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

The meeting concluded by immediately raising the readiness level of the Soviet strategic nuclear forces. Twelve tactical bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs were urgently deployed to forward air bases in East Germany and Poland. Approximately seventy medium-range ballistic missiles were placed on maximum readiness. Nuclear submarines carrying ballistic missiles were sent to hide under the Arctic ice cap and await orders. The army began to move towards East Germany.

The Soviet Union's nuclear forces entered their highest state of combat readiness since the Cold War.

But this time, unlike in history, the Soviet Union did not choose to remain silent.

In the months following the signing of the Geneva Convention, Andropov learned something that Slava had repeatedly emphasized to him: in the age of information warfare, strength alone is not enough; you also need to let the world see what you are doing and why you are doing it.

“Silence only allows your actions to be defined by the other party, while speaking out at least allows you to define your own actions,” Slava said.

On November 3, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently briefed the UN Security Council on the situation of NATO exercises:

"The Soviet Union has taken note of a nuclear war simulation exercise being conducted by NATO that is unprecedented in scale and realism. The Soviet Union expresses serious concern about this exercise, which is being conducted while the ink is still wet on the Geneva Convention. This not only violates the spirit of the treaty, but also has the potential to lead to irreparable and catastrophic consequences due to miscalculation!"

The Soviet Union called on the United States and NATO to immediately inform it of the specific details and timing of the exercises in order to eliminate any possibility of misunderstanding.

On the same day, TASS released a lengthy article to the world entitled “Peace commitments and war preparations – What is NATO doing after Geneva?”

The article reviews a series of events that have occurred from this spring to the present—Reagan’s evil empire speech, the Star Wars program, the Pacific Fleet’s border provocations, the Soviet Union’s restraint in the Korean Air incident, the false alarm of the early warning system in September, the signing of the Geneva Convention, then the invasion of Grenada and the current nuclear war exercise.

There is only one core point: the Soviet Union was always seeking peace, while the United States was always preparing for war.

This article had a ten times greater impact in Europe than the official note from the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On almost the same day, West German newspapers juxtaposed this article by TASS editor-in-chief with photos taken by their own reporters from US military bases in Germany showing convoys of nuclear warheads being transported—on one side, the Soviet Union said, "We are seeking peace," and on the other, American nuclear warhead trucks were seen driving along a highway outside Frankfurt late at night. The impact of the images needed no further explanation.

Within 48 hours, the anti-nuclear movement in West Germany erupted into a fever pitch. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets simultaneously in Bonn, Hamburg, Munich, and Stuttgart. The Green Party launched an emergency debate in the Bundestag demanding that West Germany immediately withdraw from the exercise, while the Social Democratic Party demanded that the United States immediately inform the Soviet Union of the details of the exercise to eliminate the risk of miscalculation.

The debate within the West German government directly disrupted the progress of the exercise.

The Labour government's response was more direct—Prime Minister Ford immediately called Washington after learning of the Soviet Union's Security Council briefing, making it clear that Britain "does not agree with the necessity of conducting such high-risk exercises under the current circumstances," and demanded that the US take immediate measures to de-escalate tensions.

The Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark have also voiced similar concerns.

The rifts within NATO have far exceeded the United States’ expectations. The British Labour Party has refused to deploy missiles, the anti-nuclear movement in West Germany is in full swing, the Netherlands and Belgium have been dragging their feet on missile deployment, and now a nuclear exercise that should have been an “internal affair” has been brought to the UN Security Council by the Soviet Union and has become the focus of global public opinion!

So Schultz stepped into the spotlight once again. On the fourth day after the exercise began, he persuaded Reagan to make a decision that the hawks considered unacceptable:

The US embassy in the Soviet Union informally informed Moscow of the basic nature of the exercise, its expected duration, location, and assurances that it would not involve live-fire drills.

Although the announcement was a few days late, it proved the Americans' retreat.

The exercise ended a few days ahead of schedule. NATO officially stated that all planned objectives were successfully achieved, but those in the know understand that the exercise fell far short of the Pentagon's initial expectations.

