Struggle in Soviet Russia - Chapter 636

As the saying goes: “Where there is oppression, there is resistance.”

Aziz’s autocratic rule in Saudi Arabia, although it has adopted brutal methods of almost tribal annihilation against the rebels, at least so far, it has not intimidated all the opposition, and some are dissatisfied with its occupation of all resources. Tribal chiefs, conservative clerics, and religious fanatics who resent Aziz’s cessation of lands and cities to infidels have been plotting to oppose and overthrow the royal family, and they haven’t acted. , because Aziz’s army mastered the weapons obtained from the Americans and thus had absolute military initiative.

The Central International Department believes that the current domestic situation in Saudi Arabia is not as stable as it appears on the surface. In addition, although Aziz promotes a policy of good-neighborliness and friendship, due to the ideological export of the Wahhabi religion, and Aziz The ambiguous relationship between the royal family and the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the contradictions between Saudi Arabia and a series of countries in the Middle East, have not been fundamentally eliminated, and its external harmony has always been just a gesture, and it has not really been implemented.

In this case, the alliance only needs to select a powerful spokesperson in Saudi Arabia and provide him with sufficient military and economic assistance, then in the short term, an anti-Aziz politics will be created in Saudi Arabia. Power should be no problem. The most important thing is that what the alliance needs to achieve now is not really to overthrow the Aziz royal family, nor is it really to drive the American “Aramco Oil” out of Saudi Arabia. What the alliance needs is to clear the situation in Saudi Arabia. Confusion creates enough pressure on the Americans to come to the negotiating table and make concessions to the alliance on the Far East issue.

In addition to the Saudi issue, the Central International Department also expressed its own views on the Libyan issue. Victor believes that the alliance still cannot make concessions to Britain and France on the Libyan issue, whether it can control the Tripolitania region, and the future of the alliance in North Africa. It is crucial for regional expansion of influence, and it will even affect the interests of the alliance in the entire Mediterranean region.

The current reality of Libya is very clear. The British tried to monopolize the two regions of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, so as to control the entire Mediterranean region of Libya, and thus continue to maintain its hegemony in the Mediterranean region. . The French continue to occupy the Feizan area. Considering that the rich oil fields in the Feizan area have not yet been discovered, the real purpose of the French controlling the area is actually to protect their vested interests in Central Africa and prevent foreign forces. influence, penetrated southward through Libya.

Considering this situation, Victor suggested that on the Libyan issue, the alliance should choose a limited cooperation with the French, the alliance could support France to retain its vested interests in Central Africa, and at the same time, France should support the alliance to obtain Tripoli. Regional escrow authority.

The French have very weak interests in the Mediterranean, and on the Libyan issue, as long as they can continue to control the Fezzan area, presumably they will not pay much attention to the question of who controls Tripolitania, after all That is the British sphere of influence, and there is no need for Paris to oppose Moscow for the benefit of London, it is not in their interest.

The most important thing is that the relationship between the French and the United Kingdom and the United States is not very harmonious. The contradiction between the two sides caused by the so-called “French Mandate” plan after World War II has not finally disappeared. In addition, just like the United Kingdom. It is the same as trying to exclude the Soviet Union and the United States from European affairs, but the French want to exclude the United Kingdom from continental European affairs. Therefore, on many issues, Moscow and Paris actually have a common language.

It can only pull France into its chariot on the Libyan issue, then the alliance will have a great chance to suppress the British opposition, extend a hand to North Africa, and at the same time, it can also wedge the Mediterranean coast. The last nail will give the alliance a lot of room for maneuver in the future diplomatic maneuvering. Even if the alliance has no real power to expand its influence to the Mediterranean coast and North Africa in the short term, the existence of this nail can also help the alliance. At certain critical times, it was used to make deals with the British or the Americans.

Diplomacy sometimes looks complicated, but sometimes it looks very simple. It’s as simple as a child playing at home, attracting a group of people, attacking a small group of people, or relying on Being big, providing benefits to others and other means, attracting most people and excluding some people, so as to force those excluded to show their weakness. Everything, nothing more than that.

