Soviet Domination - A Red Dawn story

[James G]

(142)

Early September 1984:

Only a fool wouldn’t suspect that something was up with what the Soviets were doing across Europe. Over on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, there were strange troop movements including those of some of their Warsaw Pact allies that gave the initial impression as having to do with what was deployed in Poland following the invasion but wasn’t that at all. There were soldiers and aircraft moving further eastwards, through Poland and into the Soviet Union. Westward movement would have been worrying yet so too was that movement to the east. Certain East German and Czechoslovak formations followed Soviet units going that way. Western intelligence agencies had no answer as to the real motive. In the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, on the edges of Western Europe, plus down in the Black Sea as well, the Soviet Navy was active. They were conducting late summer exercises it appeared but these were unlike any seen before. Monitoring generally from afar, though up close and personal when able, these were again confusing in intent. They didn’t look neither offensive nor defensive in the fashion as previously observed. There was a lot of speculation but answers weren’t forthcoming.

When it came to Soviet activities in Western Europe, the fact that the Soviets were behind what was going on was recognised by governments: there was just no real reason behind it. The Gladio killings were the work of Moscow. The leaks which had preceded them were again seen to have the hand of the KGB – or often one of its Eastern European proxies – behind them. There was a destabilisation effort underway it appeared, one to break NATO apart and detach the United States from Western Europe led by public outrage. Yet, too much had been done by the Soviets and they had given the game away. What had begun back earlier in the summer was starting to be seen for what it was now… though not everyone was in perfect agreement. There was general understanding yet nothing specific among governments. What was demanded was a motive, an identifiable reason. There wasn’t one. The Soviets weren’t about to invade Western Europe, that was clear. Why then go to all the effort what they were to try to interfere in inter-government relations? That big question was left unanswered. It needed an answer to unite Western Europe fully. Events continued meanwhile with further Soviet destabilisation attempts. However, the West was more awake than before. Even some previously hesitant governments, those who saw the Soviet Union being blamed for everything including the weather, had to see that there was a general theme to all of this even without that answer which they so sought.


The British caught a ship on its way to the Republic of Ireland when they stopped it while it was transiting international waters. It was laden with guns to be sent to Republican terror groups in Ulster. Intelligence from out of Northern Ireland showed that many groups were waiting upon the transfers. They had received their guns from ‘friends’ in the Middle East and were eager to put them to good use. A plan was put into motion to make use of this all and roll up several networks and catch some very bad people. That ship wasn’t on its own though: there was another one. Elsewhere, MI-5 had been collecting intelligence on the arrivals into Britain of some strange individuals throughout the past couple of months. Who these seemingly-innocent tourists went to see was something of great interest. No motive could be found but what could be taken from this was so. Holes were filled in with previous intelligence on suspected foreign nations now being confirmed as being in contact with Soviet / Soviet-proxy intelligence. A picture was emerging of something very strange going on but, again, there was that missing ‘why’. Thatcher demanded answers that no one could give her on this.

West Germany was meanwhile hit with two domestic spy scandals that the government tried to hush up. A spy for the Stasi’s HVA named Rainer Rupp who worked for NATO ran before he could be detained by West Germany’s BfV counter-intelligence organisation: his recent activities had caused serious concern when it came to worries he was looking at documents which he shouldn’t be. The BfV moved in far too late and in a rather clumsy manner allowing Rupp to escape to East Germany. In response, the West German foreign intelligence agency, the BND, was brought in to undertake an investigation of its sister service due to the concerns of Chancellor Vogel. In doing so, they uncovered evidence that the deputy head of the BfV, Hans-Joachim Tiedge, probably was a Stasi asset as well; it appeared that he had aided the escape of Rupp and might also have been involved in the Unterweser events of the year before when that nuclear power plant had been bombed. Tiedge’s superior, Herbert Hellenbroich, protected his subordinate’s reputation but when even further suspected malfeasance was uncovered about Tiedge and how the Red Army Faction had been able to have so much success in recent years when he was supposed to be at the top of the effort to stop them, the head of the BfV abandoned his junior man for the BND to take away and interrogate. Someone slipped Tiedge a vial of poison for him to end his life but he didn’t take it: when found, the finger of blame went towards Hellenbroich… who promptly fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. The Stasi had lost themselves a major asset in Tiedge and what looked like mid-ranking one in Rupp. Rupp had been passing on a lot, it was discovered, all of it the most-secret NATO intelligence about war plans going back for many long years. As to the BfV – West Germany’s equivalent of MI-5 – that organisation was left in chaos with the arrest of one and the suspicious death of its top two personnel and investigations throughout. Some other things came out when it concerned BfV files on The Greens that were looked at. How could it be said that there were no links between them and financial donations that, through third parties, could be traced back to the Stasi? How long had the BfV known about this?

France and Italy retained their recent close relationship. The lies spread in August about how Mitterrand and Craxi were behind an effort to form a breakaway NATO hadn’t harmed their bi-lateral relations nor either domestically with their populations. The actions of the leaders of the superpowers, Kennedy and Ustinov, were of more of a concern. The American president and the Soviet general secretary seemed hellbent on pushing the world towards a conflict, one which would inevitably involve a war in Western Europe if it got out of hand despite predictions that it would occur elsewhere in the world at the beginning. Neither wanted their country involved in that. A Soviet invasion of West Germany would unite Western Europe with the United States – Mitterrand would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kennedy there – but that looked increasingly unlikely despite all of the tension. It would be in Korea, in China, in the Middle East or in Latin America where there would be an outbreak of fighting. Mitterrand and Craxi agreed upon that… and they agreed as well that a conflict in those regions didn’t have to, and therefore shouldn’t, involve their countries as long as the Soviets didn’t attack NATO. That aside, their intelligence agencies were cooperating with others in aiding the pushback against Soviet attempts at destabilisation and there was joint effort between France’s DGSE and Italy’s SISDE in stopping the killing of another Italian parliamentarian looking into Gladio by what looked like a Soviet-backed attempt to frame the CIA for that. Everything that was discovered there was passed on to their contacts in other countries. There was too the joint Paris-Rome effort to prevent that war which they feared was about to happen, one outside Europe but risked dragging in Western Europe in. It was better to stop it from happening in the first place. The two countries were doing their best in this… their best wouldn’t be good enough though. When the time came, a decision would have to be made there.

[lordroel]

Apr 27, 2018 18:41:44 GMT James G said:

(142)

Early September 1984:

Only a fool wouldn’t suspect that something was up with what the Soviets were doing across Europe. Over on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, there were strange troop movements including those of some of their Warsaw Pact allies that gave the initial impression as having to do with what was deployed in Poland following the invasion but wasn’t that at all. There were soldiers and aircraft moving further eastwards, through Poland and into the Soviet Union. Westward movement would have been worrying yet so too was that movement to the east. Certain East German and Czechoslovak formations followed Soviet units going that way. Western intelligence agencies had no answer as to the real motive. In the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, on the edges of Western Europe, plus down in the Black Sea as well, the Soviet Navy was active. They were conducting late summer exercises it appeared but these were unlike any seen before. Monitoring generally from afar, though up close and personal when able, these were again confusing in intent. They didn’t look neither offensive nor defensive in the fashion as previously observed. There was a lot of speculation but answers weren’t forthcoming.

