Chapter 1725: The Lone Ruler
The strategy is not really important, what is important is the self-recognition, although Britain even in the 21st century is still saying through its mouth that it is still a world power.
But the implementation of the strategy is one-sided, which is not different from Japan and South Korea, in fact, this is also the vast majority of European countries to implement the strategy.
The only two countries that want to be independent are Germany and France, and in Germany’s case, there are troops on the mainland that are not strong, and they want to be independent and define themselves as a world power, not counting Russia, there are only the French left in Europe, but France is also in a difficult situation.
After the end of the Cold War, the situation in Europe is more and more difficult, from the total economic output of more than thirty percent of the United States, to the United States exceeded thirty percent, the whole of Europe is more and more weak, France and how to do, and how hard, can not change the gap between France and the United States more and more the fact that the gap between Europe and the United States, Europe bundled together can not be done, the French is really no way.
Alan Wilson felt that the current government can order a Storm fighter, after all, is the world’s first face of the fourth generation fighter, can be used to show the attitude of the United Kingdom.
“Secretary General, that’s what you want to say, isn’t it.” Mrs. Thatcher asked rhetorically once she heard that, “Those previous words were all padding, right?”
“It’s really all true, it’s not padding. As for the orders for fighter jets, that was because Britain had to be ready to protect British interests on its own, but rather to show strength to the United States so that they would not underestimate Britain.”
Alan Wilson said as he thought, breaking his fingers, in fact, the foundation is quite good, not to get cartilage.
Now the Internet era is not yet any plus point, traditional public opinion, Britain’s hegemony of public opinion is no less than that of the United States.
Military from the air-to-air missiles in the Middle East war by the United States long arm jurisdiction after a bit, in the key armament Britain also stayed a mind, satellite navigation also have and France shared Galileo, military independence, there is nothing to fear.
Of course said so, Alan Wilson or the Prime Minister to be able to quickly advance the order, after all, there is also the Australian side of the order, can help Britain save a lot of costs.
Compared to history where even the Typhoon fighter had to enter service in European countries only after the Soviet Union was gone, Alan Wilson had reason to believe that the British aviation industry in this world was countless times stronger than the original world, and as for just how much stronger it was, it largely depended on how much the Treasury’s budget was.
This is the work of the Secretary of the Treasury, Allen Wilson took the initiative to find the Secretary of the Treasury Lawson ……’s daughter, words that the Secretary of the Treasury’s daughter was taken by Arnold to ride the rocket this matter, of course, he is aware of it, although Arnold is already married, but Lawson in his place, you can have the same status as Arnold’s wife.
“Now this era, not like our time ……” play more than anyone spend, but at this time Allen Wilson to pretend to be an old curmudgeon, an age has an age face, he is now the age to this, must play an old curmudgeon, but willing to Against the principle of turning a blind eye to the matter of Lawson and Arnold.
According to the original history, Lawson should all have resigned by now, and this is where the European and Atlantic factions within the Conservative Party diverge, having long disagreed on European and economic policy.
Lawson, supported by Geoffrey Howe, advocated an aggressive approach to European policy, pegging the UK to the currencies of the EEC countries and joining the European Monetary System in order to stabilize the pound and fix domestic inflation. Margaret Thatcher, on the other hand, refused to join the European Monetary System on the grounds of sovereignty issues.
To let Alan Wilson to judge, that is of course the European faction is right, is the United Kingdom can not do business with European countries, and have a special relationship with the United States to do business?
In this world, though, the circulation of the pound didn’t get squeezed out of existence, and it seems to have increased after giving the idea of Federal Germany’s unification a thumping.
There are pounds to be used, even if the Eurosceptics won’t be on the currency anymore, and Mrs. Thatcher’s faction infighting.
An appearance of going against principle for the sake of two people’s sincere feelings succeeded in making the daughter of the Chancellor of the Exchequer appear grateful, and the task of solving the Chancellor of the Exchequer was taken up.
“I believe in my son, to be able to solve this problem.” Alan Wilson pleased hands in his pockets, just bought his son a good price for him in a comfortable mood, as for what to do in the future, is not there a saying, a generation can only do a generation of things, Li Zhongtang is Zhongtang, is not Ai Zhongtang is not Zhongtang?
The inclination of the Minister of Finance is decisive for whether this time the storm fighter can be recognized by the United Kingdom. There is no need to bother about the attitude of the military, Field Marshal Mountbatten has already recognized it for them.
The key is still to have money, the military also need to be fed in order to fight, so the key point of this issue still depends on the view of the Ministry of Finance, and sure enough, the Chancellor of the Exchequer appeared, and he definitely did not talk about his own daughter, but to abandon his selfishness, and for the sake of the interests of Britain and the Cabinet Secretary to have a good talk.
“Arnold I have always looked upon favorably.” The Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke directly, “I also believe that he will be an excellent civil servant in the future as well, as for the matter of the Storm Fighter, the Ministry of Finance does not oppose it in principle, but there is still a talk to be had on the numbers.”
