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Chapter 369 Enemies of the World

But there was still work to be done on the home front for both America and Russia.

“I’m sure most of you are already aware that something’s wrong with many of the things we’ve become reliant on,” Trump said in a speech after being briefed on the result of the NATO meeting. “Things like air travel, package delivery, and even pizza guys... everything that relies on our GPS satellites providing accurate locations and directions has come to a screeching halt.

“I’m here today to tell you why that is. It’s because a couple days ago, Eden made an unprecedented attack on our country, taking down ten of our satellites. But we didn’t suffer alone! China lost thirty satellites, and Russia lost ten of their own in the completely unprovoked attack.

“And that wasn’t their first act of terrorism, either. Their first act of terrorism was when they caused North Korean artillery to bombard Seoul, costing nearly a million and a half lives and billions of dollars in damage. And because of those two terrorist attacks, we called a meeting with NATO and I can now announce that we’ve invoked Article 5 and, in conjunction with our friends and allies in NATO, hereby declare that a state of war exists between all of the member nations and Eden, until such a time as the terrorist dictator, Alexander Romero, and his co-conspirator, Aron Michael, are brought to justice.”

Just like that, NATO had been pulled into a conflict with Eden.

Trump continued, “And it isn’t just the satellites that were destroyed. Their very destruction created many, many small pieces of space junk in orbit and it’s expected that more satellites will be brought down by it. And those satellites being destroyed will create more junk and destroy more satellites that create even more junk! Eventually, our planet will be blanketed by debris, not only confining us to the surface of the planet, but also hindering our preparations for the arrival of the visitors.

“This is an act of sabotage and terror that’s completely unprecedented. No terrorist has ever caused so much damage and so many casualties in their acts of terror,” Trump said, already beginning a campaign to dehumanize the enemy.

“The terrorist, Aron Michael, is a man with delusions of grandeur caused by too much money and too little oversight, and he’s aided and abetted by Alexander Romero, the dictator of Eden. We’ve tried imposing sanctions on them. It didn’t work. We tried reasoning with them. It didn’t work. All of our options have been exhausted, leaving only war, so the least we can do is seize all of their assets held in NATO countries to fund our war against them.

Mister Michael, and Romero, if you’re watching this,” Trump stared directly into the camera with a stern gaze, “you should know this: we beat Saddam, we beat bin Laden, and we beat the Taliban. We WILL add you to that list of achievements as well.”

He cleared his throat and returned to reading his teleprompter.

“However, due to the numbers of his private forces, together with the advanced weapons and technology they are armed with—as we saw in China—we, the members of NATO, call upon the rest of the world to join us in removing this terrorist organization from the face of the planet and will be meeting with the UN a few hours from now to make that happen.” The Morgans, and by extension, their puppet president, were obviously determined to remove Aron from the playing field, as he was a direct threat to their interests.

……

Following the press conference, a UN Security Council emergency meeting was held. Its sole agenda was to declare Aron a terrorist and Alexander a dictator, thus seizing their assets as they pose a clear and present danger to the world.

The meeting was swift, and the attendees spent a mere thirty minutes in discussion before immediately moving to vote on the resulting resolution. The resolution passed unanimously, with every member having their own reasons to cast their votes along with the permanent members. Some of them were members of the Big Five’s power blocs, others were coerced or bribed, and some were outright threatened, but a reason was a reason and everybody had one.

An announcement was made, and immediately afterward, countries began planning to join the effort to take down the newest world-class terrorist.

……

In Eden, things were mostly the same, but for a different reason. The rest of the world was furious with Aron and Alexander, and Edenians were furious at the rest of the world on behalf of Aron and Alexander. They were also sick and tired of everyone thinking they deserved the good things in Eden more than the Edenians themselves did, and were blatantly obvious in their desire to take it from them.

Eden’s beloved president, together with the businessman that had been pivotal in bettering and enriching their lives, were now being called terrorists and being treated as enemies of the entire world. Meanwhile, Edenians knew the difference; their country, plagued by moral decay and the rot in their government, had been saved by the efforts of the two men now being labeled as a terrorist and a dictator. Nearly every citizen in the country knew that what was being said about their benefactors was a bald-faced lie!

And despite literally having the whole world against them, none of them protested. None of them demanded the president resign, and none of them pilloried the wealthy and philanthropic businessman that they loved. Instead, they held vigils, showing their support of the two men and their rage at the rest of the world.

……

“It really does take a common enemy to unite mankind,” Aron sneered as he watched the various countries’ announcements of their intentions to join the new war on terror.

Rina, who was watching beside him, gave him a weird look.

“What’s that look for?” Aron asked.

“You just lost more than a trillion and a half dollars worth of assets and were branded a terrorist. Don’t you feel the least bit sad?” she asked. If she was in his place, she would be crying and wailing, dressed in sackcloth and ashes.

[Two trillion, to be exact,] Nova jokingly corrected.

“I earned it once, so I can earn it again. And now that I’ve got a reputation and everybody knows about me, I’ll earn it even faster the second time. But that isn’t the important takeaway here. What’s important is that my plan worked and the entire world is coming after me!” He let loose with an exaggerated belly laugh, making him look like a madman.

After his laughter died down, he cleared his throat and turned to Nova. “Everything’s ready on our side, right?” he asked.

[Yes. All of our personnel are ready and awaiting orders from central command before they begin,] she replied.

“Good. Now it’s time for me to address the world as myself, and no longer use a sockpuppet to represent me. No more shadows, no more proxies, no more spokespeople or mouthpieces. It’s time to be real,” he said, standing and walking to the door to log out of VR.