AN: Credits to gdstriker, PervySageChuck and Sunny for the revisions.
I also wanted to thank Aldrin, Krafty and Ginnie for advice on the South American plot in this chapter.
For my future writing, I hit a "I have a plot outline but I don't know if I should commit to it" writer's block in bridging between this chapter and the much later chapters, so I'll be working on the rewrites of Chapter 10-12 as I have an extensive plot outline for those already, before returning back to working on Chapter 59 and later.
03NOV2024 update: Rewrite Chapter 12 has been released with significant changes and entirely new plot development. I still have a writer's block with Chapter 59.
1954, May 2nd, Londinium:
"You want me to set her deal on fire and send the Royal Navy after OZEV hydrocarbon assets in the North Sea?" Macmill put a hand up to his forehead in agony.
"Germania is at their weakest point," Shone jabbed his finger on the map rolled out onto the desk. "Their current destroyers are at their lowest readiness level since the 1930's. They can't hide the rows of rusty destroyers all tied up at piers or in drydocks for repairs, and their new destroyers have yet to exit their shipyards. Therefore the Royal Navy can easily enforce our claims on the North Sea."
"Let's say we push OZEV completely out of the North Sea," Macmill sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "Then what? We can't extract the oil and natural gas even with the deposit locations she gave us. It would take years to develop our own domestic technology and industry base to conduct deep ocean drilling. I called President Kennedy last night and he said he has enough trouble within his own cabinet and Congress to even contemplate negotiating a fair deal between us and the American oil companies. We would be on our own to negotiate with them!"
"Joint partnership between our domestic oil companies and theirs," Shone clenched his fists. "We can't allow her to just plunder our backyard."
"Where did you get that idea?" Macmill blinked for a moment.
"Foster Dullas and Moores Dullas. They assured me they would help push the proposal past their pro-Germanian president."
"Your plan is to bypass… Ugh, I need to reset relations with her, and the rest of OZEV," Macmill got up from his chair. "We are isolated and are slowly shedding our unruly colonies. Simultaneously, OZEV continues to grow and further integrate to become a Germanian Empire under the fig leaf of democracy. The broadcast of their rocket launch confirmed our intel reports on Germania working on space-capable rockets, with speculations their rockets would enable the delivery of atomic weapons."
Before Shone could speak, Macmill cut him off. "Germania has two nuclear submarines, and more are under construction. We may be able to win a naval conflict today other than the unstoppable nuclear submarines we would have to wait until they return to port for resupply before attacking them. But she will remember we torched her deal, and will come back for revenge when she finishes modernizing the Germanian navy in her image."
The phone on Macmill's desk rang just as Shone was about to voice his rebuttal. Macmill reached over to lift up the receiver.
Shone watched Macmill's face turn from annoyed to white with fear, before quietly hanging up the phone.
"…What's the issue?" Shone broke the silence after waiting for a few minutes.
"What was the yield on our tested prototype atomic bomb?" Macmill trembled as he stared at the phone.
"250 kilotons of TNT. What about it?"
"Yesterday our intelligence detected a massive nuclear explosion in the South Bharati Ocean from our covert observation posts and eyewitness reports from civilian vessels. All of the reports of the direction of the fireball and shockwaves correlated to their island research facility. One of them described the fireball as bright as a second sun." Macmill's voice quivered. "Our nuclear scientists estimated the yield of the Germanian bomb to be up to 20 megatons."
"That's not possible, we backed off from our bigger bomb due to the risk of it spontaneously detonating…"
"They couldn't provide a more accurate estimation due to the damages the posts sustained, and the following evacuation to avoid the radioactive fallout. An observation plane that was sent to fly toward the suspected source immediately after the explosion was never heard of again. A second plane was sent the next day and reported the small island they tested the bomb on was completely burned and a crater occupied about a fourth of its former landmass."
"Their space program, it all makes sense now!" Shone slammed his fist onto the table. "There has to be a reason why they are building rockets that can launch payloads into space, beyond just a research satellite and eventually TV broadcast satellites."
Macmill's eyes widened. "We need to accelerate our Grey Knight rocket program. I don't care what the naysayers complain about, we will have our own space launches. While I want to avoid open conflict, we can't allow Germania to completely overshadow us in the technological race. And this is something I am willing to work with the Americans on, as they have not publicly revealed their own rocket program either."
"If we're this far behind, I wonder how the communists are handling the sudden pace of events?" Shone let out a nervous chuckle.
"They'll probably do something rash," Macmill rubbed his forehead. "As for the hydrocarbon deal, I don't see any other good options compared to agreeing with her sector allocation, but it will be up to our domestic companies to figure out the challenge themselves, partnerships or alone. I'm not going to let her puppet companies have strings on our future energy supply."
1954, May 9th, Nanjing:
"North Bharat reported they're not sure if it is safe for them to transfer the currently surviving submarine crew members due to their critical medical conditions. The rest are being returned to us, in concrete caskets." Luo had a depressive look as he stared down at his feet. "I don't know if we should tell their families of the horrors the men went through."
"They are heroes for sailing straight into death to understand what Germania has developed," Kang nonchalantly replied, as if the fate of the crew didn't bother him. "The photos and samples they collected are invaluable, along with the journals and deathbed interviews. And now with the complete disappearance of Li Lisan and his gang after they detonated the atomic bomb they were trying to steal, I'm shifting our focus from him, back to Shu."
"The Germanians created an artificial sun in a container. We should at least wait until we have an equally powerful…" Luo stopped when Kang put his hand up.
"I saw the reports from the NKVD. They are confident Germania's leadership can be decomposed by interfering with their domestic politics to put a warmonger in power. Someone that would plunge Europe into war and leave it weakened. They also sent an interesting proposal to me about what to do with Brasilia and Platia, but I first want to discuss what we will be doing in Europe."
"I can't believe we're resorting to this level of desperation," Luo winced in pain. "Their plan hinges on so many people acting in certain ways we need to at the very least plan for a scenario where the NKVD fails."
"Then what should we do?" Kang tapped his foot impatiently. "It could be years before we have our own equivalent bomb ready."
"Two ways," Luo suddenly confidently smiled as if a lightbulb went off in his head. "We focus on low-intensity conflicts to deny Germania the easy legal or moral justification to deploy their nuclear horrors, because the Francois Republic, Allied Kingdom, and other countries will be carefully watching to see what Germania will do with their super bomb. Meanwhile, we stop them from being able to deliver the bomb in the first place, or at the very least force them to build a massive bomber force to be able to guarantee delivering the bomb over our homeland."
