<div>And on we go. Picking Europe to start with purely at random. Yes, I know it looks spare - I must confess to a case of writer's block. If you have ideas for additions to the events, throw them at me.</div>
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<div>European regional themes (in addition to the global themes):</div>
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<div>1. The EU has not died. It is, however, adrift. The failure of the Lisbon Treaty in Irish referenda in October 2009, for the second successive time, killed that effort dead. Expansion and deepening of the European project is stalled, and the EU's mediocre performance in responding to the recession didn't help its credibility.</div>
<div>2. Multiculturalism has been edged out in many places by what's being called a new rebirth of national identities - a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment comes along with that, but also increasing movements to both repatriate powers from the EU and to restore the power of national governments.</div>
<div>3. Paradoxically, despite only turning in a middling performance for most of the war, NATO has come out of Afghanistan (which wrapped up, in a military sense, in 2011, though trainers and support troops for the Afghan military and police remain, along with civilian development workers) strengthened as an alliance - Mostly due to Taliban attacks virtually everywhere throughout Afghanistan during 2009, which made nowhere particularly 'safe' before NATO managed to turn the tide in early 2010. The fact is that once the Taliban made the whole region a combat zone, the distinction between allied nations largely evaporated, aided by the increasingly-outspoken nature of returning troops, no longer content with national caveats and what was largely termed the politicians' "timidness" in the press.</div>
<div>4. A revolt against politics: The often-ineffectual nature of European politicians' responses to the recession, combined with scandals such as the MPs' expenses issue in Britain, has brought the public view of politics to a new low. Extremist and generally fringe parties have taken advantage of this, though none have yet achieved more than modest gains.</div>
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<div>And now, some events, many thanks to Dylan for helping write most of these:</div>
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<div> October 2009: Lisbon Treaty fails in Irish referendum.</div>
<div> May, 2010: The newly elected German Chancellor, Gerhard Kretschmer, is assassinated by a neo-fascist group as he leaves the Bundestag. German forces begin a crackdown on neo-fascists across the country and in response, these groups stage demonstrations in every German city. In Berlin, several members of the Bundestag are kidnapped and held hostage, and one is found dead in a park a week later. Many of the demonstrators target Turkish homes and businesses and two Turks are found beaten to death in Hamburg. Demonstrations through Poland and Belgium occur to protest both the actions of the neo-fascists and the crackdown on personal freedoms by German authorities.</div>
<div> <font face="Arial" color="#000000" size="2">July 2011: Race riots erupt in Paris after French security forces arrested 4 Algerian men accused of plotting a terrorist action. Tensions ignite and the demonstrations by non-French people turn the suburbs of Paris and other cities in France into a veritable warzone for a week. Cars are burnt, small bombs go off, buildings vandalized, and French bystanders attacked. Various smaller demonstrations also begin in Rotterdam and in the large cities of Germany, aimed at the Turkish immigrant communities in those countries, although the riots are nowhere near as bad as in the slums of Paris.</font></div>
<div>August 2011: 3 Simultaneous truck bombs go off in Rome. 68 people are injured and 35 are killed by the explosions. Each explosion occured at a major Roman landmark, one just outside the Coliseum, one in the square in front of the Pantheon, and one on the Via della Conciliazione near the Vatican. Italian security forces blame a terrorist cell of Lybian immigrants living in Rome as the prime suspects, although they are unable to find anything more.</div>
<div>April, 2012: The Ukrainian government has started to supress violent seperatist movements in the eastern portion of the country, especially around Kharkov. These groups have memberships now reaching into the hundreds, and the military is called in the keep the peace. Links to Russian agents are rumored but unconfirmed. Meanwhile, in May, the Chechen conflict heats up again as fighters return from Iraq and Afghanistan to continue the fight. The British ambassador in Moscow is shot and wounded by a Chechen in the Moscow business district in early June.</div>
<div>July 2012: On 12 July, an assassination attempt is made against Queen Elizabeth II by a member of the Ulster Defense Association at Balmoral - the attack is unsuccessful, and the Queen is unhurt, but one policeman in her protective detail is killed.</div>