View source for Geoscape2008:Campaign Overview

{{Geoscape_2008_Header}}

This [[Geoscape]] Campaign is set in 2008 with an emphasis on naval action in the western Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean.

The Year is 2008. The Iraq War has gone on for 5 years. The global economic system once seen as strong, looks weak. 

BLUFOR, the US and her Allies are bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States National Security aparatus are detecting a new strategic threat in Asia; seemingly unrelated to Al Qaeda and threats already known to the world. Now the US must convince the world the threat this new opponent poses and try to determine the primary actors behind the facade. 

REDFOR, the unknown enemy, is a new secretive threat to world peace and stability. REDFOR will attempt to disguise its main purpose and objectives and gather additional forces for its strike. 

Both sides will have the end of 2008 to preposition forces and have light/glancing engagements. BLUFOR will try to determine where the main threats are, and position forces like Aircraft Carriers, Air Wings, logistics, and land forces nearby. REDFOR will attempt to dilute BLUFOR's power and will determine the course of the Campaign. 

Combat will begin in early 2009. 

Recruitment: https://jabbr.net/#/rooms/baloogan

REDFOR Chat: https://jabbr.net/#/rooms/baloogan-2008-REDFOR

BLUFOR Chat: https://jabbr.net/#/rooms/baloogan-2008-BLUFOR

As soon as you join a team you are not allowed to switch during the Campaign. The Campaign after this one will be set in [[Europe 1988]]. 

=Team Headquarters=
{| style="width:100%; border:none; background:none; vertical-align:top;"
| style="width:50%; font-size:200%; vertical-align:top; text-align:center; background:#5050a0; text-color:blue; font-weight:bold;" |
[[Geoscape 08 BLUFOR HQ | BLUFOR HQ]]
| style="width:50%; font-size:200%; vertical-align:top; text-align:center; background:#a05050; text-color:red; font-weight:bold;" |
[[Geoscape 08 REDFOR HQ | REDFOR HQ]]
|}


