"In order to dismember the red giant economically, the federal government has implemented the NSDD-66 plan in five steps over the past decade. The first step is to block the Soviet Union's oil and gas exports! We all know that in 1979, the Soviet Union signed an agreement with Western Europe to provide natural gas to Western Europe. This agreement could bring the Soviet Union $32 billion in foreign exchange each year. So in 1981, President Reagan ordered a blockade of all oil exploration technology from the Soviet Union, because the Soviet Union did not have independent oil exploration technology. This move almost stopped all new oil exploration in the Soviet Union, and oil revenue could no longer increase. At the same time, President Reagan issued an ultimatum to Western Europe that it must block the natural gas pipeline and completely cut off any opportunity for the Soviet Union to earn US dollars in foreign exchange."

Niam nodded. Of course he knew about this. When President Reagan just came to power, he proposed and implemented such a policy against the Soviets. This policy almost triggered a war between the two countries, but President Reagan insisted on this policy firmly, and the Soviets had to accept this as a scapegoat.

"The second step is to target the Soviets for loans. We know that before President Reagan took office, the Soviet Union enjoyed a very favorable loan interest rate of 7.8% from Europe, especially Western European countries. After all, the terror of the Red Giant is no joke. Those European countries were afraid that the Red Giant's steel torrent would once again sweep across Europe, so they could only hold their noses and let the Soviets enjoy this favorable loan interest rate."

"But after President Reagan came to power, in 1982, he directly threatened Europe that if the interest rate on loans to the Soviet Union was not raised to 17%, European banks would not be allowed to do business with American banks. Faced with President Reagan's tough stance, Europe, especially those Western European countries, capitulated. They raised the interest rate on loans to the Soviet Union overnight, completely cutting off any financing channels for the Soviet Union."

Of course Niam knew about this. At that time, the Red Giant almost issued a war alert to Western European countries because of that incident, but unfortunately, they held the financial power, so no matter how loudly the Red Giant roared, he had to surrender in the end.

There is no way. It has been almost 40 years since World War II. Nowadays, we don’t rely on mushroom bombs and steel torrents. Nowadays, all we have to fight is money! The Red Giant knows his own financial situation very well. How can he fight with others without money?

In the end, even the Red Giant can only engage in verbal battles with Western European countries...

"If President Reagan's first two steps were to confront the Red Giant directly, then the second two steps were to target the Soviets from the side. President Reagan's third step was to strike the Soviets from the oil side!"

"Niam, you should know that the Soviet Union's largest foreign exchange export projects are oil and natural gas. The Soviet Union's natural gas exports to Western Europe have been completely blocked by President Reagan, so President Reagan will start to target another Soviet export project, oil. We all know that once international oil prices go up, it will be a great thing for the Soviets. Otherwise, the Soviets will be in trouble. So under such circumstances, in 1985, President Reagan sent a note to Saudi King Fahd, asking him to expand oil production. Saudi Arabia itself is our iron brother, and coupled with President Reagan's tough attitude, even Saudi Arabia did not dare to refuse President Reagan's completely unreasonable request. Therefore, after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries expanded oil production, the international crude oil price quickly dropped from more than 30 US dollars a barrel at the time to 12 US dollars a barrel. The sharp drop in international oil prices immediately hit the Soviet Union's oil exports, reducing oil exports by at least 10 billion US dollars each year."

"Then, taking advantage of the fact that the Soviet Union's foreign exchange reserves were running low, President Reagan implemented the fourth step, which was to devalue the Soviet Union's only $20 billion in foreign exchange reserves once again! To this end, President Reagan used the Plaza Accord to devalue the US dollar by 25%, which directly reduced the purchasing power of the Soviet Union's only $20 billion in foreign exchange reserves to only $15 billion! In addition, the Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan a few years ago, and the people in Washington supported the Afghans behind the scenes, directly dragging the Soviets into the quagmire of Afghanistan and making it impossible for them to escape. It was not until last year that the Soviets withdrew their troops from Afghanistan in disgrace, but that war became a loss that the Soviets could not bear!"

"After these four steps, the Soviet Union's economy was already in tatters. At this time, the fifth step plan that President Reagan prepared specifically for the Soviet Union before he stepped down is now being implemented under the authorization of President Bush! The key figure in this fifth step is Leo Vanta!"