I Will Stage A Coup D’état - Chapter 162



Only Noblemtl

EP.162 Middle East Tour (1)

‘I feel a little relieved now.’

I was honestly a bit nervous that Stalin’s last resort might be to deploy the Soviet Army.

Fortunately, Stalin made a ‘rational judgment’ as he had done so far.

It is an indirect intervention strategy that involves sending friendly young people like Vladimir Putin.

Of course, it’s like turning a blind eye, but if they hadn’t tried to avoid embarrassment like that, it would have led to a head-on collision.

Anyway, it seemed that the Russians’ thinking did not change regardless of the times.

With the signs of an all-out war gone, it seemed Europe had nothing to worry about for the time being.

People are going to die some, but when wasn’t that the case?

While the great powers were preoccupied with war, I reached out to the Middle East.

My target was the dollar, the world’s reserve currency.

Why are you after dollars when you’re not even a country?

To tell that story, a little explanation is needed.

Six years ago, in 1944, the Allies agreed to the creation of the Breton Woods system.

An ounce of gold was fixed at $35, and each country’s currency was tied to the dollar.

Korea, which has its own economic zone, was no exception.

Even the Soviet Union, the world’s second largest economy, tolerated the Breton Woods system, so it was impossible to reject the trend alone.

From this time on, the dollar completely replaced the pound as the world’s reserve currency.

We accepted the dollar hegemony, but we did not think that this system would last forever.

‘The Brenton Woods system is a structure that cannot last forever as long as the United States tolerates deficits.’

Basically, the Bretton Woods system was an economic system that presupposed American sacrifice for the sake of Western solidarity.

The fact that this kind of giveaway system has continued for nearly 30 years proves America’s power.

Considering that this Brenton Woods system will collapse someday, it was necessary to start thinking about the post-Brenton Woods system from now on.

And at the same time, take care of Korea’s national interests.

I was thinking of reaching out to the petrodollar, something the US hadn’t thought of yet.

‘After Brenton Woods, it was the petrodollar that supported American hegemony.’

Petrodollar refers to the payment for oil being made exclusively in dollars.

Through this petrodollar, the United States maintained the dollar’s status, which had been shaken since the declaration of fiat currency.

I intended to preemptively poke a hole between the petrodollar, which does not yet exist, and the Breton Woods system.

However, it did not harbor any grand ambitions to make the won a reserve currency.

The weight class of Korea and the won were too different for that.

Even if it wanted to, the Korean economy couldn’t hold out.

Basically, to become a reserve currency, you have to run a deficit, but Korea is not a country that can grow while sustaining a deficit.

‘At this stage, it’s enough to just prepare.’

It was enough to suggest to Saudi Arabia the idea of ​​establishing OPEC, because if they touched Arabian oil, the United States would go into a rage.

I pushed for a tour of the Middle East with the aim of hitting players.

Although the ministers expressed concern, it was an unnecessary fuss as there was no imminent war in the Middle East.

I visited Mecca and met with the King of Saudi Arabia.

“It is an honor to meet His Majesty the King, the Guardian of the Two Holy Lands.”

The middle-aged King Abdulaziz ibn Saud before me was the founding monarch of the Saudi Arabian Empire, who waged wars of conquest across the Arabian Peninsula and created what is now Saudi Arabia.

Judging by his appearance and accomplishments, he was no ordinary great man.

“We sincerely welcome our distant guests from the East.”

I had a brief summit with King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia.

Aside from their commonality of being dictators who ruled their countries authoritarianly, the king showed interest in something called ‘Korean-style democracy.’

The reason was nothing special.

In order to deal with the traitors who run wild under the pretext of practicing Korean-style democracy, it was necessary to understand this.

I gave the King an in-depth explanation of the concept of Korean-style democracy.

The king listened to my story for a while and then slapped his knee.

“That would be a method that could be used even in an absolute monarchy.”

Korean-style democracy?

If that happens, will the Saudi monarchy transform into a Korean-style despotism?

That was creepy in its own right.

Anyway, since we were able to communicate well, apart from preaching the nonsense doctrine of Wahhabism, we also talked about personal matters.

The king said, perhaps jokingly, that he would give the princess to her if she converted to Islam.

“That would be rude to both Her Majesty the Princess and my wife.”

I politely declined the king’s offer.

The king didn’t seem to be taking his words seriously, and didn’t seem to be particularly disappointed.

We quickly got down to business.

Actually, this is what I wanted to say in Saudi Arabia.

“Your Majesty, isn’t it true that when you make a transaction, there are times when you feel the commission is a waste?”

“That’s true.”

I proposed that we trade the Arabian National Company’s share of oil in spot form, and the King considered this for a moment.

It was obvious that he was weighing his relationship with the United States and his interests.

“Your Majesty, you only need to remember one thing. What is in Your Majesty’s best interest?”

The king decided to accept my proposal, which hinted at a bribe.

Saudi Arabia gets the goods it needs relatively cheaply and pockets the kickbacks, while we save on dollar fees.

It was a great deal, with neither side losing out.

As the conversation was coming to a warm conclusion, I said this to the King.

“In the long run, oil will determine everything in modern civilization. When that day comes, the power of Arabia, which exports oil, will be large enough to rival the great powers.”

“How wonderful it would be if such a day came.”

