Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

The Italian Communist Party (CCP) has a 38% approval rating in the latest polls in Italy. If a general election were held now, the CCP could very well enter the government and even become the ruling party!

The largest opposition parties in NATO's two most important European powers are both communist parties, and their intelligence agencies spend astronomical sums of money in Europe every year.

The CIA began providing covert funding to anti-communist political forces in Italy in 1948, averaging tens of millions of dollars annually, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. However, its actual intervention went far beyond this; the CIA was involved in political maneuvering during every Italian election for at least 24 years.

Historically, the left-wing coalition did not win the election until 1996, which was against the backdrop of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The CIA has been secretly channeling funds to the Italian Catholic Democratic Party, which has been in power for decades, through Vatican channels and labor organizations to launder money, manipulate the media to fund anti-communist propaganda, and use overseas procurement contracts from the Ministry of Defense to weaken the Italian Communist Party's control over labor unions.

In Italy, the Church viewed the Italian Communist Party as a threat to atheism and used its enormous influence to urge believers not to vote for the Communist Party. The then Pope even claimed that voting for the Communist Party would be "cursed forever"!

Even more extreme were Operation Gradio and the Tension Strategy. In 1990, Italian Prime Minister Andreotti admitted to the Senate that a secret paramilitary force codenamed "Gradio" had existed in Italy since 1958, with the approval of the Italian government. This secret army was nominally intended for resistance behind enemy lines during the Soviet invasion, but in practice, its function became preventing the left wing from coming to power.

In the early 1970s, support for the Italian Communist Party was steadily rising. The government turned to the Gladio network to implement its tension strategy. At a top-secret Gladio meeting in 1972, an official mentioned launching a preemptive attack on the Communist Party. Gladio's connections with all three of Italy's intelligence agencies and the P2 Freemasonry organization were well-documented; the head of each intelligence unit was a member of P2.

Framing, framing, deception... even decoy operations.

1969年12月皮亚扎丰塔纳爆炸案造成17人死亡，1980年博洛尼亚火车站爆炸案造成85人死亡，这些经过多年调查已经明确确认是右翼极端分子与意大利军事情报机构勾结、作为持续的张力战略的一部分实施的。目的是抹黑意大利左翼维持对腐败现状的支持。

Even as late as 1975, the Committee on the 40 (the secret operations approval body under the National Security Council) was approving new secret operations plans in Italy, with the explicit objective of "preventing the Italian Communist Party from becoming the dominant party in Italy and preventing it from entering the Italian cabinet." President Ford personally approved the operation, deeming it crucial to U.S. national security.

But now a new problem has emerged in Italy—the Catholic Democratic Party has collapsed.

The Catholic Democratic Party has been in power for nearly 50 years, and although it has never won a majority of votes on its own, it has always been the core of coalition governments. The Italian Socialist Party is its main coalition partner, while the Italian Communist Party has always been the largest opposition party, but has never entered the government.

The underlying logic of this situation is the Cold War: no matter how much voters hate the Democratic Party's corruption, they dare not let the Communist Party come to power because the United States will not allow it, and NATO will not allow it! Therefore, the ruling party can engage in corruption with impunity, since voters have no other choice!

But things took a turn two years ago when, in 1992, Milan investigating judge Antonio Di Pietro arrested Socialist Party official Mario Chiesa for accepting bribes from a cleaning company. Socialist Party secretary Clácsi called Chiesa a villain and a black sheep, and Chiesa, abandoned by the party, angrily implicated his colleagues, triggering a chain reaction.

The investigation quickly expanded from Milan to the entire country. By early 1994, police had uncovered bribes totaling over 6200 billion lire, and 4800 people had been arrested. The investigation ultimately involved over 5000 people, hundreds were convicted, and at least 31 of those investigated committed suicide.

The entire system was exposed as follows: a systematic kickback system had been established between politicians and businessmen, with approximately 10% of the public works contract amount flowing to major political parties as kickbacks, and almost all major political parties were involved.

The result was that all ruling parties collapsed after the war.

In 1992, the four parties in the Italian coalition government—the Catholic Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Liberal Party—all collapsed in different ways within two years. The only surviving national parties were the Italian Communist Party, the Republican Party, and the Italian Social Movement (a neo-fascist party).

