Red Dawn: Background Information

The film takes place during "World War III" (even though it's just the USSR, Cuba, and Nicaragua fighting against the U.S., U.K. and China - most of Europe decided to sit this war out, and little is said about Asia [including the Middle East] or South America or Australia).  They use a couple of nukes against the U.S. and China (I think they destroy a couple missile depots, D.C., and maybe Beijing), and drop paratroopers in the American midwest (including Colorado, where the movie is set), occupying several states (including Alaska and Texas) as well as part of western Canada and all of Mexico.  At the beginning of the movie, background information tells us that most of Europe pulled out of NATO (the U.K. being the major exception), a communist coup overthrew the Mexican government, the Warsaw Pact expanded its sphere of influence (to where, I'm not sure), and the Ukrainian wheat harvest failed.  The U.S. is now strategically isolated (except for the U.K. and, for some reason, China [no word on Japan, South Korea, Israel, or some of our other good buddies]).  Someone took the time to make a map of the world in Red Dawn, which is pretty helpful.  There's also a big expanded universe discussion board (although you must be a member of the site to see the board).  Oh, and there's a remake of the movie (featuring North Korean villains) coming out soon (it got pushed back to remove references to China being the invader).