The Cold War (2024 rewrite, replaced +66K words and first 9 chapters) (2024)

AN: Credits to Sunny, Vasilisa, gdstriker and perfect_shade for the revisions.

For those that haven't seen it yet since the release of Chapter 53, Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 were rewritten.

Rewrite of Chapter 7 will be put on hold until after the release of Chapters 55-56.

1953 October 9th, in South Bharat, at Tata Industries' headquarters:

"Good to see you again, Ehrlich. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your company. What brings you here today?" Tata poured tea into the two cups.

"I have a better deal for you than what your current partnership with Volksauto is offering," Ehrlich smiled.

"Please explain," Tata had a slight look of doubt on his face.

"South Bharat is a land of vast economic opportunities!" Ehrlich brightly smiled. "That includes automobiles and other vehicle manufacturing. We can help your country prosper through a bolstered domestic economy that will have a demand for even more vehicles, and also export competitive products to other countries. Another benefit is that a strong industrial base also means that it can be utilized for military purposes, which could help deter North Bharat from invading again. Of course, we'll also get massive profits in the process."

"We both know my company already has a partnership with Volksauto," Tara frowned.

"Right now you are limited to what Volksauto is willing to share. While they would much rather prefer your company to dominate in South Bharat against other foreign competitors, they won't allow you to expand to Europe or the Unified States." Ehrlich picked up his cup of tea to smell it. "And they get a large cut of the profits as well."

"How would we expand to Europe or the Unified States?" Tata maintained a skeptical look on his face.

Ehrlich finished sipping his tea. "I will directly lead your design, production engineering, and marketing teams to become world-class to break free of your reliance on Volksauto." And then I will help your company expand overseas into Volksauto's territory, because I know what will work and won't work compared to the South Bharatian market that you are familiar with."

"I wonder how the Germanian government would feel about that," Tata looked down at his tea. "Especially since you had incurred their wrath."

"Then we accuse them of sabotaging Tata Industries and by extension South Bharat as a whole. Maybe even accuse them of treating South Bharat as a colony rather than an equal economic partner," Ehrlich had a toothy smile. "I trust that you have government contacts to leverage South Bharat's diplomatic staff to shield us."

"And what will you be getting out of this deal?"

"Treat me as a very well-compensated consultant. If all of this is successful, my fees will be negligible compared to the potential of turning Tata Industries into a global empire. And besides, it would be poetically ironic if one day your products, such as your cars or steel, end up selling in the Allied Kingdom."

"I think we have an agreement," Tata smiled as he extended his hand for a handshake. "I'm assuming you wish to start today?"

"I'm already familiar with your automotive operations from our previous work. No need for the 'tour of the place'. Where will my office be?"

Meanwhile in Washington D.C:

"This evening in the Allied Kingdom, Prime Minister William declared 'mission accomplished' and stated he was stepping down to make way for a new leadership to guide the country through rapidly changing times. It has yet to be decided who will be the acting prime minister while snap elections are held after multiple ministers resigned in protest over the Aegyptus peace deal…"

Secretary of State Moores Dullas turned off the television before walking back to his recliner. "His political opposition is going to have a record-smashing landslide victory, and a whiplash in foreign policy if they even deliver on half of their campaign promises. If I was just an average automobile commuter reading a newspaper in a traffic jam, just by looking at the peace deal, it looks like Aegyptus defeated them. Even though they were fully occupied by the Albish and Frankish for quite a long time."

"Aegyptian government's tolerance of the destruction was greater than the Albish public tolerance for winter fuel rationing. Although there is the matter with the Francois Republic that we need to deal with." CIA Director Foster Dullas leaned back in his chair. "My agents and their informants that managed to stay out of the anarchy have taken the risk of dropping most of their operational security to try to get the information out. So much information that my newly stood up staff is having a hell of a time sifting through the mountain of it."

"Bankers and investors are losing their goddamn minds and telling us to do something about it. I know." Moores Dullas sighed with a strong tone of annoyance. "If this was a few decades ago, we would have demanded their colonies as compensation or even just outright seized them. But those look like endlessly burning toxic assets at this point. Lothiern appears to have seen the light with their recently started referendum for their European citizens over if they should implement a path to independence for their heavily troubled East Indies colonies."

"Speaking of toxic assets, the Frankish Indochina colony is falling to the communists." Foster Dullas finished his glass of brandy. "They're down to a couple of isolated fortified coastal areas with only their naval bombardments keeping the rebels at bay. There have been reports of the Vietnamese rebels being increasingly better equipped and possessing heavy equipment, and a few reported instances of Frankish jets being shot down by missiles. We all know where the rebels are getting their goods from…"

"It seems they decided it was more important for them to cling onto their colonies than to pay their debts," Moores Dullas shrugged. "I'm curious if both the Francois Republic and the CSR will double, then triple their efforts in the Indochina slaughterhouse. Which could make debt collection efforts… interesting."

"I'm not sure if the debt holders are going to be happy with the Frankish government's excuse for non-payment on the basis of them bleeding the communists out. President Fitzgerald Kennedy is going to have to find a way to appease both sides."

"Ah yes, Kennedy…" Moores Dullas had a dismissive look. "I've always regarded him as someone who was only selected for vice president just so that President Taft could gather enough votes to win. He's way out of his league."

"So we're just going to bypass him?" Foster Dullas raised an eyebrow.

"Let him smile and wave to the public. We'll do our business in the shadows. He doesn't need to know about all of our little details. I'm not going to allow him to just overrule us with his inexperience."

1953 October 12th, Washington D.C:

I laid the wreath down next to the others on the base of the memorial stone. The Germanian delegation was silent for a moment before quietly moving on to allow the next group to come up and pay their own respects. As we walked down the path in silence, a soft voice intruded on my thoughts.

"President Degurechaff, may I have a chat with you?"

I turned my head. The man had slipped away from his Frankish delegation and fallen into step beside me. The white pebbles crunched under our shoes, the sound echoing in the silence around us.

"Maybe," I replied in a bland tone, my eyes fixed firmly ahead of me, hoping he'd take the hint and go away. I wasn't interested in dealing with another hot-headed person like the one on the airship. But to my chagrin, the slender man was just warming up. He doggedly stuck to my group as we left the memorial park and walked down the path by the river, surrounded by cherry trees filled with chirping birds. The scene would have been almost perfect if I'd been able to enjoy it uninterrupted.

