Editing Red Storm Rising (section)

==Plot==
[[Militant Islamism|Muslim militants]] from [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Azerbaijan]] destroy an oil production refinery in [[Nizhnevartovsk]], threatening to cripple the Soviet Union's economy due to oil shortages. After much deliberation, the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Politburo]] decides to seize the [[Persian Gulf]] by military force in order to recoup the country's oil losses. Knowing that the United States had pledged to defend the oil-producing countries in the Persian Gulf, the Soviets decide that neutralizing [[NATO]] is a necessary first step before its military operation can take place. If West Germany were to be neutralized and occupied, the Soviets believe that the United States would not move to rescue the Arab states since it could meet its oil needs from the Western Hemisphere alone.

To divert attention from the impending operation, the Politburo embarks upon an elaborate ''[[Russian military deception|maskirovka]]'' to disguise both their predicament and their intentions. The Soviets publicly declare their [[arms reduction]] proposal to scrap their obsolete nuclear missile submarines. The [[KGB]] then carries out a [[false flag]] operation involving a bomb being detonated in a [[Kremlin]] building, framing a KGB [[sleeper agent]] as a [[Federal Intelligence Service|West German intelligence]] spy involved in the incident. The Politburo publicly denounces the West German government and calls for retaliation.

Even though a planned attack on a NATO communications facility in [[Dohm-Lammersdorf|Lammersdorf]] was compromised when a [[Spetsnaz]] officer was arrested, the [[Soviet Army]] pushes through with their advance operations in Germany. They suffer reverses on the first night of the war, however, when NATO [[stealth aircraft|stealth]] and [[fighter-bomber]] aircraft achieve [[air superiority]] over Central Europe by eliminating Soviet [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] and [[airborne early warning and control|AEW&C]] aircraft, and destroying key bridges that much of the Soviet Army has yet to cross.

Nevertheless, the [[Soviet Navy]] achieves a decisive early victory by launching a bold amphibious landing on Iceland, taking control of the NATO airbase in [[Naval Air Station Keflavik|Keflavík]].  This is followed up by a substantial air attack against a combined American-French carrier battle group that was originally sent to reinforce Iceland with several landing ships full of US Marines.  The battle results in the loss of several ships including the French carrier ''[[French aircraft carrier Foch|Foch]]'' and the landing ship [[USS Saipan (LHA-2)|USS ''Saipan'']].  Damage was also done to other ships like the US carrier [[USS Nimitz|USS ''Nimitz'']], forcing her to drydock in Britain to undergo repairs.  This leaves the Soviets in control of the strategically important [[GIUK gap]].

NATO and Soviet air and ground forces continue to battle ferociously in Germany, with both sides taking heavy losses. General-Colonel Pavel Alekseyev, the de-facto Soviet senior commander on the ground, scores a breakthrough in a tank battle at [[Alfeld]], opening the possibility of a Soviet advance beyond the [[Weser River]] with far less opposition from NATO forces. Meanwhile, a naval attack on Soviet bomber bases with cruise missiles launched by US Navy submarines opens a window for an amphibious assault on Iceland, retaking the island and effectively closing the Atlantic to Soviet forces. Among the action, a Soviet prisoner captured during the retaking of Iceland reveals the true cause of the war, and a NATO air offensive swiftly destroys much of the Soviet military's readily-available fuel supplies.

With Iceland re-taken, the United States is able to resupply the rest of NATO via the reopened sea lanes. By this point Soviet tank and strategic bomber formations have taken punishing losses, forcing them to further cede the initiative as NATO prepares to mount a decisive counteroffensive. The Soviet leadership begins to realize that they face the possibility of outright defeat—either through a NATO military breakthrough or a war of attrition which, given their desperate lack of oil supplies, would amount to the same result. The General Secretary considers using nuclear weapons to force a favorable end to the war. This infuriates Alekseyev, who had been mobilizing for a final counterattack on Germany but faces execution by the Soviet government for its slow timetable. The KGB chief organizes a coup along with Alekseyev and other members of the Politburo. The new Soviet government then negotiates for a ceasefire with NATO and a return to ''[[status quo ante bellum]]'', ending the war.