"You want to dramatically scale up our Air Force development efforts?" Kang seemed apprehensive. "I am aware the army leadership under your command is displeased with their minimal allocations when they are fighting against the enlarged Frankish expeditionary force in Francois Indochina, while also being responsible for the surface-to-air missile defenses."
"I am confident the Francois Republic will lose patience, or stability, before the Vietnamese locals will admit defeat. I wouldn't have suggested the air control strategy if it wasn't for our prototype interceptor jet that yielded promising results with launching salvos of our improved standard missiles…" Luo then took a drink of his tea before continuing. "As long as it's a mage that is flying the four-engine monster, and another two mages to provide the targeting for the missiles. It is uncontrollable for a regular human to pilot at high speeds."
"Except Germania can deliver a bomb by boat to our coastline," Kang gestured at the map of the Formosan Strait. "So we also need control of the sea along with the sky."
"I could commission the development of heavy anti-ship missiles to specifically counter the Akinese battleships, especially the Yamato. It will be launched from both ground and air to inflict unacceptable losses on the Germanian navy and their allies if they want to try to deliver a bomb over the water." Luo spoke with growing confidence. "We already have a strong rocketry foundation to start with. I know the Rus have been developing guided anti-tank missiles, so we could borrow their warhead designs and scale them up significantly."
"It seems we have a way forward for the security of our coastlines," Kang relaxed his shoulders. "But before we break for lunch…"
"South America," Luo's face instantly changed from confident to worry and fear. "A continent I didn't even think about until a few days ago when you asked me about the possibility of modifying our submarines for a one-way trip across the Pacific Ocean."
"I will be having a direct meeting with Loria next week, but I wanted to hear your opinion because the decisions from it will be final." Kang's eyes glanced around the room before refocusing on Luo's face. "The reason I asked about our submarines is because Brasilia requested assistance on smuggling 'medical goods' to the Unified States and other countries, with the proceeds from the exports going towards funding their war efforts. Platia also wanted in on the smuggling business. What they both really mean is exporting illicit drugs. The only part that has the NKVD concerned is Platia's unknown intentions, because while they have long served as a conduit for smuggling goods to Brasilia, including South Bharatian military hardware, their new administration's foreign diplomacy under Eva Illio has become quite unpredictable."
"And why do they need our submarines?" Luo tightly gripped his hands around his tea cup, his knuckles turning white.
"To secretly and safely deliver our assistance over the Pacific Ocean. After their arrival, to sink New Granada's future destroyers to allow the safe transit of 'neutral' flagged merchant ships."
"Submarines hunting destroyers?!" Luo almost threw his tea cup. "No, a better option would be to use them to hunt New Granadian civilian ships to force them to retask their destroyers to protect their own shipping instead of conducting a blockade. And if Brasilia still wants to directly attack the destroyers, I would instead propose selling them our older missile models and production schematics for them, as we have moved onto a superior design after the lessons learned from the Akinese magic interference."
"And what would they launch those missiles from as they are short on combat aircraft?"
"From the ground," Luo rolled his eyes. "Or start modifying civilian aircraft to carry a missile each. Either way they will need mages to be trained to operate the missiles, and in enough numbers to overwhelm the destroyers."
"Speaking of magic capability, we will be sending our orb production schematics, engineers, Sibyrian army advisors and magic drug researchers to improve their army's fighting capability, and to also learn how the Brasilians conduct their unconventional warfare against the heavily mechanized New Granadians."
"Who will we be sending over the ocean with our submarines?" Luo narrowed his eyes with suspicion. "I thought our magic drug formulas would never be shared?"
"To conduct research in the South American jungles to find new ingredients. After all, some field tests are needed before we consider importing the tropical ingredients in large quantities back to our homeland." Kang seemed unconcerned.
"Do you realize the risks you are taking?" Luo got up from his chair. "All of this will provoke a previously isolationist Unified States to meddle in our backyard in retaliation for us shitting in their backyard. And for what, to improve our mage drugs? This is a terrible deal even by your standards! Then there's the simultaneous high risk operation in Europe that will also only earn us more determined enemies if it goes wrong."
"My economic research shows the American banks have taken significant financial risks in feeding loans to New Granada. Germania's, and the rest of Europe's, economy is increasingly linked to the Unified States." Kang growled with annoyance. "If we at least ensure the war in South America remains stalemated, then New Granada's finances will eventually implode and also take down the Unified States and Germania. Combined with the Germanian prince stirring up chaos, we will cripple our enemies without firing a shot."
"Be careful to not choke on your aspirations…" Luo rapidly walked towards the doorway to leave the room. "I will be having lunch by myself so I can think of how to best support your wild plans without compromising our homeland's security. Right now, I need to lie in bed for a moment."
"I don't have a choice," Kang drank the rest of his tea and stayed in his seat. "We can't win in a direct war, and I am not going to sit idly by as our enemies leap ahead of us."
Meanwhile, in Berun:
I drank the last of my coffee and set down the now empty cup while General Ugar, at a stiff attention, finished his explanation.
I pushed aside my cup. "The predicted yield for our small weapon that would later go into a submarine launched missile, was 2-3 megatons, but somehow it ended up being estimated at more than 10 megatons after detonation? And thus South Bharat and others in the direction of the fallout had to be warned?
"We didn't know the lithium isotope would have a different behavior when detonated in an actual nuclear bomb rather than being tested in a lab. And we added even more of it." Ugar looked down at his shoes.
"How aggressive was your schedule?"
He gave me a blank stare.
"And why was it aggressive?" I impatiently tapped my fingers on the table.
"Other countries are gaining on us in nuclear development, including the communists."
"No, you know that's just an excuse." My tapping hand curled into a fist, prompting Ugar to take a step back. "The Americans and Albish are not a concern. The Frankish junta is still deadlocked over my demands for international inspectors of their nuclear program and thus haven't tested their bomb yet. As for the communists, I had accepted that eventually they'll build up a vast nuclear arsenal, and run themselves into the ground trying to maintain their expensive arsenal. All we have to do is ensure they understand no one comes out unscathed from a nuclear war."
I slammed my fist onto the table. "You had a personal reason! And the price of your actions was a damaged bunker and all of the surface infrastructure for future weapons testing completely vaporized. Thankfully you had the support ships stationed far enough to avoid being sunk by the blast."
Ugar remained dead silent instead of answering, while I could see sweat dripping down his face.
