Resource Tycoon Reborn

Chapter 198 America’s Destination

Fang Mingyuan was shocked by his own idea. But if he thought about it carefully, it was very possible. Only in this way can he explain why the Americans reacted like this before Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Weird, completely different from the attitude of Americans after the invasion!

Fang Mingyuan remembered clearly that on the first day after the Iraqi army invaded Kuwait, US President Bush delivered a speech to the nation, severely condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait as a naked aggression and a challenge to the international order after the end of the Cold War.

, posing a real threat to the national interests of the United States, and announced the freezing of all assets of Iraq and Kuwait in the United States. At the same time, the U.S. government made a strong military response. Two aircraft carrier battle groups were launched less than a month after Iraq invaded Kuwait.

He was ordered to sail to the Gulf area when he was young. He also demanded extremely strictly that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait unconditionally!

On August 3, the United States and the Soviet Union reached a consensus. The Soviet Union changed its usual stance of opposing the United States in regional conflicts around the world since the Cold War. They jointly issued a "Joint Statement" demanding that Iraq must immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Kuwait.

, fully restored Kuwait's sovereignty, legal regime and territorial integrity. On the same day, the Soviet government stopped arms supplies and military assistance to Iraq.

It is precisely the agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union on the basic stance on the Gulf crisis, coupled with the fact that most other countries or international organizations in the world responded quickly to Iraq's invasion, and generally strongly resisted and condemned Iraq's aggression. The United Nations Security Council and its members

The country responded to the Gulf crisis in an unprecedentedly rapid and almost unanimous manner. This allowed the United Nations Security Council to successfully pass a series of resolutions imposing sanctions on Iraq. Although the Soviet Union did not directly send troops to participate in the war against Iraq, it did send troops to a multinational force organized by the United States.

The Gulf's supportive attitude allows the United States to take various military actions without any scruples.

On August 7, the first batch of American troops set foot on the soil of Saudi Arabia. It took less than five days from the time the troops were decided to send troops to the time when the soldiers set foot on the Arabian Peninsula.

Expensive and fast.

The US Secretary of State later went to great lengths to organize an alliance of thirty-four countries that jointly sent troops to fight back against Iraq. In fact, many of these alliance countries were unwilling to participate in this military action. Some believed that this war was an Arab war.

Internal war, some are afraid that the United States will further strengthen its influence in Kuwait and dominate the Gulf region. In the end, many countries reluctantly agreed to participate under preferential conditions such as economic assistance and debt forgiveness from the United States.

After driving Iraq out of Kuwait, the US military has been stationing a large number of troops in Arab countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, it is to prevent Iraq from attacking other countries again. On the other hand, it also defines the Middle East as its sphere of influence.

You must know that since the 1970s, as Middle Eastern countries have generally nationalized oil companies, Western countries led by the United States have basically lost the initiative to control the world's oil supply. They can only rely on the International Energy Organization and energy conservation

Technology passively responded to the fluctuations in the world oil market and countered the quota production mechanism of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and OPEC. However, the Gulf War brought American power back to the Persian Gulf! And two thousand years later, it controlled Iraq, the oil reserves

It occupies the entire territory of the world's second largest country. Since then, the United States has controlled Iraq's oil exploration rights and pricing power, and has also controlled the oil supply in the entire Gulf region. It will even have an important inhibitory effect on the oil policies of OPEC member states.

This effect made Fang Mingyuan think of the term "oil crisis"!

The oil crisis refers to the behavior of Arab countries to achieve their political goals by restricting oil production, raising prices and embargoing oil on many occasions. It started in the Fourth Middle East War in the 1970s, when twelve Arab countries including Egypt and Syria

The country launched a war against Israel. Since Israel received the support of Western countries led by the United States, the war did not go smoothly. The two sides showed a stalemate, and even the Arab coalition was at a disadvantage. At this time, several major Arab forces

The oil-producing countries announced that they would raise the price of oil in the Gulf region. This decision represented the official start of the oil war launched by the Arab world to attack Israel and its supporters, and the first oil crisis that shocked the world broke out.

In the next few days, oil-producing countries in the Arab countries announced one after another that they would take back the shares owned by their own oil companies, European and American oil companies, and crude oil production in various countries was reduced one after another, reducing supply to Western countries led by the United States. Later, they completely

They immediately stopped oil exports to the United States and announced that they would withdraw the right to price crude oil. As a result, in just three months, the price of world oil nearly tripled. This triggered the most serious global crisis after World War II.

