Janet continued to flip through the documents in her hand and added, "What do you think of the theme park that Tymoshenko and the others want to build in Kiev?"
"Rovno is just playing tickets, earning tens of millions of dollars a year." Simon shook his head casually, thought for a moment, and said, "However, there may be some security issues involved, which is troublesome. "
"Security Question?"
"Yes, after all, it is not an ordinary theme park, but a military theme park. I have personally participated in the formulation of safety regulations for the theme park in Rovne. They are very strict and ensure the safety of tourists to the greatest extent, even if it results in the loss of the park. No matter how interesting it is, it’s hard to tell in Kiev. If they mess around and tourists are killed or injured, the theme park in Rivne Oblast will also be implicated in public opinion.”
Janet nodded and said, "That's a problem."
"But maybe," Simon smiled and said, "Even if it is not as large an investment as Universal Studios, according to Tymoshenko's vision, it will be at least tens of millions of dollars. Tymoshenko can't afford it now. Such a large amount of money can only be borrowed from overseas. If there are high-level changes within Ukraine in the next few years, such as Lazarenko being taken over by Kuchma, this project may be unfinished."
Janet finished reading the documents in her hand, closed the folder and said, "I don't think so. Even if Lazarenko loses power, after all, Rivne's military theme park is so profitable, maybe someone will want to take over and continue. For example, Kuchma’s side.”
Simon just shrugged, not denying this possibility.
In the final analysis, the rifts and conflicts between the Kuchma and Lazarenko families are conflicts of interest.
The reason why the rift between the two parties has not spread to Rivne Oblast is that they are currently competing for the more valuable heavy industrial assets in Eastern Ukraine. These assets are concentrated in Petrovsk Oblast, the home of the Petrovsk Gang, and later The famous Donetsk Oblast is not only close to Russia, most of the heavy industry groups left over from the former Soviet Union are in Eastern Ukraine, but also 90% of Ukraine's internal coal resources are in the Donetsk region.
Because of various subsequent natural gas-related news, the outside world always believes that Ukraine is a country lacking energy.
This is not the case.
The coal reserves in eastern Ukraine, if properly utilized, would be enough to burn Ukraine for a century.
This is still proven coal reserves.
It is a pity that due to the long-term turmoil and chaos in this country and the involvement of various interests, the coal mine assets in East Ukraine have not been fully utilized. Instead, they have to spend the already shabby foreign exchange to import natural gas from Russia. Therefore, they are also subject to Russia everywhere. constraints.
Looking at Western Ukraine, the increasingly prosperous Rivne region. Although Simon also used Sergey Komorov’s Oldek Company as a shell to acquire a large number of local state-owned assets, at this stage, Rovne In the final analysis, most of the industries in the Nuo area are the result of Simon's huge sums of real money.
In addition, there is another special high-income group in the Rivne region, the UFMS private army, which is more than ten times the average income of ordinary people in the area. After all, the money they make needs to be spent, so it also drives the local people. economy.
Whether it is the results of Simon's real money or the artificially created group of high-income people, it is not so easy to snatch. This is another important reason why Simon can quietly cultivate the power of the Westeros system in Rivne Oblast. If Simon initially placed his base in Eastern Ukraine or the southern Black Sea coast where heavy industry is concentrated, it is hard to say whether he would be able to gain a firm foothold now.
Janet put down the surveillance information she had just collected on a series of individuals or events in Ukraine, and picked up a black file box, which contained a thick stack of files in a cowhide bag.
I picked out a copy at random. The cover said 'The Banshikov Family'. I opened the file bag and took out the information. The first page was a girl, Galina Banshikova, 16 years old. Just look at the one in the upper right corner. In the ID photo, this is a beautiful girl like a doll, with a fair and petite face, chestnut hair, big eyes, and a small mouth, which is exactly what a certain guy likes.
So he shook the information in his hand at Simon beside him: "This is another batch you plan to build, eh, cousin?"
Simon kept most of his thoughts hidden from Janet.
Glancing at the file in Janet's hand, Simon nodded, noticed the name on the page, and said, "This family has been abandoned."