“That day will not be far away. It is right for a country to control the resources that come from its own land.”

Saudi Arabia was already having a lot of fights with oil companies over oil prices during this period.

“I too look forward to that day, but I have no intention of breaking the sacred covenant.”

The king said that, but the look in his eyes was completely different from before.

If you give Saudi Arabia a chance, it seems like they’ll take care of the Seven Sisters.

After the Saudi visit, it was on to Iraq and Syria.

Here I proposed long-term oil purchase deals to these countries.

Here, as in Arabia, it was not subtracted.

Neither Iraq nor Syria were within the American sphere of influence.

This area was the old sphere of influence of the toothless British and French.

Countries like Britain and France, frankly, weren’t worth caring about, if only they weren’t called the free world.

“How much is the purchase price in Korean Won?”

“Won? Not pounds or francs?”

Iraq and Syria appeared reluctant to accept the proposal.

“You don’t have to worry too much. As long as you deposit won funds in the Bank of Korea, we can also proceed with economic aid and exports of goods in a stable manner.”

The model was a spot oil trading system between South Korea and Iran.

The Qasim regime accepted my proposal after much deliberation.

“If that helps in stable transactions, I will do so. Since this is a transaction that we are doing with trust in Korea, I hope to receive the goods at the most favorable price possible.”

“Of course.”

Since Iraq accepted my offer, we decided to give a gift to the Qasim regime.

“In response to this transaction, we will send a policy advisory group.”

The Qasim regime, which pursues Korean-style democracy, has repeatedly expressed its gratitude.

Syria seemed like it would come over at first, but surprisingly, it didn’t come over easily due to the problem of won settlement.

It seemed like it would be worth a try once the Baath Party came to power.

After Syria and Iraq, it was Egypt.

The reason he did not visit Israel, which would become a nuclear-sharing ally, was to avoid Arab aggro.

Instead, he sent Lee Gyeong-ho, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, to Tel Aviv to make contact with Israeli officials.

I met with Nasser, the real power in Egypt.

“Congratulations on the recapture of Suez. If I had known things would turn out this way, I would not have tried to stop you.”

“It was just luck. If the Arab brothers had not helped us, it would have been dangerous, as the Prime Minister said.”

Nasser was noticeably humbled, perhaps in shock over the last war.

Well, I thought that would be the case for me too.

The fighting power that Israel displayed should have been somewhat shocking.

Nasser seemed impressed by the last advice and asked for more advice.

“Prime Minister. What I felt from this war was that Israel far outnumbered our Arab army. There was not much difference in armament, but there was no fighting at all. If we invited foreign advisors, would things be any better?”

Of course it doesn’t get better.

I knew the weaknesses of the Middle East coalition, including Egypt.

In fact, the reason Middle Eastern armies were weak was simple.

It’s because there is no proper education.

There was no awareness among officers or soldiers that they had to fight for their country.

As a result, scenes of throwing down their weapons and running away even when they were at a slight disadvantage began to appear frequently.

In order to make the military a military, we first had to go through a process of convincing people in their heads of a ‘reason to fight’.

The next step is training.

Arab armies were good at spending money on weapons, but they were quite lax in training.

Since each unit did not understand what to do in a combat situation, they often fell into confusion when a crisis arose.

To use an analogy, the Arab coalition forces were in a similar state to the Qing army during the Sino-Japanese War.

To improve this, thorough repetitive training was essential.

I gave this advice to Nasser.

As a result, it didn’t matter if Israel was bleeding.

Israel after developing nuclear weapons was, frankly, a friend we had no reason to reach out to, compared to the entire Arab world.

It was cold, but it was like that.

There can be no eternal friends or enemies when it comes to national interests.

The talks with Nasser also ended relatively successfully.

I agreed to ask Nasser for his cooperation in making pipes with Arab countries.

Instead, it agreed to help with future expansion work on the Suez Canal.

‘There is also the construction of the Libyan waterway, and there is a lot of money to be made in the Arab world.’

It was about time for a construction boom to arrive, more than 20 years earlier than the original plan.

It would have been nice if they had brought in big companies too.

“Your Majesty, since you’ve come all the way to Egypt, you must see the pyramids.”

Thank you for your kind words.

The moment I was about to say something, I saw my wife’s sparkling eyes.

ah…

Because of a comment Nasser made right after the meeting, my wife and I had to go on a tour of the pyramids.

My wife was still in good spirits, as if she wasn’t tired from her arduous tour of the Middle East.

She dragged me around here and there without resting.

“Prime Minister, take a look at this.”

There didn’t seem to be anything special to see, but she looked around curiously, trying to figure out everything that caught her eye.

I felt like I was going to die from being dragged around by her.

I couldn’t resist my wife’s encouragement, so I toured the Great Pyramid of Giza and even rode a camel.

And I wish I could get some rest, but my wife sent me a subtle signal.

The suitcase was strangely large, and my wife was wearing underwear I had never seen before.

“When will you come?”

My wife asked in a calm tone.

Come to think of it, I wonder if I ever spent a night with her after coming to the Middle East.

For a young wife, it was a natural routine, whether she had been on a long trip or not.

It was the same in Syria and Iraq.

I briefly regretted choosing the energetic Baek Ha-yeon as my wife.