Bangladesh

From Gothpoodle

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Latest revision as of 02:33, 17 June 2010

• Population: 230 million
• Aspects: Stable, Controlled, Third Wave

Bangladesh came late to the nanosocialist camp, joining the TSA only after a local nanosocialist party came to power in peaceful elections in 2081. The nation took little part in the Pacific War, and has since managed to avoid involvement in serious confrontation.

Once one of the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh managed rapid progress in Fourth Wave biotech industries in the 2030s and 2040s. Today the country still lags far behind the Fifth Wave nations, but desperate poverty has been almost eliminated. Most of the populace has adequate food, water, housing, and health care. The main lack felt by the citizenry is in access to information services. Outside the urban areas, many people even lack telephones, much less full web access. In any case, Bangladesh has been cut off from the global web ever since it joined the TSA.

Among the TSA nations, Bangladesh probably approaches most closely to the ideal of making the benefits of modern technology uniformly available to all its citizens. The poorest citizens have enjoyed great progress in their standard of living, while the nation’s leaders ostentatiously maintain an austere lifestyle. Most Bangladeshi citizens are quietly proud of their country’s progress, and work hard to press on further.

Bangladesh is dominated by the low-lying Ganges river delta. Even before global warming caused ocean levels to rise, much of the country was often devastated by monsoon storms coming off the Indian Ocean. Many citizens were relocated to higher ground in the course of the century. Meanwhile, Bangadeshi gengineers have specialized in adapting human beings to amphibious or even underwater existence. Today, the continental shelf off the Bangladeshi coast is densely settled by various “merpeople” variants, lacking advanced technology but developing their own distinctive ways to live underwater. Bangladesh intends to be a major player in undersea development as this community expands.

Bangladesh is an important jumping-off point for covert nanosocialist activities to the west. A long-standing relationship with India makes it relatively easy for Bangladeshi spies or diplomats to operate there. Meanwhile, Bangadesh has long been an exporter of labor to the Islamic countries around the Persian Gulf. This flow has been restricted by anti-TSA sanctions, but it still exists and can be used by covert operatives.