.Chapter 128 European Federation

After the Second Indian Ocean War, the world became even less peaceful.

As mentioned earlier, in this war, the United States was the most stimulated, but the European Union. Shortly after the war, France and Germany began to promote European political integration, and wooed Italy, formed the three troop troops of France, Germany and Italy, and put pressure on other member states.

However, the fastest move is not the EU, but Russia.

On March 1, 2046, Russia and the President of Belarus signed the "Russia-Belarus Merger Agreement" in the Kremlin. Belarus officially gave up its independence and became a special franchise republic of Russia, retaining all autonomy, including national defense forces, except diplomacy.

This incident kicked off the prelude to Russia's annexation operation within the CIS.

There is nothing strange about Belarus returning to Russia's arms.

Historically, Belarus was originally a part of Russia, or a very special part. It was ceded to Germany during World War I and later partly ceded to Poland. It was not until after World War II that it basically had its later scale.

Economically, Belarus has long been included in the category of Greater Russia.

Not to mention, Belarus's oil comes from Russia, natural gas is 80%, and food is 64%. In addition, the trade volume with Russia accounts for 40% of Belarus' GDP. Russia is also Belarus' largest exporter. In the basic industry, Belarus has a closer relationship with Russia, and almost all large enterprises are related to Russia. In addition, in terms of culture, customs, etc., the two countries also have a common foundation, and there are no obstacles that are difficult to overcome.

More importantly, Belarus has always been Russia's biggest supporter within the CIS.

In a sense, Belarus is regarded by Russia as a model for propaganda to other CIS member states, so it will definitely focus on supporting Belarus.

This is another huge stimulus for the EU.

From a geopolitical perspective, no matter how powerful China is, it is on the other side of the Eurasian continent, and it does not pose a direct threat to the EU for the time being. The United States is also on the other side of the Atlantic and has no direct and severe conflicts with the EU. Russia is right next to the EU, and conflicts and disputes are inevitable.

Facing the growing Russia, the EU cannot be unaware of it.

More importantly, Russia not only annexed Belarus, but is also putting pressure on other CIS countries and even getting closer to the United States.

In the eyes of major European countries such as France and Germany, this is by no means a good sign.

You should know that in the past fifty years, the EU has completed its eastern expansion operation, not only absorbing many Eastern European countries during the Cold War of the United States and the Soviet Union, but also absorbing former Soviet republics such as Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia, and have already walked outside the gates of Russia. If Russia unified the entire CIS, the buffer zone between the EU and Russia would be completely under Russia's control.

What the result is, anyone with a little political mind wants it.

On the issue of who is the European hegemon, the EU will definitely have direct conflict with Russia.

In addition, as Russia develops and grows, the core position of France, Germany and other countries in Europe will definitely be shaken, and European integration will become empty talk.

The reality before EU countries is: either achieve integration as soon as possible or be broken down forever.

Affected by this, in early 2047, France and Germany took the lead in negotiating the establishment of the European Federal Government, and Italy later joined in.

According to the idea of ​​France, Germany and Italy, the European Union will be a federal state. In this "European country", each EU member state is part of the federal subject and retains most of its autonomy. It only requires compliance with the federal constitution. The federal government has diplomatic and defense powers. The federal parliament is the highest legislative body. The head of the federal government is elected by the parliament, and the main government officials are also elected by the parliament.

Obviously, this is not the final result.

In a sense, the "European Federation" proposed by France, Germany and Italy is a relatively loose political union between the Federation and the Confederacy. It has only taken a small step on the basis of the EU. Each federal subject still has enough autonomy, and the status of the federal government is not high.

But in the long run, this is a step that must be taken. Without this step, there is no next step.

You should know that after the end of the Roman Empire, the separatist situation in Europe has been maintained for nearly a thousand years. It is almost impossible to unify all ethnic groups under one government in the short term. Without external pressure, Europe will take at least two hundred years to achieve unity.

Under external pressure, Europe's pace of unification has been much faster.

Another thing that happened in 2047 also stimulated the EU and helped France, Germany and Italy win a crucial "friend".

That is, in April of that year, the Chinese Defense Minister led a delegation to Argentina and signed an arms trade contract with the Argentine authorities with a total value of nearly 300 billion yuan.

Strictly speaking, the level of this diplomatic visit is not high.

You should know that it is not the Ministry of National Defense that leads national defense work in China, but the General Staff, which has always been visited by the Chief of General Staff on behalf of the military.

