Intel didn't start to become the monopolistic company that is constantly running afoul of anti-trust regulations until the eighties in OTL. At this point they are a small shop with some interesting ideas about integrated processors and barely on the radar of the US State Department beyond being interested in selling to the European market.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Given Germany's use of computers in their space program, weapon systems, cryptography, and, well, everything, someone at the state department will be kicking themselves once they realise the leaps that are being made.
Their saving grace will be that they can piggy back on these advances and stop the technology gap opening too far as Intel bring chipsets developed in Germany back to the US at lower cost as there's a good chance the research would have been funded indirectly by the German government.
Its not too far a stretch for Rockefeller to make though given that Lopuis Ferdinand has democratized much of the Monarchical system and also with the introduction of the electors as a failsafe of sorts, its not far of a stretch to think that Bavaria is somehow a threat to Prussia as a whole, despite the dominance of Prussia.
Given that the divergence point is now 50 years in the past and resulted in Germany missing out on a historically significant period of utter insanity, I suspect that we may not be able to make assumptions based on OTL German laws.
I'm also rather suprised that not much attention is being paid to the actually elected people who are actually running the country. Is this an example of the CIA spelunking in its own nether regions?
I'm also rather suprised that not much attention is being paid to the actually elected people who are actually running the country. Is this an example of the CIA spelunking in its own nether regions?
ferdi254
Banned
Well the development for the Jagdschein actually started in 1848 and progressed in Weimar so it is not unreasonable to assume that ITTL also further restrictions would have come along.
On the other side of the Atlantic without taking part in WW2 and the cold war the gun culture might be seriously less prominent.
On the other side of the Atlantic without taking part in WW2 and the cold war the gun culture might be seriously less prominent.
Another great chapter!
Well, you know what they say about how we IRL know the CIA weren't behind the Kennedy assassination...because it succeeded
True.
Though their analysis is...definitely encouraging. If an intelligence agency with ridiculous money and resources behind it thinks Vicky is 'completely vanilla', then the odds of your average Bavarian ever suspecting things is remote to say the least
Indeed.
I'll be interested to see future developments on the Intel front.
And yeah. Between James Bond and Kiki, I can see their sidearms catching on nicely in the US.
Yep...
Well, you know what they say about how we IRL know the CIA weren't behind the Kennedy assassination...because it succeeded
True.
Though their analysis is...definitely encouraging. If an intelligence agency with ridiculous money and resources behind it thinks Vicky is 'completely vanilla', then the odds of your average Bavarian ever suspecting things is remote to say the least
Indeed.
I'll be interested to see future developments on the Intel front.
And yeah. Between James Bond and Kiki, I can see their sidearms catching on nicely in the US.
Yep...
Part 112, Chapter 1840
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Forty
2nd March 1968
Los Angeles, California
Asking someone to go on a date because both your respective mothers are pressuring you to was hardly Ritchie’s idea of a good time. With his leave winding down, he understood that if he went back to New York without putting in a small amount of effort he would never hear the end of it. Calling up Lucia, he had said that they could go do something enjoyable for a few hours. There were plenty of things to do on a Saturday night in Los Angeles, right? The trouble was that once Ritchie picked up Lucia, they had been unable to agree on exactly what. So, they ended up sitting in a diner eating French fries and killing time by talking about inane things.
“You live in New York?” Lucia asked, “As in skyscrapers and subways.”
“Not that part of New York” Ritchie replied, “Fort Drum is upstate, so it is surrounded by a forest and it was snowing when I left.”
“Probably surrounded by rednecks as well” Lucia said.
“Yeah, but New York is a bit different than here though” Ritchie said, “People think you are Puerto Rican instead of Mexican. In Germany, I was stuck in rural Württemberg. People there thought I was Spanish and wanted to talk about Fútbol, even the Farmer John types I ran into.”
Lucia gave Ritchie a look of disbelief. “I’ve never been outside of California” She said.
“It seems like things are the same everywhere you go” Ritchie said, “Some places are better or worse than others. China is a mess and the parts of Italy I saw looked and felt like Old Mexico.”
