Chapter 1288 Precursor of Currency War

"London is quite optimistic about the development of Yemen." Alan Wilson said to the representatives of all parties who came to the roundtable with a smile on his face, holding a resource assessment document that was mixed with authenticity, "In fact, we have discovered Yemen's resources a long time ago. , but it has not been exploited for so many years, and we are preparing to hand over these wealth completely to the hands of independent Yemen."

Alan Wilson lied without a blush or a heartbeat. It was obvious that the cost of mining could not be compared with that of the Gold Coast and Australia, and he felt that it was a pity to throw away the food if it was tasteless. But in his words, it turned out to be Britain's favor to Yemen, but Yemenis cannot refute him yet, because the oil, natural gas and gold mines in Yemen are indeed mined in the United States.

The British occupation of Yemen itself considered more strategic position factors. To put it bluntly, it focused on the security of the Suez Canal.

While Yemenis, including Fakhra, the representative of the Free Officers Organization, looked at the wealth that theoretically belonged to them, they beamed with joy. Alan Wilson keeps talking and has painted some wonderful prospects for Yemen. The old rule is to start with history and culture. Places with a bit of history like this. He discovered this when he was in India.

Yemen is one of the origins of the Arab nation. Especially in the past two years, because the United Kingdom is about to shrink, it has allowed this kind of rhetoric to spread in Yemen.

It can be said that many people in Yemen are very proud of history, but they don’t know if they will be like India in the future, who always puff up their chests with pride whenever they talk about history.

Obviously, the completeness of this resource assessment opened up the situation. After representatives of several sultanates expressed their gratitude, Fakhla also expressed his gratitude to the United Kingdom. I don’t know whether it was because the situation was stronger than the people, or because he had mastered the strategic decision-making. In short, the attitude of the Free Officers Organization is relatively soft.

After several defeats in North Africa, Nasser had fully understood the cunningness of imperialism. He was afraid that his sense of existence would be too high, so he chose to manipulate the political situation in Yemen from behind the scenes. As for the sultans and chiefs of South Yemen, we can wait until the British leave.

Just looking at the information, Yemen’s foundation is not just bad, it’s pretty good. This is also very normal, this is a worse world. Many of the advantages that exist on paper may not be as powerful as you think when it comes to using them.

The Soviet Union's steel torrent in people's eyes is no longer so sharp in the hands of Russia.

The financial nuclear weapon of the city on the hill, Russia said, is just that. A certain big country boasted of its strong organizational power, but even the capital city laughed at it.

After reading these resource assessment documents, the morale of these representatives was greatly boosted, which was very normal.

Just when these Arabs were happy, Alan Wilson reminded lightly, "How does Britain know?

Who can better represent the rights and interests of the Yemeni people? "

The meaning of this sentence is very clear. The UK has not yet said to whom these things will be handed over. It is too early for you to be happy. The distribution power is still in the hands of the UK.

The world is unequal. Malaya's old battleships, which can only patrol the Bay of Bengal, will still be devastating as long as they sail to the ports of Yemen. Don't really think of Britain as an imperialist power. It may be submissive in front of the United States and the Soviet Union, but it can also strike hard in front of Yemen.

"In fact, we in the UK feel that Yemen can implement a federal system." After his immediate boss set the tone, Dixon took over the guidance of the meeting and talked with these ethnic leaders about issues of political system.

What kind of political system will be in post-independence Yemen is destined to be a difficult topic, and Alan Wilson simply left the roundtable and left the rest to others.

The peace talks were carried out with difficulty in the tense confrontation between the two sides. The entire negotiation was intermittently, and often reached a deadlock due to small details and even wording issues. Regarding the determination of the political system, Farah, on behalf of the Free Officers Organization, must have reservations, because the Free Officers Organization is definitely more capable than these small sultanates, but it can be suspended.

Because Nasser was more inclined to solve each other's problems with these small sultanates alone after the British left.

The representatives of the Sultanate objected and requested the use of words with a final meaning. Fakhla did not agree. After difficult negotiations, they finally decided to use "stop progress". Whenever a problem gets stuck or some progress is made, both sides must stop and seek the opinions of the institutions they represent. Negotiations between the two sides are still difficult.

If it were the independence of British India, Alan Wilson would definitely try his best to provoke the negotiations and make the negotiations as long as possible.

But since it is Yemen? You can do whatever you like, there are oil and natural gas, some are not as good as the small Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, some are gold mines, but some are not as good as Australia and the Gold Coast.

