Chapter 48

The march of the American military across the world ended with the same suddenness as it had begun. With the fall of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia there just weren’t any more major countries left to fight. The Europeans had been trying to deal with Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. That ended when the Americans gave the British a half of a million Pigeons. The conflict came to a very decisive end.

The South American countries were predominately Catholic. Having seen the destruction that resulted when the Americans took care of the problem of Islamic fascists, the governments there went after the Muslim enclaves themselves. Many politicians in Central and South America discovered that the support they had been getting from some very wealthy people had dried up. A lot of anti-American rhetoric tapered off to nothing.

With the fighting at an end, the Americans packed up and left the areas they had conquered. They left behind minimal forces to protect the oil facilities and a few lightly staffed military bases. It wasn’t quite clear who they were protecting the oil fields from, but no one wanted to tempt fate by trying to take an oil field. The oil was flowing just as it had been before the Americans had started their march across the Muslim world. The price of oil had even stabilized now that threats to the supply had ended.

The troops returned home to muted celebrations. The country was proud of the men and women who had achieved victory, but the pride was tinged with a small seed of shame. There had been a lot of death and no one really knew how to deal with the national guilt of having killed so many people.

That uncertainty was reflected in the primaries. The candidates for President who won their parties primaries were very moderate across all of the political issues. It looked like the fight for President was going to be less divisive, but more closely contested. The two men had different philosophies on how to go about resolving the major issues, but they basically agreed on what the issues were and what a successful resolution would require.

The American electorate had changed significantly over the past eight years. It had learned from experience that the men and women elected to lead the country had a real effect on their day to day lives. No one could forget the fear that had been present when terrorists had been running around the country killing at will.

The lesson that what occurred in other countries could affect life in America had also been ingrained into the average American. People watched and discussed international news with the kind of passion that had once been given to professional sports. The cable services now carried television channels from just about every country in the world.

One surprising consequence was the number of people who were learning foreign languages so that they could watch the news without having to read the subtitles. Although people were learning foreign languages in greater numbers than ever in the past, the only language heard in public was English. Even speaking Spanish could trigger a very negative reaction from others. The exception was when someone wanted to insult a foreign country. At those times, they would use the appropriate language to make sure that anyone of that country knew they were being insulted.

President Archer made a visit to the General Assembly of the United Nations accompanied by the two candidates for President. In a speech that was broadcast around the world, he announced the end of America’s involvement in the war on terror. He was moving into the third phase of his plan to make the world safe for Americans.

He then laid out what he called the Archer Doctrine. Within it was a four point plan for the future of American relations with the rest of the world. He warned those in attendance that they would not like the Archer Doctrine. Based on his reputation, everyone in the audience braced for the worst.

The first point of his plan stunned everyone including the translators. The United States was going to withdraw as a member nation. This was effectively the death knell for the United Nations. He also said that the United Nations was no longer welcome in New York. President Archer waited until there was some sort of reaction from those in attendance. Once he was sure that he had their attention, he said that the United Nations, if it was going to continue to exist, had until the end of his term to leave the country.

The second point to his plan convinced everyone gathered in the General Assembly room that the United States was turning completely isolationist. He said that all embassies and consulates in the United States were going to be closed. It was his contention that having foreign agents running loose inside the country was foolish from a security perspective. As was the case with the United Nations, they had until the end of his term to vacate the country. The practice of state visits could continue, but they would require significant lead time to arrange.

All American Embassies overseas were going to close as well. He argued that with telephones, video conference capabilities, and news services that the old practices of having physical representation within another country had outlived its usefulness. He stated that within a month all embassies and consulates would be emptied of all American personnel.

Part of his plan was the establishment of an international complex in which ambassadors of every country could meet. It was already being built in Mexico, a country that was now an American Protectorate. Centralized meeting facilities would be constructed and managed by the United States, but that was as far as the country was willing to go. Countries would be given land and could build whatever living and meeting facilities they wanted on that land. Any signs of weapons entering or exiting those facilities would be viewed as an act of war.

The third point of his plan was that the American border of the country proper was going to remain closed to everyone until one of his successors opened it. Most of the terrorists had entered the United States through legitimate means. Some came as immigrants while others came as tourists and businessmen. Until a means of protecting the country from individuals who meant it harm had been put into place, America was not accepting the huddled masses cast off by other countries.