I let out a sigh. "Do you remember back when you were overseeing the construction and testing of our first-ever nuclear reactor? When it had an accident?"
"Yes…" He meekly replied.
"I told you the top priorities were safety and secrecy, and while the scientists could lose track of that, you were never supposed to lose sight of it. You first lost sight of it with then Captain Rickover testing the submarine to its paper specifications and confirmed flaws he had previously documented during its construction phase."
I paused for a moment while tossing a newspaper at Ugar. "South Bharatian Prime Minister Rajendra Prasad is yelling at me because he had to put a stop to all ocean fishing activities due to the radioactive fallout. It's rather fortunate the wind is taking the fallout south, and away from an inhabited land mass. It's also unfortunate timing because just today President Kennedy informed me they received reports of South Bharat expanding their scope of selling war materiel from New Granada, to Brasilia as well by using Peru as a proxy. The Americans will not accept a Granadian defeat and are stepping in. I now have no political legs to stand on to pressure South Bharat to cease their war profiteering of two sides locked in stalemate trench warfare."
I took a few deep breaths after letting all of my grievances out. While it would be unfortunate for the penguins to die in large numbers, that is certainly a less worse outcome compared to South Bharat being blanketed in radiation.
I took painkillers after reading the newspapers and BND's reports on the recent events in South America. Peru publicly stated they arrested their corrupt officials who siphoned their military hardware and supply imports from South Bharat and sold them to Brasilia for private profit, while buying more hardware from South Bharat with some of the profits to replace the missing inventory. The corrupt officials supposedly repeated the cycle of the infinite money printer until New Granadian agents looked into why Brasilia suddenly had a plentiful quantity of South Bharatian materiel.
The problem for Peru was that an enraged, emotionally compromised New Granadian acting President Carlos Arellano was not going to settle for extradition of the corrupt officials, and instead issued an ultimatum demanding harsh terms. Peru purposefully offered to meet all of them except for one. Arellano in response accused Peru of trying to bypass the ultimatum. If the war kicks off between the two countries, New Granada's financial clock will tick down to bankruptcy even faster, and if they go bankrupt, the Unified States' banking industry will panic and potentially spread their contagion to Europe!
I jabbed my finger at Ugar who was waiting for me. "Do you have a plan to avoid something like this again?"
"Future nuclear weapons testing will be done underground unless the bomb has a predicted yield of less than 10 kilotons of TNT," Ugar seemed to have regained his confidence.
"I have no use for small tactical nukes," I swept my hand off to the side for emphasis. "Any nuclear weapons usage will lead to mutually assured destruction, so we might as well pursue an overwhelming second strike capability if an enemy tries to get the jump on us with their own nuclear weapons. Maybe I'll be dead from a 100 megaton bomb being dropped on my head, but I expect our submarines to deliver their vengeance."
"I understand," Ugar nodded.
"And your process and scheduling?" I raised my eyebrow, erasing the confidence on his face in an instant.
"There are two paths I see for you," I extended out both of my closed fists.
"You can retire from this with full honors and pension." I opened one hand.
"Or you apologize to Admiral Rickover, and learn how he has been able to reign in rowdy contractors and his scientists at the hint of any trouble." I opened my other hand. "Then come back to me with the proper lessons learned from this incident."
"I need to think about this…" Ugar quietly said.
"And I'll await your answer when you are ready," I put on a thin smile. "You're free to go."
As Ugar briskly walked out of my office, I caught a glimpse of Dertinge waiting for me at the doorway.
"It's Nasser," Dertinge blurted without waiting for me to say something.
"What has he done this time?" I motioned to Dertinge to come into my office.
"He was not amused by the Turkmen forces pillaging their way across Aegyptus, including the South Bharatian construction efforts, while making their way to Syria. Or by the Qajarian forces who invaded the next day in pursuit of the Turkmen forces, in which they looted whatever was leftover from the Turkish pillaging. Or by the Saudi invasion on the day after from the Sauds pursuing both forces. The Aegyptian authorities discovered a mass grave of an executed South Bharatian construction crew and it's unknown who was responsible for the slaughter of noncombatants. Ambassador Sadat informed me a furious Nasser will be making a public broadcast of declaring war in 24 hours and rallying his population to attack all three forces."
"To merely expel them from his territory, right?..." I mentally braced myself for a different answer.
"He stated if the marauders slip away into Syria, then he will invade Syria to chase them down and destroy them." Dertinge shook his head. "He wants our "independent" mercenary force to assist."
"I should give Kennedy a call to see if he can persuade the Sauds to back out of this mess before Nasser does something rash," I sat back down in my seat. "Although something tells me he's going to be preoccupied with clashing with the Dullas brothers."
"So are we going to have our mercenary force get involved in this?"
"Yes, but limited to only actions within Aegyptus. I won't allow them to step onto another country's soil." I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "I don't want this mess to just keep escalating. We can't have another Suez Canal crisis"
1954, May 11th, northern Aegyptus, close to the Syrian border:
A dust-covered Green gripped his binoculars as he watched the ragged convoy rumble across the desert, kicking up a long plume of dust behind it.
"They're proceeding along the road we expected," Koenig lowered his head back down under the crest of the hill and checked his watch.
"I would have initially assumed this was a refugee convoy, but they're clearly armed, have Turkmen magic emissions, and took our baits of fuel trucks." Green put down his binoculars. "Signal our attack."
"They've been looting their way through Aegyptus to replace their destroyed or damaged military vehicles. This ends today." Koenig then spun up his stealth communications spell to inform his mage formations. "It's them. Hit it."
"With pleasure. And we shall have a proper tea ceremony after this." Yamamoto happily chirped in reply.
"Is that why a fully furnished tea house was recently built at our camp?…" Green seemed to realize Yamamoto's purpose for the construction, but didn't get a reply.
The entire front and rear section of the convoy disappeared into the massive clouds of dust, kicked up from the chains of explosives buried alongside the road. Roars of fires erupted from the explosives in the bait fuel trucks.
"And here we go…" Koenig snapped his fingers as the flickers of Turkmen mages' shields emerged through the dust clouds.
"1st Formosan Mage Corps, with me!" Green barked over a voice spell to the Formosan mages.
"Yes sir!" Gao returned in rough Albish.
"No more training. Now we fight!" Kazama excitedly added in.
Ali coughed as General Tural pulled him from the wrecked command car.
Ali regained his senses and pushed aside Tural. "I will not die here. We will slaughter these Aegyptians for getting in our way!"
