Weapon – Transparent
#7 of Weapon
I nodded to the workmen, they were installing the last of several high detail video cameras in my office. At first they were hesitant to work in there while I was at my desk, "Ma'am, we may see something we shouldn't.", The man had gestured to my desk.
I had reacted as evenly as I could, "I don't suppose you know what these cameras are for?" At the man shaking his head I continued, "One of the things that sickened me about government was the fact it was all carried out in secret and afterwards, when damage assessments had been carried out, some facts would be given out. I am sick of it." We had acquired a crowd, the man's partner had stopped what he was doing and was listening, "My aim here is to have my office broadcast live twenty four seven. Now I don't think you two gentlemen seeing anything in advance of the big opening is really going to cause any security problems... Wait, your not Russian spies are you?" I asked, hand to the side of my muzzle, in a conspiratorial tone.
The guy who had approached me was too busy trying not to crack up laughing, his colleague said, "No Ma'am, Mike here doesn't even like the colour red."
"Ahh, well there you have it, liberty is safe for another day. Please continue." They had taken the hint and gotten back to their work.
Whilst I had been ruminating the men had finished and left, I looked up at the main camera, had some more inspiration for my first address via the system and continued writing.
-
It wasn't hard to entice Google to host our system, they even helped us fine tune it, and before the week was out the first broadcast was announced smartly hidden in a pile of press releases to do with security adjustments that the media would have to know about for following press conferences.
I glanced back at my screen, the page that would be the central outlet for information direct from my office to the people who had faith in me. Suddenly the page refreshed itself and the image of me sitting at my desk came into focus. I looked up at the camera and nodded.
"Well, I guess you're all wondering what this was all about, well its high time, I decided, that the leadership of our country stopped relying on third parties to prioritise what information you get and what conveniently gets forgotten. This game of Chinese Whispers ends today.
This feed will be live, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year. Yes there are probably going to be things I would rather be kept a little quiet, there are probably going to be things that others in this office talking with me will want kept quiet, but you know what, unless its life threatening, tough luck. You elected me. You are my boss. You can now keep an eye on me and make sure I am doing the kind of job you 'hired' me for.
That said, sometimes there will be documents which are better kept secret, primarily to protect the lives of soldiers and overseas operatives, they will have a special mark on them that this fancy camera gear will pick up and cover for me, like this one here."
I raised a piece of paper an held it up for the camera. Watching the feed the whole page and a slight outline around it was blacked out. I proceeded to tear the corners off it, with their special marks. When the fourth was removed the page became visible to the high definition camera.
'Thank you for watching, please leave a comment!' It read. And the storm started in the comments.
I had been briefed on what to expect by an intern, who had been the only person in the office we could find who had any knowledge of popular culture on the internet.
The 'trolls' were having fun, claiming it was fake. There was a few nasty pieces posting 'human president for a human country' over and over, of course I ignored those.
There were a lot of comments praising this, some wondering what kind of documents I will be censoring and if they will be available at a later date.
I turned my attention back to the camera, "First and foremost, this is not a fake, if you can find another person in the world with a face like this" I gestured to my muzzle "I would humbly ask that you get me his phone number." There were a lot of laughs at that scrolling past. "Second, thank you to those leaving positive comments, but in regards to the 'super secret squirrel documents' you referred to, they will be any information containing a US citizens name who is overseas. The documents will be released to the national archive for filing once the relevant identifying information has been redacted. Now if you don't mind, I have some work to do." The positive comments continued to flow in, speculation over what this will mean to foreign policy was rife, I had to resist temptation to tell them what I planned, it would be better if I let it come out naturally.
I continued working on the draft letters to the biggest corporations in the country, most of them had already complied with my plans, some even welcoming it openly, now if only the damn united nations would contact me and I could get the ball rolling.
It took them another week to, as someone commented, 'grow a pair' and put through an official call, it was a full video conference. I hit the intercom, "Lieutenant Howard, please pipe that conference through to me.", his reply was immediate and my screen broke into the little grid, showing the senior members of the UN, I pressed a little button at the bottom of my screen, it lit red to show me that the screen would be included in my live feed. "Gentlemen, I extend my countries greetings".
"Can it General. You knew this would be coming, you knew what your action would mean globally, we are here to tell you we are recommending all our member nations impose immediate sanctions on the US for war crimes including the using of nuclear weapons, in breach of the Geneva Convention, on no less than three countries. You are now responsible for more murders than Adolph Hitler."
"Are you done?" I asked, and at his nod, continued. "I weigh each and every life I had to take and find it a heavy load, however I will not tolerate a single one of my countrymen risking their lives for a goal that, like the war in Vietnam, was not winnable. Your sanctions were expected, have been planned for and, indeed are welcome news. As of this moment consider the united states border closed to each and every foreign national. Those already living here, working for this countries betterment will be offered citizenship, but are by no means required to stay. All imports and exports of commercial goods will be ceased."