Alan Wilson nodded his head, this conversation on numbers was indeed necessary, after all, even Australia had expressed a desire to order two hundred, Britain prided itself on being a world power, too little on?
In the end, both men agreed, under repeated studies, the UK does not have to deliberately pursue the number that must exceed twice that of Australia, together with Australia’s order, this time the order for the Storm Fighter, three hundred and seventy will be enough, together with Australia’s intention to order, a total of five hundred and seventy.
A few days later, the news about the Storm Fighter, the world’s first fourth-generation fighter made in Britain, would enter service with the Royal Air Force, spread all over the world. It aroused discussions among people in the keyway around the world that this move by the Washington government, Britain, was unnecessary in the context of détente, and that peace was the mainstream of development.
“It’s as if, under the Labor Party, we were saying the same thing to the United States that fought the Vietnam War.” Alan Wilson cocked his head and said to Pamela Mountbatten, the richest woman in the world is certainly happy, another big deal.
The US was certainly not making this move for world peace, it was clearly sour, and it didn’t rule out the fact that it had already become hostile to the UK and felt that this post-war ally was a bit uncontrollable.
“Not really.” Pamela Mountbatten lowered her voice, “There simply aren’t enough Stormtroopers to meet Standard 4S these days.”
“But America doesn’t know that.” Alan Wilson replied with a grin, “What can America see, it can see a Typhoon that is almost identical to the American Eagle, it can see a Comet that is the equal of a Boeing.”
The supreme authority dared to lie to the Americans, and that was on a basis; if Britain had nothing, the US would surely have assumed that the so-called UK’s first Generation IV fighter was a piece of propaganda.
The UK’s stance through the display of muscle makes the old Bush’s heart very dissatisfied, and also expresses his dissatisfaction with the Pentagon, where the Treasury Department’s annual appropriations actually go, and such a huge appropriation is once again snatched up by the UK.
Old Bush does not realize that it is only now where to where, as a department that has never had a single corrupt payment since its emergence, the Pentagon certainly has its own argument. That argument is essentially that from a position of strength, it makes sense for superior weapons to be slower to leave the factory.
Might as well consider going to London for the summit and pressuring the UK to try and fool the Brits with the axiom that this will not help the East-West world de-escalate the situation.
At the beginning of July, U.S. President George W. Bush flew to London, where he was joined by the heads of NATO member states, all gathered to talk about the future of NATO. Margaret Thatcher, of course, played the old tune of emphasizing that the threat from Russia could not be ignored, but it was a sound bite that most people were no longer interested in.
Especially after Bush Sr. took a stand, this is the first time that the United Kingdom and the United States have taken very different attitudes on a matter, it can be said that throughout the process, Mrs. Thatcher and Bush Sr. are not on the same channel, which is in stark contrast to the Reagan era.
The things that Mrs. Thatcher opposed included several several issues, opposition to not using nuclear weapons as a conventional means of pressure on the Soviet Union, and opposition to negotiations between Western Europe and the Soviet Union on conventional force disarmament.
Such voices were ignored by George Bush Sr. and the London Declaration of the North Vietnamese Summit was produced with Mrs. Thatcher’s interference. The London Declaration called on the USSR and Warsaw Pact members to conclude with NATO a joint conciliatory declaration of “non-use of force” and “no further hostility to each other”, and for the achievement of European conventional disarmament. The London Declaration called on the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact members to conclude with NATO a “joint conciliatory statement of non-use of force” and “no more mutual hostilities” and set a schedule in principle for reaching an agreement on conventional disarmament in Europe: aiming for the first phase of a treaty on the reduction of conventional forces in Europe to be signed within the first year.
Bush Sr. also emphasized the raising of the nuclear threshold and the re-establishment of a floor for the use of nuclear weapons, while reducing over-reliance on nuclear weapons by emphasizing that the use of nuclear weapons would not be the first option against a large-scale conventional attack under conditions of a low level of equilibrium of conventional forces, and reaffirming his support for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), where the INF Treaty remains in force, and where short-range missiles will not be deployed.
“Using nuclear weapons as a last resort would dismantle the effectiveness of NATO in terms of threat.” Mrs. Thatcher stood up to Bush’s disgruntled accusation, “This meeting will lead to less flexible speech on NATO’s response than the original consensus.”
“Does Prime Minister Thatcher think that being ready for nuclear war is flexible?” Bush Sr. asked as he spoke, scanning the room for European heads of state, “Can we listen to the opinions of our other allies?”
Opinions? That is obvious, there are several countries willing to readily and the Soviet Union every now and then just threaten each other, naturally all stood next to Bush Sr. Even though this meeting was held in London, Bush Sr. still had the upper hand, but in the end, Bush Sr. still gave Mrs. Thatcher face, and did not directly declare the end of the Cold War in the meeting.
He is ready to visit in France next month, and then bring the small partners together to announce this victory. Sort of give Mrs. Thatcher, the host, to leave the last bit of dignity.