As everyone knows, there was once a superpower that thought it could join the EU just by stripping off its clothes to get the United States to drop sanctions, only to find out that people just wanted to watch it undress.
However, from a business perspective, if the United States still refused to give up its thoughts of hegemony, this matter would be impossible.
With Norman mediating, this matter wasn't very difficult. Europe was generally wary of Russia, but as long as Norman relented, they actually couldn't stop the momentum.
Of course, Norman wouldn't just let them unify completely all at once either.
This wasn't a good thing for the United States, but in the long run, it wasn't bad for Earth's civilization.
From this perspective, Norman's Nobel Peace Prize was a sure thing—it was just that many people didn't quite understand this move.
However, if NATO's original enemy was gone and the country it left behind had joined NATO, then what was the point of NATO?
Naturally, it could only aim at another neighbor of Russia—but at this point, that major power would naturally think: If even Russia can join, should I apply and try to join too?
Thus, NATO gained another member state, and Norman finalized the matter over the phone.
Then what was the point of NATO's existence? To be honest, there really wasn't much point anymore, but it meant they could sit at the same table and pick their dishes.
That would be a certain country with a population of over a billion; although relatively backward, it also held immense economic value.
Furthermore, considering the culture and development there, this might actually be a form of "liberation" for them. Through external high pressure and then internal disintegration, Bharata would sooner or later have to change its group of masters.
Besides Bharata, there were many other resource-rich countries and regions, and these resources were now about to be redistributed.
From Harry's perspective, World unification was a great thing for Osborn—it meant there was no longer any reason for barriers between countries to exist. He could open his company in any country, as Osborn's technological monopoly was not something that could be easily broken.
In addition, amidst this grand occasion, few people noticed what was currently happening in "other" countries.
Harry had captured most of the Black Widows, but those were only the Black Widows in Russia. The Red Room had long ago deployed this army of women all over the World. He only needed to press a button, and subversive actions would occur everywhere.
In the original work, Natasha stopped him from pressing the button in time, but now, the subversion happened.
It was just that the major powers weren't affected too much, at most discovering some person's sex scandal; those truly hurt were mostly small countries.
Large-scale warfare and division spread once again. With the preliminary work done, Osborn had now truly become a local tyrant in those areas, able to freely buy people's hearts and land.
By the time they finished their wars, they would find there was no one left to rule.
The negotiations with Russia proceeded very smoothly. This was an unprecedented diplomatic honeymoon period, and Osborn could continue to expand its business here.
Soon, Osborn's power grid would spread here. As Osborn laid the energy foundation, other industries would gradually flourish.
Having resolved the issues here, Harry happily flew to South Korea—
But after getting off the plane, he always felt a bit uneasy: why did these people always talk to him with their heads bowed? It was as if they had no bones.
"Welcome, Mr. Osborn."
"Why did so many of you come?" Harry was somewhat surprised.
The leader didn't answer but instead accompanied him with a humble smile.
When he went to Russia, no one came to meet him at all. Even in Britain, they just followed diplomatic etiquette and had someone of equal rank greet him. Here, it was different; all sorts of socialites were lining the streets to welcome him?
And by the look of it, it seemed like they had prepared some other activities for him.
This was actually Harry failing to shift his mindset—it was his first time coming to a region with U.S. military Bases, especially a place like South Korea where U.S. Bases were almost everywhere.
He was now a consultant for Hammer, the actual commander, and his father was the President. Forget lining the streets to welcome him; even if he wanted to find a hundred people to vent his desires, these people would have to arrange it for him.
However, he was quite repulsed by this attitude.
Harry thought for a moment; these people were likely here to curry favor. He really didn't want to talk to them, so he made a call to the nearby U.S. military Base.
The expressions of these people immediately turned a bit ugly.
"The Nano-organism Repair Technology is very good; it has already reached this level." Harry was full of praise for Helen Zhao's research results.
Actually, Harry also had researchers skilled in this field under him, but currently, their focus wasn't in this direction.
For example, Dr. Otto; although his current focus was mainly on Nuclear Physics and related applications, he was originally very impressive in the field of Nanoscience.
There was also someone who wasn't Harry's subordinate but also had deep research in this area—his father, the current President Norman Osborn, was actually an expert in this field too.
"Why haven't you come over to our side? I have the best technology and resources here; you should work at Osborn."
"I've run into some business disputes and haven't been able to get away." Helen Zhao's tone was somewhat dejected.
It was clear she also wanted to work at Osborn, but she seemed tied down by matters here.
Perhaps because of her independent thinking, she hadn't reported this to Osborn in her emails. Harry had always thought it was some major problem.
Harry was somewhat speechless and said to UIS in his earpiece: "Help me check Helen Zhao's information—which company is she having a dispute with?"
Soon, Harry found out what was going on.
It turned out that Helen Zhao's research funding largely came from the government, but the government's funds came from a medical beauty enterprise. This enterprise was backed by a certain chaebol in South Korea that valued this technology highly. In other words, they wanted to swallow the results.
But Helen Zhao believed the money this enterprise gave her wasn't for sponsoring this project; it was just money she could save to do this research.
They weren't happy about that—since when do you get to decide?
After reading UIS's summary of the events, Harry was a bit speechless.
"Dr. Zhao, have you mentioned to them who your next employer is?"
"No—I wanted to solve this matter myself."
Harry rubbed his forehead: "Is that so? But how do you not know they are counting on exactly that?"
Helen Zhao's Nano-medical Technology originally wasn't highly regarded until Osborn sent her an invitation. Only then did they notice that Helen Zhao had this technology.
In other words, it was Osborn's invitation that made them target Helen Zhao's technology—and it just so happened she didn't bring up Osborn's name.
"These guys are really greedy—" Harry said. "Why don't you just join the United States? This matter is easy to solve."
"Ah?" Helen Zhao was a bit dazed.
South Korean chaebols could at most bully their own people. He might as well solve the root problem once and for all.
Even if she wasn't willing to do that and didn't want to use nationality as a weapon, if she joined Osborn with the dispute, these guys wouldn't dare to actually chase after her.
On a corporate level, these chaebols and Osborn were completely different magnitudes of entities.
Helen Zhao seemed a bit too young—it's just that in the original work, Tony invited her, so why didn't she run into this mess then?
Shaking his head, Harry had UIS arrange everything.
"Let's go, there's no dispute anymore." Harry walked outside and gave a few instructions to the soldiers at the door.
He just didn't notice that this Dr. Zhao's look toward him was quite unusual.
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