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Praetorium Honoris

Thursday, August 22, 2024

Own Goal

Source
The meeting with the National Security Council had ended late and had been somewhat contentious. There were a few who wanted the United States to intervene directly in the current crisis between India and Pakistan. The President had listened to all the various points of view, then had ended the meeting. It was nearly time for the satellite overflight of the Punjab.

After the meeting had adjourned, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations had requested a short meeting with the President.

"What does this pertain to, Mr. Ambassador?" Bill Aspinall was direct and to the point, he had no time for the diplomatic niceties. Truth was, he was exhausted.

James van de Burg, a career diplomat who had been born in the Netherlands but had come to the United States as small child, smiled.

"To the point, I like that. I have someone with me who the President should meet, her name is Hamara Segrah Kaur, she's a Pakistani Sikh with close ties to the Sikh separatist movement. She is not part of it but her brother is high up in that group."

"Interesting, when do you propose?"

"Now, Mr. Aspinall. I took the liberty of bringing her with me to the Pentagon. She is outside as I could not get her a visitor's pass."

Aspinall thought for a moment, then nodded. "Josh, got a minute?"

LCDR Higgins came over to the two men, "What's up, Bill?"

"You know our UN Ambassador, right?"

"I do, good to see you, Mr. Ambassador." Higgins said while extending his hand.

"I'd like you to go with the Ambassador down to security and help him get a visitor's pass for a lady he's brought in as a subject matter expert on the Sikh separatist movement. She might be useful over the next few hours."

Higgins nodded, "Please come with me, Mr. Ambassador."


Privates
Keshav Chakarvarti and Jeet Bakshi were manning their machine gun position at the Kartarpur Corridor. The Corridor had been set up to allow Sikhs from India a place to cross over into Pakistan to visit the nearby Gurdwara Darbar Sahib where the founder of Sikhism had settled after his missionary travels. Guru Nanak had lived there for 18 years until his death in 1539.

Neither man was a Sikh, nor was their Sergeant, Ganesh Padhya. Their captain had advised the men of their platoon the night before that a reconnaissance aircraft had spotted Pakistani tanks and armored personnel carriers moving in their direction. All of the men had been briefed on the current tensions between Punjab and the central government in New Delhi.

Both men remembered the captain's last words to them that morning, "Do not fire upon the Pakistanis unless they fire upon you. This may just be a move showing support for the Sikhs, or it could be in response to the troubles in China. The world is a dangerous place lads, let's not add to that."

Chakarvarti nudged Bakshi when he saw a dust cloud in the distance, "That's a lot of vehicles, Jeet. Do you think it's the Pakistanis?"

Bakshi, the elder of the two men by three years, shrugged and said, "I doubt it's farmers going to market, laddie."


"So you see, Mr. President, Pakistan has a large Sikh minority in the Pakistani province of Punjab." Hamara Segrah Kaur explained.

Which got a raised eyebrow from Nakagawa.

"Yes, Pakistan and India both have provinces named 'Punjab,' it was all one place before the partition of 1947. To be honest, relations between the Muslim majority and the Sikh minority in Pakistan have never been very good. They are worse now, many Sikhs would love to have their own nation, comprising both parts of Punjab."

"What do your contacts within Punjab think, is there going to be war?" Nakagawa asked.

"My brother would very much like to see a Sikh nation, but he is also a realist. I spoke with him not three days ago, he thinks that the Pakistani Intelligence Bureau is behind this submarine incident. My brother has contacts within the Indian Navy, they were stunned that the Chakra was equipped with nuclear torpedoes, something not in the Indian Navy's inventory. Speculation is that the Chakra surreptitiously made port in Karachi to take those torpedoes on board."

Nakagawa sat up straight in his chair, "Are you telling me the Pakistani Navy gave the Chakra those torpedoes?"

"Not officially, Mr. President. There are elements within Pakistan, in the government and in the military, that desperately want to add Jammu and Kashmir to the national territory. These elements, so my brother says, would benefit greatly in the event of war between China and India."

"Idiots!" Marine General Wurther snapped from the back corner of the room.

"You have something to share, General?" Nakagawa asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but agreeing with the sentiment.

"When are those in power going to realize that you take something from somebody, people are going to die? Not their sons, but the sons of the middle class and the poor. Idiots. Sorry Mr. President but this kind of shit, sorry ma'am, drives me crazy."

Nakagawa looked Hamara Segrah Kaur in the eye and asked, "What would you have the United States do, if it was up to you?"

"Nothing, Mr. President. As I understand it, the Chinese are busy with their own demons right now. I suspect that the Pakistani Army will step in to curb their rogue forces. If not, the Indian Army will make short work of them. Attacking India is a very bad idea, as much as we Sikhs love our religion and the thought of our own homeland, I know many Indian Sikhs who will rally to New Delhi due to this potential incursion."

