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Chapter 1548 Breaking the Balance of Peace (Third update, please subscribe)
The dramatic changes in the Soviet Union shocked the whole world.

The whole world is analyzing this bloodless coup. No matter how nicely the excuses are given, such as "health reasons", the facts are still the facts.

When evaluating the impact of the coup on the Soviet Union, it is also necessary to evaluate the new Soviet leadership. In the perception of the intelligence systems of almost all countries, it is generally believed that the combination of Brezhnev and Kosygin should be a moderate leadership.

The assessments of all intelligence agencies were cautious and optimistic, and leaders of various countries were influenced by this and believed that US-Soviet relations would ease in the future.

Of course, Li Yian was definitely not among these people. He knew very well that Brezhnev was just a gentle person on the surface.

The so-called "Soviet attack, American defense" period is what happened during the Brezhnev era. This man was the kind of person who smiled but held a big stick.

Compared with Brezhnev, although Khrushchev seemed tougher and provoked crisis after crisis, he was generally just blackmailing. This may of course be due to the huge gap between the Soviet Union's national strength and the United States at that time.

Although Khrushchev seemed to be doing things in a high-profile manner, in fact, he was only engaged in blackmail, and he failed to fool the Americans during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Compared with Khrushchev, Brezhnev was the complete opposite. He always looked talkative and laughing, but this guy really took action when he did something. Of course, this was also related to the fact that the United States did have big problems during the Nixon and Carter eras.

By the 1970s, the Soviet Union's national strength had taken off across the board, and it was on par with the United States in more than 20 industrial data such as steel, coal, oil and natural gas, and even surpassed the United States in many indicators.

On the other hand, the United States is in a comprehensive recession. As one country grows while the other loses, this is the first time that the United States has lost to another country in terms of industrial scale. Of course, the United States would never have thought that there would be a second time after the first time, and there is a backup player waiting behind.

However, historically speaking,
A key reason for the Soviet Union's heyday at that time was the continuous bloodshed of the United States in the Vietnam War, which ultimately led to a humiliating "Saigon Moment", marking the beginning of the United States' full defense.

Then, the so-called "Emperor Renzong" came to power. Although many people say that he was a complete failure, to be fair, what they said was... the truth. The truth was that during the few years that he was in power, he basically went from one failure to another.

The so-called "Renzong" later was an idealist.

This is simply a compliment to him. It's not that he doesn't want to start a war, but he simply doesn't have the power to start a war again and interfere in other countries.

There is no way. The "Saigon moment" not only exposed the weakness of the United States, but also let the world see the reality that the United States is on the verge of collapse. At that time, the United States had much more problems than the problems during the Sleeping King period.

Therefore, the Soviet Union's "attack" was just a matter of course.

While you are sick, I will kill you!
This is the normal way to play.

Giving timely assistance is something that happens between allies at most, but for an enemy country, it would definitely be about kicking it when it’s down.

How stupid would that person be if he didn't add insult to injury?

Following the majority view, Li Yian chose to go with the flow, evaluating Brezhnev as a moderate leader and making optimistic predictions about East-West relations.

Of course, this will definitely be slapped in the face in the future, but what does it matter?
It doesn’t matter at all!

Because everyone is optimistic now, and it will be easier to talk and do things when everyone is not optimistic! And the more optimistic we are now, the more pessimistic we will be in the future.

Of course, the change of Soviet leadership was an issue that the whole world had to deal with.

And for SEA, there is another very serious problem - that is, how to deal with the addition of a new member to the nuclear club. The main evaluation is still optimistic. The atomic bomb is only the first generation of nuclear weapons. It is large in size and small in equivalent. Its power is far less than that of the hydrogen bomb. Moreover, it is far away from the mainland and there is no transport vehicle to throw it over.

Who can be threatened by such a weapon?

If you have bullets but no gun, you can’t threaten anyone!
Of course, this is just an optimistic estimate.

After all, the distance is there.

Given the distance, such a threat cannot be completely ignored.

"It seems that the situation is not as easy as imagined."

Li Yian sighed and shook his head helplessly. After all, there are many things that need to be faced.

"It seems that we have no choice but to strengthen our technical deployment."

What is technical deployment?
Of course, it is anti-missile technology.

Now as in the past, only by possessing anti-missile technology can one ensure one's own safety. In fact, as early as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Li Yian realized where SEA's weakness lay.
It is a high concentration of population.

The population is highly concentrated in the metropolitan area formed by eight large cities and surrounding satellite cities, which means it is extremely dangerous under war conditions.

Perhaps the third world war will never break out, but who can truly foresee what will happen in the future?
So in this case, anti-ballistic missile technology becomes an inevitable option. After all, only by protecting ourselves can we ensure our own safety in an uncertain future.

"It seems that a national missile defense plan is still needed."

While talking to himself, a word suddenly flashed in Li Yian's mind.

"NMD, National Missile Defense, plus SEA means - you die..."

At this moment, Li Yian couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Okay, this is it - snmd!"

