Chapter 103 Joining the Negotiation

It is generally believed that the early morning of March 20, 2003 was the time when the United States and Britain started the war against Iraq.

But before that, in fact, they took a series of military operations against Iraq.

For example, on September 5 this year, about 100 U.S. and British fighter planes attacked a major air defense facility in western Iraq. This was the largest strike carried out by the U.S. and British forces against Iraq in the past four years.

Many people believed at this time that this action indicated that the US and UK military operations in Iraq may have quietly begun.

Although the British public's opposition to the attack on Iraq is rising at this time, Prime Minister Blair has made it clear before that Britain will stand on the side of the United States once "the gun fires."

On September 12, the President of the United States stated at the United Nations General Assembly that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, saying that it posed a serious threat to the United States and the world.

In this speech, he reminded the United Nations that it must pay attention to the growing danger from Iraq or stand aside while the United States takes action.

On September 24, the British Parliament is preparing to debate the Iraq crisis.

The day before, the government released evidence accusing Saddam Hussein's regime of possessing weapons of mass destruction and believed that Iraq had a "military plan" to use chemical and biological weapons.

The documents also accuse Iraq of trying to obtain "significant amounts" of uranium - a key material used to build nuclear weapons - from Africa.

In addition, Iraq "attempted to secretly obtain technology and materials for the manufacture of nuclear weapons," according to the documents, and convened relevant experts to develop a nuclear program.

The document disclosed that Iraq possesses 20 "Hussein" missiles - these missiles have a range of 650 kilometers and can carry chemical or biological weapons warheads. Iraq can deploy these weapons within 45 minutes.

The document also said Iraq also established mobile laboratories for military purposes, consistent with previous reports of mobile facilities for chemical weapons production.

"Intelligence also indicates that Iraq is prepared to destroy evidence" including burning relevant materials before resuming weapons inspections, the documents released by the government said.

Prime Minister Blair said before the report that the documents were compiled based on evidence collected by the government's Joint Intelligence Committee. He believed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein posed a serious threat and that he "had made progress on weapons of mass destruction and must prevent it.”

In any case, these so-called "evidences" are nothing new to Barron, and the so-called intelligence about "Iraq establishing mobile laboratories and factories on trucks to manufacture biological and chemical weapons" was revealed a few years later It has also been confirmed by declassification that it was an opponent of Saddam Hussein who defected to Germany and fabricated the story about the German intelligence service BND...

Well... Actually, this doesn't matter. After all, the Secretary of State of the United States can use a tube of "washing powder" as evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

During this period, the performance of independent newspapers was relatively "restrained" and did not lead the anti-war front line.

After all, Barron has just reached a tacit agreement with the Prime Minister through the Duke of Westminster - the Culture, Media and Sport Special Committee has agreed that Summit Media will join the terrestrial digital television photography process with ITV Digital, the BBC and related departments. in the midst of negotiations.

Of course, ITV has been more positive in this regard, because so far, after Summit Media took over their broadcast time from 22:00 to 23:00 in the evening, the performance of the program has far exceeded expectations, allowing them to compete at the same time. In the competition between BBC and Sky TV, they regained one victory.

The ratings of "The Traitors" on the first day of broadcast were 26%, which is a good result.

But the surprise is yet to come. After the first episode was broadcast, "The Traitors" triggered a lot of discussion, especially the novel format of the show, and the fact that two contestants were eliminated just at the beginning. It's really surprising.

By the time the second episode was broadcast, the ratings of "The Traitors" suddenly jumped to 40%, and it has been rising ever since!

It is obvious that this reality show has a tendency to explode, or in other words, it has already begun to explode.

ITV very much hopes that "The Traitors" can continue this good trend. A phenomenal variety show is too important for a TV station.

In addition to "The Traitors", "The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow" also performs well. Although the ratings are not as exaggerated as "The Traitors", it has been able to maintain a ratings of more than 20%, and occasionally it can hit 30%, which is enough to bring excellent benefits to ITV and Summit Media.

And to be honest, Barron doesn't think he can change anything about the future war in Iraq, not to mention that he can't benefit from it.

The most direct point is that as the clouds of war become thicker and thicker, the prices of crude oil, ore and gold have all begun to rise.

Barron's has already participated in long positions in crude oil, London copper and gold. Not only has DS Capital already established positions in international crude oil and gold, but their private equity fund, the Mars Fund, has also invested in the shortest possible time. The 50 million pounds of funds were invested in international crude oil and gold futures.

In addition, after the last time he shorted London Copper, he gained more than 200 million pounds in income. In addition to the part that has been used in various industries, the remaining funds have not always remained in the bank account. Instead, more than 100 million pounds of the funds were backhand and entered London copper futures again, buying long.

The above-mentioned investments have produced considerable profits so far. The main factor is the market's expectations for war.

…

"Long time no see, Ms. Moore."

Facing Barron's greeting, Yulia was a little stunned for a moment. It seemed that it had only been a week.

"Hello, Mr. Duke."

In the end, she responded to Barron in a rather formulaic way.

"How is the situation at the manor?"

During this period of time, Yulia left London and went to Chatsworth Manor and Callan City - both were undergoing renovations and renovations. As the manager of the family fund, she would also conduct on-site inspections.

"The situation is not bad. I have to say that after the reality show was broadcast, it did have an effect..."

Yulia had a smile on her face and said to Barron:

"Due to ongoing renovations, Chatsworth Manor is open in restricted areas at this time...During this month's open day, neither the number of reservations nor the number of arriving visitors has decreased. On the contrary, there are slightly more people than in the same period before, and many people will go to the venue where the reality show was filmed.”

It can be said that when the manor undergoes large-scale renovation, it will definitely have an impact on tourists - at least certain angles of the manor cannot be used as background photos, because the repair of the appearance will have an impact.

But now the performance of tourists has increased instead of falling. This is indeed a good phenomenon for the manor.

It also shows that the reality show "The Traitors" is also very helpful in increasing the popularity and popularity of the manor.