Chapter 719: All Good Things Are Thought of the United States
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What else do you need to ask? They had been communicating for such a long time, but after all, the cabinet secretary was the person he respected the most, so Alan Wilson decisively agreed.
He came back in one day and informed Norman Brooke of the record that had been prepared, "Farouq I gave us a simple alternative plan. He hoped to quickly obtain a cheap international loan, using Let’s build a new hydropower station now to complete Egypt’s electrification construction and bring Egypt into a modern society.”
"Simple? Fast? Current and cheap?" Norman Brook extracted several keywords at once, almost doubting whether Farouk I had studied in Whitehall.
If this kind of vocabulary was used to submit proposals to ministers, if it had not been said by Farouk I himself, then the answer would have been obvious. Norman Brooke gave Alan Wilson a look, and the latter sat down knowingly.
"To put it simply, Farouk I wants to build a hydropower station to electrify Egypt. And you think there is no problem with this alternative?"
"Dear Sir, compared with the ownership of the Suez Canal, this is a completely reasonable alternative." Alan Wilson admitted to a certain extent. He thought this alternative was good, "Of course it is not an easy one to accomplish. It’s a bit difficult to send Faruk I away with just a little profit.”
"But this is a controversial filing, and we are not prepared here." After careful consideration, Norman Brooke used the term "controversial" to describe Egypt's support for building a dam, instead of talking about the ownership of the Suez Canal.
"After careful and repeated discussions, this is a prudent opinion after the discussion. Regarding the advancement of the electrification project, after the Free Officers organization was eradicated, it was the matter that Farooq I was most concerned about."
Alan Wilson mentioned how he tried his best to fight for Britain, but actually sold Britain again, but he had to pay more. The ordinary petty profit could no longer impress the Egyptian king.
"It's difficult to handle, but I still have to regard this matter as good news and report it to the Prime Minister." Norman Brooke sighed, thinking in his mind how to make the Prime Minister think this was a good thing.
Alan Wilson no longer had to worry about the funeral, and Norman Brooke soon had a draft. A hint about how helping electrify Egypt would be a good thing for the British Empire.
"This is the request of King Farouk I. What does he think of Britain? A banker?" Prime Minister Attlee said, "I have no money." "Is this the best record we can get?"
Norman Brook coughed softly,
He said eloquently, "Dear Prime Minister, if you must ask me to make it clear, I can only say that based on the current situation, looking at the overall situation, looking at the past and present, considering the average level of each department, analyzing and summarizing, maybe you can think so, and to sum up the above To summarize, you are likely to find that the situation you are currently facing, although it may not sound good, in any case, the prospects for choice may be subtle! This can only be expected at this stage! "
"But I think such hasty decision-making may be very puzzling." Prime Minister Attlee was stunned for a long time before he almost said something extremely stupid.
"This is the evaluation report written by Allen!" Norman Brook took out a report and said, "It contains detailed prospect predictions. To be fair, there are benefits, but it is unlikely to be obtained in the short term."
Did the British Empire and other colonial empires in Europe rob the world, or make the world richer?
In fact, depending on how you look at it, relatively speaking, it has intensified the gap between the rich and the poor in any agricultural civilization, but in terms of absolute numbers, there is no doubt that the wealth in the places colonized by the British is definitely much greater than in the purely agricultural era.
In other words, for a very mature agricultural civilization, even if the British did not plunder much wealth, it still played a role in intensifying the contradictions in the country. But for a place that was born in the tribal era, without European colonists, who knows what they will do. How long do you stand still?
Take British India as an example. British India under British rule was definitely much richer than when it was originally a land of small countries.
But the beneficiaries are limited to the upper class of the subcontinent. For the vast lower class population, the British are much more efficient in exploitation than the original princes. Most of the lower class in India are not necessarily better off than before.
What Norman Brooke means is that once Egypt's dam is built and Egypt enters the electrification era, Egypt will definitely be much better off in absolute terms than it is now.
Egypt now can’t afford anything, except flatbread. After electrification, Egypt's purchasing power will be improved.
It took Attlee a while to extract the useful paragraphs among the many words, and then he fell into thinking.
This was a complete blackmail, but when I thought about it, compared to getting back the ownership of the Suez Canal, a dam was not unacceptable. Attlee still knew which one was more important.
