“Bingo. Finished just in time to fill the void and meet the increased commercial space flight demand created by the SpaceV program,” said Berg. “President Tokayev solidified power in Kazakhstan right around the time construction on the new cosmodrome began. The two countries have never been tighter since the fall of the Soviet Union. Think about the other messes connected to US technology and industry exports.”

“Obviously the Iron Dome failure,” said Devin. “The Russians will likely fill a lot of Antheon’s missile-defense contracts outside of Europe. Then there’s the never-ending F-35 debacle. Just when you think all of the kinks have been worked out—”

“A Russian sleeper agent inserts another bug,” said Berg. “And the Russians’ ‘fifth generation’ Sukhoi Su-57 fighter is selling like hotcakes around the world. Turkey just canceled its F-35 contract with Lockram Industries. Last year, India signed the largest single military aircraft order in United Aircraft Corporation’s history.”

“Speaking of the Russian Federation–owned United Aircraft Corporation, their MC-21-300 series sure took off—pardon the pun—in the wake of Boeing’s 737 MAX’s second string of flight system failures. Several near crashes that scrapped the aircraft. UAC’s shiny new MC-21-300 manufacturing and repair plant in Minsk just happened to be ready to compete with Airbus for the abandoned Boeing contracts and 737 MAX replacements.”

“They really did a number on us,” said Berg. “And reclaimed some of their former satellite states. I think that’s the ultimate goal here. To rebuild some of the former Eastern Bloc. Enough to better fortify themselves against what they truly see as NATO aggression—and make billions in the process. Putin and his oligarch buddies won’t waste a good opportunity to make money.”

“So it’s not all about the money,” said Devin.

“No. We don’t have the time for me to distill what I learned over the course of three decades about the Russians, but I can tell you this: they called us the ‘main adversary’ for a reason. They no-shit believed we were out to get them and had always been out to get them—and that we drove every other country to do the same. And for a little while, that’s exactly what we did. But this mindset didn’t spring to life with the Cold War,” said Berg. “The Russians had been invaded time and time again by European powers. Napoleon in 1812. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Betrayed and invaded by Hitler’s armies in 1941. One of Stalin’s main objectives in the aftermath of World War II was to create a buffer from future European and Middle Eastern invaders, which he did by creating the Eastern Bloc. This need for geographical security is ingrained in their DNA.”

“Right along with the need to add billions of dollars to the tens or hundreds of billions they’ve already bilked out of the system—converted to rubles, of course,” said Devin.