Racing the Darkness - An Alpha Centauri Photologue

[MysticWind]

United in Action: The Big Three

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

U.N. peacekeepers

Peacekeeping had seen worse days by Unity Day 2071. After half a century of political gridlock, the United Nations Department of Peace Operations was again conducting armed interventions to spread human rights and fair treatment of all peoples. Ironically, this was not due to reform nor ‘rationalization:’ great power intransigence was not vanquished by Security Council expansion, nor new ‘counter-veto’ measures to check the P10, but by the momentary incapacitation of members during imperial crisis, e.g. the Pax Decay wars or the Second Golden Revolution.

In their absence did ambitious players enter the stage of history. French and Soviet full-throated support of the international body during the Mongkut years was followed by the rise of the ‘Fifth Force’, a loose assemblage of formerly neutral states and ambitious subnational colonies seeking an unusual path to glory. The Fifth Force and their Third World semi-rivals in the Non-Aligned Movement viewed participation in peacekeeping as a way to militarize under the guise of protecting peace while growing influence over their nation-built charges. Growing goodwill by doing well. Thus did the likes of Switzerland, Japan, and Portuguese Brazil compete with Indonesia, Yugoslavia, and the Bengal Union in unstable regions.

U.N. peacekeeping forces, while varying in training discipline, equipment quality, and leadership integrity as always, now trended on the more effective if little less corrupt side. Mission arsenals included lavish contributions from XM8 assault rifles to Raijin shagokhods courtesy of wealthy ex-neutrals. Though in the field, peacekeepers often found themselves still enmeshed in geopolitical jockeying and bureaucratic morasses. Conservative rules of engagement- not levied on the other armed services- still stymied gung ho Blue Helmets. Governments actively meddled to corral growing U.N. clout. Still, even as the interstellar ark finally made its way beyond Earth, soldier-fishloafers (those who distribute loaves and fishes) gained newfound relevance on a dying world.

Peacekeeper armored in biowarfare-resistant Exo-Plus Combat Utility Harness at Somali checkpoint

U.N. Security Force

Before the resurgence of its peacekeeping forces, the U.N. struggled to maintain order amidst global breakdown. Secretary-Generals begged haughty nations for protection of species-vital space elevators, let alone contributions to its ceaseless Blue Helmet missions. Sick of recalcitrant members, the Secretariat looked inwards to create its own protectors. For a century, its staff and facilities were guarded by officers of the United Nations Security Force in blue-grey uniforms. Though little more than glorified security guards who faced at worst unruly debate hecklers, the Second American Civil War presented a rude awakening. As rival New York separatist gangs and Manhattan communes fought for the island, the U.S. federal government retreated from its own holdings, much less an irritating international body’s and its bodies. Scraping together bigger guns from other sovereignties, even via the burgeoning wartime black market, the U.N. Security Force transformed into a gendarmerie. Safety and security officers with military hardware fought desperately against Holnist hordes, valorously evacuating most of the Secretariat from Turtle Bay as the island fell to the last great Hypersurvivalist Tide. While safety concerns were far less present during the “Accra Captivity” exile era, the precedent was set: the U.N. Security Force was now a paramilitary.

The southern hemispheric stint gave ample opportunities for the new globe-trotting gendarmerie to flex its muscles. From its stable enclave in Ghana, the Security Force went to anarchic quagmires in the various Nigerias, Ambazonia, and the Sahel to escort VIPs and coordinate with ECOWAS counterparts. Then further- the Great Lakes, the Ethiopias, southern Africa, the Sahara. And then out of Africa. Whenever UNPOL investigators visited a frontline, wherever UNICEF opened a new camp, however insignificant the local office or outpost might be, UNSF was there with heavy shredders and ballistics jackets. As Unity preparations dragged on, its mission committee dispatched security officers to the space elevators against mobs and mad bombers. Unlike peacekeepers, the U.N. Security Force was not assigned to a single operation, but to an indefinite “Long Emergency.”

