The 4th of July

It is the Summer of 1989, and the revolutionary wave of dissent that has been sweeping through the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact Countries has been brutally put down. Mass demonstrations have been met with the use of extreme force by the USSR military, resulting in over 5,000 civilian deaths. An unknown KGB Lt. Colonel named Vladimir Putin (only 37 years old) has been swept into power by the Military/Intelligence establishment. NATO knows little or nothing about him. He has mobilized large numbers of troops and heavy equipment to quell any thought of further internal rebellion. Soviet military forces on the European Central Front have been reinforced, and NATO intelligence is seeing some disturbing movement of Soviet front-line tanks and troops in East Germany. Because NATO has been decreasing troop deployment in Europe for the past 2 years, the only way to stop a Soviet invasion now would be the immediate use of tactical nuclear weapons against troop/armor concentrations, and other carefully selected targets. The Soviet Union would also be expected to employ tactical nukes. The risk of escalation into Strategic Nuclear War is obvious. It is now July 4th, 1989, and the Soviet Union has decided the time is right to lay claim to all of Germany. As Col. Putin commented to his military advisors..."We will supply additional fireworks for America's 4th of July Celebrations this year"