"My name is Pierre Bidault, the new Foreign Minister of the Francois Republic. It was serendipitous to meet here like this. I've been trying to arrange a meeting between the two of us; unfortunately, your subordinates have been stonewalling me thus far."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'll give the ones responsible an appropriate reprimand," I murmured, mentally vowing to do no such thing. My bureaucrats had done a sterling job fobbing off the plethora of minor leaders who were constantly trying to nag me for help on this or that minor issue. Especially the ones that had previously threatened me with nuclear war! As if anyone in the Germanian government had the time or energy to pay attention to them. I had barely enough time to manage the big issues facing OZEV as it was.

"I apologize for my predecessor's behavior during the Aegyptus peace talks," he softened his tone, seemingly picking up on my disinterest in dealing with his country. "He's been fired for gross misconduct."

I silently spun up a recording spell. "So are you here to renegotiate a peace deal, this time with a more polite face?"

He blanched visibly. "Ah no, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about ..."

"Oh. Then do you have some method of removing the Albish, Franks, Isganish, North Bharatian, Qajarians, and Turkmens from Aegyptus, Syria, and Mesopotamia?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Is Francois Republic interested in joining OZEV?"

"No!"

"What a pity," I mock-sighed, immediately losing interest in the discussion. "Well, it's been nice catching up with you, Herr Bidault, but I have an important meeting today that I must go and prepare for. So I will bid you --"

"No, wait!" he blurted. "I have something very important to discuss with you, something that could have a major impact on the future of OZEV! All I need is fifteen minutes at most!"

I hesitated a moment. At the end of the day, someone must have instructed him to talk to me, for him to be this stubborn. And whatever troubles that Francois Republic is going through, would have consequences overseas and right on my doorstep.

"Alright, go ahead," I deadpanned as we strolled along, still not bothering to look him in the eye. I waved my hand and the rest of my delegation and our guards took five steps away in all directions, forming a perimeter around the two of us. "You have until we reach my hotel. Now what is so incredibly important that it requires my personal attention?"

The man squirmed a bit at my aloof attitude but pressed ahead undeterred. "We do not want a war in Europe. Far from it. But my colleagues want to be certain that they wouldn't need to worry about one."

"Why are they so nervous about one after your predecessor was so brash about starting one?"

"We will be intensifying our efforts in Indochina to push back the red tide. After our expeditionary military stabilized their precarious positions and then started counterattacking, the Vietnamese rebels revealed missiles for the first time. Both attacked our aircraft and also almost scored a hit on one of our ships. And it's not just one type of missile. We've seen large missiles launched from land and modified civilian propeller-driven aircraft to harass our jets, and smaller man-portable ones launched from flying mages. Speaking of mages, our agents also discovered some Vietnamese mages were using dual-core orbs, and although crudely manufactured and a simplified version of the communists' copy of the Type 97 orb, they are still a major improvement over single-core orbs."

So the CSR has doubled down on backing the Vietnamese rebels. And now the Francois Republic wants to do the same to avoid admitting defeat. That would explain why they are stonewalling on giving their gold to the Americans and would likely strip their homeland garrisons to the bare minimum for the needed manpower in Indochina. It's only a matter of time before they fully mobilize for war, just to throw a large chunk of their population in the Indochina slaughterhouse.

This makes me wonder how far the two sides are willing to commit to this jungle thunderdome, in the name of national pride? The victor would be guaranteed a pyrrhic victory.

I nodded. "I do have a question, will I still have to worry about Frankish agent activities in OZEV?"

"We have already dealt with the rogue agents," Bidault softly spoke.

"But they were Frankish citizens," I furrowed my eyebrows. "Employed by the SCE, and by extension the Frankish government. Trusted by the Frankish government for them to get to the point where they were operating in Germania, either directly or through their Ildoan mafia proxies. If what you are saying is true, have you ever heard of the term 'criminal negligence'?"

I waited for him to finish dabbing the sweat off of his face with his handkerchief.

"It's rather fortunate that you aren't talking to Marie Kirschmann or Prince Karl Ferdinand. Now you could play the denial game all you want, but we both know what would happen if either became Chancellor and were briefed about what the SCE has done. After all, some are suspicious of your government mobilizing everyone to send overseas to crush the rebels in your colonies. They, like the self-proclaimed prince, think it's a smokescreen for more 'local' operations, and the SCE operations would certainly fuel those suspicions."

I could see him squirm uncomfortably. Now time to change tracks.

I then smiled, "I'm willing to wipe the slate clean, and give your new government a fresh start. All that I'm asking in return is your government's cooperation on some matters."

"What do you want?" Bidault relaxed a bit, but I could sense the high tension from him.

I could have just economically sanctioned them even if I didn't want to resort to military options. Combined with them being cut off from the US if they defaulted on their debts, that would have inflicted crushing impacts on them.

But that could provoke them into lashing out at me out of desperation when instead I could put them on a very short leash and extract some favors out of them in their most vulnerable situation. Eventually, their populace will be tired of the endless overseas wars, or they suffer such a severe brain and economic drain that they are left as a broken shadow of themselves and thus become a completely non-military threat to Germania.

Now, if they want to go down the self-destructive route, I might as well benefit from it.

"Before I begin discussing geopolitics, where is your prime minister?" I raised an eyebrow.

"With the current, unstable political situation in my country, there hasn't been even an acting prime minister that lasted for more than a few weeks." Bidault shrugged his shoulders. "So I've been working outside of official channels to get things done."

"How do I even know that your promises would be respected by others?"

"I tell them to recall all of our military forces from overseas and prepare for an invasion by OZEV, with no guaranteed Albish support. Then my family pack their bags to leave the country and I will say goodbye to my counterparts for the last time. There won't be a Francois Republic after a third disastrous war, and most of them would not survive if they fight to the bitter end." Bidault chuckled with a somber mood. "That's about the only thing that both political sides can agree on, is avoiding another disastrous war in Europe. Except for a minor political faction, but I'm not going to discuss about that mess. Not to mention the military would very much prefer to keep the Francois Republic intact. Now, what did you want to discuss?"