Of the remaining three major parties, the weakest is the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist party that was entirely fostered by the United States in the last two years to counterbalance the left. The Republican Party, which is slightly stronger, is more conservative and will siphon off some voters from the coalition government.

In its original history, the Italian Communist Party disintegrated with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Three days after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 12, 1989, CPI General Secretary Ocacito announced in the Bologna workers' district of Bologna that the party must change its path, including possibly changing its name. In February 1991, the CPI held its 20th Congress in Rimini, officially announcing its dissolution. A majority of delegates decided to form the Left Democratic Party, while a minority who opposed the name change formed a separate organization called the "Reconstruction Communist Party."

The resulting division permanently weakened the Italian left. After its defeat in the 1994 general election, the Left Democratic Party moved further toward the center, allied with former Catholic Democrats, gradually abandoned its working-class base and left-wing culture, and completely transformed itself.

Around 10 party members who refused to switch sides joined the Reconstruction Communist Party, which was once seen as a new hope for the European left and won millions of votes in national elections on several occasions, but it also collapsed by the late 2000s.

But on this timeline, the Berlin Wall did not fall, and the Iron Curtain of the Cold War spread to the Balkans. The confrontation between the two superpowers and the two ideologies waxed and waned, and many people believed that the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union would cast a shadow of nuclear war over the millennium.

Perhaps in the distant fortieth millennium, the life-or-death class struggle between communism and capitalism will continue...

Just two years ago, during the UN intervention in the Yugoslav Wars, Italy served as a logistics center for the UN peacekeeping forces. In order to strengthen its infiltration into Italy, the Soviet Union sent a large number of logistics engineers and deployed many logistics bases in Italy, taking this opportunity to promote the real Soviet Union to the Italian people on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

With the rise of the internet, the Warsaw Pact's internet infiltration of the Iron Curtain became ubiquitous. Especially after the Yugoslav Wars, many refugees fled from Slovenia into northern Italy. Their religious ideologies added pressure to Italy's already chaotic society (many of those fleeing were Muslims heavily influenced by Serbia). Meanwhile, after the collapse of neighboring Albania, it exported arms to gangs across Europe, and numerous Albanian gangs, relying on their military weaponry, taught local Italian gangs a lesson...

The Italian Communist Party's propaganda is very effective. Unlike the French Communist Party, they have over a third of the Italian electorate supporting the Communist Party, meaning the Italian Communist Party is truly not short of money. The Italian Communist Party directly tells the people:

"It was the ruthless economic plunder of Albania by American imperialism that led to Albania's complete collapse. If the Soviet Union hadn't chosen to rescue Albania, then the bandits who robbed Greek banks in T-54s would have targeted Italy next!"

Local Italian gangs overwhelmingly support the Communist Party's views, and gangs in the northern regions bordering Slovenia are even cooperating with the Italian Communist Party to establish community defenses and strictly prevent Yugoslav refugees from entering.

Italy really has to thank its big brother. There are too many amazing people in the Balkans, and they just need to be restrained. Without an iron-fisted leader to keep the whole of Europe in check, it would be in trouble.

Gephat is now truly regretting his actions. He shouldn't have robbed Albania in the first place. Not only did he not gain much from the national treasury, but now the aftermath of Albania's collapse will require the United States to spend money and effort to clean up the mess.

But he had to play along, because a NATO member state governed by a communist party would be America's biggest nightmare since the Cold War! Would a NATO country governed by a communist party open its military bases to the Soviet Union? Would it share intelligence with Moscow? Would it withdraw from NATO?

Although intelligence agencies believe that the French and Italian Communist parties are unlikely to govern alone in the short term, the possibility of them joining a coalition government, such as forming a left-wing alliance with the Socialist Party, remains a possibility...

"Maybe it can even bring some fresh blood to everyone."

This is the view of some political commentators in Europe. In their opinion, it's no big deal to have the Communist Party as a "partner" in the coalition government, "because it's not like the Communist Party is the prime minister."

But Washington sees it differently. The Soviet Union's strategy in recent years included: deepening economic cooperation with Western Europe, not outwardly expressing any intention to overthrow Western European regimes by force, and withdrawing some troops from Eastern Europe to reduce Western European hostility towards the Soviet Union.

All of this was for one goal: to make Western European countries realize that the Soviet Union was not a threat, to gradually increase their dependence on Moscow, and to allow the Communist Party to slowly grow in the political space of Western Europe!