Economic crisis. The oil crisis that lasted for three years had a serious impact on the economies of developed countries and had a series of far-reaching impacts on the world economy thereafter.

According to relevant records, the oil weapons of Arab countries dealt a heavy blow to the world economy that was heavily dependent on oil at that time. The United States bore the brunt of its daily oil imports, which were reduced by millions of barrels. Severe energy shortages caused a large number of factories in the United States to close down.

shutdown. The U.S. government also had to declare a "state of emergency" across the country and took a series of tight measures to save oil and electricity, including reducing domestic flights, limiting vehicle speeds, and rationing heating oil for citizens. On Sunday

Measures such as closing gas stations across the country, banning and restricting outdoor light advertising, and even the lights on top of the White House and around the United Nations Building were ordered to be turned off for a limited time.

In order to save oil, President Nixon also ordered the normal speed of the presidential plane to be reduced and canceled the escort aircraft that should have accompanied him on weekend trips. The U.S. Congress urgently passed a bill authorizing the president to implement national rationing of all petroleum products.

During this oil crisis, almost half of the U.S. Department of Defense's normal oil supply was interrupted, and U.S. garrisons in Europe and the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean had to use their wartime oil reserves.

During this crisis, the industrial production of the United States and Japan has declined significantly, and the economic growth of all industrialized countries has slowed significantly. However, the economic income of Arab countries has increased significantly.

The second oil crisis occurred in the late 1970s. Due to drastic changes in Iran's political situation, the pro-American king went into exile overseas, religious leader Khomeini came to power, and the Iran-Iraq war broke out, which triggered the oil crisis. This

This state lasted for more than half a year and became a major reason for the overall recession of the Western economy in the late 1970s.

It can be said that both oil crises caused serious losses to the economic development of European and American countries. The third oil crisis was caused by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

However, since the United States stationed its troops in the Persian Gulf, although the world oil price has continued to fluctuate and has climbed to a historical high price of more than 140 US dollars per barrel after two thousand years, although there is indeed a factor of US dollar depreciation.

But the Western world no longer shouts about oil crisis.

The more Fang Mingyuan thought about it, the more he felt that the whole thing was like a trap set by the United States in the Middle East! Why didn't he think of the connection earlier? Otherwise, maybe...

"Hello? Hello? Mingyuan, are you still there?" Su Huandong on the phone said strangely after not hearing Fang Mingyuan speak for a long time.

"Grandpa Su, I'm listening." There was a faint vibrato in Fang Mingyuan's voice after he had woken up, but Su Huandong, who was also in an excited mood, didn't notice it.

"Mingyuan, do you mean that the United States will send troops to the Persian Gulf to drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait?" Su Huandong said unconfidently, "But can the Soviet Union agree? Iraq is its close ally in the Middle East, and Americans are not afraid of war.

Expansion?" Iraq can be said to be an ally of the Soviet Union that has been operating in the Middle East for many years. The Iraqi army is basically armed with Soviet-style equipment. Since the Cold War, for decades, the United States and the Soviet Union have been in every corner of the world.

They are all fighting endlessly. Could it be said that there will be an exception here in the Persian Gulf?

"Grandpa Su, if it were the era when Khrushchev was in power in the Soviet Union, I dare say that the Americans would not dare, because that would very likely lead to a nuclear war. But now the Soviet Union is under Gorbachev, who is implementing reforms

With his new thinking, he is actively moving closer to the Western world. The Soviet Union has given up its opposition to the United States in politics, military, and diplomacy. And I personally believe that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait will cause widespread chaos in countries around the world.

Condemn, the Soviet Union will not risk the world's disdain and become an enemy of the United States and other countries around the world for it!" Fang Mingyuan said with absolute certainty. Su Huandong on the phone fell into a long silence.

"Mingyuan, the day after tomorrow, Kuwait's diplomatic envoy and cabinet minister of petroleum, Ahmed Salim Al-Sabah, will visit our country to discuss the situation in the Gulf with our prime minister. What do you think about this?" Although it was stated that he knew that Fang Mingyuan was still there.

He was just a junior high school student, but Su Huandong seemed to have forgotten this at this time.

Fang Mingyuan pondered for a moment, and then said solemnly: "Grandpa Su, of course we are on the side of the winner. Kuwait will definitely be rebuilt after the war, and I think you are very clear about the business opportunities contained in this. If

If possible, do your best to show friendship to Kuwait! In the future, we need Kuwait’s oil.”