The Soviet Union's collapse in the previous life had, to a certain extent, stemmed from the arrogance of its leadership in the middle and later stages. Especially in terms of propaganda, the people's psychological expectations for national development had been raised too high, so that once their dream shattered, the entire country found it difficult to accept.
In truth, the Soviet leadership had also been riding a tiger and unable to dismount, hoisted up by the crude propaganda machine they had built themselves. In fact, even in its final years, the Soviet Union's domestic economy had not been anywhere near as dire as imagined. At the very least, compared with the vast nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, a Soviet Union whose national system had not collapsed still surpassed other regions in every respect.
Naturally, Ernst had "thoroughly" learned from the Soviet Union's experience and lessons, cooling down his country's people at the proper time. If East Africans were cultivated into having the mindset of "saints," then East Africa's flaws worth picking at would be countless as bamboo slips.
London
British Prime Minister Asquith said, "This is the message Ambassador Russell sent from the Rhine. As expected, East Africans are rather greedy!"
The East African government's attitude was indeed somewhat vile from Britain's perspective. Setting aside everything else, merely asking Britain to proactively open up part of its market was difficult to accept. What was more, the East African government had also subtly indicated that it wanted to obtain a piece of land from Britain's sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean.
In Britain's history over the past several decades, it had almost never encountered such a situation. The reason for saying almost was that there were not absolutely no countries more excessive than East Africa—Germany and Russia,