Abandoned in Space
Clouds on the horizon
With each passing day, the view out the window becomes more and more inviting. Back on earth changing politics and the new cold war were being monitored closely by the entire crew. With the all the changes happening, and the resurgence of nationalist movements across the globe, it becomes more and more apparent that tensions are rising perhaps to the point of no return.
Every day news of rising tensions between nations brought apprehension. The Middle East was exploding again, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan were all in turmoil. Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen were hotbeds of terror activity. Even worse, China and the Korean peninsula were threatening to plunge the world into nuclear war.
The Russian contingent, although highly trained and well educated could see the balance of global power shifting. Russia’s prominence had waned significantly after the first cold war wound down. But now that Vladimir Putin had solidified power and moved Russia back away from democracy, their international influence was growing again. Under Putin’s policies of Communism for the government and capitalism for the economy, the Russian economy had improved. Once again they were able to prop up foreign governments and spread influence worldwide. The Russian cosmonaut’s pride was swelling with the new found aggression emanating from Moscow.
The U.S. not to be outdone was trying it’s best to maintain the hard-fought gains that it had won in the 1990s. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were beginning to look like they were unwinnable after years of making great strides in creating democratic governments. The Americans were tiring of war, the costs in American lives and billions of dollars invested were beginning to stress the people.
In the last few months the rhetoric between nations was ratcheting up and even an occasional military battle between the U.S. and Russian proxies in Syria was beginning to spill over to the larger nations. In addition, North Korea was threatening nuclear war and even though most people in the west felt it was more bark than bite, South Korea, and Japan felt particularly venerable. If an attack came it would surely impact them first.
Every day news of rising tensions between nations brought apprehension. The Middle East was exploding again, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan were all in turmoil. Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen were hotbeds of terror activity. Even worse, China and the Korean peninsula were threatening to plunge the world into nuclear war.
The Russian contingent, although highly trained and well educated could see the balance of global power shifting. Russia’s prominence had waned significantly after the first cold war wound down. But now that Vladimir Putin had solidified power and moved Russia back away from democracy, their international influence was growing again. Under Putin’s policies of Communism for the government and capitalism for the economy, the Russian economy had improved. Once again they were able to prop up foreign governments and spread influence worldwide. The Russian cosmonaut’s pride was swelling with the new found aggression emanating from Moscow.
The U.S. not to be outdone was trying it’s best to maintain the hard-fought gains that it had won in the 1990s. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were beginning to look like they were unwinnable after years of making great strides in creating democratic governments. The Americans were tiring of war, the costs in American lives and billions of dollars invested were beginning to stress the people.
In the last few months the rhetoric between nations was ratcheting up and even an occasional military battle between the U.S. and Russian proxies in Syria was beginning to spill over to the larger nations. In addition, North Korea was threatening nuclear war and even though most people in the west felt it was more bark than bite, South Korea, and Japan felt particularly venerable. If an attack came it would surely impact them first.