=History=
* January 2 – The price of petroleum hits $100 per barrel for the first time.[5]
* January 15 – The Federal Court of Australia orders a Japanese whaling company to stop research whaling within their Exclusive Economic Zone.[10]
* January 22 – Russia stages the largest naval exercise since the fall of the Soviet Union in the Bay of Biscay. The Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, along with 11 support vessels and 47 long-range bomber aircraft, practises strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain, and test-launches nuclear-capable missiles in foreign waters.[12]
* February 4 - Iran opens its first space center and launches a rocket into space.[20]
* Bridgestone, under investigation for an alleged price-fixing cartel, uncovers improper payments of at least 150 million Japanese yen to foreign governments and withdraws from the marine hose business.[28]
* February 17 – Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, with support from some countries but opposition from others.[30]
* February 18 - The British government introduces emergency legislation temporarily to nationalize Northern Rock, the 5th largest mortgage bank in the UK, due to the bank's financial crisis.[31]
* February 18 - A general election is held in Pakistan, delayed from January 8 due to riots in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Opposition parties, including Bhutto's, take more than half of the seats, while President Pervez Musharraf's party suffers a huge defeat.[32]
* February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective February 24.
* February 20 - The United States Navy destroys a spy satellite containing toxic fuel, by shooting it down with a missile launched from the USS Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean.[34]
* February 22 - Former building society Northern Rock is the first bank in Europe to be taken into state control, due to the U.S. subprime mortgage financial crisis.[36]
* February 22 - No survivors are found after a rescue helicopter discovers the wreckage of Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 just northeast of Mérida, Venezuela. The commercial plane had 46 people on board, including crew.[37]
* March – April – Rising food and fuel prices trigger riots and unrest in the Third World.
* March 1 – In Gaza Strip, at least 52 Palestinians and 2 Israeli soldiers are killed in the most intense Israeli air strikes since 2005.[39]
* March 2 – 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis: Venezuela and Ecuador move troops to the Colombian border, following a Colombian raid against FARC guerrillas inside Ecuador's national territory, in which senior commander Raúl Reyes is killed.[40][41]
* March 14 – Demonstrations by Tibetan separatists turn violent as rioters target government and Han Chinese-owned buildings.
* March 15 – A gun factory explosion in Gërdec, Albania, kills more than 30. Over the following week, Albania, Kosovo, and some surrounding countries supply and support Gërdec's population with food, blood, etc.
* April 27 – The Taliban attempts to assassinate Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a military parade in Kabul.[49]
* May 3 – Over 133,000 in Burma/Myanmar are killed by Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster since the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004.
* May 7 – Dmitry Medvedev takes office as President of Russia, replacing Vladimir Putin.
* May 8 – Start of armed clashes and fighting in Lebanon.
* May 11 – Burma/Myanmar holds a constitutional referendum.
* May 12 – Over 69,000 are killed in central south-west China by the Wenchuan quake, an earthquake measuring 7.9 Moment magnitude scale. The epicenter is 90 kilometers (56 mi) west-northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu, Sichuan province.
* May 13 – A series of bomb blasts kills at least 63 and injures 216 in Jaipur, India.
* May 15 – An oil pipeline explosion in Ijegun, Nigeria kills 100.
* May 30 – The Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted in Dublin.[53]
* June 2 – A car bomb explodes outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least five people.
* June 8 – In the Akihabara area of Tokyo, Japan, a 25-year-old man stabs seven to death and wounds 10, before being arrested.
* June 10 – Fire engulfs Sudan Airways Flight 109 after it lands in Khartoum, killing 44.
* June 14 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, kills 12 and injures more than 400.
* June 22 – Typhoon Fengshen hits the Philippines and capsizes the ferry MV Princess of the Stars, leaving hundreds dead or missing.
* June 27 - After three decades as the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down from daily duties to concentrate on philanthropy.[54][55]
* July 7 – A suicide-bomber drives an explosives-laden automobile into the front gates of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 58 and injuring over 150.
* July 7 – July 9 – The 34th G8 summit is held in Tōyako, Hokkaidō, Japan.
* July 22 – The United Progressive Alliance-led government in India survives a crucial no-confidence vote, based on disagreements between the Indian National Congress and Left Front, over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
* July 25 – A series of seven bomb blasts rock Bangalore, India, killing two and injuring 20; the next day, a series of bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, kills 45 and injures over 160 * people.
* July 27 – At least 17 are killed and over 154 wounded in 2 blasts in Istanbul.
* July 28 – At least 48 are dead and over 287 injured after bombs explode in Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq.[59][60]
* August 7 – The 2008 South Ossetia war begins, as Georgia and Russia launch a major offensive inside the separatist region of South Ossetia after days of border skirmishes between the two sides.
* August 8 – August 24 – The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China.[65]
* August 19 - Taliban insurgents kill 10 and injure 21 French soldiers in an ambush in Afghanistan.[69]
* August 19 - A suicide bomber rams a car into an Algerian military academy, killing 43 and injuring 45.[70]
* August 20 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport with 172 on board. Of them, 154 die and 18 survive.[71]
* August 21 – At least 60 die following twin suicide bombings outside the Pakistan Ordnance Factories in Wah, Pakistan.
* August 22 – Pirates hijack German, Iranian, and Japanese cargo ships off the coast of Somalia, in seven such attacks since June 20.[72]
* August 24 - An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10, including four Americans on a humanitarian mission.[73]
* August 24 - Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes upon takeoff near Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68.[74]
* August 26 – Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[75]
* August 26 – September 1 – Hurricane Gustav makes landfall on Louisiana as Category 2 and kills seven in the United States, after making landfall on western Cuba as Category 4, and killing 66 in Haiti, eight in the Dominican Republic, and 11 in Jamaica.[76][77]
* August 28 – September 7 – Hurricane Hanna kills seven in the United States, and 529 in Haiti, mostly due to deluges and mudslides.[78]
* September 1 – September 14 – Hurricane Ike makes landfall on Texas as Category 2 and kills 27 in the United States, after killing four in Cuba, one in the Dominican Republic, and 75 in Haiti.[79][80]
* September 2 – Political crisis in Thailand: Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand declares a state of emergency in Bangkok.[81]
* September 3 - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan survives an assassination attempt near Islamabad, while on his way to meet British Leader of the Opposition David Cameron.
* September 9 – Political crisis in Thailand: The Constitutional Court of Thailand orders Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign, after he is paid for appearing on a television cooking show.[85]
* September 10 - The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.[86][87]
* September 12 – A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130.[89]
* September 14 - Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes near the city of Perm, Russia, killing all 88 on board.[90]
* September 14 - Churches are attacked in Mangalore and southern Karnataka, India, leading to Christian protests and strong police suppression.[91]
* September 20 – A suicide truck bomb explosion destroys the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 60 and injuring 266.[94][95][96]
* September 25 – Shenzhou 7, the third manned Chinese spaceflight and the first with three crew members, is successfully launched. China becomes the third country ever to conduct a spacewalk.[97]
* September 29 – The DOW loses 777 points, the biggest one-day point decline ever. The drop came after the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bank bailout plan.
* October 3 – Global financial crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.[102]
* October 6 - An earthquake measuring 6.6 magnitude kills at least 65 in Kyrgyzstan.[105]
* October 6 - Symantec acquired PC Tools for $262,000,000.[106]
* October 9 – Global financial crisis: Following a major banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of the three largest banks in the country: Kaupthing Bank,[110][111] Landsbanki,[112][113] and Glitnir.[114][115]
* October 17 – The United Nations General Assembly elects Turkey, Austria, Japan, Uganda, and Mexico to two-year terms on the Security Council.[116]
* October 21 – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.[117][118][119][120]
<!--* November 4 – United States presidential election, 2008: John McCain is elected the 44th President of the United States.[125][126][127]
* November 8 – An accident aboard Russian submarine K-152 Nerpa kills 20.
* November 25 - Political crisis in Thailand: Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy party storm into Suvarnabhumi Airport and block flights from taking off. More protesters seize control of Don Mueang Airport the following day.
* December 2 – Political crisis in Thailand: After weeks of opposition-led protests, the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolves the governing People's Power Party and two coalition member parties, and bans leaders of the parties, including Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, from politics for five years. As such, Wongsawat promptly resigns and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul as caretaker Prime Minister.[135]
* December 11 - Bernard Madoff is arrested by U.S. federal authorities on charges of running a massive decades-long Ponzi scheme swindling thousands of investors - the largest financial fraud in history.
* December 21 – Gwadar Port, Pakistan, becomes fully operational.[143]
* December 23 – A military coup d'état is announced in Guinea shortly after the death of long-time President Lansana Conté.[144]
* December 27 – Israel initiates "Operation Cast Lead" in the Gaza Strip after launching an extensive wave of airstrikes[145] against military targets, police stations and government buildings within the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of stopping rocket fire[146] from and arms import into the territory.[147][148] As a result, Hamas intensified its rocket and mortar attacks against Southern Israel, reaching the major cities of Beersheba and Ashdod for the first time.[149][150][151]
* December 29 – Bangladesh holds its general elections after two years of political unrest over the interim government.[152]
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=Nations which are sitting this one out=
* China
* Russia

I'd love to include them in this game, but due to their huge size I'm keeping them out of taking direct action. You might be able to get the KGB to help you, or you might want to purchase some Chinese equipment; but the Chinese and Russian military will not be included in any combat throughout this Campaign.