Chapter 694 Ghost Attack
Chang Haonan’s estimation was not wrong.
Although the US intelligence agency does have a "special intelligence acquisition channel" in Europe, this channel cannot be real-time and there will always be an update cycle.
Especially since the EU delegation is currently in China, this cycle will be longer than that in Europe, which has already iterated on a mature path.
So, by the time the news spread back to North America, the news about "a package of trade agreements reached between the EU and China" was already broadcast on TV...
ET, early the next morning.
Still the Oval Office.
Still the same few people.
But the atmosphere in the room was completely different from the previous days.
Several cigars were being lit, making the splendid office filled with smoke.
No one spoke.
Everyone’s attention is focused on one corner of the room.
There is a TV there, which is playing scenes of Chinese and EU negotiators answering reporters' questions at the press conference.
“In the next five years, no less than 50% of the trade between China and the EU will be settled in euros. In addition, where conditions permit, both parties will also trade in a wider area. Try more diversified currency use methods within the scope..."
"Germany, France, and Italy will sign a free trade agreement with China before December 31, 1999, with reference to the most-favored nation treatment in trade. This agreement It has the principle of openness and does not rule out the inclusion of more countries in the future. The EU recognizes the important role China plays in the process of opening up the global market and understands and supports China’s demands to join the World Trade Organization..."
"..."
Everyone had a "numb" expression on their faces.
Compared with the information they were holding, the content shown on TV was not complete. For example, it did not mention some details about tariff reductions.
But the core meaning is the same.
Obviously, their actions are still too slow.
"I have long said that my previous statement should be stronger, but now they obviously don't take us seriously at all..."
After a long silence, Albright frowned and waved in front of him. The cigar smoke obstructed his vision, and he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.
Logically speaking, in the current situation, it is not suitable for her as a secretary of state to speak in such a tone.
But in the past few years, several consecutive scandals, each bigger than the last, have already destroyed the president's authority.
If the United States was not still on the rise at this time, and the donkey-elephant dispute was more or less a show of shame, I don’t know what would have happened.
Just playing with flowers, no problem.
Everyone has a moral vacuum anyway.
Don’t say that the target of the zipper door is an adult woman, even if it is an underage boy...ahem.
But after you finish playing, you are left with a mess of things to deal with, and in the end you have to let others follow you to wipe your ass. This is a question of ability.
In this circle, people can be bad, but they cannot be stupid.
So now, the entire team doesn't take the person behind the desk seriously from the bottom of their hearts...
Rubin, who is sitting opposite, doesn't look good either.
This round of complex games surrounding the Balkans is relatively complicated, involving many fields such as foreign trade, monetary and financial policies, and military operations.
But there is no doubt that no matter what the superficial reason for the series of operations is, its core purpose is to suppress the new euro so as not to threaten the dollar's absolute dominance in international trade.
As the Minister of Finance, he is naturally directly related to this.
Now that China has implemented this operation, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar has risen by nearly two percentage points.
Although it is not worth mentioning compared to those that have already fallen, this is obviously not a trend that the United States wants to see.
Of course, Rubin will not let go easily:
“The question now is not whether we are tough or not, but that we did not expect that the Chinese would attack us. The Europeans were able to reach an agreement with the Chinese so happily that it was too late to implement the previously agreed upon conditions."
"Take a step back and look at the specific content of this agreement. , which has obviously taken into account the worst case scenario of failure to join the WTO. If China and Europe really establish a free trade area, and then include Russia and ASEAN, we will not need to establish a World Trade Organization..."
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"Moreover, we promised those companies to open up the Chinese market. If something goes wrong in this regard, the entire West Coast may become an iron vote warehouse for the Elephant Party. For at least the next twenty years, Congress may be dominated by the Elephant Party alone. Big, will you take the responsibility then?"
Albright's lips moved and he did not continue speaking.
Although the Secretary of State has a higher position in the cabinet than the Secretary of the Treasury (fifth vs. sixth), Rubin has an extremely close relationship with the financial capital of Wall Street, and has disciples and former officials all over the United States, so he is a public figure. He is a person who doesn't show off his appearance, but is actually very influential.
And what the other party said makes sense.
The office fell silent again.
"Since China and the EU have even signed an agreement, are our previous preparations... unnecessary?"
Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on what exchange rate and trade He didn't care at all. He just wanted to quickly persuade the uncles in front of him to take back their previous crazy ideas so that he could order the 509th Bomber Wing to end its combat readiness.
As a professional soldier who has walked on thin ice during the Cold War, he has very clearly realized that the current cabinet's application of military means is too childish.
The great victories in several previous operations have made them forget about the old affairs of Goryeo and Annan. They excessively abused force, and they excessively abused force against opponents whose level was far lower than themselves. For an army, It's definitely not a good sign.
