In his previous life, Roque could never understand why European countries were so opposed to Russia.
Now Rock understands.
It's not opposition, but fear, heartfelt fear. The fear European countries have towards Russia is probably equivalent to the fear southern African countries have towards southern Africa, which keeps them awake at night.
Southern Africa and Russia are in the southern hemisphere and the other in the northern hemisphere. Rock has now felt the threat from Russia, and one can imagine Winston's mood.
In fact, Roque was very curious before: when the European countries carved up Africa, Russia did not show any expression and seemed to have no interest in Africa.
Now the reason is also obvious. In the final analysis, Russia’s land area is too large. Africa as a whole only covers 30 million square kilometers, and Russia’s mainland area reaches more than 20 million. It’s really not a mistake to run Africa. You only need to run Russia well.
, Russia will be the most powerful country in the world.
Not even one.
After seeing Winston off, Rock immediately convened a cabinet meeting.
In the past ten years, the southern African cabinet has been extremely stable. Rock, Stoudemire, and Henry are the unshakable iron triangle, supplemented by Ada, Martin, Buck, Anton, Owen, Sidney Milner and other important cabinet ministers. Although
There is no fresh blood to be added, but it can still ensure the stability of southern Africa's fundamentals.
Now Stoudemire is in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, Henry is in charge of the Ministry of Industry, and Ada and Martin are still in charge of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense. As long as these key positions can ensure stability, the political situation in Southern Africa will be as stable as Table Mountain.
"Brad's office has a detailed report on Russia. Russia's situation is quite special. If ideology is not taken into account, it is similar to ours in southern Africa - Russian security has the ability to mobilize national forces to go all out in a certain area. Their mobilization capabilities
It is extremely terrifying. From this perspective, Russia has certain similarities with Germany and Japan." Sidney Milner spoke highly of Russia. If there is a country in the world that can pose a threat to southern Africa, then it can only
It's Russia and the United States, and they're not even that interesting.
The United States is a country hijacked by capital. The federal government can do very little, but Russia can mobilize the power of the whole country to rapidly improve a certain field in a short period of time. The progress of military industry capabilities is the best proof.
"There is still a gap between Russia's industrial capabilities and ours. Generally speaking, Russia's industrial level is about the same as ours before the war broke out - our advantage is a broader market. Russia has a vast territory, but the domestic market is still limited.
, unable to expand its influence beyond Russia." Henry's evaluation of Russia is more objective. In the industrial field, the gap between Russia and southern Africa is indeed obvious.
"Russia's heavy industry is okay, but the key is the civilian field. The Russians may be able to build a heavy tank that is comparable to the Tiger, but Russia cannot build a car that is comparable to the Lord." Stoudemire is not convinced.
I am worried that southern African products can be sold all over the world, while Russian products can only be sold in Russia.
To put it in more straightforward terms, Russian products are just usable, while Southern African products are easy to use. There is a huge gap between the two.
The cost of key Russian products is higher than that of southern African products, so Russian products are really not competitive. Only in certain special fields does Russia have a slightly less obvious advantage.
Such as agricultural products.
Only when it comes to grains can Russia have a certain degree of competitiveness. As for agricultural products that require a certain degree of deep processing, Russia has no advantage at all.
Therefore, Russia's largest export category now is agricultural products, and even mineral resources are unable to compete with southern African companies.
Compared with Baku's oil, European countries are more willing to purchase Adam Company's oil.
In terms of iron ore, Pilbara Mining Company and Iron Four Corners can form an overwhelming advantage over Russian companies, which is one of the main reasons why Russian commodities are struggling in the world market.
"Russia's economy has problems. The planned economy can meet people's basic needs, but if people's needs continue to increase, Russia's shortcomings will be exposed." Ada's starting point is macroeconomics, and Southern Africa has also experienced a transition from "being able to use it."
” to “easy to use”, rich experience.
"Russia has now expanded the age group for mobilization to 12 to 60 years old, and its war potential is about to be exhausted. After the war, if Russia still maintains such a large army, Russia will be exhausted without us doing anything.