When the Security Council was obstructed by politicking, without even token troops from measly members, the Security Force went in. Secretariats jealously built up their protectors into a truly internationalized force beholden to no capricious country. No-pats, deserters, former insurgents (Paris, Pretoria, and Lisbon published lists of People’s African Union members found in its roster), terrorist renegades (D.C. perennially threatened to cut funding over supposed Kellerite and New French 75 infiltrators), “publicized” mercenaries, and world peace enthusiasts, the Security Force became a U.N. Foreign Legion of sorts.

Great powers lambasted the pocket army for pushing policy where peacekeepers feared to tread. Indeed, their mandate to guard the Secretariat was reinterpreted such that the presence of even a single envoy merited regiment-sized deployments. ‘Secretary-Generalissimos’ wielded their ostensibly internal security officers as world gendarmes, tacitly declaring the U.N.’s jurisdiction over the entire Earthsphere. The permanent force of not peacekeepers but peacemakers supported factions and governments based on Accra’s (later restored Turtle Bay’s) ineffable ethical calculi for international peace and security. Forced disarmament, preemptive strikes, extrajudicial dissolution of defense manufacturers were all on the table.

This overreach was protected by upswells of support from the world’s lost and forgotten. In the face of unanimous vetoes, masses of beneficiary states beyond the simplified quintipartite model of international blocs pushed for action via UNGA resolution 377 A, defying the Security Council with emergency special sessions. ‘Uniting for Peace’ agreements anointed the Security Force’s work, reinforcing its image as the guardian of the General Assembly in addition to sentinel of the Secretariat. By the time of Unity launch, the U.N. Security Force had been swiftly sworn in as main provider of mission protection, even as observers fretted over the specific officers who were admitted.

Derisively nicknamed “Indigo Children” by rebel militants everywhere, up-armored heavy trooper U.N. Security Force special officers on a relief rations hovertrain

U.N. Marines

The revolt of the lower blocs and the adventurism of the U.N. Secretariat did not go unnoticed by the great powers. The mutation of the U.N. Security Force into a standing army gradually alarmed the permanent members of the Security Council, especially the post-reconstruction governments that emerged from mid-21st century tumult. Frenetic cross-hegemonic talks and bureaucracy-diplomatic maneuvering created a rapid reaction force led by the revived Military Staff Committee, firmly under the thumb of the UNSC. Under the auspices of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, the United Nations Marines Corps was born.

Outfitted with the best kit and training that professional militaries could muster, the U.N. Marines was to be a service that the Security Council to call their own, above impromptu-assembled hodgepodge peacekeepers and dregs of the hoi polloi security officers. While the Soviets and French first attempted to respectively influence the force, all of the P10 quickly realized that, like the “Nuclear Club” that it all but mirrored, sometimes elites must hang out together, so that no one else could hang out with them. Its first commander was the distinguished Canadian General Marcel Salan, who had the challenge of drafting a new combined doctrine to bind together not only the fighting prowess of ten militaries but those of allies and collaborators.

The result was an amalgamation of multiple quick response services: Salan’s own native Royal Canadian Marine Commando Regiment (descended from both the Royal Marines and other amphibious infantry of the imperial commonwealth), the ubiquitous United States Marine Corps, the paradrop Soviet Airborne Forces (VDV), and the (American-allied) Emirati Najmonaut Commandos. While other services from the Persian Imperial Guard Squadron to the Portuguese Grupos Especiais Paraquedistas were also influences, the four U’s - (U.S., U.B.E., U.S.S.R., and U.A.E.) served as the main template for rapid marines of the three S’s: Sea, Sky, and Space.

U.N. Marines were intended to move fast to hit hard with unlimited logistical capacity. The great powers wanted the Corps not only for political jousting, but as a built-in, multilaterally-sanctioned check against the other U.N. militaries. If they had a means to get in and out of conflict zones before peacekeepers or Security Force could, the Security Council could remain preeminent, members free to fight amongst one another without the rabble getting involved Thanks to repeated requests of Captain John Garland, the UNS Unity boasted its own complement of U.N. Marines, chiefly loyal to their founder-leader General Salan and the vague ideal of the Military Staff Committee.

