User:Hobbes
Why Hobbes?
This question keeps popping up from time to time. And the answer is two-fold: - Hobbes, as in the stuffed tiger in Calvin and Hobbes. - And as Thomas Hobbes, an English political theory writer of the XVI century (on which the above mentioned tiger is based btw).
It will also be mentioned somewhere that my real name is André Galvão, that I am from Portugal and that my age is 33. This are all desinformation, of course, meant to distract you from my real identity as a member of Omega Team.
Any questions regarding me, myself and I can be made on my talk page :)
What is the Omega Team?
Bigger than Above Top Secret. Even more secret than the proven fact that the Earth is flat, not round despite what they might tell you. For more information present yourself at the server of UFO2000, a multiplayer remake of UFO Defense. You will know but I will shoot you afterwards.
Why X-COM?
Scroll back in time to when computers had the fabulous memory of 48K, namely the ZX Spectrum. The would be creators of X-COM released a game named Rebel Star, followed by Laser Squad (the predecessor to the current Laser Squad Nemesis). I like those so much that I even used some of Rebel Star's names for my fan fictions as a nod to them. A big time afterwards I got a PC and bought X-COM:Apocalypse, followed by X-COM:UFO Defense and X-COM: Terror From The Deep. Voila, love at first sight.
Fan fictions?
I've been writing a whole series of stories concerning the X-COM universe:
X-COM: The Unknown Menace - Covers the 1st Alien War (based upon UFO Defense). Long novel (692 pages)
X-COM: Eulogy - Set between the 1st and the 2nd Alien War. Short story based upon the return of X-COM to Mars.
X-COM: Abyssal - Covers the 2nd Alien War. Unfinished.
X-COM: Destined Alliance - Pre-Apocalipse story set upon the 2nd return of X-COM to Mars. Will eventually be a part of the 3rd novel, which covers the 5th Alien War, based upon X-COM: Genesis.
All of those can be read at the fanfiction.net site
The Council of Funding Nations
The Council of Funding Nations (henceforth refered to as CFN) is an interesting case of an international organization because of its apparent legal nature and the flexibility it provides X-COM to deal with the alien menace. A brief analysis will be provided regarding its apparent workings:
Membership of the CFN
The available literature regarding the Council states that it was composed of 'representatives from the worlds most economically powerful countries gathered secretly in Geneva' (UFO Defense introduction), while later it is refered that 'the United Nations Security Council holds a clandestine summit in Geneva, Switzerland' (from X-COM Interceptor). This discrepancy between sources poses a problem to the nature of the CFN regarding its membership, which can be explained below:
| Country | UNSC Membership | CFN Membership | G8+5 Membership | National GDP rank (World Bank, 1999) | Population (2007) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Permanent | Yes | Yes | 1st | 3rd |
| United Kingdom | Permanent | Yes | Yes | 4th | 22nd |
| Russia | Permanent | Yes | Yes | 16th | 9th |
| France | Permanent | Yes | Yes | 5th | 19th |
| China | Permanent | Yes | Plus 5 | 6th | 1st |
| Germany | W. European | Yes | Yes | 3rd | 14th |
| Japan | Asian | Yes | Yes | 2nd | 10th |
| India | Asian | Yes | Plus 5 | 12th | 2nd |
| Brazil | Latin American | Yes | Plus 5 | 15th | 5th |
| Italy | W. European | Yes | Yes | 7th | 23rd |
| Australia | W. European | Yes | No | 13th | 53rd |
| Egypt | African/Arab | Yes | No | 41st | 16th |
| South Africa | African | Yes | Plus 5 | 29th | 26th |
| Spain | W. European | Yes | No | 8th | 28th |
| Nigeria | Africa | Yes | No | 52nd | 8th |
| Canada | W. European | Yes | Yes | 9th | 36th |
| Mexico | Latin American | No | Plus 5 | 10th | 11th |
| Poland | E. European | No | No | 24th | 33rd |
| Indonesia | Asian | No | No | 25th | 4th |
| South Korea | Asian | No | No | 11th | 25th |
| Argentina | Latin American | No | No | 34th | 30th |
| Algeria | African/Arab | No | No | 48th | 35th |
| Pakistan | Asian | No | No | 47th | 6th |
- There are only 15 members on the UNSC (5 permanent + 10 elected), which poses a problem since there are 16 nations on the CFN.
- The elected members come from geographical blocs: Africa (3 members); Latin America and the Caribbean (2 members); Western Europe and Others (2 members); Eastern Europe (1 member); Asia (2 members). 1 member comes also from an Arab country, either from Africa or Asia. Comparing to the table above, there are major differences: Eastern Europe isn't represented; Western Europe has an excess of 3 members; Latin America is missing 1 member.
- The G8 is made of the 8 biggest economic powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy and Russia. The Plus 5 are the 5 largest emerging economies (China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and India). The G8+5 was formed in 2005.
- One way to try to combine both the economic and UNSC geographic criteria for inclusion on the CFN is to say that the Eastern European bloc was simply dropped (since it's a remainder of the Cold War and its largest member, Poland, was ranked 24th in GDP) and replaced by Spain. Finally Australia was chosen for the CFN (occupying the extra 16th slot) instead of Mexico for geographic reasons (to include Oceania, since it does not have its own bloc). An argument could be made to exclude Spain instead and have both Mexico and Australia.
- The choice of Nigeria to occupy one of the Africa slots can be explained by the fact that it was the country elected at the time, since Algeria was ranked above it in GDP.
- Other possibilities to occupy positions at the CFN are Indonesia (due to its large population), South Korea, Argentina and Pakistan (large population plus owner of nuclear weapons).
Other curiosities
- Regarding the choice of Geneva, Switzerland, it is interesting to notice that Switzerland only became a full member of the UN on 2002.