." From a military perspective, Martin proved that Russia is not that scary.
The Germans are even more outrageous. The latest mobilization order issued by Mustache expands the mobilization age to 8 to 70 years old. This is simply crazy. Germany will pay the price of Mustache’s ambition in the next few decades.
Let alone 70 years old, 60-year-olds have reached the stage of retiring in southern Africa. It is difficult to imagine them picking up guns and rushing to the battlefield.
This is also the source of Martin's confidence. Russia's war potential is terrifying, and the war potential in southern Africa is even more terrifying.
Investigations by the Ministry of Internal Affairs show that war mobilization in southern Africa is only at most 50%, and there is still great potential that can be tapped.
"Gentlemen, first of all we have to make sure that our biggest enemy is not Russia, but the United States - only the United States can challenge us in almost all fields. Our advantage lies in the penetration of capital. In all fields in the United States, it ranks among the top ten.
All enterprises have our investment. What we have to worry about now is the regional division of labor. More and more enterprises that do not seem to be very profitable have been transferred to the two Congoes and East India. There are also problems with our salary structure. Southern Africa
When self-government was first established, the wage gap between white people and people of color was 1:11, and now it has reached 1:20. We must be wary of this situation." Owen frowned, the current situation is indeed not optimistic.
If it was easy to make money by engaging in finance, no one would engage in industry in a down-to-earth manner. Some factory owners in southern Africa work hard all year round, and their year-end inventory is not as good as those empty shell companies that dump resources. Everyone has an opinion.
.
Everyone knows that the cost of starting an industry is high. A factory with a thousand workers working hard for a year is not as profitable as ten gold-collar workers who sit in an office all day and blow the air conditioner. Therefore, there are some low-profit labor-intensive industries in southern Africa.
enterprises began to move to Southern African Union countries.
This is also an inevitable trend. After the outbreak of the world war, all financial companies made a fortune from the war. The real industry also made profits, but made much less money.
"Is the cost of physical industry very high now?" Rock has not paid attention to these details for a long time.
Southern Africa still has its advantages, including cheap raw materials and cheap labor. After the outbreak of the world war, the federal government of Southern Africa repeatedly reduced taxes on real enterprises. This should not be the case.
"A garment processing factory in southern Africa must pay at least 10% business tax. If it is in East India, it does not have to pay a penny. The East Indian government also provides subsidies." Irving curled his lips. This is also Volume, National House.
roll.
"Secretary Rhodes, have a good chat with the East Indian government. I can understand their desire to develop the economy, but it cannot affect the profits of Southern African enterprises and the federal government." Roque does not want to be hollow, and the progress of a thousand miles will be defeated by ants.
Any concession now will become a shackles for southern Africa in the future.
For some labor-intensive industries, such as the kind where 100 million shirts are exchanged for a plane, it doesn't matter if they are moved abroad. After all, what Rock is most concerned about is high-profit, high-value-added products.
It’s the same shirt, and the cheapest one in the market sells for about one rand.
If you put it in an Itno store, you can sell it for R100.
Will Itno's shirts be a hundred times better than ordinary shirts?
It's definitely impossible. If we only look at actual value, the quality of Iteno's shirts may be even worse.
So the key to why it is so expensive lies in the added value of the product. A shirt is only worth one rand, and Itno's trademark is worth 99 rand.
"I have already talked about it. The reality is that no matter how we reduce costs, production in East India can bring us more profits." Stoudemire is also helpless. Although the salary of African-American workers is significantly different from that of southern African workers,
, compared with East India, it is still cost-effective.
This involves the issue of the level of economic development.
African textile workers in southern Africa earn less than five rands a month.
Over in East India, if you are a female worker, the minimum salary can be as low as R2.50. How can you compete with that!
Currently, there are very few companies left in Southern Africa, except for high value-added industries such as military industry, luxury goods, and electrical appliances. Even the resource industry has been transferred to other countries.
