Chapter 1230 – Kennedy’s Discontent

“When it comes to the Middle East, we support the Arabs, which is still different from the US.” Philby asked the supreme authority in front of him, Britain’s policy in the Middle East was slightly different from that of the United States, whose current fulcrum in the Middle East was Iran and Israel, with the hidden fulcrum being Saudi Arabia.

“Of course, the consequences of supporting Israel are too severe. At this point in time, British diplomacy has to be pragmatic.” Alan Wilson nodded, “The situation in the Middle East is understood by anyone with eyes, the Arabs can lose countless times and stand up in countless times, Israel is finished when it loses. And to be honest, what Israel is doing in the Middle East is nothing more than doing to the Arabs what the Germans did to the Jews.”

Britain has always been unsupportive of Israel, and would have distanced itself from Israel for a long time without the historic Suez Canal War, which, as it happens, the world would not have had.

Even just a few decades later, Israel’s dominance is still dangerous. Even if his American father has helped him by taking a series of secular Arab powers, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, for a turn.

But there’s still Iran left, and even the US is too tired and nearly exhausted to do anything about it. And Iran is not the last problem, in case Iran is finished as well, the pacifist world can still have Turkey.

Can’t the Turks oppose Israel? Iran is still Persian, once even Iran also fell, the pacifist world is left with Turkey, a powerful country, the easiest way to collect people’s hearts, is to use the anti-Israeli erection of a big flag.

Israel’s troubles are doomed to be endless, and Britain can’t support that, not to mention Britain’s interests in the Arab world.

“Pragmatic diplomacy?” Philby almost laughed, the Cabinet Secretary’s idea of pragmatic diplomacy is to continue imperialism somewhere else? Like in Indonesia?

“Pragmatic diplomacy. As pragmatic as the Soviets.” Alan Wilson could hear this traitor was mocking himself, but he could pretend not to hear it, the other side think what they want, “Britain is a colonial empire is a historical fact, so in the current world, the attitude has to be softer than the U.S. Other places to stand together is harmless, but the issue of Israel is not a small matter.”

Britain’s natural resources in Europe is gifted, but Europe is a barren continent with natural resources and India is not equal, Eastern Europe is rich in resources, are under the control of the Soviet Union.

Want to develop by virtue of Europe itself is not possible, colonization is almost a must for European colonial powers. No one can be hungry to shout universal values, right?

But precisely in the process of colonization, Europe can be said to have offended countless peoples, if the Middle East and the United States to wear the same pants, the United States once the opportunity is not good to shoot the ass away, Britain how to do? Although the United Kingdom does not like the European defeated, but can not avoid the fact that geographically is part of Europe.

“Same as the Soviet Union?” Philby raised an eyebrow, his words unspoken, “I didn’t think we’d ever be on the same side as the Soviet Union, it’s a marvelous world.”

“Who says it isn’t?” Picking up his glass and draining it of whiskey, Allen Wilson muttered in a nonchalant manner, “We’re perfectly capable of doing better than the Soviets on a diplomatic level, not worse.”

In Allen Wilson’s opinion, this was no difficulty at all, both the Soviet Union and its predecessor Imperial Russia were arguably the most diode countries in the world, and like the Russians, the contrast between wild on the outside and fragile on the inside was about the same.

The whole country clearly recognizes the military as the most important at all times, but then builds up the culture.

The performance in diplomacy, is extremely easy to be subjective influence, really encountered to defection of the country, two good words on the heart of Moscow, directly on tens of billions of subsidies.

And once the little brother disobeyed, and lifted the big stick shouting and killing, reflecting the side of the old man party.

On the Soviet Union kind of diode diplomacy, as long as the United Kingdom do not be declined to be held hostage by the United States, to deal with it is not difficult. Think about how many Soviet favors India ate during the Cold War. Alan Wilson would have hated to have the USSR favor Britain.

The current government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Regina McDenning’s grandiose blueprints, sent to Allen Wilson through Frank, are otherwise good, and the Conservative Party is not like the Labour Party, which wants to nationalize every industry.

Just on the point of sterling policy, Alan Wilson felt that it was open to question, Regina Madnin wanted to take advantage of the good fiscal situation to regain the glory of the pound.

Allen Wilson disagreed with this; the United States had two and a half times the gold reserves of Britain. It was about the same in military strength, and in all respects a completely reinforced version of Britain.

In this case, challenge the United States of America’s monetary hegemony is impractical, or quietly waiting for the de Gaulle government, from the United States back to the gold belonging to France, wait and see before making a decision.

