Chapter 967: Sacrificing the US again
In the end, taking the draft maritime agreement given by Iceland, Alan Wilson said that he would make a professional assessment, and if a win-win situation could be achieved, then of course Britain would not object in principle.
On writing a blank check, as a senior bureaucrat, naturally, there is no need for anyone to teach him. In essence, the EC has more than one member state, which is a lot of people, as long as any one country is against it, Iceland’s purpose is not very good to achieve.
There are subjective wishes, but there are objective difficulties, and nothing can be generalized.
The European Community of this time and space, because it was born out of the Brussels Treaty Organization and was inextricably linked to the European colonial powers of the colonial era, the member states were different from the original European Community. For example, the current EEC has Franco’s Spain and Salazar’s Portugal, and it doesn’t have to be a democratically elected country to join.
Want to hang Iceland out to dry is also simple, the current British and Portuguese in the discussion of Tutankhamun-class submarine arms sales, so that the Portuguese in the EC meeting to say a few words on the line, then naturally after a democratic resolution, no surprise did not achieve consensus.
Before leaving Allen Wilson did not forget to give the Icelanders a piece of mind, “The Atlantic Ocean is big enough to accommodate the fishermen of European countries.”
To Iceland’s current situation, Allen Wilson is not sympathetic, although a heavy-handed attack on a place with only such a small population may be a bit unjustified. But it was better than the three cod wars, Iceland’s disgusting situation of I’m poor and I’m justified, you can’t declare war on me anyway.
He doesn’t see where Iceland lost out, didn’t they already get the two hundred nautical mile economic exclusive zone? The fisheries resources were already there, it was just a matter of losing the market, so they could try to self absorb to get through it.
Just returned to the Foreign Ministry headquarters building, the Foreign Secretary’s private secretary Dixon came to meet him, “Sir Wilson, you’re finally back, the minister is looking for you.”
“Just returned from the Icelandic ambassador’s tube.” Alan Wilson was a little taken aback, then asked rhetorically, “What on earth is it about.”
“It seems to be an assessment report of Khrushchev’s trip.” Dixon immediately answered in a nutshell.
Alan Wilson understood in seconds and nodded, “In that case, then I’ll just go straight to the minister’s office.”
Foreign Secretary Harold Wilson, seeing the permanent undersecretary return, joked politely, and in passing mentioned the big contract affecting the world’s steel industry, “That’s two hundred million dollars, enough to build a few aircraft carriers.”
“I’ve never been too much of an enquirer about Pamela.” Alan Wilson had a noncommittal look on his face, he didn’t have the need for money, the accumulation of wealth to a certain extent, the general approach was no longer possible to cause the collapse of wealth.
Yellow gambling and drugs of this, even if the women drain him dry, the cost is still counted, as for the drugs, he can let the drugs bury themselves, and will not let the hands of the wealth loss of much. Both could only get a middle-class family into trouble.
Gambling on the other hand is a big deal, gambling can be quite extensive and mindless investments are considered gambling. It’s true that a failed investment could bring down a mega-rich person, but who in their right mind would hang themselves from one tree? Isn’t diversification a basic requirement?
Harold Wilson also did not want to spend spittle on whether the Mountbatten Group was powerful or not, took out Khrushchev’s trip assessment report and inquired, “Are you sure, these two countries are not all the way?”
So that’s what this is about? Alan Wilson’s heart was clear, nodded and said, “Of course I’m sure, the report has all been written. The current Soviet side advocates détente, their Chinese comrades don’t seem to have this idea. There is a conflict in foreign policy, and there must be a kernel of reason present in the outward manifestation.”
“According to some semi-publicly confirmed information, mainly from the Yugoslav side, at the Moscow Congress last year. There is a tendency for China to part company with the Soviet Union, but of course our channels are too limited to conclude anything on that account. One can only judge that China as an independent state is not an Eastern European country in relation to the Soviet Union.”
“What does that tell us?” Harold Wilson mused, shaking his head slightly, “It seems thin.”
“Probably the equivalent of France saying that the United States is a parasite on the free world? Although that’s also a fact.” Alan Wilson said with a smile on his face, “Actually, to be a parasite is every country’s dream. It’s not about who’s right or who’s wrong, the leadership of each country has to think for itself, and no matter how loudly internationalism is shouted, it doesn’t change that nature.”
Wasn’t there a saying that we’re not all right, you’re not all wrong? the words were light, but they were somewhat close to the essence.
“Then we should consider joining the United States in dividing the Soviet bloc.” Harold Wilson said confidently.