In fact, compared to the National Missile Defense Plan, Li Yian prefers the "Star Wars Plan" proposed by Reagan. Many people think that Reagan's "Star Wars Plan" was just to trick the Soviets into engaging in an arms race and wasting Soviet funds.

But in fact, Reagan was really promoting the "Star Wars Project", and the United States did invest a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in this "Star Wars Project".

The concept of this plan is extremely large: using space as the main base, deploying weapons such as lasers, particle beams, and electromagnetic guns, combining ground and air defense weapons to form a multi-level in-depth defense system to intercept ballistic missiles launched by the Soviet Union layer by layer, and destroying all or most of them before the missiles reach the United States.

In Reagan's view, the "Star Wars Program" was America's life-saving capital. He wanted to win the war, but he did not want to perish together with the Soviet Union. The greatest deterrent power of nuclear weapons is to perish together with the enemy.

The first principle of war is to protect oneself, not to kill the enemy or perish together with the enemy. That is why Reagan came up with the "Star Wars Plan" to ensure the security of the United States.

If it weren't for the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "Star Wars Project", although extremely expensive, would still have continued to move forward to ensure the absolute security of the United States.

Moreover, the protection targets of the "Star Wars Project" include not only the United States, but also its overseas bases and allies. In order to dispel the doubts of its allies and let them share risks and benefits, the United States invited partners such as Britain, West Germany, Israel, Italy, and Japan to participate in the "Star Wars Project" scientific research and assigned them tasks. Although the French government did not participate in it, French companies participated in the research project.

So, it is a mega project that costs tens of billions of dollars and involves more than a dozen countries.

How could it be a scam?

And how big of an impact did the "Star Wars Plan" have on the Soviet Union? Before the plan was proposed, the Soviet Union was unwilling to engage in arms control negotiations.

However, after the plan was proposed, the Soviet Union immediately took the initiative to express its willingness to engage in arms control negotiations and continued to make concessions during the negotiations.

The Soviet Union, contrary to its usual practice, proposed one disarmament proposal after another and made continuous concessions to the United States. The Soviet Union's purpose was very clear: as long as the United States gave up the "Star Wars Plan", everything else could be discussed. The United States' response was also very clear: it would never make any concessions on the "Star Wars Plan".

This plan even forced the Soviet Union to voluntarily propose to reduce its nuclear weapons by half and both sides to destroy all nuclear weapons within 10 years.

But even then, the United States did not make concessions.

"It seems that the Star Wars Plan is not just a simple defense plan. It is actually..."

Li Yian sat up straight suddenly and understood why Reagan proposed this plan.

The Star Wars program was never about defense, it was about offense.”

In an instant, Li Yian understood everything:
"Once the United States completes the deployment of the Star Wars Program, it will have an overwhelming advantage over the Soviet Union.

In this way, the United States will launch a full-scale attack on the Soviet Union worldwide!"

This attack may be political or military, but it will definitely not be as timid as the previous Cold War.

If the plan succeeds, the United States will have a knife in one hand and a shield in the other, and can attack or defend, while the Soviet Union will only have a knife, and will not be a match for the United States, so it can only give in. The pattern of the US-Soviet hegemony will be over from then on.

This is also the fundamental reason why the Soviet Union continued to make concessions in arms control negotiations and was willing to make principled concessions.

"That is to say, the ultimate goal of Star Wars is to completely destroy the fragile peace brought about by nuclear weapons."

With a frown on his face, Li Yian thought of a sentence that someone had said - the biggest threat of nuclear weapons is on the launch pad.

It's also a deterrent!

If used as a deterrent weapon, nuclear weapons will become a pile of waste that can never be launched, or they will fall on the homeland as soon as an explosion occurs here.

Then nuclear weapons will be meaningless, and the peace brought by nuclear weapons will also be shattered.

"From this perspective, the ultimate goal of the Star Wars program is to break the nuclear balance. Once the balance is broken, what remains is advantage.

It seems like there is some progress to be made.”

With his eyes closed, Li Yian began his brainstorming...

The current level of electronic information technology in the sea is roughly equivalent to that of the 70s. It is foreseeable that in the next few years, electronic computers, information technology and integrated circuits will be further improved.

Under such circumstances, breakthroughs in the technical issues of ballistic missile defense will surely be achieved in the near future.

Once a complete breakthrough is achieved, it means that SEA will have a killer weapon that other major powers in this era do not have, a killer weapon that can reduce the nuclear weapons of other countries to zero!

At the same time, the huge investment from the military and the technological needs will further promote the comprehensive development of various fields such as electronic information technology.

It is like a new moon landing project, which can promote the development of sea science and technology in all aspects.

Thinking of this, "snmd" is not so attractive anymore. After all, the so-called national missile defense plan is really not worth mentioning, and its role in promoting science and technology is minimal.

"This... is simply perfect."

Li Yian raised the corner of his mouth, and then said to himself:
"There doesn't seem to be any reason to reject the Star Wars Project!"

(End of this chapter)