The Wolf of Los Angeles.

In the pool room, Larry Fink picked up the cue, aimed at the white ball, and hit it with a bang, and the white ball knocked the red ball out of the way.

During last year's election, BlackRock funded Kerry and Edwards, and both of them were defeated.

If they were the ones sitting in the Oval Office, BlackRock wouldn't be in such a difficult situation.

Fink put away his club and said, "You guys plan to just sink into oblivion, leave politics, and never have to worry about Washington again?"

Edwards thought of the Covina shooting incident and sneered, "Given the current public opinion environment and Washington's consistent stance towards Russia, if Hawke Osmond encounters a personal threat at this time, it will be regarded as a retaliation by a Russian spy, and the people implicated will be in great trouble."

“I would not take that approach, but attack from another angle,” Fink said.

Edwards threw the stray ball into the pocket and asked, "What's the solution?"

Fink's face was gloomy: "Now that Twitter is the only dominant player in the online social media industry, is it suspected of monopoly?"

This reminded Edwards, and he couldn't help but laugh: "Convince the Federal Trade Commission to file an antitrust lawsuit against Twitter?"

Fink said coldly: "Twitter is growing too fast, and it has received strong support and various preferential policies from the authorities. If we don't restrict it, we will soon face a behemoth."

BlackRock would have been pushing this forward if it hadn't been interrupted by the sudden outbreak of espionage.

Edwards talked a lot but didn't want to get involved in the actual action: "You come to Washington, find someone to run the operation."

Fink quickly said goodbye and left.

When the door closed, the assistant standing in the corner asked, "Boss, do we need a contact person?"

“No need.” Edwards repositioned the ball. “Twitter is not easy to deal with. It is said that Goldman Sachs and Hawk Osment have been discussing investment matters. Let BlackRock hedge against Twitter. If BlackRock wins, we will cheer for it. If BlackRock gets hurt, we will not suffer any loss.”

He set up the ball, picked up the cue, and hit the white ball hard, making a loud thumping sound. "As for what happened last year, the Elephant Party can't stay in power forever. When we make a comeback, there will be plenty of opportunities to settle accounts with them."

On the other hand, Larry Fink contacted several Elephant Party congressmen, changed his car, and quietly approached Wyatt Strategic Consulting.

…………

After a busy day, Hawke left Peterson Company and came to Martin Tavern when it got dark.

Henry Paulson, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, invited him to dinner.

This restaurant is very famous in Washington. It is said that Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline here.

After Hawke ordered his meal, he looked at Paulson across from him and said, "The last time we met, George once said that you were his next Treasury Secretary. I thought you had already taken office at the Treasury Department."

Paulson half-jokingly said, "The current Treasury Secretary has not yet stepped down, so the next one will naturally be in line. I will stay at Goldman Sachs for a while, at least to reach an investment agreement with Twitter."

He asked directly: "Has Twitter determined the time for its next round of financing?"

Hawke said: "It has been discussed and approved at the shareholders' meeting. Send someone to Los Angeles to connect and start the third-party valuation process."

Paulson raised his glass to Hawke and said, "My professional team is ready and can go to Los Angeles next week. I hope we can reach a cooperation agreement in the first half of the year."

"It's a pleasure to work with you." Hawke clinked glasses with him and said, "Twitter's AI Manhattan Project still needs the support of Goldman Sachs."

Paulson took a sip of his drink and said, "Goldman Sachs will support us fully."

If the other party is willing to accept investment from Goldman Sachs, then that is our partner.

Any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem for Goldman Sachs.

In the Internet industry, Goldman Sachs has invested in Amazon, but Amazon's development speed is not as rapid as Twitter.

Paulson specially formed a team to study the Twitter model. As a social networking media, Twitter can accurately deliver messages to specific audiences and directly influence a certain team or individual, which is impossible for traditional media to achieve.

At least two-thirds of traditional media propaganda is ineffective.

For a product or a plan, with the same amount of money spent, there is a huge difference in the promotion efficiency on Twitter and traditional media.

Twitter has already earned hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial advertising revenue since last year.

Paulson predicts that Twitter's advertising revenue will experience explosive growth in the next one to two years.

Many investment companies are waiting for Twitter to raise funds again.

Afterwards, the two discussed the possibility of Twitter's future listing, especially the timing.

As an Internet company, going public is inevitable. The larger Twitter becomes, the greater Hawke's influence will be.

The two chatted for more than half an hour, and the business dinner came to an end.

Hawke has a very tight schedule these days in Washington.

The next day, accompanied by Hearst, he visited several congressmen, including Bonason, to promote the establishment of the Appropriations Committee as soon as possible.

At the same time, Russia publicly announced that the so-called artificial intelligence and espionage case did not exist at all. The investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs showed that someone bribed the editors of relevant newspapers and wrote false news.

