The Russian army needs this. It will let our boys flex their muscles instead of sitting around the barracks, worn out by hazing, in the depths of Russia, not knowing who and where the enemy is and what moral and physical preparations they should make.
Millions of people [will be] grateful to Russia…. The Germans want this…. This is also profitable for France. We would help them extricate themselves from American and Zionist influences…. Europe needs our help…. Only America would not be pleased, but she won’t interfere. The alternative to the development of this situation is too grave for her if she interferes. There would be too many negative results if she tried to prevent the establishment of Russia’s southern borders.
Let Russia make its final “thrust” to the south. I can see the Russian soldiers gathering for the final expedition southward. I can see Russian commanders in Russian division and army headquarters, mapping out the route for the military formations and the endpoints of those routes. I see aircraft gathered in air bases around the southern regions of Russia. I see submarines surfacing near the coastline… and amphibious assault ships nearing the shore where Russian soldiers are already marching, armored infantry vehicles are on the move, and great masses of tanks are rolling through. Russia will finally make her last military expedition. There will never be another war from the South for Russia, and it has long since been impossible for war to come from the North. In the West they understand, and in the East they will find out.
A chill ran through Bennett’s exhausted body. Mordechai was right. Gogolov was preparing for war.
29
Wednesday, September 3 — Noon — The U.N. Building
The press conference started precisely at twelve.
Foreign Minister Andrei Zyuganov stood before a bank of microphones in the lobby of the United Nations Building in New York and requested that the new leader of Russia be permitted to address the General Assembly on September 11, the opening day of the fall session.
“We seek the opportunity to reaffirm Russia’s desire to be a member in good standing of the international community and to discuss the great issues of our time,” Zyuganov told the assembled reporters. “From protecting the environment from the threat of global warming to protecting our children from the threat of weapons of mass destruction, Russia has a new voice that should be heard by all people of goodwill.”
As Zyuganov continued, it became clear that he also wanted assurances that the U.S. government would not impede Gogolov’s movements during his eight-hour visit to New York City but would grant him the full measure of diplomatic immunity and protection — including Secret Service protection — afforded any visiting head of state.
Within minutes, the French ambassador stepped out to the microphones to voice his country’s support for the proposal as “in the best interests of international diplomacy.” Germany and China quickly voiced their support as well, as did the Arab League and half a dozen African states, including Ethiopia and Libya.
A political firestorm was building in Washington.
The Justice Department was on the verge of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the president’s handling of the Aeroflot 6617 disaster. The Russian jet’s black box had finally been found over the weekend, but was too badly damaged to be useful. Moderates were distancing themselves from the White House, and even a number of conservative Republican senators had voiced concerns on the weekend news shows about the administration’s handling of foreign affairs.
The cover of the latest Time magazine asked, “Who Lost Russia?”
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 56 percent of Americans disapproved of the president’s conduct of foreign policy in general, while 63 percent believed he was “mishandling” the Moscow crisis in particular.
Coverage of the Gogolov gambit dominated the news.
White House aides were sharply divided over how to respond.
Israeli prime minister Doron was the first foreign leader to call President MacPherson, imploring the U.S. not to issue the Russian dictator a visa. Bennett joined the president, Bob Corsetti, and Marsha Kirkpatrick in the Situation Room to sit in on the call.
“Mr. President,” said Doron as the nine-minute conversation was winding up, “Yuri Gogolov is using the levers of democracy to preach hatred and advance Fascism. Would FDR have allowed Hitler to address the United Nations on the eve of World War II?”
Bennett found himself echoing Doron’s sentiments.
He reminded the group of Aleksandr Golitsyn’s warning that at that very moment forces loyal to — or directed by — Gogolov might actually be targeting the U.S. with terror squads. Providing him a forum would create legitimacy for a tyrant who deserved none.
Bob Corsetti countered with a vehemence that stunned Bennett in its intensity.
“Mr. President, this is no time to look intransigent,” Corsetti argued. “The American people want you to be a peacemaker. I say let’s hear the man out. It’s not like he’s going to declare war on the United States while he’s standing on American soil.”
Marsha Kirkpatrick’s case was more strategic.
The U.S. desperately needed to shed its trigger-happy image and regain the moral high ground, she said. If Gogolov was foolish enough to challenge the United States and give MacPherson a home-court advantage at the same time, the White House shouldn’t be foolish enough to decline.
The phone rang in the Sit Room. It was Chuck Murray with breaking news. AP was about to report that senior aides to the U.N. secretary-general were discussing the possibility of opening the U.N. General Assembly’s fall session in Paris or Brussels instead of New York if the U.S. resisted Gogolov’s “eminently sensible request.”
MacPherson hung up and relayed the news to the others.
Corsetti reacted first. “Look, Mr. President, I’ll be honest — my heart is with Bennett on this one. If it were up to me, I’d let Gogolov into the country just to have an FBI sharpshooter put a bullet in the guy’s head as he stepped off the plane. But that’s emotion talking, not good policy and certainly not good politics. We cannot afford to battle against granting a world leader a one-day visa to talk about peace. We simply don’t have the political capital to burn.”
Six hours later, the visa was granted.
30
Yuri Gogolov finally rose to speak.
“Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: As we gather together on September eleventh, the anniversary of the attacks upon this great city, let me begin by assuring all Americans — and reassuring each of you — that the Russian Federation is fully committed to being a member in good standing of this global community and to helping the world win the war on terror once and for all.”
The General Assembly erupted in thunderous applause.
“The new Russia shares this great body’s commitment to human dignity, eradicating poverty, and conquering disease,” Gogolov continued. “The suffering of our fellow brothers and sisters around this planet is great, and our responsibilities are clear. Whether it is confronting the threat that AIDS could literally wipe out fifty, sixty, seventy percent of the population of some African countries in the coming decades — or the threat that by 2050 global warming could literally melt much of the Swiss Alps, radically altering climates and subjecting Europe to the most devastating heat waves in human history — the Russian people, from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, stand ready to face these issues together, tackle them together, solve them together, lest together we suffer a thousand years of darkness.”