American Strategic Deception Bureau

　After all, as descendants of Anglo-American pirates and Western cowboys, traditional Americans have always admired courage and despised cowards!

　Of course, the "new Americans" of the 21st century, who have more than a hundred genders, have a different set of ideas and values.

　In short, in this dimension, the Americans in the first half of 1968, like the Japanese in the first half of 1942, fell back into a frenzy of war, with many even buying large maps of Southeast Asia and planting small flags on newly occupied cities every day.

　With the successive victories and overwhelming momentum in the Cambodian battlefield, as well as the effective coordination in the Thai battlefield, General Maxwell Taylor, who was praised by the domestic media, turned the spearhead of the attack to the north, planned and deployed the counterattacks in Nha Trang and Da Nang, and prepared to rescue the last remnants of the Guangnan National Army - Major General Li Mingdao's subordinates who had been besieged in Chu Lai for three months, and began to make arrangements to move into Saigon.

　So, Phiri, who was ordered to come to Saigon to establish a CIA base, entered Saigon again with Major General Li Mingdao, who was summoned to be the president of South Vietnam.

　-

　Half a month later, Saigon, where the war had just ended, was still in ruins.

　There were only a few more local people cleaning up the ruins on the streets, all dressed in

　Dressed in rags and emaciated by hunger, they survived on free food relief distributed by the US military. The former South Vietnamese General Staff building was covered in scaffolding by US engineers as the US Forces Vietnam headquarters was moving in.

　As for the poor Major General of Dawn Island, he could only find a decent house in the ruins to serve as a temporary presidential palace.

　Of course, Firi also had to find a place in the ruins, arrange a group of subordinates, and recruit several informants to establish the CIA's Saigon intelligence station. Note that due to the CIA's multiple command and overlapping structure, there must be more than one intelligence station in Saigon. Basically, any big boss with a little strength and interest will come to this "hot city" to set up a base: just like many provinces, cities and counties in China, each has its own Beijing office.

　In the terminal hall of Tan Son Nhat Airport, which had just undergone preliminary repairs, under the flashes of reporters' cameras, Major General Li Mingdao received a gorgeous sash from General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the US forces in Vietnam, and swore an oath on the Bible to become the president of the South Vietnamese Provisional Government.

　Firi also congratulated him and gave him a gold-plated Damascus steel dagger as a gift.

　Dr. Kissinger, who had just landed at Tan Son Nhat Airport on a military plane, also brought a handwritten congratulatory letter from President Johnson to Dawn Island.

　Even Limingdao's former superior, the former president of Quang Nam, Zun Shiding, sent a congratulatory message from the United States, encouraging him to make greater contributions to his country. This young South Vietnamese general, suddenly thrust into a high position, was so excited that he felt a bit overwhelmed.

　Although his position as president was still a mere figurehead, and the formation of his government required full American guidance, for Dawn Island, a mere soldier with immature political abilities, this prestigious title alone was enough to make him wildly happy.

　But after walking out of the inauguration ceremony and looking at the ruins all around him, Dawn Island, who had just become president, suddenly felt bored.

　"Free Vietnam has been revived, northerners have left Saigon, I've become president, and my people have a bright future. But at what cost?" He said to Phiri, gesturing at the devastation around him. "Looking at the state of this city, it's really hard to be happy."

　Since the beginning of the 20th century, every street battle in large and medium-sized cities has been characterized by stalemate, brutality, protracted fighting, and massive casualties. If one were to describe it in one word, there's no better word than "meat grinder."

　As a result, many countries have always viewed urban combat as a formidable endeavor. Regardless of victory or defeat, both sides inevitably pay a heavy price. American military textbooks openly declare: "It is unwise to engage in urban combat. Experienced military commanders consider urban combat the worst option."

　However, compared with the two warring armies, the one that paid the greatest price in the meat grinder of street fighting was ultimately the city itself which served as the battlefield.

　At this moment, standing on the devastated streets of post-war Saigon, it seems that one can still hear the heart-wrenching cries of the entire city.

　——Bridges broke and collapsed, roads were dilapidated and potholed, entire blocks were razed to the ground, and the remaining houses often had no roofs. Roadside trees were turned into charred stakes by incendiary bombs, and in some remote corners, there were occasionally corpses that had not been collected in time.

　In short, this once most prosperous city in Southeast Asia was now practically a ruin. There was no electricity, no running water, and not even a shop on the streets. The remaining 100,000 or so citizens could only make temporary shelters under the ruins, relying on relief food from the US military to survive...

