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In his last two months in office, Cronin did a lot of things that should have been done by Scott. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

First, he made a comprehensive adjustment to the deployment of US forces in the western Pacific region.

Although, according to the US authorities, the conflict between Russia and Russia has not had an impact on US-China relations, and the United States is still one of the most important allies of the United States in the western Pacific region, with the abolition of the "three non-nuclear principles" in the constitution and the official launch of the military expansion plan, the United States will no longer regard the United States as a reliable ally and must make adjustments to its military deployment in the western Pacific region.

Interestingly, instead of strengthening its military presence in Japan, the United States has weakened its military presence.

According to the adjustment plan announced by the Pentagon, 8,000 of the 12,000 officers and men stationed in the DPRK will be sent to South Korea north of the Korean Strait, and in the end only a 4,000-strong force will be retained in the DPRK, and most of these personnel will be civilian soldiers and base maintenance personnel.

In doing so, it appears to be strengthening the relationship between the United States and South Korea.

In fact, the United States has a more long-term plan.

Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Navy announced that it would consider moving the home port of the Seventh Fleet from Yokosuka to Guam. Although the reasons announced by the US authorities are that the lease of relevant facilities and land near the military bases is too high, and that the water transportation in Tokyo Bay is too complicated for the fleet to be stationed for a long time, everyone knows that the United States is doing this to increase the influence of the Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific and gradually reduce its dependence on the Seventh Fleet.

It is precisely the military presence in South Korea that the United States needs to strengthen.

If all goes well, the United States will deploy two integrated divisions in South Korea and reserve the full armament of the other two integrated divisions in advance. Including the Navy and Air Force officers and men who have been deployed in South Korea for a long time, the scale of US military deployment in South Korea will reach the maximum scale since the ceasefire of the Korean War, that is, 60,000 troops. If the other two integrated divisions are also included, the United States will be able to increase the size of the military stationed in Korea to 100,000 in a very short period of time.

You know, even during the Cold War, the United States did not have so many permanent troops in South Korea.

Although, according to the US authorities, the increase in the scale of US troops stationed in South Korea is not aimed at the DPRK, but rather to provide the ROK with a greater sense of security and stabilize US-ROK relations, the US move immediately caused a blatant wave in Northeast Asia, and the DPRK has held five large-scale military exercises in two consecutive months, and has also engaged in several artillery battles with the ROK army on Yeonpyeong Island, and even many small-scale armed clashes have occurred in the military restricted zone of the ceasefire line.

In addition to North Korea, which has reacted a little aggressively, the mainland has also repeatedly expressed strong uneasiness.

However, diplomatically, the mainland has not acted against the United States, but has taken advantage of the border conflict between the DPRK and the ROK to make a fuss, that is, it believes that the US military deployment has had an impact on peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and has also posed a threat to the national interests of other countries in Northeast Asia, especially the mainland.

All in all, this round of US military deployment has indeed had a very significant impact on Northeast Asia.

In the eyes of the outside world, this is even a prelude to the United States' intention to start a war on the Korean Peninsula. If the US military is deployed in place according to the Pentagon's plan, then within half a year, the US military will be more than 100,000 troops assembled on the Korean Peninsula, and with the huge size of the South Korean army, the US-ROK coalition forces will gain sufficient military advantage.

In addition to this, Cronin did another very important thing.

With the support of the Republican Party, the federal budget submitted by Cronin was successfully passed in Congress, including military spending of $840 billion.

Although about $160 billion of this expenditure was spent on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and about $60 billion was spent on additional military training, that is, to help Iraq and Afghanistan form political axe armies, the actual actual military expenditure was only $620 billion, about 7 percent lower than in previous years, the most striking thing in this expenditure budget is not military spending, but the aggregate amount.

According to outside estimates, under the circumstance that vigorous domestic reconstruction is needed, the total expenditure of the US federal government in the new fiscal year will certainly be more than $14 trillion, accounting for about 38 percent of the US gross national product, of which only $7 trillion will be collected from taxes, and the other $7 trillion will need to be obtained through borrowing and other means. In reality, however, Cronin's total budget to Congress was only $9 trillion, and the amount of debt borrowed was less than $2 trillion, about $5 trillion less than expected.

Although in his detailed report, Cronin mentioned that the total budget of the federal axe for the new fiscal year is 12 trillion US dollars, and the remaining 3 trillion US dollars will be at the disposal of the next political axe, mainly for domestic reconstruction, but this money can also be used for foreign wars.

Herein lies the problem, so to speak.

