Chapter 1012 Sprouting
Russia is vast and rich in resources, but the resource that East Africa is most "dependent" on Russia is oil. More than half of the oil resources are taken away by East Africa every year, so the Russian government's use of oil as bait naturally attracted Ambassador Clo's attention to a certain extent.
But it was just attention. Although East Africa itself lacks oil resources, it is not as scarce as Germany, which is almost equivalent to nothing, and East Africa currently has more foreign sources of oil.
"As a friend, tell me honestly, have you encountered any difficulties recently in Russia?" Ambassador Clo said.
He vaguely felt that the mentality of the Russian government had changed, which was not the attitude of the Russian government in the past.
"Alas, for Russia, the difficulties have never ended, that is, financial pressure. Lack of money has always been our biggest difficulty in Russia. In recent years, due to the economic crisis in other European countries, there are relatively few countries and individuals willing to lend money." Count Kader said.
The economic crisis has not only hit Russia, other countries naturally also need cash to stabilize their economies. On the other hand, the economic crisis has led to the bankruptcy of Russian enterprises, default on debts, and serious bad debts, which not only reduces the Russian government's source of income, but also makes it difficult for Russia to borrow from the international community.
Various factors have led to the current vicious cycle of the Russian economy. Of course, the economic crisis is coming to an end and it will not be worse than in the past few years, but now Russia is borrowing more money than before, which makes Clo think that there must be something abnormal inside Russia that he doesn't know about.
After all, East Africa and Russia are "not familiar". In the past, Russia's main financial backers were Western European countries. Now they can't wait to get a few melons and two dates from East Africa, which is obviously a manifestation of hunger.
After all, East Africa is not active in the international financial market, especially in the business field. It can only negotiate with the East African government or East African state-owned enterprises or banks, which makes East African money the most difficult to get.
If it were an ordinary businessman, he would have jumped in long ago if Russia offered oil resources as bait. Regardless of whether Russia was offering a trap or not, there was no business that European and American businessmen dared not do under the drive of interests, and the East African government did not have such initiative, except for the Hexingen Consortium under the royal family.
Institutions such as East African state-owned enterprises and banks are actually mostly subordinate institutions of the East African government, so they are more cautious in lending to foreign countries.
So Ambassador Clo was very confident that the Tsarist Russian government had already hit a wall from other countries or capital before coming to him, but Count Kader was obviously unwilling to reveal the main purpose of the Russian government.
So Ambassador Clo said: "Count Kader, I need to communicate with the country first about this matter. If possible, I can give you an answer if you come back in three days."
Count Kader: "No problem, this time we Russians are very sincere, I am waiting for good news from your country!"
...
After sending Count Kader away, Ambassador Clo sent a message back to the country while sending people to the Russian government to inquire about the news.
The internal situation of the Russian government is relatively easy to obtain. With just a little effort, Ambassador Klo vaguely understood the Russian government's intentions.
He wrote in a telegram to the country: "The current Russian economic crisis has been smoothly passed, and Russia's active borrowing from various countries is obviously not to cope with the aftereffects of the economic crisis."
"According to some Russian officials and the embassy's understanding of the content of the recent internal meetings of the Russian government, Russia is likely to raise funds for the construction of the Siberian Railway, or prepare funds to launch a war."
"In recent years, the Russian government has become increasingly dissatisfied with the Far East issue, especially the competitive trend between Japan and Russia after the Far East naval war."
"The two countries have sharp contradictions on the Korean Peninsula and the northeastern Far East. Russia's dissatisfaction with Japan was foreshadowed as early as the late 1990s, but the sudden outbreak of the economic crisis in the early 20th century made the Russian government unable to take care of other things and temporarily unable to confront Japan."
"And there are also a group of knowledgeable people in Russia , attaches great importance to Japan, and does not despise Japan because of Russia's vast territory and strong national strength. Therefore, there are about four forces in the Russian government at present, namely the Tsar, the war faction, the peace faction, and the centrists. "
"The war faction has expanded recently. On the one hand, the economic crisis has ended, and Russia is aggressive, so this is in line with Russia's historical performance. On the other hand, the social contradictions caused by the economic crisis have not been eliminated. This time the Russian government may intend to use war to resolve the contradictions. "
"As the best decision-maker in Russia, the Tsar's attitude plays a decisive role. Recently, the Tsar has been in close contact with the domestic war faction... So it is very likely that the Russian government's frequent actions this time are aimed at Japan. "
Ambassador Klo made a rough judgment on the Russian government's thinking through the various data recorded by the embassy and the bribery of Russian internal personnel, so he conveyed his judgment back to his country.
Rhine City.
Ernst also received the news from the embassy, and soon he discussed it with his officials.
"Ambassador Klo's words are more in line with the current situation in Russia. Throughout Russian history, wars have been launched almost every once in a while, which is in line with Russia's war cycle. "
Russian history is a history of war, and it has a record of fighting with neighboring countries, from Finland in Northern Europe to the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, and finally to Japan in the Far East, forming a perfect arc.
Outside this arc, there are two support points, Britain and the United States, to constrain Russia's activities in their respective spheres of influence.
Japan is a pawn supported by Britain and the United States to balance Tsarist Russia and the Far East Empire offshore, so even if Japan's economy is in a bad state, Britain and the United States will generally support Japan to a certain extent.
After all, if Japan is not supported, the Far East Empire or Tsarist Russia will become bigger, which will destroy the plans of the two countries.
And Japan's shortcomings, that is, lack of resources and narrow area, have become advantages at this time. Whether it is Britain or the United States, they can drive Japan with more confidence.
In fact, the history of the previous life is also the same. Even though Japan committed many evil deeds in World War II and eventually devoured its masters Britain and the United States, the United States still supported Japan after World War II and used it as a pawn to contain the Soviet Union and later Russia and the Far East Empire. If Ernst was an American or British, he would definitely support Japan to weaken the Far East Empire or Russia.
"Your Highness is right. Nicholas II should be a more traditional Russian monarch, very different from his father Alexander III. During Alexander III's reign, it was also a rare period of peace in Russia, and the economy was relatively prosperous, but this was very abnormal for Russian traditions."
As far as East African officials are concerned, Tsarist Russia is a country that loves aggression. In fact, East Africa's reputation in the international community is not much better.
It's just that since the 1990s, East Africa has turned around, and the jumping East Africa of the past is almost invisible. After experiencing the short peace of Alexander's previous life, Russia has now returned to its old ways.
Therefore, the East African monarchs and ministers who stood on the moral high ground could ridicule Russia without scruples, while ignoring the large amount of territory that East Africa had acquired through expansion since the mid-19th century, as well as the tens of millions of black slaves who now served East Africa.
To be frank, if the Tsar had so many free laborers, he would not have been so focused on plucking the hair of gray animals. After all, gray animals are their own people, and it is their honor to be driven by foreign races like black people.