Nakagawa almost sighed with relief, instead he stood up and offered his hand, "Thank you, Madam, you have given me some very good advice I think."

As she and the UN Ambassador turned to go, Nakagawa spoke, "Ambassador van de Burg, please come see me at your earliest convenience."

"I will, Mr. President."


The alarm klaxon began to sound as the column of Pakistani armor drew near the border. The head of the column had already crossed the Ravi River. The column began to deploy into a combat formation when Sergeant Ganesh Padhya saw two aircraft approaching from the left. Bringing his field glasses up, he identified them as Pakistani Air Force Dassault Mirage 5s.

"Where the hell is our air force?" He muttered as he scrunched down further into the machine gun position. It was fairly proof against bullets, but bombs? He thought not.

The two jets dropped lower and made a very high speed pass over the lead tanks of the Pakistani column. They then continued at a very high rate of speed up the river valley until they were out of sight.

"What was that all about, Sergeant?" Private Chakarvarti asked.

"I don't know, son. You'd think they would be making that low pass over us, in preparation for a bomb run ... Dear Lord." Padhya stopped as he saw the two jets approaching again, from the opposite direction, but again seeming to head for the Pakistani column.

Padhya watched in shock as the aircraft dropped their ordnance on the lead Pakistani vehicles.

"What in the name of all that is Holy is happening here?" Padhya muttered.


"Was that what I think it was?" the President rose to his feet in horror.

"Yes Sir, the Pakistani Air Force, well two of their jets, just bombed elements of the Pakistani Army." General Wurther couldn't believe his own eyes, but the satellite coverage was so good that they could even make out the insignia on the Pakistani jets, Mirages he thought.

Bill Aspinall spoke, "Look Sir, the lead elements are turning back from the border. Well, what's left of them."

Nakagawa could see that. He also saw at least three burning tanks, "Well okay, one tank and two APCs on fire," he thought.

The phone on the desk he was using buzzed, he picked it up, "Nakagawa here."

"Mr. President, I have the Prime Minister of India on the line ..."

"Put her through."

"Prime Minister Chetti, it's good to hear your voice. How can I be of service?"

"Mr. President, things, as you might well imagine, are very hectic here at the moment. But I wanted to let you know, I've had a call from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zaahir Banuchi, and he assured me that the government of his country has had nothing to do with the incident with our submarine Chakra, and the troubles along the Punjabi border. I'm having my forces stand down to a lower level of readiness in order to ease tensions. Both Pakistan and India are having trouble with dissident elements who seek to overthrow the established governments of our nations. Internal problems, such as the United States has experienced lately as well. I personally wish to thank you for your support and your forbearance in these matters."

"Certainly, Madam Prime Minister. If there is anything my government can do to reduce tensions in the region, please don't hesitate to let us know."

"I will, Mr. President, again, thank you."

After she had broken the connection, the President set the phone back on its cradle. He said nothing for a moment, then sat up and said, "If everyone will excuse us, Mr. Aspinall and I need to talk."

When the last person had left the room, he turned to his friend and aide, "So Bill, doesn't it strike you as odd that three of the world's major powers, the U.S., China, India, are suddenly having these internal troubles? Distracting us if you will."

"I cannot think it's a coincidence, boss."

"Nor can I, there's someone behind this, someone with lots of money. Drug cartels? Some wealthy financier working behind the scenes? Who stands to benefit?"

"Sir, if I were you, I might have a long talk with the President of Russia."

"What time is it in Moscow?" the President asked as he glanced at his watch, he saw that it was nearly three in the morning.

Aspinall thought for a second, "It's morning there, about nine I think."

"Arrange the call, Bill. I want to talk with Maksim Vladimirovich. I don't think his government is involved but ..."

"Russian Mafia?"

Nakagawa nodded, "They've got the money, they've got the motive, and this is certainly an opportunity with all of us focused inwards. Could well be."

"I'll make the call, boss."



42 comments:

  1. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!! Follow the $$$ Mr. President. Look forward to reading this every morning Sarge, thanks.

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  2. This story has more twists than two pounds of sausage links. I love it!

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  3. In chaos there is opportunity some old Chinese dude said.

    Don't know much about the Russian Mafia but I've a fair bit about South America's and their juniors in Mexico.

    Seems they would have much more money for hi jinks with the very profitable drug trade than Russians as the GDP of Russia is deemed by our Gov.com to be around that of Maryland.

    A lot of old family Germans down there. U-Boat Germans also.

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    1. The Russian Mafia has even more money than the drug cartels, they have a large negative impact on the Russian GDP.

