“To begin with, troops from the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen spearheaded by Cuban units, under a secret protocol with North Yemen arranged by us, are to march up the coast of the Red Sea and take Mecca. They will not be opposed by the Saudi Army which will be busy fighting the National Guard. Other Yemeni units will move against the tiny states of Oman and the Arab Emirates, which although weak are strategic.

“Secondly, the capital city of Riyadh will be taken over by the Saudi Army, supported by armed PLO guerrillas and Shiite cells in Riyadh and Hofuf. These have been despised minorities in Arabia and we can properly proclaim our support of these ‘liberation’ forces.

“Finally, the oil facilities around Dommam, Dhahran and especially Ras Tanura are to be taken by special commando units of the PLO who will be ferried across Iraq to the oil fields by Syrian aircraft. Both Iraq and Syria are client states and there will be no trouble from either of them. As a matter of fact, Iraq’s President Hosnani is taking advantage of the situation and is moving ten thousand troops from Basra to the border with Kuwait. We anticipate that he will take Kuwait, which he has long coveted. Kuwait has only a token army, about enough for a military band,” Svetlov joked.

“The signal for the coup will be the assassination of King Salim. Without the king to lead them, the National Guard will be fragmented and the royal family divided between Abdul Sa’ad and other factions. Everything depends upon a clear swift removal of the king. We estimate with high probability that with Salim out of the way, Abdul Sa’ad will need only one week to take over Arabia and shut off the oil faucet. The Americans, including most of their military, have enough oil stockpiled to last about sixty days. After that, their only option is surrender.”

The members of the Politburo sat in stunned silence, then Premier Suvarov’s voice sputtered like a balky engine.

“But surely the old man didn’t approve this operation. This kind of adventurism is against everything he ever stood for,” Suvarov blustered.

“It was his idea,” Fyedorenko said calmly. It was an absolute lie, of course. He imagined that the old man must be spinning like a gyroscope in his grave behind the Lenin mausoleum at the very thought of the Molotov Plan.

“Well, if it was his idea …” Bulganov said doubtfully. Not one of them believed Fyedorenko about the old man, but if the KGB and the Red Amry were involved, Fyedorenko was in too strong a position to be challenged.

“This is preposterous,” Foreign Minister Kishinev broke in. “Does any of us think for a second that the Americans are going to just sit back and allow us to slit their throats like chickens and not do a damn thing about it?”

“Marshal Orlov,” Fyedorenko prompted.