The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 624 - 475: Target of Many Arrows

Supporting a country in such a grand manner is something that few nations are willing to do, unless there is an ulterior motive involved.

But if it means taking advantage of a situation to belittle a nation, and be able to absolve oneself of any responsibility, the vast majority of nations would choose to do so.

The current state of the flu epidemic and the United States is such an example. Those undermining the Americans are not limited to Arthur and Australasia, but also the Allies represented by Britain and France, as well as the entire World Alliance and all European nations.

There is no choice, as everyone needs a scapegoat, especially since the performance of almost all European nations during the flu epidemic has been underwhelming.

If one were to describe the current state of Americans, if not for the ongoing flu epidemic, perhaps the European Union Army would have already mobilized.

It is no longer a matter of whether the Americans are willing or not; the United States, already found guilty, has no other option but to resort to forceful resistance besides paying compensation.

But the question is, can the Americans truly withstand the collective forces of the World Alliance? Not even the previously vast Allied Nations could hold up against the current alliance of the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth powers.

Of course, while they are temporarily unable to set foot on American territory, the World Alliance still has means to sanction the Americans.

Firstly, all member countries of the World Alliance have jointly proposed the freezing of all American overseas assets, to be used as compensation for various countries.

It should be noted that almost all powerful Allied nations owe debts to the United States. If the overseas assets of the Americans are truly frozen, there would be no need to repay these loans.

Countries like Australasia, which have already signed agreements for debt repayment and compensation, can simply void these agreements and cancel their debts to the United States.

In one sentence, the United States has suffered a tremendous loss, with hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign debts written off and a large number of American overseas assets at stake – this is not a small figure.

What’s even more cruel is that the responsibility for the flu epidemic, which has led to the deaths of millions of Europeans, remains a heavy burden on the American government.

If this matter is not handled properly, the United States could either be held in contempt by all countries or even become the enemy of all humankind – a single crime against humanity could be enough to have the American government dissolved.

If Britain and France were to truly blackmail the United States, the sheer number of deaths – tens of millions of people in the colonies alone – would be enough to bankrupt the American government.

Naturally, the American government does not dare to bear such a huge responsibility, let alone ten American governments combined.

However, no matter how much the American government denies it, European countries are adamant that the real responsibility lies with the United States, making it impossible for the Americans to escape blame.

Domestic conditions in the United States are also not ideal, not to mention the casualties caused by the flu epidemic. According to the statistics of some American media, the average life expectancy in the United States has decreased by 12 years since mid-October, as compared to the beginning of the year.

The growth in average lifespan due to industrial and technological advancements has also plummeted back to its original state.

Faced with pressure from domestic and foreign media, the general public, and even nations, the American government can only remain cowering in the White House like a timid turtle.

After all, the flu epidemic is still raging, European countries dare not risk coming to the United States, and the opposition party is not foolish enough to impeach Wilson at such a time, leaving one of their own to bear the brunt.

This also means that although President Wilson’s current position is precarious, it remains relatively stable as long as the flu epidemic continues.

Everyone knows that being President of the United States during a flu epidemic is not a desirable position, and it is very likely that President Wilson will bear the brunt of the blame.

What nobody expected was that, starting in August, the flu epidemic which had taken a heavy toll would gradually fade away as winter approached.

Although it has not disappeared completely, the situation has indeed improved significantly, and the number of infected and deceased individuals in each country has dropped drastically.

By the end of November, the number of existing infections in Europe had dropped to below 3 million, with the number of infections in old-power nations, led by Britain and France, falling below 500,000. It seemed as though the flu epidemic was about to pass.

Although governments have not yet dared to let down their guard, they have already contacted each other, eagerly waiting for the chance to make the Americans take the blame and demand some compensation in return.

On December 17, 1918, the World Alliance General Assembly convened in Geneva, with representatives from nearly all member countries attending, highlighting the importance of the meeting for each country.

As soon as the meeting began, Britain and France pointed their finger directly at the United States. The British representative even openly declared that the World Alliance should sanction the chief culprit behind the world’s suffering, calling on all member countries to unite against a common, evil enemy.

Upon Britain and France’s call to action, Russia and Italy also nodded in agreement, expressing their support for the British and French initiative.

Although Australasia remained low-profile, it also supported the actions of Britain and France and consequently set the tone for the meeting.

