An Idealist Politician
Leonti Sokolov is a politician and he is proud of that fact. Many hold the view that a politician is corrupt and selfish, caring only about themselves and willing to discard their morals to amass power for their own benefit.
To him however, politics is a tool, a tool to help people and make a meaningful difference in the world. Leonti believes in a better future and that future is through the countries of the world working together for the mutual benefit of all humanity. That is why he entered politics and why he worked to reconcile the motherland with the West, why he took up his current position as the Secretary of the United Nations Defence Command. One might even call him an idealist as seemingly unlikely as it is for a career politician to be called such.
And it is why it bugs him that svoloch Torres getting away with his atrocities in Brazil. Leonti hates that he is, but Saito wasn't wrong about the politics behind the man and the matter. As much as he detests the thought of it, he needs to let the matter go as the Director warned him to.
Admiral Torres is already the compromise candidate and he has not only the support of both Brazil and Argentina, but the rest of the UNDC general staff as well. They'll circle the waggons around Torres and not only have made their distaste for a fully civilian leadership clear, but they have also shown their willingness to work together to further their own agenda when they forced Saito into stepping down at the end of his current turn so one of their own could either take hisplace or Leonti's.
So, when it comes to Admiral Torres and the Rio Incident, Leonti has followed the Director's instructions and hasn't pursued the matter further. No matter how much it chafes at him to do so.
Incident…such as a seemingly deceptive term for something so bloody and monstrous. Something like the Rio Massacre or the Rio Atrocity or the Rio Killings would be a more accurate term but calling the war crime what it is wouldn't be PR-friendly so it just gets called the Rio Incident. A nice unassuming term that hides just what happened to anyone who hears it gets casually mentioned.
"Secretary Sokolov," says a familiar voice, "If you have a moment, there is something that I would like to speak with you about."
"I'm a busy man, General Raymond, but I can spare a minute or two," replies Leonti as he spots General Jack Raymond in the doorway of his office.
"Thank you, Secretary," says Jack as he enters the room and takes a seat in front of Leonti's desk, "I want to talk about Torres and what is happening with him. Specifically, the lack of anything happening to him. I figured that with your sympathies and skillset that you would be a safe person to talk to."
"I'm not sure what you mean," replies Leonti carefully.
"Everyone who knows you can see that you care," says Jack, "You care about really doing the job, the ideals that we stand for and actually helping the people we are supposed to be protecting and serving. So, I know that you shared my sympathies when it comes to what Torres did in Rio."
"You don't share the stance of the rest of the general staff then?" inquires Leonti as while he suspected that Jack didn't, this is the first time that the two of them have actually discussed the matter since the Rio Incident took place.
"I like to think that if Admiral Torres was in the US Military, he would have received a dishonourable discharge and some time at Leavenworth rather than a political cover up," answers Jack, "The man deserves to see jail time, not keeping his job, but I'll settle for getting him removed from his position."
"You are taking this quite seriously," notes Leonti, "Not that I disagree with you. Quite the opposite actually."
"To be blunt, Leonti," says Jack, "Between you and me, I don't particularly respect the UNDC general staff. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't do anything unprofessional as to disrespect them in public or in front of the troops, but they saw the Rio Incident and decided that the correct response was to rally behind Torres and protect him from his just comeuppance. I just can't respect that."
"I understand, but what do you want me to do about it?" asks Leonti, "Admiral Torres is already the compromise candidate and he has plenty of support beyond the general staff because of that. I already brought up the matter with Director Nobuo following the Rio Incident taking place and he made it clear that I wasn't to pursue the matter further because of the politics involved. This situation is most unpleasant, but letting Brazil throw themselves under the bus to protect Torres is the best we are going to get out of this."
"Is that it?" asks Jack with a frown, "The war criminal gets to walk free because he has political connections covering his arsehole."
"Technically it isn't a war crime on the account of there being no war involved," points out Leonti.
"Damn it, you know what I mean," retorts Jack, "Come on, you're the politician and the best one that I know in both getting the job done and having some morals. Surely there is something that can be done?"
"Well, there might be, but I'm not sure how viable it would be," replies Leonti as he runs the math in his head, trying to figure out the factors that would be involved and the possible outcomes, "But it would be difficult and painful to the point that I am not sure that it would be better than following the Director's instructions and letting the matter go. Ah, just-ah. Okay, Jack, no funny business. It can be done, but I want some convincing that it is the better option. Why should I ignore all of the red flags to pursue the Rio Incident and Torres' part in it?"
"Because he is a loose cannon," answers Jack swiftly, clearly having already thought about the subject, "I mean, Wu decided we needed American bunker busters regardless of the fact that we didn't have a platform to deploy them, and then pretty much forced the UNDC into the B-3 project. That is the sort of decision a
general is not supposed to make, especially not on their own. But Torres sent in troops where no troops should've been sent to in the first place, on the basis of authority he does not hold, in an environment he holds no expertise. At best he broke the chain of command at a time there was plenty of time to work through it. And in doing so he turned the UNDC's peacekeepers into murderers. He got a lot of civilians the UNDC is supposed to protect killed by UNDC personnel. And sure, Brazil took the heat, this time. I don't trust there will be another nation willing to do the same next time, and with Torres, there will be a next time. Getting rid of somebody pulling a similar stunt will be even harder then, because a precedent has been set."
"I understand this can cost you your job. I do not expect this effort to succeed either. But I also don't think that even if the public doesn't hear anything of the manoeuvring behind the scenes it's a good idea not to do anything. It's as much a matter of taking a stand in the bureaucracy to make clear this sort of thing shall not be without risk to the one ordering it as anything else."
"I had hoped for the military to make a stance, filed a complaint about the incident so that there'd be an official record and get things moving, but the UNDC general staff have proven that their morals and principles take a backseat to their political manoeuvring and interpersonal relationships. I'm hoping that you are made of stronger stuff when it comes to doing your job and the right thing."
As Jack finishes, Leonti leans back in his chair, closes his eyes, and lets out a sigh as he realises that he is convinced. Not that it took much doing.
"Lord help me, but I'm convinced," says Leonti as he opens his eyes and sits forward again, "I'm going to piss off a bunch of people and risk my job, but you are right and this needs to be done. Just…just let me make some calls and see where I stand. You're right about this not being easy and if I am going to do it, I'm going to have to give it my all."
***
A little omake showing Sokolov being convinced to go after Torres instead of letting the matter go like Nobuo wanted us to. I have loosely based it off of the Discord conversation with
@Hazard where he convinced me to go after Torres in my plan as that conversation was the inspiration for my omake with Raymond taking the place of Hazard and Sokolov taking my place.