　This naturally made Li Ming Island, which had once witnessed the prosperity of Saigon, feel very sad.

　"Everything will be fine, Mr. President. A great city is never afraid of the test of war. Twenty years ago, Tokyo, Japan, and Berlin, Germany, were both more miserable than Saigon is today. But twenty years later, both cities climbed out of the ruins."

　Firi began to console him, saying, "Capitol Hill has already approved $200 million in special funds for post-war reconstruction for Free Vietnam. The United States will provide you with all necessary assistance to help your loyal allies in the freedom camp rise again from the ruins..."

　"Berlin? Tokyo? Haha. Berlin and Tokyo haven't fought each other since World War II, but Saigon has never been peaceful!"

　Li Mingdao smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I don't doubt the generosity of the US government, but even if we want to rebuild, at least there needs to be a peaceful environment, right? If the Viet Cong continue to fight us, and the war continues, how can we even talk about reconstruction?"

　Speaking of this heavy topic, Firi was suddenly speechless.

　Dr. Kissinger, however, confidently stepped forward and offered his advice to the newly elected President of Dawn Island: "Please do not be discouraged, Mr. President. South Korea's rulers once faced the same troubles as you. But after enduring a difficult war, while South Korea's current situation is not great, at least the communist elements in the south have been eliminated and basic stability has been achieved."

　"South Korea, with its two seas, is in a different situation than ours. my country only has one sea, and South Korea doesn't even have a Ho Chi Minh Trail!"

　"Yes, North Vietnam had the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which allowed them to bypass the demarcation line and transport arms and troops to the South. But the question is, were the weapons and ammunition they used to sustain the war produced or purchased by North Vietnam itself? No, they had neither the money nor their own arms industry."

　Kissinger is so eloquent

　As for Tan, "As long as China stops its aid, they will have nothing to transport on the Ho Chi Minh Trail!"

　"Red China abandoned North Vietnam? How is that possible?" Li Mingdao was a little confused.

　"In this ever-changing world, anything is possible, sir. In the past, Moscow and Beijing enjoyed such close comradeship. What did they call each other? Oh, now I remember, comrades and brothers! But what about now? To say there's deep hatred wouldn't be an exaggeration!

　A few years ago, when China successfully tested its first atomic bomb, the Soviets almost wanted to preemptively destroy China's nuclear test site with nuclear missiles! In the end, it was the United States that warned the Soviets not to act rashly!

　A unified ideological stance cannot conceal divergent real-world interests, just as European Christians have never shied away from killing each other.

　Kissinger shrugged and said, “By the same token, the relationship between Beijing and Hanoi is not as unbreakable as it seems.

　Five years ago, when our army launched its first blitzkrieg on Hanoi, Beijing responded with a lightning-fast warning and immediately mobilized another volunteer army, preparing to intervene in the Vietnam War. But when our army launched its second blitzkrieg on Hanoi, Beijing remained completely silent. Beyond verbal condemnation, it essentially pretended nothing had happened.

　It can be seen from this that Beijing is actually very wary of North Vietnam's crazy expansion in the Indochina Peninsula in recent years, and its attempt to bring Cambodia, Laos and even Thailand under its control. It even regrets having provided too much aid to Vietnam before.

　The thousand-year-old feud between Vietnam and China also made the leaders of Red China unwilling to see a huge military and political entity with an area of ​​more than one million square kilometers and a population of more than 50 million appear outside their southern border under the rule of an ambitious leader.

　I can even infer that Beijing is at least happy to see our army's massive counterattack, if not gloating over it!

　What Beijing wants is a buffer zone separating the free camp from its homeland, not a Southeast Asian hegemon that competes with them!

　The Soviet Union was too far away from Vietnam, and the cost of modern warfare was too terrible. The Kremlin would not be so generous as to be willing to pay such a huge price for a small country that was far away and could not threaten the core interests of the United States - unless they wanted to use Vietnam to threaten China!

　However, if Hanoi truly demonstrated an attitude of obedience to the Soviet Union, Beijing would become increasingly wary and hostile toward Hanoi. This mutual suspicion and distrust would eventually lead to a joint Sino-US attack on North Vietnam, which would not be surprising at all.