When it came to Soviet activities in Western Europe, the fact that the Soviets were behind what was going on was recognised by governments: there was just no real reason behind it. The Gladio killings were the work of Moscow. The leaks which had preceded them were again seen to have the hand of the KGB – or often one of its Eastern European proxies – behind them. There was a destabilisation effort underway it appeared, one to break NATO apart and detach the United States from Western Europe led by public outrage. Yet, too much had been done by the Soviets and they had given the game away. What had begun back earlier in the summer was starting to be seen for what it was now… though not everyone was in perfect agreement. There was general understanding yet nothing specific among governments. What was demanded was a motive, an identifiable reason. There wasn’t one. The Soviets weren’t about to invade Western Europe, that was clear. Why then go to all the effort what they were to try to interfere in inter-government relations? That big question was left unanswered. It needed an answer to unite Western Europe fully. Events continued meanwhile with further Soviet destabilisation attempts. However, the West was more awake than before. Even some previously hesitant governments, those who saw the Soviet Union being blamed for everything including the weather, had to see that there was a general theme to all of this even without that answer which they so sought.


The British caught a ship on its way to the Republic of Ireland when they stopped it while it was transiting international waters. It was laden with guns to be sent to Republican terror groups in Ulster. Intelligence from out of Northern Ireland showed that many groups were waiting upon the transfers. They had received their guns from ‘friends’ in the Middle East and were eager to put them to good use. A plan was put into motion to make use of this all and roll up several networks and catch some very bad people. That ship wasn’t on its own though: there was another one. Elsewhere, MI-5 had been collecting intelligence on the arrivals into Britain of some strange individuals throughout the past couple of months. Who these seemingly-innocent tourists went to see was something of great interest. No motive could be found but what could be taken from this was so. Holes were filled in with previous intelligence on suspected foreign nations now being confirmed as being in contact with Soviet / Soviet-proxy intelligence. A picture was emerging of something very strange going on but, again, there was that missing ‘why’. Thatcher demanded answers that no one could give her on this.

West Germany was meanwhile hit with two domestic spy scandals that the government tried to hush up. A spy for the Stasi’s HVA named Rainer Rupp who worked for NATO ran before he could be detained by West Germany’s BfV counter-intelligence organisation: his recent activities had caused serious concern when it came to worries he was looking at documents which he shouldn’t be. The BfV moved in far too late and in a rather clumsy manner allowing Rupp to escape to East Germany. In response, the West German foreign intelligence agency, the BND, was brought in to undertake an investigation of its sister service due to the concerns of Chancellor Vogel. In doing so, they uncovered evidence that the deputy head of the BfV, Hans-Joachim Tiedge, probably was a Stasi asset as well; it appeared that he had aided the escape of Rupp and might also have been involved in the Unterweser events of the year before when that nuclear power plant had been bombed. Tiedge’s superior, Herbert Hellenbroich, protected his subordinate’s reputation but when even further suspected malfeasance was uncovered about Tiedge and how the Red Army Faction had been able to have so much success in recent years when he was supposed to be at the top of the effort to stop them, the head of the BfV abandoned his junior man for the BND to take away and interrogate. Someone slipped Tiedge a vial of poison for him to end his life but he didn’t take it: when found, the finger of blame went towards Hellenbroich… who promptly fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. The Stasi had lost themselves a major asset in Tiedge and what looked like mid-ranking one in Rupp. Rupp had been passing on a lot, it was discovered, all of it the most-secret NATO intelligence about war plans going back for many long years. As to the BfV – West Germany’s equivalent of MI-5 – that organisation was left in chaos with the arrest of one and the suspicious death of its top two personnel and investigations throughout. Some other things came out when it concerned BfV files on The Greens that were looked at. How could it be said that there were no links between them and financial donations that, through third parties, could be traced back to the Stasi? How long had the BfV known about this?

France and Italy retained their recent close relationship. The lies spread in August about how Mitterrand and Craxi were behind an effort to form a breakaway NATO hadn’t harmed their bi-lateral relations nor either domestically with their populations. The actions of the leaders of the superpowers, Kennedy and Ustinov, were of more of a concern. The American president and the Soviet general secretary seemed hellbent on pushing the world towards a conflict, one which would inevitably involve a war in Western Europe if it got out of hand despite predictions that it would occur elsewhere in the world at the beginning. Neither wanted their country involved in that. A Soviet invasion of West Germany would unite Western Europe with the United States – Mitterrand would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kennedy there – but that looked increasingly unlikely despite all of the tension. It would be in Korea, in China, in the Middle East or in Latin America where there would be an outbreak of fighting. Mitterrand and Craxi agreed upon that… and they agreed as well that a conflict in those regions didn’t have to, and therefore shouldn’t, involve their countries as long as the Soviets didn’t attack NATO. That aside, their intelligence agencies were cooperating with others in aiding the pushback against Soviet attempts at destabilisation and there was joint effort between France’s DGSE and Italy’s SISDE in stopping the killing of another Italian parliamentarian looking into Gladio by what looked like a Soviet-backed attempt to frame the CIA for that. Everything that was discovered there was passed on to their contacts in other countries. There was too the joint Paris-Rome effort to prevent that war which they feared was about to happen, one outside Europe but risked dragging in Western Europe in. It was better to stop it from happening in the first place. The two countries were doing their best in this… their best wouldn’t be good enough though. When the time came, a decision would have to be made there.

Nice update showing all the stuff going on in Western Europe.

[stevep]

Apr 27, 2018 19:59:54 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 27, 2018 18:41:44 GMT James G said:

(142)

Early September 1984:

Only a fool wouldn’t suspect that something was up with what the Soviets were doing across Europe. Over on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, there were strange troop movements including those of some of their Warsaw Pact allies that gave the initial impression as having to do with what was deployed in Poland following the invasion but wasn’t that at all. There were soldiers and aircraft moving further eastwards, through Poland and into the Soviet Union. Westward movement would have been worrying yet so too was that movement to the east. Certain East German and Czechoslovak formations followed Soviet units going that way. Western intelligence agencies had no answer as to the real motive. In the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, on the edges of Western Europe, plus down in the Black Sea as well, the Soviet Navy was active. They were conducting late summer exercises it appeared but these were unlike any seen before. Monitoring generally from afar, though up close and personal when able, these were again confusing in intent. They didn’t look neither offensive nor defensive in the fashion as previously observed. There was a lot of speculation but answers weren’t forthcoming.

When it came to Soviet activities in Western Europe, the fact that the Soviets were behind what was going on was recognised by governments: there was just no real reason behind it. The Gladio killings were the work of Moscow. The leaks which had preceded them were again seen to have the hand of the KGB – or often one of its Eastern European proxies – behind them. There was a destabilisation effort underway it appeared, one to break NATO apart and detach the United States from Western Europe led by public outrage. Yet, too much had been done by the Soviets and they had given the game away. What had begun back earlier in the summer was starting to be seen for what it was now… though not everyone was in perfect agreement. There was general understanding yet nothing specific among governments. What was demanded was a motive, an identifiable reason. There wasn’t one. The Soviets weren’t about to invade Western Europe, that was clear. Why then go to all the effort what they were to try to interfere in inter-government relations? That big question was left unanswered. It needed an answer to unite Western Europe fully. Events continued meanwhile with further Soviet destabilisation attempts. However, the West was more awake than before. Even some previously hesitant governments, those who saw the Soviet Union being blamed for everything including the weather, had to see that there was a general theme to all of this even without that answer which they so sought.


