Overview
RINIC is an adversary bloc in Current Affairs. Vincent Becker describes it as an agreement among adversary nations that aims to overturn the global liberal order.
RINIC’s Pacific actions turn Calvin Munn’s media work into a wartime-political role. The bloc is tied to ship harassment, the Daniel Inouye attack, the USNS Mercy attack, and Harrison Martingale’s compromise.
Role In The Novel
RINIC first becomes central to Calvin’s MILPREP work when Becker redirects attention toward Pacific-region propaganda and away from other angles. Sailors aboard the USS Carl Vinson describe RINIC ships cutting in front of, ramming, lasing, and electronically harassing U.S. vessels.
A RINIC cruiser fires on the USS Daniel Inouye while the destroyer escorts refugee ships, killing and wounding sailors. Later, a RINIC missile barrage hits the USNS Mercy in the Philippine Sea, prompting the Hudson Yards rally at which Calvin is injured.
RINIC is also connected to Martingale through a red-clad woman who appears to be directing or blackmailing him. By the end of the novel, Nik Marlan tells Calvin that RINIC is paying restitution for the Mercy attack and that the crisis may cool if the United States does not roll over.