From another perspective, this arms trade contract did not have much impact.

The reason is very simple. At that time, the only contract of intention was signed. The Argentine authorities would not decide whether to sign a formal contract until 2049, and then it would not be officially implemented after 2050. The trade volume of more than 300 billion yuan will be realized within the next ten years. In other words, this contract will not be completed until 2060, and the arms purchased by Argentina from China may have become outdated.

The problem is, this still makes Britain feel threatened.

You should know that in South America, Argentina basically has no potential enemy countries, the dispute with Chile has long been resolved, and the dispute with Brazil will not be used for force. As a country that is in a corner, the only thing that really gives Argentina a reason to expand its armament is the pending dispute between the Cabernet Islands.

In the UK's view, Argentina expanded its arms to regain the Falkland Islands, namely the Malvinas Islands.

The problem is that the British Royal Navy at this time is no longer the navy more than 60 years ago, and it does not have the strength to defeat Argentina in the South Atlantic.

Not to mention, the Malvinas Islands are only a few hundred kilometers away from Argentina. In 1982, this might have been an insurmountable natural danger, but in the 1940s, the combat radius of any fighter that could still fly into the sky was more than one thousand kilometers. In other words, Argentina did not need to compete with Britain for fleet strength at all, but only needed to build a strong enough air force to force Britain to admit defeat.

Unfortunately, the Royal Air Force fighter jets could not fly so far.

The result is that the Royal Navy must fight alone, and with only two aircraft carriers, it is difficult to ensure the acquisition of air and sea control.

To put it more directly, as long as the arms trade is fulfilled, Argentina will have the ability to retake the Malvinas Islands.

At that time, the first thing that came to mind was to ask the United States for help, hoping that the United States could manage its backyard well.

To this end, the United States also did its best. For example, at the end of that year, it planned an assassination against the Argentine president, hoping to prevent Argentina from expanding its military equipment. Unfortunately, the assassination ended in failure. Not only did the Argentine president not die, he also decided to introduce weapons and equipment from China as soon as possible.

As a result, in early 2048, Argentina obtained the first batch of J-31a fighter jets.

The "a" here is not a batch number, but a national code, that is, an improved type for Argentina to meet the combat needs of the Argentine Air Force.

For the UK, this is undoubtedly a huge blow.

You should know that the j-31 is one of the most advanced fighter jets of this era. It has reached the fifth and a half level, more advanced than the F-44, and more advanced than the Royal Navy's carrier-based fighter jets. Although the j-31a has been simplified to reduce procurement costs and make the Argentine Air Force affordable, relatively speaking, this batch of fighter jets still encourages Argentina's confidence and gives Argentina the courage to cause trouble for the UK.

At this point, Britain must consider the issue of war.

Of course, in 2048, Argentina had not yet recovered its strength in the Malvinas Islands, because there were only 12 J-31a delivered to the Argentine Air Force that year, and the pilot training work would not be completed until 2049, and the second delivery time was set at the end of 2049. At this speed, the Argentine Air Force would not be able to obtain forty-eight J-31a at the earliest by the end of 2050.

In addition to the j-31a, the most advanced fighter of the Argentine Air Force is the j-22.

In other words, with the expansion speed of the Argentine Air Force, it is unlikely that it will be able to challenge the Royal Navy by the end of 2050.

The problem is that the British are not so sane.

In early 2048, the British authorities considered taking preemptive strikes to completely destroy Argentina's military infrastructure and regressing Argentina's armed forces for more than ten years.

However, Britain's military strength is simply not enough to carry out such a strategic strike mission.

At that time, the United Kingdom still thought of the United States, that is, it hoped that the United States would come forward to assist the British Royal Navy in combat.

Unfortunately, the United States' attitude this time is very clear and will never help Britain attack a Latin American country without Argentina taking any action. The United States has a very sufficient reason, that is, Britain cannot launch a war against Argentina based on its judgment on the future. In essence, the United States does this to ensure stability in the backyard. If this precedent is set, I am afraid that all Latin American countries will turn against the United States.

The problem is that the UK does not understand this and even believes that it has been betrayed by the United States.

The result was that in April 2048, the British Prime Minister urgently visited Paris and Berlin and sought help from France and Germany.

By this time, it is no longer a problem for the UK to go left or right.

Chapter 128 European Federation
Chapter completed!