The Russians even released the interrogation footage.

But when the news reached North America, it was not completely useless, but it was better than nothing. The Times, a subsidiary of News Corporation, was the first to publish an article: "Don't trust the cunning Russians!"

The Wall Street Journal also published a related report, analyzing "Russia and its predecessor's consistent perfidy."

Europe has been fearing Russin for so long that it is no exaggeration to say that it is deeply rooted in its bones. Media such as France's Le Figaro and Germany's Bild did not need to be mobilized by others, but automatically followed suit, exaggerating that the Russians were deliberately performing and sensationalizing.

In the eyes of Europeans and Americans, Russia behaves like a clown.

Even though many people can see it clearly, they still fan the flames.

This has nothing to do with IQ, stupidity or intelligence; it only has to do with attitude.

During this period of 2005, NATO, led by the United States, seemed to focus on the Middle East, but its number one enemy was none other than Russia.

Twitter has more than 5000 million active users worldwide and can accurately deliver news to target users.

The Russians' actions will only result in a self-directed and self-acted show in America and even Western Europe.

The discourse power of public opinion is in the hands of others. If they say that white is black, then white becomes black.

The Russians are unhappy? Not to mention the Russians, even cats can be expelled from the cat category.

These did not stop the progress of the AI ​​Manhattan Project.

With the lobbying of Elizabeth's team at Peterson & Company, and the political resources brought by Twitter and Hawke, just a few days later, the Congressional Appropriations Committee accepted the AI ​​Manhattan Project proposal pushed by the White House and formally established a related special task force.

What follows is a long wait for review and lobbying.

This plan involves a wide range of aspects. As Hawke said, dozens of upstream and downstream supporting companies are needed, and Twitter is not the only one to benefit.

Because of the huge amount of funding involved, Hawke is prepared for it to be passed only next year.

The lobbying work should be handed over to professional companies.

Hawke was preparing to return to Los Angeles, and the day before he left, Brian came to Washington on business.

The two met at the Hilton Hotel.

"Didn't you encounter any Russian spies here?" Brian used his ultimate move as soon as he saw Hawke.

Hawke wanted to yell at him to shut up, but he didn't have time. He angrily said, "Can you shut up, Master Brian?"

Brian said innocently: "I'm telling the truth. You've caused so much trouble, but the Russians didn't come looking for you..."

Hawke stared at Brian with malicious intent.

Brian quickly shut his mouth and refused to argue with the bastard.

He asked, "Are you making progress here?"

"The Appropriations Committee has set up a special task force," Hawke said briefly.

Brian nodded repeatedly, and this time he said something more pleasant: "The Russians were a stepping stone for Twitter."

Hawke smiled and said, "This is politically correct, and the temptation is too great. Once the plan is passed, the first phase of funding is expected to be tens of billions of dollars, and the subsequent additions will be enough to make Twitter take off."

"Hearing you say that, I'm a little moved." Brian turned the topic to the country he was most interested in: "Clinton and George Walker have played tricks on two generations of Russian leaders. Originally, the new Russian tsar intended to get closer to NATO, but now claims that he will use 20 years to rebuild a great country."

Hawke specifically said: "Europe is America's core interest. Once America faces difficulties, it can kill two dogs in the Western Pacific and eat meat, and it can harvest European countries across the Atlantic, but both places face threats from Russia."

These words with ulterior motives are very consistent with the geopolitical and contemporary situation. Needless to say, the biggest threat to Europe since World War II has always been considered to come from Eastern Europe.

In the Western Pacific region, North Korea, which is directly influenced by Russia, is ready to beat South Korea whenever it is unhappy.

Another son was also suppressed by Russia over territorial disputes.

For now, the only threat to America is the Big Goose.

Brian fully agreed and said, "The other side has a rich strategic arsenal, so it's not easy to deal with it."

Hawke deliberately thought for a while and said, "If one day you can enter the Oval Office, you can find a suitable time and place to start a proxy war with Russia. It would be best if you can seduce Russia to intervene personally, and then continue to bleed Russia."

"That's a good idea." Brian was self-aware: "If I want to enter the White House, it will take at least another ten years."

Hawke said: "This aspect is also political capital. The conservative hardliners in the Elephant Party are now in the upper hand. You can mention it appropriately, which can win more support from within the party."

Brian asked, "Do you have any good thoughts?"

Hawke walked over to the map hanging on the wall, pointed to the Middle East, and said, "The United States currently has a strong presence in Iraq. Iraq is adjacent to Syria in the west. Syria's close relationship with Russia dates back to the Soviet era. Russia inherited this relationship and further deepened it."

Brian understood: "Support a force in Syria and then drag Russia into it?"

"This is just a preliminary idea, you need to perfect it." Hawke's goal is simple, a half-dead big hairy bear is a good bear. (End of this chapter)