Making Yemen their own issue was the best decision for Britain, and of course he took the time to receive the Saudi ambassador. The ambassador of this pro-American country rarely takes such initiative. Obviously Saudi Arabia is extremely concerned about the future direction of this place.

Alan Wilson couldn't help but think of the past when the Sunni leaders assembled hundreds of thousands of troops and were beaten to disgrace by the Houthis. However, the Houthis represented the Shiites, and now the situation in North Yemen is more complicated. On the one hand, North Yemen is indeed Shia, on the other hand, according to unconfirmed sources, the Free Officers Organization was supported by the Soviet Union. Obviously the Soviet Union was more difficult to deal with than the Shiites.

"Is the line of history closed?" After receiving the Saudi ambassador with a piece of cloth on his head, Alan Wilson lit a cigar and laughed involuntarily.

Just as he was muttering like this, Dixon came in to report on the progress, saying that the two sides still had more differences than consensus. "Secretary-General, the negotiations are still quite difficult."

"I understand this difficulty." Alan Wilson danced happily, "It's like an election. There are currently two parties. Voters think they can choose people who will increase their job opportunities, but in fact they may choose A candidate who cuts off his health care. You hope to elect someone who is tough on illegal immigration, but in fact the candidate is concerned about environmental pollution. Not to mention the very serious matter of political system. There is still talk .”

"But our Prime Minister is still very happy. The previously declining support rate seems to have stabilized." Dixon smiled tacitly.

"In a world that is not too calm, diplomacy is naturally a good way to increase approval ratings. But it is not good if it is too unstable, and diplomacy becomes a hot potato." Alan Wilson shrugged, "Fortunately, we are far away from the Vietnam issue. Far away, otherwise, the current situation may be like that of the Americans. Oh, by the way, pay more attention to the French."

Alan Wilson remembers that France was the first Western European country to take action against the U.S. dollar, but he didn’t know exactly when. The Vietnam War had already begun. Who knows what de Gaulle is secretly doing now?

France is a natural challenger. He saw the favorable opportunity of the United States being mired in the Vietnam War, the government deficit and trade deficit were getting larger, and the U.S. dollar was being issued indiscriminately, so he began to attack the United States, or in other words, the U.S. dollar. s attack.

European countries have been attacking the US dollar for many years. Every country has a dirty butt, but France is undoubtedly the first to take action.

Since the franc entered a depreciation track, France has experienced a huge balance of payments surplus, thus accumulating a large amount of US dollar reserves.

Jacques Rouf and Maurice de Gaulle, President de Gaulle's loyal and tough economic advisers, were leading monetary traditionalists who believed that the United States was deliberately undermining the cornerstone of the international monetary system, the connection between dollar bills and gold. Fixed exchange rate.

De Gaulle keenly realized that by converting France's accumulated dollar reserves into gold, he could both support gold's international status and deal a heavy blow to the United States' international political and economic leadership.

But unlike history, although the pound declined, it did not plummet like the original history. It is true that the pillar of the Bretton Woods system is the U.S. dollar, but in fact there are two pillars, and there is a pound. Once the U.S. dollar declines , the pound may take its place.

This is different. I wonder if de Gaulle has considered that the pound still accounts for more than 30% of the transaction share. If the pound supports the Bretton Woods system, even if France attacks with all its strength, the Bretton Woods system will still be unbreakable.

In January, around the same time Lyndon Johnson was re-elected, the Banque de France announced its intention to convert all new inflows of dollar reserves, as well as some of its existing dollar reserves, into gold. In order to reinforce his severe criticism of the laissez-faire US fiscal policy, President de Gaulle proposed two global currency reform plans. His ambitious goal was to strengthen the role of gold in the global monetary system.

In terms of responsibilities, as the Secretary-General of the Cabinet, he should discuss countermeasures with the Bank of England. From the perspective of the special relationship between Britain and the United States, he should remind the United States of the French ambitions.

But after thinking about it, there is only one person Alan Wilson can trust, and that is the richest woman in Britain, Ms. Pamela Mountbatten, who is about to return to London.

This is the richest woman who has been cultivated by herself. There is no bank in the UK that deserves more trust than her. When Pamela Mountbatten walked out of the London theater, the senior licking dog has been waiting for a long time to welcome the respected richest woman back. Loyal London.

"My dear, aren't you hosting a round table meeting?" Pamela Mountbatten was very interested, but the smile on her cheeks clearly showed that she was happy to be greeted by her husband.

"How can an independent colony be more important than my wife returning home?" Alan Wilson said with a dismissive face, saying that the future of a country with 500,000 square kilometers is not worth a penny. "On the contrary, I have a decision. I want to discuss the major events of the world’s direction with you.”