It would not be unacceptable to the UK as a whole if a loan for a dam could be exchanged for five to ten years of stable control of the canal.
After all, Attlee was not Churchill. He was still dreaming of an empire on which the sun never set. He knew clearly that Britain could no longer support its dream of an empire on which the sun never set, and some of its remaining vested interests would definitely have to be realized.
"I want to think about it carefully!" Attlee reached out and touched his forehead, which was brighter than the chandelier above his head, and said that he would consider it carefully and let Norman Brooke wait for the news first to stabilize Farouk I.
Alan Wilson did not expect that he would have the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister so soon, but before meeting Attlee, he had determined that nothing good might happen.
Sure enough, Attlee asked British Malaya if it could share this matter for the British mainland.
"Dear Prime Minister, if you give me a few more years, I can make Malaya play the role of British India, or even better. But there is one thing that British Malaya cannot do. That is in manpower. It’s completely different from the original British India!”
Alan Wilson is not shirking responsibility, he is telling the truth, "I can no longer spare the manpower, so I organized an engineering team to help the Egyptians reduce construction costs. There is no profit in doing so at first, and this big project can solve Egypt's huge employment problem." The British could not save costs by using colonial manpower to help. In addition, Malaya's last rich human resources have been invested in the construction of the airport."
The population of British Malaya was no more than 10 million, only one-fortieth that of India today. After continuous planning and industrial transfer with local support, there is not much redundant manpower left.
Alan Wilson could be proud that as a colonial commissioner, he eliminated the unemployment problem, at least in theory, because in his eyes, farmers were also professionals and were not among the unemployed.
Taking into account the employment of the agricultural population, the employment prospects in British Malaya are now very good.
Although Malaya is not rich, the labor cost in Egypt is now lower. If you are planning, you can just use British people, and the workers can be Egyptians. In the words of colonial workers, it will instead rob Egyptians of employment opportunities, which may intensify conflicts.
"Is that so?" Attlee thought for a moment and said thoughtfully, "Of course I don't know the inside story, but I think the 80 million pound loan may be a little too much."
"Actually, we can ask Washington for help. An important country like Egypt has just experienced a military coup. The United States is also worried!" Alan Wilson suggested with a thought in his heart, "I believe that even for this reason, the United States is lending I won’t refuse even if you are above.”
The land of Egypt is really barren, and Egypt's geographical location is really important. In its original history, Egypt under Nasser's rule was more inclined to the Soviet Union, and when he was alive, it almost scared Europe to death.
This can be seen from the rapid extinction of British influence in Asia after the Suez Canal War. Not even Britain, let alone other European countries, could withstand a hostile Egypt.
In order to bring Egypt back, the United States waited until Nasser's death. In the following decades, it continued to supply Egypt's food needs at low prices. Regardless of whether Egypt was obedient or not, the United States was unable to provide military aid to Egypt.
"Let's first sign the understanding and make it a fait accompli, and then talk to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank." Norman Brooke suggested in a timely manner, "When Egypt makes a request, we will help speak, and it will be difficult for the United States not to agree to provide loan."
At the critical moment, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary quickly came up with a consensus to drag the United States into the water.
Alan Wilson secretly sighed that this was actually something that the United States had considered historically. Because of Egypt's geographical location, it was ultimately willing to provide Egypt with funds to build the Aswan Dam.
The United States' consideration is that although Egypt is a country where Britain and France still have influence, it is better than falling to the Soviet Union.
According to current considerations, as long as Egypt takes the initiative to speak to the International Monetary Fund and the United Kingdom stands by to support it, it will be difficult for the United States to disagree.
To take a step back, the United States finally vetoed Egypt's loan request, and the United Kingdom can also consider taking over when the time comes. It also allows the United States to offend the Egyptians for free.
With the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary so committed to implementing the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, Alan Wilson even felt that he could go a step further and add an article at the end of the letter of understanding for King Farouk I's visit to the United Kingdom. This article is, "If the United States gives up Regarding control of the Panama Canal, Britain and France will return control of the canal to Egypt regardless of whether Egypt’s electrification ends.”
In fact, there is no need for the UK to think of such a clause. As long as it is written in the Arabic text that Farouk I used to explain to the country, the UK can completely pretend to be unaware of it afterwards.
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