Janet was usually responsible for managing the family's intelligence network. She knew certain things earlier than Simon. She curled her lips upon hearing this and said, "Don't think I don't know. You brought that guy's wife and two daughters to the hot springs." Gone to the manor."
There's no answer to that.
Simon simply pretended not to hear it, and still had the material about the Russian election in his hand.
Janet only tasted it symbolically, and her eyes fell back to the file in her hand. She skipped the information on Maxim Banshikov, who then cut off his future, and looked directly to the back.
Natalya Banshikova, 36 years old, can give birth to such a beautiful daughter. Her mother’s appearance is naturally not bad at all. She is also an ID photo, but she is equally attractive.
The last one is Eva Banshikova, 14 years old, two years younger than her sister Galina, but she looks more immature in the ID photo. Unlike Galina's height of 169cm in the information, she probably hasn't opened her mouth yet. Because of this, Eva Banshikova is only 153CM small.
After Janet finished reading, she expressed her dissatisfaction with her words, and suddenly asked: "Relatives, speaking of which, Simon, is our family also a relative to you?"
Simon didn't even raise his head, nor did he hesitate in his tone: "No."
Even though the man didn't add anything more, Janet immediately curled up her lips with a little satisfaction when she heard the words. Of course not, if it weren't for a certain guy who was so powerful that even the old man couldn't defeat him, the person next to him should be Simon Johnston. He was a family to begin with, not a foreign relative.
Leaning over and touching the man briefly, Janet continued to look through the files in her hand, and after a moment she continued: "Of the 14 families this time, there don't seem to be many that can be used by direct relatives, but collateral relatives can still be used. Expanded. Simon, how do you plan to arrange it?"
Simon said: "You can place them casually, stuff them wherever they are needed, and take them out if they don't work or make mistakes. If you want to be more careful, the Ukrainian general election in two years will not be the right time last time. This time, it will be in the Rivne Oblast." Members of Congress, I intend to win as much as possible."
Janet thought for a moment and said: "Ukraine's parliamentary quota is 450. There are 25 states in total. Rivne Oblast can be divided into 18, which doesn't seem to be much. We can divide them all among our existing people."
Unlike the House and Senate of the U.S. Congress, the Ukrainian Parliament adopts a unicameral system, and the election process is a special mixed election system. The 450 members of Congress are roughly divided into two relatively even parts, one part belongs to various constituencies across the country, and the other part is determined by Each political party participating in the election will allocate its votes according to the proportion of votes received.
Therefore, the number of parliamentary seats each state can get is not as fair as in the United States. Strong states can get forty or fifty votes, while weak states may only get single digits.
With the current strength of Rivne Oblast, it was more than enough to get 20 seats in the National Assembly in the 1998 general election.
Ukraine now has a presidential-parliamentary system, and of course there is a parliamentary-presidential system. The difference between the two is actually very simple. Whoever is in the front has more power. For example, in the former, the president can designate the prime minister, and in the latter, he has more power. The candidate for prime minister must be nominated by the parliament.
However, the Parliament still has a profound influence on the political direction of this country. Especially at this stage, Leon Kuchma is still a leader who likes to play balance rather than being arbitrary. Whether proactively or helplessly, this means that, As long as it has enough seats in the Parliament, the Westeros system can guarantee its interests in Ukraine to the greatest extent.
Simon thought this, and when he heard Janet's words, he smiled: "You can't do anything too obvious, and just like Sergey and Kerim, they have too many things on their hands and don't have the energy to be members of Congress. "
Janet couldn't help laughing: "Then let your little lovers become members of Congress. This is too messy."
Simon emphasized seriously: "They are the parents of the little lovers."
Janet raised her hand and hit Simon on the shoulder.
Simon added: "In the next few years, Ukraine's economy will continue to decline. At the same time, the country's internal political situation will continue to be turbulent. More eyes will only be on Kuchma, and not many people will care about it. Who’s the MP?”
This is also a strange thing about Ukrainian politics.