The British caught a ship on its way to the Republic of Ireland when they stopped it while it was transiting international waters. It was laden with guns to be sent to Republican terror groups in Ulster. Intelligence from out of Northern Ireland showed that many groups were waiting upon the transfers. They had received their guns from ‘friends’ in the Middle East and were eager to put them to good use. A plan was put into motion to make use of this all and roll up several networks and catch some very bad people. That ship wasn’t on its own though: there was another one. Elsewhere, MI-5 had been collecting intelligence on the arrivals into Britain of some strange individuals throughout the past couple of months. Who these seemingly-innocent tourists went to see was something of great interest. No motive could be found but what could be taken from this was so. Holes were filled in with previous intelligence on suspected foreign nations now being confirmed as being in contact with Soviet / Soviet-proxy intelligence. A picture was emerging of something very strange going on but, again, there was that missing ‘why’. Thatcher demanded answers that no one could give her on this.

West Germany was meanwhile hit with two domestic spy scandals that the government tried to hush up. A spy for the Stasi’s HVA named Rainer Rupp who worked for NATO ran before he could be detained by West Germany’s BfV counter-intelligence organisation: his recent activities had caused serious concern when it came to worries he was looking at documents which he shouldn’t be. The BfV moved in far too late and in a rather clumsy manner allowing Rupp to escape to East Germany. In response, the West German foreign intelligence agency, the BND, was brought in to undertake an investigation of its sister service due to the concerns of Chancellor Vogel. In doing so, they uncovered evidence that the deputy head of the BfV, Hans-Joachim Tiedge, probably was a Stasi asset as well; it appeared that he had aided the escape of Rupp and might also have been involved in the Unterweser events of the year before when that nuclear power plant had been bombed. Tiedge’s superior, Herbert Hellenbroich, protected his subordinate’s reputation but when even further suspected malfeasance was uncovered about Tiedge and how the Red Army Faction had been able to have so much success in recent years when he was supposed to be at the top of the effort to stop them, the head of the BfV abandoned his junior man for the BND to take away and interrogate. Someone slipped Tiedge a vial of poison for him to end his life but he didn’t take it: when found, the finger of blame went towards Hellenbroich… who promptly fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. The Stasi had lost themselves a major asset in Tiedge and what looked like mid-ranking one in Rupp. Rupp had been passing on a lot, it was discovered, all of it the most-secret NATO intelligence about war plans going back for many long years. As to the BfV – West Germany’s equivalent of MI-5 – that organisation was left in chaos with the arrest of one and the suspicious death of its top two personnel and investigations throughout. Some other things came out when it concerned BfV files on The Greens that were looked at. How could it be said that there were no links between them and financial donations that, through third parties, could be traced back to the Stasi? How long had the BfV known about this?

France and Italy retained their recent close relationship. The lies spread in August about how Mitterrand and Craxi were behind an effort to form a breakaway NATO hadn’t harmed their bi-lateral relations nor either domestically with their populations. The actions of the leaders of the superpowers, Kennedy and Ustinov, were of more of a concern. The American president and the Soviet general secretary seemed hellbent on pushing the world towards a conflict, one which would inevitably involve a war in Western Europe if it got out of hand despite predictions that it would occur elsewhere in the world at the beginning. Neither wanted their country involved in that. A Soviet invasion of West Germany would unite Western Europe with the United States – Mitterrand would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kennedy there – but that looked increasingly unlikely despite all of the tension. It would be in Korea, in China, in the Middle East or in Latin America where there would be an outbreak of fighting. Mitterrand and Craxi agreed upon that… and they agreed as well that a conflict in those regions didn’t have to, and therefore shouldn’t, involve their countries as long as the Soviets didn’t attack NATO. That aside, their intelligence agencies were cooperating with others in aiding the pushback against Soviet attempts at destabilisation and there was joint effort between France’s DGSE and Italy’s SISDE in stopping the killing of another Italian parliamentarian looking into Gladio by what looked like a Soviet-backed attempt to frame the CIA for that. Everything that was discovered there was passed on to their contacts in other countries. There was too the joint Paris-Rome effort to prevent that war which they feared was about to happen, one outside Europe but risked dragging in Western Europe in. It was better to stop it from happening in the first place. The two countries were doing their best in this… their best wouldn’t be good enough though. When the time came, a decision would have to be made there.

Nice update showing all the stuff going on in Western Europe.

  Very good.  The Soviet hand is starting to appear in a lot of activities but people are still puzzled as to what and with what purpose.  The immediate fear of being dragged into a war is cloaking the danger of not being in one and seeing their main protection disappearing.  Although a total collapse of the US, or even its homeland being seriously threatened would look impossible at this stage.

[James G]

Apr 27, 2018 19:59:54 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 27, 2018 18:41:44 GMT James G said:

(142)

Early September 1984:

Only a fool wouldn’t suspect that something was up with what the Soviets were doing across Europe. Over on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain, there were strange troop movements including those of some of their Warsaw Pact allies that gave the initial impression as having to do with what was deployed in Poland following the invasion but wasn’t that at all. There were soldiers and aircraft moving further eastwards, through Poland and into the Soviet Union. Westward movement would have been worrying yet so too was that movement to the east. Certain East German and Czechoslovak formations followed Soviet units going that way. Western intelligence agencies had no answer as to the real motive. In the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas, on the edges of Western Europe, plus down in the Black Sea as well, the Soviet Navy was active. They were conducting late summer exercises it appeared but these were unlike any seen before. Monitoring generally from afar, though up close and personal when able, these were again confusing in intent. They didn’t look neither offensive nor defensive in the fashion as previously observed. There was a lot of speculation but answers weren’t forthcoming.

When it came to Soviet activities in Western Europe, the fact that the Soviets were behind what was going on was recognised by governments: there was just no real reason behind it. The Gladio killings were the work of Moscow. The leaks which had preceded them were again seen to have the hand of the KGB – or often one of its Eastern European proxies – behind them. There was a destabilisation effort underway it appeared, one to break NATO apart and detach the United States from Western Europe led by public outrage. Yet, too much had been done by the Soviets and they had given the game away. What had begun back earlier in the summer was starting to be seen for what it was now… though not everyone was in perfect agreement. There was general understanding yet nothing specific among governments. What was demanded was a motive, an identifiable reason. There wasn’t one. The Soviets weren’t about to invade Western Europe, that was clear. Why then go to all the effort what they were to try to interfere in inter-government relations? That big question was left unanswered. It needed an answer to unite Western Europe fully. Events continued meanwhile with further Soviet destabilisation attempts. However, the West was more awake than before. Even some previously hesitant governments, those who saw the Soviet Union being blamed for everything including the weather, had to see that there was a general theme to all of this even without that answer which they so sought.


The British caught a ship on its way to the Republic of Ireland when they stopped it while it was transiting international waters. It was laden with guns to be sent to Republican terror groups in Ulster. Intelligence from out of Northern Ireland showed that many groups were waiting upon the transfers. They had received their guns from ‘friends’ in the Middle East and were eager to put them to good use. A plan was put into motion to make use of this all and roll up several networks and catch some very bad people. That ship wasn’t on its own though: there was another one. Elsewhere, MI-5 had been collecting intelligence on the arrivals into Britain of some strange individuals throughout the past couple of months. Who these seemingly-innocent tourists went to see was something of great interest. No motive could be found but what could be taken from this was so. Holes were filled in with previous intelligence on suspected foreign nations now being confirmed as being in contact with Soviet / Soviet-proxy intelligence. A picture was emerging of something very strange going on but, again, there was that missing ‘why’. Thatcher demanded answers that no one could give her on this.