The Stability Enforcement Armored Formation was among the U.N. Marine Corps’ cream of the crop, the shock troop’s shock troops. Trained across a variety of combat theaters and equipment loadouts, SEAF was said to stand for “Sea, Earth, Air, and Firmament”

Notes

Second things first- this series began as an attempt to explain what exactly the U.N. Security Force mentioned in Santiago’s bio is. (A “United Nations security training force” is also mentioned in Yang’s bio, which I am just going to interpret as the instructional component of the same.) I assume it’s intended to be a throwaway reference to the common sci-fi/futurist trope of a hypothetical U.N. military. Since the early Keepers of Wisdom proto-faction (see page 79) was changed to the Peacekeeping Forces for some reason, perhaps it would have been confusingly redundant to mention both a faction and a real-world soldiery with the same name, hence Security Officer Lt. Santiago was never a peacekeeper of any kind.

But the U.N. Security Force actually exists in real life! UN Photo has an extensive collection of the Security and Safety Section (or Service) that “provides guard and fire prevention services for the protection of persons and property in the Headquarters area; investigates cases of loss, damage and theft, and accident insurance claims and settlements; arranges for the issue of passes and identification cards; regulates traffic in the grounds and garage; provides usher and cloakroom services; and operates the locksmith's shop” - at least back in 1975. Some security officers even participated in a U.N. Gun Club. In 2005 a formal Department for Safety and Security was established.

There was also the United Nations Guard Force (or Guard Unit), “a 70-man guard unit, all of whose members have received police training, maintains a fire-fighting unit, renders first aid when necessary, and retrieves lost children in addition to their normal duties” which might have been the Security Force’s precursor org back in 1950. Finally, not to be confused with the United Nations Security Force in West New Guinea, which was a specific peacekeeping mission. Nor guard units used in peacekeeping operations.

I’m not sure if Firaxis actually knew about this entity, but the serendipitous naming works well with my interpretation: a security force militarized into a “U.N. militia” with a greatly expanded global mandate at the behest of the Secretary-General and Secretariat against conniving and apathetic national powers.

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I am indebted to HERZ by Toh, Ee Loong, a Neon Genesis Evangelion with a heavy focus on speculative international relations. Its end of chapter Part Annexe, which I have collected and archived, are a fun read, with the Annex A to Part II creatively imagining how a future U.N. might develop, e.g. more Security Council permanent members wielding ‘half-veto’ votes - “requiring the 'nay' votes of at least two of the permanent members before a resolution would fail.” It’s also where I first heard of the real but vestigial Military Staff Committee, which organizes “the military resources of the world” under the direction of the UNSC. HERZ also has a UN International Peacekeeping Force, which I didn’t add here since a proliferation of multiple redundant and feuding services feels more in line with both real-world and SMAC depictions of U.N. bureaucracy rather than a singular standing military. Here, peacekeepers operate largely like their real-world version, complete with the UNDPO being created in 1992.

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I have the U.N. relocate its HQ temporarily to Ghana during the 2nd ACW as a tribute to Kofi Annan, the sec-gen when the game was made and that TV Tropes claims Pravin Lal looks like the Indian version of (I don’t really see it but okay).

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The (“original”) French 75 is from One Battle After Another.

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The (imo rather ugly and anachronistic) title United British Empire comes from For Want of a Nail by Robert Sobel. It’s not necessarily an official name here.

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Further info on the Military Staff Committee-
“Revitalizing the United Nations Military Staff Committee: Enhancing Global Security through Active Peacekeeping, Arms Control, and Crisis Communications” by Lieutenant Commander Nathan Sawyer, U.S. Navy, FAO Journal of International Affairs
“Military Staff Committee to Save the World” by Kevin Sanders, War & Peace Foundation

Image credits

Heroic blue helmet painting is the cover art for Conflict Zone

Exoskeleton peacekeepers in Somalia is “Concepts for a Personal Project” by Brian Edenfield

Security crew in blue tint is a Prodigy Corporation Search and Rescue team from Alien: Earth

Purple bellies on a train are from Firefly, costuming formerly from Starship Troopers

U.N. forces in blue BDU is “United Nations of Earth” by gooperbob

SEAF Specialists is a Helldivers 2 mod that inspired by the Super Earth Armed Forces Soldier