Previously, Western Europe was extremely wary of communist parties, fearing that Moscow and these communist parties would collude with each other. The day after the communists were elected, the Soviet Union launched the Hallelujah whirlwind in the Fulda region of West Germany, killing West Germany in 48 hours and allowing it to drink from the English Channel in a week.

However, if the Soviet Union showed an attitude of peaceful coexistence and deepening cooperation, and provided sufficient benefits for cooperation, then politicians in Western European countries would have a reasonable reason to allow the Communist Party to participate in politics and enter parliament in order to alleviate public discontent.

"Anyway, we can't cause any major trouble." "Anyway, the president can't be a communist." "We should have faith in the democratic system"...

Little did they know that the only reason the Soviet Union did not use force to coerce Europe was that the United States had not yet given up on Europe.

That day is not far off.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The U.S. Congress initially approved only $1.2 billion in additional funding for the CIA and other intelligence agencies to curb the expansion of communist influence in Western Europe.

But the CIA thought it wasn't enough: "Fighting on two fronts at the same time, France and Italy, how can 1.2 billion be enough? I think 2 billion is more!"

President Gepphardt managed to reduce the total budget of the major intelligence agencies from $37 billion to $28 billion, after all, the United States was in dire financial straits after the Great Depression, and every penny had to be carefully calculated.

Then the results of the French general election came out, and the French Communist Party became the largest opposition party in France. The CIA's intelligence agency in Italy warned that if the chaotic situation in Italy could not be stabilized, the Italian Communist Party would win the parliamentary elections in August 1995 and become the ruling party.

So Congress gritted its teeth and approved another 1.5 billion.

A total of $2.7 billion in emergency funding was allocated to curb the expansion of the French and Italian Communist Parties. Gephart was unhappy with this money because the Taiwan Strait crisis occurred around the same time in 1995, requiring the US to expend even more effort on firefighting in the East, and the Democratic Party's performance in the 1995 midterm elections was not good…

Why are there bad things happening all over the world as soon as he takes office? Why does he have to spend the money he finally managed to cut back on on his allies?

The ruling Democratic Party only needs to spend money, while the non-ruling Republican Party has many more considerations.

The Republican Party gained an advantage in the midterm elections, and many blue states that supported Gephart switched to the Republican Party because he did not spend much money domestically during his second term. Republican populist leader Donald Trump gained notoriety, and he would speak out every time Congress was about to approve additional budgets for allies.

Trump didn't talk about leadership in the free world or the sacred mission of containing communism. Instead, he said, "Why should the great United States spend billions of dollars to care who the French vote for? Let the French vote for communists if they want—what's it to us? Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on American roads and bridges?"

He also told voters in the country: "We are all fuel in the truck. We don't need to care whether the vehicle next to us is going forward or backward, turning left or right. You just need to know that the driver is sending you to other cars to burn!"

Such rhetoric did have some appeal during Gephart's second term, as he believed the United States had recovered from the Great Depression and could reassure NATO allies. However, domestic voters clearly did not buy it.

Although Gephardt considers himself a trade protectionist, he at least knows how to maintain NATO unity and listens to the opinions of veteran Cold War politicians, especially those who experienced the Truman and Kennedy eras.

But Trump treats the US like a company, cutting off businesses that are too costly.

NATO? Too costly.

Stationing troops in Europe and the United States? The cost is too high.

Providing aid to Western Europe to contain communism? The cost is too high.

As Gephart watched Trump's poll numbers climb steadily, he knew that if Trump one day actually secured the presidential nomination—

“What will our America become… become…” he murmured.

But that's for later, because right now he has two more pressing problems to deal with.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Two pieces of bad news arrived on the same day.

The first was the coup in Slovenia.

A military coup occurred in the former Yugoslav republic, the first to gain independence during the Yugoslav Wars and the one with the closest ties to the West. Details of the coup had not yet reached Washington, but initial intelligence indicated that a group of military officers had seized power under the pretext of restoring order, dissolved parliament, and arrested the prime minister.

Slovenia is a candidate member of NATO and has been applying for membership. Regardless of the reasons behind the coup, it will disrupt NATO's entire strategic deployment in the Balkans.

The second is Greece.

Greece, a full NATO member, is teetering on the brink of a debt crisis. Its public debt exceeds 100% of GDP, and interest payments consume a significant portion of the government budget. The drachma (the Greek currency) has plummeted in the foreign exchange market as international investors sell off Greek government bonds.

