Quote:I figured it'd probably already been in the arsenal for a couple of decades at least.
The US would probably respond with nukes instead of taking the time to develop a designer disease.
The fragmentation was actually inspired by Joel Garreau's non-fiction book The Nine Nations of North America, published in 1981. The front cover of my copy has a blurb reading, "Forget the map! The people of North America are dividing into rival power blocs -- with separate loyalties, interests, and plans for the future!" I tried to convey, apparently not clearly enough, that they all (except the Texans) go with the "we're all Americans" attitude -- same flag for all four U.S.A.s, etc. But each thinks it's the federal government, and the others should join it, rather than it joining one of them -- that's the hold-up in reuniting. And the Brazilians and Indonesians are trying to keep them divided, because a reunited U.S. would have the resources to be a global power again, even with the enormous population loss.
China as the source of the plague was inspired by a report which suggested that China has been doing effective research into such targetable diseases. I couldn't track that report down again, though.
As for why (some of) the Japanese assisted the Chinese, my take on that was simple greed. Stupid men will let ethnic hate overcome greed; smart men let greed overcome their ethnic hate. And while I didn't think this through at the time, it might've been the Japanese who leaked the fact that the Chinese were guilty -- stabbing their partners in the back.
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Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.