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Chapter 1279 Iraq Crisis (rd update, please subscribe)
August in London, although it is the best season of the year, is also famous for its rainy weather. Although the sky is cloudless, there is still a drizzle. People hide under umbrellas and pass by puddles in seclusion. The horse teeth road paved with square stones has the unique simplicity of the old city, but sewage is accumulated between the non-absorbent stones. People always have to walk carefully to avoid sewage being splashed onto their shoes or trouser legs.

Despite this, there are always some well-dressed people who still walk with big strides. They must first consider their appearance and must not hide from anything in an indecent manner, let alone avoid the rain.

This is typical British... hypocrisy!
Andre, holding an umbrella in his hand, took a look at the British people walking on the roadside. Even when it was raining, they still showed this so-called British elegance.

"What a bunch of hypocritical guys."

Although the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, his expression seemed somewhat solemn.

Thinking of the news reports he had read yesterday, his brows were furrowed. In the past few days, along with the visits of the Iraqi Prime Minister and Princess to Western countries, the public opinion in Britain, the United States and other countries was full of news about the "humanitarian crisis" in Iraq, and of course there were accusations from all parties against the Qasim regime.

Almost every day, the TV news reports about refugees in Iraq and the brutal rule of the Qassem regime.

As the chief of the Soviet KGB intelligence station in the UK, Andrei could feel the feeling of "storm is brewing".

"Something seems to be wrong!"

Andre thought so in his heart.

"Why now?"

The intelligence officer's intuition made Andre realize that something must be happening, and this feeling made it impossible for him to concentrate. Therefore, when he found himself at the Iraqi Embassy in London, he couldn't help but be shocked.

Across the street was the Iraqi Embassy. Outside the embassy, ​​a group of British people were protesting loudly. There were also some journalists, both British and American.

Standing opposite the embassy, ​​Andre just stared at the scene in front of him. Not far away at the newsstand, a newspaper vendor was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Read the newspaper, read the newspaper, Iraqi tyrants use chemical weapons against Kurds!"

Chemical weapons?

Looking at the protesting people outside the embassy, ​​Andre frowned.

Something big is definitely going to happen!
An hour later, at the Soviet Embassy in London,
"Nicolas!"

Before Andre sat down on the chair, he looked at his intelligence officer with sharp eyes and said.

"Tell me everything you know about Iraq."

"What do you want to know, Colonel?"

"I want to know when people in the West started to care about Iraq."

Facing the colonel's question, Nicholas thought for a moment and replied:

"According to the intelligence I have, no Western countries paid attention to Iraq a month ago. Well, on the 27th of last month, Princess Addis of Iraq went to the United States in a private capacity. During her stay, she had contact with many American companies. After her arrival in the United States, she attracted the attention of American public opinion... From that day on, public opinion paid attention to her because of her appearance."

All I can say is that everyone in the world is obsessed with appearance.

Half a month ago, Princess Addis visited the United States for the first time. Her exotic and beautiful appearance immediately attracted media attention. In the following two weeks, her photos filled the front pages of major American media, and she was even touted as "the most beautiful princess in the world."

The Middle Eastern princess, who looked like she came out of "Arabian Nights", conquered the United States with her looks and fluent English, and appeared not only at banquets and podiums of Washington politicians.

She also appeared in newspapers and even on TV talk shows. On TV, she spoke of the humanitarian disaster in Iraq in a compassionate tone and called on all countries to pay attention with tearful eyes. Americans were moved.

Many Americans were moved and called on the government to intervene in Iraqi affairs. Faced with the enthusiasm of the people, those opportunistic politicians in Washington also began to care about Iraq.

Of course, this was a deliberate operation - the result of joint cooperation between the CIA and the Secret Intelligence Service. Of course, ABC TV was the most hardworking among them. After all, its behind-the-scenes owner is Li Yian, and it itself is a tool used to manipulate American public opinion.

"A week ago, Mrs. Kennedy invited him to a White House banquet, which seemed to be sending a signal to the outside world that the United States is concerned about Iraqi affairs."

"So, the United States is preparing to take action in Iraq?"

"We are not clear about this yet, and there has been no information from Washington in this regard, but from the current perspective, compared to Iraq, the issue that the United States is more concerned about in Asia is Saigon."

After listening to Captain Nicholas's judgment and thinking for a moment, Andrei said:

"Captain, you have to know that in intelligence work, there are never any emergencies without signs."

"Yes, Colonel."

