CHAPTER 633: CHAPTER 304: [THE SOVIET UNION ON COUNTDOWN] (4.1K)

This is like suddenly stabbing oneself, cutting off arms and hands altogether.

This....

Alright.

They didn’t know what to say.

From a third-party perspective, this seems like they dug a pit for themselves.

But perhaps from the perspective of various countries on Earth.

The Soviet Union was just carrying out a routine operation.

After all, given the Soviet Union’s military expansion at the time, who would have thought it would get caught up in Afghanistan?

Moreover, the Soviet Union probably didn’t expect that even though they intended to support some East Asian countries as smaller allies to counterbalance the Republic, they all turned out to be disappointing....

Choosing the Indian Federation and the Vietnam Federation as partners was absurd.

Each was more incompetent than the other.

Of course.

The Soviet Union might have thought that by supporting these countries, they would gradually rise to a level where they could counterbalance the Republic.

But they overlooked one thing.

And that is the recovery speed of the Republic.

During this period, the Republic.

Had already developed the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" many years ago. To use the Vietnam Federation, a country that had been defeated for a thousand years, to counterbalance the Republic would require immense support.

Even spending everything they had might not be enough.

Their territory size limited them.

Yu Feng looked at the intelligence in his hands and continued:

"We’ll talk about this later."

"Let’s look at what’s next."

"Because the next thing is the year 1980."

"In this year."

"The Soviet Union suffered multiple blows."

"Firstly, the quagmire nature of the Afghanistan Federation war began to show, with Soviet troops in Afghanistan reaching 100,000 this year."

"With military expenditures of 3 billion dollars."

"Hmm... that’s a bit low."

"Considering the United States later stationed troops in Afghanistan with a biochemical-proof toilet costing millions, the Soviet Union was indeed frugal."

"But even our view of little military expenditure."

"At that time, it caused great controversy within the Soviet Union, as the expense was indeed enormous then."

"Moreover, it was also the consumption of manpower, resources, and military expenses."

"Not proportional to the income."

"But they couldn’t withdraw."

"Little did they know."

"That failing to stop losses in time would drag them down."

"Of course."

"No one now believes the Soviet Union would collapse."

"This is the first item."

"No rush."

Saying this,

Yu Feng shook his head, looking at the intelligence collected, and said:

"There is a second item."

"The second thing is that in this year, the United States began economic sanctions against the Soviet Union."

"Brothers."

"It’s still the economic issue, and it exploded."

"It’s just that it exploded after a decade of the Soviet Union’s distorted economy, even when domestic people were accustomed to such economic distortions, the United States’ intervention detonated it."

"This move was ruthless."

"It intended to bury the Soviet Union in one wave."

"Obviously, they had long noticed the Soviet Union’s economic crisis and distortions."

"Just waiting."

"Waiting for a suitable time to detonate."

"At that time, the Soviet Union’s two major economic distortions were the import of grain and the proportion of oil exports."

"And the first step of the United States."

"Was to implement a grain embargo on the Soviet Union."

"First, strain your grain supply a bit."

"Since the initiative was in their hands, they took their time."

Yu Feng shrugged; the Soviet Union, which imported grain for so many years, was suddenly choked, who could stand it?

This was just a preliminary probe.

Because the following year, unable to buy grain, the Soviet Union could only use gold reserves to exchange for grain.

What US Dollar, what British Pound, what Ruble?

Nothing was as reliable as gold.

Exchanging grain for gold was simply a windfall.

But the Soviet Union had no other choice.

Because only with gold could they exchange for grain; nothing else could buy grain.

The live broadcast viewers on Blue Star couldn’t help but lament this toxic strategy.

Moreover....

It was extremely patient.

The live broadcast viewers of Blue Star were experiencing firsthand what the Great Power Struggle was all about.

The time scale for the struggle was measured in years.

If it were up to them, having discovered the Soviet Union’s economic crisis and distortions in the first year, they would have acted impatiently by the second year.

Who would have thought?

The United States knew about the Soviet Union’s economic crisis and distortion hazards.

Yet, they hadn’t made a move in this regard.

It led to the Soviet Union operating smoothly in such a manner for 10 years without any major issues.

And when everyone, even the Soviet citizens, got used to it.

The United States, holding back for 10 years, unleashed a massive move.

Economic sanctions banning grain exports.

Cornering the Soviet Union.

Now the Soviet Union wanted to buy grain.

Nothing worked; either they used gold or technology.

Technology, a factor of global domination, couldn’t be easily traded; better to use what grew in the fields, namely grain.

Knowledge and technology aren’t things grown in the fields.

So, only gold remained.

Exchanging Soviet gold for their grain... the United States was practically robbing in broad daylight.

Yet, they had no means to counter it.

Ruthless.

Extremely ruthless.

Having held back for 10 years, this immense move, but indeed, it profited greatly.

Grain for gold.

Who wouldn’t do that?

Yu Feng continued:

"After the United States’ economic sanctions."

"The Soviet Union adjusted its strategies but with limited effectiveness and, to address the grain shortage crisis, began reducing consumption in all aspects."

"But because of this."

"It led to unrest in Eastern Europe, the rise of the Solidarity Union in Poland, while the Soviet Union had no means to cope."

"Militarily mired in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe couldn’t endure upheaval, especially in such grain-shortage times, no antics could be risked in Eastern Europe."

"So they couldn’t deploy forces like before to suppress directly."

"Because Poland itself had 400,000 troops, if it really escalated, the Soviet Union would face dual pressure."

"Moreover, the Solidarity Union members were mainly shipyard workers, etc."

"The implications of workers are self-evident."

"So suppression by force was impossible; otherwise, even before global condemnation, internal chaos would ensue."

"Thus, the Soviet Union had no choice."

"Only to tacitly agree to let Poland resolve it independently, without intervening."

"This is the third event."

"As can be seen."

"The first year into the 80s."

"Was like a punch to the Soviet Union, shattering the smooth decade they had."

"Knocked them into a daze instantly."

The Blue Star live broadcast viewers listened, lamenting the unpredictability of worldly affairs.

After all, in 1978.

The Soviet Union still held dominance in the number of intercontinental missiles, threatening North America, targeting Western Europe, reaching the peak of prestige in Africa, backing the Vietnam Federation to stir trouble in East Asia.

Yet, in just two years.

Situations shifted dramatically.

Mired in Afghanistan’s quagmire, split from the Republic, and then subjected to US economic sanctions, forced to exchange gold for grain, with unrest in Eastern Europe.

This was because the Soviet Union had a vast foundation.

Otherwise, any minor federation or small nation engaging one of the matters might have toppled that year.

The Blue Star viewers all knew that later, the Soviet Union would dissolve.

But they didn’t expect that from peak to countdown.

It only took two short years.

Regardless of how one thinks, it’s hard to believe.

Such a massive Soviet Union, within just two years, started counting down.

Clearly, the previous year was still its peak.

This....

The live chat among Blue Star viewers buzzed with lively discussions.

And many viewers, while watching the broadcast, rushed to forums to contribute supplementary details.

While these issues catalyzed the countdown to the Soviet Union’s dissolution, viewing from various aspects,

one would find that the countdown to the Soviet Union’s collapse had long been seeded.

Yu Feng stated:

"The Soviet Union is now in its peak-to-decline phase."

"And this is only over five years; we’ll discuss the following later."

"Let’s also take a look at how the US developed over these five years."