　Therefore, as long as Washington patiently waits for the opportunity to come, when Sino-Soviet relations further deteriorate, the situation among China, the United States and the Soviet Union is completely reversed, and China and the United States begin to join forces to fight against the Soviet Union, it will be able to force Beijing to abandon its generous aid to Hanoi, and the US fleet will try to blockade North Vietnam’s maritime trade, making the impoverished North Vietnamese regime unable to withstand the bombing and blockade of the US military and assist the southern battlefield at all costs.

　Then, without the blood transfusion from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the Viet Cong in the South would become like the Philippine Communist Party in the past, a tree without roots and water without a source.

　The situation of the Saigon regime will naturally tend to be generally stable, at least there will no longer be the risk of being overthrown by the communists..."

　Listening to Kissinger talking so eloquently, as if he had predicted the subsequent development and outcome of the Cold War at this moment, Firi could not help but admire in his heart - he was indeed worthy of being a master of international relations and geopolitics during the peak of the Cold War, and he was indeed very capable!

　Alas, it's a good thing that America's international strategic "gurus" have been declining in stature, with no one able to inherit the legacy of him, Brzezinski, and George Kennan. Otherwise, the "American Century" might have lasted for decades longer!

　-

　Overall, starting from the end of the Cold War, the international strategic level of the US top elites began to decline gradually, and the pace accelerated as time went on.

　By the second decade of the 21st century, the quality of America's "national advisors" had plummeted. In the era of the "King of Understanding" and the "King of Sleep," the likes of Secretaries of State Pompeo and Blinken, and National Security Advisor Sullivan, were like clowns—rabid dogs ready to bite anyone they could find, or "naive" figures living in a dream. Their eyes were filled with a pure, uncorrupted ignorance, completely lacking the grandeur of the Cold War's geostrategic masters, who commanded the world, wielded powerful strategies, and frequently used the globe as a chessboard for their strategic decisions.

　So much so that many foreigners who still see the United States through a beautifying filter can't help but secretly mutter:

　How come the disciples of Kissinger and George Kennan are only at this level?

　The reason is that the prominent American diplomats of the 21st century are not at all disciples of Kissinger and George Kennan. On the contrary, they are almost ready to criticize these Cold War masters, Kissinger and George Kennan, and then step on them ten thousand times, so that they can never stand up again!

　It's important to note that American geopolitical gurus like Henry Kissinger and Brzezinski, who have always enjoyed high prestige in China, have very poor reputations in the U.S. Kissinger, in particular, is considered an "old friend of the Chinese people," and it's no exaggeration to say he's infamous in American academia.

　- Note that it was not the Sino-US confrontation that caused Kissinger's downfall. Kissinger's reputation had been in a terrible state long before the millennium.

　Because after the Cold War, the United States has completely stopped engaging in power diplomacy and instead

　believed that history had ended.

　The "End of History" theory, which has been criticized and ridiculed by the Chinese, is regarded as the real truth by Americans!

　Especially American academic diplomats, all of them regard the theory of the end of history as their guiding principle.

　In their view, post-Cold War history is over, the world's problems have been solved, and all that remains are minor fixes and praise. Their mission is no longer to win the great power competition for the United States, because great power competition no longer exists. The American-led social order is destined to endure forever. American diplomats only need to mediate minor conflicts between the United States and its allies, intimidate recalcitrant small nations, and legitimize all of America's misdeeds, acting as legal counsel—after all, even if things go wrong, the invincible US military will back them up!

　As a result, after the 21st century, American elites who aspired to enter the diplomatic field were generally only interested in seemingly abstruse issues like human rights and environmental protection. Kissinger's pragmatic diplomacy, in the eyes of later generations, was something to be resolutely overthrown and condemned.

　Because the secret activities planned by Kissinger to betray allies and overthrow the regime are so immoral and inhumane!

　In the future, we should focus on human rights diplomacy and value-based diplomacy. There is no need to consider any issues from the perspective of strength!

　How can I describe it? It's like standing on the moral high ground, looking down on the corrupt officials who actually do the work.

　Alas, with such disrespect for their teachers and ancestors, and their unrealistic pursuit of practicality, how can we expect these "new generation masters" to produce any eye-catching performance?

　In general, the courses that American diplomats took in school after the Cold War were basically about international organizations, international law, and world finance. They basically no longer studied foreign history and geography, let alone the great power strategies of people like Kissinger and George Kennan. The topics of their papers were human rights and environmental protection, not war and the country: their understanding of the world is generally even worse than that of Paradox players!

　Because they subconsciously think that this knowledge is not important at all!