"It's not the Aegpytians. It's their so-called mercenaries." Tural breathlessly said as he fumbled with the car's radio, then cursed when he couldn't get it to work.
A Turkman mage landed next to them. "We're getting slaughtered and we don't know if they're working with the Qajarians that are right behind us. If you want to live, flee with us!"
"They're just Aegyptian mages…" Ali muttered in denial.
"We identified at least four different magic emissions, and none of them match any in this region!"
Panic spread across Ali's face at the realization of just how outmatched his force was.
"I'm not leaving my men to die," Tural stood his ground.
"Get me out of here!" Ali grabbed the mage's hand.
"We got company coming from the south." Bettina's voice spell came in. "It's the Qajarians."
"All units disengage and fall back to our retreat points. Our fight here is done!" Green broadcasted over his radio.
"The Turkmens are also ceasing their attacks… They're repositioning themselves to face south." Koenig had a hint of glee in his voice spell.
"The remaining Turkmen mages broke away from us and are flying toward Syria." Yamamoto reported back. "Do we pursue them?"
"No, let them be as long as they leave us alone. Don't trap a cornered rat."
"I'm picking up the Saud's radio chatter. They will also be here soon," Bettina chimed in. "This is going to be a slaughter."
"We should form a blockade to stop the Turkmens and Qajarians from moving further north," Green gestured towards a mountain in the distance. "That should be a good vantage point over the road."
"And a good entertainment of watching a three-way battle between bitter rivals," Koenig chortled as he took flight towards the mountain.
1954, May 13th, somewhere in Francois Republic, in a hideout:
Calvar opened the oven.
"Baguettes need a bit more time…" He shut the oven door.
"I needed to use the oven, but here I am having to modify my cooking to make use of the stovetop." Elya poked at Calvar.
"Madam, you don't put different foods in the same oven." Calvar gave her the side eye. "Nobody wants baguettes to smell like roasted meat!"
"Maybe next time we could make meat-stuffed baguettes," Elya smirked as she stirred the pot. "We already have the sausages."
"And I'll defect back to the SCE to share the food crimes so my colleagues are enraged enough to come after you instead of asking me questions about how I met you in the first place."
"Speaking of the SCE, what is the latest word about them?" Elya turned off the stovetop and removed the pot from it.
"They're planning a coup in the newly independent Kingdom of Tripolitania, and not telling the military about it."
"And they expect Ildoa will do nothing about their former colony going through an upheaval?" Elya stopped in her tracks.
"They think they have enough plausible deniability by indirectly backing the local military officers and thus exploiting those officers' growing discontent with the new, inexperienced Tripolitanian monarchy. But they're afraid the Frankish military will put a stop to the coup plan if discovered," Calvar shook his head as he opened the oven door to pull out the baguettes. "The other thing my contacts have mentioned is the SCE is building a case against Foreign Minister Pierre Bidault, presumably to justify arresting him. They have suspicions of him building a power base that doesn't fully answer to the SCE or the military."
Elya walked over to the dining room while Calvar followed her, both of them carrying plates of food. As Elya set her plates down, she hummed, "Hmmm, that's a problem as the Frankish military is hoping Bidault can keep the African colonies from going into full revolt, at least until Algeria and Francois Indochina are dealt with."
"So we're going to have to protect him?"
"Or at least let the military know the SCE has him on their list, then watch the two tear at each other." Elya then opened a box to pull out a wine bottle. "I prefer to keep my hands clean of this pig mess of internal politics."
"1896 Chateau Margeaux…" Calvar narrowed his eyes. "Where did you get it from?"
"A gift from a general I started dating, under a different disguise of course," Elya smirked. "He has been a useful source of information, especially when drunk or looking to avoid his wife. He also complained about the SCE leadership after their heated meetings following news of Germania's bomb test."
"You terrify me sometimes, you know." Calvar sighed as he sat down at the dining table. "Who knows how many boyfriends you have fooled into giving you gifts."
"Says the person who goes through war crimes as if they had a to-do checklist." Elya snorted as she opened the bottle to pour into two glasses.
"I've been thinking," Calvar grabbed one of the glasses to take a whiff. "Could there be a way to leak the information to the SCE and the military to drive a wedge between them, while also keeping Bidault protected and not reveal our own operation?"
"It would have to be done in a way that would bolster our 'usefulness' to our contacts," Elya broke a piece of a baguette. "But I think I have an idea…"
1954, May 16th, Berun:
"The Dullas brothers are causing you trouble?" I poured coffee into the cups for both of us.
"The Sauds are too proud to admit they screwed up and to pay for the damages," Kennedy pinched the ridge of his nose. "They instead have steadily increased military hardware purchases and hiring of American advisors. And the Dullas brothers could care less about the Middle East being up in flames as long as the Saud oil flows."
"But they aren't fond of South Bharat arming both sides in South America for profit," I smirked as I sat down.
"Calling them out on hypocrisy is like telling a pig it's filthy." Kennedy rolled his eyes, then he straightened his tie. "But if we could secure South Bharat's guarantee that they won't arm Brasilia, then I can pressure the Sauds to cease their hostility or their arms flow will be capped."
I need to maintain good relations with the Americans. I could sense the Albish was still going to be a rival even in their diplomatically isolated situation, and the last thing I wanted to do was make it easier for them to find allies.
But I could also get some additional money from them. All of this nuclear development was not cheap, and it would get a lot more expensive now that we are using the molten salt reactors for the ballistic submarines and aircraft carriers we had started construction on, and also for our next-generation land power plants that were having their final designs tested in small scale models.
"I like your idea. I could also throw in a sweetener for your domestic audience," I leaned forward towards him. "Pressurized water nuclear reactor technology is available for purchase, and we can provide assistance in building the power plants. It won't produce weapons-grade plutonium like the graphite-moderated reactor, but it's overall safer to operate. The more energy independence the oil-importing Unified States has, the less affected it is by the chaos in the Middle East or if New Granadian oil is disrupted by their war."
"Why is your country still embroiled in the Middle East as well, if OZEV as a whole is on track for energy independence?"
"We trade with South Bharat, Formosa, and Akitsushima Dominion, and the Suez Canal is vital for that. To protect their energy imports as they lack their own domestic hydrocarbon sources. And most importantly, to contain the communist expansions."
"I can't help but think you are trying to sell a dead-end technology to us. After all, everyone knows how far your country is in nuclear development."