At present, the British pound’s monetary policy is still confined to a solid position in the British pound area, not to be caught by the dollar loophole. It is most appropriate to build its foundation and wait for the right time.

In discussions with Prime Minister Aidan, Alan Wilson expressed a conservative attitude towards the issue of the pound, “It’s too early to get back to its former glory without subduing those goblins in Zurich. It risks a break with America.”

Aiden nodded thoughtfully, he, the Prime Minister, had seen the pound when it ruled the world, and it was definitely not like the de Gaulle government to think things through.

One ounce of gold equals thirty-five dollars. This exchange rate is guaranteed to be accepted by the U.S. government.

This means that any bank can hold dollars to redeem gold from the Federal Reserve (fixed rate). As long as the U.S. short-term debt balance does not exceed twenty-sixty-three billion dollars, and the dollars circulating globally do not flow back in huge quantities, then the credibility of the dollar is unbreakable.

These total seven and a half billion ounces of gold are held by the Federal Reserve (deposited stateside), Citi, *****, First Boston, Americas. (deposited globally, mainly in Switzerland).

So the Zurich gnomes in the mouths of some British politicians are not referring to Switzerland at all, what can a district of Switzerland do to Britain? Rather, they are referring to the United States, which puts its gold in Switzerland.

The French, for all their financial prowess, have never actually had a large share of the international financial scene. Prior to Breston Woods, it had always been in the position of a challenger to the pound, and it is simply inconceivable how difficult it would be to shake that dominance.

The franc is going to challenge the dollar unless all of Europe sides with the French, but that’s not going to happen either. It may not be wonderful for the dollar to rule the world, but it must be better than for the franc to do so.

Last year the share of sterling in settlement, in the world, had fallen to thirty-eight percent, and the share of the dollar in circulation had widened, and the present time was when it was desirable to solidify the circulation of sterling, and nothing else.

This day in Washington appeared an incident, so that Kennedy was furious, Maxwell Taylor in the capacity of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a commendation of a commander in Vietnam, and said the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, together with the United States Congress to make an appearance in the United States.

Before a bipartisan Congress, Robert McNamara complimented him, “To put it mildly, he’s one of our best fighters.”

“He graduated from a prestigious university and is fluent in the local language. Lt. Turner is no less knowledgeable about Southeast Asia than a research expert. But he is also a grounded fighter, a unique all-around fighter. This warrior can skillfully fly a helicopter, drive a tank, has a highly skilled body, and hikes twenty-five miles with a heavy load.”

Admiral Maxwell Taylor hadn’t had much of a reaction, but upon hearing this muttered with a slight frown, “These are the type of people in Washington who spend all their time throwing around jargon from military science and technology, but have never actually worn a uniform or smelled the stench of rotting corpses after a battle.”

But in any case, the Secretary of Defense was the voice of the military, and Maxwell Taylor couldn’t poke holes in his opponent’s exaggerations, but could only make a quiet face of honor.

This Senate President could only step forward, make a perfunctory opening statement, and then begin reading the contents of the Commendation Order.

Much of the Commendation Order was classified and kept secret for years, if not decades. Taylor understood very well, as the Pentagon had strongly urged, that the entire Commendation Order should not be kept secret. They needed a hero to get Congress to pay attention to what was going on in Vietnam, but the White House was ignoring it.

About a jungle encounter, and the cunning of the North Vietnamese guerrillas was the focus of the Commendation Order, and the sobering death in action of Sergeant Canver, among the fighters who followed Turner, was glossed over, focusing primarily on America’s sense of mission in defense of the free world.

The citation was finally read. The honoree took a difficult step forward and stood next to the podium. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara came forward as well, turning to a well-dressed Army officer holding a box with an open lid containing medals.

Amidst applause from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, this unique awarding of medals was remembered by all.

Kennedy actually knew that today in Congress, the Secretary of Defense was going to have to explain about the U.S. position in Vietnam, he didn’t expect this to happen, and was extremely angry about it because it could lead to bellicose voices sweeping the political arena.

“Training the South Vietnamese army, plus a garrison of sixteen thousand men is more than enough. South Vietnam has to do it in defense of itself, not at the expense of the lives of American soldiers in a place that has little value.”

With a stony face, Kennedy emphasized in front of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, “The United States has never shirked its responsibilities, but neither will it fight for those Vietnamese, and again, that is not our purpose.”

Robert McNamara spoke up and replied, “I don’t think the Pentagon is there for any particular purpose, but just to have Congress focus on the fact that brave soldiers are sacrificing and not be too hard on them.”