　In 2015, Yale University offered a one-semester course on contemporary Russian political, economic, and social research. Only one Chinese student attended the course, while the rest of the American students dismissively said, "Only idiots would care about Russia these days."

　According to the ideas of American diplomats in the 21st century, the whole world learns from the United States culturally, obeys the United States politically, and obeys the United States economically. It is as natural as breathing. They are angels sent by God and can do whatever they want in the world without taking any responsibility.

　If that's the case, why should they bother to understand the history, culture, and politics of other countries? It's obvious that foreigners should be licking their boots.

　They also cannot understand why there are still civilized people in this world who do not listen to them, and then think that the other party is barbarians and want to criticize and beat them.

　They call themselves liberals, and like ancient Chinese Confucian scholars, they advocate that the United States rules the world not through hegemony but through virtue, establishing a world order to which all nations submit through morality. They believe that hegemony will eventually decline, but the American ideological order is eternal.

　The reason why Americans in the 21st century are obsessed with ideological struggles and make many bizarre decisions that backfire is because they, like fanatics, believe that the victory in the Cold War was due to freedom, human rights and morality, rather than material pursuits.

　How should I put it? It's very funny, like when the Confucian scholars of Ming Dynasty China were practicing "Heavenly Kingdom" diplomacy, and their envoys were often made the laughing stock wherever they went.

　American diplomats of the new era are not without intelligence or wit. But as long as they are too arrogant to learn from the ways of the "barbarians," they are doomed to "think without learning, and peril" and ultimately end up with nothing but fruitless efforts and a laughingstock.

　Therefore, American diplomats in the 21st century often publicly say some stupid things that they think are clever, but in fact are irrelevant. Many foreign observers ponder and rack their brains over these stupid words, thinking that they must contain some strategy or deep meaning - in fact, they are just really stupid.

　Generally speaking, the complete disconnect between American politicians and the real world stems from arrogance and self-conceit, and ultimately from the information cocoon they have built for themselves. They then deceive themselves, leaving them with nothing more than the delusions of a fool and the ravings of a madman.

　Ultimately, foreigners generally feel that the IQ of American politicians fluctuates. One moment they're clever, the next they're downright foolish, leaving people baffled. But because people still hold a certain reverence for the American hegemony, they're unsure whether those seemingly foolish Americans are deliberately playing dumb, setting themselves up for failure. Consequently, even when American politicians with low IQs do something foolish, they often manage to get away with it safely.

　The result, in turn, has boosted the confidence of American politicians and diplomats, causing their performance to become increasingly poor...

　In contrast, during the Cold War, even the most arrogant and overbearing Americans had to admit they still had a major problem—the Soviet Union—that they had yet to successfully resolve. This enabled the then-US government to view the world with relative calmness and pragmatism, approaching competition and problem-solving from a perspective of strength, rather than, as it did after the Cold War, relegating itself to chanting sutras and remotely herding livestock, becoming incapable of anything else. Soft power, after all, cannot completely replace hard power.

　Chapter 403: Miss Saigon, the country is not

　Happy nation

　Just as Dr. Kissinger was solemnly predicting the future breakdown of Sino-Vietnamese relations and the reversal of the Vietnam War situation, and was trying to encourage and reassure the worried new South Vietnamese President, His Excellency Le Ming Dao, from all angles, there was suddenly a noise and clamor outside the airport terminal.

　Firi, Kissinger, Li Mingdao and others turned their heads and saw a Vietnamese mixed-race girl who was thin and haggard but still had a bit of pretty charm. She was holding a little brown-haired girl who also had mixed-race features. She was arguing with the military police in her broken English.

　There was also a large group of war correspondents from major American media outlets, holding cameras and watching with great interest and grabbing news.

　Seeing that the reporters had arrived, Dawn Island could no longer ignore them and had to go over there, while Firi and Kissinger followed.

　A few people gathered around the lady with the baby, listened patiently for a while, and finally figured out what was going on.

　"This Ms. Ruan Meixin, who is of French descent, came with her child to find a husband, no, a boyfriend."

　The corners of Ferry's mouth twitched. "The father of this little girl is a Marine Sergeant named John Smith. Since the collapse of "Free Vietnam" due to civil war five years ago and the Viet Cong invaded Saigon, Sergeant Smith has been separated from Ms. Nguyen Mei Xin.

　Nguyen Mei Sim raised her daughter alone during the war. She finally survived until the US military returned to Saigon, and then came to inquire about her boyfriend's situation.