When the budget was still being deliberated in Congress, some people suggested that if the United States wanted to start a war, the budget balance of 3 trillion to 5 trillion yuan would be enough for the US military not to worry about funding in the first year. You must know that in the first year of the Iraq war, the US military spent just over $1 trillion on the war, while in the first year of the war in Afghanistan, it was less than $500 billion. Three to five trillion dollars is enough for the US military to fight a regional war of huge scale.

This can also be seen in defense spending.

Of the approximately $620 billion in formal expenditure, except for the welfare of military personnel, the amount of expenditure on most sub-items has been reduced, and only equipment procurement and research and development spending have really increased, of which the procurement of new equipment has increased by nearly 30 percent year-on-year, while research and development expenditure has increased by 19 percent. Correspondingly, expenditures for the maintenance of existing equipment were reduced by 28 per cent.

These changes are enough to show that the United States is preparing for the next war.

The last major thing Cronin did was to publish the first official report of the investigation into the Manhattan attacks, which clearly stated that the attack on Manhattan was not a terrorist group, but a well-trained professional army, using a large number of weapons and equipment that terrorist groups could not obtain.

Although the report does not mention which country was behind the attack, the purpose is very clear: it is an act of war against the United States.

Since it is an act of war, the United States will fight back.

Of course, in a sense, this also helped U.S. insurance companies and the Federal Reserve Bank out of the woods, because they didn't have to pay for the losses caused by the war.

By this time, everyone knew that the next war was about to break out.

This is definitely not a local conflict like the four northern islands, but a war against a certain country, and it is very likely to turn into a regional war.

The most irritated are certainly Iran and North Korea.

Immediately after the US Federal Axe released its findings, Iran's president said that the United States was passing the buck or creating structures for the war.

Subsequently, the supreme leader of the DPRK also said that the DPRK is not afraid of war and will use the most resolute counterattack to smash all foreign invasions.

Combined with what happened before, even many Americans believe that Cronin will drag the United States into war before leaving office.

Thankfully, Cronin didn't take the final step.

In fact, by this time, it was not that Cronin could not start a war, but that the US military was not ready for a large-scale regional war.

Politically, it would be much better for Cronin to start a war than for Scott to come forward.

It is a pity that the US authorities have to wait, after all, it is the army that fights, and if the army is not prepared, it will certainly not be able to win the war.

After doing these three things, Cronin's term of office has also come to an end.

Shortly after Christmas, American voters ushered in a new president.

Scott's inauguration was unrelenting, and like previous presidents, after taking the constitutional oath at the Capitol, he and his wife walked hand in hand through Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House to receive the keys to the Cronin family name and then delivered an inaugural speech on the lawn.

The difference is that Scott doesn't even have a half-day break.

That evening, he convened the first plenary meeting of his cabinet at the White House to formally discuss the war decision, that is, against whom the war should be waged.

It is a pity that by this time, there was still no agreement on the war decision at the top of the United States.

Although the most important positions in the cabinet are held by members of the Skull Party or the spokesperson of the Skull Party, there has been no consensus within the Skull Party on the question of who to fight.

This is not a simple question, but a major one that has a bearing on the future of the United States.

If you get it right, it's easy to say anything.

Make a mistake, and the United States will lose the opportunity for revitalization.

It was also at this time that something happened that even Liu Wei didn't expect.

After approving the Navy's development plan, putting the construction of attack nuclear submarines on the agenda, and officially launching the project of developing a nuclear reactor for ships, the authorities secretly started the project of developing nuclear weapons and quickly made major breakthroughs in the most important areas.

Although this authority has not announced any plans related to nuclear weapons, and can even conceal the secret development of nuclear weapons, there is no impermeable wall in the world. A news report by the Associated Press brought his nuclear program to the surface and pushed the international situation to the brink of danger.

In this report, the Associated Press reporter presented very conclusive evidence that a heavy water reactor had been built specifically to produce enriched plutonium. In addition, the reporter also mentioned that the growth rate of electricity consumption in the past two years is completely inconsistent with the speed of economic development, and there is a power gap of about 4 percent, not a lack of 4 percent of electricity, but an increase of 4 percent of electric energy. It is very likely that this electricity will be used by the authorities to refine enriched uranium, and it is weapons-grade enriched uranium.

If this is the case, there will be no secret to the development of nuclear weapons.

More importantly, it was only a matter of time before Ben built the atomic bomb. With the technical strength of the company, it will only take three months at most to build the first atomic bomb with actual combat capability, a hydrogen bomb within a year, and a hydrogen bomb into practical use in two years at most.

Now, the United States has no choice.

(To be continued)