Battlefield Korea

Red Storm Update

The cool October air was starting to move across Moscow, letting everyone know that autumn had arrived, and winter was just around the corner. President Petrov was in a good mood as he looked at his foreign minister, Dmitry Kozlov. NATO had just agreed to a short-term ceasefire earlier this morning, which would give his forces more time to consolidate their positions and move additional troops into Ukraine. If NATO did not agree to his terms, then he would have the forces necessary to push NATO out of the rest of Ukraine and also open additional fronts in Poland and the Baltic States. Up to this point, Russian forces had not invaded a NATO member-all of that might be about to change.

Kozlov smiled broadly as the President sipped on his tea. It was a longshot getting NATO to agree to a ceasefire, but pressure from many of the NATO members made it nearly impossible for the Americans to not at least agree to a short-term pause in the war. Now, the hard part would be convincing America and the other NATO members that Ukraine should be partitioned off.

“Dmitry, now that the negotiations are going to start, what do you believe our chances are at ending this war on our terms?” asked Petrov, hoping for his honest assessment.

Kozlov put his cup down on the table, then looked up at the President, full of thought. “I would like to think our chances are better than fifty percent,” he began. “We hurt NATO badly in the last six weeks. Our intelligence operation has also been incredibly effective. Portugal, Hungary, Greece, and Turkey are effectively out of NATO, and there is the possibility that several other nations will be kicked out of the alliance if they do not start to contribute forces the Supreme Allied Commander has continued to ask for. Our effort to destroy and destabilize NATO through this disinformation campaign has proved incredibly effective.”

He raised a hand to stop the President from interrupting him before he was done. “What should not be underestimated, Mr. President, is the will of the new American president. He has publicly chastised his military leaders for their failures and replaced them with significantly more aggressive generals. Our attack on the American LNG facilities was also a major setback; the opinion of the American public had been going heavily in our favor until the Spetsnaz attack on those LNG terminals was caught on video. A physical attack on American soil that led to the deaths of several civilians rattled and scared them tremendously-it also infuriated them. The President has announced a major build-up in American forces as a response. In just the last week, the new American Defense Authorization Bill jumped from $688 Billion to $1.3 Trillion dollars. Based on all of this… I do not believe the American President is going to agree to any of our terms,” concluded Kozlov sadly.

The other men in the room nodded in agreement-all except the FSB Director, who promptly made his opinion known. “When the Chinese launch the next phase of Operation Red Storm, the American President will not have a choice. He will have to accept our terms. The Americans have let their military diminish in size, to a point where they can no longer wage two major wars at once. They also do not have the equipment or ships to carry out such a war. They will have to choose which theater of operation they want to fight and win.”

“What makes you think they will not choose our theater of operations?” asked one of the generals at the table. Everyone turned back to Ivan Vasilev, the FSB Director, to see what he would say.

“During the last presidential campaign, the President chided his European counterparts for not doing more to defend their own countries. America has come to the aid of Europe during the last two world wars; they are not keen on having to do it a third time. If Japan, Korea and Taiwan are threatened, I believe the Americans will come to their aid over the Europeans, who can defend themselves but have thus far simply chosen not to,” Vasilev explained.

President Petrov pondered upon what had just been said. “It makes a lot of sense, but I just don’t believe the Americans would leave Europe entirely defenseless,” he thought.

Petrov decided to play devil’s advocate. “What if the Americans decide to just buy time until they are able to build up their forces enough to refocus their energies on us? Right now, they have a little over 100,000 soldiers in Europe-that number is going to double in a week, two tops. They could leave Asia to China while they focus on defeating us, then turn their attentions to China once they are ready.”

The generals in the room suddenly looked nervous. Ivan Vasilev, however, did not look even the slightest bit nervous. He just smiled while the others seemed unsure of themselves. The President noticed this and inquired, “Ivan-why are you smiling?”

“Mr. President, we have been working on Operation Red Storm for years. I have gone over nearly every possible scenario with Chairman Zhang. The Americans may decide to focus on Russia as opposed to China. If they do that, then China will be able to secure Taiwan, the Koreas, and Japan. Their position in Asia will be too strong for even the Americans to remove them. At that point, the Chinese will send troops to aid us in our war against NATO,” Vasilev responded.

His answer surprised a few, and confused others. No one else believed the Chinese would actually send troops to aid Russia. Though China and Russia had been communist partners in the past, they had a rocky relationship and at times had even been adversaries.

“Let us hope it does not come to that, Comrade. In the meantime, I want our forces to continue to consolidate our gains and bring in additional reinforcements. Hostilities could resume at any time and we must be ready for that,” Petrov said trying to appease all of the parties in the room at once.