Also in this morning’s meeting, to be precise, after the questioning of Victor ended, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also submitted a proposal on foreign affairs. The People’s Committee has also been reorganized, and the Alliance has its own “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.

This 70-page advisory report was submitted by Comrade Gromyko, who just took office as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Strategy concept.

Comrade Gromyko believes that, judging from the current situation, the conflict between the alliance in the Far East and the United States will probably persist for a long time. In other words, the Far East will become a point of contention between the Soviet Union and the United States. In order to ensure the alliance’s geopolitical interests and security in the Far East, Moscow must plan ahead and formulate a realistic strategy for Asia in advance.

Note that what Comrade Gromyko proposed here is not the Far East strategy, nor the East Asian strategy, but the Asian strategy. In a narrow sense, the Asian strategy he mentioned here does not actually include the Middle East and Central Asia. As well as the West Asia part, it only refers to East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

In his proposal, Comrade Gromyko mentioned that, judging from the current situation, the American monopoly on Japan may have become a foregone conclusion. The purpose is obviously to contain the alliance and prevent the alliance from expanding its influence in the Pacific Ocean. In this case, the alliance’s Asian strategy should first focus on Japan, or to put it more bluntly, on the US military stationed in Japan.

If Japan cannot break through the blockade chain, the alliance’s military influence will not be able to expand to Southeast Asia, the Pacific and South Asia. Therefore, the existence of Japan is the key point and breakthrough for the alliance to implement its Asian strategy. To open this breach, it is obviously impossible to negotiate with the Americans alone. Therefore, the alliance must adopt a roundabout strategy.

Comrade Gromyko’s proposal is that the alliance should deploy powerful military forces in Asia and the Western Pacific region, and draw China, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, and even Indonesia, Malaysia and other East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian countries. The alliance will form a collective security system within Asia.

Once this system is established, even if it is only initially established, the alliance can imprison Japan into an isolated island by means of reverse encirclement, thus strategically completely isolating the island chain that the Americans used to block the alliance. At that time, it is estimated that the Americans will give up this isolated island without the alliance doing anything.

In Viktor’s previous life, he knew that the Soviets had developed an “Asian Security System”. However, at that time, the purpose of this system was not only to drive the Americans out of the Western Pacific region, but also to surround and isolate China. In the end, this proposal was rejected by countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and only India and Vietnam were interested in this proposal. In fact, this plan was also the most direct cause of the Sino-Vietnamese conflict.

But now, the domestic war in China is not over yet, and Moscow’s position on China’s domestic issues is very clear. Therefore, it is not very good to say where Sino-Soviet relations will go in the future, but at least on the surface Look, this suggestion of Comrade Gromyko is still very practical.

However, in order for Comrade Gromyko’s proposal to gain attention, the alliance still needs to do a lot in the future. First, Moscow must ensure that the domestic situation in China is in line with its own expectations; second, Moscow also needs to address the issue of India. Taking into account Nehru’s inclination towards communism, Victor estimated that the alliance should choose to support the Congress party; finally, the alliance must also have a clear attitude. It can even be said that an attitude alone is not enough. The coalition must spend real money to support political forces with goodwill towards Moscow.

On the way to the office, Victor’s mind was thinking about these things that were enough to make people feel anxious. He felt that the history he was going through seemed to have gone a bit off track, and Moscow seemed to be becoming more and more in terms of external issues. Aggressive, the military pressure exerted by the United Kingdom and the United States on the alliance, apparently because of the successful tests of nuclear weapons and rockets, did not have a positive effect. On the contrary, they stimulated Moscow’s ambitions, or, in other words, delivered more to Moscow’s decision-makers. Many hawkish elements.

Victor doesn’t know what direction history will continue to turn, but his heartfelt hope is that war is best kept out of this world…though it will always come when it’s due.