West Germany was meanwhile hit with two domestic spy scandals that the government tried to hush up. A spy for the Stasi’s HVA named Rainer Rupp who worked for NATO ran before he could be detained by West Germany’s BfV counter-intelligence organisation: his recent activities had caused serious concern when it came to worries he was looking at documents which he shouldn’t be. The BfV moved in far too late and in a rather clumsy manner allowing Rupp to escape to East Germany. In response, the West German foreign intelligence agency, the BND, was brought in to undertake an investigation of its sister service due to the concerns of Chancellor Vogel. In doing so, they uncovered evidence that the deputy head of the BfV, Hans-Joachim Tiedge, probably was a Stasi asset as well; it appeared that he had aided the escape of Rupp and might also have been involved in the Unterweser events of the year before when that nuclear power plant had been bombed. Tiedge’s superior, Herbert Hellenbroich, protected his subordinate’s reputation but when even further suspected malfeasance was uncovered about Tiedge and how the Red Army Faction had been able to have so much success in recent years when he was supposed to be at the top of the effort to stop them, the head of the BfV abandoned his junior man for the BND to take away and interrogate. Someone slipped Tiedge a vial of poison for him to end his life but he didn’t take it: when found, the finger of blame went towards Hellenbroich… who promptly fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. The Stasi had lost themselves a major asset in Tiedge and what looked like mid-ranking one in Rupp. Rupp had been passing on a lot, it was discovered, all of it the most-secret NATO intelligence about war plans going back for many long years. As to the BfV – West Germany’s equivalent of MI-5 – that organisation was left in chaos with the arrest of one and the suspicious death of its top two personnel and investigations throughout. Some other things came out when it concerned BfV files on The Greens that were looked at. How could it be said that there were no links between them and financial donations that, through third parties, could be traced back to the Stasi? How long had the BfV known about this?

France and Italy retained their recent close relationship. The lies spread in August about how Mitterrand and Craxi were behind an effort to form a breakaway NATO hadn’t harmed their bi-lateral relations nor either domestically with their populations. The actions of the leaders of the superpowers, Kennedy and Ustinov, were of more of a concern. The American president and the Soviet general secretary seemed hellbent on pushing the world towards a conflict, one which would inevitably involve a war in Western Europe if it got out of hand despite predictions that it would occur elsewhere in the world at the beginning. Neither wanted their country involved in that. A Soviet invasion of West Germany would unite Western Europe with the United States – Mitterrand would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kennedy there – but that looked increasingly unlikely despite all of the tension. It would be in Korea, in China, in the Middle East or in Latin America where there would be an outbreak of fighting. Mitterrand and Craxi agreed upon that… and they agreed as well that a conflict in those regions didn’t have to, and therefore shouldn’t, involve their countries as long as the Soviets didn’t attack NATO. That aside, their intelligence agencies were cooperating with others in aiding the pushback against Soviet attempts at destabilisation and there was joint effort between France’s DGSE and Italy’s SISDE in stopping the killing of another Italian parliamentarian looking into Gladio by what looked like a Soviet-backed attempt to frame the CIA for that. Everything that was discovered there was passed on to their contacts in other countries. There was too the joint Paris-Rome effort to prevent that war which they feared was about to happen, one outside Europe but risked dragging in Western Europe in. It was better to stop it from happening in the first place. The two countries were doing their best in this… their best wouldn’t be good enough though. When the time came, a decision would have to be made there.

Nice update showing all the stuff going on in Western Europe.

there is some more to come on that note before we take a brief world tour and then go to the days before the final showdown commences.

Apr 27, 2018 21:07:39 GMT stevep said:

  Very good.  The Soviet hand is starting to appear in a lot of activities but people are still puzzled as to what and with what purpose.  The immediate fear of being dragged into a war is cloaking the danger of not being in one and seeing their main protection disappearing.  Although a total collapse of the US, or even its homeland being seriously threatened would look impossible at this stage.

Thank you.
The 'why' is throwing so many off. It doesn't make sense. There are more odd occurrences to come.

[lukedalton]

Apr 27, 2018 21:19:19 GMT James G said:

Apr 27, 2018 21:07:39 GMT stevep said:

Thank you.
The 'why' is throwing so many off. It doesn't make sense. There are more odd occurrences to come.

Well in all honestly, if someone in any european intelligence agency propose that all the problem the soviet (and allies) it's in preparation for the invasion of North America, it will taken as a crazy paranoid person.

The entire soviet war plan make Pear Harbour look as a safe and sure routine mission for the IJN. The main prediction for any agency will be: Second war of Korea, followed or at the same time of a renewed border conflict with China to further decrease american influence in the theatre and teach the chinese a lsevere esson after the humiliation of the Vietnam invasion; Latin America is a secondary theatre mean to divert american attention and resources to the real target

[redrobin65]

All hail King James G for his excellent updates.

[James G]

Apr 27, 2018 23:23:40 GMT lukedalton said:

Apr 27, 2018 21:19:19 GMT James G said:

Thank you.
The 'why' is throwing so many off. It doesn't make sense. There are more odd occurrences to come.

Well in all honestly, if someone in any european intelligence agency propose that all the problem the soviet (and allies) it's in preparation for the invasion of North America, it will taken as a crazy paranoid person.

The entire soviet war plan make Pear Harbour look as a safe and sure routine mission for the IJN. The main prediction for any agency will be: Second war of Korea, followed or at the same time of a renewed border conflict with China to further decrease american influence in the theatre and teach the chinese a lsevere esson after the humiliation of the Vietnam invasion; Latin America is a secondary theatre mean to divert american attention and resources to the real target

Any sensible person will tell you such an invasion is impossible and that is what it looks like.
As we know though, it is the other way around with what is going on around the world (I'd forgot about Vietnam despite it being put in purposely at the beginning of the story). There will also be a defining incident in Latin America soon enough though.

Apr 27, 2018 23:29:48 GMT redrobin65 said:

All hail King James G for his excellent updates.

(donations can be sent via money order to release more from the bank)
More coming!

[James G]

(143)

Early September 1984:

It seemed like all around the world there was heightened tension with conflict certain to soon break out in regions where allies, proxies and puppets (it depended upon your viewpoint) of the superpowers were pushing against each other’s interests. What would be the Big One, World War Three, was looking more and more likely. There were others who were making desperate efforts to prevent that with nation states and international organisations trying to get mutual enemies old and new to back off and talk instead of fight. The superpowers themselves were involved as well in giving the appearance of trying to dampen some regional tensions yet encouraging others. Ordinary people were starting to get very worried no matter what their governments were saying: that being those who had access to uncensored news, which was certainly not everywhere. So many more had no idea of what was coming, of what would kill them straight away or afterwards because the struggle for life, just to exist, was all that mattered to them. Geo-political alliances and regional supremacy were all that others concerned themselves with though.

It was five years since the Chinese had – in the words of Deng – given the Vietnamese ‘a spanking’ during the short invasion by and then withdrawal of the PLA. Vietnam hadn’t forgotten that nor how China still occupied small but significant parts of Vietnamese territory along their mutual border. There had been flare-up after flare-up over the years with artillery shelling and infantry combat around that occupied territory. The PLA hadn’t budged from where it sat in occupation and the Vietnamese weren’t about to budge in their desire to retake what was theirs. Modern Vietnam had driven the French and then the Americans from their country: the same would be done with the Chinese, even if it took a while. At the end of June, a Soviet official delegation had come to Hanoi and met with the Vietnamese leadership. The chance to retake what rightfully belonged to their country was offered. Vietnam jumped at the opportunity offered ultimately from Ustinov. For years, Andropov had been urging them to take on the Chinese but not giving Vietnam the means to do so… all the while using the air & naval facilities at Cam Ranh Bay for Soviet interests in Asia. Heavy weapons had been sent to the Vietnamese and they were putting them to good use. They were also marshalling strong forces nearby, ready to move to retake what the PLA held. As to the Chinese, the strengthened Moscow-Hanoi ties were noted and so too the increase in combat leading up to what was looking like a mass attack by Vietnam. That was responded to accordingly. The PLA was hitting back while marshalling its own forces. Some of Deng’s colleagues urged him to attack, but he was waiting for the Vietnamese to make the first move and commit themselves. They would then be smashed apart in a counterattack. While each side waited for the other to take the necessary next step, those outside watched with horror as the death and destruction increased. There was a finale coming there. The concern was that the Vietnamese would eventually bring in their Soviet backers and when that occurred, the Chinese would call upon their American allies.