Nicholas nodded and said:
"As early as four months ago, Prime Minister Said of the Iraqi regime in exile visited the United States, of course in a private capacity. He also visited the White House, but it did not attract much attention from the outside world."

As an intelligence officer, Nicholas connected the two together and came to his conclusion.

"Colonel, I personally think that compared to the United States, I am more worried about Southeast Asia." "Southeast Asia? Why is that?"

"Because Nanyang has never recognized the Qasim regime in Iraq, the Iraqi government-in-exile was established in Nanyang. Colonel."

Nicholas continued:

"It is the role that the Nanyang Association played in this incident that we need to pay attention to."

"Nanyang..."

Muttering this term, Andre walked to the world map. Unlike the maps invented outside, this map was more like a "power map" in which the world was divided with various colors.

In addition to the British red and blue vertical stripes, the American red and white horizontal stripes, and the French white, some of these colors, such as the blue of the South Seas, are only a few small spots, but they are still reflected on the map:

"Nanyang has a certain presence in the Middle East. Their leased territory is here...but why would they want to intervene in Iraq?"

As Andre asked this question, his heart was full of doubts.

Seeing the colonel's frown, Nicholas said:
"Colonel, perhaps, this is just an isolated incident."

"Occasional incidents..."

Andre frowned:

"Is it really just a one-time incident?"

Could this be a sign of something?

Although he was full of doubts, he still dutifully reported his speculation to Moscow. Soon, his report was presented to Shelepin by the KGB's First Directorate, which was responsible for overseas intelligence affairs.

Although he was the head of the KGB, Shelepin still maintained the puritanical production style as in the past, which even affected the scenery of his office - there was not even any floor covering on the ground, only the marble floor was visible.

After studying the report again and again, Shelepin asked:

"So, how do you judge whether Nanyang or the United States will take action against Iraq?"

"Based on the intelligence we have, the Americans are not paying attention to Iraq at the moment. They are more concerned about Saigon than Iraq. As for Nanyang, if they intended to march into Iraq, they should have entered Kuwait with the British when they re-entered Kuwait during the Kuwait Crisis last year, instead of just sitting back and watching the British withdraw from Kuwait."

The "Kuwait Crisis" mentioned by the head of the First Bureau refers to the fact that after Kuwait, which had long been under British protection, gained independence last year, Iraq's Qassem immediately made sovereignty claims over Kuwait and threatened to invade Kuwait.

The Iraq-Kuwait crisis broke out, and faced with the threat from Iraq, Kuwait quickly asked for military protection from its former overlord, Britain. After receiving the request for help from Kuwait, Britain immediately sent troops to carry out the defense operation codenamed "Advantage".

Faced with the rapid and powerful reinforcements from Britain, Qasim's image as a strongman could no longer be maintained. The Iraqi army under his command did not dare to enter Kuwait for three months. Later, the Arab League army began to replace the British army in the defense of Kuwait, and the crisis was resolved.

However, in this incident, Nanyang, which has always been the "right hand of the free world", stayed out of it and did not participate in it at all.

It is for this reason that KGB intelligence analysts came to their conclusion.

"Nanyang has no interest in Iraq at all. If they had ambitions for Iraq, they would have taken advantage of last year's Kuwait crisis and sent troops to Kuwait, and used the crisis with the British to attack Iraq. At that time, Qasim had already lost the support of the people at home. He tried to invade the weakest Kuwait in order to reshape his image as a strongman and win the support of the people."

Listening to his subordinate's analysis, Shelepin nodded slightly.

"Indeed, last year was the best opportunity, and the entire crisis lasted for three months. At that time, Britain was also enthusiastic about "reviving" its traditional hegemony in the Persian Gulf region. Nanyang had every opportunity to work with the British to fundamentally resolve the Iraqi issue."

This kind of judgment is the most basic. After all, it has been less than a year since the incident ended. Even if Nanyang has changed, it would not have changed so much!

So, they all made their judgments based on the simplest common sense.

The person in charge of the first bureau said:

“So, to sum up, Nanyang has no real ambitions towards Iraq. They are more hoping for changes within Iraq.”

"So, we need to increase our support for Iraq, right?"

Shelepin said:
"Yes, we need to use this method to show the Iraqis our support for Qassem. Only in this way can those who oppose him in Iraq not dare to act rashly."

As the head of the First Directorate, the KGB general thought for a moment and said:
"Since Egypt received advanced weapons from us last year, Iraq is eager to get the same weapons, and I think we should provide them with them."

Then, he emphasized:
"Of course, it is under the control of our consultants! We need to show our support for them to the world in this way."

(End of this chapter)