The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

"Wow, so many warships were delivered to Saudi Arabia at once. These warships look so majestic and magnificent!"

"Watching the carrier-based aircraft take off vertically gave me goosebumps!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, Saudi Arabia is now one of the few countries in the world with three aircraft carrier fleets, and has become one of the top five naval powers in the world!"

"If anyone tells me again that money can't buy a strong national defense, I will definitely slap him a few times! Isn't this how the rich Saudis bought a strong national defense!?"

"Only at this time, the warships captured by CCTV are so majestic, real steel behemoths! The warships that were usually photographed in the past were nothing but fishermen. The Type 052 destroyer could be photographed as a fishing boat."

"To shoot this kind of thing, you have to go to AFP. I've been urging the central bank to hire a few people from AFP. They are professionals. Look at what we shot before!"

"Zijia: There is nothing that cannot be contained in one lens. AFP: How can one lens contain it all? Pay attention to details, details!"

"After a hundred years of sleep, I woke up and found myself to be one of the great powers!"

"Alas, our navy still only has one Type 001 aircraft carrier and one Type 002 aircraft carrier, which is two aircraft carriers. We don't even know when the Type 002B aircraft carrier will be delivered. We are in the era of two aircraft carriers, while Saudi Arabia is already in the era of three aircraft carriers! Can you please do better and at least give each province an aircraft carrier?"

"It was the first time I realized that the Type 052 destroyer was so big!"

"Strategic Propaganda Bureau: You old fool, you have fooled around again for nothing this year! (dog head)"

"."

Domestic netizens were discussing the issue and leaving comments on the Internet.

Not only China but also other countries watched this delivery ceremony.

There are various comments.

"What's the big deal? Two light aircraft carriers of only 8 tons. We in the United States are too lazy to even build them. What's the use of such small toys? We are retiring even large aircraft carriers of 8 tons like the Forrestal class. And in a few years, even the 2010-ton Kitty Hawk class aircraft carriers will be retired. In 10, we will have 10 Nimitz class aircraft carriers, 1-ton super-large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. One aircraft carrier is equivalent to 100 light aircraft carriers."

"Everyone knows that light aircraft carriers are completely useless and are just cannon fodder in war. The British, as the originators of light aircraft carriers, have given up on developing light aircraft carriers. They want to build large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and the aircraft carriers must be large nuclear-powered."

"One of our American F14 fighter jets can destroy this aircraft carrier formation."

"It's not good-looking, and it's not useful!"

In the United States, all cabinet members watched the live broadcast of the delivery ceremony.

看着那两艘航母，以及4艘052型驱逐舰、8艘054型护卫舰、4艘039型潜艇、2艘综合补给舰、6艘022型导弹艇、6艘022A型鱼雷艇，大家脸上都并不好看。

These warships are very advanced and new, not second-hand!

The aircraft carrier is equipped with "Sea Hawk" carrier-based aircraft and "Ray Eagle" helicopters. Looking at those missile launchers, they are probably all loaded with missiles.

This means that these warships can be put into combat at any time. The Americans are the people who have the most say in the performance of China's "Eagle Strike" anti-ship missiles and "Aegis" air defense missile systems.

The Americans suffered a lot and paid a heavy price for the "Eagle Strike" anti-ship missiles and the "Aegis" air defense missile system.

"Now that Saudi Arabia has obtained two more aircraft carriers, it is entirely possible to form three aircraft carrier fleets. Let's see, can the original plan still be implemented?" George Wharton said with a dark face.

On Christmas Day, the United States broadcast a nationwide broadcast of the U.S. Marine Corps pulling down Saddam's statue with tanks in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. At the same time, the U.S. Marine Corps 1st Division captured Saddam's hometown, Tikrit, and held a military parade in Tikrit. George Walton proudly announced that the joint forces had achieved a complete victory in the Iraq War.

This greatly boosted the United States' reputation, and George Wharton's poll approval rating exceeded 60%.

Even though the coalition forces paid a heavy price in the Iraq War, the victors need not be blamed.

According to the plan drawn up by the United States, the next step is to use various means to divide and disintegrate the Arab League, dismember the Arab League, divide the Arab countries, force Saudi Arabia and other countries to re-sign the agreement, and reshape the petrodollar system.

The petrodollar is the most important pillar of the U.S. dollar hegemony.

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the US dollar can still serve as the world currency because it has found an anchor - oil!
Through the petrodollar system, the United States can print dollars continuously and then purchase oil and various commodities from all over the world.

But now, the US dollar is facing very serious challenges.

The European Union introduced the euro and established the euro zone, allowing all euro zone countries to uniformly use the euro. The euro has also become the foreign exchange reserve currency of many countries.

Then there is the RMB. The process of RMB internationalization is too fast. Even countries like Iraq almost all use RMB to settle oil and natural gas exports. Persia also mostly uses RMB to settle oil and natural gas. For major energy exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, the proportion of RMB settlement is constantly increasing.

In order to attack the euro, the Americans ignited the Balkans, the European powder keg, and launched the Kosovo War. The Americans were not in a hurry to end the Kosovo War quickly, which caused Europe to panic about the war and thus capital outflow to the United States.

This move did deal a heavy blow to the newly born euro, causing it to depreciate sharply against the US dollar and a large amount of capital fleeing to the United States and the East.

The United States launched the Iraq War not because Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, but because of Iraq's oil and natural gas, and used this as a springboard to gain Gulf hegemony and thus control the Middle East, the world's energy center.

In the final analysis, it’s also for the US dollar!
This means that Iraq's original oil and natural gas settlements will be lost. When Iraq resumes oil and natural gas production and exports in the future, it will naturally use US dollars for settlement.

The original plan of the United States was to force Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop using other currencies to settle oil and natural gas transactions and to agree to use the US dollar as the settlement currency.

But now, Saudi Arabia has three aircraft carrier fleets. Is Saudi Arabia still willing?
And with the end of the Iraq War, the original joint forces have begun to quarrel.

The French and German troops withdrew from Iraq on New Year's Day. The Kurds are upset because the Kurdish mountainous area that the Americans gave them is still in the hands of the Iraqi army. If the Kurds want to establish an independent country, they have to attack the Kurdish mountainous area themselves, which makes the Kurds, who have paid a heavy price, very dissatisfied.

Turkey is also dissatisfied. It has deployed so many troops and paid such a huge price, but has not gained any territory. Moreover, the oil fields it has been allocated are very few, which can barely make up for Turkey's losses but cannot bring any benefits to Türkiye.

The biggest piece of fat in Iraq was eaten by the Americans, and the remaining piece of meat was eaten by the British.

The benefits of other countries are far less than those of the UK. (End of this chapter)