"I want assurances that the Francois Republic won't be interfering with our overseas interests. The Suez Canal War was the catalyst to all of this mess that I've been dealing with." I narrowed my eyes. "The issues I am troubled by are the events in the Middle East. Specifically the Turkmen Empire's rather aggressive attitude to Magna Rumeli and Aegyptus."

"My government is cutting their involvement with the Turkmen Empire after determining that they have been detrimental to us. We won't have a say in how they interact with their neighbors, but we also aren't helping them anymore. Some of the hardliner pro-colonials have foolishly suggested the idea of taking back Syria from the Turkmen Empire. As for other situations that may occur, I will meet with you for us to deconflict them."

"Thank you, it was a pleasure meeting you." We shook hands in farewell outside the lobby of my hotel.

Bidault took a few steps away, hesitated, and then turned back to me.

"I would also like to discuss expanding the economic ties between our countries."

"Oh?" I was slightly taken back by surprise. "Like what?"

"Make our MEF membership permanent to remove the business uncertainty for good, and begin discussions for loosening restrictions on cross-border financial activities as well, such as joint investments and joint corporations. Loosening restrictions on workers emigrating between our two countries would also be part of those discussions."

"Interesting…" I tapped my chin. "What is in it for you to open up economic ties?"

"Two countries tied up together in a straitjacket can't go to war against each other," Bidault smiled. "I need to silence any potential war hawks in my government, and the rioters out on the streets, that are bold and stupid enough to gamble on risking a war in Europe in the name of 'patriotism' and 'national pride'."

"I'll be more than happy to start the discussions later today," I nodded.

"I appreciate your help," Bidault waved goodbye. "May we have peace in our time." And with that, he trotted away.

I stood in the lobby thinking for a while. Then I turned to the head of my security detail. "Where's Chancellor Dertinge?"

"Third-floor conference room, Madame President," the man replied promptly.

"Lead on. Everyone else can disperse."

I followed him into the conference room and ordered everybody out. Once the room was clear I gestured to Dertinge to join me at the coffee table. Then I cast a privacy spell and played back the audio recordings.

"Something doesn't seem right with the whiplash of the Frankish diplomacy…" I impatiently tapped my foot. "I need you to meet with him, and while hashing out the economic deals that he requested, pry some more details from him. There has to be a reason why he is so willing to appease us."

An hour later:

Pierre Bidault rang the phone at his hotel.

Someone else on the line picked it up.

"Who is this?" the phone answered.

"Pierre Bidault. I have obtained Germania's assurance of non-involvement, and while there are some demands they made, they pale in comparison to if we had antagonized them. I've done my part, so it's your turn now."

"What if they make more demands in the aftermath of what we do?"

"I'll handle them," Bidault sighed. "You let me focus on my job, and worry about yours."

"Very well. We shall commence our operation."

"Good luck." Bidault heard the click of the phone.

'May God forgive me for what I had to do…'

A few hours later, past midnight:

I stirred awake as my phone rang. What is with people calling in the middle of the night?

I groggily grabbed my phone and was jolted by the voice on the other end.

"President Degurechaff, this is Chancellor Dertinge. New Granada's Defense Minister Carlos Arellano is seeking refuge with me and my security detail. We're in a lockdown."

I blinked for a moment. "Are you safe?!"

"Brasilian agents surrendered as soon as they realized they were engaging Germanian mages after trying to pursue Carlos Arellano and were quick to spill out information. I was also told by Carlos Arellano and the arriving US Secret Service that Brasilia has declared war on New Granada at the same time as the assassination operation."

"Wait…" I thought for a moment. "Where's the Granadian president? I saw him at the funeral service."

"He died in a car bomb, likely from Brasilian agents."

1953 October 14th, Washington D.C:

"I'm impressed that Brasilia pulled off their decapitation pre-war attacks on New Granada," Foster Dullas took a puff of his cigar. "The balls to detonate a car bomb and send a hit squad after the other guy, in our capitol. While in New Granada, they slaughtered senior government and military officials in a massive nighttime raid with their sleeper agents, while using armed labor activists, communists, and everyone else who had an ax to grind against the government to kick off massive riots. Carlos Arellano is now their new acting president with the death of their vice president and two other senior officials that were the backups of the backup. Every single province in New Granada has at least one battle raging on, not even including Brasilia's invasion."

"Fitzgerald Kennedy has been quiet on this matter, other than the public condemnation of the attacks in DC." Moores Dullas struck a match to light his cigar. "Can't blame him as President Taft had kept his interactions with Kennedy to a minimum so now the young man has mountains of work to do, and with few friends."

"He was selected by President Taft solely on the basis of securing enough electoral votes to ensure winning the presidential election," Foster Dullas rolled his eyes. "He has no foreign diplomacy experience to navigate this mess, nor does he have the time due to the domestic matters that need his attention. And I'm not in a mood to babysit that baby-faced man."

"So what's our plan now? New Granada has already taken on so much debt that they would have to conquer all of Brasilia and then sell the land to companies to pay the lenders." Moores Dullas shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "The banks and bondholders might not be interested in lending even more to New Granada, especially now that the whole place is on fire. But President Arellano requested financial assistance to import even more military hardware from us and OZEV as a whole, and he's hopping mad."

"We could certainly leverage the public outcry over Brasilia's attacks in DC for us to pressure Congress to provide funding to New Granada. We'll need to convince our president to do that…" Foster Dullas set down his cigar. "And ensure that if things go wrong, he takes the blame."

"What about Paul? While he has been doing a fine job with nuclear policy advising, he is a liability if we have another nuclear foul up."

"Everything seems to be running fine. He seems a lot more cautious about the pacing of our nuclear development, and expressed concerns about our nuclear powered rocket program that would serve as the delivery vehicle for our almost completed atomic bomb." Foster Dullas frowned for a moment, then sighed. "But you're right, we'll have to put him into hiding and an identity change if Kennedy starts digging. We didn't tell President Taft of how we recruited Paul, and I prefer to not open that can of worms with Kennedy."

"What about the rest of the cabinet? I've already heard talks from some of the members considering resigning." Moores Dullas stood up from the couch.

