Cyber Warfare and the New World Order

Brazilians in Germany

General Eduardo Temer had been the second-in-command of the Brazilian Army when the Americans began to develop the South American Multination Force to fight the Russian and Chinese forces. After being sent to America to participate in several general officer training courses, he was then deployed to Germany to observe and assist General Black and General Gardner’s staff for three-month rotations. The experience was designed to give him a sense of the enemy his army would be fighting, and to gain some experience from working with these two dynamic generals.

Now he had finished training up his MNF, and they had finally been deployed to Europe to bolster the NATO lines. It took nearly a month for the Americans to move the bulk of their military equipment and troops from South America to Hamburg, Germany. After nearly three weeks of unpacking and reorganizing their equipment, they began their preparations to move towards the frontlines. Many of his soldiers experienced a rude awakening when a major snowfall blanketed the countryside; a lot of them had never even seen the cold fluffy flakes in their lives, and now they were going to be asked to fight a war in it.

The NATO lines had stabilized along the German/Polish border one week after the New Year. However, the Russians had been moving men and equipment back to the European front now that they had accomplished everything they set out to achieve in Alaska. With the arrival of the MNF force, the NATO forces were now planning on launching a winter offensive to recapture most of Poland before any Indian reinforcements had a chance to arrive from Russia. The latest intel suggested that the Indian Army would arrive in Poland sometime around April, bringing close to 600,000 soldiers with them.

In Europe, it had taken the better part of a year to recruit and train a sufficient army to stop the Russian advance. Now France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK had the troops and equipment needed to retake the lands captured by Russia early in the war. Shortly after arriving in Hamburg, General Temer was flown via helicopter to Brussels to meet with the NATO Commander and other political leaders. The Allies were going to hold a war council to devise the end-game strategy for the war, much like the Allies of World War II had during the meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta meeting.

As it turned out, Brussels was not his final destination. Once General Temer arrived at the military base, he was ushered into a blacked-out vehicle that drove him to yet another airport. Then he was scurried onto a plane that flew him to a small French island called Saint Anne, not far from the French coastline. This sleepy little island had been taken over by the military just four hours ago, in preparation for the arrival of the leaders of the Allies, so they could meet face-to-face for the first time in nearly a year. Saint Anne had been chosen because of its remoteness and the fact that it could be easily guarded and secured for the twelve-hour meeting. At the end of the gathering, everyone would be flown back to their respective countries to continue with their activities.

Some had questioned the wisdom of having an in-person meeting. With technology, people could just as easily meet virtually and not have to risk leaving their secured facilities. However, President Stein had insisted on the meeting, arguing that technology could never replace a face-to-face meeting or the interaction between participants in a room.

As General Temer exited the aircraft that brought him to the island, there was a vehicle ready and waiting to take him to meet with the other military commanders. General Wade, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) had arrived a couple of hours ahead of General Temer and had already met briefly with President Stein, General Branson and the National Security Advisor Mike Williams. President Stein wanted to give General Wade a heads-up on the conversation they were going to have with the rest of the Allied leaders before the rest of the group arrived.

Soon Prime Minister Blair and Chancellor Lowden both arrived; everyone stood and exchanged pleasantries and handshakes and then quickly took their seats at the table. Some attendants brought in some drinks and snacks, and then quickly left the room; security personnel then ensured the room was secured and locked.

President Stein immediately got down to business, “Gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to meet in person. I know we could have done this via the holograph system, but I felt a face-to-face meeting was needed as we discuss what the future of the world will look like once the war is over.”

Everyone in the room nodded and appeared ready to listen to President Stein’s suggestions and then offer their own.

Stein brought up an image from his tablet and linked it to the holographic projector at the center of the table. A series of floating maps appeared: one with the current breakdown of nations, one with the current disposition of enemy and allied forces on the global map, and a third map. The third map had a very different looking picture than the first. This map had several countries broken up and others merged. This map, everyone realized, is what President Stein was going to propose be the new world post-World War III.

President Stein began, “For more than one hundred years, the world has been given geographical borders with no regard as to the ethnicities, religions or people who live there. This, I argue, has given rise to numerous wars and tensions across the world and led to many genocides. This is our opportunity to right that wrong and to redraw the borders, taking into consideration the ethnicities, religions and people that will live within them. I do not propose that we impose our form of government or democracy on our vanquished foes, but we will replace the existing countries and borders with ones that will better represent the people living in them.”

Stein paused for a moment to take a sip of his water and to let his proposal settle in for a minute. Then he continued, “It is incumbent upon us to ensure that once this great war has been won, that we do not also sow the seeds of another conflict. I am not going to be so naïve as to believe that this will be the war to end all wars, but we need to be cognizant in how we handle our victory so as not to breed permanent enmity and hatred within our current adversaries, like what happened with Germany at the end of World War I.”

The leaders seemed intrigued; Chancellor Lowden seemed the most amicable to this philosophy, and Prime Minister Blair would need the most convincing. They talked at length about the implications of what President Stein was suggesting. After several hours of discussing the post-war future, the conversation turned back to the matters at hand. They needed a plan to defeat Russia, China and the other countries that had just joined the war. Without that, discussions of a world after the conflict were meaningless.