The Resource Wars (Falco)

In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace. -- Wangari Maathai

Beginning of the Crisis:
In the 2030s humanity began tracking  resources fearing that the world was soon going to be running out of main  resources  like coal, steel, and copper. In 2035 it was calculated that the  resources  were being depleted at the fastest rate ever recorded in history. This soon became an even greater rallying cry for liberals than even Global Warming itself.

Adapt or Die Campaign
In direct response to the report. Conservative groups created an adapt or die campaign. A message which outlined steps the human race must undertake if they were to survive thousands of years into the future. The Adapt or Die Campaign was created by Republican loudmouth Newt Gingrich and backed by the majority of the party. Some of the topics highlighted in various campaign ads included:
 * Space Colonization for R esource Extraction
 * Lower taxes on Corporations
 * Less regulations on monopolies
 * More oil and gas subsidies
 * Funding for Oil and Gas because America was in the middle of another oil boom

Liberal Ideas
The liberals used the same basic ideas that they had to "stop" Global Warming. They wanted to continue Cap and Trade and have available funding for new Carbon trading initiatives. Liberals also pushed for Global population control.

Population Control:
As debates raged on in Congress how best to deal with the ever increasing population of the Earth and it's ever dwindling resources. Liberals came up with a "benign" method of population control for the United States. A lottery system was put in place. Those who won the lottery lived like kings in Virtual Reality immersion programs for about a week. Then, at the end of the week they were incinerated. It was estimated that humanity spent nearly 35% of their lives in Virtual Reality so while there were many harsh critics of this idea, liberals deemed it necessary. Give the few what they want for a short period of time and the rest of us can live out our lives comfortably. Despite cries that it was immoral and dangerous the lottery remained optional. Yet millions of Americans participated anyway.

The Fight for Water
In Africa before the Replication Process became mainstream water was more lucrative than drugs or weapons. The water wars of Africa killed more than 200 million africans and caused chaos across the continent.

Only Criminals Can Afford:
Starting in the 21st century and reaching its peak at the end of the 2020s, water became such a luxury in Africa that only the richest and baddest drug and war lords could afford it. Since the most corrupt people controlled nearly all of the countries in Africa, it was up to war criminals to distribute the resources evenly. They did not.

Blue Gold:
Water soon became more valuable than gold in the 2040s it's old nick name Blue Gold or Blue Oil, became common every day language in the poorer nations that did not have access to replicators.

Privatization:
Blue Gold was privatized and sold in an unregulated volatile marketplace controlled by the African Dictators in the early 2040s even as the King of Africa was trying to unite the continent. Many of these new African Water companies sprung up and went bankrupt over night. Just imagine warlord CEOs.

European Political Fights Over Water:
In the mid-2040s Europe was thrust into a major battle for water rights,  resources  and water filteration technology. While the replicators were still marching their way across Africa they were not incorporated into other parts of the world, and water wasn't high on the list of things that it could replicate. So Europe was running out of water and huge water restrictions were put into place for the European people.

Europe Attacks Africa
In 2039 Europe begins small local wars against certain African nations that it feels are hoarding fresh water. Africa considers the accusation insulting and fights back because they feel like they should take care of their own first before supplying their water to the rest of the world. Africans were used to being ignored by the world powers. No longer...

Africa believes that Europe has been the one that was hindering their own continent's success. By exporting water from Africa to supply Europeans with glamourous lifestyles only seen in the Americas. Africans began to hate Europeans as Anti-European propaganda swept the continent.

Turkey Aligns with Africa
Never one to agree with its European Union neighbors Turkey shocks the world when it pairs up with Africa's replication process and essentially becomes allies in the war against Europe. This act alone nearly doubles Turkey's economy and leads it to become a world power by 2043. Besides for those benefits Turkey becomes the first country outside of Africa to get access to Food Replicators.

This destablizes Europe even more and leads it to become ever more aggressive towards Turkey and Africa. The Resource Wars were heating up in the early 2040s.

Island Skirmishes
The East Asian Islands that surround Japan and parts of Asia, were highly sought after territories in the 2020s. They were full of minerals and precious metals that Japan wanted and ended up controlling for much of the 21st century. Japan invested heavily and built up it's military strength since it had to defend these lands from neighboring countries who staked their own claims on them. Korea ended up getting some of the islands and China only managed to gather up a handful because it's focus was on other parts of the world.

North Korea Attacks South Korea
North Korea Attacked South Korea in 2041 making it the first major battle for resources in the east asian region. The North hijacked the South's interconnected VR Network which connected South Korean's directly to VR through brainwaves. This brutal chemical/cyber attack which left half the population of S.Korea dead, brought America into the war for resources.

Japan and US Attacks North Korea
Japan who was spreading anti-US propaganda in it's own country temporarily aligned with America to give South Korean the justice they deserved. Together the two countries created an EMP cyber bug, which thrusted North Korea into literal darknss for fifty years.

Asia's Monopoly
In the late 2030s Asia started to monopolize and restrict access to certain resources. Certain Asian countries all fought each other over resources and who would get the replicators around 2045. This led to distablization mostly in China. China's government soon became too big and collapsed under its own weight. This led to Japan's ultimate rise to power and a unified Korea. As the threats to East Asia were eliminated the countries started talking world peace.

Japan's Rise to Power
During the Resource Wars, Japan became one of it not the most powerful nation on the Earth.

Space Conquest
In the 2040s Japan nearly conquered space. It launched millions of tiny satellites into orbit in an effort to track all resources in real time! This meant that Japan can defend itself if anybody even thought about getting close to it's island deposits. These drone-like satellites would be extremely helpful in its later battles against American advancements into space. Later the satellites will be instrumental in setting up the first ever space wide internet systems. The drones also had super high power laser installed which could target anybody on the face of the Earth!

Death Toll & Conclusions:
The Food Replicators slowly but surely made their way across the world reaching market penetration in 2073. Every city in the world had access to the Food Replicators by 2073. However, it came at great price. About 3 Billion people lost their lives around the world due to resource related deaths. Whether it was a cyber resource war or actual deaths in modern warfare. The world became a more tolerant and unified place as more and more people got access to the replicators.

Technological
The war had a direct cause and effect on the techonology industry. Physical gadgetry disappeared off the planet. Because these gadgets used the very resources that the wars were fought over. Many people did not want to use hand-held devices because they were considered blood-technology. Think blood-diamonds. The movement which first started in the early 21st century which complained about East Asian working conditions, soon fueled the East Asian Resource wars. This combintation of dwindling resources and the populist uprisings of East Asia  became the official reason as to why the Resource Wars started in the first place.

Political
After the Resource Wars, the Global Community became a realized reality and more people wanted to get rid of old boundries to allow for easier trade and less political corruption. These feelings soon became the foundation to the real Global Community.

And the Winner is...
It could be said that nobody won the resource wars. Japan and Turkey were obviously the two countries which benefited the most in the short run. As technology and governments progressed into the later 21st century the very concept of war itself was changed by the growing political power of Androids and the AI network. It could also be said that the wars were completely necessary as almost all are for the advancement of technology and governments. Everybody ended up winning in the long run because it was the last Global War which led to the Global Community.