He also argued that countries needed to start taking better care of their citizens. There was no reason why so many should want to flee their country of origin. If people wanted to come to the United States because of the opportunities it provided, then why weren’t the opportunities available where they originated? Too much of America’s problem with immigration was actually a symptom of problems in other countries. He demanded that the other countries take care of their problems first before expecting the United States to open its arms to their citizens.

Until the borders were opened, all trade with America was going to have to flow through Mexico. All products being shipped to the United States would have to pass through one of three major ports of Mexico. Once goods reached the port, the final leg of transportation would have to be performed by an American shipping company. Representatives of foreign companies would have to meet in Mexico to arrange contracts with America firms. International companies would have to have their headquarters in Mexico and would not be allowed to have managers with foreign citizenship inside the United States.

The fourth point of his plan was that America was not going to provide any economic, technical, or political aid to any nation in the world until the world came up with a new model for international relations. He stressed that this model would have to assure that the situation that had led to the war on terrorism would never occur again. He warned them that whatever model was adopted would have to be acceptable to the United States and that it would no longer accept any treaty that was detrimental to the security of the country.

In a very forceful manner, he said that the United States would not accept a world government. There was no way that the country would accept being an equal partner with third world nations that couldn’t handle their own problems. There was no way that the country would accept dictators who stepped into power through force of arms as having any voice in what happened inside America. Too many countries in the United Nations had actively worked to destroy America as a superpower rather than try to improve their own countries to the same level.

He also accepted that not giving those countries a voice would return the world to a state of tension equal to, or worse than, what had triggered the latest upheaval. The model for international relations would have to give those countries choices with which they could live. The days of throwing money at problems had to come to an end.

He pointed to the two candidates for his office and identified that it would be up to one of them to direct America’s contribution to the development of that model. He warned the representatives that America had a very powerful weapon in its political war chest. If the next President was not satisfied with the progress being made towards establishing a realistic model for international relations, they could always cut off the supply of oil to the rest of the world.

Mike watched the speech with a smile on his face. The first point of Archer Doctrine was long overdue. He felt that the inability of the United Nations to solve any real international problems had led directly to the war on terror. How many resolutions did it take before the United Nations would enforce one? How could they put a nation that had more human rights violations than any other country in charge of human rights? How many times had the United Nations stood by and watched a country kill off its own people in bloodbaths? As far as Mike was concerned, the United Nations was a useless organization. Like the old League of Nations, the United Nations didn’t deserve to remain functioning.

There was one area where the United Nations had been effective and that was in the area of disease. The United Nations had stamped out smallpox. Mike had talked with President Archer and the two candidates about the need to continue the World Health Organization. His argument had won the day and it was the one UN organization that the country would continue to support. He had accepted that it could be headquartered in Mexico just as easily as in New York.

Mike felt that the second point should have been implemented early in the war on terror. Although President Archer had closed the borders to all visas, he had reopened the border for diplomats. Each country was granted fifty diplomatic visas. Now he was closing the border to even the diplomats. Homeland Security had found that many of the individuals sent over were trying to re-establish the spy networks that had been closed when so many people had been arrested as a result of the work of the Intelligence 100.

Mike believed that closing embassies and consulates would actually have a much broader and positive effect than most people would expect. For impoverished countries, the cost of establishing quality communications was a lot less than staffing embassies in every country in the world. They would also be able to save the cost of hosting embassies. He wasn’t sure how much countries like Moldova had to spend every year, but he was sure that it was a pretty significant amount. With the United States as an example, he expected that most countries would chose to close their offices in other countries as well.

The idea of using Mexico as a buffer zone between the United States and the rest of the world had come out of left field. Mike had no idea who had suggested that little idea, but someone in the State Department deserved a raise for it. One of the arguments for keeping the United Nations alive was that the world needed a place where representatives could meet to discuss problems of mutual interest and resolve conflicts. The International Complex in Mexico would serve that purpose. It did so without creating a bureaucracy that would eventually become corrupt.

Watching the news with Mike, Cathy had listened to the Archer Doctrine trying to comprehend the full consequences of it. Shaking her head, she said, “I think we live in interesting times.”

“I disagree with you on that. I think that the interesting times have come to an end. I imagine that the next few years are going to be very boring,” Mike said.

“You might be right,” Cathy said watching the interviews with various diplomats after the speech. She gestured to the television and said, “The Secretary General looks like he swallowed a lemon.”

Mike laughed and said, “Someone should point out that he gets the unique opportunity to be the last Secretary General of the United Nations. I’m sure that would cheer him up a little.”

Cathy looked at him out of the corner of her eye and asked, “Has anyone ever told you that you can be a ruthless bastard on occasion?”