War with America

“War with America” concludes the “Assignment” three-part mini-series, “Europe on the brink”. The predictions explored in episodes one and two of this novel, forward-looking current affairs mini-series, have come true.Through the eyes of series presenter Francine Stock, viewers discovered in “Dying for Europe” what sparked a sense of European nationhood. In “the Heavyweight Contender”, it was said Europe would be the world economic superpower in the 21st century.In “War with America”, it’s the year 2013. Europe is unified under strong German influence, with Berlin as its capital city. It has the most powerful economy in the world. There is one army, one navy and one superbly-equipped air force. It’s Europe which is barely recognizable. But what drove it to consider war with its old friend America, which is itself now allied to Japan?To explain what happened, the program adopts a novel format: a current affairs drama using actors, reconstructions, and archival footage specially enhanced by the latest electronic graphic techniques. The style, however, is not sci-fi: the ploy is speculative but stays within the bounds of plausibility. Through the eyes of a handful of characters, the program chronicles the rise of Europe, the fall of America, the trade disputes which lead to an energy crisis and the military incidents which lead to the brink of war.