The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Christmas brings a rare day of peace to the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Afghan and Iraqi people no longer have to prepare to enter air-raid shelters and basements every day!

Taking advantage of this rare window of opportunity, trucks carrying supplies entered Iraq at the Iran-Iraq border, the Kuwait-Iraq border, and the Saudi-Iraqi border.

Saddam also walked out of the underground command center and basked in the sun. The soft sunlight made Saddam feel warm all over.

While listening to the radio, which was reporting on the violent incidents that Europe and the United States had experienced on Christmas, Saddam showed a gloating expression.

Damn Americans and America’s running dogs, the more they die the better!
Saddam was happy as long as the United States and his lackeys were in trouble.

But when he saw that the beautiful Baghdad was now in ruins, Saddam's good mood disappeared.

"Everything will be fine when the war is over!" Saddam clenched his fists, as if he was talking to the Iraqi people, or as if he was talking to himself.

Saddam believed that as long as the war was over, Iraq could quickly carry out post-war reconstruction.

His greatest confidence comes from the fact that Iraq is rich in oil and natural gas, which can be exported continuously and bring Iraq a steady stream of income.

Moreover, Iraq now maintains friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, so it will be easier to borrow money from them for reconstruction after the war.

Up to now in the war, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries have supported Iraq with more than 20 billion US dollars in weapons and supplies. In addition, they have lent Iraq more than 20 billion US dollars, allowing Iraq to continue to purchase weapons, equipment and supplies.

This is a war of attrition. Whoever fails to consume first will lose the war.

But no matter what, even if the United States withdraws its troops and ends the Iraq War, Iraq will still be a loser, but at that time both Iraq and the United States will be losers!
For Iraq, it has been a loser since the war started, because the war took place in Iraq, no matter how it lost or how much it lost.

For Americans, there are only two outcomes: big win or big loss. As long as they conquer Iraq and control Iraqi oil, then relying on Iraqi oil and natural gas, even if they invest hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars, the United States will win.

If they fail to conquer Iraq, it will be a big loss for the United States. A large amount of military expenditure will be invested, huge casualties and pensions will be incurred, and the loss of weapons and equipment will be a threat. In addition, it will shake the US military hegemony. This is fatal and it will be an absolute loss.

By then, maybe something unexpected will happen, causing some countries to challenge the United States.

Saddam, wearing a bulletproof vest and accompanied by staff and security personnel, went to the hospital to visit injured civilians. This scene was captured by the media and will become news material.

While visiting the injured civilians, Saddam expressed his condolences to them, and also denounced the United States and its lackeys for carrying out air strikes on unarmed civilians. He said that he would stand together with everyone and live and die with Iraq, and would never succumb to the hegemony of the United States. Iraq refused to be colonized, and the fate of the Iraqi people must be firmly in the hands of the Iraqi people.

Saddam did not stay in the hospital for long. After all, who knew whether the Americans would launch a missile attack after getting the news.

Saddam took a tour of Baghdad and saw the tragic situation there, which made him hate the United States even more.

Libya, capital Tripoli.

Gaddafi watched the news and saw the vicious explosions in Europe and the United States on Christmas Eve. He was so happy that he danced with joy. As the most famous anti-American fighter in the world today, Gaddafi hates the United States very much.

The US airstrikes on Libya reduced Libya to near ruins, and more than half of Gaddafi's relatives died in the American airstrikes.

After ten years of reconstruction, Libya's oil production and export volumes returned to the levels before the air strikes. However, in those years, oil and natural gas prices were not high, and Libya's oil revenues were far less than before.

But the past two or three years have been different. Since September 2001, 9, oil and natural gas prices have risen sharply, and Libya's oil and natural gas revenues have also increased significantly, allowing Libya to better invest in infrastructure, national welfare and arming itself.

Up to now, the international crude oil price has exceeded 60 US dollars per barrel, and the price of natural gas has risen to 0.28 US dollars per cubic meter. Even in winter, it can reach 0.34 US dollars per cubic meter.

现在利比亚每天出口石油156万桶/天，意味着每天石油出口收入便可以达到9360万美元；而利比亚每天天然气出口量达到了1000万立方米，天然气出口收入达到了280万美元~340万美元！
As relations between Europe and Russia improve, Libya's oil and natural gas can be exported to Europe unimpeded.

The huge energy income allows Libya to launch a large number of projects, build schools, hospitals, nursing homes, construct roads, etc.

Of course, Gaddafi also had more money to buy weapons, but he bought more weapons from Russia. Having learned from the lessons of the past, Gaddafi bought more S300 air defense missiles, as well as advanced Russian-made fighter jets such as Su-27 fighter jets and MiG-29 fighter jets.

To this day, Russia's Black Sea Fleet still has a squadron stationed in the Libyan military port.

Gaddafi was in a good mood and asked people to transfer money to more than a dozen accounts.

Gaddafi has been doing this in terms of funding.

Gaddafi has always been one of the financial backers of bin Laden's organization.

Gaddafi watched the news and then went about his business.

Libya is very large, with a land area of ​​176 million square kilometers. But in fact, Libya is also very small, because more than 95% of Libya is desert and semi-desert. Only the coastal and northeastern inland areas are plains below 200 meters above sea level. Other areas are basically covered with sand and gravel. There are very few places suitable for human habitation. This is the fundamental reason why Libya’s population has not yet reached 600 million.

Although the country's land area seems large, in fact the area suitable for living is very small.

Of course, Libya also has good things from God, that is, abundant oil and natural gas. Libya's proven oil and natural gas reserves rank first in Africa, at 430 billion barrels and 1.54 trillion cubic meters respectively.

As long as there is no war and no sanctions from Europe and the United States, Libya's economy will easily take off.

With a small population, a country can easily become a wealthy country because of its abundant resources.

Moreover, the large amount of desert also blocked refugees from the wars in Africa from coming to Libya, and did not save Libya from the harm of refugees.

Gaddafi was spinning his pen as he considered how many S300 air defense missile systems to import to protect Libya's security. (End of this chapter)