The Soviet nuclear forces gradually decommissioned after the exercises concluded, and it wasn't until the end of November that Moscow was completely certain that an attack would not occur.

This "subduing the enemy without fighting" maneuver greatly encouraged the reformists within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, who, led by Gorbachev, hoped that Andropov would recall Slava from the frontier to Moscow.

The reformists finally have leverage to challenge the conservatives.

-

The aftermath of the excellent shooter 83 was more profound than the impact of the exercise itself.

Weeks after the exercise, Reagan received an internal CIA assessment report that analyzed in detail the true intensity of the Soviet military response during the exercise: the Soviet Union genuinely believed it was about to be attacked by nuclear weapons.

Reagan realized that his tough rhetoric and realistic military exercises were increasing the risk of nuclear war due to miscalculation, and since then, the Reagan administration has finally begun to try to de-escalate the situation.

Shift from confrontation to engagement, from pressure to dialogue.

Many commentators in the United States believe that if reformists within the Soviet Communist Party had succeeded Andropov, perhaps the US and the Soviet Union could have peacefully ended the Cold War...?

Meanwhile, Andropov took advantage of the window of opportunity following the arrival of his top striker 83 to do something else—launching a trade offensive against Western European countries on Slava's advice.

The rift within NATO was the biggest strategic achievement the Soviet Union had made in the past year, and the most effective tool to consolidate and widen this rift was trade orders.

We can't exactly use nuclear warheads to win over West German industrialists and British businessmen, can we?

However, natural gas pipeline contracts and industrial equipment procurement orders can achieve this.

Slava firmly believes that when the economic interests of Western European countries are tied to improving relations with the Soviet Union, their willingness to cooperate with the United States in pressuring the Soviet Union within the NATO framework will naturally decrease.

It could even lead to the formation of the European Community in the distant future.

Europe belongs to Europeans, not Americans!

By December, the Soviet Union had signed a framework agreement with West Germany to expand natural gas pipeline supplies, reached letters of intent with Sweden and Finland for the purchase of industrial equipment, and begun negotiations with Britain on easing some restrictions on technology exports.

Each trade agreement was small, given the Soviet Union's economic size and foreign exchange reserves, which limited its purchasing power; however, their political signals far outweighed their economic value.

The Soviet Union extended an olive branch to Western Europe, not nuclear warheads.

Some Western countries also began to ease their technological blockade against the Soviet Union, making limited adjustments in some non-strategic areas. For example, they allowed the export of certain civilian electronic components and machine tools to the Soviet Union.

These items fall into a gray area on the US COCOM control list. Previously, they were subject to a blanket ban on export, but now they are subject to "case-by-case approval."

Although most applications were still rejected, the Soviet Union always found ways to secretly obtain valuable resources through agreements with these countries, such as Japan, or through China.

Meanwhile, a larger issue finally came to the plenary session of the Central Committee at the request of the reformists:

Withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In mid-December, Andropov chaired an enlarged meeting of the Politburo.

This marked the first time the issue of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan had appeared on the Soviet Union's highest decision-making level as a formal agenda item.

Slava succeeded; he successfully persuaded Andropov through his actions. The journey from not discussing it at all to it being considered for study, and finally to being on the agenda, took nearly a year.

Every step of the year—the signing of the Geneva Convention, the restrained handling of the Korean Air incident, the open diplomacy of the early warning system's false alarm, the media offensive by the excellent shooter 83... all paved the way for this moment!

The reformers will prove to the party that the Soviet Union can reduce confrontation, increase dialogue, and shrink its front lines without appearing weak!

Slava received the notification on December 10th; it was a telegram bearing the seal of the General Office of the Central Committee:

"Comrades Ivanov and Ivanova are to be recalled to Moscow immediately to participate in preparations for the enlarged meeting of the Central Committee. Further arrangements will be announced separately."

When Director Nian saw the telegram, he immediately opened a bottle of wine to celebrate.

"Pack your bags! Let's go! We're going back to Moscow and up to the Urals again!"

