Monday, July 13, 2015

Authors hoping that their "novel will help focus U.S. strategy on deterring war."

Does preparing for war deter war? Or does it arouse potential opponents and lead to war?

What deters war? Not preparing for war does not seem to prevent war, nor do treaties and international bodies such as the UN, NATO or European Union  prevent war - witness the invasions of Georgia and Ukraine by Russia or the current wars in Africa, Syria and Iraq, to name just a few.

“Ghost Fleet” portrays Beijing paralyzing the U.S. military by inserting malware into chips manufactured in China for use in American warships and planes. When the Chinese activate the chips to cripple U.S. fighters, planes from the 1970s are redeployed because they don’t have Chinese chips.

Just as the Pentagon turned to Detroit to build armaments for World War II, in the novel Silicon Valley returns to its defense-industry roots to win the cyberwar. Among the characters is a high-tech billionaire who launches himself into orbit to reclaim the international space station after it is seized by Russians and used by the Chinese to destroy U.S. satellites. The hacking group Anonymous helps by defeating a Chinese cyberattack on the U.S. electrical grid.

The novel includes almost 400 endnotes with citations showing even the most far-fetched technologies in the book are based on reality."

From a review in: http://www.wsj.com/articles/portents-of-world-cyberwar-1436740393#livefyre-comment

The online comment section is especially interesting.