Chris Payne

High Crimes and Low Stakes Chris Payne

The professors at the American University of the Southern Balkans, AUSB, have become lazy, complacent and resistant to change, so when a new reforming departmental chair is appointed with a brief to shake them up, they mount a witch hunt to have him fired. At the same time the US president is trying to push forward a plan to replace all NATO airbases with stations of unmanned 'drones' capable of carrying nuclear weapons. He decides to sell the plan secretly and the first country to be approached is the small country in Southeast Europe where AUSB is located. An election is due and the pro-western prime minister must win if the plan is to succeed. The CIA agent who fixes the election is also the provost of the American university. Two political threads - the high crimes of government and the low stakes bitter politics of the university common room - are interwoven in this satire of intrigue, double-dealing and political corruption.