The current crumbling right-wing government has sent a message to Washington through diplomatic channels:

"If the United States does not provide Greece with emergency economic aid to stabilize its currency, provide loans, and send a signal of US support to the international market within three days, the Greek government will hold early elections."

Given the current political landscape in Greece, the general election is highly likely to be won by the left-wing coalition (including the Communist Party of Greece).

The left-wing alliance has publicly stated that it will consider withdrawing from NATO and joining the Warsaw Pact, because the big brother is really giving them money!

What's wrong with being the Soviet Union's little brother? When they're short of money, the big brother provides economic aid; when they're in debt, the big brother helps them pay it off; during political crises, the big brother can send tanks to crush the opposition, saving them military spending to develop their economy. The big brother's only requirements are to maintain diplomatic consistency and follow Moscow's instructions in domestic affairs.

Now that the Soviet Union is thriving, the EU doesn't want Greece, and the US is just a bloodsucker, so why not go and join the Communists?

A NATO member state, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, within easy reach of the Soviet Mediterranean Fleet...

Europe, the bastion of the free world that the United States spent half a century and trillions of dollars building, is crumbling piece by piece. Meanwhile, in the United States, Trump is shouting at rallies that Europeans should mind their own business and that America First is the priority.

Gephart closed his eyes and picked up the phone.

"Get me the Secretary of State. We need to find a way to raise more money to support Greece."

Chapter 151 Eagle: I'm here to start a war.

Greece's problems were so great that even the Soviet Union, a "patriarchal" power that was usually willing to spend lavishly on its younger brothers, dared not take over Greece's debt.

Yes, the Soviet economy was indeed quite good, but since the late 80s, the Soviet Union had taken over the debts of a large number of its Eastern European allies. Over the past five years, it had managed to slowly pay off almost a third of the debts. Now, with Greece added to the mix, five years of hard work have been for nothing.

Besides, Greece is a NATO member state, so why would the Soviet Union save it? Even if they saved Greece, it might not necessarily join the Warsaw Pact, given the large number of US military bases in Greece.

Judging from the moral standards of Americans, it would not be surprising if the Greek left-wing coalition came to power, withdrew from NATO, and the Soviet Union took over Greece's debts. It would be no surprise that right-wing parties in Greece would immediately don black shirts and march on Athens to reap the benefits.

The Americans had done too many unethical things, and the Soviet Union was extremely worried that it would be throwing good money after bad. Slava did not want to confront NATO forces directly on Greek soil. The already fractured NATO must not be allowed to reunite under Soviet pressure!

Can the European Community (EC) save it? The EC doesn't dare either. President Gephardt has drained the resources of each of the NATO allies, and the EC's own economy is only slowly recovering.

Asking the European Community to bail out Greece is no less difficult than asking a billionaire to solve the debts left by Evergrande's financial crisis.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Athens, Greece, June 1995.

Greece is dying. A nation's economy has slid from "very bad" to "on the verge of collapse" in just a few months, from "collapse" to "unable to pay," and from "unable to pay" to—

Well, nobody knows what happens after you can't pay.

Because in the postwar Western world, such a thing has never happened to a NATO member state, a European country, or a part of the free world.

Greece was the first.

On the eve of the Greek debt crisis, the Soviet Union discussed very carefully whether to stabilize the situation in Greece. After all, the war in the Balkans had just ended and Slavia had just managed to contain the remnants of Yugoslavia. If Greece were to experience another crisis, it would be even more troublesome.

However, the leader strongly opposed supporting Greece in the Politburo, saying, "Both the left-wing Panhellenic Socialist Party and the right-wing New Democracy Party are equally rotten in Greece. Both are garbage in their treatment of the Greek economy and governance. Unless Greece completely changes its capitalist system, any investment we make in Greece will be a negative return!"

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, she had very frequent contact with Europe, and she knew all too well how Greece had managed to get to where it is today.

At that time, Greece's GDP was approximately $1030 billion, its public debt was approximately $1460 billion, and its foreign debt was $260 billion. The debt repayment expenditure (interest + principal) of the foreign debt alone was equal to 161% of Greece's export revenue!

Since the overthrow of the military government and the restoration of democracy in Greece in 1974, the right-wing New Democracy party and the left-wing Panhellenic Socialist Party have alternated in power. Both parties have developed a system of patronage politics—using public sector positions, pensions, and subsidies in exchange for votes.

