Fictional Hypotheticals - "Ethiopian Foreign Legion"

[Aglifter]

Dubai is, already dying. So, let's say China has decided to annex Singapore, similar to Shanghai and HK, and that business has started to get a little nervous, due to social unrest in Mainland China, and concerns about possible political changes - again, current precedents.

Now, let's say for some crazy reason, rather than going to Vietnam, the business community choses Ethiopia. (I know absolutely nothing about Ethiopia, other than its geography, and that its small enough, economically, that one large company could economically dominate it, if it chose to do so.) (Honestly, a free and open Cuba being turned into an economic center is probably more likely - vastly more likely, really.)

What are the prohibitions on former service members serving in the armed forces of an ally? (TMK, Ethiopia is an ally of ours in the WOT.) I haven't figured it out, yet, but, essentially, I had an idea of Megacorp, deciding it was profitable to bankroll the creation of an Ethiopian Foreign Legion to suppress piracy - it would be marketable, I think, to the soldiers being released by the US and NATO, because its the same war they've been fighting, but on clearer terms - as Ethiopia doesn't have the same political issues about recognizing the enemy.

Combine a beneficial business climate, major shipping lanes, relative proximity to Europe, and the potential to try to coax Africa into civilization (Don't know if it will happen, but its an untapped market place, if anyone can figure out how to get Africans to produce enough to become consumers.)

[Dub_James]

I hear the Chinese have been eyeing Africa for a while, in terms of increasing their influence there.

[skb12172]

Many Confederates and even a few Union veterans served as Mercs to Emperor Maximillian in Mexico. If they were "contractors" it would be a no-brainer. Actual military personnel? No clue. It is an intriguing idea. If Al Capone and the Mob could take over the entire town of Cicero, Il, why not a bunch of Capitalists taking over a small country? I do, in fact, find this VERY intriguing. Hmmm...

[Aglifter]

I hear the Chinese have been eyeing Africa for a while, in terms of increasing their influence there.

It makes sense, really. Europe's dying out, and will probably end in some kind of mess between Germany, using a Turkish underclass, and the Russians jockeying for control - but, until the producers start having babies, its just fiddling on the Titanic. (The US is on a similar path - unless something changes, the heirs to Europe are the immigrants, and the hooligans, and the heirs to the US are the illegals, the trailer parks, and the ghettos.)

Latin America and India are civilization gone wrong - frankly, so's the Middle East. They know what civilization is, they just don't like it much. (Some hope for S. America, esp. given all the European influx.) If things ever get sorted, both of them are only going to be able to sort it out for themselves.

Pretty good chance for much of South America, and maybe Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Mexico is dang near hopeless, barring a major effort to eliminate the peasant mentality there, but given that many American Blacks still have that... Maybe if Zapato had won, instead of Villa, but there's a reason Zapato didn't win.

Asia's going to the Chinese, unless the Australians do something crazy, and completely un-Austrailian - or, the Chinese collapse - which there's a good chance of. The Japanese are all but dead, the Koreans are too outnumbered, and the rest are either too small in population, or too backwards to do much other than welcome the improvements.

There really is an excellent chance of a Chinese collapse, but the results of that would be... odd... Foreign trade, conquest, militarism, etc are all things that the Chinese culture has done, but its not inherent to it.

The Irish, inherently, wander. Most Europeans have, inherently, traded - and most of them have been focused on conquest, at various times. (Not the Russians, so much - as long as they are left alone, they are, culturally, content.)

Japan and Chinese cultures have gone out conquering before, but its not something inherent to their culture - because you cannot do so, w.o. coming into contact w. others, and, at their core, Chinese and Japanese cultures abhor strangers.

Now, the Chinese might view Africa how they viewed Tibet, someplace they could eliminate the natives, and turn into China... Maybe... The NGOs did kill quite a bit of Africa w. the vaccination programs (use one needle for an entire village, and you'll get lots more AIDS cases.) But, I'm not sure that it was quite devastating enough to permit that.

The US happened because smallpox killed 90% of the indigenous population.

[Cybrludite]

Problem: Last I checked, Ethiopia has lost its ports to Eritrea.

[Yogimus]

china owns africa. Like... today. Most of their major companies have holdings on the continent. china has done more good for that place in the past 2 decades than europe has in 200 years.

[HTRN]

Hence them building up their Navy, specifically their Naval Air power. It isn't to fight the US, that's the short route to suicide, but to put the screws to any warlord who gets ideas about "redistributing" resources that China has already paid for to their lackeys.

[Yogimus]

Hence them building up their Navy, specifically their Naval Air power. It isn't to fight the US, that's the short route to suicide, but to put the screws to any warlord who gets ideas about "redistributing" resources that China has already paid for to their lackeys.

China doesn't really have that problem. In fact, their Non-interference doctrine stabilized most of the continent. It is AMAZING what happens when you introduce a no strings attached free market power.

[skb12172]

Hence them building up their Navy, specifically their Naval Air power. It isn't to fight the US, that's the short route to suicide, but to put the screws to any warlord who gets ideas about "redistributing" resources that China has already paid for to their lackeys.

China doesn't really have that problem. In fact, their Non-interference doctrine stabilized most of the continent. It is AMAZING what happens when you introduce a no strings attached free market power.

Oh... they did... the first few times...

When everyone they ever knew ended up dead, the "warlords" learned not to fuck with the "private" entrepreneurs from the PRC.

Which is pretty much how The Guncounter, Inc. would run the place, methinks...

[Jered]

If you're interested in that sort of thing, I'd recommend Tom Kratman's M-Day, Inc. Books.