  We show that detailed exploration of the $1<z<2$ redshift region can provide
for definitive testing not only of the standard inflationary cosmological
paradigm with its fine-tuned cosmological constant and its mysteriously late
($z<1$) onset of cosmic acceleration, but also for the non fine-tuned,
alternate conformal cosmological model, a cosmology which accelerates both
above and below $z=1$. In particular we confront both of these models with the
currently available type Ia supernovae standard candle and extended FRII radio
source standard yardstick data, with these latter data being particularly
pertinent as they already include a sizeable number of points in the $1<z<2$
region. We find that both models are able to account for all available $0<z<2$
data equally well; and with the conformal model explicitly being able to fit
the data while being an accelerating one in the $z>1$ region, one is thus
currently unable to ascertain whether the universe is accelerating or
decelerating between $z=1$ and $z=2$. To be able to visualize the supernovae
and radio galaxy data simultaneously, we present a representation of the radio
galaxy data in terms of an equivalent apparent magnitude Hubble diagram. We
discuss briefly some implications of the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave
background for the conformal theory, and show that in that theory fluctuations
which set in at around nucleosynthesis can readily generate the first peak in
the anisotropy data.
