The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 715 Shako's Bad Play

America at this time.

It didn't seem like a hasty response or the initiation of emergency measures, but rather it seemed as if it had been planned for a long time and everything was unfolding in an orderly manner.

In the afternoon, the United States officially announced the launch of the "Operation Desert Shield" defensive operation to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia, and mobilized two US Navy fleets led by the "Eisenhower" aircraft carrier and the "Independence" aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

At the same time, the United States is busy forming a coalition and asking various countries to pay for its military expenses.

This time the United States intends to do something big and does not want to spend too much money itself. It wants more money from its allies and Middle Eastern oil-producing countries.

The Saudi representative sneered in his heart. Now the war is happening in Kuwait. What a result! Now the United States has launched the "Operation Desert Shield" defense operation to prevent Iraq from invading Saudi Arabia. Why not prevent Iraq from invading Kuwait?

Also, Saudi Arabia did not ask the United States to send troops!

The Kuwaiti representative also sneered in his heart.

"Everyone knows that we are now being invaded by Iraq and our income has been greatly affected. We don't have much capacity, and we still have to rebuild after the war. Ten billion US dollars, we can only pay ten billion US dollars!" said the Kuwaiti representative.

He has already contacted his country and knows that he will have to pay money to resolve the crisis this time, but Kuwait's capacity is limited.

The bottom line is that Kuwait’s assets in the United States will be used as military expenses!

The arm cannot twist the thigh, and they know what the United States is going to do now.

The American representative was immediately dissatisfied and said, "Sir, we are helping you now, shouldn't you pay more?"

According to the United States, Kuwait must pay at least 40 billion US dollars.

Saudi Arabia also contributed 40 billion US dollars, and other allies chipped in a portion of the money. With over 100 billion US dollars in military spending, the military spending would be almost complete.

Many of the weapons, equipment, transportation, etc. here can provide a good meal for the US military-industrial complex.

"But the problem is that we have no money. Now we can't even export oil!" The Kuwaiti representative shrugged, expressing helplessness.

The US representative was dissatisfied and said: "Kuwait has always been a major oil-producing country and makes a lot of money every year! How can you be poor?"

"If Iraq occupies Kuwait, you will lose Kuwait and everything!" the US representative threatened.

The Kuwaiti representative sneered in his heart, the United States was calculating very clearly.

Kuwait would not believe that Saddam dared to invade Kuwait if the United States was behind it.

Everyone knows that the United States and Iraq have a good relationship.

They already had accurate intelligence that the United States was instigating Saddam to launch a war to invade Kuwait.

It seems that Kuwait’s assets in the United States cannot be transferred, so it can only accept it.

It’s impossible to ask Kuwait to take more money!

During the negotiations, the Kuwaiti representatives did not retreat directly to the bottom line, but retreated step by step. Finally, when the price reached $150 billion, the Kuwaiti representatives gritted their teeth and stopped retreating, no matter how much the US representatives threatened them. Even the conditions raised by the US representatives regarding Kuwait’s oil fields were rejected by the Kuwaiti representatives.

In the end, the United States had no choice but to accept this result.

The United States is bound to get involved in this war. This is an inevitable trend. I don’t know how many people will be affected. Whoever dares to stop it will be their enemy.

They don't care where the money comes from, they only care about making money and sharing the pie.

As for Saudi Arabia, it was unwilling to pay a penny at first, but eventually backed off step by step and agreed to pay $100 billion, but was unwilling to pay more.

According to the Saudi representative, the war is now taking place in Kuwait, not in Saudi Arabia.

It is good that Saudi Arabia has paid so much money. At worst, they can give the 100 billion US dollars to Saddam to buy peace. If that doesn't work, Saudi Arabia can just surrender to Iraq.

The Saudi side is also very dissatisfied with the United States for fanning the flames and instigating Saddam to launch an invasion war. By doing this this time, Saudi Arabia is also expressing its dissatisfaction with the United States.

Faced with Saudi Arabia, which is as resolute as a dead pig and not afraid of boiling water, the United States has no way to force it any further.

Saudi Arabia has a special status in the entire Arab world. Although Saudi Arabia's military power is not strong, its influence is great.

If Saudi Arabia is forced into surrendering to Iraq, Iraq's population will more than double, and it will have 3000 billion barrels of oil, a large amount of oil production, and control the world's energy center. It will be difficult for Iraq not to rise at that time.

This situation is definitely not what the United States wants to see.

Subsequently, the United States forced its allies such as Britain, Japan, Germany, and France to send troops and contribute money. Oil prices soared and they also suffered great losses. It would be of great benefit to them if the war calmed the crisis and allowed oil prices to return to normal.

Under the coercion of the United States, Britain contributed $200 billion, Japan contributed $250 billion, Germany and France contributed $150 billion each, other countries contributed $100 billion, and the United States contributed $150 billion, for a total military expenditure of $1250 billion.

The United States formed a coalition, led by the United States, and a 39-nation coalition was formed to send troops to Iraq with a total strength of 85.

The total strength of the four major services of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps is 52.7, including 29.5 from the Army, 8.2 from the Navy, 5.6 from the Air Force, and 9.4 from the Marine Corps.

Under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council formed an Arab coalition with a total strength of 15.05 troops, including more than 330 combat aircraft, more than 800 tanks and armored vehicles, and part of the navy.

Along with the discussion of the troops to be contributed by the coalition countries, there was also discussion about the establishment of a coordinated combat command organization at the highest level of the multinational forces. However, other countries had their own ideas. After half a month of consultation, they barely reached a consensus. In principle, all troops in the theater of operations would accept the unified command of Saudi Armed Forces Commander Khalid and U.S. Central Headquarters Commander Schwarzkopf, but the troops of each country would accept the orders and instructions of their own highest authorities.

In other words, the coalition forces composed of 39 countries are actually commanded by themselves, which is to say, a mess.

Each country has its own thoughts, and they are all worried about being used as cannon fodder by the Americans. After all, this kind of thing has happened before, and they all have to be on guard to avoid being cheated by the Americans.

Americans are definitely not as noble as they advertise themselves to be. They will do anything to stab people in the back, tell lies, spread rumors, subvert people, etc. Just look at the American military bases around the world. There is no US military base that does not cause trouble every year, and they will not even let elementary school students go.

Look at Japan, the most important ally of the United States in East Asia, but the Americans were so ruthless and showed no mercy. Japan is in such a state, the stock market and the real estate market have been bubbled and burst, and now it is forced to pay 250 billion US dollars, the largest military expenditure.

"Being an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but being an ally of the United States is fatal." This is not just talk, but events time and time again have proved that this statement is a true saying.

(End of this chapter)