The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 1060 An unusual year

From the very beginning, 2001 seemed to be not a smooth year.

First, the war in South Asia reignited, and the largest war in South Asia's history broke out. In just three short periods of war, tens of thousands of soldiers from both camps were killed and more than 200,000 were injured. As for the civilians who died in the war, although neither side announced the number, it would not be a small number.

This war was also the highest-level war in the history of the South Asian subcontinent. It deployed advanced weapons and equipment including advanced fighter jets, advanced tanks and armored vehicles, advanced warships, etc., and is worthy of observation and summary by all countries.

This war ended hastily because of a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in India.

In India's 7.9-magnitude earthquake, the government's rescue efforts were ineffective, or even nonexistent, resulting in heavy casualties.

According to data released by India at the end of April, more than 4 people died and more than 6 people were injured. The tragic situation after the earthquake shocked the world.

What is even more frightening is that without sufficient relief supplies, more victims may die if post-disaster reconstruction continues.

Life is as insignificant as grass, which is vividly portrayed here.

Facing enormous international pressure, India is quietly licking its wounds.

Because of India's current situation, it has no foreign exchange to purchase relief supplies, and reconstruction work also requires a large amount of money.

Furthermore, the ruling party is now facing opposition from all sides and is overwhelmed and in a precarious situation, so it has no time to take care of rescue and resettlement of disaster victims.

The northeast direction, which had begun to show signs of trouble, returned to calm again.

However, Japan, despite the world's outrage, approved textbooks that distorted history compiled by Japanese right-wing scholars, which aroused strong indignation and dissatisfaction among Asian countries.

Moreover, Japan has implemented emergency import restrictions on imported green onions and other products, which has aroused the anger of many people.

The result is that the price of refined oil and natural gas exported to Japan has risen again.

Liu Tao knew the reason behind this. It was nothing more than the Americans disrupting the economic integration of Northeast Asia.

Economic integration in Northeast Asia is not an easy task and is destined to be a bumpy and tortuous road.

Then on June 6, a knife-wielding assailant stabbed 8 students and three teachers at an elementary school in Osaka, killing eight students, attracting worldwide attention.

In addition, on June 6, a woman in Okinawa was murdered by U.S. troops stationed in Japan. This was the 29th similar case in 2001, and it also triggered a nationwide climax of protests against U.S. military bases in Japan.

Because this woman was tortured to death, it was a horrible sight.

Faced with the Japanese demand for the death penalty for the relevant US soldiers, the Americans scoffed and did not even bother to pay any attention to the Japanese. They simply transferred these US soldiers to other US military bases.

The Americans' arrogance and contempt further angered the Japanese.

But the Japanese were helpless, considering that the Americans had 88 military bases in Japan and more than 4 U.S. troops stationed there.

Faced with the American soldiers, the Japanese had no way to deal with them.

No matter how angry the Japanese are, it’s useless!

However, a vicious explosion occurred in Jerusalem at this time. An Israeli extremist organization claimed responsibility for the explosion, and the situation between Palestine and Israel deteriorated again.

The two sides have redrawn their boundaries, with China’s territory covering 1.2 square kilometers and Pakistan’s territory covering 1.5 square kilometers, and the two sides have also signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations.

Although some people on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are dissatisfied, for Israel, they actually controlled a much larger area before, so why should they give up such a large territory? Moreover, even if the territorial division in 1947 was used, it should be 1.52 square kilometers.

Many people within the Palestinian side are also very dissatisfied with this. You have to know that these 2.7 square kilometers of land originally belonged to the Palestinian Arabs. Why should they be given 1.2 square kilometers of land?

However, both sides have a tacit understanding, have been suppressing internal opposition forces, and have made great efforts on a peaceful basis, which has led to the two sides having peace for 20 years. However, suppressing the contradiction does not mean that the contradiction has been resolved and the contradiction no longer exists!
The contradiction is always there!

Although Palestine has established an oil industry and made a lot of money in recent years, after entering the 90s, most oil prices have been relatively low, so it is obvious that Palestine's economic development is not as good as Israel's.

This time, the vicious explosion in Jerusalem was caused by domestic extremist forces, who even assassinated the Israeli leader who had always advocated peace and the establishment of friendly relations between the two countries.

Now this matter has been directly brought out.

This directly angered the extremist forces in Palestine, and they took retaliatory actions.

The two sides exchanged blows and the situation continued to escalate.

The Americans jumped out at this time to defend their father, which made the Arab world very dissatisfied.

The Americans even took a tough stance by sending an aircraft carrier fleet to the Mediterranean Sea near Israel, and their attitude of standing up for Israel was very obvious.

With the strong support of his own son, there has been a huge change in the internal power of Israel. The hardliners have completely overwhelmed the moderates and advocated a tough stance towards Palestine.

Neta even publicly declared that these 2.7 square kilometers of land belong to Israel. He took out the Bible and said that this was the land chosen by God for them and that they had the legal right to own this land.

This operation shocked the whole world!

The conflict between the two sides was completely planned and showed an upward spiral.

Today you shoot at me, and I throw a grenade at you; if you kill one of me, I will kill two of you.

The Americans' attitude is very firm: they support their father.

It is natural to support your father; if you don't support your father, you are unfilial!

The Americans' firm attitude made the entire Arab world and even the entire Islamic world very sad and angry.

Although that place is only 2.7 square kilometers and the land is very small, it is enough to influence the entire Arab world and the entire Middle East!

The entire Middle East is like a powder keg that may explode at any time.

The first reaction is the international crude oil price.

International crude oil prices continue to rise. After all, the Middle East is an international energy center. International crude oil prices are most sensitive to any disturbance in the Middle East, and it is normal for them to rise accordingly.

Not only the international crude oil price, but also the international natural gas price is rising rapidly.

With the increasing number of LNG ships in recent years, liquefied natural gas has been continuously shipped to Europe, China, Japan and South Korea, while the Middle East and Africa are currently the natural gas suppliers, with the Middle East undoubtedly accounting for the majority.

The polar bear is working behind the scenes, hoping that the Americans will personally take action and then be trapped in the Middle East.

It would be best if OPEC abolished the rule of petrodollar settlement and ended the dollar hegemony.

Liu Tao was also in Hong Kong, watching the rapidly changing situation in the Middle East with cold eyes.

Americans are too naive. They always think they can do whatever they want, but they don't know that is not the case at all.

This world has changed a lot.

(End of this chapter)