AMS Terminal 39-f<33.2.7.885>

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA***

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<Transfer anderson@PO_INTERNAL{techdiv!nerv!xcom!ca} (ANDERSON Amy A.)>
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<Transfer anderson@PO_INTERNAL{techdiv!nerv!xcom!ca} (ANDERSON Amy A.)>
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***BEGIN REPORT***

X-COM MILITARY INTELLIGENCE BUREAU
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

World Political Situation Report
16 April 2016

An analysis of the significant world powers favourably and unfavourably aligned with regard to X-COM/NERV follows. This information is current as of 0400 UCT, 16 April 2016.

FAVOURABLY ALIGNED

United Kingdom

The UK is without doubt X-COM's strongest ally on the current world stage. X-COM's headquarters are located in the Dominion of Canada, a part of Britain's worldwide empire, and the British and Canadian Ministries of Defence have both announced their unilateral support for X-COM's activities within the Empire. Though small both geographically and in terms of population, the UK is a recognised global power due largely to the might and technical sophistication of its navy, which has enjoyed a return to prominence with the renewed importance of ocean travel.

Notable member-states of the British Empire include:

• The Dominion of Canada
  As mentioned above, X-COM's global headquarters is located within the Dominion's boundaries, in the capital city of Ottawa. Canada is firmly committed to the alliance against the puppet states of SEELE, and has immense natural resources which will be critical for that alliance's success.
• The United States of Australia and New Zealand
  Though badly battered by their proximity to the Second Impact, and thus slower to recover than any other major industrialised nation, Australia-New Zealand is a firm supporter of the X-COM/NERV alliance and has supplied considerable manpower for X-COM's emergency military build-up.
• The British Republic of Hong Kong
  Hong Kong, recovered by the British after its abandonment by China following the Second Impact, is one of the mercantile centers of the world and supplies much of the capital so vital to X-COM/NERV's success.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

The USSR have been firm supporters of X-COM since the earliest days, and have also been closely aligned with NERV in that organisation's history as a separate body. NERV's Atlas Project was run out of Baikonur Cosmodrome and heavily supported by the Soviet Space Agency. Though hesitant to enter into open military opposition to the United States, First Secretary Kirishatov has been loudly and publicly supportive of the British Government's position on the matter, the public relations impact of which should not be underestimated. Their hesitancy toward outright action aside, when the time comes, it cannot be safely assumed by our enemies that the Soviets will stay out of the action.

Japan

The birthplace of Professor Gendou Ikari and several other key members of Project Evangelion's scientific and technical staff, Japan has been closely associated with NERV since that organisation's founding. The destruction of NERV's Japanese headquarters in Tokyo-3 by NERV in late 2015 was perceived as a blow to national pride by the Japanese Government, who have pledged their support to the X-COM/NERV alliance. The island nation is a critical source for the technical and electronic equipment used by the alliance.

It must be pointed out, however, that Japan is a small nation, and though the Japanese Strategic Self Defence Force is well-equipped and capable, it too is small. Japan is not militarily powerful enough to defend itself against an assault by either of the major enemy powers and, as such, cannot be counted upon for continued support once open hostilities begin. Immediate steps should be taken to secure alternate sources for vital technical equipment, possibly from Hong Kong or the Soviet Union.

UNFAVOURABLY ALIGNED

United States of America

Largest, most powerful, and longest-held of SEELE's puppet states, the United States may have been infiltrated by agents of SEELE as early as 1947, at the beginning of the Hidden War (see Historical Document 33-1-a3.41, The Hidden War). SEELE's grip on the US Government has slowly tightened over the years, and X-COM must accept partial responsibility: had our intelligence services been more alert, it is possible that the damage could have been spotted and contained before the country fell completely to alien control.

Unfortunately this was not done, and now the United States are completely under the control of SEELE's upper echelons. President Fields, his Cabinet, and the Congress of the United States are merely mouthpieces for the policy decisions of SEELE commander Jacqueline Natla. The US military spearheaded SEELE's assault on the original NERV headquarters at Worcester-3, Massachusetts, and suffered the majority of the casualties on that side of the battle.

At present, the US (which can be read SEELE) seems reluctant to pursue an open confrontation with the United Kingdom regarding the question of X-COM/NERV's operations within the Empire. MIB analysts project a strong possibility that this is an indication of another strategy being prepared within SEELE, most likely one involving some combination of international terrorism and psychological warfare - two techniques which served SEELE's alien masters so well during the Hidden War.

Federal Republic of Germany

Germany has only recently been conquered by SEELE, most likely in order to secure the Federal European Industrial Science And Research Consortium's Evangelion production facility and prevent X-COM/NERV from acquiring further production-model EVAs from this facility. With the Westinghouse factory in the US already under SEELE control and EVA production capability in Japan destroyed, this would seem to put all the cards in SEELE's hand - a misconception we are quite happy to permit them to keep, for the time being.