"That's it? Aren't you going to do something, like take us out for a nice meal?"

"What's so great about this place? I'll take you to France for steak and wine sometime, and I've heard you can even play bridge there!"

Chapter 36 Greetings, Director Si! (8K)

December 15, 1983, the Kremlin.

Slava walked into the Sverdlov Hall looking all high and mighty.

He was wearing a brand-new dark gray suit, made of expensive Finnish material—the Union had just signed trade agreements with many European countries, and Slava, as an official who could attend the expanded Politburo meeting, couldn't afford to be without a proper suit.

So a tailor shop in Moscow, which specializes in serving diplomats, made custom-made suits for him and Director Nian. These suits fit him much better than the domestically made ones he had worn before.

Before he left, Director Nian checked him several times, adjusted his tie, and combed and slicked his hair back with water. Finally, he stepped back, looked him over, and concluded:

"He barely looks like a human being."

"Oh my god, I'm so handsome, don't you think, boss?" Slava admired himself in front of the mirror in his room.

"I think you look even more handsome if you shut your mouth." Director Nian had also changed into a suit. She crossed her arms, wore sunglasses, and chuckled as she looked at Slava.

The hall was already full of people.

Normally, a regular meeting of the Politburo would have around 300 attendees, but this was an expanded meeting. In addition to all members and alternate members of the Politburo, there were also members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, senior generals from the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff Department, heads of relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and several Central Committee members who were specially invited to attend.

Slava belongs to the last category—he was added as a member of the Central Committee at the Central Committee plenary session two days ago, and was also formally appointed by Andropov as the deputy director of the agricultural department of the Central Committee Secretariat, administratively under the jurisdiction of Gorbachev.

The members of the Central Committee were not particularly outstanding. The committee had a total of about 300 people, and it was normal for Andropov to add a few dozen new people during the reshuffling process. There was nothing wrong with that.

As for higher-level Politburo members or alternate members, that was simply impossible. There were only a dozen or so such people in the entire Soviet Union, and they would need decades of experience!

It's also unlikely that he'll become an alternate member of the Politburo. Although Gorbachev joined at the age of 49, he has over 20 years of party experience, which is considered quite senior.

As for Slava? He's only 39 years old. Compared to those committee members who are in their seventies or eighties, he looks like a baby standing there.

But it doesn't matter, everything is difficult at the beginning. At least I've made it into the central government. Who doesn't want to advance? Slava really wants to advance.

His seat was in the very back corner, squeezed together with several other newly appointed young cadres, so far from the podium that he needed a megaphone to hear Andropov speak.

As for Andropov, he sat in the very center of the podium, looking even thinner than he had been at the plenary session in June, ten months earlier.

The gap at the lapel of his suit jacket widened, and the puffiness and pallor of his face made him look like an old rag doll that had been washed too many times. But his eyes were still bright, like an oil lamp whose oil was almost gone but whose wick had not yet burned out.

His kidney failure symptoms have worsened, and he had just finished dialysis a few days ago.

Seated on either side of the General Secretary were some of the most powerful people in the country: Defense Minister Ustinov, Foreign Minister Gromyko, Chief of the General Staff Ogarkov, KGB Chairman Chebrikov, and Andropov's most important political ally and designated successor—Gorbachev.

Chernenko was also present. He represented the core of the conservatives. Although Andropov had weakened his influence through personnel purges over the past year, he still had a significant share of the vote in the Politburo.

The first item on the agenda was routine—a summary report on the implementation of the 1983 national economic plan; the second item was preliminary arrangements for the Geneva Convention implementation mechanism.

The third item is the issue that Slava has been waiting for for many years: an assessment of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

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 first two topics took about an hour and a half, during which time Rieslava silently observed the expressions and subtle movements of different people in the hall.

Ustinov kept his eyes closed, as if he were dozing, during the discussion of the first two topics, but his fingers remained on the edge of the document in front of him.

Clearly, although he and Brezhnev had some similarities, Brezhnev was genuinely asleep, while he was faking it.