Damn, he's onto me. But he is fond of women. I'll have to employ Visha's seduction techniques that she used on me before, as much as I would prefer not to resort to such disgusting measures. Then again, with stakes this high, I have to swallow my pride every now and then.
"But does 'everyone' really know?" I put my hand on his. "The pressurized water reactor is small enough to be fitted in a submarine."
"Small enough is one thing, actually doing it…" Kennedy blushed.
"We already built a submarine that doesn't have to come to the surface until the food or the crew's sanity runs out. Whichever comes first."
He blinked for a moment as he pulled his hands away from me. "That was your first usage of your new reactor technology?"
"We were looking for a design which easily scales from a submarine to a land power plant." I dismissively waved my hands as if it was something so obvious. "Well, are you interested? Or would a tour of the submarine be needed for you to decide? It finished its sea trials and is scheduled for its first deployment soon."
As he pondered, I decided to seal the deal.
"How about a weeklong trip back to the Unified States on the submarine, where you can invite your admirals to also tour the submarine after your arrival? I know the perfect admiral who can accompany you and also give a tour to your admirals. He has a track record of ensuring the submarines under his watch are safe, and I can personally attest to that."
"Your offer is quite generous… and it feels like my pockets are being emptied the longer I talk with you."
"I'm just helping you out with some domestic political wins," I winked. "I'm not a fan of the Dullas brothers doing their own things. As for the nuclear reactor and nuclear submarines, I don't have to sell them."
Kennedy offered a handshake and I was more than happy to take it.
As Kennedy got up from his chair, his mind raced.
'They are indeed far ahead of us on nuclear matters and space rockets. I didn't believe it when Macmill babbled about the odd coincidence of the Germanian bomb test and space rocket launch, and all of that took place while Degurechaff was handing them a North Sea hydrocarbon proposal.'
"There's a lovely club I could invite you to for dinner if you're interested," Degurechaff seductively smiled. "Serebryakov is also available tonight for dinner."
"I don't see a problem. I would also like to discuss the recently demonstrated space rockets."
"Hmmm, I will need to think about it." Degurechaff's face turned sour.
I had consulted former President Paul on the matter and he suggested accelerating Project Venus and its promising nuclear ramjet technology for atomic bomb delivery while our own space rocket program is still in its early development.
As Degurechaff took his hand to lead him out of the meeting room, Kennedy made up his mind.
When I return back to D.C., Project Venus will be a top priority as a precaution of any delays with our space rocket program.
1954, May 20th, Berun:
"That's brazen," Visha set aside the photo of our dinner at the club with Kennedy and looked at me. "He really did copy your entire political playbook, down to having his own agents. And more, as his campaigners are running away with their own wild interpretations of what took place in the photographed meeting."
"He also copied the former President Paul's nuclear enthusiasm, promising this time he will actively use them to 'quickly and decisively win wars' and 'protect' Germania. Even Paul didn't dare to use a nuclear first strike." I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "He'll turn this entire continent and Asia into glowing ash, and declare a victory."
This was not the political opposition I wanted!
"The interrogated club employee who took the photo admitted they were seduced by an agent working on behalf of the prince's subordinates to spy on the club." Anna shook her head. "The troubling part is that I don't think the prince is aware of some of his subordinates recruiting spies. An informant reported almost all of the funding for the prince's spies come from various 'donations' rather than the prince's pockets."
"So someone or a group of wealthy people who know about spycraft are secretly backing the prince?" I paced back and forth, the wooden floor gently creaking. "Either way, he has swung hard into conspiracy theories and outright lies, with tidbits of half-truths. And his television stations are blasting all of it out. I guess he realized he can't win logical arguments against 'Marie'."
"We could crack down on his…" Visha was then cut off by my glare.
"And risk giving the impression that there is some truth behind his technically legal rants?"
"We're looking into exactly who is backing him. While the newspapers, radio stations, and television stations that aren't under his control are refusing to run his messages, he's using their refusals to accuse them of conspiring to keep you in power. His subordinates also have expensive legal teams to fight off any attempts to curtail his television stations' broadcasts." Anna then appeared to be hesitant. "But I recall you asked me to not spy on political candidates."
Why can't I get a simple problem instead of ambiguous shades of morality and ethics?
"President?…" Anna nervously cleared her throat.
I threw my hands aside. "Back off on the investigations if it's determined the unknown backers are actually legitimate people and not some brewing coup plotting or outright foreign actors."
"And if it is truly something bad?" Anna tilted her head.
"If the prince is truly unaware that he's being used as a puppet, I am not sure."
"I think you might need to dispose of 'Marie'. Maybe make it look like she was assassinated by a pro-Prince figure." Visha furrowed her eyebrows. "I've always had a bad feeling about the 'Marie' disguise. All it seems to have done is bring the worst out in this election."
"No, there has to be someone who finds Marie and the prince to be too extreme and thus launch their own campaign." I clenched my hands. "If the prince is going with one extreme end, then Marie needs to go to the other end."
I hate taking this kind of risk, but surely if both candidates are too extreme, at least it would provide an opening for someone else to step in and grab the moderate voters.
"I think people still expect you to remain in office as the center option…"
"Then maybe I should announce my retirement, for the second time."
Visha and Anna sat up with alarm.
"What if we end up with a repeat of President Paul?!" Visha cried out in fear. "What would we do then? Letting a revolt happen and us sitting back in office again?"
"I can't be ruling Germania forever!" My head was starting to spin.
"I previously dug through the previous director's notes on this situation she predicted before she 'retired', but I am not sure if we should implement it." Anna nervously cleared her throat.
"Let's hear it," I motioned for her to explain.
"Selection and training of new politicians from a young age, potentially before they enter universities. Former Director Müller believes what has happened is that you have dominated Germanian politics for so long that there has been little incentive for the best and brightest to consider politics."
"I have no objections. Do what has to be done."
"But there are risks…" I then impatiently cut off a distressed-looking Anna.
"Now if you excuse me, I need to deal with this immediate crisis. Carry out Müller's plans."
"No, stop." Visha raised her palm at me. "Let Anna explain."
I blinked for a moment as I stood frozen in place. Anna briefly nodded to Visha then turned to me.
"The kinds of youths that would be currently interested in politics… are the ones that are fans of you. Müller confirmed that with the polling of youths, but saw that as a positive." Anna nervously shifted her eyes. "Yet you want credible candidates to stand up to you and take your place."
I stumbled over to a chair to sit down in it, shaking.
"Did I paint myself into a corner?" I looked up at Visha.
