George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 126

< Episode 125 >

Moscow. The capital of the Slavic people for about 1,000 years. Once the center of a massive axis that divided the world in two, but now all of that is just a thing of the past. Now, it was just a metropolis where people lived, striving to move forward from the scars of the Red Square terror attack.

In that city, there were those who were working in the shadows for the benefit of the United States. They were none other than the CIA, a world-renowned intelligence agency that once stood shoulder to shoulder with the old KGB. Of course, their status was not White, but Black. “White” refers to an intelligence officer, and “Black” refers to a spy operating undercover.

When you think of a spy, you usually have a strong image of a special operations unit tasked with sabotage, such as destroying key facilities in an enemy country, or assassinating key figures in the country, but that was not always the case. Simply obtaining important information or identifying key trends could make you an excellent spy.

In any case, these Black operatives were unusually busy. Normally, these people would only be secretly digging for information in the shadows to avoid being exposed, but the reason why they were running around frantically, even taking risks, was because the hammer of fury had fallen from above.

As with any organization, the President’s order, ‘Russia is suspicious,’ was distorted and misinterpreted, and ultimately became a stern order: ‘Russia? In particular, the CIA agents in Moscow are said to be lazy. They have no idea what’s going on!’ As a result, the CIA agents in charge of Russia were scrambling. Consequently, they had no choice but to move somewhat carelessly, and this valuable information even flowed into Oliver’s hands.

‘Thanks to the CIA’s carelessness, even a reporter from a small newspaper like me was able to catch a whiff of something.’

Oliver, who was rereading the information in his head, nervously smoked a cigarette at the entrance of the alley. He had come to Moscow to cover the secret, claiming it was a scoop, but he didn’t really know what was going on and was just at a loss. However, Oliver speculated that if the CIA was moving at the risk of exposing their identities, it was likely one of two things.

Either Russia was planning a large-scale invasion of some country, or a conspiracy of invasion-level proportions was taking place. Of course, the latter was more likely. Anyway, he didn’t know the details, but considering the nature of spies, who would be subjected to cruel torture that would directly violate the Geneva Convention if caught, the fact that they were acting so carelessly meant that whatever was happening was not trivial.

Of course, Oliver didn’t know that this situation was simply caused by a misinterpretation of orders. He had grilled the CIA across the board once for the Olympic referee detention case, but how could the organization’s tendencies change so easily?

Even so, the current president was being called a kind of legend. The things he had done… Some reckless actions were, in a way, a nuisance from the perspective of a public official, but as a man, they were nothing short of a romance. Paradoxically, this meant that these aspects were not so appealing to female public officials. In any case, he had given everyone who knew Bush, for better or worse, the strong impression that ‘anything is possible.’

Frankly, weren’t there too many absurd things? He brought peace to the Korean Peninsula on a war machine, collected the Qing Dynasty bonds of China that everyone had turned away from, seized all public power, including the police, and at the same time was the most popular and powerful person in American history.

Even though he was the president, he was a legend, so of course, if he ordered something every time, there would be an overreaction. You never knew what would happen if you were disliked by the president in the United States.

Even though they had been grilled once for the Olympic referee kidnapping case, they were grilled again for the Russian case, so the CIA was like a hornet’s nest. Of course, this time it wasn’t grilling, but simply an order to investigate, but it just sounded like, ‘You rice-eating bastards who don’t know what’s going on in Russia!’

Of course, Oliver doesn’t know this fact.

‘Damn it. What kind of wealth and glory am I going to enjoy?’

Oliver dropped the half-smoked cigarette on the floor and crushed it. When he thought about it, it was true. There was no way he could cover a scoop in a short period of three nights and four days. A scoop was created through long hours of lurking and painstaking investigation.

He was upset and pretended not to know, but he had noticed to some extent the editor-in-chief and friend Hunk’s intention in sending him to Russia. It was literally to clear his head. However, given Hunk’s personality, it wouldn’t be a simple, kind lie, and something was really going on in Moscow, but the city was more peaceful than ever.

The only unusual thing was the memorial sites for the Red Square terror attack that could be seen throughout the city. Photos of the victims were attached to the walls, and candles and flowers were lined up below. But as everyone got busier, they seemed to be forgetting the terrible events like the terror attack. No, they seemed to want to forget.

Oliver was about to take a picture of this memorial site to make an article since he had flown all the way to Moscow, but he felt awkward and began to offer a silent prayer. He felt uncomfortable with the fact that he was making money off the dead. Of course, he didn’t believe in superstitions like ghosts, but it was also true that he felt uneasy in the corner of his heart.

As he closed his eyes, his ears naturally became more sensitive, and he could hear the conversations of passersby. Normally, he wouldn’t pay attention, but it was a kind of occupational hazard he had acquired as a reporter. If you listen quietly like this, there were a lot of interesting things to hear.

