Chapter 276: 【The Continuously Declining Soviet Federation】 (4.1k)

The American Federation's move was indeed ruthless.

But the Soviet Federation had no other choice.

They could only exchange gold with other federations or countries for grain to alleviate the internal grain crisis.

But in just this one year.

70% of their gold foreign exchange reserves were consumed.

What about next year?

What to do?

Even if they wanted to continue using gold to exchange, there wasn't enough gold left.

Not enough gold...

Could it be that they would trade various technologies?

That was even more impossible.

This move by the American Federation was too toxic, locking them in tight.

Many Blue Star netizens put themselves in their shoes and found there was no good solution; although they had survived this year, next year would become a problem again.

Hiss—

And it was impossible to trade technology for grain.

That was the foundation of the Soviet Union's existence.

It was only after WWI that they exchanged for technology from the Western camp that the Soviet Union was able to slowly catch up later.

How could the Soviet Union let their various technologies be traded away for grain?

This was truly troublesome.

Blue Star netizens thought to themselves.

And Yu Feng continued: "This year wasn't just about the grain crisis."

"The turmoil in Eastern Europe intensified; because the situation in Poland continued to ferment, it had formed a chain reaction, creating no small impact on various Eastern European countries."

"It was shaking the foundations of the Soviet Federation."

"But the Soviet Federation couldn't spare any effort at this time."

"The grain crisis, coupled with being stuck in the quagmire of the war in the Afghanistan Federation, meant they had no time to deal with Eastern European affairs."

"They could only let them develop on their own."

"This year."

"For the Soviet Federation, the only event that could be considered a 'win' was that the deployment of S-20 missiles reached over 240, hitting a new high."

"They could strike key targets in Western Europe within 10 minutes."

"How should I put it..."

"This couldn't be considered good news either, because it was still essentially militarism."

"But facing the various situations encountered this year."

"This was the only thing that could be considered a piece of good news."

"Military deterrence had increased."

Yu Feng said.

The Blue Star netizens in the live-stream room didn't know what to say.

This...

Indeed.

Compared to the other frustrating things this year, this was the only thing they could show off.

But military deterrence couldn't be eaten as food.

Military deterrence couldn't solve the grain crisis either.

They could only take it one step at a time.

Yu Feng continued: "Due to the grain crisis, starting from 1980, the Soviet Federation began testing food rationing with coupons."

"Subsequently, in 1981, this measure was expanded and implemented in many major cities across the country."

Yu Feng flipped through the materials and said: "Then came 1982."

"This year."

"The grain crisis still hadn't been resolved."

"But within the Soviet Federation, they began seeking solutions."

"Of course."

"The effect was limited."

"The new leader of the Soviet Federation took office and launched reforms."

"Mainly to combat corruption and increase light industrial production, attempting to alleviate domestic pressure."

"But although these two measures were effective."

"The Soviet Federation was too vast, and the effects brought about were minimal."

"At the same time."

"Because some reforms touched upon the interests of the 'military-industrial complex' group."

"They suffered great resistance in the later stages."

"One can only say the effect wasn't very good."

"This year."

"The Soviet Federation began releasing signals of easing relations with the Republic in public speeches, although there hadn't been any substantive progress yet."

"But it was certainly laying the groundwork for subsequent easing."

"Presumably, the Soviet Federation had also woken up after suffering these blows; they still needed to find allies."

"Then came the full-scale implementation of the rationing system."

"Starting this year, long queues could be seen everywhere in major cities of the Soviet Federation."

"Queuing to buy food and supplies had already become the norm."

"Hmm... how should I put it."

"It could be considered treating the symptoms but not the root cause."

"The root cause was still the lack of grain, and it had never been solved."

Yu Feng looked at the materials and turned a page: "Then came 1983."

"This year."

"The Soviet Federation was unlucky again."

Yu Feng shook his head and said: "First, a catastrophic misjudgment."

"The Soviet Federation's air defense system locked onto a civilian aircraft that had gone off course, resulting in no survivors among the 200+ people on board, all of whom were foreign civilians."

"This immediately."

"Caused the Soviet Federation to be condemned globally, with demands for a strict investigation."

"And such a mistake."

"Dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet Federation's reputation."

"Immediately following."

"Was a NATO exercise, which was misjudged by the Soviet Federation as a real nuclear strike, once raising the Soviet Federation's domestic combat readiness level to the highest."

