“But the conspiracy was obviously conceived and implemented during the Cold War,” said Devin. “Russia has come a long way since the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

“Really? They export oil and weapons. Same as before. And when the price of oil craters, their economy tanks. The Russian economy has been stagnant since 2014, when oil prices dropped below one hundred dollars a barrel and never rose again above sixty dollars for any appreciable length of time. The Chinese have crushed them recently in the discount-arms trade market, with far less expensive, comparable weapons and technology—a lot of that based on research stolen from us. Russia’s arms exports have flattened for the first time since 2001. Sabotaging our top defense industry exports kills two birds with one stone. It gives their arms industry room to grow and weakens the US economy, which weakens the dollar—resulting in higher oil prices. The US dollar and the price of oil are directly correlated.”

“Russia gets richer and stronger while we get poorer and weaker,” said Devin. “But they’re still just exporting oil and weapons, and the difference between our two economies is massive. They can’t possibly catch up.”

“Nobody can catch up, except for maybe China,” said Berg. “Putin and his cronies know that. This is more of a diversified reboot.”

“I like that term. Even if I don’t know what you mean by it,” said Devin.

“I’m just riffing off what Helen started, framed by thirty-plus years of experience working the Soviet-Russian problem from a national intelligence perspective,” said Berg. “The Russians have been playing a very long game, and it’s about to pay off in ways we haven’t anticipated.”

“Beyond taking us down several notches and raising themselves a few?”

“Well beyond. Have you kept up with the situation in Hungary?” asked Berg.

“Assume I haven’t kept up with anything outside of my immediate personal life and work.”

“Fair enough. I spend far too much time analyzing this stuff. Like I said, old habits die hard,” said Berg. “So. Orbán and Putin have been pretty cozy over the past two years, right? Especially since Orbán announced Russia’s significant investment in Hungary’s soon-to-be-launched electric car industry. Two state-of-the-art factories to open a year apart near Budapest, the first going live in two years. University programs in Russia and Hungary specifically tailored toward the industry. This is a big undertaking, almost entirely underwritten by Russia, leveraging Hungary’s skilled and relatively inexpensive workforce. The target market is obviously Europe. Funny how Ampere’s latest-generation battery was a flop. Random overheating issues.”

“Ampere had a rough few years. First the SpaceV disaster, now this,” said Devin, instantly understanding how they could be connected using Berg’s logic. “The second cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.”