Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Mexican Flag

A number of different turnings in history could have made this the official flag of Mexico - some for the better, some for the worse.
It even comes to mind in connection with this video, when the possibility of the Aztec empire surviving as an independent entity and adopting its own form of Christianity is raised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52yu6hA_k2Y

Love Laughs At Locksmiths -- donald Laughs At Log Cabin Republicans

Let's Redraw the Borders of Africa!

No, not us non-Africans -- there's been enough of that crap already! This is a fairly improbable alternate-history scenario in which the former colonies gathered at Addis Ababa after the Second World War  for a conference to redraw the borders of Africa to create new nations along ethnic lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_qR3ap-fKI

It's a charming notion, although as I say, it would be overseen by the Emperor Haile Unlaikle. Something like it might have come about if the warring powers of the Second World War (or the First) had completely exhausted themselves, and the former colonies had sought to avoid having their own self-destructive war.

Still, it's a lovely idea, and it certainly would have prevented a lot of bad things (he said in a stupendous understatement, considering how many millions have died in African wars and genocides since the end of colonialism).

Anyway, I posted about it here because some of those flags are top-notch.

I do have one suggestion to make: at 6:31, the Ubangi ethnic group are given the Republic of Ubangia, but I have always been fond of "Beafrika", a nickname of the Central African Republic which exists in about the same geographical location in our own world, because who can't love a country called "Heart of Africa"...?

I Am Holding You In The Light, Muslims of New Zealand

Alternate Empires

Truth be told, the world would be better off with smaller countries rather than larger ones, but of course that phrase dream of empire resonates.
So, here are the expanded editions of, well, every country that exists (including a couple whose existence is disputed), with maps and flags provided:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULzOawIKHpA

I can only wish that every one of them had a new name and a new flag to go with its new imperial reach. Video creator Korean Mapping [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Aqf7qIZIuQWE-ltTMjsNQ] couldn't quite come up with a new name and flag for every one of them, so I took the liberty of making some suggestions.

I made in the video's comments page the longest comment I have ever made to a YouTube video, a longer one than any rational person would ever make to any video on YouTube:

Even though IRL the world would be better off with smaller countries rather than bigger ones (specifically, I'd like to break up the U.S., Russia and China), this video was a hoot! Here are some comments I had, and modifications I would make: 1:44, I'd expand the Bahamas into the Greater Conch Republic (a hoax country of long standing): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Key_West,_Florida.svg [Yes, the Bahamas are on the wrong side of Florida from the Keys, but hey] 2:42, call the expanded Belize [and I love the new flag, BTW-where's it from?] Quintana Roo, because who could dislike a name like Quintana Roo . . . ? 4:06, let's call the enlarged Central African Republic by its nickname, Beafrika, and put a Valentine heart on the flag, since "Beafrika" means "Heart of Africa". 5:10, how about if the flag of the Croatian Empire is simply a red and white checkered pattern? It would certainly make their flag unmistakable. 6:01, rather than "Republic of Hispaniola", how about if the unified island is called by its pre-Columbian name of Quisqueya? 9:10, as a friend of a Zoroastrian, I liked your new Iranian flag. Perhaps it represents here not a resurgence of Zoroastrianism, but simply an embrace of Iranian culture as a unifying principle, making it a secular Iranian republic rather than an Islamic republic. 9:38, what if the expanded version of Iraq were called Mesopotamia . . . ? 9:53, what if Israel were to expand into the Palestine Federation, with one of these flags? https://alternate-flags.blogspot.com/2019/03/palestine-federation.html 10:43, wouldn't it make sense for the expanded Kenya to be shown growing into a country which might actually exist one day, the East African Federation? https://althistory.fandom.com/wiki/East_Africa_(Imperishable_Morning) 11:53, were you awarte that Liechtenstein is the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, the only state never to have repudiated it? Maybe they should revive it (I have a certain fondness for that idea, as people who have read my first novel, The Christmas Mutiny, will know). 12:09, how could you not have called the expanded Grand Duchy of Luxembourg the GRANDER Duchy . . . ? 14:38, I really think one of the Central American nations should have expanded into a revival of the old Estados Unidos de America Central. 14:50, I have always been fond of an alternate name for Nigeria, "The Black Coast", which might be the name for the expanded edition of it: "Federal Republic of the Black Coast"? I have in mind for my fourth novel (book after next, set in Nigeria after a German victory in the Great War of 1914) to be titled The Black Coast. 15:04, super-Macedonia should definitely have the first flag they chose, the one with the sixteen-armed star from the tomb of King Philip II. 16:54, surely after all of that expansion, the Most Serene Republic of San Marino would be...less serene? 17:09, if Arabia expands into an immense caliphate, I should hope it would outgrow its dependence on that sleazy mobster family, the House of Saud. Maybe it could become the Caliphate of Arabia Felix? 17:17, Senegal has long had ambitions of expanding into a greater nation called Senegambia. 18:00, the name for the Solomon Islands was inspired by Sir Francis Bacon's Utopian novel The New Atlantis, so maybe the expanded version should be called New Atlantis or Bensalem. 19:50, since the Pan-Arabist dream was for the capital of the United Arab Republic to be Damascus, the "blood-red city half as old as time", maybe Syria should have expanded to span all the way from the Western Sahara to Oman. 20:10, "Tanzania" is a made-up name anyway (a combination of Tanganyika and Zanzibar), so why not revive the ancient name Azania? 20:19, Siam, surely! I hope you will take these comments in the friendly spirit in which they are intended, and recognize that the effort that went into this ridiculously long comment reflects how much I enjoyed this video. I will be posting a link to it at my blog, alternate-flags.blogspot.com

Palestine Federation

More than anything else, to me a flag represents hope.

Some more than others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzdpH12QQ3Q

There will be no peace in the Middle East until Trans-Jordanian Palestine (also known as "The Kingdom of Jordan) and Cis-Jordanian Palestine (also known as "The State of Israel") are reunited, with the rights and citizenship of all of the children of Abraham guaranteed and secure.

I prefer the simple triband design, myself.

A Night at The Garden: "It Can Happen Here" (Broadcast Spot)

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Ask again if you want, but don't be surprised if you get the same answer."\\