PS: The Panhellenic Socialist Party was once a radical party inspired by Marxism. After coming to power, it gradually became less radical and eventually evolved into a moderate social democratic party. This once again proves that even the best communist party can be peacefully transformed under the capitalist system.

In the 80s, the development funds allocated to Greece by the European Community were used to consolidate the political base of the ruling party, rather than being invested in productive activities that could generate sustainable growth.

At the time, the Panhellenic Socialist Party was in power. Since coming to power in 1981, it had massively expanded the public sector, which now employed over 60 people, with wages accounting for approximately 12% of GDP. Public sector positions were not allocated based on ability, but rather on political loyalty. You voted for me, and I gave you a civil service position.

Do they look familiar, kids?

Meanwhile, the Panhellenic Socialist Party significantly increased wages and pensions. Greece's pension system is extremely generous, with a low retirement age and a high replacement rate. Certain professions (such as hairdressers) are classified as dangerous and allow for early retirement. They also receive a 13th and 14th month's salary; all public sector employees receive 14 months' salary annually (the two extra months are paid at Easter and Christmas)!

The key point is that these expenses were not paid for by increasing taxes, but by borrowing.

Both New Democracy and the Panhellenic Socialist Party finance their public welfare reforms, wage expansions, and other patronage practices through domestic and foreign borrowing, rather than through taxation as is the case in Western Europe and Scandinavia.

Lending money to Greece is like lending money to a gambler. No, a gambler might win money at a casino, but if you lend money to Greece, they'll just use it as wages and bribes and absorb it internally without ever uttering a sound.

Greece's tax system is also extremely poor, with tax evasion becoming a culture. The International Monetary Fund estimates that self-employed individuals in Greece underreport their income by 45%, using cash transactions and informal practices to evade formal tracking.

Greece’s economic structure makes tax evasion almost inevitable. The service sector accounts for about 63% of GDP, and a large number of small businesses and self-employed individuals use cash for transactions. The shipping industry, as one of Greece’s most important industries, also enjoys constitutional tax exemptions. Greece’s tax authorities are understaffed and corrupt, and tax officials themselves are part of a sanctuary system.

The result is a vicious cycle: the government can't collect enough taxes → it has to borrow money to maintain its spending → debt increases → interest increases → it needs more revenue → it still can't collect taxes → it continues to borrow money.

In general, when faced with this situation, a country will definitely need to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, such as cutting military budgets, or using its ingenuity to allow the military to engage in business. But this is not the case for Greece. In the 1980s, Greece's military budget averaged more than 6% of its GDP, which was used to defend against Türkiye.

Following Turkey's invasion of Cyprus in 1974, relations between Greece and Turkey remained in a quasi-war state. Greece felt the need to develop a comprehensive military force encompassing land, sea, and air, as its geographical conditions necessitated such all-around defensive capabilities.

The dispute between Greece and Turkey involves multiple dimensions, including the Aegean continental shelf, airspace, and the occupation of Cyprus. In 1995, the Turkish parliament also declared that any attempt by Greece to expand its territorial waters would be considered an act of war.

Thus, between 1985 and 1995, excessive defense spending contributed approximately $450 billion to Greece's public debt. Corruption within the government inevitably affected the military, with Greece purchasing large quantities of military equipment from France and Germany, and these arms sales contracts rife with kickbacks and corruption.

But Greece is short of money, isn't it? Where would it get so much money to buy equipment?

It's simple, just borrow money to buy a tank!

Hitler could borrow money to build tanks and maintain his war machine by plundering other countries. Who would Greece dare to attack? Its neighbors were all Warsaw Pact members. Would Greece attack the Soviet Union?

To make matters worse, Greece is currently attempting to stimulate its economy, issuing large amounts of government bonds in foreign currency on the international market, leading to a significant increase in interest costs. The implied interest rate on its borrowing is now higher than the nominal GDP growth rate, and the debt itself is expanding at a rate far exceeding economic growth. Even if the Greek government does not increase spending at all, interest alone will cause the debt to snowball.

As creditor nations, West Germany and France felt that Greece might not be able to repay its debts if it continued down this path. Therefore, the two countries pressured Greece at the European Community Congress to tighten its economy to repay its debts, or else Greece would not be allowed to join the Eurozone.