Chapter 40 Charity as a Shell
The photo of Seryozha shaking hands with the Minister of Commerce has become the number one news chased by the media these days. This also poses a huge challenge to the current presidential team, which is busy with the general election. Because the current president, Reagan, was praised by voters for being tough on the Soviet Union, the handshake can easily cause people to misunderstand Reagan's policies. The Minister of Commerce reported the true situation of the matter to the President that night. Reagan immediately summoned his staff to discuss this matter. The staff all tended to think that this might be a signal that the Soviets hoped for reconciliation, and Mr. President should give a certain response, but this matter can only be done secretly, and it is best to end the election. Afterwards.
Sergey doesn't care about the White House's opinion. He is now busy fulfilling his duties as an official of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, trying to sell Soviet products to overseas countries. In addition, Seryozha also arranged for Boris to acquire the Plaza Hotel. Because he heard that the Hilton Hotel Group, the current owner of the Plaza Hotel, is negotiating to buy another pearl in the hotel industry-the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. There was a good chance they would sell the Plaza Hotel to raise funds, and Seryozha didn't want to miss that opportunity.
As the initial cooperation projects gradually increased, Serezha's energy was somewhat insufficient. He spoke with Gorbachev on the phone, and Gorbachev was satisfied with his performance in New York, but General Secretary Chernenko also hoped that he could obtain substantive communication. Seryozha understood that he had successfully assisted Gorbachev in building a reputation in the diplomatic field. If Gorbachev can seize this opportunity, then no one should stand in the way of his visit to the UK. This was a major victory for Gorbachev in his internal struggle.
The five-day meeting ended quickly, during which time he met many business and political figures from all over the world. Originally according to the schedule, Seryozha should have returned to China immediately after the meeting, but General Secretary Chernenko thought he should stay in the United States for a while to see if the U.S. government could have more positive feedback. So Seryozha continued to stay in the United States.
Because of Sergey's breakthrough in diplomacy, Gromyko also had to cooperate with Sergey's actions against his will. The embassy in the United States arranged several staff members to assist Seryozha in his work here. They contacted some well-known American figures who were friendly to the Soviet Union for Seryozha to build momentum for Seryozha's platform. Among them, Seryozha is most familiar with Comrade Hamer, but what impressed Seryozha the most is Samantha Smith's American child star, because she wrote a letter to Andropov and received Andropov Husband's personal reply and became famous, and also visited the Soviet Union. But to be honest, Seryozha does not think that the ideas of these people can influence the American government and people.
The most helpful person to Sergey is Mark Rich, who lives in Switzerland. Now Glencore has taken over all the enterprises related to the food industry except Monsanto in Sergey’s hands. Rich's original business contacts, Mark Rich introduced the American Farmers Union's network to Seryozha. To be honest, this is much more useful than that little child star.
Since the American Farmers Union is a non-government organization, Seryozha's contact with them will not be obstructed by the US government. Seryozha did it in the name of inspecting American agricultural production, but Seryozha actually did it to discuss business. The American Farmers Union seems to be grassroots, but in fact it has great power. It is actually protecting the interests of large American farmers, and the greatest guarantee of this interest comes from the USDA's price protection plan for members of the American Farmers Union. According to this plan, when the price of grain on the market falls below a certain amount, the US Department of Agriculture will carry out protective purchase and storage of grain from the Farmers Alliance at a price higher than the market. Then, when the price of grain in the market picks up, the Ministry of Agriculture will sell it again. In this way, both the farmer and the Department of Agriculture are profitable. Even all the time, this business has gradually become a small treasury within the Ministry of Agriculture. But this small treasury is about to be destroyed by the US food embargo,
In the past few years, the United States has continuously sanctioned the Soviet Union, Iran, and Eastern European countries. Invisibly, the major international buyers of American grain have been blocked. Coupled with the bumper harvest in the United States, the price of grain has fallen again and again, which makes the Ministry of Agriculture's purchase and storage plan almost bankrupt. You must know that the prices of old grains are becoming less and less valuable. If you don't find a way out for these grains as soon as possible, then these stored grains will cost the Ministry of Agriculture a lot of money.
In this context, it is possible for Seryozha to indirectly import American wheat and barley through the American Farmers Union. You should know that the subsidies of the Ministry of Agriculture are appropriations approved by Congress, and there are only so many subsidies every year. Agricultural subsidies have now taken up a large amount of congressional funds, so as long as it can handle the food in hand, as long as Mark Rich ships the food directly to the Soviet Union without much fanfare, it is still possible for the Ministry of Agriculture to turn a blind eye.
After Seryozha spoke with Mark Rich and his friends inside the American Farmers Union, a bold plan began to emerge. In the name of a non-governmental charity organization, the two parties purchased food from the US Department of Agriculture, and then shipped it to Africa to relieve the famine there. In fact, most of the food was shipped to the Soviet Union in exchange for oil. Because this is charity, it will not be censored by the US trade department. Therefore, it will be much safer in actual operation.
Seriosha targeted Somalia and Ethiopia on the Mediterranean coast. Since these two countries are on the east coast of Africa, the transportation route will pass through the Mediterranean Sea. Sergesha only needs to let the fleet stop at the Italian port Loading grain onto a freighter bound for the Soviet Union. Of course Seryozha would not ship nothing to Somalia and Ethiopia, because that would be too obvious. The superficial articles that should be done still need to be done.
After the whole plan had a rough outline, Seryozha asked Mark Rich to ask his friends to come forward to operate the matter. Seryozha returned to the Soviet Union with his anxious UAE clients. He made a report to Gorbachev, saying that things here can only continue to operate after the US election is over, and the time is not yet ripe. Gorbachev conveyed Seryozha's opinion to General Secretary Chernenko as soon as possible, and General Secretary Chernenko reluctantly agreed with Seryozha's idea.
Before returning home, Sergey made a call to Tonya and asked him to send his Tu-144D passenger plane to the United States to pick up Sergey and his UAE guests back to the Soviet Union.