Father of France

Chapter 89 French-style processing solutions
Although France is a long-established imperial power and the strongest Latin American country, it has never really put much effort into developing Latin America.

Corman believes the reason is the political instability in France, with the monarchy and the republic taking turns in power. Even the republic has frequent changes in government, and there is no environment for policies to be implemented in the long term. As a result, the vast majority of capital in Latin America is private.

After much thought, aside from having a colony in Latin America, the only legacy I can recall, whether positive or negative, is Haiti, a model of international beggars and gang rule.

Haiti isn't entirely without value. If Koeman were a Soviet citizen, he would see Haiti as even more valuable than Cuba. Being so close to the United States, and with smuggling people into the country being just as difficult as with Cuba, it would be perfect as a one-time bomb, a golden waterfall for the United States.

Apart from that, its value in other aspects is negligible.

In stark contrast to France, Germany, though a newly emerging imperialist country and not a Latin American nation, has indeed invested heavily in Latin America, dating back to the reign of Wilhelm II fifty years ago, forming a complete system from ideology to action.

Germany's urge to enter Latin America was even stronger. Militarily, Germany also attached great importance to the armament of various South American countries, and successively provided instructors and weapons to countries such as Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

The Third Reich's operations in Latin America were relatively small, and it absorbed a significant portion of the Second Reich's legacy. Now, Corman believes that France can also utilize this legacy.

“General Steiner, it seems you can be exempted from resting at the Rhine camp,” Koeman said to Erich von Steiner in a friendly manner. “We can talk further about how to use your classified documents on friendly countries, such as France, which shares a Latin culture with Latin America.”

The successors of the orthodox reactionaries do not conceal their true intentions: Germany had a good foundation in Latin America, but now that foundation belongs to France.

Koeman knew, of course, that Latin America was off-limits to certain sectors, not to mention France, and even to Britain, which claimed to have a special relationship with it, such as currency settlement.

But does Latin America have no value in areas other than currency settlement?
It's important to understand that in the 21st century, even setting aside traditional European powers like Britain, France, and Germany, there's still a dent in the wrecked ship.

Do countries like Spain and Portugal, which are clearly second- or even third-tier European countries, rely solely on EU support? Of course not.

Countries like Portugal and Spain are able to survive without intensifying their competition largely because they are Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America.

Portugal's strategy is relatively simple. Because Portugal is too small in size, while Brazil is too large, Portugal's diplomatic and cultural direction is largely to tell Brazil, "I am here to assist you."

Brazil is the leader of the Portuguese-speaking community, while Portugal is the figurehead.

Spain was larger in size. Although in the early postwar period, because Franco was the ruler of Spain, Mexico felt that an opportunity had come and wanted to learn from the example of its neighbor, the United States, betraying Britain, and let Spain know who the big and small kings of the Spanish-speaking world were.

But Spain ultimately pulled through. The United States, unwilling to have a Spanish-speaking world leader next door, adopted a suppressive attitude towards potentially rising Latin American countries. Conversely, with the support of the European Union, Spain maintained some influence, and this remaining influence was enough for Spain to gain huge benefits in Latin America.

Many Spanish companies leverage the advantages of similar language and culture to expand in Latin America. Their strategic investment objectives in Latin America are primarily focused on energy extraction and the service industry.

It can be said that Spain, due to its advantage in language and culture, is second only to the United States in influence in Latin America, even though it cannot compare with the United States.

Spanish companies such as Santander Bank, Telefónica, and MAPFRE are all influential enterprises in Latin America.

In the early postwar period, due to the Franco regime, Spain would certainly be affected for at least twenty years, and France, as a country with Latin culture, had an inescapable responsibility.

Erich von Steiner was released from custody by Koeman, but he could not release him, as a large number of Germans would soon attempt to escape, and Koeman had to be prepared.

Because he couldn't release Erich von Steiner and his wife, Koeman felt embarrassed and said apologetically, "As long as the general's rank isn't SS, we'll do our best to help you become a tainted witness and avoid being purged. Of course, you don't need to go to the Rhine camp either. My comrades are escorting artifacts... wounded soldiers returning home. The Rhine River has become a huge construction site because there are too many prisoners, and the open-air camps aren't big enough. So the general must know what the living conditions are like there."

The mere mention of the open-air camp was enough to fill Hannah with dread. While there were women imprisoned in the Rhine camp, the vast majority were men.

Imagine a sex ratio of one to several dozen, what if Erich von Steiner's wife were imprisoned?
Without even thinking about it, it can be filled up in a day...