But the Joint Chiefs of Staff itself, as a purely military department, does not have decision-making power under the modern command mechanism, so he can only make suggestions where possible. "Of course not!"
Albright's answer directly made Sheldon's eyes darken.
“But no matter what we do now, it is impossible for them to withdraw from the agreement...”
The latter is still trying to save the situation.
But people often can’t hold back when they can’t hold back.
Albright is obviously in a state of breaking through the defense:
“We must teach China and Europe a lesson now, otherwise if we allow them to cooperate, not only will the efforts in the past period be in vain, but also It will affect the prestige of our future speeches. If we can't even deal with China and Europe, how can we lead the world? "
"Moreover, even if the agreement cannot be withdrawn, it can still be delayed at the implementation level. The recovery is not much, only 2%, which shows that the wait-and-see mood in the market is still there. As long as the Chinese people dare not take action immediately, the newly established confidence will collapse again, and it will collapse faster than before. ..."
Sheldon has secretly scolded this crazy woman countless times. He said in his heart that even if we take action, we will not be able to cause much damage to China and Europe. At most, we can only restore it. It’s just a matter of saving face...
Of course, you still have to change your words:
"But the risk behind this..."
"There will be no risk."
Albright interrupted Sheldon directly:
" We pay you 270 billion U.S. dollars every year. Do we dare not dispatch just because a plane crashed a few days ago? "
I heard her talk about the military expenditure issue, and I had been watching it just now. Donkey joker William Cohen can’t sit still.
He has served as Defense Minister for two years and plans to serve for another two years. When the next Xiang Party cabinet comes to power, he will retire and go back to open a company to specialize in the internal business of the US military. Now he even has the company name and operating structure. All thought out.
If something goes wrong with military expenditures, it will undoubtedly be equivalent to taking money out of his cornucopia.
But Cohen has become a veteran now, and he knows that if he expresses his position at this time, he will probably take the blame in the future, so he directly diverts the trouble:
"This matter should be left to Our Commander-in-Chief, please make the decision..."
"Just follow the plan we made before..."
Sheldon felt that his high blood pressure was about to break out, but he had no choice but to stand up, salute towards the desk, then turn around and leave...
...
That evening.
Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.
Brigadier General Bonn Marlott, who had just put on his dark green flight suit, held the mission document marked "SECRET" on the cover in his hand, and walked not far away with his partner Colonel Sempney Statham. concrete hangar.
At this time, the huge hangar door had been opened, and several flying-wing stealth bombers were parked inside.
B2 "Ghost".
The original purpose of this aircraft design was to rely on stealth and low-altitude penetration capabilities to carry free-fall nuclear bombs into the vast Siberia and hunt for land-based intercontinental ballistic missile launchers operating there.
However, when it actually entered service in 1997, the imaginary enemy it once was had long since ceased to exist, and it could only carry out some ordinary bombing missions with far lower risks than expected.
At the end of last month, the B2 bomber completed its first combat mission in its career.
Of course, it's just a test.
According to the original plan, the Allied operation did not require a second sortie of this strategic weapon.
But a few days ago, the 509th Bomb Wing suddenly received an order to re-enter combat readiness, and received a new top-secret mission this morning.
Only the captain, Brigadier General Marlott, knew the specific mission information, and even Colonel Statham could only be informed after the plane took off.
The two quickly came to the B2 scheduled to be used for the mission.
Although this unit has been deployed for nearly three years, Colonel Statham is still shocked by the appearance of this aircraft every time.
Just like the alien battleships he saw when he was a child.
Since there is no vertical tail, the aircraft number is written on the nose gear door.
890127.
On the main landing gear door, the name of the aircraft is written: Spirit of Kansas
Strategic bombers like the B2 are extremely expensive and rare in number. Each one has an extraordinary meaning, so just like the warships of the Navy, they have their own names.
This one is called "The Spirit of Kansas."
As usual, Marlott and Statham signed the flight mission sheet handed over by the ground staff, then climbed into the cockpit one after another along the ramp behind the nose landing gear, and began to follow the checklist Carry out various inspections before takeoff.
On the weapon selection interface, Statham saw 6 GBU-31 joint direct attack munitions.
Basic flight data such as weapon load should have been informed to the pilot at the mission briefing, but there was no such process for today's mission. Instead, Brigadier General Marlott took him directly. Get on the plane.
This made Statham feel a little different.
Half an hour later, the Spirit of Kansas bomber drove along the taxiway and entered the end of the take-off runway.
As the two pilots pushed the four sets of throttle valves to the end at the same time, the four F118GE100 engines burst out a total of 33.8 tons of thrust, pushing this behemoth weighing more than 150 tons to slowly accelerate on the runway.
After about 1,000 meters of taxiing distance, Brigadier General Marlott pulled the control column backward.
As a feeling of overweight came, the black-painted aircraft lightly left the runway and quickly disappeared into the vast night sky...
(End of this chapter)