Chapter 1269 Calling the Maine

It was no longer necessary to look any further, Maxwell Taylor had already made the judgment that he had to intervene in order to stabilize the situation, and that it would be too late to do so.

Religious strife, political factionalism, and police corruption were by turns eating away at the country, and were in no way less destructive than the growing guerrilla insurgencies supported by their neighbors to the north.

Before U Tin Yan’s death, even those who favored a coup d’état to oust him acknowledged that his successor’s ability to stabilize the political situation was, at best, 50 percent certain. However, even that estimate proved to be overly optimistic.

Within ninety days, South Vietnam had already had two coups, and if the United States didn’t pull its weight, the country’s future was unimaginable, unlike the Korean Peninsula, where it was extremely easy to isolate the North’s influence, but not so easy on the Central and South Peninsulas, where the North Vietnamese were able to bypass and destabilize South Vietnam.

Instead of relaxing, Maxwell Taylor’s mood grew heavier after his visit. What action should be taken? Would that action include the involvement of the U.S. Air Force and Army? Was it possible to launch an attack on North Vietnam? Would doing so constitute a risk of war with a major power? To the highest degree, what would such a plan entail in terms of economic, military, political, and personnel utilization?

Could the United States ultimately achieve success? And if the certainty of success is minimal and the cost extremely high, should other options-such as neutralization and withdrawal-be examined carefully and thoughtfully?

Maxwell Taylor woke up with a start to the idea that he was backing out, not to mention the flak it would lead to, not even at the Pentagon in the first place.

He shouldn’t be thinking this way, but he should be firm in his conviction that it is in the best interest of the United States to put forward a proposal that will lead the government to make a decision that is in the best interest of the Pentagon.

Or maybe it was just a matter of time before Maxwell Taylor, having been informed of the situation, set out on a return journey to Washington to inform Lyndon Johnson of his current predicament.

“Failure to strike back strongly in South Vietnam would be a test not only of American firmness, but also of America’s ability to deal with “wars of national liberation” in the eyes of other Asian nations, and important nations threatened by communism elsewhere. In the Asian context, things were extremely obvious. For Japan, for example, the disengagement of the United States and the endorsement of pro-Soviet rule will have a serious impact on confidence. More broadly, any country that is threatened by the left in the future will also undoubtedly have reason to wonder whether we will be accountable to them to the end. It is even theoretically possible that this could be the case even in those remote parts of Latin America.”

It’s either that or the Americans have the innovative idea to take what’s happening in Southeast Asia and extrapolate it to Latin America, but given the changes in Cuba, it’s not unreasonable to call it alarmist, or whatever it is.

Allen Wilson did not have clairvoyance, but he was able to know the movement of Washington, which is still through the Five Eyes Coalition, it does not need to look at the front page of the New York Times, know that the situation in South Vietnam in the United States is heating up dramatically, which is a certain sense of pre-war mobilization.

Until nineteen forty-one, Britain held the lion’s share of the monthly headlines, and until last year, it held the headlines for two months. While most of the time, the spotlight of the New York Times has been on the Soviet Union, the appearance of such a marginal corner of the world as North Vietnam in the headlines of the Times this month clearly releases some kind of signal.

“The next time it appears in the headlines, it may be all the way to the war on the Isle of Man.” Alan Wilson couldn’t help but sigh, yesterday is like water that passes away, it can’t stay, my Great Britain can’t even compete with North Vietnam now.

But this is also a good thing, appeared in the headlines of the New York Times, obviously the United States as a country as a hypothetical enemy of the performance, is not there a saying, the most important to you is your enemy. It was as if in the ten years after 2008, a certain big country had occupied the headlines of the New York Times for fifty-seven months.

If he hadn’t had other things on his mind today, he would have given the Americans a couple of highs and lows, but really didn’t have the time to, with some figures in hand, head to 10 Downing Street to talk to Prime Minister Aidan about maternity benefits.

“We have a result from publicly available data from France, and even from the Soviet Union, that the so-called maternity leave, or maternity grant, does not benefit the country at all, except by adding an expense.”

Alan Wilson took out two documents and placed them in front of Aiden, “There is no significant change in birth rates among the countries that have introduced the subsidy. Most importantly, Britain has not seen a decrease in fertility rates, at least higher than the French, and there is absolutely no need to resort to additional subsidies, a very short-sighted and useless endeavor.”

Ask for data on the free world and Alan Wilson has it, ask for data on the Soviet bloc and he has it, it’s all public data, and the post-war population figures for the Soviet Union would have been a secret. But in the last few years as the children of the post-war period have grown to adulthood, the Soviet population data has become public.

