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The Next War
You can read The Next War as a military novel and find it riveting.-- Business Week
470 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
7 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Caspar Weinberger
11 books7 followersCaspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger was an American politician and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after Robert McNamara and Donald Rumsfeld. He is also known for his role in the Strategic Defense Initiative program.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 8, 2021
I don't think that I've ever read a cringe-ier right-wing "let's all sit around and give each other hand jobs" book of "potential wars."
The basic premise of this book, as outlined in the introduction, is that any cuts to military spending for any reason by any one are ultimately bad and will lead to the doom of the entire world - no, this is not hyperbole. And, even though this book was published in 1996, they had to have Margaret Thatcher (no, I will not use her title as I'm an American, screw your nobility) write a foreword in which she blames everything on the damn Commies - as the right-wingers will never get over the blue-balls that they suffer from every day because they weren't able to unleash the entire American nuclear arsenal on the Soviet Union. Let's examine these scenarios, shall we? (oh, and these aren't supposed to be linked or related, they say - but they use the same characters over and over and over again because god forbid we try a little creativity):
Oh, I should also mention that it is clear that President St. John is possibly a newly elected President in all of these scenarios - taking over after a presumably "damned Liberal" administration wrecked everything militarily...
#1 North Korea invades South Korea in 1998 (and China invades many of the islands of the South China Sea, because why not?): So, the basic premise of this book, that "we must spend all the dollars on the military and the CIA to prevent all the wars," is immediately undone with this case as Kim Jong Ill initiates the war with a biological attack (Anthrax) on an American base and then drops a nuclear bomb or two on the retreating survivors. These are not the actions of a rational person, or one who would be kowtowed by the presence of say 20,000 American Troops versus 10,000 American Troops. In point of fact, the only difference would be that there would be more American casualties from the opening salvo. Ultimately, the US is able to stop the advance of the North Koreans at about the same demarcation lines as those which were drawn in the Korean War of the '50s, and even begin to push back. Kim Jong Ill decides that he must deploy his entire nuclear arsenal, however, before he can, one of his Generals (a more rational person) shoots him and takes over the government. A cease-fire is reached and everyone returns to their pre-war borders...presumably. China just sort of agrees, too, I guess. General Hu (apparently, the leader of China) is just an ancillary character who also thought Kim Jong Ill was crazy...so, see...when you don't allow unlimited military spending Liberals, the North Koreans are still beaten, and probably better off since the Kim dynasty is no more...and well, I mean...the USA won and stuff anyway - but buy more tanks and stuff, damned liberals!!
#2 The Great Iranian Boogey-Man: Man these right-wingers are terrified of Iran. They even try to scare you buy telling you that Iran is like 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the USA, so BE SCARED!! This scenario begins in 1999, where the Iranians have acquired a handful of nuclear weapons because they hired a bunch of ex-Soviet scientists. They demonstrate their power by blowing one up in the skies above Iran, and tell everyone to be scared. They then invade Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. They claim that they will allow the Persian Gulf to stay open for trade, but then lie and threaten to invade Saudi Arabia. They also state that if anyone tries to stop them, they'll nuke a random European City. Thusly, the American President tells Saudi Arabia, too bad about those treaty commitments, we can let a city full of white people get blowed up! So, the US runs away...also because if Iran followed through with their threats oil prices could shoot up to the "outrageous price" of $100 per barrel...however, as soon as the US announces that it's running away, oil prices shoot up to $105 per barrel...so I'm missing the author's point there. Eventually, the US decides to send a few submarines in and Iran retaliates by nuking some city in Italy. They meant to nuke Rome, but faulty Soviet guidance systems sent them off course - silly Commies. Anyway, the US retaliates by nuking the Iranian nuclear facility and...the end, I guess. No resolution is written...I guess Iran surrenders maybe or something...but, of course, none of this would have happened if it weren't for those stinking kids, uh, I mean, if the CIA had a bajillion dollars and stuff...
#3 Let's Invade Mexico! The right-wingers are really creaming all over themselves with this one. It's 2003 and drugs and immigrants are flooding over the US borders (several million a year, per the author - the real actual rate seems to be about one million that year from all over the world, but, we gotta feed our right-wing narrative). The President's staff calls it a civilian invasion, and there are shootouts in the streets between drug cartels, which must be the fault of that damned "quasi-Marxist" President the Mexicans freely and legally elected into office in 1999. The solution: Invade Mexico! So, of course, this goes over without a hitch, because it's Mexico, and the US unilaterally declares war on Mexico, and is clearly the aggressor/invader. The US easily succeeds in overthrowing the LEGALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF ONE OF OUR CLOSEST ALLIES and installs a a pro-American dictator (the former Mexican Foreign Minister) who promises to hold elections in 6 months: the end! Everyone's happy and the right-wingers get to jack off all over each other with their success. Keep in mind that nothing has actually changed. The socio-economic situation which led to the mass-wave of immigration from Mexico remains unchanged. The drug cartels are still conducting business as usual because drug policies haven't changed, nor were any operations conducted against them or their support system...so I have no fucking idea how the authors thought this was a win! Hooray, go USA, I guess. I mean, of course, the US violated about a dozen treaties (but, as in the earlier scenarios - and those yet to come, the author's don't seem to care one iota about treaties) and one could argue the the entire United Nations will now come after the USA...after all - we were the aggressor. We invaded a sovereign state for no reason. But, buy more tanks! USA! USA! Not to mention the Organization of American States...