The men, used to the almost gentleman's club style of politics they had built up over the years had no idea how to take in my comments. "But, you can't... What about our embassies? What about foreign investment in your country? You can't just shut yourself in like that, it will destroy the world economy!"
"Good sir." I interrupted his diatribe, "I have contacted each of our largest corporations, they are more than happy to continue operations on a reduced scale due to certain negotiations about taxes. Your nation's embassies will be kindly asked to leave, you can happily keep sending money to invest in our nation, never let it be said I wouldn't let people send the US money, but know that the wholesale theft of jobs, intellectual property and profits from American businesses will cease. Your people have a months grace period to leave my country before they will be removed. Good day Sirs."
I cut off the link and turned off the screen feed.
The live feed comments were going ballistic. Well, they finally started me rolling, time to make some ca-
My thoughts were interrupted by my aide again, "Sir, the switch board for incoming national calls just lit up, I assume your plan has started?"
"That it has lieutenant, start feeding them through, use the order I drafted."
"Right Sir, you have Vladimir Putin up first then."
I quickly followed the procedure to begin another teleconference and add it to the feed. Maybe I should get the techs to make that automatic...
"Ah, President Walters, that was by far the most fantastic speech I have ever seen given to the United Nations. While I lament the loss of imports from your country, my economy likely will not. I thank you for putting a smile on a fellow soldiers face."
"Thank you Prime Minister, its always good to know my speeches are appreciated and while I look forward to talking with you again, you will likely guess that my switchboard just became a little busy with foreign leaders."
The charismatic Russian closed the connection and the next one opened, "Asif Ali Zardari, glad you contacted me, as you will no doubt have just been made aware, the United States is closing its border, I understand this will leave many of our former close allies in a delicate situation, which is why I now ask for you to let me make this a conference with the other, closest, of our allied nations."
The man just nodded, I thumbed the intercom, "Lieutenant, please add the others I specified to the call."
"Sir!"
The screen cascaded, adding the Australian Prime Minister and their counterpart from New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Canada.
"Ladies and Gentlemen." I began, "It behoves me to first of all state that I do not intend to leave you without the US as an ally. Our nations have built themselves strong by their own efforts, our people making amazing things that are now considered indispensable. But you will notice that particular countries that would rather steal, cheat and lie their way to power are slowly overtaking us, which was the primary reason for my issuance of sanction. Whilst I have made arrangements to the end that the United States could whether the coming economic shake up, it would be a much more amenable process if I had allies." At that comment, and with the sudden thought that they could have exclusive access to the US market for imports the foreign leaders relaxed visibly.
"However, much as I would gladly begin a new alliance of nations specifically to manage the trade, I already have a structure that will work admirably in this task. You will note my recent changes to the executive branch of the government of the United States?" At their nods, I continued, if only for the benefit of my internet viewers, "I have re-instated the government, complete with an 'under-president of the interior', with the runner up from our recent election, their job is now to manage all things local to the united states, to keep the gears turning so to speak. The Secretary of Defence has, however, been adjusted to deal with myself rather than the government of the interior. For all intents and purposes, the country runs as it always has, however there is a department, mine, that manages country wide and international policy." I explained, there were further nods from them, but I could see them pondering where I was going with this.
Before any of the very intelligent people I was talking to could divine my intent, I continued. "What I am offering you and your countries, is the same deal. You manage your country and its day to day operations, let my office manage your major internal and foreign policy. In short, join with the United States."
Needless to say, there was an uproar.
"Please, please." I said firmly, getting them to quieten down. "This is not something to be decided immediately of course, I would recommend and go so far as to require a referendum to decide this. But at the end of the month, I will need an answer. There will be further requirements, for instance if in four years a repeated referendum shows your peoples dislike of this course of action, your country would be removed from the deal and returned to your governments control."
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Kay, replied, seeming to be speaking on behalf of the group, "I believe I am speaking for all of us when I say this is a surprising offer, and one that will require much deliberation. I am sure you will hear back from us each separately in the not too distant future. Good day." And with that he disconnected, followed shortly by the others.
"That could have gone worse." I mumbled.
"Howard." I asked after activating the intercom, "Start piping through the rest one at a time, now those offers are out I am expecting others to want the same deal."
"Sir." Was his reply.
I looked up at the camera, "If your listening, know that only those countries will be offered that package, and whilst other offers may be considered, our sanctions will not be lifted for any non-United States citizen."
This would be a long day, oh well, no rest for the wicked.
Is it really megelomania if the people vote you in?
Oh, and I never would have thought 'political' would be a common tag on here...