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Mrs. Thatcher put down her tea and said, "I guess our plan failed? Despite our indication to Gromyko that we would only accept exchanges with Gorbachev, the Kremlin chose its own masters."

"Yes, I am afraid so. However, there is a consolation."

"What's that?"

"The information we have gathered is more than enough for us to start a new relationship with the Soviet Union. I believe, given enough time, we could build up our relations to the point where they would be mutually beneficial for both nations. This could solve a lot of our problems. The Kremlin may not be willing to give up their authoritarian rule, but they would be willing to give up a lot for the benefits that a stable relationship with the West could bring."

"I see. Well, if that's the case, then there is hope for us to maintain some level of influence over their political system. I am glad to hear that, Mr. President."

"There is still a lot of hard work ahead of us in the near future, but I am optimist about the outcome. We have a chance to do something that has never been done before. We can make peace with a powerful nation. I believe that history will judge us kindly. We will be able to look back and say, 'Look, I told you so.' " Reagan finished the joke by adding, "Before history judges us, we need to talk about trade exchanges; the United States has some unpleasant problems right now, like the trade deficit and the debt."

"I see. Well, I hope you are right, because there are a lot of people counting on us solving these problems."

"Of course, then the British finance minister and the governor of the central bank will be at the Plaza Hotel as a decision that makes everyone happy? Well, I'm sure you can see why I am skeptical, but that is why we must do what we are going to do."

"Well, it's a possibility," said Thatcher. "However, I have a lot of doubts."

"I understand. I also have a lot of doubts, but we must give it a try. We can't just turn our back on peace because a few fanatics are stirring up trouble. We must work to achieve what is best for the world. If you ever feel you are turning your back on peace, come and see me. We can talk this over."

"Of course."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Well, I am going to speak to the Soviets," said Reagan.

"Good luck," said Thatcher.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I am sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future."

"Yes, I am looking forward to your visit."

"You are very welcome anytime you come to New York."

"Thank you. I think I'll be coming more often, whenever I can."

"Good luck with your project."

"Thank you."

They shook hands. Reagan left the room. It took a few moments for the atmosphere to return to normal.

"Well, that didn't go quite as I planned," said Thatcher. "The Kremlin did not choose a reformer who could achieve our aims, but a new tsar."

------

Any regime built on idealism will be transformed into a bureaucratic regime within 20 to 40 years.

Kremlinology: The only way to deal with a fanatic is to contain them, to make them do what you want them to do.

The problem with this approach is that you cannot control a fanatic, you can only hope that their ideals will eventually fade away.

This seems unlikely to happen, considering the type of person attracted to such a cause. Reagan was a man who always pursued his own goals, regardless of the means necessary.

This approach is doomed to failure.

The doomed Soviet Union is a good thing for the world. It will all be better when its people, along with those under the communist regimes of Eastern Europe, are freed from dictatorial control and lies.

The Soviet Union is a menace, and its people are not innocent. They and their leaders are responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

Its days are numbered.

The problem is that America will remain. President Reagan's policies would determine the path of the United States for decades, if not centuries. His policies remain firmly rooted in his own ideology, and that ideology is misguided.

Neoliberalism destroyed & enslaved America's youth, and America created economic prosperity & pitfalls during his tenure, and capitalists after his tenure struggled to praise him for giving the capitalist class complete control over America's economic development.

The U.S. national debt gradually decreased as a percentage of GDP after the end of World War II, but rebounded at Reagan. The United States began to evolve from the largest creditor to the largest debtor country, while changing from a manufacturing country to a financial country.

The debt was a problem through Reagan's entire term in office. His political career was made possible by the support of the financial class, and he further solidified their position.

The U.S. system of finance capital is a predatory one. It is built on the exploitation of the working class. It is built to protect the economic status quo. It is a system that exploits the weak to make the rich richer.

Meanwhile, the consequence of the rising U.S. national debt is that when the U.S. government's financial revenues are unable to pay the interest on the debt...the only solution is for the U.S. government to increase the money supply.

This increases inflation, which decreases the value of the debt. However, the debt is still a debt, and when the U.S. government prints money to pay the interest, it devalues the currency even more.

This creates a vicious cycle: increasing debt, increasing inflation, decreasing value of the debt.

Of course, there is another way to perpetuate the debt crisis besides over-issuing money and raising the debt ceiling, using other countries as a way to keep the value of the U.S. Dollar low. This is done through waging endless war.

To prevent a repeat of the Great Depression of 1929, the United States had to resort to waging foreign wars to get out of debt to pull the economy and maintain the status of the dollar in international trade, or international currency. Since the debt was not repaid by the end of the decade, the government had to print more money to cover the interest payments.

This caused hyperinflation, which made the U.S. Dollar practically useless. The only way to preserve its value in transactions was to peg it to a foreign currency.

The United States will be in a nightmare when the dollar loses its status as an international currency and the U.S. national debt loses its credibility. But this is not a crisis of finance capital, on the contrary, it can be transferred to a power that will continue to enslave and exploit all of humanity in the same way as the United States. Just as the United States faced Britain in the two world wars, and all this is just a repetition of the workings of capital, the rise of a new superpower will only be a second United States or rather a third Britain.

A global superpower will not work in the long-term interests of anyone except the global elite.

The Soviet Union is a failed state and a dictatorship.

