July 5 2018, Masini, Uganda:

218 people are massacred when the Lord’s Resistance Army attack an undefended hospital. Amongst the dead are 32 American medical volunteers.

September 12, UN Security Council:

The US announces its plan to eradicate the Lord’s Resistance Army once and for all. But it will mean military intervention in China’s African sphere of influence. The message from the Chinese is keep out.

October 17, Wall Street:

Stock prices tumble as a wave of uncertainty sweeps US markets. Memories of the collapse a decade ago are still fresh, and Washington is prepared to do what it takes to prop up America’s banks. But the government’s concern is that this time the turmoil is orchestrated. That someone is deliberately undermining the US markets.

Three unrelated incidents, or the opening moves in a much larger confrontation between two superpowers?

With hawks and hardliners on both sides keen to provoke conflict, the crisis escalates inexorably. US ambassador Marion Ellman must defuse the situation before it is to late. She knows that the first shot fired will have catastrophic consequences, but with American and Chinese carrier groups massing off the Horn of Africa, her time is running out…

Will the world’s two superpowers pull back from the brink, or is this the end game?