So I've got plans for a story set in Southeast Asia. Its basically a country that's medium-sized, modestly populated, and is currently going through a renaissance. Actually, a renaissance would be another thing. The current ruling party was basically a dictatorship. A dictatorship that was then overthrown. One of the first things that the new ruler did was nationalize the resources. Resources that were once owned by foreign companies. To be fair, she paid a fair price for them. But the shouts of the lobbyists reached Washington, and the country was subject to a war set to depose of them and install a puppet. One short war later, the American forces retreated, because they were getting fucking slaughtered by someone, or something inside of the place. Now the country is booming, with many more resources 'found' afterwards. The previously corrupt administration has been purged of its bad members, and is now running like a well-oiled machine. Many previously distant groups who were fractious and in-fighting now settle down beneath the leadership of their god-queen. Their tech sector is moving just as fast as any western country's. Money from their new oil wells is now poured into development and investment. Their population is growing, and the death rate plummets. An incredible explosion in the quality of life. And the whole thing is locked up tighter than a lockbox in fort knox. Obviously, the CIA is extremely curious to know what happens in the place. So I have several questions. 1. How does the CIA insert spies, saboteurs, or try to recruit other people to their cause in other countries. I know that they have a habit of deposing regimes that don't agree with them. But other than funneling weapons and funds into militia and rebel groups, how else do they fund the over throw? 2. How would CIA spies think? Like, in this story, the god-queen is pretty much pushing for the more progressive parts. Things like 'equal rights for women and men' and 'education for all' and 'no religious persecution'. I've heard of women's rights being slowed down due to the cold war, but what else? 3. How would America deal with being disastrously defeated. They have no idea what was the cause, but for some reason, entire army camps went silent. Patrols went dark, and planes that tried to move over the horizon were shot down by... something. All in all, it was several thousand casualties, concentrated within 3 months. 4. What was the state of the technology like. Yes, I know that computers were made by that time.... but by what means would there be radios. Are there radio bugs by this point? Is this the point where phones are brick sized stuff, or are they entirely different?
I only have a small amount of info with which to help you, but ill try to assist on each question as well as I can. 1. The CIA would fund an overthrow of a country by not only giving supplies and weaponry, but by using propaganda tactics to draw in the civilians of that country to switch their loyalties. Be it peaceful or forceful in the methods, the CIA would likely attempt to turn the people of the country to gain power. 2. CIA operatives can sometimes be single-minded and can be seen as secret soldiers, in a sense, who follow through with their mission or die trying. Maybe the MC of your story could find something which starts to make them question the intentions and morality of the CIA, bringing in the issue of authority and the individuals questioning this authority while being under it. This would likely make your character seem more realistic, if done in the right sequence and circumstance. 3. The US has suffered major defeat before, i.e. the Vietnam War. America's troops had been pulled out and a treaty that only lasted two months was made by the US for South and North Vietnam to save face. Here's a link that might help in giving greater detail, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-withdraws-from-vietnam. 4. It depends on the type of audio device you are trying to use, in the cold war there were many devices that could record audio. Here's a link to a pdf that talks about audio devices in the Cold War, https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/107507.pdf. I hope that this has been useful, i hope your story develops well.
These questions can't easily be answered on a forum. I suggest you get hold of some history books on the subject.
Yeah, if you're trying to write out a good time-period piece, then you need to do your research. People who want to read about spies, politics, time, regions, and the like will know when the author is just writing whatever.
Research is fun! Go get some books on the subject. Intelligence and international espionage are fascinating, especially during the Cold War. It sounds like a great story idea, by the way.
... perhaps it would be better to simply take a dozen or so books set in the same era and genre, and crib notes?
Rather than read a dozen books to crib notes from, you'd be better served by reading two history books. History is not boring. A lot of the time, it is more interesting than fiction. You might even get some ideas to incorporate into your story.
I'll second this specifically. Read an actual factual book about the country and era and learn what happened and how things were. It's very easy to forgot that, odds are, if you were to write an 1930's person without any knowledge of a 30's person you'd just give them a modern voice and mentality.
You can't understand cold war era USA and CIA without understanding and knowing Soviet Union and KGB. And the easiest way to start that is few videos & books. 1. Yuri Bezmenov videos about subversion KGB did - a lot. 2. Alexander Solzenitzyn: Gulag Archipelago. + George Orwell: Animal Farm + Richard Wurmbrand: Christ in Communist Prisons You can't understand the cold war era world if you don't understand how it was fought inside western countries via subversion. (And when you start to understand that, you start to understand today's world and it's polarisation.) It was the era of puppetmasters (KGB) and puppets/useful idiots. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot It was the era of the long march through the institutions (like universities, mass media, Hollywood...)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_march_through_the_institutions ...which happened in big part in the form of cultural marxism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School
Oh, can I post the Kim Philby clip please, the one proper good spies use in training on 'how to lie?' He's very badass here, proper bad. He will hang if ... unravelled, y'know... ...Also, why do the CIA care about this 'successful' little country? Myanmar is ... ... ...I'd prefer a Bangladesh story..
"Agent whiskers, you are moving away from the contact." "Merroow." "No Agent Whiskers, you don't have time to chase wharf rats." "Merrerrrr." "That's it Whiskers, your out of the agency. Come back to base and turn in your badge." The CIA tried to use cats as spies, so you could add that in there since it was a project during the 1960's, which was part of the beginning of the Cold War. Though cats were not the best spies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty
I take it this is a fictional country, so you're going to have to account for the real countries that would be their neighbors. And the European colonies that were still in existence in the area, depending on the time period. Not to mention US military bases, which are also dependent on time periods. It's one thing to create a foreign country in Europe which is loaded with smaller countries in a relatively small area and has a long history of independent duchies, kingdoms, and principalities that were eventually federalized into relatively new nation states, like Germany and Italy. South East Asia is a little different, so you'll have to account for that. What's your time period? That makes an enormous difference. Is it before the Cuban Missile Crisis or after? Huge difference. Is Truman the president or LBJ? Huge difference. Where is China in its Cultural Revolution... 1954 or 1976? Again, huge difference. What about the Vietnam War? Or the Korean War? What is the US's Asian policy at the time period? Huge, huge, huge differences between 1948 Containment, 1950 Rollback, 1961 military advisers, and the 1972 Linebacker Operations. When has the US ever backed down from a war in a year, even when they knew victory was largely impossible. If anything, they would throw more men, money, and bombs at the problem. Are you writing a fantasy? Serious question. You'll find no historical support for many of the things you've listed here. I could quote historical precedent and give you factual resources all day, but you're best bet to explain any of this would be magic.
As a matter of fact, yes. Yes, it is fantasy. It's 'cold war era intelligence agencies accidentally meet outside-context problem'.
Check out spy wars at the Smithsonian channel. Damien Lewis is the host. Interesting. Also movies like "Breach" and "The Good Shepard" Scott