With Britain, France, Russia, Australia, and Italy all in support of sanctioning the United States, any dissenting voices from other countries would hardly impact the World Alliance’s resolution.

Moreover, almost all countries were waiting to sanction the United States and obtain compensation to appease their domestic people, so no country would oppose under such circumstances.

The reason for all five Great Powers to agree on sanctioning the United States is simple - they all owe the United States 20 billion US dollars in foreign debt.

This amounts to a whopping 400 million pounds of foreign debt, which can be abolished simply by sanctioning the United States. Anyone would support the British and French with this in mind.

With the support of the five Great Powers, the focus of the conference completely shifted. Countries were already adding new charges against the United States, and using chemical factories for virus research was the least of them. Other charges included deliberately releasing the virus and endangering humanity.

It seemed they wanted to destroy the United States and seize all its assets as compensation for themselves.

The British representative even publicly declared that this influenza was a means for the United States to eliminate all countries in the world.

As for evidence, the fact that the flu mainly targets 20 to 30-year-olds is the strongest one.

Logically, young adults have better physical fitness and should not be the group with the most deaths in a flu outbreak.

However, the statistics from various countries have overturned this view, with over 70% of the deaths being among 20 to 40-year-olds, and predominantly those aged 20 to 30.

Naturally, the significance of young adults to a country need not be elaborated upon. These people are not only excellent sources of soldiers but more importantly, outstanding workers and labor forces, vital to a country’s industrial and economic development.

The British even prepared more physical and human evidence. A large number of European university biology experts brought their research findings to the conference and explained them to the attendees:

An expert from Oxford University stated that the main culprit for the high death toll among young adults was a new strain of virus they named K1.

There is nothing similar to this strain in nature, and it is even different from most of the previously prevalent flu viruses.

There is every reason to suspect that K1 is a man-made virus specifically aimed at endangering the young adult population worldwide.

What’s even worse is that there was no trace of the K1 virus in the flu outbreak that started in the United States in March. Yet, since the second wave of flu hit Europe in August, K1 has frequently emerged, killing millions of European young adults.

Why did the K1 virus not appear at the beginning of the initial flu outbreak in the United States, yet became prevalent in the European outbreak? This biology expert made a bold guess that the K1 virus was deliberately released by the United States and was merely inadvertently introduced into the United States.

Of course, there is a more audacious conjecture. In order to deflect suspicion, the Americans pinned the blame on Australasia, deliberately reintroducing the K1 virus back into the United States and disguising it as a victim.

Such research findings piqued the interest of all European countries. After reading each other’s research, everyone was convinced that the K1 virus was most likely released by the United States on purpose, as the biology expert had explained.

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Subsequently, a renowned biology professor from the University of Paris presented a sample of the virus, claiming that it was a replica of the K1 virus produced by the University of Paris’ biology laboratory based on numerous experiments and almost identical to the K1 virus currently spreading worldwide, which further confirmed that the K1 virus was man-made and deliberately propagated.

No one doubted what the biologist said about the replication of the K1 virus since everyone had no intentions of experiencing the power of the virus themselves.

Moreover, the conference only needed a legitimate excuse to impose sanctions and declare war on the United States, and whether what these experts said was true or not was of little concern to the various representatives.

However, as long as all the national representatives present believe it, these data and research findings become authoritative and genuine.

The authenticity isn’t as important as whether people believe it or are willing to believe it.

The conference allowed all countries to unanimously agree that the virus was manufactured and spread by the United States, thus completely substantiating the US government’s guilt.

In the end, the permanent and elected representatives of the World Alliance announced in unison that the United States was the prime culprit in this flu outbreak and declared that they would combine the strength of all World Alliance member countries to jointly sanction the United States.

The biggest impact of this conference was to make most Europeans and a vast majority of countries believe that the United States was at fault for the virus.

Many Europeans firmly believed this, thinking that one country might deceive people, but dozens of countries could hardly gang up to lie to the citizens.

Although the World Alliance passed the resolution to sanction the United States, most countries were clearly not prepared for a war against the United States.

After all, the United States is a powerful country and separated from most World Alliance members by at least one ocean.

To sanction the United States, a strong navy and at least 500,000 ground troops need to be assembled.

However, the European War had only ended a few months ago, and coupled with the flu outbreak, countries dared not hastily launch another major war.