The Bear and the Dragon

The Bear and the Dragon is a political thriller novel by Tom Clancy featuring Jack Ryan. It was published in 2000.

Related Topics:
Novel - Tom Clancy - Jack Ryan - 2000

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In the book Jack Ryan is President of the United States. After Russia discovers oil fields the size of the Persian Gulf in Siberia and gold deposits just as big, it looks as if the struggling Russian economy is on the road to recovery.

Related Topics:
President of the United States - Russia - Siberia

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After CNN televises the murder of the Papal Nuncio to Beijing and a Chinese minister in China while (successfully) attempting to stop Chinese authorities from performing a forced late-term abortion on a member of the Chinese minister's congregation, the world boycotts trade with the PRC. With its struggling economy, China decides to invade Siberia to access the abundant raw materials.

Related Topics:
CNN - Papal Nuncio - Beijing - Abortion - China

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In an attempt to dissuade China from invading Russia, Ryan persuades NATO to admit Russia, and personally promises assistance to Russia's President. China invades anyway. Russia opposes this and eventually wins through help from the United States Army and Air Force, completely annihilating two Chinese divisions. The U.S. Navy, in an attack reminiscent of Pearl Harbor, destroys much of the Chinese navy in its port. Ryan decides to broadcast CNN's coverage of the war, plus direct feeds from U.S. reconnaissance drones, over a CIA Web site; this decision becomes important later on.

Related Topics:
NATO - United States - Army - Air Force - U.S. Navy - Pearl Harbor - Chinese navy

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As the war turns against China, Beijing's increasingly desperate leaders decide to launch its ICBMs. A joint US-Russian special operations force, led on the US side by John Clark, is dispatched to destroy the ICBMs. The force destroys all but one of the missiles; the remaining one is launched at Washington. Ryan's family is evacuated, but he decides at the last minute to stay behind on board a Navy ship docked in Washington that has an experimental anti-missile system. Ryan watches as the ship successfully destroys the ICBM just before it was set to explode over Washington.

Related Topics:
ICBM - Special operations - John Clark - Navy

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Ryan then decides to broadcast CNN's coverage of the near-destruction of Washington on the same CIA Web site. By this time, several thousand Chinese citizens have been following the war on this site. Late at night, a group of students who have become enraged over the Chinese leadership's handling of the war after watching the CIA site march through Tiananmen Square and successfully invade a Politburo meeting, leading to the fall of the government. A reformist Politburo member takes over, arrests the men behind the invasion, and orders an immediate withdrawal of Chinese forces.

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