"You don't have to fix everything all at once," Visha winked at me. "I suggest you annihilate both 'Marie' and the prince, which will give you time to come up with new plans instead of rushing headlong with poorly thought out ones."
1954, May 22nd, Norfolk Naval Base, Unified States:
"Ah, it's been a while since I've seen this place," Rickover murmured as the surfaced submarine with its tugboat escorts approached one of the piers, crowded with assembled US Navy senior officers.
"Thank you for the thorough explanation and demonstrations of the nuclear submarine, and the offer to invite our officers onboard for a tour." Kennedy offered a handshake while standing alongside the conning tower. "Although I do wonder why you have been unwilling to discuss why you left the US Navy."
Rickover continued staring at the approaching pier instead of taking the handshake. "I don't think that is relevant to the nuclear submarine discussions. I have been ordered by President Degurechaff to help ensure a smooth assistance… But I am also busy overseeing the development of our next-generation nuclear submarines, so I can't stay for too long here."
"Next generation?…" Kennedy's voice trailed off.
"Why else would President Degurechaff be so comfortable with showing off this submarine?"
Moments later:
"You gotta be shitting me," Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Denfild, whispered over to Secretary of the Navy, Jackson Lawrence. "He came back just to flex on us. The Germanians had to have known how much trouble he caused. There's no way he didn't make a whole crowd of enemies over there."
"I know. They know. And they sent him anyway. They're arrogantly showing off their success over us by rubbing it into our face." Lawrence venomously hissed. "It's not everyday where a mere captain draws my attention, but he was quite the special one before my predecessor forced him out."
"Chester was one of the few who put up with his nonsense and utilized him, before Rickover crossed the line that he shouldn't have."
"But Chester is dead now. And the others have retired." Lawrence then shut up as President Kennedy came walking down the gangplank.
"Good afternoon Mr. President!" Lawrence and the rest of the audience snapped to attention.
"Thank you. I present to you the world's first nuclear powered submarine." Kennedy gestured back at the submarine. "I rode it all the way from Europe without ever coming to the surface, and the journey took about a week. Germania has been willing to offer a tour of it as part of their deal to license their nuclear reactor technology and the submarine design know-how."
"It takes about three weeks for a conventional submarine to cross the Atlantic on the surface, and it can't maneuver underwater for long distances…" Denfild murmured out loud to himself.
"Mr. President, I thought we already licensed their nuclear technology?" Lawrence hesitated in his voice.
"It's a new reactor type to fit in their submarine, and they are looking at building land power plants with it." Kennedy then looked down at his watch. "I would have liked to stay for the welcoming committee and to hear more from you, but there are urgent matters I need to attend to back in DC. Admiral Rickover can fill you in on the technical details."
Kennedy excused himself and quickly left the pier as the now Germanian Admiral Rickover came walking down the gangplank, with the mood of the officers changing from excitement to tense.
"Good afternoon, Admiral Rickover. Congratulations on your rapid, unorthodox promotion path." Denfild forced a smile onto his face as he offered a handshake.
"I don't care for your petty games," Rickover slapped away Denfild's hand. "Do you want a nuclear submarine or not?"
1954, June 3rd, in Bombay, South Bharat:
Prime Minister Prasad pushed the telegram from Germania to the two men sitting in front of him.
"It's official. No more exports to both Brasilia and New Granada. The Americans didn't want us to compete with their military hardware sales to New Granada, and Brasilia's situation is obvious." Prasad stared down at them. "And Degurechaff is backing the American's demands."
"I anticipated this," Ehrlich confidently smiled. "We could sell military hardware to Aegyptus, as Saudistan will not consider any non-American hardware. Germania would not be able to politically block the sales as Aegyptus is their ally and such ally is officially at war with three neighbors. Platia also expressed strong interest in our products."
"We have to export somewhere or thousands of people would be out of work, along with hurting South Bharat's rapid industrialization." Tata impatiently tapped his feet on the floor. "And not many countries are interested in the cheap, obsolete designs. Which makes it even more important that we export to Aegyptus and Platia until we find other clients."
Prasad took another sip of his chai as he openly contemplated. "Both of you raise good points. I'll speak to her again over the phone. And I have yet to press her for compensation for the fishing disruptions from the bomb test, so she won't be able to justify blocking your company."
Before Ehrlich or Tata could leave the room, Prasad loudly cleared his throat.
"I do have one question… Did either one of you know anything about the Peru smuggling scandal, where a few of their officials were buying extra hardware from your company to cover for the ones they had stolen to sell to Brasilia? I would have assumed your company has good record keeping to notice a discrepancy between Peru's order requests and actual hardware that was shipped."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Tata maintained a stoic face.
"The reason I am asking is because President Degurachaff asked me that question." Prasad then let out a deep sigh.
"Why would she care about what Peru is doing? And Platia is a separate country." Ehrlich sneered.
"I don't know, but that makes me even more worried…" Prasad then motioned the two men to leave. "Cause no more trouble, or she may come down here herself."
As Ehrlich shut the car door after he and Tata got into the limo, Ehrlich rubbed his forehead in agony.
"He has a good point," Ehrlich slumped into his seat. "We're blundering into geopolitical risks, and we're just businessmen! He doesn't know about Platia's increased orders for military hardware, and looking at the numbers, how they are being delivered and to where their final destinations are, it is clear that Platia aims to build up their own military instead of sending all of our goods to South Bharat. Their president Eva Illio has been stoking nationalist fervor over border territories with Peru and Brasilia."
"South Bharat doesn't have a big enough market even for your low cost automobiles. Auto rickshaws are still the only vehicles that many people can afford." Tata dismissively waved his hand as the driver stepped on the gas. "And we're having limited success with finding overseas markets for automobiles. Your former company is putting up a fierce engineering, marketing, legal and political lobbying fight in Europe and Unified States to block our expansions to those markets, and other regions have their own issues. I can't have my factories go idle."
"So we're going to continue full speed ahead with our military hardware production?"
"I intend our future military designs to be competitive enough for my country to utilize them. While we are still behind what foreign companies offer, I will use our large economy of scale to undercut them on prices. And I need your mass production expertise for that." Tata then looked out the window. "South America is far, far away from us. Meanwhile right on my homeland's doorstep, North Bharat has been quiet. Too quiet. Today we are businessmen. Tomorrow we may be heroes for having the immense industrial capacity of our factories to churn out everything that a mechanized military needs, and drowning the communists in steel."