But, unlike its evil equivalent, the United States, it was a planned economy. This fundamentally determined that finance capital could not be integrated with it at all, so that if the Soviet Union won the Cold War it could mean the destruction of capital and the establishment of a planned economy on a global scale... Thus, the real enemy of the Soviet Union was not the United States but capitalism. The real enemy of the United States was not the Soviet Union but socialism. The Cold War was a struggle to determine the fate and social form of all mankind, and no matter how evil both the Soviet Union and the United States were, the Cold War accelerated the development of all mankind. (On the contrary, the so-called new Cold War struggle between the United States and China in the twenty-first century is now just a struggle between the two United States for financial capital. Whoever wins will not change the fate of the world...)

A global market in which all nations participate on an equal footing, a global community, such as humanity may never know. The so-called new world order is a world of economic competition among the rich. The so-called new world order is a world in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

After all, who cares about the poor people of the world? Who cares about the devastated 'beasts' in the slums of America versus the exploited 'slaves' in the factories of China?

The system that emerged from the industrial revolution is one of extreme wealth disparity. The super-rich have gotten so obscenely rich that they now control more wealth than the poorest 50% of the world's population. This is what a "civilized" society looks like.

The middle-class of the rich industrialized countries are now on the brink of extinction, with economic disparity growing to levels not seen since the days of the Roman Empire.

The future is a world in which there is no future. The wealthy elite of the world continue to amass wealth while the global economy sputters and stagnates. Meanwhile, the world's poor continue to increase in number and live in even more wretched conditions.

Meanwhile, we are told there is a "New Cold War" brewing, and once again we are to be pitied.

The world will be what the rich want it to be. The world will be what the powerful tell us it should be.

A society cannot be called "civilized" when the majority of its members have no future.

When a society's members are all tied to the same master, the members of that society cannot truly live. They must all be entangled, all be bound, all be led astray.

This is the fate of all of mankind.

------

Inside the Executive Office of the President of the United States

Reagan stares at CIA Director Casey with a look of incredulity. Why is it that the CIA is never able to get anything right?

"What the hell does that mean, 'if you're still in'?"

"We are still analyzing who sent these envelopes, written in German."

"So, it could've been the Russians?"

"It could've been the Iranians. We're still working on that angle as well."

"Any leads?"

"No, not yet. We're following up on every possible angle. It's a long list, though."

"What about the content of this envelopes? What's the analysis of that?"

"It's a list of possible attacks against the United States. We're still trying to figure out the significance of some of the attacks, like the one against LA. At this point, we don't know."

Reagan nodded his head and said soberly, "In short, don't fail again. You know how the Soviets made us explain the few Afghans they caught the CIA helping at the United World Youth Festival this July?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, we'll do the same thing with the Iranians. If you find them helping terrorists, shoot them."

Reagan stared at Casey and said, "And if we find no evidence of any of this, then we're going to have to consider the possibility that this is all a big hoax. We'll have to do whatever it takes to protect the nation."

"Yes, sir."

"I'm serious, Casey. If we find that this is a hoax, then we're going to have a major international incident on our hands. Do I make myself clear?"

"sir, We'll do our best."

"Good. Now, go find out who's responsible for this," Reagan said, pointing to the file in Casey's hand.

Reagan walked back over to his window, thinking. He looked out over the Potomac River, and said, "Are these prophetic envelopes a hoax, or...If the Russians or Iranians were behind this, then we're likely looking at an attack of some kind."

------

Inside the Situation Room of the White House

The meeting has ended. The president has just arrived in the Situation Room. The room is a large rectangular chamber, equipped with various consoles and large map tables, where the various video feeds from around the world can be monitored.

The president enters the room, and looks around. He walks over to a glass wall, next to a large map table, and looks out over the various activities taking place around the world.

The president looks grim. Vice President George H.W. Bush Sr. is already in the room, looking at a series of readouts. "What's the situation with our forces in Afghanistan?" the president asks.

"We're making steady progress, sir," Bush says. "The Afghan guerrillas are continuing their guerrilla war against the Soviet army, which drains the will of the Soviet Union them. Their resistance seems to be growing weaker, and should break down soon. Our forces are moving in to support the Afghan government, and to strengthen our hand against the Soviets."

"The freedom fighters of Afghanistan are fighting to resist the unpopular and evil empire of the Soviet Union, for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan and for the freedom of all peoples," Reagan says, not lifting his head. "In this, they were not unlike the United Americans. Like us, they suffered at the hands of the Red Star."

"They're not United Americans, Mr. President," Bush says.

"No, but like the United Americans, they're freedom fighters, pure and simple, and they're worth supporting."

"Mr. President, the Afghan government itself is in disarray; it can't even control the areas it already occupies," Bush says. "The people don't see why they should support it, given that their lives have improved so little."

"If the people are willing to fight for freedom, then they should," Reagan says.

"The Afghan people have never been freedom fighters. They're cowards, at best, and they're looking for an easy way out, at worst," Bush says.

"They're willing to die for their freedom," Reagan says. "That's all that matters."

"The question is, are we?" Bush asks. "Are we willing to die for ours?"

"I suppose that's a question for a future that may never come," Reagan says.

"May the Red Star never rise again," the president says. "In the name of the United Americans, we fight on."

The president turns, and leaves the room.

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