Just a month ago, the Allied forces had only about 300,000 prisoners of war. Now, the number has increased tenfold. How could the Rhine Camp expand tenfold in just one month?
However, this issue is irrelevant to Koeman. He is not German. Millions of German prisoners of war will return to the glory days of the Neanderthals in the coming months. It is just unknown what the survival rate will be, and the United States will not let other countries know.

These messages came from Martin, who was on the mission. Unlike Alan, Martin wasn't as familiar with interrogation. The Austrian interception network wouldn't make a difference with him; one more or one less wouldn't make a difference either. So he stayed to do what he knew best, like a diligent little bee coordinating operations related to tobacco, antiques, and oil paintings.

There are also some dangerous operations. France considers the millions of tons of chemical weapons manufactured by Germany during the war to be extremely dangerous, especially given the current instability within Germany.

Such a massive amount of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of illegal armed groups. Although Germany did not use chemical weapons on the battlefield during the war, if the German government collapses, it is hard to guarantee that chaotic armed groups hostile to the Allies will not take the risk of using them.

This posed a significant threat to the Allied occupation efforts, so France proposed that these chemical weapons stored throughout Germany must be properly stored to prevent the Germans from using them when they were desperate.

For security reasons, these chemical weapons certainly cannot remain in Germany. So the second question is, which country will keep them safe?
Germany's neighboring countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, certainly did not have this capability. Britain had this capability but was separated by the Channel. The only remaining countries with this capability were France and the Soviet Union.

The Allied High Command was left with only two options: the Soviet Union or France? Ultimately, the Allied High Command deemed France a more reliable choice.

France offered a solution that the United States highly approved of: burying the chemical weapons in the Sahara Desert.

The United States highly approves of this plan. It should be noted that for a long time, the United States did not have any measures to protect civilians during its nuclear tests on its own soil. During nuclear tests at sea, tourists were required to enter the test site for sightseeing after the test.

The Americans don't even care about the lives of their own citizens. Their plans to conduct virus experiments on Pacific islands and for France to drop chemical weapons in the Sahara Desert are exactly what the Americans want.

It's like the saying goes, great minds think alike. It's just a small group of Black people living there, and there won't be any consequences.

For France, this is also not a concern; at most, it's just a rehearsal for dumping nuclear waste in Africa in the future.

Since the United States had no objections and France also felt there was no problem, the issue was resolved.

There might be problems with the local indigenous people in Africa, but that doesn't matter. France can use its strength and status to deal with these problematic people when it comes to its colonies.

When Martin returned to France to purchase the goods, chemical weapons had already been loaded onto ships and shipped to Africa, with the United States bearing half of the transportation costs.

France will establish a complete storage site in Algeria as a transit point, and then dispose of the chemical weapons in a reasonable, legal, and minimally impactful manner.

In the Austrian town of Feldkisch, Koeman had released General von Steiner and his wife from their confinement, allowing them to move freely within the sight of the French guards. With a degree of freedom restored, General von Steiner no longer cared about how many secrets he kept; cooperation was the only option before him.

Koeman, naturally, dared not neglect such a sensible general, and more information also came from von Steiner: "Many people will choose to go to Genoa, Italy, and take a ship directly to South America."

“Oh? You’ll be disappointed when you get to Genoa,” Coman replied with a chuckle. “There are French troops stationed in Genoa, and I participated in the occupation.”

Although he went to Turin instead of Genoa, it was all the same. German refugees couldn't escape once they arrived, and they would feel even worse, collapsing before reaching their destination.

As for the Swiss route, it's even simpler. The Swiss franc is a gold standard currency and has long been a hard currency in international trade, making it an alternative to avoid transactions with the US dollar.

Koeman was not surprised at all by von Steiner's explanation.

Among the international currencies recognized by the major Eastern power after the Liberation War, the Swiss franc ranked very high and accounted for a considerable proportion of foreign exchange reserves, which is inseparable from Switzerland's traditional strengths.

Given that Switzerland helped the Third Reich evade sanctions during World War II, it's strange that it would help a major Eastern power evade sanctions during the Cold War.
Otherwise, how could Swiss banks be so famous and always appear in movies and TV shows?
“General von Steiner, to be honest, you and a large number of other high-ranking German officials have money in Swiss banks that you can’t keep safe.” Koeman felt it was better to be frank. “Of course, if you can recognize the situation, the Bank of France can launder the huge sums of money you have, but that depends on how much you gain.”

If the numbers are large enough, even if these pre-war German high-ranking officials can retain a portion of their income, everything is negotiable; there's nothing that can't be discussed.

(End of this chapter)