AN:
https/en./wiki/Black_Knight_(rocket)
https/watch?v=K0FLy2nI13E
https/en./wiki/Transonic
Inspiration for the interceptor design: https/en./wiki/Myasishchev_M-4
First flight: 20 January 1953 (M-4/2M)
The aircraft fell well short of its intended range and was not fully capable of attacking the most valuable targets in the United States . As this became clear, production was shut down. In spite of the failure to produce a capable strategic design and the resulting small numbers, the M-4 nevertheless sparked fears of a " bomber gap " when 18 of the aircraft were flown in a public demonstration on May Day in 1954. The US responded by building thousands of Boeing B-47s and B-52s to counter this perceived threat.
https/en./wiki/Tupolev_Tu-22
The aircraft was a disappointment, lacking both the speed and range that had been expected. It was also a difficult design to fly and maintain. It was produced in small numbers, especially compared to the Tupolev Tu-16 it was designed to replace.
Inspiration of the heavy missile: https/en./wiki/KSShch
Entered service in 1955
Propulsion: liquid-fuel rocket
Range: 68 km (42 mi)
Weight: 3,100 kg (6830 lb)
WW2 guided glide bombs demonstrated their effectiveness against battleships: https/en./wiki/Fritz_X
Warhead: amatol explosive, armour-piercing
Warhead weight: 320 kg (710 lb) [Much, MUCH smaller than the P-15 Termit missile's warhead]
On 9 September, the Luftwaffe achieved their greatest success with the weapon. After Pietro Badoglio publicly announced the Italian armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the Italian fleet had steamed out from La Spezia and headed to Tunisia . To prevent the ships from falling into Allied hands, six Do 217K-2s from III. Gruppe of KG 100 (III/KG 100) took off, each carrying a single Fritz X. The Italian battleship Roma, flagship of the Italian fleet, received two hits and one near miss, and sank after her magazines exploded. 1,393 men, including Admiral Carlo Bergamini, died. Her sister ship, Italia , was also seriously damaged but reached Tunisia. [8]
The American light cruiser USS Savannah was hit by Fritz Xs at 10:00 AM on 11 September 1943 during the invasion of Salerno, and was forced to retire to the United States for eight months of repairs. A single Fritz X passed through the roof of "C" turret and killed the turret crew and a damage control party when it exploded in the lower ammunition-handling room. The blast tore a large hole in the ship's bottom, opened a seam in her side, and blew out all fires in her boiler rooms. Savannah lay dead in the water with her forecastle nearly awash, and eight hours elapsed before her boilers were relit, allowing the Savannah to get under way for Malta. [8] USS Savannah lost 197 crewmen in this attack. Fifteen other sailors were seriously wounded, and four more were trapped in a watertight compartment for 60 hours. These four sailors were not rescued until Savannah had already arrived at Grand Harbor , Valletta, Malta on 12 September.
KG 100 achieved another success with Fritz X while the British battleship HMS Warspite was providing gunfire support at Salerno on 16 September. One bomb penetrated six decks before exploding in number 4 boiler room. This explosion put out all fires and blew out the double bottom. A second Fritz X near-missed Warspite, holing her at the waterline. She took on a total of 5,000 tonnes of water and lost steam and consequently all power, both to the ship herself and to all her systems, but although the damage had been considerable, Warspite's casualties amounted to only nine killed and fourteen wounded. She was towed to Malta by tugs Hopi and Moreno, then returned to Britain via Gibraltar and was out of action for nearly 9 months; she was never completely repaired, but returned to action to bombard German positions in Normandy during Operation Overlord . [8]
https/en./wiki/Italian_battleship_Roma_(1940)#Loss
Italia was hit on the starboard side underneath her fore main turrets, while Roma was hit on the same side somewhere between frames 100 and 108. This bomb passed through the ship and exploded beneath the keel, damaging the hull girder and allowing water to flood the after engine room and two boiler rooms. The flooding caused the inboard propellers to stop for want of power and started a large amount of arcing , which itself caused many electrical fires in the aft half of the ship.[20[18]
Losing power and speed, Roma began to fall out of the battle group. Around 16:02, another Fritz X slammed into the starboard side of Roma's deck, between frames 123 and 136. It most likely detonated in the forward engine room, sparking flames, and causing heavy flooding in the magazines of main battery turret number two and the fore port side secondary battery turret, and putting even more pressure upon the previously stressed hull girder. Seconds after the initial blast, the number two 15-inch turret was blown over the side by a massive explosion, this time from the detonation of that turret's magazines.[20[18]
This caused additional catastrophic flooding in the bow, and the battleship began to go down by the bow while listing more and more to starboard. The ship quickly capsized and broke in two. According to the official inquest conducted after the sinking, the ship had a crew of 1,849 when she sailed; 596 survived with 1,253 men going down with Roma.[21] According to naval historian Francesco Mattesini, who cites the research of Pier Paolo Bergamini, the son of Admiral Bergamini, around two hundred men from Bergamini's staff were aboard Roma, and were mistakenly not included in the official inquiry. These men increased the total number aboard to 2,021 and the total fatalities to 1,393. Rear Admiral Stanislao Caraciotti was also killed.[22[23]
https/en./wiki/Italian_battleship_Littorio#Fate
One Fritz X hit Italia just forward of turret no. 1; it passed through the ship and exited the hull, exploding in the water beneath and causing serious damage. Roma was meanwhile sunk in the attack. [26] [30]
"The Ultimate Guide to the Anti-Ship Cruise Missile" video mentioned that until the 1970's, western missiles used in anti-ship roles relied on nuclear warheads because the targeting technology wasn't there yet: https/watch?v=ZhY-QLPt0f0
At around 1:22:00 time stamp of the video, it discusses how the USSR prioritized anti-ship missile development to counter the US's massive carrier fleet and its naval aircraft, similar to how Germany in WW1 relied on their U-boats to counter the British navy. The USSR's first anti-ship missiles of 1953 used inertial navigation and semi-active radar homing (radar signal provided by the launch aircraft). In its test, 8 out of 12 missiles hit a WW2 cruiser used as a target and even when the missiles didn't explode, they still punched straight through the cruiser's armor with one going through both sides of the thick turret armor.
As for the CSR, they sidestepped that issue by using magic to guide the missiles. This comes with the limitation of needing mages for that babysitting role, and opening themselves up to magic interference.