“I don’t recommend that, but of course I’m not prejudiced against the United States.” Alan Wilson, who did have preconceptions about the United States, opened his mouth to persuade the Foreign Secretary not to do so, “It’s only been five years since the Korean War, and judging by the feedback from that department of ours that the British know exists but the government never recognizes it exists, today’s general environment within the United States is still quite hostile to China, in the political world, the cultural sphere, and every other aspect of the world , perhaps the military community’s attitude is a little more objective.”
“In this environment, making this kind of proposal, Washington may see our proposal, as a distrust of the United States. And economically, Xiangjiang as a transit point for import and export trade, although some countries are aware of it, but they do not know how big the exact figure is, if in case it succeeds and carries out a full-scale trade, it is possible that Britain’s trade will lose its current specificity.”
In the case of the Korean War, the United States did not go all out, and the Korean War did not affect the national strength of the United States. After all, the national power accumulated by the United States in the World War was too rich. Europe has not yet recovered to its peak, and is still in the position of the U.S. commodity market.
The Vietnam War period, European countries have long been restored to the national strength, not like the Korean War so easy to be manipulated by the United States. The blood loss in the Vietnam War was all American blood, and that’s what made Americans feel the pain.
The Korean War did not trigger any U.S. introspection, the U.S. was hit by the pain of the U.S. just more hostile to China. The mentality is probably similar to that of “next time I’ll make you look good”.
As for Xiangjiang’s status as a transit port, how significant it is, Harold Wilson also has some understanding, and finally said, “We should still test the Americans, of course, if Washington is being stubborn, then there is nothing more to say, we have done our duty as an ally.”
“Ten thousand considerations, Minister.” Alan Wilson pondered for a moment, then volunteered, “In this case, this matter will be left to me, I will go to Washington to communicate, it is also a reflection of Britain’s attention to this, the minister has only just finished his visit, it should not be immediately go to the United States again, this arrangement minister see how?”
“That is of course more than good, the Mountbatten Group has just had a very important cooperation with an American company. There should be contacts that can make the trip go smoothly.” Harold Wilson spoke up very favorably.
To say that the Foreign Secretary would choose people, was there anyone in the whole of Britain who was more suitable than Alan Wilson, to utilize his working ability on the special relationship between Britain and the United States? Not at all!
This arrangement is comparable to having Philby as the head of MI5, specializing in counterintelligence work.
But Allen Wilson, who was well versed in the private use of public weapons, knew about this trip, and his first thought was to have Vivien Leigh follow him and do the logistics.
“You went to discuss with the Americans? A consensus on the China issue?” Pamela Mountbatten a look of disbelief, the honorable British richest woman is full of amazement, she just does not know the hermetic saying that meatbags beat dogs.
“Why are you looking at me like that, is there anyone better suited to practicing the Anglo-American special relationship than me?” His wife’s gaze pierced him deeply and blew up, “For the unity of the free world.”
“All right!” Pamela Mountbatten tucked her skepticism away and listened casually to whatever unity of the free world there was.
Alan Wilson was disgruntled, he was merely anti-American, not pro-Soviet. Still fundamentally different from Philby.
“Want to ride a rocket.” Pamela Mountbatten looked at her husband with bated breath, this trip is another ten days and half a month, she can certainly understand her husband’s pain of running around for England, but the private side still need to take care of their own view to be able to do so.
No problem, this was no difficulty for a permanent undersecretary of the Foreign Office who had perfected the combination of public and private affairs.
For this visit, Alan Wilson had prepared the script about your father teaching you how to implement global strategy, the rebellious son getting rebellious and not listening, and ultimately disagreeing.
On the specific implementation of walking Anglo-American relations, Alan Wilson prepared enough topics, such as stabilizing the situation in Southeast Asia through rapprochement and friendship with China. Bundled with the proposal of the United States to withdraw from the fraudulent island, in exchange for peace on the Asian side, to concentrate all efforts in Europe against the Soviet Union.
The words therein are earnest and seem very plausible, and if he himself were an American in his place, he would never have agreed to them.
Sacrifice the interests of the United States in exchange for the Asia-Pacific front line of peace, thanks to the British to think out, how not to sacrifice a little Xiangjiang?
Hasn’t Britain sacrificed a lot? For example, British India and British Nigeria are now in the process of becoming independent.
The Undersecretary of State, who received the British diplomat, reacted quite coldly to this, and even wondered if it was worthwhile to report the exchange of views to Secretary of State Dulles.
“The British are really having a problem with strategic vision right now.” Dulles couldn’t help but shake his head as he listened to the undersecretary of state’s report, “From the beginning of the Greek crisis, Britain has been on the back foot. Full of colonial realizations, we and can’t be the same as them, surprisingly so naive, wishful thinking on the issue of life and death, thinking that by taking a step back, we can coexist peacefully.”