History YMMV / Caliphate

* AuthorTract: In Kratman's own words in [[http://jasoncordova.com/2010/06/14/colonel-tom-kratman-interview/ this interview]].
--> "I think it’s more likely than not that Europe will at some point in time become as I portray the Caliphate. But I can’t say it’s inevitable. As for the US turning into a nasty, genocidal dictatorship? Much of that depends on how we react to a really mass casualty, megadeath event on our soil, directed at us. As, by the way, I fully expect to happen."

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The book leans on political tropes like Muslim migration into western Europe and Sharia law there which were hot in TheNew10s but are not likely to be relevant a century into the future, and which have already lost urgency in favor of [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain Russian resurgence in foreign affairs,]] UsefulNotes/Covid19 and [[PaedoHunt "groomer" hysteria]] on the home front. The demographic issues of the 22nd century are unlikely to have much in common with those of the early 21st.

* HilariousInHindsight: In ''Caliphate'''s dystopian future, the militaristic USA becomes the Imperial States of America, or ISA. This acronym has since also been used for [[UnitedSpaceOfAmerica a similar polity]] in [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} another franchise]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: the book leans on political tropes like Muslim migration into western Europe and Sharia law there which were hot in TheNew10s but are not likely to be relevant a century into the future, and which have already lost urgency in favor of [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain Russian resurgence in foreign affairs,]] UsefulNotes/Covid19 and [[PaedoHunt "groomer" hysteria]] on the home front. The demographic issues of the 22nd century are unlikely to have much in common with those of the early 21st.

* AcceptableTargets:
** Islam, though through the Author's bigotry. Very few Muslim characters are shown in a sympathetic light, with the entire novel being a platform for crapping on the religion and nothing more.
** Likewise, the Chinese. See ParanoiaFuel below.

* Buckman's victory resonates further when a nativist, anti-establishment candidate wins the US Presidential election in 2016, the year of Buckman's victory.

* Buckman's victory resonates further when a nativist, anti-establishment candidate wins the US Presidential election in 2016.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In addition to being a show about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, far too many major characters are incredibly [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]], [[IdiotPlot moronic]] or just [[TheScrappy unlikable]], as their actions often endangers both themselves and others due to plain stupidity. Because of that nothing rarely ever turns out well for any of the main characters. So why bother?

** Islam as well as its apologists are held in contempt, so much so that several chapters open with controversial statements by real-life figures portraying it in a negative light. Though it should be noted that some Muslims are portrayed as sympathetic such as Besma, Ishmael and Mahmoud, if not indeed themselves victims of the circumstances they find themselves in.

** The new Islamic Caliphate was indeed established by terrorists, and a large portion of its militants were recruited in Europe.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: For such a dark and gritty novel, ''Caliphate'' does have humorous moments. For example in the debriefing in the end, Hamilton asked Caruthers how [[spoiler:Bongo=/=Bernie]] is doing after being injured.

--->'''Caruthers''':"He'll never play the piano again."
--->'''Caruthers''':"He couldn't play the piano before, either."

** In the book, frequent purges of Muslims by the US have become extremely common, with soldiers going as far as to kill those who are related to them, and taking joy in the deeds. With the recent surge in anti-Islamist attacks in the 2010s occurring in much of the world, with the most infamous being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_mosque_shootings Christchurch mosque massacres in New Zealand]], where the perpetrator Brenton Tarrant killed 51 worshipers all while listening to "Serbia Strong", these passages go from disconcerting to outright prophetic and horrifying.

** Lisha for similar reasons as Kerima. [[spoiler: Apart from being just as irrational as Sulle and Kerima by happily going along with a kidnap to be married away, most viewers will instantly hate her when she snitches on Husam and Pervin to the terrorist Omar who kills Pervin in response. All of this despite the fact that they had just risked their lives to save her from being forced into marriage with an old man, and claims to do so for the sake if Islam which she has absolutely no knowledge of.]]

