The dysfunctional, aged President of the United States slowly made his way up to the rostrum in the US House of Representatives. All 535 Members of Congress were in attendance along with US Supreme Court justices, senior military leadership from the Pentagon, plus members of the president's cabinet. The event was the annual State of the Union address. The venue was the US Capitol building. Tonight, on a blustery January evening, the president's remarks would focus on the status of the 4+ front war that the United States and its proxies were engaged in, the economic crisis, and the need for sacrifice and tough decisions. Most Americans were dealing with food, product and gas rationing. Wage and price controls were in effect. Antiwar protests in America's big and small cities was a daily occurrence. Crime rates had soared: murder and theft could not be contained. The chamber was somber. No applause took place even when the president was announced by the Sergeant of Arms to the collective assembled in the Capitol building: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” You could hear a pin drop.
Outside on that unusually cold and windy night stood one thousand DC national guard soldiers who had formed a ring around the Capitol building. Machine gun emplacements were stationed at key spots around the building. Snipers from the FBI, Secret Service and the Homeland Security were assigned to the tops of nearby buildings. Missile defense systems were setup atop empty parking lots nearby the People's House and the Supreme Court. A second ring of security was arranged and this one included thousands from the DC police force and nearby jurisdictions in Virginia and Maryland. Undercover operatives were infiltrating the crowds of protestors who braved the wickedly cold and windy night.
The security forces ringing the Capitol complex could see the glow from fires set by rioters. Those rioters were angry about shortages caused by a war which the US instigated some years back. Stores that carried any food or clothing were being looted despite armed security guard's presence. The rioters would just shoot them and carry on with the looting. Office buildings were not immune. Groups of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Homeless and vagabonds had formed militias to carryout their tasks. Fires were set as if to say: "The Roof is on Fire, Let the MF Burn.”
On that freezing January evening, paramilitaries stationed in the two rings ostensibly protecting the People's House wished they could have been assigned duty to fight the rioters so they could be near the warmth that the fires provided.
One national guard member was looking up at the stars in the sky and thought it was a comet, then there were three more. "Cool,” he said. And as soon as he got the "L” out of his mouth to finish getting out the word "Cool” he noticed a stream of light heading toward one of the comets. The stream of light met the comment and exploded. But now he saw that the other comets were moving faster and towards the Capitol complex. Those in the two security perimeters who had a view of the sky were no longer cold. They knew what was in store for them. Some ran to the streets, some tried to make their way into the People's House where an underground trolly connects the House and Senate buildings.
A few minutes before the national guard member notice the comets in the sky. The millions around the USA viewing the State of the Union were in for some real entertainment. The president was grabbed and escorted, or rather carried out, and taken to a tunnel that runs from the Capitol building to the Pentagon and White House. Screams could be heard and the elite of the country scrambled around like ants, rushing for the exits or the basement of the Capitol building. Simultaneously the millions in the USA must have been surprised when at the bottom of their television sets appeared, "This is not a test…” Handhelds everywhere began beeping with the same message being broadcast.
The National Security Agency blanked the broadcast but some feeds from the chamber still managed to appear. The floor of the Capitol was like a punk rock mosh pit. Uniformed and suited officials jumping all over each other to get shelter somewhere. Some just stayed in their seats not bothering to move. They knew what was coming. A well known US Army 4-star general, just sat there, not moving an inch. He had waved off his security detail and saluted them.
The 4-Star had protested vehemently in White House security meetings that launching US nuclear weapons at, and on, Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Pyongyang and Teheran would be the worst decision in the history of US governance and would not change the situation on the 4+ fronts that the USA was fighting and losing. It was time to accept the stalemate and rush to the negotiating table before Hell was called up.
A 300 kiloton nuclear warhead had hit almost dead center on the Capitol Hill area.
The national guard member outside who thought they were comets finally realized what they were. He took out his firearm and started shooting at it. He saw a bright light, felt a slight sting and then nothing.
The tabletop eggheads in the Think Tanks, the anti-Russian-Chinese-Iranian-Asian racists in and throughout the US government, and military, were aching for a conventional war with Russia and they got that sometime in 2023 after the Russians pushed Ukrainian forces all the way to the Dnieper crushing themas a functional military. Ukraine now had control over the western part of Ukraine. Russia had destroyed Ukraine as a viable nation in spite of the entirety of US NATO support.
"Something has to be done,” the American gangsters in Washington, DC argued. And so it was that in 2023 that the conventional war campaign began against Russia. Expecting total victory and the Russia's government to fall, US and NATO operatives were put in place through Russia to conduct subversive operations: sabotage and inciting violence and revolution were their tasks. Already the American and Western mainstream media outlets had softened up American minds through their daily print and digital products to demonize Russians and distract Americans from the facts on the ground. The mouthpieces of the US government and business-the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN and the like-did a bang up job at their tasks. They did so well that that they turned the American public into a collective Chance the Gardner from the movie Being There.
The attack on Russian forces in the east of Ukraine began with the Suppression of Enemy Defenses (SEAD) using electronic and networked EA18G Growlers, F-35's, F16CJ's who swooped in from the West and south in an attempt to take out Russian S400-500 SAM sites scattered throughout the new Russian provinces in the East. Sea launched US cruise missiles, and high flying B-2/B-21's made for the skies over enemy territory and plied their wares. Power grids were hit, the Kerch bridge was destroyed. The American pilots in their USAF F22's and F-15 Grim Reapers kept the skies clear for a time.