“The reason why the population on the mainland hasn’t changed much is because of immigration reasons, where British citizens emigrate to Australia, or North America. This is quite different from France where the trend is foreign to native migration. The age group of native citizens has not worsened.” Alan Wilson said rather confidently, “Instead of worrying about the native population, we should be worrying about the population growth in Malaya.”

Not to change the subject, but the UK’s population really isn’t that serious, at least not a big problem compared to the rest of Europe.

In fact, the Conservative Party wasn’t really keen on anything like welfare, and the so-called maternity grants only came up for discussion at cabinet meetings. Aidan also just routinely asked Whitehall to come up with some data to support it, and Allen Wilson naturally came up with the data to support it.

He really thinks that using money to buy fertility is useless, it’s not even as useful as putting women out of work.

The highest fertility rate on this side of the free world right now is in the United States, in an era when the working class is at its strongest. The working class is at its strongest. They live in big mansions, drive big pickup trucks, and a man who works can afford to have a wife, two kids, and a dog.

This is not to brag about the United States, the current proportion of women’s work in the United States is twenty percent, that is, eighty percent of American women just do housewives, to provide superior logistical support for their husbands on the line.

Just as the Secretary General of the Cabinet also has a lady of the same status as his wife, providing logistical support.

Nowadays, the United States is really strong, and a family only needs one man to work to be able to cope with all the expenses. That kind of life was shattered, and it would have to wait until Reagan came to power and killed it. Anyway, in the twenty-first century, the United States has realized gender equality in a sense, women are finally not housewives, the proportion of women in the workforce has reached seventy-eight percent, higher than the women of a major country.

Now the UK is similar, the gap between the UK and the US is in volume, not per capita, and women role models like Pamela Mountbatten are ultimately in the minority.

Why else would Malaya have surpassed mainland Britain in industrial indicators, the Malayan colonies were the real equality between men and women, my Great Britain is properly a backward country that knows how to objectify women.

“Indeed, with these figures, we don’t have much of a problem.” Aiden was satisfied with this answer, for things like getting money for welfare, the Conservative Party was not keen on it in the first place, this matter was discussed and passed.

“Not a big problem indeed.” Alan Wilson breathed a sigh of relief, once again he was on the opposite side of the laboring masses, but then, right and wrong have nothing to do with whether it is moral or not.

What’s the point of offending women? He had never heard of a rebellion that was dominated by women.

The British side could only be concerned about fertility, unlike the city at the top of the mountain, which was already thinking about its next opponent.

Maxwell Taylor returned to the U.S. and instead of going to the White House first, he first went to the Pentagon to discuss the South Vietnamese problem with the military generals, a discussion that resulted in a final memorandum being taken out, “As far as the security interests of the United States are concerned, stopping the loss of South Vietnam is the number one priority.”

“But the President is more conservative and far less enthusiastic than the Republican candidates.” One general asked about his own misgivings, which were common in the Pentagon.

“We need an unquestionable reason to get involved.” The discussion addressing the situation in South Vietnam began immediately.

“My friends, this is actually a very simple problem, all we need is a USS Maine.” An admiral spoke up with confidence, “If the United States is attacked by North Vietnam, I believe that no matter who is president, there is nothing that can be done to prevent a regime that holds the United States in contempt from retaliating.”

In 1898, as the Cuban Revolution intensified, the U.S. sent the USS Maine into Havana Harbor to put pressure on Spain to protect American citizens in Cuba, essentially for the sake of American-owned sugar plantations and mills. However, the Maine suddenly exploded in Havana Harbor while on station.

Whatever the reason, the sinking of the Maine was the perfect excuse for the U.S. to declare war on Spain, and the Pentagon needs that excuse now.

“Good idea, the Tokyo Bay cruise has the makings of one.” The suggestion was made and immediately drew a chorus of approval, filling the room with a vibrant air.

In defense of the free world, there were times when people didn’t mind being the villain for once, it was all for the betterment of the majority of the good guys.

Maxwell Taylor’s trip to the White House after this meeting made it clear that evacuation seemed unacceptable, and on several earlier occasions this had been finalized, and this time was no exception; there was no doubt that the situation in South Vietnam was seriously deteriorating since the coup d’état. During the past month, the weakness of the government has become extremely apparent. Riots and uprisings supported by the North Vietnamese are increasing by the day.

While Maxwell Taylor was chanting at the White House, there were naturally others arranging for yet another USS Maine to take place, all doing their jobs without delaying each other.

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