Even as he said it, Ritchie realized that to Lucia, Old Mexico was nothing more than an abstraction. The place where her grandfather had come from. Italy might as well be on the moon. The furthest she had ever been from Los Angeles was working with her family in the Central Valley fields over the summer.
“So that is what the Army is all about? Like traveling around the world when you aren’t marching in lines?” Lucia asked.
“There are operations involved…” Ritchie started to say, knowing he had to be careful as to just how much he told Lucia. He was saved by the door of the diner opening and two men, plainclothes Detectives from LAPD Central Casting walked in. One of them made a show of ordering coffee while his partner made a V-line straight for the table that Ritchie and Lucia were seated at.
“We had heard that the Prodigal scum had come home for a visit” The Detective said, “Not planning on sticking around again, are you?”
Ritchie wondered exactly who it was in the neighborhood who was feeding the police this information. Every time he came home, they made an eventual appearance, if for no other reason than to make sure that he knew they were still looking for an excuse to mop the floor with him. To them, he was a punk from the neighborhood who had escaped what they saw as righteous justice at the street level, and they had extremely long memories. The fact that he was in the Green Beret made carrying that out politically fraught for them because a phone call from Special Forces Command to their Boss’ Boss would bring an avalanche of shit down on them.
“I’m going back to New York on Monday” Ritchie said.
“Are you here to provide an escort for a brave hero like Ritchie to the airport?” Lucia asked sweetly, suddenly the very picture of Barrio naivety.
“No, Miss…” The Detective said shuffling his feet before rushing after his partner who had two paper cups.
“Gabacho motherfuckers” Lucia said under her breath once the two detectives were out the door.
Ritchie heard that and started laughing.
3rd March 1968
Binz, Germany
The Krauts had set him up in this gray Hell that happened to be the last place on earth that anyone would actually expect him to have landed. George Bush had the rules explained to him by John Elis, the American expat who had been in a similar situation to his own for the last several decades. He was in a prison without bars because there were a whole lot of people out there who would pay an eye-watering sum of money to see him butchered alive. So long as he ran his business, didn’t draw attention to himself, and answered whatever questions the BND and BII had for him, they would allow him to continue to exist. In this case, it was managing a petrol station/year-round market in a resort town on Rügen Island. There had been two things that no one had told him before he had gotten sent here the prior summer. The first was that there was a reason why this place was known as the Jewish Riviera, the massive resort complex just up the road had catered to that particular population for the last several years and it was the reason why the market’s selection of Kosher foods was extensive. The second was that when Kat von Mischner had paid off his ex-wife, Barb had demanded only one thing in return for enough money not to bother tracking him down again…
“The shelves are faced and dusted Daddy” Robin said with a smile as she headed back to the front of the store to work the register while he tried to get the previous day’s paperwork straight. He had been forced to have his daughter live with him in the apartment behind the store and be one of his employees. They were in hiding and living a working-class existence, going to school in Bergen had been a massive adjustment but Robin didn’t care. In her mind, she got to be free of her mother and she even got to live near the beach.
2nd March 1968
Los Angeles, California
Asking someone to go on a date because both your respective mothers are pressuring you to was hardly Ritchie’s idea of a good time. With his leave winding down, he understood that if he went back to New York without putting in a small amount of effort he would never hear the end of it. Calling up Lucia, he had said that they could go do something enjoyable for a few hours. There were plenty of things to do on a Saturday night in Los Angeles, right? The trouble was that once Ritchie picked up Lucia, they had been unable to agree on exactly what. So, they ended up sitting in a diner eating French fries and killing time by talking about inane things.
“You live in New York?” Lucia asked, “As in skyscrapers and subways.”
“Not that part of New York” Ritchie replied, “Fort Drum is upstate, so it is surrounded by a forest and it was snowing when I left.”
“Probably surrounded by rednecks as well” Lucia said.
“Yeah, but New York is a bit different than here though” Ritchie said, “People think you are Puerto Rican instead of Mexican. In Germany, I was stuck in rural Württemberg. People there thought I was Spanish and wanted to talk about Fútbol, even the Farmer John types I ran into.”
Lucia gave Ritchie a look of disbelief. “I’ve never been outside of California” She said.