"No, we can't let that happen." Foster Dullas shot a worried glance. "In fact, we should also discourage Kennedy from replacing them, except for those that won't be playing along with our plans. If he starts putting in his own loyalists, they would check our ability to run things as we see fit. Right now is the perfect equilibrium. Those that are considering resigning are the same ones that would likely prefer us running the show."

Moores Dullas nodded. "He does have powerful supporters, so he might be able to get one or two replacement cabinet members in. His father is no longer shackled by his rivalry with Frederick Rosenvelt, his brother could also be a problem to us, and then there's Bobby McNamara whom Kennedy appears to have interviewed for an undisclosed cabinet position."

"McNamara? The guy who essentially pushed William Durand out of his job?" Foster Dullas opened a whisky bottle, with a slight confused look on his face.

"And lead the automotive conglomerate's recovery to directly compete against Volksauto, saving the American auto industry from being crushed by the foreign imports." Moores Dullas cautioned. "Not someone to easily disregard. We can swat down the small flies, but going after him would put ourselves in danger."

Foster Dullas then poured himself a drink, and smiled. "Any of Kennedy's cabinet nominations will have to go through the gauntlet that is the Senate. We both know that he doesn't have significant support among the Senate, even in his own political party, to quickly replace his entire cabinet. It's just one or two appointed loyalists that we will have to deal with."

"Right then… Time for us to get to work. I have some phone calls to make." Moores Dullas nodded before exiting the room.

1953 October 15th, shortly before midnight, in Brookline, Massachusetts, Unified States:

"A strange location and time for this meeting," I looked around at the house's living room as Dertinge shut the front door in the adjacent foyer before joining me.

"I thought my father's residence would be less stuffy than my new office," Kennedy smiled as his father helped Dertinge put away the coats. "Away from politics and bullsh*t."

I blinked for a moment, which he laughed. "Yes I am aware of the irony. But I do want to speak candidly. Far away from those that seek to exploit me or push me into failure, which includes Taft's cabinet members."

"You're still stuck with a dead man's appointees?" I raised an eyebrow.

"While I could fire all of them, my few allies in Congress have warned that a full cabinet replacement could take over a year due to schemes against me. I would have to be a very efficient worker to do without most of my cabinet." Kennedy shrugged as his father gestured at the sofa and chairs arranged around a coffee table, which had some drinks and snacks arranged on it. "Let's take a seat."

"It's been a while since I've had to fight an uphill political battle and I understand how that is a major headache when there are also foreign policy concerns. I wish you luck with navigating the pitfalls and minefields." I nodded and walked over to the sofa to sit in it, with a slightly reclined position as Dertinge sat next to me. "I'm also assuming we're probably the only foreign dignitaries that you have invited over?"

"I certainly didn't invite you just to have drinks. Not when we have other people around us, and you have a loved one back home." Kennedy chuckled while he took one of the chairs to sit on, and his father took the other one.

Before I could respond to his joke about flirting with me, he moved on from that.

"I know the Albish and Frankish are only going to nag me for debt relief, which is a non-starter due to how much money they borrowed from American banks and investors for decades." Kennedy had a look with disdain. "I can't risk angering deep-pocketed bankers and investors. What little time I can set aside for foreign affairs is the damn nonsense in South America. Brasilia's actions all but guaranteed that it would never receive our backing, while New Granada's immense debt load means I can't simply ignore them as a defeated country can't pay its debts, and backing them would just double down onto an already messy problem."

"What is your foreign policy towards us?" Dertinge leaned forward.

"I want to cooperate with your country, and put an end to the tit-for-tat retaliation that started under Taft's administration. Now, I'm willing to move past that and focus on the future. If you could help me, I am willing to offer concessions when I am on a more stable footing. Especially when it comes to containing the communists."

"I am glad we can end the economic and financial dramas, and return to mutually beneficial relations." I smiled as I reached for one of the snacks. "How can I help to get you to the point where you are able to put pressure on the communists?"

"Support New Granada. New Granada just needs to turn around their situation and show that they can win a war, so that Congress will actually have the confidence that they aren't just throwing good money after the bad. The other major topic I need to discuss is the upcoming arms deal with Saudistan. They are willing to pay a significant amount of money and offer discounted oil for our military advisors, arms purchases, and security guarantee. That is something I can't easily stop, but I can at the very least ask them to avoid conflicts with Aegyptus."

As I nibbled on the snack, I thought about how to proceed. While I'm not exactly a fan of just taking his promise of eventual concessions at face value, it would still be worth taking the risk to support a weak president in his hour of need. Who knows what could happen in a couple years when I find myself in an hour of need and he just happens to be in a position to help me? Besides, it's not like I'm conceding many things. The bullion exchanges aren't necessary as long as New Granada is able to recover and fight back, instead of collapsing and taking all of its American debt down with it. Some additional advisors and surplus military hardware might be enough to stall out Brasilia. And his promise of trying to restrain Saudistan from going after Aegyptus is worth the risk of supporting him.

"Just out of curiosity, what is preventing you from being able to take direct actions against the communists?" I finished my snack.

"While there is a strong anti-communist sentiment, isolationism is also popular." Kennedy looked out at the window. "Many of my opponents wish to be minimally involved with international politics other than transactions that directly benefit the US. They are likely content to not be involved with any conflicts with the Russy Confederation or the Chinese Soviet Republic as long as the communists mostly keep their hands out of American affairs."

"And what would be your goals if you weren't so constrained?"

"Utilize all means to contain the CSR and their allies, including humanitarian assistance to neutral countries to show there is an alternative to communism." Kennedy smiled. "A flexible response."

I offered my hand to him for a handshake. "I accept all of your terms. I look forward to us continuing to work in the future."

1953 October 20th morning, Berun, at the previously vacant Chancellor office temporarily being used as the President's office:

I briefly looked at the conference room's door, but with Elya still not showing up, all I could assume was that there was something critically urgent that held her up. I motioned for Dertinge to begin his briefing, while Lergen and Visha looked on.