Germany is wealthy, industrially powerful, politically significant, and militarily strong, all of which make it a dangerous second head to the political monster being created by SEELE. However, it has one major shortcoming: SEELE's conquest of Germany was mistimed. At the time of the takeover, over 80% of the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy, was at sea on combat maneuvers, including the German flagship, the fusion-powered supercarrier Deutschland. The Deutschland and her battle group went incommunicado during the period of civil unrest used by SEELE as their smokescreen for the conquest of Germany, and have not been heard from since. Given that the battle group is commanded by Admiral Franz Keller, the father of X-COM MIB Special Services Divisional Commander Otto Keller, it is likely that the Kriegsmarine will come to light on our side, when they choose to show themselves again. Nevertheless, this is merely a speculation, and cannot be counted upon in strategic calculations.

European Union

The EU is largely dominated by Germany, and its great resources must be considered to be at SEELE's disposal. The United Kingdom has already taken steps to distance its economy from that of the EU, forestalling any attempts by SEELE to engage in economic warfare, but the interconnections are many and great care must be taken until the window of vulnerability is past (estimated 2-4 weeks from date of this report).

NEUTRAL

Republic of Switzerland

MIB analysts feel that the Swiss promise of neutrality must be taken with a grain of salt, not because of any suspicion of bad faith on the part of the Swiss Government, but because if SEELE, with the power of the German and US armed forces in front of it, chooses to take the small alpine country, they will, the Swiss Volunteer Army notwithstanding. With the wealth of the US and European Union to draw upon, it is unlikely that SEELE will bother conquering Switzerland; nevertheless, it cannot be discounted as a possibility, and should be watched for.

Israel and the Arab States

Immediately following the Second Impact, Israel and the Arab states of the Middle East came very close to open, unrestricted warfare. Biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons were poised and ready. Only the shock of the mutual atomic annihilation of India and Pakistan forestalled a similar conflagration in the Middle East, and the region has been in a state of very uneasy truce since then. Neither side seems willing to get involved in the coming world conflict, but where there is political instability, there is SEELE. The neutrality of Israel and its Arab neighbors thus cannot be taken for granted; extra vigilance by MIB field forces is believed to be absolutely critical in this part of the world.

UNKNOWN

People's Republic of China

On April 2, 2000, as the world began to realize the dreadful significance of the Second Impact, the People's Republic of China expelled all foreign nationals, recalled all diplomatic personnel, abandoned the only-recently-recovered island of Hong Kong, closed its borders and severed all communications links to the outside world. Since then, no information has come out of China. Even MIB has met with very limited success in inserting agents, and even less in recovering them later.

It is therefore completely unknown whether the People's Republic will even involve itself in the coming conflict, and if so, which side it will take. This is a situation which must be watched with great care, and will be, by MIB's agents in Hong Kong, the Soviet Union and the Far East.

CONCLUSION

The world political situation is grave, and seems to be heading toward a clear division along SEELE/X-COM lines. Though our position in the British Empire is secure, and the assistance and goodwill of the Soviet Union and Japan seems equally solid, vigilance must be the watchword of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the coming months. SEELE's propaganda and subterfuge machine is large and powerful, and they will hold back no effort at diminishing our worldwide support and complicating the world situation further.

MIB analysts believe the following elements will be crucial:

1. Securing a secondary supply of the vital technical components currently available only from Japan, against the possibility of that country's military conquest by SEELE's puppets.
2. Protecting the British economy from possible economic warfare tactics SEELE might employ through its domination of the European Union.
3. Maintaining very close observation of the Middle Eastern situation, with an emphasis on detecting and preventing any SEELE attempts to upset the fragile Israel-Arab truce and spark a secondary conflict.
4. Keeping close watch on the People's Republic of China, so that if that large and powerful nation does rejoin world affairs, we will have the best chance of knowing in advance which side it is likely to take, and prepare accordingly.

This concludes today's report.

***END REPORT***

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***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA***

<Electronic Mail Message from Leela>
Host <33.2.7.885>
<Recipient anderson@PO_INTERNAL{techdiv!nerv!xcom!ca} (ANDERSON Amy A.)>

In message 4dk2dmk2349a@td-console-2, anderson@PO_INTERNAL{techdi
v!nerv!xcom!ca} (ANDERSON Amy A.) wrote:
>
> Why don't you try sending a typical file through - a report or
> something like that?  That way we'll be debugging the link with
> the same kind of traffic that the regular users will be trying
> to send across.

Good idea - I've used one of X-COM MIB's weekly world situation
reports.  As you can see, the report did transfer uncorrupted,
but there were several false starts due to some kind of
transmission error.  I now suspect that there is a Layer One
connectivity problem somewhere between the TechDiv console room
and the data core.  I've alerted the Physical Maintenance 
Department; they have opened ticket #494124 and have promised
us a 45-minute window on an RFO and TTR.

I'll believe that when I see it.

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