“It seems like things are the same everywhere you go” Ritchie said, “Some places are better or worse than others. China is a mess and the parts of Italy I saw looked and felt like Old Mexico.”
Even as he said it, Ritchie realized that to Lucia, Old Mexico was nothing more than an abstraction. The place where her grandfather had come from. Italy might as well be on the moon. The furthest she had ever been from Los Angeles was working with her family in the Central Valley fields over the summer.
“So that is what the Army is all about? Like traveling around the world when you aren’t marching in lines?” Lucia asked.
“There are operations involved…” Ritchie started to say, knowing he had to be careful as to just how much he told Lucia. He was saved by the door of the diner opening and two men, plainclothes Detectives from LAPD Central Casting walked in. One of them made a show of ordering coffee while his partner made a V-line straight for the table that Ritchie and Lucia were seated at.
“We had heard that the Prodigal scum had come home for a visit” The Detective said, “Not planning on sticking around again, are you?”
Ritchie wondered exactly who it was in the neighborhood who was feeding the police this information. Every time he came home, they made an eventual appearance, if for no other reason than to make sure that he knew they were still looking for an excuse to mop the floor with him. To them, he was a punk from the neighborhood who had escaped what they saw as righteous justice at the street level, and they had extremely long memories. The fact that he was in the Green Beret made carrying that out politically fraught for them because a phone call from Special Forces Command to their Boss’ Boss would bring an avalanche of shit down on them.
“I’m going back to New York on Monday” Ritchie said.
“Are you here to provide an escort for a brave hero like Ritchie to the airport?” Lucia asked sweetly, suddenly the very picture of Barrio naivety.
“No, Miss…” The Detective said shuffling his feet before rushing after his partner who had two paper cups.
“Gabacho motherfuckers” Lucia said under her breath once the two detectives were out the door.
Ritchie heard that and started laughing.
3rd March 1968
Binz, Germany
The Krauts had set him up in this gray Hell that happened to be the last place on earth that anyone would actually expect him to have landed. George Bush had the rules explained to him by John Elis, the American expat who had been in a similar situation to his own for the last several decades. He was in a prison without bars because there were a whole lot of people out there who would pay an eye-watering sum of money to see him butchered alive. So long as he ran his business, didn’t draw attention to himself, and answered whatever questions the BND and BII had for him, they would allow him to continue to exist. In this case, it was managing a petrol station/year-round market in a resort town on Rügen Island. There had been two things that no one had told him before he had gotten sent here the prior summer. The first was that there was a reason why this place was known as the Jewish Riviera, the massive resort complex just up the road had catered to that particular population for the last several years and it was the reason why the market’s selection of Kosher foods was extensive. The second was that when Kat von Mischner had paid off his ex-wife, Barb had demanded only one thing in return for enough money not to bother tracking him down again…
“The shelves are faced and dusted Daddy” Robin said with a smile as she headed back to the front of the store to work the register while he tried to get the previous day’s paperwork straight. He had been forced to have his daughter live with him in the apartment behind the store and be one of his employees. They were in hiding and living a working-class existence, going to school in Bergen had been a massive adjustment but Robin didn’t care. In her mind, she got to be free of her mother and she even got to live near the beach.
Last edited:
The disconnect between the USA and European culture & mindset is obvious. Best illustrated by the American fascination with European Royalty while completely failing to recognise that constitutional monarchies are very different from absolute ones. Not to mention the persistent failure of American intelligence agencies to correctly identify just how the German Empires internal political structure actually works. Gun culture is another sticking point, US citizens see gun ownership as a right, Europe sees it as a privilege.
And WTF does the CIA think its doing sending armed agents into such an environment? They might as well attach a flashing neon light to them.
Edit: Yup. Georgie Boy definitely wishes that he'd used a MUCH longer spoon...
And WTF does the CIA think its doing sending armed agents into such an environment? They might as well attach a flashing neon light to them.
Edit: Yup. Georgie Boy definitely wishes that he'd used a MUCH longer spoon...
