Good Morning Mister President.

"Good Morning Mister President."
"Good Morning Henry, take a seat. You know General Eisenhower of course, this is John Kovaks of the State Department."
"Good Morning General, Mr Kovaks."
"Call me John, please."
"General, remind me why we need Malacia to join the Allies."
"Whilst it is not necessary for our North African operations, we will need all the troops we can find for the invasion of Europe. Out of all the countries in South America only Brazil and Malacia are showing any movement towards declaring war against the Axis powers and my money is on the latter."
"Henry, how are the two countries coming on?"
"Well, Mister President, we have supplied Brazil with M3 tanks and sent them instructors but their preparations are proceeding with typical South American slowness. On the other hand Malacia has only a few training tanks that they have obtained from Britain but they are working hard to have their army into action by the end of the year. It is dependent on the supply of tanks and other vehicles."
"Why have we not supplied the Malacians with M3 tanks?"
"Let me explain, General Eisenhower." Kovaks interrupted. "There is a long running border dispute between Venezuela and Malacia. We have worked hard over the last fifty years to keep that dispute from boiling over into any form of fighting, but if we give the Malacian army any equipment this will upset the current status quo. If the Venezuelans think we are giving the Malacian Army any weapons or equipment that could be used against them, they might interrupt the flow of gasoline to ourselves or even Britain."
"I see."
"General, how important do you regard Malacia entering the war?"
"It is very important Mister President. We know that neither Argentina nor Chile will declare war on Germany as both countries have a large number of German expatriates. The other South American countries are uncertain, however, and while our embassies are working on them it will help if either Brazil or Malacia enter the war. If one of them does it makes it more likely that others may follow."
"I see. Henry, do you think Malacia will enter the war?"
"Well the Accord of Kew -which was the agreement that arranged for their one battleship to be modernised- required them to not just maintain a supply of aluminum to Britain but to declare war on Germany. As far as we know Malacia is keeping to its side of the agreement; the British have supplied them with obsolete airplanes such as biplane fighters and flying boats, which are being used to operate an air-sea rescue service, and some training tanks. They are aware of the planned invasion of North Africa and are hoping to be in a position to join the Allies as soon as a bridgehead has been established."
"John, are these tanks and airplanes causing the Venezuelans any concerns?"
"No Sir. The State Department has convinced them that they are obsolete and purely for defence. It has helped that those ancient flying boats have helped our Navy to sink a couple of U-boats."
"Right gentlemen, I will speak to Mister Churchill and offer him extra tanks and so on if the Malacians are equipped with British equipment."


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Page last updated: 2^nd March 2018.
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