‘I went down to the countryside the other day, and seven Mosin-Nagants [Russian bolt-action rifles] came out of my grandfather’s backyard.’

‘Mosin-Nagants are common. You know what? The other day, when I was building a barn, a pile of German rifles came out of the basement?’

‘This is useless information.’

Perhaps because it was a major battlefield during World War II, it was common in Russia for weapons used at the time to be found while digging in the ground.

‘I heard that there are still rebels in Chechnya? Aren’t those guys going to carry out a terror attack in Moscow?’

‘Chechnya? Instead of that, decide what Ivan will eat for lunch. We have to go back to the site as soon as we eat.’

There were people everywhere who didn’t care about terrorism or anything else. It was because they were busier with their own future. Where is there a country without a gap between the rich and the poor? Among them, Russia’s gap between the rich and the poor was the largest in the world. Is it even possible that only 100 people own a third of the country’s entire wealth? This was a higher figure than India, China, or even Brazil.

‘But it’s not a good story.’

The readers would probably laugh, saying that Russia is hopeless, but this was strictly a trashy gossip story through hate speech. Oliver didn’t want to publish such an article. An article should be genuine, moral, and able to attract the reader’s interest. In addition, there should be no external pressure in writing the article.

‘This is a freaking rip-off! Gas prices are up again! Why the hell are they going up!’

‘They say oil reserves are running out. If it weren’t for West Iraq, it would be even higher now, right?’

‘Oil? Did he say oil?’

Why are gas prices rising in the world’s leading oil producer and empire of natural resources? Russia has been constantly expanding its oil fields since the Soviet era. Moreover, why would gas prices rise in Russia, which has even acquired the rich oil fields of West Iraq?.

This was definitely strange. It was clear that Russia was intentionally raising prices, because when it came to oil, there was no country that could put pressure on Russia. Even the United States couldn’t do it, unless there were other external factors. The United States’ oil was running out, even in Alaska. If he investigated further, he might find out, but according to the current investigation results, it would be difficult to last more than half a century.

Of course, there was too much information that couldn’t be trusted even in that investigation result, but at least one thing was certain: if Oliver lived a long life, the electricity he was using at the moment of his death would not be electricity made from American oil.

‘This is a bit interesting.’

This fact was more than enough to pique Oliver’s interest.

‘Yeah, it’s much better to find out more about oil than the CIA, which has no clues.’

Oliver, who had come to Moscow with complicated feelings in the first place, completely changed his coverage route.

‘Oh, right.’

He took a picture of the fading photos of the victims with condolences and sympathy.

Whether this was a coincidence or inevitable, Oliver had completely achieved his original purpose without even realizing it, because the information that the CIA in Moscow was asking about was also related to oil.

「Why? Why are oil prices going up!」

The female CIA agent seemed completely fed up with the screams that kept coming from her cell phone, and kept it away from her ear. But even so, the voice was clearly spreading in all directions.

‘Please lower your voice. Even if the contents of the call are not recorded, your loud voice will be heard.’

There was no other way. In fact, there was one CIA agent who had been caught like that. It would be worth it if it was a valuable sacrifice, but he was caught in vain. Unlike ordinary informants, the CIA could not help them even if they were caught. In the first place, unofficial operations were all of that nature, but not a single CIA agent wanted to taste the torture that came from the experience of a former KGB agent.

「I don’t know at all. I can make as many guesses as I want. In fact, it’s too obvious. They’re trying to profit by manipulating oil prices, but this is just a hunch. I need solid evidence!」

‘Do you think I don’t know that?’

If it were any other time, they would have prioritized raising suspicions and gradually collecting evidence.

‘Why does it have to be a direct order from the President!’

The CIA had to make up for its previous mistake. In this light, it seemed as if the United States was not a democratic country, but an autocratic empire, but this was not entirely wrong. The CIA had handled countless dirty deeds that could not be revealed in the sun under the shadow of the American flag.

From the next-generation torture project to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the MK Ultra brainwashing project, can this really be called a democratic country?

From the perspective of CIA agents, the only thing that has improved in the current democracy compared to the past autocracy is that there are a few more cumbersome procedures to handle state affairs.

However, this is only an extreme view of ‘CIA agents who handle dirty work.’ In reality, democracy and autocracy are completely different.

‘Anyway, if we don’t want to disappoint the President, we need real evidence, not just suspicions. Can’t you go any deeper?’

「You know what? It’s still terribly precarious. Suspicion is growing. I may have to end my 12 years of life in Moscow soon.」

However, they didn’t know how the President would treat the CIA if the results were somewhat disappointing. He might even dissolve it. Rationally speaking, that could never happen, but why would a man called a legend be a legend? Isn’t it a legend because everything he does is far beyond people’s perception?

With the burden and danger of being caught, the CIA rolled and rolled again.