Last edited:
This may sound like one of those things that seem far-fetched but this has been a serious problem for various spy agencies and not just the CIA. The problem is that getting a highly trained Intelligence Officer to play the role of Civil Servant as their cover within Embassies has proven difficult. A person like that having any sort of weapon is a major giveaway.
So George Herbert Walker Bush ends up in the oil business after all..
But he is smart and ambitious and if he does an excellent job he can be in charge of more stations in the future.
And of course Robin is going to meet a nice Jewish boy, convert to Judaism to satisfy her new in-laws which will make her mother who at at one point IOTL was referred to as being "Queen of the WASPs" very happy...
Love how at the end how Lucia was playing the LAPD with her "Bario Girl" act, I still think that the LAPD is going to try to recruit Ritchie in the future as there may be pressure to diversify the police force.
But he is smart and ambitious and if he does an excellent job he can be in charge of more stations in the future.
And of course Robin is going to meet a nice Jewish boy, convert to Judaism to satisfy her new in-laws which will make her mother who at at one point IOTL was referred to as being "Queen of the WASPs" very happy...
Love how at the end how Lucia was playing the LAPD with her "Bario Girl" act, I still think that the LAPD is going to try to recruit Ritchie in the future as there may be pressure to diversify the police force.
I blame Hollywood. Too many James Bond films and assorted clones thereof convincing people that all spies are armed vodka martini swilling playboys.
The perfect cover for an Embassy based agent is that of someone who everybody at the Embassy thinks is a mediocre bureaucratic drone, because if they think that, then their opposition will think that.
The perfect cover for a spy in someone else's government department is a records clerk or janitor who has access to everywhere.
I read somewhere that this was why IRL the Soviets tended to be better at the espionage game than the West - they were much better at having more mundane-looking agents, using more subtle tactics, etc.
There was also the Soviets tendency to think that a military exercise was being used as a cover for an offensive action.
Johann Schultz hung around the bars of Washington D.C. for years, buying drinks and trying to sell members of Congress and their staffs on International Sports. That reflected his official position at the Embassy, unofficially he was the Colonel in charge of the North America Division of the German Federal Intelligence Service.
Last edited:
The thing about the CIA analysing the upcoming Nuptials between the House of Hozenhollern and the House of Wittlesbach could be seen as a way of gauging of how much unity there actually is in the German Empire.
Right now in Poland the Nationalists are in charge and there has been outbreak of violence between government forces and Galician separatists with some Anti-Semitism thrown in.
Slovakia has been making noises about becoming independent of the Empire and they may want a part of Poland as a parting gift.
The upcoming vote of the Electors for Kaiser could determine the fate of the Empire it self as the vote will not happen in a vacuum.
We need to know how many Electors there are and where they are from and most important what is the threshold of votes needed to become the next Kaiser.
So for the CIA the Royalty itself is not their main focus but what they represent on a symbolic level in the larger context.
Right now in Poland the Nationalists are in charge and there has been outbreak of violence between government forces and Galician separatists with some Anti-Semitism thrown in.
Slovakia has been making noises about becoming independent of the Empire and they may want a part of Poland as a parting gift.
The upcoming vote of the Electors for Kaiser could determine the fate of the Empire it self as the vote will not happen in a vacuum.
We need to know how many Electors there are and where they are from and most important what is the threshold of votes needed to become the next Kaiser.
So for the CIA the Royalty itself is not their main focus but what they represent on a symbolic level in the larger context.
ferdi254
Banned
Both sides in the cold war never got the strategic thinking of the other side straight. No Soviet government would have started a war against NATO just to conquer it (as the USA thought it would) while no US government would ever have started a war against the WP (as the USSR thought it would).
Results: Both sides arming themselves like crazy and thus „proving“ their bad intentions.
Results: Both sides arming themselves like crazy and thus „proving“ their bad intentions.
Last edited:
ferdi254
Banned
And we are all lucky that the USSR never found out about the stealth fighters because that might have prompted them to think that they had only a short timeframe before the USA could mop the floor with them and then...
Or that it was obvious enough that that Star Wars program would not work. To start that one is a likely contender for „worst strategic decision ever made“
Or that it was obvious enough that that Star Wars program would not work. To start that one is a likely contender for „worst strategic decision ever made“
Last edited: