Chapter 5 The British Coal Crisis

The gas matter discussed by Seryosha and Gorbachev has not been answered for more than a week, which makes Seryosha really dissatisfied. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. biquge。 infoThe situation in Britain is now exactly what Mark Ritchie envisioned, just a few days ago negotiations between Thatcher's Cabinet Secretary of Labour and the British Coal Miners' Association broke down again. In the British commodity trading market triggered a series of chain reactions, thermal coal, coking coal and other varieties of coal prices began to rise, you must know that the current British coal is still the main energy to support industrial development, if the price of coal rises, then the British island industry and prices will be seriously impacted.

Mark Ritchie started long coal forwards in the UK market a few years ago, because it was a predictable fortune, and now anyone with a moanse of brains will understand that the divide between the government and the unions is irreconcilable. The government's demand for the closure of a large number of inefficient coal mines is ruining the jobs of British coal miners, and coal mine reform is an important part of Margaret Thatcher's privatization reform.

After analyzing these days, Seryosha feels that this is not only a good opportunity to make money, but also a good opportunity to enhance his voice in Gorbachev, and a very important reason why the natural gas matter has been pending is that his position in Gorbachev has not been consolidated enough. Look at Yakovlev, when Yakovlev single-handedly promoted the friendship between Gorbachev and the Canadian prime minister as the Canadian ambassador, which greatly enhanced Gorbachev's status in the party. And he could not reach the heights of Yakovlev by relying only on the ability to import grain, after all, the more grain was imported, the worse the agricultural affairs that Gorbachev was in charge of.

To this end, Seryosha intends to work with Glencore to deal with the British coal crisis. The Soviet Union is an energy power, and Ukraine has rich coal resources, and Seryosha has calculated that it is very profitable to transport the coal from the Donetsk region to Britain for sale, and once the British coal workers really start to strike, then a stable supply of coal will become an important bargaining chip in the game between the Thatcher cabinet and the trade unions. If it is done properly, Seryosha can even facilitate cooperation between Margaret Thatcher and Gorbachev, so as to gain the trust of Yakovlev, which will make it more certain that he will meddle in the gas affairs himself. With this in mind, Seryosha asked Glencore to go to the White House (the seat of the Supreme Soviet) to visit Gorbachev again, mixing a recent analysis of the British coal industry with a copy of his own analysis.

Seryosha came to Gorbachev's office at the appointed time, and the two talked in it for about four hours. Seryosha analyzed the contradictions between coal workers and the government in Britain from beginning to end for Gorbachev, and then produced a report on Glencore's prediction of domestic coal prices for the coming months. Then he said to Gorbachev: "Secretary, now the Western countries, led by the United States, are sanctioning us, and even the excavators we bought from France are suspected of being used for military purposes and have been forced to cancel. However, our natural gas project was able to move on smoothly. You know, our natural gas pipelines and steam turbine cores are all produced in the United States and Japan. These countries in Western Europe would rather resist the pressure of the United States to build this energy artery, which shows that our energy superiority is the most advantageous weapon to break the joint sanctions. ”

Gorbachev glanced at Seryosha, he did not expect that this young guy would have such an international vision. Gorbachev doesn't mind giving young people a chance, as long as they can do a good job. So he said to Seryosha: "Isn't it just about exporting coal?" I approved it, and I'll just say hello to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the industrial department in a while! ”

"No, secretary! I'm talking about signing a contract with Thatcher's cabinet for the supply of coal to break international sanctions, and it is likely that you will need to go to the UK and talk to Margaret Thatcher herself! Seryosha first denied it, and then threw out a more attractive plan.

"Huh? Comrade Seryosha, is such a thing possible? What can we do? "Gorbachev was immediately attracted to the fact that he was able to meet with the British Prime Minister in person and break the US sanctions and blockade. This temptation is simply too great, and it was his own achievements in Canada that gave him the opportunity to become one of the most recent candidates for general secretary, but unfortunately he missed out on it because of his age. As is customary, the loser Gorbachev will leave the Politburo, the center of power in the USSR, after the next party congress, but what if he can win the support of the majority of party representatives, Chernenko is already in his seventies, and he is only in his fifties, even if he is consumed, he can wait until he dies, and then ......

"Secretary Gorbachev, if I can, I would like to go to the UK as the negotiator of the Chinese government's natural gas trade to talk to the British government about coal supply in the name of negotiating natural gas trade, I don't know what your opinion is?" Seryosha asked respectfully.

"No problem, Seryosha! I'll ask the secretary to arrange it for you right away, and I'll get it done as soon as possible about the export of Ukrainian coal! If you have any requests, you can come to me directly, and I will ask the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation to cooperate closely with you! I have only one request, this is a rare opportunity to break the blockade and sanctions, and until there is definite information from the British side, we must pay attention to secrecy, so as to prevent the Americans from obstructing it and sabotaging our plans! Gorbachev carefully admonished Seryosha.

"Secretary, I have one more thing to report to you, if I can negotiate with the British government, I intend to let the Mediterranean Trading Company and Glencore still have full responsibility for the British coal and gas trade this time! You also know that it will be much easier to have a Swiss company as a buffer, both for the British government itself and for our lobbying, after all, the pressure from the Americans is over there, and we just need to break the blockade de facto through Glencore, and the British still have to play in name only! Seryosha explained to Gorbachev. Gorbachev nodded approvingly.