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Chapter 351 Nukes, Leashes, and Navies

That day, the Doomsday Clock was set to 30 seconds to midnight from the relatively “safe” time of two-and-a-half minutes to midnight it was before the missile launch. Humanity was the closest it had ever been to doomsday.

……

“They’re really pushing our limits,” Trump said as he read a report about the mess caused by North Korea’s test fires.

“Looks like when Eden helped them with their sanctions, it gave them the balls to do what they want. After all, more threats of sanctions against them is pointless with those fucking blockade runners from that third-world shithole,” Trump’s new Chief of Staff, John Kelly cursed.

“Isn’t China supposedly keeping their dog on a leash? As far as I know, North Korea is just China’s attack dog. They let them bark and rattle sabers every now and then just to remind us that they could unleash them at any time,” Trump asked.

“This time, even China seems to have been caught off guard,” the CIA director reported.

“What do you mean by that?” Trump asked.

“North Korea has been breaking free from Chinese control thanks to the coalition formed by Eden. In the past, China was responsible for 70% of their food and energy needs, so they had a leash to control them with. But now that they can get what they need from Eden, with no strings attached, they’ve been growing closer to Eden and away from China. That’s why, we think, they’ve become bolder—it’s because the damn Edenians removed China’s leash from around North Korea’s throat.”

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance things will get much worse than this?” Trump asked.

“Most likely, yes, so long as Eden continues providing them what they need without strings attached. As long as that trade continues, North Korea can do whatever the hell they want.”

“So let’s remove Eden from the equation and let China put a shackle on their dog again. After all, those morons are incompetent and the last thing we need is a war started by their missiles failing during the boost phase and falling on Japan, or worse, South Korea,” Trump said after a moment of contemplation.

“How about we promise to remove the sanctions against Eden if they cancel their deal with North Korea?” the aide from the State Department suggested.

“That won’t work. They already know we can’t do that on our own. It’ll take a Security Council resolution, and right now, Russia would probably veto it just to muddy the waters further. Or worse, they’ll want to trade our support for their slipshod plan, and that’s the absolute last thing we need,” the Chief of Staff replied.

“So how about threatening to sanction that... what’s his name? Adam? No... Aron. Aron Michael. How about we threaten him personally with sanctions, since his companies are responsible for producing and delivering everything that’s letting North Korea be ballsy. Then they’ll be forced to go back to begging China for food and oil, and China will have the leash again,” Trump mused.

“He’s a very important figure in Eden, and combined with his individual power and influence, he’s a huge target. But since a lot of his funds are in our banks, or banks that we can ‘influence’, that’s possible,” the CIA director said.

“I don’t think sanctions are a good thing at the moment, as we need their tech. And if we piss off the owner of the companies responsible for researching and producing it, it’s likely to backfire since he can use the sanctions as an excuse for why he won’t give it up to us and paint us as the bad guys,” the Secretary of State said.

“Then how about a naval blockade on North Korea? Can we do that?” Trump asked.

“It’s... technically possible. Naval blockades are considered acts of war, but we can interdict their trade ships and force inspections on them with the excuse of checking them for weapons and other banned items,” the Secretary of State replied. “It wouldn’t make it completely impossible for Edenian shipments to arrive in North Korea, but it would delay it by a lot. The tricky part is that Eden is a neutral country, so there’ll be some political wrangling and horse trading involved, but it’s doable... technically speaking.”

“Like we do in Cuba?” Trump asked.

“Yes, but it’ll take two fleets, since we don’t have coast guard ships capable of sailing that far. We’ve got the Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the America amphibious ready group in the area, but we can’t pull any more than that without compromising ongoing ops elsewhere,” General Mattis replied. “Plus, it won’t be a perfect interdiction, but it’ll cover most of the ports at least.”

The discussion continued into the early afternoon as they worked out how the interdiction would be implemented, what they would be announcing to the public, and so on.

……

“Father, I think it’s about time we start the final escalation act. We need to focus on the aliens, so it’s high time we stomp Eden into the mud. There’s a high chance the Rothschilds will try to stop our plans in Eden, like we did theirs in Yemen back then, so we should focus on building up public opinion against Eden now,” George Morgan said. He had learned that the previous upswell in anti-Eden sentiment had fallen once the public’s focus shifted to the incoming alien threat, which he considered a fine move on Eden’s part.

“We need something huge, and on American soil, otherwise the people won’t be angry enough to merit a military response. But it’ll serve two purposes... first, it’ll get our revenge against those peasants, and second, it can serve as the opening act to forcing takeovers in a lot of countries that are currently just wasting space and resources.

“And although the aliens are an opportunity, even if an unplanned one, we need to put those countries to bed within the next two years since we’re on a timer,” he mused. He was thinking along the same lines as many powerful governments were; it was time to reduce the cacophony of voices in the UN, or whatever the united government would be in the near future. And he wanted the first mover advantage.

“Let’s frame up a bombing attempt on the 9/11 anniversary this year. It’s the best time to unite people, as they’re already busy remembering that particular masterstroke of ours,” George suggested.