In Panama, there was increasingly a stand-off all around the Canal Zone between American soldiers and the Panamanian Army. Diplomatic relations between Noriega and Washington had fallen apart. Panama refused to accept responsibility for the deaths which had occurred in the terror attack on an American military family plus those shootings of soldiers too. There had been bitter complaints when the United States brought more troops into the Canal Zone with accusations that they were deployed to intimidate Panama on its rightful sovereign soil. Panamanian reserves were called out, to defend the nation against ‘American aggression’. Costa Rica had offered to host bi-lateral talks between the two sides and act as an honest broker. Neither side was willing to move to that stage, not at the moment anyway. The focus instead was on preparing for conflict. To that end, war looked even more likely when – doing as they had done in South Korea – the American flew out of Panama military dependents as well as all but the most-important civilian staff. They weren’t to be present should Panama and the United States start fighting.

Over in the Middle East, the Iranian Navy had deployed its warships into the Persian Gulf in number. There had been a clash with the naval forces of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, one which the Iranians had decisively won. Their warships were heavily-armed and Iran was a naval power: the communist regime in Tehran had been building their naval capabilities for years including purchasing warships built to Soviet designs in Polish shipyards. They had land-based missile support and also air cover; neither of which the Saudis and the other Gulf Arab Monarchies had much of. Iranian warships had chased away others and left Iran in the dominant position in the Persian Gulf when it came to naval fire power. Commercial shipping was unhindered by this though, the oil still flowed with tankers going past the destroyers and frigates carrying all that fire-power. The Americans had sent an aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea, far outside the Persian Gulf, but they were there and the Iranians were where they were: there had been no clashes between each of them when separated over a distance. Everyone was waiting on Iran to make the next move, one sure to be another aggressive act against its neighbours.

Libya remained chastised after the attacks it had taken from Egypt first, then the Americans and finally Israel. Colonel Gadhafi was still ranting and raving on the air waves and threatening to cut oil supplies to those in Western Europe who stood with Israel. Libya was a big supplier to Western Europe yet that cut both ways: Libya needed the oil revenues which came with their exports. Gadhafi had yet to carry out his promised retaliation against Israel for the air strikes made. What they might be was something unknown. Outside observers noted the military build-up occurring as Soviet aircraft and ships arrived in Libya. It was widely believed that the Soviet Union was making good the loses of equipment and munitions which Libya had used and lost in earlier military clashes. This was being sent for the next round of fighting, when Gadhafi backed his words with action. That was incorrect: what was going to Libya in weapons shipments being spotted wasn’t to be used by the Libyans and nor against Israel either. Something else was soon to happen instead.

Along the Turkish-Iraqi border, there were low-level clashes which had taken place throughout the height of summer and continued into September. Turkey hadn’t called upon her NATO allies for assistance and instead the Turks were dealing with Iraq by themselves… though Israel was providing help by covert means. Iraq had pushed more Kurds towards Turkey and the Turkish government responded to that by trying to stop Saddam from doing such a thing. This meant putting Turkish soldiers in the way of those Kurdish refugees. Sometimes those soldiers shot at the refugees when it was said they were armed terrorists; other times they exchanged fire with the Iraqis when each side accused the other of crossing over the border. Many NATO countries had complained about Turkey’s actions when it came to the deaths of those Kurdish refugees which Turkey called terrorists. As to Iraq, Saddam sought no help from his neighbours Syria and Iran: they were both enemies of his despite being tied to an alliance with the Soviet Union like he was. Moscow wanted him to apply the pressure on Turkey and he did. He was getting something out of this for himself soon enough when the time came to hand out rewards. Up in Ankara, where the generals had assumed a leading role out in the open rather than behind the scenes, their erstwhile ‘allies’ aboard kept complaining about Turkey’s behaviour. They were furious. Turkey was a victim of aggression and was defending itself. Turkey would do what it had to do to protect itself and damn the consequences from others who didn’t see the bigger picture. If that meant moving into Iraq to establish a security zone, a favoured idea among the generals in Turkey’s capital, then so it be.

[lordroel]

Apr 28, 2018 15:15:31 GMT James G said:

(143)

Early September 1984:

It seemed like all around the world there was heightened tension with conflict certain to soon break out in regions where allies, proxies and puppets (it depended upon your viewpoint) of the superpowers were pushing against each other’s interests. What would be the Big One, World War Three, was looking more and more likely. There were others who were making desperate efforts to prevent that with nation states and international organisations trying to get mutual enemies old and new to back off and talk instead of fight. The superpowers themselves were involved as well in giving the appearance of trying to dampen some regional tensions yet encouraging others. Ordinary people were starting to get very worried no matter what their governments were saying: that being those who had access to uncensored news, which was certainly not everywhere. So many more had no idea of what was coming, of what would kill them straight away or afterwards because the struggle for life, just to exist, was all that mattered to them. Geo-political alliances and regional supremacy were all that others concerned themselves with though.

It was five years since the Chinese had – in the words of Deng – given the Vietnamese ‘a spanking’ during the short invasion by and then withdrawal of the PLA. Vietnam hadn’t forgotten that nor how China still occupied small but significant parts of Vietnamese territory along their mutual border. There had been flare-up after flare-up over the years with artillery shelling and infantry combat around that occupied territory. The PLA hadn’t budged from where it sat in occupation and the Vietnamese weren’t about to budge in their desire to retake what was theirs. Modern Vietnam had driven the French and then the Americans from their country: the same would be done with the Chinese, even if it took a while. At the end of June, a Soviet official delegation had come to Hanoi and met with the Vietnamese leadership. The chance to retake what rightfully belonged to their country was offered. Vietnam jumped at the opportunity offered ultimately from Ustinov. For years, Andropov had been urging them to take on the Chinese but not giving Vietnam the means to do so… all the while using the air & naval facilities at Cam Ranh Bay for Soviet interests in Asia. Heavy weapons had been sent to the Vietnamese and they were putting them to good use. They were also marshalling strong forces nearby, ready to move to retake what the PLA held. As to the Chinese, the strengthened Moscow-Hanoi ties were noted and so too the increase in combat leading up to what was looking like a mass attack by Vietnam. That was responded to accordingly. The PLA was hitting back while marshalling its own forces. Some of Deng’s colleagues urged him to attack, but he was waiting for the Vietnamese to make the first move and commit themselves. They would then be smashed apart in a counterattack. While each side waited for the other to take the necessary next step, those outside watched with horror as the death and destruction increased. There was a finale coming there. The concern was that the Vietnamese would eventually bring in their Soviet backers and when that occurred, the Chinese would call upon their American allies.