Ogarkov sat upright, occasionally scribbling a few words in his notebook. Chernenko, on the other hand, sat deep in his chair, which was noticeably larger than the others', and was very patient.

He is seventy-two years old this year, and his health is worse than Andropov's, but when it comes to the smell of power struggles, he is more sensitive than a hunting dog.

As for why his health was worse than that of General An—actually, his health was quite good, but in August 1983, Chernenko was seriously poisoned after mistakenly eating smoked fish sent by Soviet NKVD Minister Vitaly Fedorchuk during his vacation.

Although the doctors saved his life, his health and energy never recovered to their previous levels, and Chernenko subsequently lived almost entirely at the Central Clinical Hospital.

It was this smoked fish that almost killed him that greatly worsened his health, making him a participant in the wheelchair sprint race, just like President An—the reward at the finish line was a ticket to meet the mentor.

Gorbachev sat to Andropov's right, dressed in his signature well-tailored suit. He was active on the first two topics—adding several technical details about agricultural data and proposing a revision to the implementation timetable of the Geneva Convention. Each statement showcased his knowledge and judgment perfectly, without overshadowing Andropov.

This person has a very sophisticated control over when to speak, how much to say, and what tone to use.

P.S.: There are many different opinions on whether Chernenko ate it by mistake or "accidentally," but I tend to believe it was accidental.

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.

At 2:15 p.m., Andropov announced the start of the third item on the agenda.

Instantly, dozens of people in the hall adjusted their posture, put down the documents they were reading, and stopped whispering to their neighbors.

Afghanistan, a name that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers over the past four years, appeared on the Soviet Union's highest decision-making level for the first time in the form of a formal agenda item.

Andropov first had the Ministry of Foreign Affairs give a briefing on the current military and political situation in Afghanistan.

The contents of the report were not new to most of the people present: the Soviet army had about 100,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, with annual direct military expenditures exceeding 3 billion rubles, and more than 10,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed and tens of thousands wounded since the invasion in 1979.

The Karmal government in Kabul controls the capital and several major cities, but has virtually no control over rural areas.

With the support of the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the Soviet Union, the Mujahideen militants are growing stronger, and the Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles provided by the United States are seriously threatening the air superiority of Soviet helicopters.

After the briefing, Andropov asked:

Who wants to speak first?

A brief silence.

In this power game within the hall, the first person to speak is either the most confident or someone pushed forward to test the waters; no one wants to be the latter. So everyone is waiting for someone qualified to be the first to speak.

Defense Minister Ustinov opened his eyes.

He first fully affirmed the bravery and spirit of sacrifice shown by the Soviet army in fulfilling its internationalist obligations in Afghanistan.

Slava knew this was to reassure the military.

Then Ustinov changed the subject.

"...The complexity of the current situation in Afghanistan requires us to achieve our established strategic objectives in a more flexible manner."

Words like retreat and failure are never in the military's dictionary. Some use terms like strategic withdrawal, some use terms like flexibly achieving strategic objectives, and some use terms like reassessing expenditures... In short, everyone has to save face.

Ustinov proposed a plan: while keeping the main Soviet forces stationed in Afghanistan, gradually transfer the frontline combat missions to the Afghan government forces themselves – “using Afghanistan to control Afghanistan”.

The Soviet army transformed from direct combatants to trainers and support forces, with a proposed timetable of achieving independent main combat missions for the Afghan government forces within three to five years.

Okay, now Slava knows that Ustinov means withdrawing his troops within three to five years.

This plan can be considered a compromise by the military, withdrawing Soviet soldiers from the front lines to the rear and letting the Afghans die on their own.

Everyone present knew that the military feasibility of this plan was close to zero—the Afghan government forces were not strong enough in terms of combat effectiveness and loyalty to support any independent large-scale operation, and the Soviet army would collapse once it retreated to the rear positions!

But the real purpose of Ustinov's plan was not to solve the Afghan problem, but to provide conservatives with an acceptable framework.

This framework allows for flexible adjustments, and how those adjustments are made depends on the actions of the military reformists.

Ogarkov was the second to speak.