Chapter 841: The Volatile Crude
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
On September 21, 1,000 Celestial Marines set sail from the port of City M to end a two-month military occupation. In the future, the security of City M would be governed by the gendarmerie and Moro Army, and Celestial Trade’s force in Country F would be cut by half again, leaving only half a brigade stationed in the region.
On the one hand, the decision was in response to the UN peace initiative. On the other hand, it was to free up some hands.
After boarding the transport s.h.i.+p, the soldiers did not return to Coro Island but merged with another large transport s.h.i.+p and under the escort of a Guardian-cla.s.s frigate, crossed the Indian Ocean and set foot on Madagascar Island on the southern tip of Africa.
Last week, the opposition party leader of the Madagascar, Samvini, was successfully elected as president. He withdrew every privilege of Arrow in the country and revoked their business licenses on charges of tax evasion, murder, and bribery.
However, it would be obviously impossible for the Freemasonry to honestly surrender the forces it operated in Madagascar over the past decade. On the first day of the sworn inauguration of Samvini, more than ten Arrow special forces lurking in the capital Antananarivo ambushed Samvini’s fleet.
The president, who took office for less than 24 hours, died under Arrow’s gunshot.
Madagascar was completely rattled.
Arrow simply took this opportunity and introduced former President La Jonah, claiming that the Liberal Party conspired with foreign forces in an attempt to subvert the stability in Madagascar. The election was invalid and they must re-elect!
However, La Jonah had no intention to hold a re-election. With the support of the Southern Const.i.tuency, he established a presidential guard force who was absolutely loyal to him with the help of the Freemasonry. At the same time, he hired Arrow and chose the military coup way.
In any case, for the small, undeveloped African countries, the coup was much more frequent than the general election.
When the president died, the Liberal Party was in a turmoil.
Fortunately, Vice President Bernard immediately acted and took over as president. He took control of Madagascar’s army and vowed to resist to the end.
Only 21,600 regular troops and not more than fifteen tanks combined. The armored vehicles of the army were not enough to form a mechanized brigade. With such a weak army, it was obviously unrealistic to face La Jonah with Freemasonry’s support.
Bernard ordered the Army to defend their front line at all cost and stopped the rebels 120 kilometers frm the capital. On the other side, he immediately contacted Jiang Chen, the backing supporter of the Liberal Party, for a.s.sistance from Celestial Trade.
With the allies call for help, of course, Celestial Trade went into action.
A mechanized brigade sailed on a transport s.h.i.+p, landed in the northern port of Madagascar, and went straight to the front line to combat the rebels. The so-called “Presidential Guard” and the Madagascar Army were all irrelevant. What truly determined the outcome of this war were Arrow and Celestial Trade.
Therefore, this war was also dubbed by many people as “The Agent War” or “The Mercenary War.”
The longer the war dragged on, the better it would be for Jiang Chen. Celestial Trade mainly mobilized its foreign corp, individual drones, as well as armored vehicles and tanks purchased from Russia, and did not use its Tiger II or Aurora-20.
Only if Madagascar’s power was consumed as much as possible could it be obedient after the end of the war and not consider becoming independent once again.
Although his allies must suffer, they must make some sacrifices for the benefit of Xin.
…
When Celestial Trade and the Freemasonry battled on Madagascar, a financial tsunami was quietly brewing.
The situation in the Middle East had continued to deteriorate. From Iraq’s IS to the Turkish Civil War, the people interested in the global situation could clearly see that this piece of soil that surrounds the Babylonian civilization had been plunged into endless wars. This war revolving around the black gold was also filled with smoke in the international crude oil market.
Since reaching the bottom at the beginning of the year, the price of crude oil per barrel had continued to rise.
The UA economy had long relied on the two pillars of oil and dollar. According to the calculation of the International Monetary Fund, for every 5 dollar increase in oil prices, the global economic growth rate would be cut by about 0.3 percentage points, while the UA economic growth rate may decline by about 0.4 percentage points.
The UA dollar and the price of oil were negatively correlated.
It was precisely because of this that UA had been deliberately promoting the devaluation of oil. As early as 2014, the shale gas revolution made oil production double in three years. Many people subjectively believed that all oil came from the Middle East, but they ignored the fact that the production in the United Arab Emirates was less than that of a state in the UA.
However, even because of this, the oil in the Middle East was cut off due to the impact of the war, and the international oil price took a serious blow.
On September 23, Celestial Trade and Arrow exchanged fire in the northern mountainous area of Madagascar. The dollar has been continuously declining for three days because of the fluctuation of the international crude oil market. Wall Street traders predicted that the probability of a rate hike in September would reach 47%. At the same time, a report from Future Bank had also been placed on Jiang Chen’s desk.
“According to the rate hike expectations, the dollar rose slightly and stopped the decline. However, the international crude oil market has not shown any signs of stabilizing. At this time, interest rate hikes have already buried the hidden dangers of the economic crisis.”
“And this economic crisis is destined to be paid by other countries.”
Standing at Jiang Chen’s desk, Futures Bank CEO David Smith explained the report to Jiang Chen.
“Does the dollar depreciate?” Jiang Chen pinched the report and fell into his own thoughts.
It came faster than expected.
If the UA dollar depreciated, the interests of Future Group and even the economy of Xin would take the first blow. The appreciation of crude oil would also have an immeasurable impact on the industries of New Malaysia and Ange.
Minerals, food and other things could be produced by Future Group, but oil has been a headache. Xin possessed vast ocean area and rich mineral resources, but it had no oil. And oil happened to be a very important resource in industrial production.
From fuel, plastics, synthetic rubber, even clothes, pharmaceuticals, and food; the fields covered by oil was extensive. It was because of this that oil was used as an important indicator to a.s.sess the global economic outlook.
“Are there any good ideas?” Jiang Chen set aside the report and asked David Smith.
“Of course.” Mr. Smith nodded. From his expression, he was obviously prepared.
“I have noticed that Xin is still using the US dollar for settlement, and its resistance to fluctuations in the foreign exchange market is very fragile. If the dollar is devalued significantly, the first to bankrupt is Xin’s finance. If the dollar depreciates ten points, Xin’s whole year GDP will vanish.
Hearing this, Jiang Chen began to sweat profusely.
[Holy!]
Originally he was planning to wait until the s.p.a.ce elevator was built, but now it seemed necessary to bring the plan ahead of schedule!
Sharing the same thought with Jiang Chen, Smith paused for a moment and made his own suggestion.
“With the current population of Xin, it is fully capable of supporting a monetary system. Taking into account the influence of Future Group in the country, I propose that Future Bank along with a number of private banks in Xin establish a inst.i.tution similar to the Federal Reserve, and issue Xin’s own currency!”