In Panama, there was increasingly a stand-off all around the Canal Zone between American soldiers and the Panamanian Army. Diplomatic relations between Noriega and Washington had fallen apart. Panama refused to accept responsibility for the deaths which had occurred in the terror attack on an American military family plus those shootings of soldiers too. There had been bitter complaints when the United States brought more troops into the Canal Zone with accusations that they were deployed to intimidate Panama on its rightful sovereign soil. Panamanian reserves were called out, to defend the nation against ‘American aggression’. Costa Rica had offered to host bi-lateral talks between the two sides and act as an honest broker. Neither side was willing to move to that stage, not at the moment anyway. The focus instead was on preparing for conflict. To that end, war looked even more likely when – doing as they had done in South Korea – the American flew out of Panama military dependents as well as all but the most-important civilian staff. They weren’t to be present should Panama and the United States start fighting.

Over in the Middle East, the Iranian Navy had deployed its warships into the Persian Gulf in number. There had been a clash with the naval forces of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, one which the Iranians had decisively won. Their warships were heavily-armed and Iran was a naval power: the communist regime in Tehran had been building their naval capabilities for years including purchasing warships built to Soviet designs in Polish shipyards. They had land-based missile support and also air cover; neither of which the Saudis and the other Gulf Arab Monarchies had much of. Iranian warships had chased away others and left Iran in the dominant position in the Persian Gulf when it came to naval fire power. Commercial shipping was unhindered by this though, the oil still flowed with tankers going past the destroyers and frigates carrying all that fire-power. The Americans had sent an aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea, far outside the Persian Gulf, but they were there and the Iranians were where they were: there had been no clashes between each of them when separated over a distance. Everyone was waiting on Iran to make the next move, one sure to be another aggressive act against its neighbours.

Libya remained chastised after the attacks it had taken from Egypt first, then the Americans and finally Israel. Colonel Gadhafi was still ranting and raving on the air waves and threatening to cut oil supplies to those in Western Europe who stood with Israel. Libya was a big supplier to Western Europe yet that cut both ways: Libya needed the oil revenues which came with their exports. Gadhafi had yet to carry out his promised retaliation against Israel for the air strikes made. What they might be was something unknown. Outside observers noted the military build-up occurring as Soviet aircraft and ships arrived in Libya. It was widely believed that the Soviet Union was making good the loses of equipment and munitions which Libya had used and lost in earlier military clashes. This was being sent for the next round of fighting, when Gadhafi backed his words with action. That was incorrect: what was going to Libya in weapons shipments being spotted wasn’t to be used by the Libyans and nor against Israel either. Something else was soon to happen instead.

Along the Turkish-Iraqi border, there were low-level clashes which had taken place throughout the height of summer and continued into September. Turkey hadn’t called upon her NATO allies for assistance and instead the Turks were dealing with Iraq by themselves… though Israel was providing help by covert means. Iraq had pushed more Kurds towards Turkey and the Turkish government responded to that by trying to stop Saddam from doing such a thing. This meant putting Turkish soldiers in the way of those Kurdish refugees. Sometimes those soldiers shot at the refugees when it was said they were armed terrorists; other times they exchanged fire with the Iraqis when each side accused the other of crossing over the border. Many NATO countries had complained about Turkey’s actions when it came to the deaths of those Kurdish refugees which Turkey called terrorists. As to Iraq, Saddam sought no help from his neighbours Syria and Iran: they were both enemies of his despite being tied to an alliance with the Soviet Union like he was. Moscow wanted him to apply the pressure on Turkey and he did. He was getting something out of this for himself soon enough when the time came to hand out rewards. Up in Ankara, where the generals had assumed a leading role out in the open rather than behind the scenes, their erstwhile ‘allies’ aboard kept complaining about Turkey’s behaviour. They were furious. Turkey was a victim of aggression and was defending itself. Turkey would do what it had to do to protect itself and damn the consequences from others who didn’t see the bigger picture. If that meant moving into Iraq to establish a security zone, a favoured idea among the generals in Turkey’s capital, then so it be.

Question, you say, the Iranian Navy had deployed its warships into the Persian Gulf in number, does this mean the Soviets have supplied Iran with a large number of ships.

[James G]

Apr 28, 2018 15:20:52 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 28, 2018 15:15:31 GMT James G said:

(143)

Early September 1984:

It seemed like all around the world there was heightened tension with conflict certain to soon break out in regions where allies, proxies and puppets (it depended upon your viewpoint) of the superpowers were pushing against each other’s interests. What would be the Big One, World War Three, was looking more and more likely. There were others who were making desperate efforts to prevent that with nation states and international organisations trying to get mutual enemies old and new to back off and talk instead of fight. The superpowers themselves were involved as well in giving the appearance of trying to dampen some regional tensions yet encouraging others. Ordinary people were starting to get very worried no matter what their governments were saying: that being those who had access to uncensored news, which was certainly not everywhere. So many more had no idea of what was coming, of what would kill them straight away or afterwards because the struggle for life, just to exist, was all that mattered to them. Geo-political alliances and regional supremacy were all that others concerned themselves with though.

It was five years since the Chinese had – in the words of Deng – given the Vietnamese ‘a spanking’ during the short invasion by and then withdrawal of the PLA. Vietnam hadn’t forgotten that nor how China still occupied small but significant parts of Vietnamese territory along their mutual border. There had been flare-up after flare-up over the years with artillery shelling and infantry combat around that occupied territory. The PLA hadn’t budged from where it sat in occupation and the Vietnamese weren’t about to budge in their desire to retake what was theirs. Modern Vietnam had driven the French and then the Americans from their country: the same would be done with the Chinese, even if it took a while. At the end of June, a Soviet official delegation had come to Hanoi and met with the Vietnamese leadership. The chance to retake what rightfully belonged to their country was offered. Vietnam jumped at the opportunity offered ultimately from Ustinov. For years, Andropov had been urging them to take on the Chinese but not giving Vietnam the means to do so… all the while using the air & naval facilities at Cam Ranh Bay for Soviet interests in Asia. Heavy weapons had been sent to the Vietnamese and they were putting them to good use. They were also marshalling strong forces nearby, ready to move to retake what the PLA held. As to the Chinese, the strengthened Moscow-Hanoi ties were noted and so too the increase in combat leading up to what was looking like a mass attack by Vietnam. That was responded to accordingly. The PLA was hitting back while marshalling its own forces. Some of Deng’s colleagues urged him to attack, but he was waiting for the Vietnamese to make the first move and commit themselves. They would then be smashed apart in a counterattack. While each side waited for the other to take the necessary next step, those outside watched with horror as the death and destruction increased. There was a finale coming there. The concern was that the Vietnamese would eventually bring in their Soviet backers and when that occurred, the Chinese would call upon their American allies.

In Panama, there was increasingly a stand-off all around the Canal Zone between American soldiers and the Panamanian Army. Diplomatic relations between Noriega and Washington had fallen apart. Panama refused to accept responsibility for the deaths which had occurred in the terror attack on an American military family plus those shootings of soldiers too. There had been bitter complaints when the United States brought more troops into the Canal Zone with accusations that they were deployed to intimidate Panama on its rightful sovereign soil. Panamanian reserves were called out, to defend the nation against ‘American aggression’. Costa Rica had offered to host bi-lateral talks between the two sides and act as an honest broker. Neither side was willing to move to that stage, not at the moment anyway. The focus instead was on preparing for conflict. To that end, war looked even more likely when – doing as they had done in South Korea – the American flew out of Panama military dependents as well as all but the most-important civilian staff. They weren’t to be present should Panama and the United States start fighting.

