The remnants of SFC Childers’ platoon was now held up in a building several blocks away from the bridge, doing their best to slow the Russians up and find a way out of the city themselves. Word had come down from the higher-ups that NATO was going to abandon the city and that the Allied forces should begin conducting a fighting retreat. This made a lot of sense; however, the problem was, a lot of Allied units had been lost or cut off in various parts of the city from the other main elements, leaving thousands of soldiers in a bad spot. Unless the area commander could figure out where the pockets of Allied soldiers were all taking cover and find a way to break some of them out, a lot of soldiers were going to end up being captured as they ran out of ammo.
Taking Flight
Ambassador Duncan Rice could not believe how badly things were playing out in Ukraine. He had tried to warn the President and his national security team of the grave consequences if they backed Russia into a corner, and now everyone was paying the price for it. As he sat in the Chancellery, reading the latest intelligence summary, he thought he might get sick. NATO had really underestimated the Russians’ capability to wage war and overestimated their ability to defeat them.
It had only been twenty-four hours since his own Embassy in Kiev had to be evacuated to Warsaw. Ten hours later, the Ukrainian government fled to the city of Lviv in Western Ukraine when it became clear NATO was not going to be able to hold Kiev. There were reports now of numerous US, German, and British units trapped in various parts of Kiev as the Russians continued to envelop the city, attempting to capture as much of the NATO army as possible.
Just then, Duncan’s phone rang. Looking at his secured smartphone, he saw the caller ID. It was the Beijing Embassy, and he knew it was his old friend Vincent Jones, one of the senior political officers at the Embassy. They had gone through their diplomatic training together many years ago, and had stayed in touch ever since.
“Hello, Vincent. How are you doing my friend?” he asked jovially.
“I am doing good, Duncan. This was the first chance I’ve had to call and see how you are doing. I heard they had to evacuate the embassy yesterday,” he said with genuine concern in his voice.
“Yes, the Russian army was advancing quickly on Kiev. It’s believed they will capture it sometime today,” Ambassador Rice responded sadly.
“That’s terrible,” replied Vincent. “From what we are following, it looks like the war is not going well for our side. Is there anything Jennifer and I can do for you and your family?”
“No, we’re fine. My wife and the kids flew back to the States two weeks ago, so they are safe. I’m just trying to do what I can to help mediate things and see if we can work out a ceasefire, but I’m not hopeful,” Duncan said candidly.
“You are probably too busy right now, but things are starting to take a turn here in China as well. The Chinese see the US in a weak position with how the war is shaping up in Ukraine. Our DAO and others at the Embassy had a briefing with the Ambassador, showing a significant troop increase all along China’s southern and southwestern borders. We are not sure what is going on yet, but they may be looking to take advantage of the situation and expand their own borders, knowing that the US has little in the way of stopping them.”
Duncan thought for a moment, “This is troubling. Petrov has practically staged this entire event to turn out the way he wanted. Now things are starting to heat up with Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, and China is moving soldiers to their borders. Could this possibly be a well-orchestrated global event? It certainly would make sense, given how fractured politically we have become at home.”
“This is rather disturbing, my friend,” Duncan said aloud. “I need to let you go… I have to talk with someone about something. Some pieces are finally starting to fit together. Please stay safe, and we’ll talk again soon.”
As he hung up the call, he leaned back in his chair thinking for a minute. “What could all of this mean. Could it really be a global conspiracy? Is there a plot to taint our 2016 elections, cause scandal after scandal, and then orchestrate a military expansion in Europe and Asia while we are distracted?”
Duncan had to shove those thoughts aside for the moment. He had a briefing with the embassy staff in a few hours, and he needed to get caught up on the latest happenings in the war. The Ambassador in Poland was going to reach out to the Russian Ambassador here, and see if they couldn’t find a way to end the fighting.
Ten minutes into reading the various intelligence summaries, it became clear that as bad as the military front was, the diplomatic front was in even worse shape. Due to the sustained disinformation campaign being played out by the Russians, the general population in each of the NATO member states was increasingly against their country joining the war. Yesterday evening, President Yavuz announced that Turkey would not participate in any armed conflict against Russia. That announcement was quickly followed by Hungary and Spain also signaling that they would not participate in the war.
As Ambassador Duncan read on, there were at least some glimmers of hope in the responses of the world leaders. The British Prime Minister had called this a blatant act of sabotage to the NATO alliance, and chastised the heads of Turkey, Hungary, and Spain publicly. The Presidents of Italy and France, along with the Chancellor of Germany, announced their support of the alliance and, at long last, released their armed forces to the command of SACEUR and NATO high command. President Gates (along with the leaders of France, Germany, and the UK) had called for the removal of Turkey, Spain, and Hungary from NATO for failure to honor their military obligation.
Several other members of NATO said this was too rash of a move to make while in the midst of a war, while others said any member not willing to honor its agreement should lose its membership.
While the politics of NATO was quickly becoming a mess, President Gates had announced the deployment of 250,000 US Soldiers to Europe and called on all able-bodied men and women in America to answer the nation’s call to arms and join the military. He was attempting to rally the nation to unite against Russia. Had the Russians not carried out a domestic attack against America’s energy export industry, his call for unity might have failed. As it was, Gates was able to fully capitalize on this supreme political miscalculation by Moscow; the people of the US were hot for revenge.
Then the President asked for a formal declaration of war by the US Congress, even though a state of war had essentially existed for several days. He also asked Congress to double the size of the current Armed Forces and announced the activation of the entire Reserve and National Guard Forces. This war was spiraling out of control fast. If someone did not get things under control in Washington and in Europe, this could turn nuclear.
Just as Duncan’s thoughts were starting to turn dark, his phone buzzed. He looked at it and saw on the caller ID it was from the White House. He picked up and said “Hello, this is Ambassador Rice.”
“Hello, Ambassador Rice, please hold for the President,” he heard the voice of the White House operator say. Duncan was in shock.
A minute went by and then he heard the President pick up, “Ambassador Rice. I think you and I should talk some more. I am in need of some clear level-headed advice on this unfolding disaster in Ukraine, and I believe you may be able to help provide that. Can I count on you to travel back to Washington and give us some insight?” asked the President.
Duncan didn’t know what to say at first, this was exactly what he had wanted, and now the opportunity had presented itself. This was a real chance to help right this situation before it could spiral any further out of control. He knew there was only one answer he could give. “I’ll be on the next flight to Washington, Mr. President. Thank you for thinking of me,” he replied, and then the President hung up.