"Nasser expressed two major security concerns that may reveal themselves as soon as the reconstruction ends and South Bharat withdraws their peacekeepers," Dertinge pointed at Saudistan on the map. "For the first concern, Saudistan previously did not take it well when Aegyptus had their revolution, and Nasser claimed that Saudistan had plotted an assassination attempt against him. Regardless if that is true or not, he is alarmed by them allying with the Unified States and his contacts reported that the first American arms shipments and advisors have arrived in Saudistan."

"I don't think Kennedy would break his promise with us to intentionally have Saudistan go after Aegyptus," I rubbed my chin, thinking back to my knowledge of my previous world of how the United States worked with Saudi Arabia. "I've looked over the details of their publicized alliance and it seems to be very much a transactional relationship like what Kennedy had alluded to. The Unified States gets discounted oil from them, and Saudistan gets a security guarantee and military assistance from the US. But he did mention that he doesn't have a firm grip even over his cabinet, so there could be some wildcards in play that are acting against him, thus introducing some unexpected influence on Saudistan."

"What would be our political position if Saudistan attacked Aegyptus?"

"As long as Germania or OZEV isn't sending our forces into the Middle East, we can take a variety of in-direct actions such as sending advisors." I took a drink of my coffee. "Now, what was the other security concern that Nasser complained about?"

Dertinge then pointed at the Turkmen Empire on the map. "The Turkmens are struggling to push into eastern Mesopotamia, probably due to the immense unrest that was ignited after the dam breach. They may decide to negotiate peace with the Qajarians to secure their hold on Mesopotamia instead of continuing to push on through and then fighting through the mountainous terrain to invade the Qajarians. Which would then allow them to turn their attention elsewhere. Magna Rumeli has also expressed concerns about the Turkmen Empire making their moves against them before they can formally join OZEV, and their continued efforts at lobbying the Balkan states shows they are quite serious."

"Doesn't Nasser have the Syrian rebel army under his command?"

"He reported they are making preparations to return to Syria to wage an insurgency against the Turkmen-controlled monarchy as there's no reason for them to stay in Aegyptus after the peace deal."

"Then the Turkmens would be preoccupied with stamping out that insurgency instead of invading Aegyptus," Lergen had a skeptical look. "I understand Nasser is worried about Aegyptus's highly vulnerable situation when they need to completely rebuild their economy and military, but I prefer not to lose Germanian lives over a conflict in the Middle East. We are already stretched thin as is."

If I sit and do nothing, perhaps Nasser's nightmares could come true. But if I help him too much, he may end up having other ideas, such as 'liberating' Syria and igniting a war against the Turkmen Empire. Or foolishly charging into Mesopotamia.

Maybe a "slow burn" is the only safe option I have. Bringing peace to the Middle East would be self-inflicted torture, especially with all of the foreign involvement in the region. The Turkmen Empire would continue its current course as long as they were backed by the Albish, and for the Allied Kingdom to cut off the Turkmen would require accepting that they would have zero influence over the Middle East. Saudistan now had a shield to cover their back so they could act more freely in influencing the region. And then the Qajarians who were in a strange marriage with the communists.

I would have to undermine all of those foreign actors first to even dream of a fantasy of peace in the Middle East. I suppose the only politically acceptable solution for me right now is to keep containing and suffocating the communists.

Then there's the problem of trying to avoid a repeat of the US's "War on Terror", which some of the root causes were linked back to the tug of war of the region between the US, USSR, and other countries.

I looked at Lergen. "I need you to work with the BND to quietly help rebuild Aegyptus's military. Advisors and some military materiel support. Maybe mercenaries, but they can't be associated with us. I don't want any of our soldiers on the firing line if a shooting conflict kicks off, nor do I want to give the impression that Aegyptus is a puppet."

He nodded and I turned to Dertinge. "Make it clear to Nasser that while I am willing to help protect his country, I won't have any tolerance for Aegyptus conducting their invasion adventures like what the Turkmens are doing. If he wants to stick his fingers into another country, he can do that, but Germania won't help him if that gets him into trouble."

The door suddenly opened and a distressed-looking Elya walked in.

"I apologize. I was confirming an Akinese report of suspected training camps being built by the CSR in areas of Borneo controlled by communist rebels, one of the regions that is part of the Lothiern East Indies colony. The BND has limited presence in the Southeast Asian islands and it will take time for our contacts to try to verify what the Akinese discover."

"How does the Akinese know the camps are being built by the Chinese?" Lergen raised an eyebrow as Elya passed out copies of the photos to us.

"They had a photo of a row of table tennis. The Akinese stated that while some of the locals in Borneo might enjoy table tennis, the number of tables in the photo seemed abnormally high for the estimated number of rebels in the camp. They do know that table tennis is a very popular sport in the CSR."

I blinked in disbelief for a moment.

"So even the Albish have lost control of the region with the CSR being that brazen," Lergen mused.

"Where were the training camps located?" Visha asked as she looked through the photos. "I see beaches and oceans next to them. It seems strange that they aren't trying to fully conceal the training camps in the jungles."

Elya used her illumination magic on the map to show the locations.

"Clear sight of the oceans…" Lergen trailed off. "And their locations are coincidentally positioned west towards Singapore and the entrance to the Malacca Strait, south towards the Java Sea, east towards Celebes and Sulu Seas, and north to the South Jiuzhou Sea. Sufficient to launch small crafts for raids. Do we have any information on the CSR's missile developments?"

"Other than our observations of their missile usage in last year's skirmish between the Chinese and Akinese, and the Frankish reports about dealing with the missiles launched by Vietnamese forces, we don't have any other information," Elya defeatedly shrugged.

"If they are firing from the ground, they don't need to worry about having an aircraft carrying it, and thus can add as much rocket boosters and fuel to give it the range and speed it needs," Visha shook her head as I looked on with concern at what we were all realizing we were dealing with. "As long as they have a mage somewhat close to the target, such as one that is deployed in the water from a submarine, or just sitting in a 'fishing' vessel, they can guide the missile across a long distance."

"We won't be able to openly take direct actions against those sites, because the region is technically still being ruled by Lothiern and the security provided by the Allied Kingdom," Dertinge wiped the sweat off of his forehead with a napkin. "To confront them with the Akinese report would require them to admit that they have lost control."

"Even if we wanted to take direct actions, our Navy is not in good shape." Lergen added in.

