Chapter 386
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Scramble
Reagan's plan to bring down the Soviet Union ended in half success.
The Soviet Union had weakened, but the one reaping the benefits wasn't America—it was Korea.
To make up for this failure, Reagan accelerated the Anglo-Saxon Alliance.
"Our top priority is rebuilding the First World alliance. If we can reunite the First World, we can regain our superiority."
George Herbert Walker Bush, who succeeded Reagan as president, didn't ignore his predecessor's advice.
The new president, upon taking office, toured Europe immediately, putting effort into reaffirming solidarity with the Western allies.
The consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon Alliance and the First World alliance.
While the White House threw itself into rapidly rallying its allies, the CIA wasn't sitting idle either.
Langley focused on groundwork to seize fragments breaking away from the socialist bloc.
"Deploy every means available—coups, whatever it takes."
America had no intention of letting Korea swallow the entire Second World.
The first target was Northern Italy.
The Northern Italian People's Republic was a headache, protruding deep into NATO territory geographically.
Without removing this tumor, securing the Mediterranean would be difficult.
The CIA devised a cunning operation to topple Northern Italy.
"We will proceed with procedures to open the border between Northern and Southern Italy."
This was a unilateral declaration by Southern Italy, without Northern Italy's consent.
Southern Italy showed off by dismantling the barbed wire at the border, as if to prove their declaration was real.
"So, does this mean Northern and Southern Italians can travel freely now?"
"If Northern Italy wants it, it can happen immediately."
It was a statement laced with sly intent.
The announcement was broadcast across Northern Italy via radio waves.
"How does the government plan to respond to Southern Italy's declaration?"
The eyes of Italians turned to Northern Italy.
This left the Northern Italian government holding a hot potato it couldn't handle.
Northern Italy couldn't hide its embarrassment at Southern Italy's unilateral announcement.
What if they responded positively?
The border would collapse.
Once control slipped even once, they'd have no choice but to allow free exchange, and in that setup, Northern Italy—outnumbered in population—risked absorption.
What if they voiced opposition?
"See? The commie bastards are enemies of the Italian people, opposing unification."
No matter the choice, it spelled doom for Northern Italy.
Venice hesitated before the trap.
Spotting Northern Italy's predicament, Korea moved quickly.
Korea proposed a solution to Northern Italy via Moscow.
"Do we really need to agonize over this?"
"Pardon?"
"We can just shift the frame from Italian unification."
Korea suggested reframing the unification issue as an economic one.
"It's great that the Italian peninsula has another chance at unification, but that wouldn't be good for the northerners."
Northern Italy slapped their knee upon hearing this.
'We can't win even winnable fights if we get dragged into their frame. The Koreans are right.'
The Northern Italian government immediately prepared to steer the narrative with this new frame.
At first, they pretended to slightly agree with the unification talk sparked by the border opening issue.
"If North and South freely exchange, we might have to consider unification in the long term."
"That could happen."
"But if unification happens, won't the budget concentrate on the economically backward southern regions and Sicily?"
People felt like cold water had been dumped on them the moment they heard this.
Exactly.
They'd been thinking only of the sweet talk about economic exchange, eased tensions, and unification, but when faced with the costs they'd have to pay, everyone was speechless.
"Estimates put unification costs at over $80 billion alone."
Media outlets, backed by the Northern Italian government, spread stories about unification costs in various versions.
Taxes pouring into Southern Italy.
Southern mafias heading north.
All sorts of rumors circulated, and people gradually began viewing the border opening and unification issue negatively.
The CIA didn't just watch this flow.
"Unification isn't necessarily a loss for the North."
Northern Italy could easily enter Europe, and security burdens would ease.
The unification costs the Northern Italian government hyped weren't a big deal.
The propaganda war between both sides didn't play out only in Italy.
Another divided nation, Germany, became another battleground for clashing camps.
"From the Maas to the Memel, from Etsch to the Belt."
German nationalists, backed by Junkers, had restored the German Empire and joined hands with the CIA to fervently proclaim German nationalism.
"Now Germany must unite again to rebuild a mighty fatherland. Unite for a Germany leading Europe, a number-one world nation."
The power of German nationalism was undeniably strong—even East Germans felt tempted.
To bolster this, America stated that if Germany unified, Washington was willing to intervene in negotiations over Germany's "eastern territory issues."
Korea read America's true intentions in that statement.
"Since they can't take all of Eastern Europe, they're pushing to shift the German border eastward."
Of course, the chance of this reflecting reality was slim to none.
The Soviet Union and Poland, who had carved up Germany's eastern territories, had no reason to spit them back out.
Yet America's reason for floating this was simple.
"How can they team up laughing with the Soviet Union and Poland, the enemies who stole Prussia?"
America spiced it up by sponsoring films about Soviet war crimes from the end of World War II.
This setup was clearly disadvantageous for East Germany.
East Germany was obviously a Soviet puppet regime, while West Germany rode the nationalist wave shouting "Greater Germany."
Which side Germans would pick went without saying.
"Then we need to change the frame."
Korea teamed up with the KGB and others to roll out a new frame.
East Germany's counter to nationalism was "Nazi Germany."
"Think about the monster born from that vaunted German nationalism. It was Hitler's Germany. People think unification is 'good' now, but who knows if it won't sow the seeds for war?"
East Germany pointed out West Germany's historically aggressive stance.
"Look at them right now, clamoring for territory recovery and threatening border negotiations with neighbors—what's the difference from Hitler?"
East Germany said it couldn't trust West Germany's "stance on peace" until it clarified its position on the eastern border.
Of course, East Germany had reasons for saying this.
"It's a trap."
What if West Germany declared it would abandon the eastern border to swallow East Germany?
"These guys shout nationalism while giving up rightful German lands? Greater Germany? What a joke."
The nationalist coin would crash.
What if they didn't recognize the eastern border?
"See? West Germany is Nazi Germany Mark II."
East Germany's frame war wasn't strong enough to extinguish nationalism, but it at least planted unease in people's minds.
"Demanding eastern territory talks does feel a bit like Hitler demanding the Danzig Corridor and sparking World War II."
West Germany didn't just get dragged along by this frame.
"We're different from the Nazis. We've reflected on the Nazi issue."
"Is that so?"
Korea and the Soviet Union had been waiting for exactly that statement.
"Then shouldn't they properly compensate the war victims?"
With the two superpowers setting the stage, Greece and other Eastern European victims rushed in, demanding Germany pay up.
"We've paid reparations."
West and East Germany had indeed shelled out over $50 billion in postwar reparations.
Not all cash—much was in-kind, like machinery and industrial facilities.
But the amount allocated to Eastern European victims was a mere $1.2 billion.
Even considering it was disbursed from 1960 to 1973, it was laughably small compared to the damages.
That background explained why Eastern European nations jumped at the "reparations" talk.
"Germany looted 450 million marks in gold from us Greeks by 1944 standards, but settled for 115 million marks in 1960. Does that make sense? It's not even reparations—it's less than interest on the looted gold. Pay up properly!"
"The reparations issue was settled in 1960. We've given economic aid since—don't talk nonsense!"
Germany was too busy fending off victim nations to dream of building a "unification" frame.
First, it had to deal with the Nazi Germany frame and reparations demands.
Korea and the Soviet Union sneered at the sight.
"Take your conscienceless unification talk to the afterlife."
America's East Germany absorption strategy failed for now, but the game wasn't over.
America still had plenty of openings to exploit.
While Korea focused on swallowing the Second World, what if America wielded influence in Southwest Asia?
Success there could yield spoils more valuable than a few small countries.
Washington decided to throw the dice once more.