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Iron

Prologue to novel
Iron Curtains

“Hello, President Zhurukov, thank you for meeting me,” President Chen said. Although China’s first female president spoke fluent Russian, both parties agreed to speak English, the language of their common enemy—the United States of America.

“Hello, President Chen. The Iron Curtain collapsed decades ago, and yet we meet behind closed doors. I must say, you’ve piqued my curiosity.” Zhurukov arched his right eyebrow.

The most powerful man in Russia presented China’s president with a bottle of his best vodka. He immediately poured two shot glasses, then gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite him to join him for a drink.

“We need your help.” Chen sipped the vodka, and it warmed her belly.

“The most populated country on the planet needs the help of Mother Russia?” Zhurukov placed his fingers on his chin, rubbing it in deep thought. Following the Russian custom, he drank his vodka in one gulp.

“We need your help to take over the United States of America.” Chen’s black slanted eyes stared at Zhurukov to convey her seriousness. She needed to work twice as hard as her male constituents to prove her worth, even after her victorious election.

“How do you plan to accomplish such a monumental task?” Zhurukov asked.

“The United States is bankrupt beyond recovery. They ran their deficit up to infinity. They print more money than they can back up in gold and issued Treasury Bills to raise money. China started buying all of the zero-coupon T-bills years ago,” Chen explained.

“Zero coupon means they owe you the interest at the end?” Zhurukov asked, confirming what he already knew.

“Yes, many T-bills are due, and the United States can’t pay. What happens when you can’t pay your debts?” Chen asked.

“The creditor takes possession of the debtor’s assets.” Zhurukov shifted his eyes as his mind comprehended the revelation.

“The United States owns land, structures, and all of the gold in Fort Knox and the Federal Reserve. But most of the real estate is owned by the Americans,” Chen said.

“You are correct, but most Americans mortgage their homes. The bank owns the property until the mortgage is paid in full. If the payments cannot be made, the bank repossesses the land and structure,” Zhurukov said.

“And who owns the banks? The Federal Reserve took over all banks since so many failed during the mortgage crises,” Chen said.

“The United States hands over the banks to China, and your country controls the interest rates.” Zhurukov marveled at the genius plan.

“I won’t even need to raise the interest rates because the Americans cannot afford to pay their mortgages. They’ll have no money because the US Dollar becomes worthless. They have no jobs because our Chinese companies will only hire Chinese and Russians,” Chen predicted.

“The Chinese take over the homes, jobs, and lives of the American People.”

“And the Russians as well. We need your help. More importantly, we need your military support.” Chen finished the last of her vodka and nudged the glass towards Zhurukov to indicate her interest in another round.

“Mother Russia helps China invade the United States of America, in exchange for what?” Zhurukov poured another round.

“The entire Eastern coast of the United States.” Chen sipped the vodka and appreciated the liquid courage to broach the subject of her controversial conspiracy.

“I like it.” Zhurukov nodded his approval.

“We have a massive foothold in the States already. Every Chinese restaurant and nail salon across the nation is actually a sleeper cell awaiting instructions for a hostile takeover,” Chen confessed.

“Brilliant, Miss Chen. Russia invades the East coast, and China invades the West coast. And the Americans get squeezed into the middle.”

“Exactly, but I do have two conditions,” Chen said.

“I’m listening.”

“China and Russia share the use of NASA’s launch facilities.”

“Of course. We’ll share the facilities in Florida, California, and Texas equally. It only seems fair. What else?” Zhurukov asked.

“China wants all of our foreign nationals to be granted safe passage to the west coast,” Chen said.

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Zhurukov said.

“Including all of our women. Millions of our Chinese baby girls were adopted by American parents. Many of them are now grown women of child-bearing age. We need them for breeding with our overabundant Chinese men.”

“Ah, I see, with all of the space on the west coast, you no longer need to enforce China’s mandate of one child per couple.”

“Yes, I hated that policy and never married because of it. I couldn’t bear to ever face the possibility of giving up my child simply because she was born a female. I decided to devote my life to politics in hopes of finding a way to rid China of the horrific mandate.” Chen’s eyes moistened from the confession.

“How do you propose we keep the Americans out of our repossessed lands?” Zhurukov asked.

“We set up borders to keep them between Las Vegas and Chicago. The Southerners may head south to Mexico. But with the wall President Addison built, I’ll doubt if the Mexicans will accept Americans. The Northerners will probably flee towards Canada. Or they can find their way into the vast nothingness of Free Middle America,” Chen said.

“How ironic to think that the Americans will be treated as they treated Native Americans centuries ago. It’s Karma.” Zhurukov nodded his approval of the dramatic irony.

“And now we use your Iron Curtain to border our new Eastern and Western Territories. We’ll build a hybrid of the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall to trap Americans in the middle,” Chen said.

“How do we invade the United States? It’ll be a massive undertaking to pour the troops over from both of our nations.”

“We’ll build a superhighway from Moscow to New York City. It will cross through Siberia and into the Bering Straits by Alaska. Then we’ll invade through Canada,” Chen explained.

“To Iron Curtains.” Zhurukov raised his newly poured shot of vodka into the air.

“To Iron Curtains.” Chen clinked her vodka-filled glass with Zhurukov’s to toast their plans to take over the United States of America.

“Da svi dan ya,” Zhurukov said.

“Sayonara,” Chen said.

“Good-bye, United States of America.”

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