Jack Ryan/Headscratchers

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Patriot Games

• This Commonwealth of Nations troper would like to know how in God's name Jack Ryan acquired a knighthood ... no, scratch that, why he's called by the title 'Sir John' in the United Kingdom, even though he can't accept the knighthood at all, despite Clancy's Hand Wave ... no, scratch that, what I really want to know is how Jack Ryan gets to be so bloody rude to a Captain Ersatz of Prince Charles and get away with it.
  • In fairness, Jack knew he was being an ass, and knew he'd be hip deep in shit if it backfired, but he was basically trying to use shock tactics to prevent said Captain Ersatz from slipping into a Heroic BSOD because of his failed I Just Want to Be Badass moment. It winds up working out well enough, but he does get called out for the rudeness later on, albeit comically.
  • As for how he acquired a knighthood in the first place -- well, as mentioned in the story itself, its been a long while since an heir to the throne was single-handedly saved from certain death under such circumstances, and the Crown's dignity sort of requires an appropriate reward to be handed out when someone does.
  • Also, it's acknowledged in the book that while the knighthood is technically honorary, as a US citizen can't hold one under US law, it's treated as being a legitimate, full one as far as personal interactions in the UK are concerned, as a show of respect for Ryan. See also the knighthoods given to Nimitz, Eisenhower, and some other US flag officers of major commands during World War 2, plus other US citizens in Real Life who've been knighted.
    • If we're going by commonly accepted US law (or at least the current Constitutional interpretation), then Americans are allowed to accept knighthoods or titles from foreign dignitaries, but are not allowed to accept any of the more tangible benefits that come with such grants, like lands or incomes. So it's okay for Jack Ryan to accept a knighthood, maybe with a nice framed commission or plaque. But if Her Majesty were to offer him a lordship for whatever reason, then we'd be running into trouble.

The Bear and the Dragon

• Exactly what was Zhang's position in the Chinese government between Debt of Honor and The Bear and the Dragon? When he's first introduced in Debt of Honor he gives off the vibe of being an intelligence officer, which would put him several levels below Politburo status. In Executive Orders, while presiding over the negotiations after the Airbus shootdown, the Foreign Minister seems to defer to him, giving the impression that he's at least Politburo level. But then suddenly, in The Bear and the Dragon he becomes a senior Politburo member with little to no explanation. Did Clancy just put him in some ambiguous category with no definition this whole time until it seemed convenient to have him become The Man Behind the Man in The Bear and the Dragon?
  • Pretty much. Clancy was very coy with his exact position in the Chinese government, except to make sure we knew it was very high up since Debt Of Honor. In fact, in DOH, Yamata tries to seek sanctuary in Zhang's country once things go south, and Zhang's level of prior assistance and the fact he doesn't want to help Yamata due to the political fallout tells us Zhang is very high up in the government, and since he shows up again in a position where the Chinese Foreign Minster defers to him (and he again is playing The Chessmaster), his position is made a little more clear. However, by TBATD, when the whole Myth Arc ends, he apparently saw little need in trying to conceal anything, especially since Zhang flat out confirms (in private to his associates and at second hand via spy intercepts) his role in the past two books, and in TBATD we learn he's been the string puller behind the mainland Chinese government's expansionist goals the whole time.

Teeth of the Tiger

• Teeth of the Tiger puts a big emphasis on being "post 9/11." This doesn't make sense to me because WAY WORSE THINGS HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED IN UNIVERSE! Denver was NUKED! It was so bad that they got rid of ICBM's. Why does 9/11 get attention in light of this?
  • This can be easily explained. Clancy has often gone on record with the fact his books are an allegory to the time they were written, and if given a choice between canon consistency and getting his point across, he often chooses the latter, though it doesn't diminish the validity of the argument 9/11 would be far less horrifying than the nuking of Denver or worse, the biological terrorism Daryaei used in Executive Orders, which does get referenced in TOTT.

Dead or Alive

• Why would Clark be worried about the ADDO learning about the drug dealer murders he committed in Without Remorse? As of Executive Orders, he has a Presidential pardon for that signed by Jack Ryan. Said event could potentially end up being embarrassing to Ryan's reelection campaign (Which didn't exist at the time that this issue was brought up), depending on how Kealty attempts to spin it if he learns of it, but Clark can't be prosecuted for that.
  • Having not read DOA, this may have been addressed, but the President cannot pardon state crimes. Clark killing the drug dealers were all Maryland state felonies with no statute of limitations, so unless the Governor signed off on it (and a call from the President probably would have done that), he's still on the hook.
  • Several things to remember about Clark's case: one, he was a CIA agent (a temporary one, but still on the federal payroll and performing classified duties) at the time he committed the murders. Two, his murders were all part of a single criminal conspiracy and occurred in multiple state jurisdictions, as well as one murder on a Federal reservation (the guy in the pressure chamber) and several more on a navigable waterway under Coast Guard jurisdiction. And finally, the local police asked for assistance from Federal agencies at several points in the case. Any one of these would be a valid reason to take jurisdiction away from the state of Maryland and make it a federal case, and they had all three.
• At the beginning of Teeth of the Tiger, 56MoHa murders a Mossad agent in the men's room of a restaurant. At the end of the book, Jack Jr kills 56MoHa in the same restroom. The knife that 56MoHa used to kill the Israeli is found on his body, with some traces of the victim's blood still on it. Said knife was sent for DNA testing. That means that it is quite likely that the Italian public knows that an Israeli diplomat was murdered in a restaurant, and that his killer died of an apparent heart attack in the exact same room a couple months later. Why didn't anyone comment on this in Dead or Alive? Why didn't the Emir come to the conclusion that this was no coincidence and that the Mossad was sending him a return message?
  • Most likely because said Emir assumed that the killers weren't Mossad--the Israelis might have realized the identity of the COS's killer only after Mohammed Hassan al-Din died.
    • And nobody else came to the highly plausible conclusion that the Mossad had done it? If nothing else the Mossad would probably want the world to think that they had avenged the murder of an Israeli diplomat.
• Is it me, or do parts of the novel itself have the feel of "events prior to Teeth of the Tiger?" Fa'ad living--himself having been shredded by a streetcar after being poisoned, Yuriy's execution--he was already dead in Tiger...
  • I can't speak as to the former, but the latter was never named explicitly in TOTT, so it could be another guy who got offed instead.