Over in the Middle East, the Iranian Navy had deployed its warships into the Persian Gulf in number. There had been a clash with the naval forces of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, one which the Iranians had decisively won. Their warships were heavily-armed and Iran was a naval power: the communist regime in Tehran had been building their naval capabilities for years including purchasing warships built to Soviet designs in Polish shipyards. They had land-based missile support and also air cover; neither of which the Saudis and the other Gulf Arab Monarchies had much of. Iranian warships had chased away others and left Iran in the dominant position in the Persian Gulf when it came to naval fire power. Commercial shipping was unhindered by this though, the oil still flowed with tankers going past the destroyers and frigates carrying all that fire-power. The Americans had sent an aircraft carrier to the Arabian Sea, far outside the Persian Gulf, but they were there and the Iranians were where they were: there had been no clashes between each of them when separated over a distance. Everyone was waiting on Iran to make the next move, one sure to be another aggressive act against its neighbours.

Libya remained chastised after the attacks it had taken from Egypt first, then the Americans and finally Israel. Colonel Gadhafi was still ranting and raving on the air waves and threatening to cut oil supplies to those in Western Europe who stood with Israel. Libya was a big supplier to Western Europe yet that cut both ways: Libya needed the oil revenues which came with their exports. Gadhafi had yet to carry out his promised retaliation against Israel for the air strikes made. What they might be was something unknown. Outside observers noted the military build-up occurring as Soviet aircraft and ships arrived in Libya. It was widely believed that the Soviet Union was making good the loses of equipment and munitions which Libya had used and lost in earlier military clashes. This was being sent for the next round of fighting, when Gadhafi backed his words with action. That was incorrect: what was going to Libya in weapons shipments being spotted wasn’t to be used by the Libyans and nor against Israel either. Something else was soon to happen instead.

Along the Turkish-Iraqi border, there were low-level clashes which had taken place throughout the height of summer and continued into September. Turkey hadn’t called upon her NATO allies for assistance and instead the Turks were dealing with Iraq by themselves… though Israel was providing help by covert means. Iraq had pushed more Kurds towards Turkey and the Turkish government responded to that by trying to stop Saddam from doing such a thing. This meant putting Turkish soldiers in the way of those Kurdish refugees. Sometimes those soldiers shot at the refugees when it was said they were armed terrorists; other times they exchanged fire with the Iraqis when each side accused the other of crossing over the border. Many NATO countries had complained about Turkey’s actions when it came to the deaths of those Kurdish refugees which Turkey called terrorists. As to Iraq, Saddam sought no help from his neighbours Syria and Iran: they were both enemies of his despite being tied to an alliance with the Soviet Union like he was. Moscow wanted him to apply the pressure on Turkey and he did. He was getting something out of this for himself soon enough when the time came to hand out rewards. Up in Ankara, where the generals had assumed a leading role out in the open rather than behind the scenes, their erstwhile ‘allies’ aboard kept complaining about Turkey’s behaviour. They were furious. Turkey was a victim of aggression and was defending itself. Turkey would do what it had to do to protect itself and damn the consequences from others who didn’t see the bigger picture. If that meant moving into Iraq to establish a security zone, a favoured idea among the generals in Turkey’s capital, then so it be.

Question, you say, the Iranian Navy had deployed its warships into the Persian Gulf in number, does this mean the Soviets have supplied Iran with a large number of ships.

Iran purchased them from Poland as part of an oil deal. They are warships built to Soviet design in Poland. Without Moscow's approval, neither would Poland have sold them nor Iran been able to buy them. However, legally, they are Iranian in every way.

[lordroel]

Apr 28, 2018 15:15:31 GMT James G said:

(143)

Early September 1984:


In Panama, there was increasingly a stand-off all around the Canal Zone between American soldiers and the Panamanian Army. Diplomatic relations between Noriega and Washington had fallen apart. Panama refused to accept responsibility for the deaths which had occurred in the terror attack on an American military family plus those shootings of soldiers too. There had been bitter complaints when the United States brought more troops into the Canal Zone with accusations that they were deployed to intimidate Panama on its rightful sovereign soil. Panamanian reserves were called out, to defend the nation against ‘American aggression’. Costa Rica had offered to host bi-lateral talks between the two sides and act as an honest broker. Neither side was willing to move to that stage, not at the moment anyway. The focus instead was on preparing for conflict. To that end, war looked even more likely when – doing as they had done in South Korea – the American flew out of Panama military dependents as well as all but the most-important civilian staff. They weren’t to be present should Panama and the United States start fighting.

Have you ever heard of OTL Plan Huele a Quemado (English:It smells like something's burning), which called for Panamanian military specialist to infiltrated the United States security cordon, posing as peasants and fishermen, to assault the canal with explosives and rocket launchers upon leader of Panama, signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio show.

From a net i found this:

According to The New York Times, the day after the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, Torrijos declared that his regime had contingency plans to sabotage the Canal if ratification had failed. In August 1990, the Chicago Tribune reported that documents captured by the U.S. military revealed that Torrijos had asked Manuel Noriega to prepare such plans. Noriega’s handwritten notes on the plan were found during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

These reports were confirmed in Noriega’s book, America’s Prisoner published in 1997. The contingency plan was code-named “Huele a Quemado” (“It smells like something’s burning”). In Noriega’s account, Panamanian military specialists had infiltrated the U.S. security cordon and lived for two months, posing as peasants and fishermen. They were prepared to assault the Canal and the Panama-Colón railway with explosives and rocket launchers upon Torrijos’ signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio personality.

[lukedalton]

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

[James G]

Apr 28, 2018 15:37:35 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 28, 2018 15:15:31 GMT James G said:

(143)

Early September 1984:


In Panama, there was increasingly a stand-off all around the Canal Zone between American soldiers and the Panamanian Army. Diplomatic relations between Noriega and Washington had fallen apart. Panama refused to accept responsibility for the deaths which had occurred in the terror attack on an American military family plus those shootings of soldiers too. There had been bitter complaints when the United States brought more troops into the Canal Zone with accusations that they were deployed to intimidate Panama on its rightful sovereign soil. Panamanian reserves were called out, to defend the nation against ‘American aggression’. Costa Rica had offered to host bi-lateral talks between the two sides and act as an honest broker. Neither side was willing to move to that stage, not at the moment anyway. The focus instead was on preparing for conflict. To that end, war looked even more likely when – doing as they had done in South Korea – the American flew out of Panama military dependents as well as all but the most-important civilian staff. They weren’t to be present should Panama and the United States start fighting.

Have you ever heard of OTL Plan Huele a Quemado (English:It smells like something's burning), which called for Panamanian military specialist to infiltrated the United States security cordon, posing as peasants and fishermen, to assault the canal with explosives and rocket launchers upon leader of Panama, signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio show.

From a net i found this:

According to The New York Times, the day after the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, Torrijos declared that his regime had contingency plans to sabotage the Canal if ratification had failed. In August 1990, the Chicago Tribune reported that documents captured by the U.S. military revealed that Torrijos had asked Manuel Noriega to prepare such plans. Noriega’s handwritten notes on the plan were found during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

These reports were confirmed in Noriega’s book, America’s Prisoner published in 1997. The contingency plan was code-named “Huele a Quemado” (“It smells like something’s burning”). In Noriega’s account, Panamanian military specialists had infiltrated the U.S. security cordon and lived for two months, posing as peasants and fishermen. They were prepared to assault the Canal and the Panama-Colón railway with explosives and rocket launchers upon Torrijos’ signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio personality.

That isn't something I've heard of before. Good find.
I'll make use of it though by the use of infiltrators to get in... but not blow up the Canal. The Soviet Union will want that for their own uses.

