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AHC: More North Koreas

An independent Kashmir (not including Jammu or Ladakh) would probably be a deeply authoritarian state, marred by ethnic cleansing of minorities and general isolation from its much larger southern neighbour. It would even have a China-esque relationship with Pakistan and vitriolic hatred for, and general isolation from, India, strengthening the similarities with North Korea.

Khalistan also works, but I’ve noted before how an independent Khalistan isn’t that likely. Furthermore, an independent Khalistan would have a massive Hindu minority, and so would probably suffer from a rebellion from them.
 
Al-Bashir's Sudan and Gaddafi's Libya almost fit this bill already, moreso if they'd gone even further down the Islamist rabbit hole.

Tibet funnily enough, could have ended up as an isolated hermit kingdom a la North Korea, had China remained too much of a basket case to invade or had it secured the protection of India, Russia or the United States. Theocratic feudal absolute monarchy with a wealthy ruling class and dirt poor serfs, but with enough natural resources to sustain itself or be a useful trading partner to a larger power.

As for potential countries, had the PLO and Arafat seized control of Jordan during Black September and proclaimed a (East) Palestinian State, it likely would've turned into an international pariah, a literal 'terror state' backed by Syria and possibly the Soviets as well.

A violent civil war erupting in South Africa instead of Apartheid ending peacefully could've produced more than one of these, including an Afrikaner neofascist 'Volkstaat' run by the AWP carved out of the Western part of the country.
 
Lapsed Pacifist said:
As for potential countries, had the PLO and Arafat seized control of Jordan during Black September and proclaimed a (East) Palestinian State, it likely would've turned into an international pariah, a literal 'terror state' backed by Syria and possibly the Soviets as well.
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Ironically there's some evidence that they would have had a degree of under the table Israeli backing as well- there was something of a strain of thinking going around that as long as there was a Palestinian state, then the annexation and settling of the West Bank could be sort of pushed through without as much bother.
 
Milo said:
Soviet Dominated Europe and Iceland as the last bastion of American influence in Europe leading to an Ironclad Fascist Dictatorship
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Britain doesn't quite get its ducks all lined up in a row in 1940, and comes to an accomodation with Nazi Germany. The Reich occupies Iceland, in a legally dubious act that only encourages Britain to treat the peace as a breathing space within the war rather than a permanent situation. America continues its occupation of Greenland that worsens German-American relations and builds the coming Atlantic Alliance.

[SHENANIGANS ENSUE]

Like the Channel Islands, Iceland is mostly ignored by the Allies once they shell their port facilities into oblivion. The isolated Nazi occupation force, watching as their brothers in Continental Europe are destroyed between the hammer of the Soviet Union and the anvil of the Atlantic Allies, hunker down - building concrete bunkers, mining the shoreline, and brutalising the population to carry out the hard labour needed to turn Iceland into a fortress. This is not a good plan. The underground remnants of the Icelandic government join up with the illegal trade unions, and are joined by a whole spectrum of idealistic freedom fighters. Supplied by American and British airdrops, they successfully rise against the German occupiers, freeing political prisoners and even taking on a few German defectors. Suggestions of restoring the short-lived pre-war government are shot down however, by the militant trade unions whose ranks have been swollen by the Icelandic masses who were turned into industrial serfs by the Nazis. An alliance with Communists sees an Icelandic Revolution take place, overthrowing the bourgeois elements who had seemingly led Iceland into its travails.

Red Iceland immediately aligns with the USSR, remembering that they had been occupied because the British sold them out, forgetting the revolution had only been made possible with Atlantic Allied supplies. The collective leadership of the trade unions, a holdover from the Resistance days becomes increasingly opaque, with most of the population not really knowing who is making the decisions and instead a personality cult develops around the institutions of the state rather than any individual. Iceland eventually ends up cut off from any other Communist state, severing ties with the USSR and then China as it observes the creeping influence of capitalism.

Iceland survives in the modern day thanks to the so-called Nordic Accord, in which the post-Communist Scandinavian Federation acts as Iceland's international advocate and protector. Little is known about the North Atlantic hermit state, with the lack of any visible leadership meaning its difficult to pin the rumoured crimes against humanity on any individuals. Iceland also maintains a relationship with Cuba, whose medical expertise has proven invaluable to the survival of the country in such isolated conditions.
 
Another possibility could be a Pied-Noir hermit state in North Africa? Or even on Corsica? Like, lets say that their threatened coup doesn't quite work, de Gaulle dies, the Gaullist cause crumbles, and France moves towards a fight with the OAS rather than accomodating them. The OAS fail in their attempt to coup the government, and are forced back to the Med where they hunker down in some fortresses with Spanish help?
 
wilcoxchar said:
I'm always thought the idea of Iceland as a North Korea-esque totalitarian state that nobody really knows anything about would be interesting with its geographic isolation and potential for conspiracy theories over what the volcanic eruptions really are. No idea how it would come about though.
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Well, there's always OTL with "the devil's socialism" (which I only started hearing about after reading this book chapter - look at Box 1), which is an apt way of describing Iceland during much of the 20th century.
 
Indicus said:
An independent Kashmir (not including Jammu or Ladakh) would probably be a deeply authoritarian state, marred by ethnic cleansing of minorities and general isolation from its much larger southern neighbour. It would even have a China-esque relationship with Pakistan and vitriolic hatred for, and general isolation from, India, strengthening the similarities with North Korea.
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Here’s a scenario on that note.

Jammu and Kashmir successfully achieves independence from both India and Pakistan, attempting to be a monarchist and South Asian version of Switzerland. However, its independence is met with Hindu and Muslim riots. Kashmiri nationalism grows among the Kashmiris, while pro-India sentiments grow among the Hindus. Eventually, after the king dies, the Hindu ultranationalist RSS takes control of Jammu, Kashmiri nationalists take control of Kashmir, and Ladakh restores its monarchy but is ignored by just about everyone. In both Jammu and Kashmir, minorities flee riots and suspicion, homogenizing both lands. Jammu is integrated by India, which promptly forces it to become part of the state of Himachal Pradesh in an attempt to reduce the power of the RSS. Kashmiri nationalism, however, has grown to the extent that it doesn’t desire to become part of Pakistan, instead becoming ruled by Muslim Kashmiri nationalists. In reaction to the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus, India invades Kashmir, placing a puppet government in charge.

This puppet government proves unpopular, further radicalizing Kashmiri nationalists. However, any Kashmiri nationalist coup is frustrated by Indian intervention, and eventually when India gets nukes, it is forced to toe the line. This all changes when Pakistan gets nukes, acting as a deterrent against India. A Pakistan-supported Islamist and Kashmiri nationalist coup successfully takes over Kashmir, and India is kept from intervening by Pakistani nukes pointed at Amritsar, Jammu, and other major border cities. Instead, it attempts to cut off Kashmir, resulting in a famine which is only rectified by establishing ties with Pakistan. Despite finding the radicalism of the Kashmiri government a bit too much, Pakistan nevertheless continues to aid it if only to keep India from getting it. Therefore, Kashmir, despite pariah status, continues to live on under a totalitarian Islamist and ultranationalist government.
 
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