"To put it bluntly."

"This was the second life-and-death choice faced by 'Earth' humans since the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"Because once they acted impulsively."

"The Soviet Federation and the American Federation would likely have immediately started a nuclear war."

"Fortunately, in the end, the Soviet Federation investigated clearly that it was a misjudgment."

"But two misjudgments within just a few months."

"The consequences brought about were quite serious."

Yu Feng shook his head.

This...

How should I put it.

It's truly a case of when one is unlucky, even drinking cold water gets stuck in one's teeth.

But it also had to do with the Soviet Federation's own righteousness; one time it was misjudging an off-course passenger plane, leading to shooting it down and killing over two hundred civilians."

One time it was misjudging an exercise as a nuclear strike, leading to nationwide alert and nearly starting a nuclear war."

Both were quite serious mistakes."

Both were things that shouldn't have happened."

Yet they happened just like that, and happened one after another."

Causing the Soviet Federation's prestige to drop to an extremely low point."

Yu Feng looked at the materials and continued: "At the same time."

"This year, due to internal resistance within the Soviet Federation, reforms stagnated."

"Coupled with the internal turmoil itself."

"Resulted in the share of military-industrial output actually expanding further, reaching 44% of the national total."

They were clearly already militaristic, with domestic livelihoods withering."

Yet they found that various domestic interest groups were too big to fail, leading to reforms not only being blocked but, after the stagnation of reforms, the output share of the military industry increasing."

It belonged to those interest groups who only wanted money and didn't care at all what would happen to the country."

Seeing this."

The Blue Star players were also shocked."

It had reached this point."

Those interest groups were still only looking at money, never thinking about what would happen if the Soviet Federation really collapsed... no, that's not right."

Even if the Soviet Federation collapsed, it wouldn't affect them."

It would only affect the countless Soviet Federation citizens."

These interest groups were all well-fed, and might even go to scrape up one last bit at the end."

Truly..."

The repeated collapses of dynasties in ancient 【Huaxia】 had already provided the answer."

In ancient 【Huaxia】, the order of scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant existed for a reason; merchants were at the bottom, and when you encountered insane ones... wasn't this exactly what those merchants were like?"

The Soviet Federation was in this situation, and they were still expanding the output share of the military industry."

If this continued..."

Yu Feng continued: "Then came 1984."

"This year."

"The Soviet Federation's military spending in the Afghanistan region reached 5 billion US dollars, with an average of at least 500+ deaths of soldiers per month."

"Investing so much, yet without any return."

"The war-weariness within the Soviet Federation began to spread, and the public also began to be dissatisfied."

"The Afghanistan Federation, this war quagmire, is truly no joke."

"How many countries have come here."

"Investing so much, yet without any return at all."

"Just a key geographical location."

"Nothing else."

"If there were even a little bit of good oil here, or some minerals, it wouldn't be just investment without return."

"A pure bottomless pit."

Many empires had fought here, but it was simply too barren, and it was impossible to use domestic money to build it up."

So any country that conquered this place basically wouldn't engage in construction."

And without construction, it remained dilapidated."

Dilapidation meant no development, and no development meant no prosperity."

No prosperity, coupled with the high-pressure policies of foreign races, meant the people of the Afghanistan Federation would resist, and resistance would consume the money and materials of the conquering country."

Leading the conquering country to constantly pour military spending and material consumption into this bottomless pit, while the people here kept resisting."

Under this vicious cycle."

There was simply no country that could conquer this place."

Especially since nearly 70% of the Afghanistan Federation's territory was mountains; what was there to develop?"

Just building roads was a huge challenge."

Later, even the wealthy American Federation couldn't afford it."

Let alone the current Soviet Federation, not to mention the Soviet Federation had a grain crisis at home."

At the very beginning, the Soviet Federation's military spending in the Afghanistan Federation was only 3 billion."

But in just a few years."

Now the military spending invested in the Afghanistan Federation had reached 5 billion, and it would rise next year, rise the year after, and so on, until the day the Soviet Federation couldn't hold on anymore..."

Yu Feng flipped through the materials and said: "It wasn't just the war quagmire."

"The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance originally established by the Soviet Federation also showed signs of disintegration."

"Why?"

"Because at the beginning of its establishment, this Council was for mutual benefit between the Soviet Federation and the Eastern European countries under its command, to achieve a perfect cycle."