"How so?" I looked at him with surprise and alarm. Had I neglected the Navy all this time?

"To start with the good news, our two nuclear submarines are nearing completion and will be launched around New Year's Eve. It will take at least a few months of crew training and troubleshooting before they enter active service. Considering that their deck weapons were removed to optimize for deep sea sailing and they lack the ballistic missiles that later submarines will have, they will be limited to kinetic blockades of the water. Via torpedoes." Lergen ended with a sour note.

"Kinetic blockades. A nice way of describing unrestricted submarine warfare that got the Empire into trouble with the Unified States and the American merchant vessels," Dertinge coughed.

"We'll worry about that later if things heat up," I turned from Dertinge to Lergen. "As for the bad news?"

"The construction of the first group of ballistic missile submarines won't start until after the first two submarines complete their sea trials, which means we would need to wait about 2 years for the ballistic submarines to enter service. The first group of new destroyers won't be completed until about a year from now." Lergen's face then frowned. "Many of the current destroyers are in drydocks for serious problems from operating for two decades, a decade past their original intended lifespan, and from high operational tempo. Combined with the need to maintain ships across the world, such as off the coast of Aegyptus, instead of just in the Baltic Sea and North Sea that the destroyers were originally designed for, the navy is stretched thin. When they do complete their drydock periods, New Granada is scheduled to purchase half of the repaired destroyers, with the option to buy even more, and South Bharat is still deciding if they want to buy any of the destroyers."

"So our hands are a bit tied right now," I tapped my fingers on the desk. "We'll just have to find other ways to respond to the CSR training camps until our construction pipeline is cleared out and we have fresh new vessels to utilize."

I then looked at Elya.

"Try to create a comprehensive report on the missile sites. I will later privately confront Prime Minister Vondel with the information to tell him that he either works with us on this crisis, or we will resolve it ourselves."

At noon:

I was enjoying a delicious lunch with Visha when we heard a loud knocking at the front door.

I wiped my mouth with a napkin. "I'll be back dear. Who could it be to demand an unscheduled visit at this time?"

Before I even got up from my chair, I heard the front door open and spun up my defensive magic. Whoever it was, they had either bullied our security detail to let them in or overpowered them.

To my surprise, Elya came rushing into our dining room. At this rate, she was probably going to need another vacation.

"What is the emerge-" Visha was about to ask when Elya cut her off. "There's a coup in Parisee! Everyone else is on their way here for an emergency meeting, we need to clear the table!"

"What do you know so far?" I asked while Visha and I moved the dishes into the kitchen and Elya laid out copies of her reports on the table.

"Calvar's predictions were right about how the Frankish army units that came back home from Aegyptus would be the main muscle for a coup." Elya shook her head in frustration. "The reports from my agents in the Francois Republic are still coming in, but this is what I know so far. Frankish paratroopers deployed from helicopters have surrounded the National Assembly with assistance from the Gendarmerie, and at least one armored division is in the process of setting up roadblocks outside of Parisee. There are also reports of plainclothes agents, likely the SCE, going about arresting individual high-level government members."

Then I heard Visha's loud voice from another room. "Uh, there's a news broadcast on TV. You need to see this. It looks like we have confirmation of the new people in charge."

We rushed over and my jaws dropped at what I was seeing.

An hour before, in Parisee at the Hôtel de Matignon, Prime Minister's official residence:

Général d'Armée Raoul Massu was seated at his desk while flanked by the deputy Minister of Defense and the new Director of SCE André Vallon, looking forward at the camera and the crew behind it.

"Many of you are wondering what happened. Why did it happen? Who made it happen? I will address these questions head-on. The ineffective, gridlocked republic is disbanded with immediate effect, and the newly established Committee of Public Safety will guide the country through the crisis. We will avoid bloodshed whenever possible."

In front of a legislator's private residence:

"Come out of the house with your hands in the air!" Debizet shouted.

"Go to hell!" the old legislator shouted as he leaned out of a second-floor window and fired an even older blunderbuss. A distinctive cloud of burning black powder obscured the window, the lead shots ineffectively pinging off of Debizet's magic shield.

'Well, that confirms what weapon he has. I can just fly up and grab him out of the window…'

Another SCE agent immediately gunned down the legislator with a hail of bullets, prompting Debizet to curse loudly at the agent as the now-dead legislator fell out of the window and splattered on the pavement.

"He fired a weapon. We couldn't take any risks," the agent indifferently shrugged.

"Not the time to be gunning down people with impunity!" Debizet snared.

"You know how I did things in Algeria, and I know the things you did in Aegyptus. No mercy to enemies of the state." The agent smiled slightly.

At the Hôtel de Matignon:

Vallon paused for a moment to let the would-be listeners to digest what he said, before continuing.

"The communists have been disguised as so-called socialists, labor activists and liberals for far too long. They have sabotaged our government for years, telling us to just let our colonies go freely to the communists. And they have accomplished that by ensuring the military would not have the resources to conduct full-scale warfare to bring peace to the colonies. Now they seek to undermine our intelligence services with a politically driven witch hunt! The ringleaders will be brought to justice for what they have done."

At a socialist party's headquarters:

Foccart watched from afar as soldiers and SCE agents raided the building and worked their way up the stairs, with occasional gunshots being heard.

'Any second now…'

He saw two mages come crashing out of a window, using just enough flight spells to get them to leap to another building's rooftop. The lack of actual flight from them was a tip-off of who they were.

Foccart spun up his voice spell. "The two brothers, Maurice Duclos and Georges Duclos, are on the rooftop of the L'Ami.e bar, and are continuing to head south. Lock down the buildings along their path as they may duck into one of them!"

He didn't have time to watch the two C-tier mages fumble their way across the rooftops when an explosion ripped through the headquarters building, followed by a well-armed mage rocketing up into the sky. A mage that he could sense was not an SCE agent.

'Nope, not going to risk my life by trying to arrest that one.'

Foccart sighed with annoyance and aimed his rifle at the fleeing communist mage.

At the Hôtel de Matignon:

Vallon banged his fist on the table, his face unflinching.

