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Thursday, Mar 23, 2023 - 23:41 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

The Reboot Of History

Team Red's pushback against Containment in the last Action Round - in combination with a surprise Muslim Revolution - has definitely put Team Blue on notice, on China's previously-underestimated diplomatic heft, which appears to be displacing the U.S. from the Middle East - and elsewhere. The moves from Iran towards a Saudi reconciliation, and a normalization of relations between the formerly-Blue Gulf States and Syria (if possibly to recruit them against the Iranians), have not exactly been met with joy on the Team Blue side, and they have been moreover stung by further allegations that Biden had conspired with Scholz to deflect the Nord Stream sabotage with a rather unlikely cover story. With their democratic credentials increasingly in shambles, Team Blue are out to dazzle with tech... is... is that Richard Nixon recreated with A.I.?


Turn 13, Action Round 3 (Team Blue)

Team Blue plays Nixon Plays The China Card for 2 Ops.


Kind of a knock-off there
(Original sources: twilightstrategy.com, news.sky.com)


The Team Red representatives aren't happy at the defacement of the card, but the referees have cleared it, it seems; same principle as for banknotes, a little scribbling doesn't affect its validity. There is then a loud squabble on wanting Team Red to hand over The China Card by Team Blue, who are arguing that since they don't have it, China is then necessarily not on their side - or neutral. The Team Red delegation is thus searched under sufferance, with their sleeves singled out for special attention, but the card is nowhere to be found. Well, whether this is due to a new rule from the New Moon expansion, or thanks to some forward thinking and prep by the Reds, The Greatest Game, this Cold War II, has to go on!

Nixon Plays The China Card - otherwise known as "Nixon goes to China" - references possibly the most pivotal strategic moment of the original Cold War, which was President Nixon's decision to visit China and meet with Mao in 1972, which sowed the seeds for a gradual detachment of China from then-Team Red leaders, the Soviet Union. This was a brilliant execution of the top dog managing to recruit Number Three to turn against Number Two to protect his own position, which bought China many favours including WTO accession, and sealed the decline and dissolution of their former allies.

The tables* have been turned in this telling, however, with Xi instead going to Moscow, to reaffirm his support for the "no-limits partnership" at the core of Team Red. Originally hinted at the end of January before being confirmed in late February, the timing was like Muslim Revolution somewhat earlier than previewed here, but then Team Red has definitely been more on-the-ball in recent months. There would then be some pretty blatant phrase-dropping from both Team Red bosses, with Putin claiming that Russia-China relations have surpassed their (original) Cold War level, though it's not certain if his reference to a colossal (Great) leap forward was appreciated.

That would be a quite tame jibe as those go, certainly, and Xi would certainly not bother to hide his ambitions by quoting a former Qing general on the depredations of the Western Eight-Nation Alliance in laying China low at the beginning of the last century, in his parting comment that "now there are changes that haven't happened in 100 years" - and that China would be driving those changes together with Russia, with a pledge to shape a New World Order (see: March 2022) - aligned against America. There do remain details such as gas deals to be hammered out, and on the supposed main topic - peace in Ukraine - it was never going to happen despite the posturing, with the U.S. straight out calling any ceasefire as unacceptable, and NATO already signalling an extended proxy war.

1 Ops: Team Blue attempts Realignment in Romania (2/1), with neither Team having achieved Control in neighbours Hungary** (1/3), Yugoslavia (0/2) or Turkey (3/2) yet. Team Blue gets a +1 to their roll for having more Influence here, which is however cancelled by Team Red being adjacent to Romania. Lukashenko rolls a 2 for the Reds, and up steps Zelensky for the Blues... the camera cuts away, and it's a six!

A supposed Coup on Moldova after the resignation of a pro-West government has been countered here by Team Blue, after the plans were intercepted by Ukraine, or so the story goes. This would be cemented by a change in the country's official language from Moldovan to Romanian, to protest from socialist Team Red remnants. Interestingly, the Soviet Union had supported an independent Moldovan language in Cyrillic to reinforce local identity, but I suppose support for diversity (e.g. Ukrainians as distinct from Russians) depends very much on geopolitical implications, nowadays. Team Red Influence is thus expelled from Romania (now 2/0), as Team Blue continues to tie up Europe.

1 Ops: Team Blue attempts Realignment in Thailand (2/1), again at even odds from Team Red's Control of Laos/Cambodia (0/3), with Malaysia (1/2) and Vietnam (2/2) still on the fence. The U.S. ambassador to Thailand rolls a 4 with Exercise Cobra Gold - America's largest military exercise in Asia - being hosted, but his Chinese counterpart equals the throw, for no change in the Major non-NATO ally state. The general election in May might provide a better opportunity for meddling, and they do remain a convenient stick to periodically haul conservative candidates up on language variation, at the least.

[*Small for once, probably a sop towards supposed intimacy.]

[**Hungary's intransigence appears to be straining the rest of Team Blue's patience, to the extent that their veto is being overriden by NATO. New era, new rules?]



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