the RCU, then China would've become a Superpower. It was clear that they always saw the Tsar as an obstacle, if he never came then Russia would've never gone through the economic boom it did because the economic reforms would not have been there. Plus, the Tsar's excommunication of China from the Russo-Japanese Trade Bloc as well as the subsequent Rareethrum Embargo personally imposed by the him on both India and China had their effect. As a result of this, China's annual nominal GDP growth rate had gone from 13-14%, to just under 7%, so all this gave motive as to why both India and China would want Czar Maxim i Orlov gone. CRE suspicions were then confirmed after an IDSI Spy infiltrates the building in Beijing where the President's of both India and China were to meet. The evidence of the meeting was then provided to the Imperium, who's representatives along with the President began debating on what to do with both nations, of whom began drawing their forces to the Russo-Chinese border, strengthening up defences there and making China look even guiltier. This was not very smart for China, considering the fact that many in Moscow supported China, and wanted to avoid war at all cost. All of this would begin what would be known as the Russo-Chinese Crisis of 2011.

After months of mourning the Tsar, on August the 5th Russia would recognize their deceased leader's son and heir of 26 years old as the new Tsar of the CRE. Prince Viktor Orlov, as he was known, would instead of following royal custom by inheriting his father's name to become Tsar Maxim ii (Emperor Maxim "the second"), declare himself as Czar Viktor Orlov i(Emperor Viktor Orlov "the first"), according to him not out of hate for his father, but out of respect for his name, "I realize that if I am truly destined to become a fraction of what my father was, I must give respect to his greatness by allowing his name to be distinguished to him and only him until the heavens deem it otherwise", he said during his inaugural crowning. Meanwhile, months had passed since the Russo-Chinese Crisis had begun and military drills on the Russo-Chinese border increased tensions. The Chinese had set up a massive defensive line along their border with Russia, made up of a series of bunkers, barbed wire, machine gun nests, mortars, tanks, artillery, mines and booby traps. Russian reconnaissance flights over this line increased tensions even more, many in the Imperium were beginning to believe that China was preparing for a preemptive invasion of the CRE. Tsar Viktor i was furious to see no progress in the Kremlin concerning the matter, and with more and more Chinese troops lining up on the Russo-Chinese border, his impatience got even worse. In the Tsar's view, the Chinese government was responsible indefinitely, and felt that the continued investigations were pointless and unnecessary, he therefore wanted to exert terrible revenge against India and most importantly - China, through nuclear devastation. Fortunately, he would be advised against it as China and India had a joint arsenal of about 430 nukes, which could still cause them troubles along the way. So the Tsar came up with a better solution.

Cayetano Munoz, after months of being tormented, was to be the only criminal in modern day Russia to be condemned to death by beheading. On the same day of his execution, the RIA (Russian Imperial Army) and the RIAF(Russian Imperial AirForce) would shockingly assault China through Russo-Chinese border under the pretext of "Driving away Chinese aggression from the Russian border in an effort to protect the Motherland from invasion" as said by Imperial Defence Minister Vlatsnov Trotsky after personally signing the decree for the attack to happen. But the most prominent justification for the attack, was "Retribution for the assassination of the Tsar" as said by Czar Viktor i. The attack was swift and sudden and although Chinese forces were guarding the border, the devastation that came from the initial attack wasn't like anything anticipated due to the fact that after the Imperium argued for months without taking any decisive action, they didn't think Russia would actually attack. August 25th, 2011 (Day of the attack) proved only one thing, and that was that the Russo-Chinese Crisis had escalated into a full blown war, and this would be the war that would lead to the Age of Cataclysm, were human history was so turbulent that no day seemed to come as the long night continued. The Russo-Chinese War had begun.

To be continued...

IMPORTANT TRIVIA

Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium: Mostly referred to as the Kremlin (where it's based), is the Unicameral Parliament of the CRE and can only convene in two places i.e. The Kremlin in Moscow (where it's overlooked by the National Orator) or the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (where it's overlooked by the Tsar). It is made up of 420 seats, which can only be occupied via nationwide elections. The Imperium (as it's widely known) has the power to draft, pass, amend and repeal legislation. It also has the power to purse, power to declare war, power to ratify treaties and the power to Impeach the President of the CRE.

N.B: It is important to note that citizens from Russian Satellite States can only vote in elections partaking to those states, and thus cannot vote in Russian elections, or elections involving other Satellites.

National Orator: Is a government official responsible for Presiding over the Cardinal Chamber of the Imperium when it convenes in the Kremlin in Moscow, and is Constitutionally elected into the seat by members of the Imperium. The runner up in these elections, automatically becomes the Vice Orator, whom can assume the position of National Orator should the one in power be deemed unable do carry out his or her duties. Both Orators also oversee the Imperium when it convenes in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg side by side with the Tsar. Although the National Orator is the Presiding officer in the Russian Parliament, he or she does not have a vote in motions passed by the Imperium (although the National Orator can act as a tie breaker) and can be impeached by the same Imperium via a motion of no confidence (although this decision can be overturned by the Tsar via a National Interdict Order or the Supreme Tribune should the impeachment be deemed unjust by the Supreme Court of the Realm).

Supreme Court of the Realm: Is the highest court in the CRE, and is presided over by the Supreme Tribune and the other seven members of the Imperial Cardinal Council. It's decisions are reached via a 'verdict voting system', where each presiding officer gets one vote (If it happens that the vote results in a tie, the matter is taken to the Throne, where the Tsar will get the tie breaking vote after a careful assessment of the case in hand). The court acts as a last resort tribunal, meaning it's decisions cannot be appealed or overturned. It also deals with the interpretation of the Imperial Constitution of the CRE, and can thus overturn legislation passed by the Imperium should the court deem it unconstitutional.

National Interdict Order: Is an order that can only be passed by the Supreme Tribune of the CRE, and thus does not require a vote from the other Cardinals of Imperial Justice (although they do take an advisory role). The order is meant to stop two things: the Impeachment of the National Orator by the Imperium if deemed unjust (although if he or she does not pass the order, the Tsar can do so if he deems it fit), as well as the President's attempt to run for office for the third time onwards, should he or she deem such a re-election unnecessary. Even so, the interdict order concerning the President's re-election for a third time is not always final, and can be overturned by the Tsar via a hearing before the Throne, to which if overturned, that particular President can run for office for a third time.

Duma Assembly: A Judicial Assembly made up of every major judicial official in the Empire's Judiciary. The assembly has a variety of responsibilities (e.g. electing the Imperial Cardinal Council of the CRE). However, it rarely meets, although it's mandated by an amendment of the Conventional Judicature Act of 2002, to convene at least once a year. The assembly's role is mainly advisory, although it does have the power to impeach Judges, including the Supreme Tribune. This assembly allows a more centralized coordination of law in the CRE, improving the effectivity of country's uniform legal system.