No matter how many resources there are in Southern Africa, the cost of mining is still very high. Environmental protection monitoring is the biggest obstacle. Now all states in Southern Africa have begun to focus on tourism and culture as their key development directions. Many mines have been shut down, and even Rand
Among the gold mines in the mining area, only a dozen larger ones are still in operation.
gold mine——
This is the first pot of gold in southern Africa.
Now many gold mining companies, including Roque's Haut-Katanga Mining Resources Company, have shifted their business focus to Australia and Brazil.
This cannot be blamed on professional managers who are obsessed with profits. They are responsible for the profits of shareholders, and profits are their only reference.
"Martin, do you have anything to say?" Rock asked Martin. The federal government of Southern Africa invests billions of rands every year. Is it just to maintain world peace?
World peace is of course very important, but even more important is safeguarding the interests of the Southern African federal government and Southern African enterprises.
"Referring to our current legal system, even if the East India government cooperates with our work, some profiteers will still be able to evade our taxes." Martin is also worried that without relevant laws, the name is unfair.
American economist Franklin famously said: In this world, the only things that cannot be avoided are taxes and death.
Ada wholeheartedly agrees.
The Ministry of Finance in Southern Africa has a large number of legal experts who have tried their best to improve the laws and close various loopholes for tax evasion.
Some people have this talent. No matter how perfect the legal provisions are, they can find loopholes that can be exploited. Some people even use their southern African identities to go to Australia or Brazil to obtain mineral mining rights, and then change their nationality to evade taxes.
"It doesn't matter. I have a list in my hand. If necessary, you can search for it at any time. Those who think they are smart will pay an extraordinary price." Ada had already been prepared. This was the legendary blacklist.
No one can escape.
"Then do it and bring those thieves and robbers to justice." Luo Ke was decisive. Some people are always smart but are misled by their cleverness.
The laws in southern Africa are very strict, but they are not as high as the sky. If you abide by the law and do things within the scope of the law, you will not lose everything. The only difference is whether you earn more or less.
Those who obtained mineral management rights by virtue of their southern African identities and then changed their nationality to evade taxes thought they were smart, but in fact they were all under the surveillance of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation. Ada is also raising pigs now, fattening them and then killing them.
"Russia's ambitions are limited. They are limited to Europe at most, more specifically Eastern Europe and Northern Europe. The impact on us is limited. What we need to be more wary of is the United States. From now on, we must compete with the United States in all aspects, regardless of
Whether it is on the battlefield, in the commercial field, and in ideology." Rock concluded, sounding the clarion call against the United States in an all-round way.
Then go all out, the goshawk is still trying its best to fight the rabbit, not to mention it is a behemoth like the United States. As for the United Kingdom, it is just drizzle. Whether Winston or Attlee is the British Prime Minister, everything depends on Roque's face.
.
Roark did not forget his promise to Winston. The attack in Normandy was not only related to Winston's reputation, but also related to the competition with Russia. Roark later sent telegrams to Gavin and Patton respectively, and took action when it was time to take action.
.
Gavin's mentality is now as stable as an old dog. There are still 100,000 southern African troops in the UK, and they can reinforce Normandy at any time.
Patton was even more excited. He already regarded Eisenhower as his biggest opponent.
As for Rommel——
The other Patton will be disappointed.
After Mustache dismissed Rommel from his post, Rommel returned to Germany and asked to see Mustache many times, hoping that Mustache could quickly take a defensive position and use strategic skills, but Mustache refused.
Rommel was disappointed. On June 29, Rommel returned to the front line for inspection, trying to obtain first-hand information to persuade Mustache. However, he was attacked by Allied fighter jets. The car Rommel was riding in was blown up, and he was thrown away.
He got out of the car and was seriously injured.
This was originally an accident. Don't let the Allies play it up as a conflict of interests within Germany. The Times claimed that Rommel was ostracized because of his great achievements and the fear of the mustache.
Although The Times did not directly say the cause of Rommel's injury, anyone who has read the report in The Times will doubt that Rommel's accident was not an accident.