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    2. Not just the Russian Mob. There's the Albanian Mob and the Ukranian Mob and lots of other Eastern European Mobs. Involved in drug smuggling, arms smuggling, people smuggling (many of the prostitutes in Europe are from these mobs.)

      And they don't have a nice code of conduct like our formerly Italian and Sicilian based mobs had/have. Much more violent, more prone to shoot first. It's the Mobs of "John Wick" and "Nobody" fame.

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  4. not to bring in another element but it sure sounds more and more like the only one to benefit might be the powers/people behind the "World Economic Forum"

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    1. THAT was my thought as well. Those people (soros, gates, et al) want to run the world and have made it abundantly clear that they intend to do so. The Hungarian Nazis spawn are now in the game as well.
      Boat Guy

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    2. boron - You're a clever fellow.

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    3. BG - As always, follow the money.

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    4. When you brought up the "distraction" factor of all this my immediate thoughts went in this direction too!

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    5. @ OldAFSarge
      not true
      I just enjoy a really interesting, well-written tale that can follow (logically) any one of a number of possible paths

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  5. Another good twist...
    Who knows what evil lurks in men's hearts?
    The Muse knows...
    Great story Sarge!
    MSG Grumpy

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  6. More convoluted that a plate of shredded cabbage an noodle. Good stuff. Although, after that first pass I suspected that the fighters were going to hit the tanks. Not, were the Pakistani government fighters taking out speratist mutineers? Captured Paki fighters driven by mutineers? Were the tanks Oafficial (sic) Paki military, or was it a column of mutineers? Or were the fighters flown by Indian forces?

    I'm not sure even Muse knows for sure yet.

    Perfect medium rare (that is, Well Done!).

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    1. The Mirages were official PAF, the armored column, who knows for sure? All I can say is they were operating without "official" Pakistani government sanction.

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  7. There is a pattern emerging. But if anyone influenced things, there are certainly money trails behind.

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  8. That certainly turned on a dime!

    The smuggling of a nuclear weapon onto a submarine by rogue elements - not implausible in principle: certainly there are elements in Pakistan that have favored fundamentalism of various sorts in general. The Russian Mafia is an interesting twist; it will be interesting to see where this goes. Great Job Sarge!

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    1. I'm trying to keep y'all off balance until the final pages.

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  9. Though the Russian Mob/Eastern European Criminal Organizations is a good potential, I don't discount the effects of petro money funding terrorists. Places like Iran and Qatar supply a heckuvalot of operating funds to some of the worlds' nicest people. And besides funding actual terrorists, those places also fund, like the Soviets used to do, various organizations like international news, fund a lot of 'humanitarian' organizations that funnel money to politicians everywhere.

    As a lot of people above have pointed out, follow the money. And then check your assumptions. The Venn Diagram of 'who has the money,' 'who has the connections,' 'who has the balls.' and 'who is stupid enough to think they can get away with this' is going to have some very interesting intersections.

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    1. Islam will not be a part of this tale, but yeah, oil money funds a lot of things.

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  10. Follow the money was a surprising comment in the long (nearly 4 hour) but excellent interview by a retired Navy SEAL, of Joe Kent, retired Army Special Forces guy at the very tip top of their elite special units, and widower of CTICS Shannon Kent USN who was a genuine kick ass operator accomplice herself. Yes, it is long, but well worth the time to see what sort of people get into that line of work, what is required to qualify, and the hazards of the trade. Kent eventually got disillusioned with our mission in AFG and IRQ, and dec9ded it was more about follow the money than a foolhardy "turn camel herders into a Jeffersonian democracy" naivete. Joe is running for Congress in Washington state and has an excellent chance (lost by less than 3,000 votes out of 300,000 last time with little name recognition or support from the national party, but he has both now.
    Again, long but what an inspirational guy, and his late wife was equally impressive.
    John Blackshoe
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyDy6rreaJk

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  11. ` Haven't been commenting for awhile, had nothing worthwhile to say, still don't (I think I've misplaced some IQ points somewhere), BUT I just wanted to let you know that it's great writing, good story line, good twists, Much appreciated. I hope you make some much deserved moola, from writing, some day.

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  12. Another twist! I agree - follow the money. I remember years ago reading that several Eastern European drug cartels were competing over Paris territory. Now I'm going to try to find that source....

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    1. I was reading up on Russian/Eastern European organized crime, a very nasty bunch!

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  13. 0300 in D.C. during the summer is 0700 UTC or 1000 Moscow time. Close enough.

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    1. And you've never misspoken when it's very early in the morning, haven't had much sleep, and had to come up "what time is it in Moscow?"

      That was intentional.

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