　Oh, this is truly a touching love story in troubled times..."

　As he sighed with emotion, he muttered to himself: Oh, this is the real-life version of the "Miss Saigon" story!

　——"Miss Saigon", a classic Broadway musical in the late 20th century, is a modern adaptation of Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly".

　It also tells the tragic love story of an Asian woman abandoned by her white lover, but the setting has been moved from late 19th-century Japan to Saigon during the Vietnam War, and the American sailors and Japanese geishas in "Madame Butterfly" have been replaced by American soldiers and Vietnamese bar girls.

　The story revolves around an American soldier and a Vietnamese woman who lives in a nightclub and falls deeply in love. They secretly get married, but the soldier leaves Vietnam, leaving the pregnant woman behind. The woman then raises their son alone, dreaming of him returning to take her and her son to America for a better life. However, she learns he's already married after returning. Disillusioned, the woman commits suicide.

　According to the creator of "Miss Saigon," his original intention was to use this tragic love story to promote anti-war sentiment and call for world peace. However, the film's message is truly... twisted. The protagonist is a complete jerk, a complete reincarnation of Uncle Sam. Whether in Saigon or Kabul, he arrives with hope and leaves with it. He leaves with nothing but a mess and illegitimate children.

　Moreover, the whole play reveals the Oriental people's yearning for the "sweet air" of the United States, as well as the depiction of Oriental stereotypes from a Western perspective: Oriental men are listless and vulgar, and Oriental women are passionate but helpless, and need to be "educated" and saved by old white men who represent civilization.

　The heroine's final suicide in the play was not because the hero abandoned her, but because he learned that she could not go to the United States...

　Americans might find this drama incredibly romantic, but people from the East might find it shattering and humiliating.

　Fortunately, although Ms. Ruan Meixin in front of us is unlikely to find her American lover, she can at least go to the United States.

　"Although I sympathize with this lady's situation, finding her lover... may be difficult.

　After all, it had been five years since they separated, and we had been at war all those years.

　Sergeant Smith could have died in battle, married and had children in the United States, or even still be in a prisoner-of-war camp on the Sino-Vietnamese border—where the commander of the US military in Vietnam (Phili's predecessor, General Paul Huggins) is currently being held.

　Kissinger said this to Dawn Island, expressing his helplessness and hoping that the other party would comfort the lady. At the same time, he couldn't help but mutter to Firi, "John Smith? Is there really someone with that name? Why does it sound like a pseudonym?"

　"Ahem, although I'm afraid we can't help this lady find her lover, we can at least help her take her child to the United States."

　Fili coughed twice and added, "The program to accommodate Vietnam War refugees is still ongoing. Washington approved another 200,000 new refugee quotas in January of this year. The Vietnamese refugee camps in California happen to be under my management. Ms. Nguyen Mei-Sen and her children can follow me on the Snow Wind to Los Angeles. Once in the United States, they can go through the process of obtaining green cards while slowly searching for Sergeant John Smith..."

　Sure enough, when she heard that she could go to the United States to get a green card, Ms. Ruan Meixin's eyes immediately lit up. She instantly forgot about her American lover who had been waiting for her for five years, grabbed Fili's hands, and expressed her gratitude profusely in an extremely excited tone.

　Then, she pulled the child and followed behind Fili with her head lowered, as if she was determined to hold on to this thigh tightly.

　Dr. Kissinger said nothing to this effect, but after he separated from General Dawn Island, he glanced at Ruan Meixin.

　She opened her mouth and murmured to Fili, "What do you mean by undying love? Sure enough, she's just another Asian woman obsessed with the American dream!"

　Was her love affair all about getting a green card? By the way, how many Vietnamese have immigrated to the United States in the past few years?

　As far as I can remember, there seemed to be virtually no Vietnamese in the US ten years ago. But now, major cities across the country are teeming with Vietnamese terrorists, beating up anti-war protesters. And in American bars, you can see Vietnamese girls soliciting customers everywhere.

　"Well, I don't have very precise statistics, but I do know the approximate numbers."

　Firi thought for a moment and replied, "If you include the Chinese, Thais, Filipinos, and Malays who pretended to be Vietnam War refugees, as well as those who stowed away, then the United States has accepted at least 200 million immigrants from Southeast Asia since 1963."

　"Two million? Two million immigrants in just five years? Tsk, the Vietnamese are so lucky to be able to fight such a war with the United States."