"While the public betrayal from the Albish and the Germanians undermining us in the shadows during the Aegyptus War was damaging, it was also not unexpected. And while the Americans try to shake us down for loose change in our most desperate times, they won't get a single coin. But now we can focus on our two most pressing problems, Algeria and Francois Indochina. Then we will end the growing unrest in our African colonies. This will require a concerted effort from our people. An economy fully geared for total war. No more half-measures. We will overcome this crisis, growing stronger and more secure, restoring honor to our country. We will forge order from chaos, and bring structure and stability to our colonies and at home!"

In Algeria:

"Mama, where are we going?" A boy asked, tugging on his mother's clothing.

Louisette Boupacha looked ahead at the group of soldiers standing in front of the assembled village while stroking her son's hair. One of the soldiers stepped forward with a megaphone.

"In one hour, all of you will begin marching directly east to the Kingdom of Libya. Regardless if they will take you in as refugees or not, you will leave your village until security is restored to the region."

Someone that Boupacha knew stepped forward as well and shouted, "I've lived my entire life here. I will not leave where my ancestors lived!"

A burst of machine gun fire scythed through the front row of people.

"Then you will die with your ancestors," the soldier retorted, his megaphone almost being drowned out by the screams and cries.

She realized her son was no longer holding onto her. She looked down and saw him lying face first in the dirt.

AN:

Context for the US Congress's role in cabinet nominations:

The Senate has typically granted presidents a great deal of deference in selecting members of their cabinets. The overwhelming majority of cabinet nominations have been confirmed quickly with little debate and often with simple voice votes. Nevertheless, political and partisan conflicts between the president and senators have at times produced dramatic fights over cabinet nominees and led to their ultimate withdrawal or rejection. For example, when opponents of President Andrew Jackson gained a Senate majority in 1833, the Senate rejected Jackson's choice for secretary of the treasury, Roger B. Taney. When Vice President John Tyler became president in 1841 upon the death of William Henry Harrison, he clashed with Senate Whigs, who rejected Tyler's nominees to head the Treasury, Navy, and War Departments.

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On three occasions in the 20th century the Senate formally rejected proposed cabinet officers. In 1925 a coalition of Senate Democrats and progressive Republicans twice defeated the nomination of Charles B. Warren to be attorney general because of his ties to the Sugar Trust. On June 19, 1959, by a dramatic 46 to 49 roll-call vote, the Senate rejected President Dwight Eisenhower's nomination of Admiral Lewis Strauss to be secretary of commerce. Three decades passed before another cabinet nominee suffered the same fate. Former senator John Tower (R-TX) faced difficult questions from the Armed Services Committee about his character, including his abuse of alcohol and financial dealings with defense contractors. After one of the most rancorous debates in modern times, the Senate voted to reject Tower's nomination by a largely party-line vote of 47 to 53. Not only did Tower become the first nominee of a new president's initial cabinet ever to be rejected, but also the first former senator to be turned down by his Senate colleagues for a cabinet post. Closer scrutiny by the Senate of cabinet nominees in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has resulted in some nominations being withdrawn before formal action was taken by the Senate.

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Kennedy's early foreign policy:

He concentrated his attention on international affairs, supporting the

Truman Doctrine

as the appropriate response to the emerging

Cold War

. He also supported

public housing

and opposed the

Labor Management Relations Act of 1947

, which restricted the power of labor unions. Though not as vocally anti-communist as

Joseph McCarthy

, Kennedy supported the

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952

, which required communists to register with the government, and he deplored the "

loss of China

."

[79]

During a speech in

Salem, Massachusetts

on January 30, 1949, Kennedy denounced Truman and the State Department for contributing to the "tragic story of China whose freedom we once fought to preserve. What our young men had saved [in World War II], our diplomats and our President have frittered away."

[80][81]

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In November 1947, Kennedy delivered a speech in Congress supporting a $227 million aid package to Italy. He maintained that Italy was in danger from an "onslaught of the communist minority" and that the country was the "initial battleground in the communist drive to capture Western Europe."

[82]

This speech was calculated to appeal to the large Italian-American voting bloc in Massachusetts as Kennedy was beginning to position himself for statewide office. To combat Soviet efforts to take control in Middle Eastern and Asian countries like

Indochina

, Kennedy wanted the United States to develop nonmilitary techniques of resistance that would not create suspicions of neoimperialism or add to the country's financial burden. The problem, as he saw it, was not simply to be anti-communist but to stand for something that these emerging nations would find appealing.

[83]

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Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the global state of tension known as the

Cold War

. Like his predecessors, Kennedy adopted the policy of

containment

to stop the spread of communism.

[161]

Fearful of the possibility of

nuclear war

, Kennedy implemented a defense strategy known as

flexible response

. This strategy relied on multiple options for responding to the Soviet Union, discouraged

massive retaliation

, and encouraged

mutual deterrence

.

[162][163]

In contrast to Eisenhower's warning about the perils of the

military-industrial complex

, Kennedy focused on rearmament. From 1961 to 1964 the number of

nuclear weapons

increased by 50 percent, as did the number of

B-52

bombers to deliver them.

[164]

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Father of JFK

When the White House read his quotes, it became clear that Kennedy was completely out of step with Roosevelt's policies.

[91]

Kennedy was

recalled

from his diplomatic duties and returned to the United States. Roosevelt urgently needed his support to hold the Catholic vote and invited him to spend the night at the White House. Kennedy agreed to make a nationwide radio speech to advocate Roosevelt's reelection. Roosevelt was pleased with the speech because, Nasaw says, it successfully "rallied reluctant Irish Catholic voters to his side, buttressed his claims that he was not going to take the nation into war, and emphasized that he alone had the experience to lead the nation in these difficult times." After Roosevelt was reelected, Kennedy submitted his resignation as ambassador.

[92]

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Throughout the rest of the war, relations between Kennedy and the Roosevelt Administration remained tense, especially when

Joe Jr.

, a Massachusetts

delegate

at the

1940 Democratic National Convention

, vocally opposed President Roosevelt's unprecedented nomination for a third term, which began in 1941. Kennedy may have wanted to run for president himself in 1940 or later. Having effectively removed himself from the national stage, Joe Sr. sat out World War II on the sidelines. Kennedy stayed active in the smaller venues of rallying Irish-American and Roman Catholic Democrats to vote for Roosevelt's re-election for a fourth term in

1944

. Former Ambassador Kennedy claimed to be eager to help the war effort, but as a result of his previous gaffes, he was neither trusted nor invited to do so.

