Re: Blood and Iron

For a brief moment, Bruno took a sip from his glass. He did not say a word, not at first, almost as if he was deeply contemplating his thoughts, until finally he did, and when he finally chose to spoke he did so with the weight and gravitas of a mythic figure, a Greek titan, gazing down at the mortals below and giving them his divine command.

“Let’s cut to the chase, the war on your border? How much will it cost you to wage it yourself? Whether it’s the act of making sure your factories are scaled up to produce the weapons and munitions necessary to properly arm and supply the new divisions, you will have to mobilize,

Or the housing, feeding, and training of your new conscripts themselves. It would be an enormous expense on behalf of the American taxpayer to field and army to deal with your troublesome neighbors by yourselves.

And let’s face it, currently, as the way it stands, your people are in a state of indecisiveness. They would be hard pressed to justify such a campaign of violence when their sons, fathers, and brothers start returning in caskets.

Meanwhile, your congress will be difficult to convince mobilization of an actual armed force is necessary to secure your southern border and the people who are living there. Mexico is after all a threat far away from the ivory towers of Washington. What do the rich men north of Richmond know of the plight so far away from their mansions?

And even if you do manage to get congressional approval for all of this, how long will it take you to actually send an army south? A year? Two? Will the war be over by then, and who will emerge victorious without your interference?

Let’s take a second to analyze where your current predicament will inevitably lead if things continue as they have been for some time now. No, not tomorrow, not a week nor a month, or even a year from now, but decades….

From the report sitting on my desk, the situation is so complicated I can not even begin to explain it to someone in a brief summary. There are factions loyal to different figureheads who, for the last eight years, have been backstabbing and shooting one another in the streets.

It seems one major player switches sides every year or two, so let’s get down to the what needs to be done to end the violence on your borders ,which has now crossed into your territory and killed your people.

You need someone in Mexico, one of the many figures who is willing to cooperate with you and restore order. And you need men to arm, train, and supply him without any official ties to your nation.

After all, plausible deniability is key to your security here. Muster your army for border protection and leave the more morally ambiguous actions to professionals who can be contracted for the right price…

It just so happens to be that I know a group of such people. Through passing of course. These aren’t exactly dinner guests, or friends of the family, if you get what I mean. A friend of a friend knows the number to call, though.

If you were to contract these men for your southern ambitions, they would likely be able to guarantee you, a brand new militant faction in Mexico that is wholly supportive to the idea of restoring law, order, and constitution to Mexico, as well as working with the United States for future interests in the region, not as a rival, or adversary, but as a friend and ally can have at least gained a footing capable of standing on their own.

And in five years maximum, this new faction, with the support of your contractors subtly hiding in the background will have fully restored law and order in Mexico. Now what precisely they do after that point will be entirely up to you and yours to figure out.”

The President of the United States thought about Bruno’s offer for a moment in silence. He had heard a word of Werwolf Group, and its ties to the German Reich. Though Germany denied having anything to do with the mercenary troupe, it was obvious they were being armed, trained, and supplied by the German Ministry of Defense.

But this was a miscalculation on the world’s part, and Bruno had revealed who was truly pulling the strings of Ernst Röhm and his war-band of battle hardened war criminals.

Bruno was the shadow monarch, a man whose image was so prestigious within the German sphere of influence over the idea that he was personally funding, and sanctioning this mercenary horde was inconceivable to most who heard it.

But Bruno was also a clever man, one with a full understanding of the English tongue, he was far smarter than the President of the United States had previously given him credit for, and that only now became apparent as he posed an offer that while never outright admitting control of it was in his hands.

From what is sound like, Bruno was offering to give him a phone number of a friend of a friend who might happen to be able to get the President in touch with the leader of Werwolf Group. In no way were there any words spoken by Bruno that could connect him directly to the mercenaries who had become infamous for brutality in the Balkans and in Mittelafrika.

After recognizing all of this, the man could not help but be impressed with how easily and naturally Bruno verbally outmaneuvered anyone he was speaking with, and was quick to admit defeat in a way that continued the negotiation.

“Let’s say I do this. I accept this offer you are proposing. How will this work? What precisely will I need to do?”

Bruno now have tossed the bait in front of the American President and hooked him, was quick to reel him in, slowly, carefully, and gingerly in order to ensure the line didn’t snap under immense pressure.

“Simply look the other way towards any intelligence that suggests foreign assets being deployed to the region. And of course sign the contract handing over the necessary agreed upon payment, which you will have to broker with the man in charge of this group once I get you in touch with them.

They will handle the rest, from logistics, to training, to coordinating combat operations. You won’t have to worry about another thing. All you will have to do on your part is to mobilize the US Army to protect your border to ensure none of the violence continues to spill into your territory and keeps affecting your people.

The price will probably be steep, but far more reasonable than handling all of this yourself, and will keep your hands clean in the eyes of the public. America simply protected its borders, and didn’t act in an imperialistic and militaristic fashion towards its underdeveloped southern neighbors.

Meanwhile, Mexico settled their own matters in house, and just so happened to end with a man in power who is pro Washington. A rather beautiful version of the story once it is told to the public don’t you think?”

Once more, the President of the United States was truly in awe at the utter shamelessness in how Bruno spoke about complex black operations, and manipulation of the truth for public relations.

The man not only seemed like he was thirteen places ahead on the chessboard, but that he had the experience of a grandmaster while doing it. And when he came to understand this, the President of the United States also came to realize just why the Allied Powers had been so brutally beaten by Germany and their allies during the Great War.

They were dealing with a genius not only in military matters, but one who was operating on a battlefield set 100 years in the future. And what kind of monster was necessary to contend with such a man? If he could even be compared to a mortal in the first place that is…

Having thought all of this through, the President of the United States sighed heavily, before selling his soul to the devil, just like so many other powerful and influential men had done before.

“Alright… You get me in touch with these men, and if the price is right, I will ensure it’s paid according to whatever contract we sign. Although I have to say, you are quite different from how the boys in Washington speak of you…”

Bruno, perhaps intrigued by the last part of what the President had admitted to him, was quick to chuckle as he finished off his glass of vodka, before finally responding with a tone that intentionally heightened the curiosity in his voice.

“Oh? Really now? And what pray tell is the perception these men have of me?”

The President seemed to be silently squirming on the other end of the line, as if he felt stupid for opening his mouth about such a subject, but after a while a resigned tone erupted on the other end of the line along with a mere three words which encapsulated the American view of Bruno entirely.

“Belligerent and insufferable…”

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