Reference to New Granada's ultimatum to Peru and Peru's response: https/en./wiki/July_Crisis#Austro-Hungarian_ultimatum_(23_July)
Confronted with the ultimatum and the lack of support from other European powers, the Serbian Cabinet worked out a compromise. [109] Historians disagree on the extent to which the Serbs genuinely compromised. Some historians argue Serbia accepted all of the terms of the ultimatum except for the demand in point 6 that Austro-Hungarian police be allowed to operate in Serbia. [109] Others, notably Clark, argue the Serbs drafted their reply to the ultimatum in such a way as to give the impression of making significant concessions but: "In reality, then, this was a highly perfumed rejection on most points". Which was the same sentiment the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office expressed in a public letter, which was later published in the New York Times, issued upon receiving the response in a letter from Serbia. In the letter the Foreign Office said, "The object of the Serbian note is to create the false impression that the Serbian Government is prepared in great measure to comply with our demands… The Serbian note contains such far reaching reservations and limitations not only regarding the general principles of our action, but also in regards to the individual claims we have put forward that the concessions actually made by Serbia become insignificant." [110] Baron Aleksandar von Musulin, author of the first draft of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum, famously described the Serbian reply as "the most brilliant specimen of diplomatic skill" that he had ever encountered". [111]
https/en./wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony
https/en./wiki/1914_Ottoman_jihad_proclamation
https/watch?v=8LCpbgVx9kY =801s
As for where South Bharat started selling arms to both sides of the war in South America, the Iran-Iraq War had numerous countries selling to both sides, such as Austria selling artillery guns and ammunition to Iran and Iraq: https/en./wiki/International_aid_to_combatants_in_the_Iran_War#Countries_which_supported_either_combatant
A few examples:
Austria
- Support to Iraq: Construction of munition plant. Sold 200 self-propelled 155mm artillery pieces[9[10]
- Support to Iran: Sold 140 GHN-45 Howitzers along with significant stocks of ammunition. Communications equipment.[11[10]
Italy
- Support to Iraq: Several billion dollars in funding; sale of land and sea mines as well as uranium[18]
- Support to Iran: Sale of land and sea mines[22]
Switzerland
- Support to Iraq: Sales of war material and Sales of chemical warfare equipment, also delivered 30 Bravo and Pilatus trainer aircraft[9[10]
- Support to Iran: Chemical Warfare defense equipment[21] Delivered 15 PC-6 propeller utility aircraft and 47 PC-7 propeller training aircraft, as well as Cryptology equipment, large quantities of ammunition, and electronic components for radars.[11]
https/magazines/proceedings/1994/january/sob-or-kog
https/en./wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover#Naval_Reactors_and_the_Atomic_Energy_Commission
Rickover became an early convert to the idea of nuclear marine propulsion, and was the driving force for shifting the Navy's initial focus from applications on destroyers to submarines.[34] Rickover's vision was not initially shared by his immediate superiors[6] he was recalled from Oak Ridge and assigned "advisory duties" with an office in an abandoned ladies' room in the Navy Building. He subsequently went around several layers of superior officers, and in 1947 went directly to the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, also a former submariner. Nimitz immediately understood the potential of nuclear propulsion in submarines and recommended the project to the Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan. Sullivan's endorsement to build the world's first nuclear-powered vessel, USS Nautilus, later caused Rickover to state that Sullivan was "the true father of the Nuclear Navy."[35[36[37]
https/en./wiki/Underground_nuclear_weapons_testing
US nuclear ramjet project: https/en./wiki/Project_Pluto
https/en./wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood
The firehose of falsehood, also known as firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (such as news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. An outgrowth of Soviet propaganda techniques, the firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda
https/en./wiki/Propaganda_in_the_Soviet_Union
Propaganda abroad was partly conducted by Soviet intelligence agencies. GRU alone spent more than $1 billion for propaganda and peace movements against Vietnam War, which was a "hugely successful campaign and well worth the cost", according to GRU defector Stanislav Lunev. [205] He claimed that "the GRU and the KGB helped to fund just about every antiwar movement and organization in America and abroad". [205]
According to Oleg Kalugin, "the Soviet intelligence was really unparalleled. ... The KGB programs – which would run all sorts of congresses, peace congresses, youth congresses, festivals, women's movements, trade union movements, campaigns against U.S. missiles in Europe, campaigns against neutron weapons, allegations that AIDS ... was invented by the CIA ... all sorts of forgeries and faked material – [were] targeted at politicians, the academic community, at the public at large." [206]
Soviet-run movements pretended to have little or no ties with the USSR, often seen as noncommunist (or allied to such groups), but were controlled by the USSR. [207] Most members and supporters, did not realize that they were instruments of Soviet propaganda. [207] [208] The organizations aimed at convincing well-meaning but naive Westerners to support Soviet overt or covert goals. [209] A witness in a US congressional hearing on Soviet cover activity described the goals of such organizations as to "spread Soviet propaganda themes and create false impression of public support for the foreign policies of Soviet Union." [208]
…
Propaganda against the United States and the greater Western world included the following actions: [212[ page needed ]
Promotion of John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, allegedly using writer Mark Lane.
Discrediting the CIA, using historian Philip Agee (codenamed PONT).
Spreading rumors that US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hooverwas a homosexual.
Promoting conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler's death, including a Stalin-led narrative that he escaped Berlin in 1945 and disinformation about the forensic examination of his body.
Attempts to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. by placing publications portraying him as an " Uncle Tom" who was secretly receiving government subsidies.
Stirring up racial tensions in the United Statesby mailing bogus letters from the Ku Klux Klan, and spreading conspiracy theories that the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. had been planned by the US government.
Fabrication of the story that AIDS virus was manufactured by US scientists at Fort Detrick; the story was spread by Russian-born biologist Jakob Segal.
Soviet Weekly was published in Britain.
Sputnik was a monthly edited in Soviet Union in many languages, including English.
Discounting and downplaying the U.S. military aid given to the Soviets during WWII under the Lend-Lease Act, as well as the US's role in victory in general. [213] [214]
https/en./wiki/Zersetzung
German for "decomposition" and "disruption") was a psychological warfare technique used by the Ministry for State Security ( Stasi) to repress political opponents in East Germanyduring the 1970s and 1980s. Zersetzungserved to combat alleged and actual dissidents through covert means, using secret methods of abusive control and psychological manipulation to prevent anti-government activities. People were commonly targeted on a pre-emptive and preventive basis, to limit or stop activities of dissent that they may have gone on to perform, and not on the basis of crimes they had actually committed. Zersetzung methods were designed to break down, undermine, and paralyze people behind "a facade of social normality" [1] in a form of "silent repression". [1]