"But with the outbreak of the economic crisis."

"The Eastern European countries within the Council already owed the suzerain Soviet Federation over 16 billion rubles in loans."

"These loans couldn't be repaid."

"They couldn't even be repaid within a few years."

"The situation within the Soviet Federation was like that, so naturally, they couldn't continue to lend money to the outside."

"So the Soviet Federation's trade turned toward Western Europe."

"And with the Soviet trade turning to Western Europe, the biggest boss wasn't playing with them anymore; this so-called Council was already dead in all but name."

Hearing this."

The Blue Star players in the live-stream room didn't know what to say anymore."

Truly..."

It gets harder year after year."

The Soviet Federation hadn't encountered any good things in these past few years."

Compared to the global military projection at its peak, the gap was too large."

How could they have fallen so quickly?"

Yu Feng paused for a moment and said: "Then came 1985."

"This year..."

Seeing this."

And Yu Feng's tone, the Blue Star netizens in the live-stream room didn't even need to think; it was definitely harder for the Soviet Federation."

In reality."

It was indeed harder, and even harder than they had imagined."

Yu Feng said: "International oil prices were slashed in half."

"From 30 dollars per barrel, it plummeted to 12 dollars, slashed by more than half."

"As everyone knows."

"The Soviet Federation held on for so many years precisely because of the massive windfall from exporting oil, which allowed them to reach the peak of expansion."

"The foreign exchange from oil exports supported their internal economic crisis so it wouldn't deteriorate rapidly."

"But now..."

"The slashing of oil prices dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet Federation's economy."

"Because they hadn't developed agriculture for years, oil exports accounted for over 70% of foreign exchange, and grain was purchased from outside."

"Now that they didn't produce their own grain, and the foreign exchange source for funds was also slashed in half."

"One can imagine how big the blow to the Soviet Federation was."

This didn't even need to be said."

The Blue Star netizens in the live-stream room had already imagined what the situation was like."

After all, the Soviet Federation was currently mainly relying on oil exports to obtain foreign exchange to exchange for funds."

Now it was slashed in half all at once."

It was good enough that the country hadn't collapsed yet; they didn't even dare to think about other things."

However."

This year wasn't just about this one thing."

Yu Feng continued: "This year."

Yu Feng continued, "This year."

"Finally, this year, it successfully legalized."

"That is to say, their existence was legal, and they no longer needed to fear being suppressed."

"And at this time."

"Hungary suddenly opened its borders."

"Leading to a large number of imperial citizens in the Eastern Empire controlled by the Soviet Federation starting to flee west, escaping to the Western Empire controlled by the American Federation."

"The chaotic situation in Eastern Europe could already be foreseen."

"But unfortunately..."

"The Soviet Federation had no way to deal with it now."

"The slashing of foreign exchange alone was enough to keep the Soviet Federation from sparing any effort to do anything else."

"Now they could only try every possible way to delay the time of death."

Speaking of this."

The Blue Star netizens in the live-stream room could also see it."

The Soviet Federation was now trapped in a comprehensive, systematic collapse from inside to outside, from high to low."

This collapse wasn't in any one aspect."

But the entire country, the entire society, and the entire system could no longer be maintained."

From the satellite states under their command to their own federation, from the grassroots citizens and soldiers to the repeated changes of leaders at the top, and then to the external Afghanistan Federation war quagmire."

It could be said that the entire Soviet Federation was walking on a path of bad luck."

There was no good news in any aspect, except for the military industry."

Because even now."

The Soviet Federation's military-industrial share was still the majority of domestic output."

And this kind of military-industrial output couldn't be stopped."

If it stopped."

It might even cause a collapse in this aspect, and the countdown to the Soviet Federation's destruction would accelerate several times over."

In such a situation, even if there were a visual interface for them to operate."

They wouldn't know where to start, because clicking anywhere was a problem, everything was a problem..."

Yu Feng said: "The Soviet Federation has been trapped in the quagmire of the Afghanistan war, the shadow of nuclear war, and the frequent changes of leaders in recent years; these negative factors superimposed together, truly..."

"That's roughly it."

"The Soviet Federation is finished; let's look at the American Federation's side." ===== CHAPTER 282 =====

"Now that we've finished with the Soviet Federation, let's take a look at the American Federation's side."