On the ground Russian T-90 and US M1A1 Abrams tanks took to battle against each other with mixed results. Accompanying Russian troops was the 9M133 Kornet while US soldiers carried Javelin anti-tank missiles. These two weapons proved to be deadly for the tank warriors on both sides.
The tide began to turn when Russians started to take out USKC135 refueling aircraft and strike US-NATO logistics chains running at sea (ships) and air to ground level (rail-road-parachute drops of gear). The Russians used long range missile fires to do the job. As they typically do, the Russians used their vast territory and knowledge of the terrain to wear down US troops coming in from Romania (101st Airborne) and Bulgaria (British, etc.) The Russian ultimately regained the initiative and began a slow push back push back the gains the US and its proxies had made in Eastern Ukraine. In short, they fought their way back to the banks of the Dnieper thanks to help of other countries unexpected actions that had the result of stretching the US to the breaking point.
It turned out to be a simple problem: The US-NATO alliance could not supply its armed forces or protect its supply chains. The countries of South America, Central America, India and Africa refused to assist anyone. They sat the war out and waited for US-Western hegemony to be defeated.
These and other factors caused the American governing elites to proclaim there was an existential threat to US hegemony and way of life.
The USA had counted on the conflict being confined to Russia-Ukraine but, as usual, the armchair warriors did not think of broader and unintended consequences.
Initially the Russians had difficulties dealing with the US invasion. It needed time to adjust. China could read the writing on the wall and knew that it was next on the sanctions-invasion chopping bloc. China to supplied Russia with thousands of drones large and small, small weapons and ammunition. It secretly sent troops to fight along side Russians on the ground. More importantly it sent some of its aircraft and pilots to muck up American air forces in the skies. The US pilots were stellar but they could not get reloaded with ammunition and fuel quick enough to get back into the fight. Aircraft based on carriers were particularly vulnerable. The US Air Force would often return to land bases whose runways were pocked marked from Russian or Chinese munitions.
Belarus, a Russian ally entered the war from the north pounding into the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv and pushing their way south to hookup with Russian forces.
With the US bogged down in the former Eastern Ukraine, other countries decided to settle scores.
Israel went ahead and conducted air and missile strikes on Teheran's nuclear facilities, power grids and ports. It also hit Damascus. Iran immediately responded by launching missiles at the Suez canal and Bahrain (home to the US 5th Fleet). They caused some damage to US war ships incapacitating them in the Straits of Hormuz. They also launched missiles into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The oppressed Shia in Bahrain revolted. Hezbollah invaded Israel with its Iranian proxies. Americans and Russian ground units in Northern Syria started fighting against each either. The Palestinians went into urban warfare mode against Israeli troops and settlers. ISIS remnants took opportunities to kill and loot wherever chaos reigned, which was just about everywhere. Someone in the White House said, "Send in the Marines” to Iran in amphibious attacks. And so they went. The Marines were successful in the beginning taking some territory but Iranians can fight too, and they did. Not since the Korean War had the Marines had to fight against human waves in the thousands.
A blistering artillery assault took place on Seoul destroying parts of the city. The US responded with its standard SEAD air attack knocking out the aged SAMs and aircraft North Korea possessed. That was good news but the North Koreans had, for years, built an underground country under the surface. Dropping JDAMs on a mountain tops or slopes where it was thought the Korean military was hiding was a waste of time and effort. The North Koreans may not have been good fighters at first, but they were fanatical and learned fast, just like the Russians and Iranians. They swarmed in human waves over the 38th parallel breaching defense lines there. US and South Korean troops met the advance and pushed back thousands. But as was the case on the Russian and Iranian fronts, the US was running out of ammunition, fuel, food: there just wasn't enough to kill hundred's of millions in a conventional war. Hight tech Virginia class subs were chasing inferior North Korean subs under the ocean.
With the US on the ropes losing on the other Fronts and having to transfer fighting forces from one theater to another, China went after Taiwan. The timing was right. Neither the Chinese in the PRC or on Taiwan had done any significant war making. But with three million or more soldiers that the Taiwanese and Americans would face was a mountain too high to climb. With 1.5 billion people in the PRC, acceptable casualty rates for China would be in the many thousands. And the sheer number of equipment that the PRC, the manufacturing center of the world, could produce was astronomical. With US assistance the Taiwanese were able to hold off most of the first amphibious wave from China, though Chinese Marines were able to establish a bridge head on the shores of Changhua County. Submarine warfare proved to be critical on this front. Virginia attack class subs had their work cut out for them. China had dozens of stealthy diesel subs and the US submariners just couldn't get them all, particularly when they were trying to defend the SLBM's of the US fleet. The PRC was able to easily supply its troops on Taiwan as the war progressed.
The + front was in the US homeland. The American public had no interest in having its sons and daughters called up to fight in a Four Front War. As many as 100 million adult Americans opposed the war. Besides their kids would be sent to fight against billions around the globe and for what? Another war the US instigated in 2014?
When millions of Americans heard the news about the destruction of the US leadership in the People's House, they said, "Good.”
John Stanton can be reached at captainkong22@gmail.com