Apr 28, 2018 16:32:50 GMT lukedalton said:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Soon, very soon. A matter of days now.

[James G]

(144)

Early September 1984:

That West German intelligence officer who’d gone on the run, Rainer Rupp from the BfV, turned up in West Berlin. He attended unannounced to an arranged press conference alongside Gert Bastian (he’d said he was bringing a surprise guest) before he then left ahead of any move to arrest him by the West Berlin police. The police were in legal limbo when it came to Rupp as no criminal charges had been filled against him as well as there being the fact that West Berlin was technically not part of West Germany. Rupp still left with haste though and went back over into East Berlin. Maybe the West Germans might not have detained him – officially or unofficially – but what he revealed to the gathered media put him at risk from being effectively kidnapped by the CIA or another intelligence agency in the West. Bastian said that to the assembled media and he might have been correct too.

What Rupp said, and the copies of documents which he supplied to anyone who wanted them, supported what Bastian was in West Berlin to say. It was in that city where he intended to stay himself for some time as well due to its special status. Bastian claimed that he was speaking on behalf of both The Greens and also the Generals for Peace. As to the former, he was the acting spokesperson for them due to Kelly’s death though that was rotating position (like the party leadership) and carried with it little real authority. When it came to the latter, the Generals for Peace had once been an organisation that had some respect attached to it for its makeups of notables: there were retired military officers from France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal (an ex-president in fact) and West Germany alongside both a Briton and an American too back when it had first begun. Bastian had taken over though, leading to an exodus of his colleagues from the Generals for Peace and now he was trying to do the same with The Greens too. He wasn’t a very popular man despite his own beliefs to the contrary. He did have a lot to say though and the media came to listen to him. Rupp had supplied stolen documents from NATO which Bastian explained showed how the Americans were willing to fight a nuclear war all across West Germany from city-to-city, from town-to-town and from village-to-village. That was in these war plans which he revealed as he made a big show of it all. He was asked if they were authentic. Of course they were, he said, he had checked their veracity himself through contacts he said he maintained; there was no way that these might be forgeries! When it came to Kelly, Bastian once again spoke of her. He declared that he had knowledge of how and why she had been killed by the CIA. The government in Bonn could deny that all they wanted. The West German people should know that the Americans had killed her. There were probably other West Germans which they would try to kill too, and that was why he was staying in West Berlin to be safe from them and the cooperation given to them by Bonn.

The very next day, a group of Red Army Faction terrorists assaulted the US Consulate-General in Hamburg. They intended to take over the whole building and had a list of demands to issue less they start killing hostages taken. This was something meant to take place the next week, right on the eve of the war which was to come elsewhere, anywhere but in West Germany. That spy Rupp had been helping to provide coverage, at a distance, for them pre-attack. He’d run before being exposed though and could no longer do that. The KGB had decided to do something else with another proxy used in another country for a distraction as part of their maskirovka. The Red Army Faction knew nothing of that nor the higher intention, just that their Stasi contact called off the mission and then went into hiding himself. However, their fear was being caught themselves and put in prison – or 'shot while resisting arrest’ – without getting the chance to undertake their propaganda assault. They went ahead regardless of being told not to. They didn’t have everything ready but hoped for the best, relying on luck and determination. For their own sake, they should have really just have gone into hiding. Security was tight at the Hamburg diplomatic mission like it was elsewhere across the country with diplomatic & military sites due to recent events. US Marines gunned down half of the terrorists even before West German authorities in Hamburg could join in to also take shots at the men in balaclavas running around with AK-47s in the middle of the afternoon. Of eleven men and two women involved in the attempted assault, three survivors emerged. The Red Army Faction should have done more reconnaissance and also not made a daylight assault either. They didn’t even get fully into the grounds let alone a building to hold hostages within. The trio of those who remained alive – two badly injured and one without a scratch on him – were then detained by the West Germans where they would face not a pleasant time indeed.


The revelations in West Berlin and the shooting in Hamburg were two entirely separate things in the minds of both governments in Bonn and Washington. Rupp was a spy for East Germany and Bastian either the same or a really committed useful idiot. The Red Army Faction had deserved just what they got. Inter-government relations shouldn’t have been harmed by all of this. Unfortunately, there were some who took advantage of what happened. Chancellor Vogel remained in a difficult position within the SPD where his foreign policy had countless critics. There were some who wanted to believe the worst when it came to the Americans. They had been informed of how Gladio extended to West Germany beyond what Bastian had previously revealed and considered that there remained questions to be answered when it came to Kelly’s assassination. What Rupp had told the world about when it came to American nuclear weapons being destined to be used across West Germany in the event of war was something always suspected but now shown to be entirely true. That was all taken at face value when questions should have been asked – as they had been in West Berlin – over the authenticity of such documents. Then there was the extremely strong American reaction in Hamburg where gunfire had emerged from inside the diplomatic compound going outwards into Hamburg’s streets. Vogel and others explained to their colleagues that this wasn’t the time to be causing trouble here. This were matters which could be sorted out at government-to-government level. Stasi manipulation of events, with the KGB ultimately behind that, was something to consider too. West Germany couldn’t be caught up in a power-play between Moscow and Washington.

Those members of Vogel’s party agreed with that last bit, just not in the way that he meant. They moved against him, believing that he was endangering the country at this time of worldwide tension. It wasn’t going to be easy and would take time. They were out to bring him down though, using cooperation from The Greens if necessary. In the meantime, before the behind-the-scenes undertaking could fully get going to depose Vogel as head of government, the effort was strengthened when the foreign minister resigned: he was with the SPD ‘rebels’ but as a matter of principle stepped down to avoid any hint of duplicity when in his role. Vogel appointed someone else in his place, someone who he trusted and someone who had long ago been vetted by the BfV and shown to have no security risk about him. That was false, he was someone who retained a hidden connection to the Stasi. This whole thing wasn’t the work of those across the Iron Curtain but they would be very quick to make use of it, very quick indeed.

[lordroel]

Apr 28, 2018 16:37:15 GMT James G said:

Apr 28, 2018 15:37:35 GMT lordroel said:

Have you ever heard of OTL Plan Huele a Quemado (English:It smells like something's burning), which called for Panamanian military specialist to infiltrated the United States security cordon, posing as peasants and fishermen, to assault the canal with explosives and rocket launchers upon leader of Panama, signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio show.

From a net i found this:

According to The New York Times, the day after the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, Torrijos declared that his regime had contingency plans to sabotage the Canal if ratification had failed. In August 1990, the Chicago Tribune reported that documents captured by the U.S. military revealed that Torrijos had asked Manuel Noriega to prepare such plans. Noriega’s handwritten notes on the plan were found during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

These reports were confirmed in Noriega’s book, America’s Prisoner published in 1997. The contingency plan was code-named “Huele a Quemado” (“It smells like something’s burning”). In Noriega’s account, Panamanian military specialists had infiltrated the U.S. security cordon and lived for two months, posing as peasants and fishermen. They were prepared to assault the Canal and the Panama-Colón railway with explosives and rocket launchers upon Torrijos’ signal, to be broadcast as a coded message on the program of a popular radio personality.

That isn't something I've heard of before. Good find.
I'll make use of it though by the use of infiltrators to get in... but not blow up the Canal. The Soviet Union will want that for their own uses.

Apr 28, 2018 16:32:50 GMT lukedalton said:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Soon, very soon. A matter of days now.

One part can not wait until it has arrived, another part does not want it to start at all.