[93]

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Robert Strange McNamara (

/ˈmæknəmærə/

; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth

United States secretary of defense

from 1961 to 1968 under presidents

John F. Kennedy

and

Lyndon B. Johnson

. He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years. He played a major role in promoting the U.S.'s involvement in the

Vietnam War

.

[3]

McNamara was responsible for the institution of

systems analysis

in

public policy

, which developed into the discipline known today as

policy analysis

.

[4]

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Context for JFK's relations with the CIA:

In spite of vigorous objections by CIA management to the findings, CIA Director Allen Dulles,

CIA Deputy Director Charles Cabell

, and deputy director for Plans Richard M. Bissell Jr. were all forced to resign by early 1962.

[103]

[

page needed

] In later years, the CIA's behavior in the event became the prime example cited for the psychology paradigm known as

groupthink

syndrome.

[120]

[

page needed

] Further study shows that among various components of groupthink analyzed by

Irving Janis

, the Bay of Pigs Invasion followed the structural characteristics that led to irrational decision making in foreign policy pushed by deficiency in impartial leadership.

[208]

An account on the process of invasion decision reads,

[209]

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At each meeting, instead of opening up the agenda to permit a full airing of the opposing considerations, [President Kennedy] allowed the CIA representatives to dominate the entire discussion. The president permitted them to refute each tentative doubt immediately that one of the others might express, instead of asking whether anyone else had the same doubt or wanted to pursue the implications of the new worrisome issue that had been raised.

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Dulles is considered one of the essential creators of the modern United States intelligence system and was an indispensable guide to clandestine operations during the Cold War. He established intelligence networks worldwide to check and counter Soviet and eastern European communist advances as well as international communist movements.

[32][19][33]

[

page needed

]

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…

The reputation of the agency and its director declined drastically after the

Bay of Pigs Invasion

fiasco of 1961. President Kennedy reportedly said he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds." However, following a "rigorous inquiry into the agency's affairs, methods, and problems ... [Kennedy] did not 'splinter' it after all and did not recommend Congressional supervision. Instead, President Kennedy transferred the CIA to the Department of Defense under the close supervision and control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff which would also report on CIA plans and operations to the President."

[41]

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Context for the "shrimp boat ramming", it was a major meme among the Hearts of Iron 4's TNO mod community where for several days before it was patched, there was a high probability of AI-controlled Japan and US igniting the event and escalating the crisis into nuclear warfare that destroys the world. All while the players were unable to do anything about it.

In the 1930s,

Edgar Snow

commented in

Red Star Over China

that the Communist forces in the

Chinese Civil War

had a "passion for the English game of table tennis" which he found "bizarre".

[14]

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In the early 1950s, when the International Table Tennis Federation recognized the Communist Chinese government in Beijing over the exile leadership in Taiwan (something the U.S. wouldn't do until 1979), Mao Zedong decreed table tennis the national sport, and invested heavily in cultivating competitive players. China won its first world champion in 1959, defeating Japan on an international stage

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When a CIA consultant spotted soccer fields along the coast in Cuba in September 1962, he became concerned because, as he put it, "Cubans play baseball, Russians play soccer."

The CIA analyst had deduced that the field indicated the presence of a Soviet military camp nearby.

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Kissinger announced: "The Cubans are building soccer fields…. These soccer fields could mean war, Bob." When Haldeman asked why, Kissinger answered: "Cubans play baseball . Russians play soccer ." Thus began yet another Soviet-American crisis "with prospects of direct superpower confrontation."[

59

]
For Kissinger, the soccer fields were evidence of a large Soviet base under construction—one that could repair and refuel nuclear missile submarines, and in a debatable interpretation, might violate the vague, unofficial understandings that ended the Cuban missile crisis. Cubans have played soccer, however, since at least 1924. They compete for the World Cup. Although the Soviets were apparently constructing something, "intelligence experts in the State Department, the CIA, and even the Pentagon saw no tangible evidence of a major installation." But "State Department officials did not realize that Kissinger was eager for a confrontation, whether justified or not."[

60

]

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Car bomb reference:

a

Soviet anti-ship cruise missile

design that carried a

nuclear warhead

. Its

GRAU

designation is 4K32. It was sometimes referred to as P-1 Strela (П-1 «Стрела», "

Arrow

"). It was used in the 1950s and 1960s. The missile's

NATO reporting name

was SS-N-1 Scrubber. It was tested in 1953–1954 on the destroyer Bedovyy (

Kildin-class

) and entered service in 1955

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The first nation to field ballistic missile submarines was the Soviet Union, whose first experimental vessel was a converted

Project 611

(Zulu IV class) diesel-powered submarine equipped with a single ballistic missile launch tube in its sail. This submarine launched the world's first SLBM, an

R-11FM

(SS-N-1 Scud-A, naval modification of SS-1

Scud

) on 16 September 1955.

[6]

The world's first operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was USS George Washington (SSBN-598) with 16

Polaris A-1

missiles, which entered service in December 1959 and conducted the first SSBN deterrent patrol November 1960 – January 1961.

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Laid down: 1 November 1958
Launched: 9 June 1959
Commissioned: 30 December 1959

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Context for Général d'Armée:

As for the coup:

On 24 May, French paratroopers from the Algerian corps landed on

Corsica

by aircraft, taking the French island in a bloodless action called "Operation Corse." They met no resistance by the

Gendarmerie

guarding Ajaccio's airport. Subsequently, preparations were made in Algeria for "

Operation Resurrection

," which had as objectives the seizure of Paris and the removal of the French government, through the use of

paratroopers

and armoured forces based at

Rambouillet

.

[2]

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Committee of Public Safety, French Comité De Salut Public, political body of the French Revolution that gained virtual dictatorial control over France during the Reign of Terror (September 1793 to July 1794).

The Committee of Public Safety was set up on April 6, 1793, during one of the crises of the Revolution, when France was beset by foreign and civil war.

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Inspiration for the name of the Algerian woman: