Big Time 1958 - Chapter 1016

The fact that Bush did not mention Iran is not because he has a warm heart for Iran, but that Iran’s assets in the United States have long been confiscated. At the time of the Iranian revolution, there are no assets for Bush to freeze now. The US statement immediately aroused huge reactions around the world, and at the same time US Secretary of State James Addison Baker also opened a visit to Moscow.

This visit must be carried out regardless of whether it has an effect or not. This is a matter of procedure. It is best to obtain the understanding of the Soviet Union. Even if it cannot, the United States has made relevant efforts, and when the time comes, it can show that no one blames me.

At this time, the whole world was holding their breaths to observe the communication between the Soviet Union and the United States. Of course, this person did not include Serov. He also sent the Minister of the Central Liaison Department, Zweigon, to visit Baghdad and Tehran, to appease the two countries on behalf of Moscow, and once again showed that the Soviet Union protected the The determination of the Allies coincided with Gromyko’s trip to welcome Addison Baker.

Serov himself did not come forward. Gromyko is more experienced than him in this regard, and this negotiation is unlikely to succeed. What can the United States offer in exchange for 34% of the world’s oil reserves? Iraq, Iran, plus the Soviet Union itself, are already half of the world’s reserves, what can be exchanged for? At least the ordinary brain of a big spy can’t think of it.

“Pre-emptive strike? Attacking Saudi Arabia?” Serov took the battle plan handed over by Defense Minister Marshal Ahromeyev, shook his head in silence and said, “There is no problem militarily, but it is a big problem in politics. Historically Iraq and Saudi Arabia have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and it’s not okay to use the excuse of unification. That is aggression? The impact is too great to consider.”

The current situation is still under control, but once Iraq is allowed to attack Saudi Arabia, it will be irreversible. This is the issue of the scale of the war. What Serov wants is a separate confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, without involving the European side. At least the Warsaw Pact and NATO are best left alone.

To put it bluntly, whether it is a Middle East war or a world war, if the allies of the Soviet Union take the initiative to attack Saudi Arabia, the Soviet Union will face a joint confrontation with the whole world except itself. It is estimated that the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan will all fight. Because once Saudi Arabia fails to guarantee, no country will believe in the credit of the Soviet Union, but think that the Soviet Union has accumulated enough power and will jump out to rule the world.

“If we take the initiative to attack, the United States will lose its foothold. This is the most certain military situation.” Defense Minister Ahromeyev said seriously, “The entire Persian Gulf is in our hands.”

“If the opponent is Malta, I agree with your plan, but the opponent is the United States. With the United States’ naval and air power, even if Saudi Arabia is destroyed, it will not be a problem to grab a foothold and land. Don’t forget Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. “Sherov said with a cold face, “The most direct result of taking the initiative to attack Saudi Arabia is that we can see the unity of the bourgeoisie. It is estimated that the United States can pull out a group of industrial countries’ troops and kill them in the Persian Gulf. We are a country. Hit the whole world?”

Seeing that Marshal Ahromeyev was silent, Serov said in a low voice, “There are too many countries devoured by greed, and the situation needs to change little by little. In fact, the United States cannot even accept Kuwait’s annexation. To be annexed, NATO will fight with us desperately, we want to win, not die with the United States, understand that.”

To keep the victory of Kuwait, Shelov believes that the world’s most powerful country will change hands, and it is recognized that it will change hands. Then the Soviet Union’s influence, national prestige and now will not be the same.

The problem now is that the US does not want the Soviet Union to take Kuwait into its pocket. Taking advantage of the heat of this matter, he personally took action to take it back, but the Soviet Union could not allow the United States to do so. The United States may think that the Soviet Union will not directly confront the United States, but copy the model of the Vietnam War, but for the sake of oil, the United States will jump down even if it knows.

If the Vietnam War could be replicated, things would be easy. It was only when Serov was ill that the Soviet Union would bleed its own blood to confront the United States. Maybe now the United States itself does not know that their technology has advanced to the point where the Vietnam War will not be repeated. It was also after the Gulf War that the Americans themselves realized this.

But Serov realized that it was impossible for the two countries to stop the US military, and only the Soviet Union could stop the US military in a head-to-head confrontation.

“Well, we still try to replenish the troops of the two countries now. The armaments hoarded by Afghanistan are arriving in the two countries, and Baghdad and Tehran are also issuing conscription orders to expand their troops.” Marshal Ahromeyev changed the subject and said, ” If all these armaments cannot be used, the troops of the two countries can reach about 1.5 million. It is a huge military force.”

The 1.5 million troops of the Iran-Iraq Alliance can be regarded as a powerful military force anywhere. It is not an army equipped with Soviet tanks. It is called a steel torrent. The Soviet Union also has a huge group of armed helicopters and fighter jets in the sky. .

