I was being facetious and merely reflecting on the fact your brother is a small minded ungrateful jerkass. Of course, I actually tend to agree with GTA V's interpretation that the conflict was pointless and egged on by guys like Tenpenny. Alternate universe or not.
Well, the developers have said as much. Also, you can see Ryder, CJ, and Big Smoke biking around so I don't think the events are meant to have happened.
Yeah when Rockstar created the HD universe as it's called it didn't continue on from previous GTAs, though some elements have carried over such as the character Lazlow.
I have no idea come to think of it. I guess they wanted to start over again but not lose everything. Besides, they couldn't reuse Liberty City again if they kept the same universe I guess.