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In addition to being a show about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, far too many characters are incredibly [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]], [[IdiotPlot moronic]] or just [[TheScrappy unlikable]], as their actions often endangers both themselves and others due to plain stupidity. Because of that nothing rarely ever turns out well for any of the main characters. So why bother?

* AssPull: [[spoiler: TheReveal that Nadir was GoodAllAlong manages to stop all of Ibbe's planned terror-attacks had no little to no foreshadowing to it, and it almost all of Fatima's hard work.]]

** While Sulle is more of a BaseBreakingCharacter, the same cannot be said for her friend Kerima. Not only is she pretty easily manipulated by Ibrahim, but even after being rescued from her, Sulle and Lisha's kidnapping and showing that she doesn't really care about Islam at all (as shown when she draws a caricature of a Muslim), she still helps Ibrahim escape the police and even goes along with his plan to commit a suicide bombing at an event filled with teenagers and ''only'' changes her mind when she finds out that Sulle is not with them on the plan. She might have been intended to be seen as a tragic and insecure approval-seeker, but instead comes off as a bratty, childish and annoyingly stupid teenager. [[spoiler: Though, her death scene managed to be pitiful by some viewers]].
* Lisha for similar reasons as Kerima. [[spoiler: Apart from being just as irrational as Sulle and Kerima by happily going along with a kidnap to be married away, most viewers will instantly hate her when she snitches on Husam and Pervin to the terrorist Omar who kills Pervin in response. All of this despite the fact that they had just risked their lives to save her from being forced into marriage with an old man, and claims to do so for the sake if Islam which she has absolutely no knowledge of.]]

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In addition to being a show about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, far too many characters are incredibly [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]], [[IdiotPlot moronic]] or just [[TheScrappy unlikable]], as their actions often endangers both themselves and others due to their stupid mistakes. Because of that nothing rarely ever turns out well for any of the main characters. So why bother?

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In addition to being a show about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, far too many characters are incredibly [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]], [[IdiotPlot moronic]] or just [[TheScrappy unlikable]], as their actions endangers both themselves and others often due to stupid mistakes. Because of that nothing rarely ever turns out well for any of the main characters. So why bother?

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: In addition to being a show about Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, far too many characters are incredibly [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic unsympathetic]], [[IdiotPlot moronic]] or just [[TheScrappy unlikable]], as their actions endangers both themselves and others often due to stupid mistakes. On top of that nothing rarely ever turns out well for any of the main characters. So why bother?

* {{Anvilicious}}: The book is, shall we say, ''not very subtle''. Muslims bad, freedom good, m'kay? Having said that not all Muslims are bad, since Besma is a genuinely good person and Abdul being at least a NobleBigot.

** Muslims being placed in interment camps in response to terrorism with Islam being declared an "dangerous political movement that is only dishonestly a religion". While this didn't happen in America like in the book, it did happen in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps China]] when over one million Muslims were held in re-education camps and declared Islam a "contagious disease".
** Mecca is destroyed on September 11 in response to the nuclear attacks in the US as well as 9/11. In 2015, an crane accident happened in the Great Mosque killing over 111 people and injuring nearly 400. The really spooky part? It also happened in September 11 and the crane was owned by Bin Laden's family...

** Fudail flies over this line after raping Petra (who is just a ''child'') and says [[SlutShaming she lead him on]]. By extension if his mother didn't cross it with her abuse of Petra earlier, she definitely did when she approved of his action.

* ParanoiaFuel: [[spoiler:The Chinese have perfected mind-controlled devices to has spread moles all over the world and monitor on others very closely, and they could be anywhere...]]
* SpiritualAntithesis: It could be considered this to ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': it focus on a fundamentalist Islamic regime taking over a Western society and imposing a NoWomansLand with much of it viewed through an female perspective. Interestingly, the United States in ''Caliphate'' also turns into a fascist empire in response to an ambiguous terrorist attack, somewhat similarly to the genesis of ''Handmaid'''s Gilead. Though the Imperial States of America stands in opposition against the titular Caliphate and is not as misogynistic or fanatically religious, it still isn't all that much better due to it brutal policies against other countries that don't play along with them.