For several days, the world’s focus has been on the Persian Gulf region. For the Soviet Union, the benefits have begun to show. After the oil price bottomed out, it began to soar, and the Soviet Union’s fiscal revenue began to increase.

The disadvantage of    is that the rift between the Soviet Union and the United States did not end this time. On the contrary, Moscow and Washington began to send missions to other countries. The United States hoped to obtain military support from allies, while the Soviet Union hoped to solve the problem through diplomatic pressure. In Paris, in Bonn, and in London, this diplomatic battle is constantly shifting the battlefield.

The purpose of the Soviet Union is simple, hope that Europe will stay out of the possible confrontation and leave the problem to the United States. This goal was not all successful, and France did not clearly want to cooperate with the United States, but the attitude of the United Kingdom was very obvious.

“For a war involving land, if the United States does not prepare for a few months, it will be fruitless. The land war requires much more preparation than the ocean. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers eat horses. All these require time to prepare.” Shelov pinched his stiff neck. “It seems that the U.S. military in Bahrain has withdrawn to Saudi Arabia. It seems that the United States is going to use Saudi Arabia as a counter-offensive base?”

“That’s right, General Secretary!” Chebrikov explained the latest situation, “The two U.S. Navy fleets headed by the USS Eisenhower and USS Independence have entered the Gulf region and are currently still off the coast of Saudi Arabia, but they have not entered. Strait of Hormuz!”

“Hey, this is the advantage of controlling the land. The navy is strong and needs good ports. Now the situation of the US Navy is actually very embarrassing. In the Arabian Peninsula, they lack such ports.” Shelov is quite a villain. , the US aircraft carrier did not enter the Persian Gulf, and even abandoned the base in Bahrain is a very correct choice.

One end of the Strait of Hormuz is in the hands of Iran. Once the US aircraft carrier enters the Persian Gulf, it is likely to be sent to the bottom of the sea by land-based missiles. Commanders with normal heads will not do this. But in fact, Saudi Arabia is not very safe. You must know that South Yemen is also an ally of the Soviet Union. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries accept the US military, and they also take a lot of risks.

But what does this have to do with the Soviet Union? Do you think Serov will sympathize with America? He almost laughed. Countries in Eurasia, from Vietnam in Southeast Asia to the Persian Gulf, a pro-Soviet country. The United States relies on its own powerful transportation capacity to maintain the supply line. Saudi Arabia itself does not have the ability to supply the US military. Except for oil, it is a desert.

“Step up the combat preparations of our three major military regions, and don’t be caught off guard. I also hope that Iran and Iraq can block the US military without us taking action, but this is unlikely.” Shelov shook his head and said, “Let Egypt and Syria sting Israel, the two countries, one south and one north, are preparing for war. I believe that if Israel has brains, it will not get involved. Let the Kurds pay attention to Turkey’s movements, and South Yemen can protect itself.”

Hearing South Yemen, Xie Luofei remembered that Iran promised that after the incident was over, it would exert its influence to ensure the peace of North and South Yemen until the final reunification. The unification model was naturally the Soviet system, establishing a centralized state.

The words are divided into two parts. While Moscow is trying to figure out Washington’s intentions, US President Bush is also hurrying to deal with this crisis. Iraq occupied Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia in an attempt to further control the Gulf oil and dominate OPEC. This is a direct impact and a serious challenge to America’s world hegemony and its oil interests.

“Our diplomatic work has been fruitful, but it has not been smooth. This time the United States is facing an unprecedented crisis.” President Bush said with great concern, “We must respond to this threat head-on and tell the Soviet Union unmistakably that we are serious.”

The U.S. Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Finance, and the Secretary of State all nodded when they heard the words. The Soviet Union has been ambiguous in its public statements since the incident. If the United States does not show its determination to fight at all costs, it is very likely that the Soviet Union will think that the United States is weak and tough.

This ambiguous attitude seen by the United States was deliberately displayed by the Soviet Union. After all, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union had faced each other on the battlefield for decades. Everyone subconsciously ignored this possibility.

“Then we have passed the operation, and the name of the operation is Desert Shield.” President Bush finally made a final decision.

Secretary of Defense Cheney officially ordered the operation to begin. The 2,300 men of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division boarded the plane as the vanguard of Operation Desert Shield. Five minutes later, the plane carrying the paratroopers was ordered to leave Prague, North Carolina. Fort base took off for Saudi Arabia. Operation “Desert Shield” thus kicked off.

Almost at the same time, two squadrons of F-15 fighter jets took off from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia as the first air force dispatched to Saudi Arabia and headed to a designated Saudi airport.

Baghdad responded immediately and transferred its troops from the north to Kuwait in the south. Tehran also used transport aircraft to increase the defense of the forest of monuments. The two countries jointly declared to defend their own interests, and the increased troops competed against each other, so that the Persian Gulf was isolated from the wind.

The Soviet Union, which should have been paid attention to, was forgotten at this time. The Bush administration seems to have determined that the Soviet Union will not take action.