In the original time and space, Ukraine's richest man Akhmetov pushed all his drivers, bodyguards, dentists and other people around him to become members of Congress, and there was no backlash. Later, a certain actor-president was even more bizarre. After he was successfully elected and won a large number of parliamentary seats, many actors, producers and other main creators of a TV series that the actor-president once participated in became members of Congress.
After getting to know more about the more capable spokespersons in Ukraine, Simon no longer wanted them to waste time on acting as members of Congress.
Just like Evgenia's father Vladimir Korkoshko, Simon initially hoped that he would run for parliament. As Vladimir showed corresponding abilities at the top levels of the Rivne Oblast government, Simon changed his mind and hoped that the other party could take root in his base and directly win the governor's position in the future.
As for the quota of members, it is enough to send a group of obedient puppets there.
Janet read through the 14 files in her hand one by one, and even marked some places with a pen. She looked up again and found that Simon next to her was still looking through the Russian election information. She temporarily put down the files in her hands and came over to ask. Said: "What's going on over there in Russia?"
Simon said: "Yeltsin wins for sure."
The two had already had some discussions about Russia before, including private contact with a certain gray bishop of Smolny Palace in St. Petersburg, and Simon did not hide it from Janet. Therefore, Janet was already very familiar with Simon's layout ideas in Russia. At this time, she still couldn't help but said: "Actually, I still think that for Russia, we can adopt the same strategy as Ukraine."
Simon leaned his head against Janet's head and said with a smile: "Don't you think our goal is too obvious?"
"Yeah."
"So, if there is a lack of external targets, the Washington authorities are likely to turn their attention to us. This is actually the reason why I quietly reached a tacit agreement with the Bush family. Forget it this time, next time, it will definitely be the Bush family who takes the top position. Gore is better because the Bush family's governing DNA has determined that they prefer to turn their attention abroad."
Janet added: "And likes to fight."
"Yes," Simon nodded and said, "Nowadays, all major economies in the world, except the United States, are not doing very well. There may be another global economic crisis next year. If Al Gore succeeds Clinton in the future, With the governing strategy of 'the problem is the economy', the U.S. economy will continue to rise and is likely to reach an unprecedented height. When the economy is strong enough and there are no worries about employment and taxes, politicians will often try to do more. When the time comes, they will point the finger. It’s going to be directed at us. So, we need the Bush family to change this momentum and even fundamentally weaken this country’s national power through war.”
After hearing what Simon said, Janet suddenly leaned closer and pressed her face against Simon's face: "Simon, you always have to think about so much, aren't you tired?"
"I'm not tired," Simon smiled and put his arms around Janet: "Because of you."
Janet stopped worrying about whether 'YOU' in the man's words was singular or plural, and said, "Actually, I know that you have always hoped that the world can become a better place."
"Actually, not necessarily."
"Um?"
"There is such a fable," Simon said, still smiling: "The hero who slayed the dragon was elected as the king by the people, and then, the hero on the throne began to grow dragon scales."
Of course Janet had heard this fable. She pressed closer to her man and whispered softly: "I would rather you become a dragon than a hero."
Simon kissed Janet's smooth face and said: "I hope the world will become a better place, but I only do what I can do and never thought about becoming a hero. Or, I am just a hero. The evil dragon that broke into this world.”
Janet could actually feel that Simon would occasionally talk about certain things with a strong sense of joking and ridicule, and would even actively add fuel to the flames out of a bad taste for watching a movie. But in fact, deep down in this man's heart, There is something sad about this, a sadness that is extremely disappointing to the world.
Because of this disappointment, Simon has continued to position himself higher in recent years.
Just like, a few years ago, Simon felt that if he wanted to change this country and the world, he should start from the most basic education system, pay attention to primary education, and take action. Now, Simon is gradually paying more attention to certain things that are related to the future of the entire human race, such as space immigration, nuclear fusion, solar energy, etc.
This change is more like a worst-case scenario.
When certain worst-case scenarios that are almost unavoidable occur, perhaps these arrangements at this time can leave a glimmer of hope for this world and even this race.
That's all.