"Ambassador Russell, just now the White House staff came to our embassy, and according to him, President Cleveland invited you to the White House."

At this time, Russell had no idea what Cleveland had invited him to the White House to do, because the Hawaiian Islands incident was a special operation in East Africa, and few East Africans knew about it except for the East African leadership, the military, and the Defense and Security Agency.

However, Russell is not too surprised, since East Africa and the United States have resumed diplomatic relations, such high-level exchanges are not uncommon, except that President Cleveland only took office in March this year, and there has been no communication with Russell.

Before President Cleveland, that is, the last president of the United States, it was actually Russell Benjamin Harrison, so Russell was relatively unfamiliar with President Cleveland.

Of course, it is not completely uninhabited, because Cleveland is still the twenty-second president of the United States, and yes, Cleveland has served as president of the United States for one term, and this time he is just back in office.

The main reason why Russell did not win re-election was that he advocated an economic "isolationist" policy, and when he encountered an economic depression, his own capital was dissatisfied with him.

Although Cleveland is a supporter of the "liberal economy", in fact, it has changed its soup but not medicine after taking office, and the United States still maintains a "high tariff" policy, but it has weakened compared with the Russell period.

For Cleveland, Russell's attitude towards the American president is average, because the two did not have much intersection before, and the restoration of diplomatic relations between the East and the United States is mainly the political achievement of President Russell, although Russell is also in line with the international trend after the South African War, made flexibility, but Russell only looks at the results, in Cleveland's 22nd year of the United States president, he did not have too much communication with East Africa.

However, as a diplomat, Russell will not be emotional, and still go to the White House to communicate with the strange American president as promised to see what kind of medicine he sells in his gourd.

……

Conference room.

"Hello, Ambassador Russell, I think this is the first time we have met." Cleveland greeted Russell warmly.

"Hello, President Cleveland!" Russell replied politely.

Cleveland noticed that the East African diplomat was very young, of course, this was not the first feeling, but Russell seemed to be a little difficult to deal with as a diplomat, after all, he greeted him with a smile, and this Russell did not look like a qualified diplomat at all.

His feeling is right, Russell was born in the military, with a rigidity and seriousness of military personnel, East Africa, a country with a history of less than 30 years, has not yet had too many professional diplomats, of course, in other words, there are not many diplomats professionally trained in East Africa, and there are not many high-ranking personnel.

In the East African military system, it is the fastest to be promoted, and the East African government is dominated by people from the military system, and East Africa has been fighting wars, so it is easier for soldiers to be promoted.

"Why did President Cleveland invite me to come this time?" Russell asked straight to the point.

This confirmed President Cleveland's conjecture even more, but he still said with a smile: "East Africa and the United States are both big countries in the world, so our exchanges are not necessarily for national affairs, but also for increasing the relationship between the two countries?" Don't know what Ambassador Russell likes to drink? ”

"Everything."

"Yabulun, prepare a cup of coffee for Ambassador Russell." Seeing Russell's answer, Cleveland instructed the secretary.

"Ambassador Russell, you are a straightforward person, and I don't speak darkly, what do you think of Hawaii in East Africa?" President Cleveland asked directly.

"Hawaii, what does this have to do with our East Africa?"

"Well, don't you know!" President Cleveland still thinks that Russell wants to play stupid, you East Africa has already swallowed Kauai, and you still want to admit it!

Russell was puzzled: "Hawaii should be an island country in the Pacific Ocean!" We're a long way from East Africa and Hawaii. ”

Seeing that Russell really didn't know the situation on the Hawaiian Islands, Cleveland explained to him what happened: "...... So, what exactly is your attitude in East Africa? ”

It is no wonder that Russell did not know about this, after all, Hawaii is far away from East Africa, and if he wants to pass the news back to East Africa, he must first take a ship to the Southern Ryukyu Islands, and then relay it back to East Africa by telegram.

And the East African army in Hawaii has not yet returned to the Southern Ryukyu Islands, after all, it is necessary to ensure the stability of Kauai first, so there is a lot to do.

Naturally, the local people will not send a message to Russell until they receive the news, after all, it is a special military operation, so the fewer people who know about it before the dust settles, the better.

But now that Russell knew about it from the president of the United States, he naturally didn't dare to make an assertion, and he said to Cleveland: "I'm going to go back first and discuss it with my homeland." ”

Cleveland could only send Russell back first, but with Russell's line, there was a communication channel between East Africa and the United States, and if it was before the war in South Africa, this kind of thing could really cause trouble.

The next day, East Africa sent the specific situation to Russell, and explained the attitude of East Africa, and Russell returned to the White House again.

"It is true that we sent troops to Kauai, but East Africa has no interest in Hawaiian islands other than Kauai, and this time I was invited by King Kumali to help him avoid exploitation by unscrupulous merchants and his own dissatisfaction with the Kingdom of Hawaii, so he wants to secede and return to the country."

Only the front of Russell's words is sincere, and the latter is completely "slanderous" by East Africa, after all, Kumali didn't know any East Africans before, how could he invite East Africa to send troops.

However, Cleveland was relieved to know East Africa's intentions, and if East Africa only supported a puppet regime on Kauai, it would be barely acceptable.

After all, the most important thing in Hawaii is Pearl Harbor, and if East Africa is headed for Pearl Harbor, then even Cleveland, which opposes the US annexation of Hawaii, will not agree.

Moreover, the United States itself is at fault, and the coup d'état in southern Hawaii was carried out by its own people, so that the United States cannot morally attack East Africa, and in this way, to scold East Africa is to scold itself.

So morally, the United States cannot drive East African forces out of Hawaii, and militarily it cannot be achieved, and now the United States is very cautious militarily, and Cleveland is not a belligerent, not to mention that East Africa's military strength deserves the respect of the United States, so it is obviously impossible to expel East Africa from the Hawaiian Islands by forceful means now.

The United States did the first year of the new year, and East Africa did the fifteenth, and the East and the United States competed, I am afraid that Britain and France and other countries were the most happy, so Cleveland tended to share Hawaii with East Africa.

True, Cleveland's decision not to support the annexation of Hawaii changed after East Africa became clear.

After all, if the United States does not intervene, the Kingdom of Hawaii will not be able to resist the invasion of East Africans at all, and in this case, it is better to recognize the illegal government of the Republic of Hawaii and then include the southern islands of Hawaii in the sphere of influence of the United States.

And in Cleveland's view, East Africa's meddling in the Hawaiian Islands is not a bad thing, originally the United States' annexation of the Hawaiian Islands would have attracted negative public opinion in the international community, but now there is no East Africa involved! There is a pot to carry together, which can distract other countries.

In the end, President Cleveland made a decision against his heart to include Hawaii in the United States in advance, of course, this Hawaii state will be missing the incomplete territory of Kauai in the future.

(End of chapter)