#4 Russia Has Space Magic: It's 2006 and for the last five years, Russia has been under the thumb of an unelected nationalist President. Not only that, but Russia has been able to secretly develop a nation-wide anti-ballistic missile defense shield rendering them impervious to nuclear attack, and we were completely unaware of it because those damned liberals wouldn't give the CIA unlimited moneys, plus they developed a directed radio-wave energy cannon on a tank which we see a demonstration of - as it kills a whole room full of dogs instantaneously...and then we never see it again throughout the rest of the story. Oh, but they also developed some kind of laser beam which blinds pilots instantly - which we don't see being developed...so, I wonder if the authors forgot what they actually created at one point so made something else up. This "laser" by the way, is never described. Is it a pistol? A rifle? On a tank? I have no fucking idea...but it's an "Infantry Weapon"...so, yep. Anyway, the troops on the ground are able to aim these lasers at overhead fighter jets and blind the pilots, who then all crash (all of them - literally hundreds of them). So let me get this straight: troops on the ground...shoot lasers...at jets flying hundreds of feet overhead...going hundreds of miles per hour...somehow not only hitting the cockpit on top of the small, fast-moving target...but also precisely striking the pilot right in the eyes. See! Anyone can win when they have the power of space magic.
The Russians invade Poland and the Czech Republic and we don't stop them because, even though we have treaties that obligate us to do so, and supposedly have principles, the Russians threatened to nuke American cities if we try to stop them. So for "practicality," the US pulls out of Europe and almost all of the nations of Europe surrender because no one can stop the Russians without being nuked (I guess the axiom of "Better Die on One's Feet Then Live As a Slave" doesn't apply to those damned liberal Europeans, eh?). Flash forward two years later, and President St. John - I have no idea how this man was re-elected in 2008 being the "coward" who surrendered Europe to the Russians (that's how the Right will see him) - but, who knows, maybe he's actually fulfilled the right-wing fantasy and declared himself a dictator for reasons of "national security"...and the US has somehow deployed satellites capable of shooting down nukes. How we launched literally thousands of rockets into space over a two-year time frame whilst telling the Russians it was "nothing to worry about" I have no fucking clue. The Russians eventually say stop after it's too late, and we say no, so they launch two nukes at us: the end. Seriously, that's how it ends. No resolution, no plot furtherance, no idea if the satellites worked. Oh, get this, after the Russians conquer Europe, the author's go on about how the centrally-planned economy Russia has always had is a wreck and they are unable to do anything and have to extort money from the USA to stay afloat. So how the hell did they build all the magical space fairy laser weapons over the past decade to begin with?!?!?
#5 World War Two All Over Again: It's 2007 and the Japanese decide to build an Empire and since the Liberals have slashed military funding, the US only has 11 carrier battle groups instead of 15 (this is stated as a "slashing of titanic proportions" by the way: 15 to 11, not 15 to 8 or 15 to 5, but 15 to 11 - 25% ain't exactly "titanic" - but, oh no, say it ain't so). Also the Japanese have created their own nuclear weapons in 2001 and apparently have built 7 aircraft carriers of their own by 2007. According to my real world database here, they had none of those things at the time. But, I guess 2007 seems awfully far away from 1996. I mean, knowing what I know about aircraft carriers and their nearly decades-long build time, they'd pretty much already have to be building them in 1996 to have them tested, shook down, maiden-voyaged, and commissioned by 2007 (plus, where did they get all of the carrier-capable aircraft - not to mention figuring out how to conduct them operationally and fit them into their own naval strategies...we have nearly 100 years of carriers in the navy to build from), but why would logic stop a right-winger. Also, the Japanese apparently have "stealth subs" that can't be detected by any means and are used in this story to sink one group of destroyers as a sort of opening salvo in the war, and then they are never seen again (pun unintended)...because the authors keep bad notes, I guess. At the end, eventually the tide has turned against the Japanese and they decide to seek an armistice rather than launch their nuclear weapons. We are treated to a scene where the Defense Minister disagrees with the Cabinet and leaves the room whilst armed troops storm in with guns drawn and then...the end. Seriously, that's how it ends. Did his coup succeed? Did he launch the nukes? Were those even his troops? Were they private security? Was it all a Romulan plot? Um...
Anyway, this book was fun to read, but oh my god, if this was the man that Regan had as his Defense Secretary, no wonder the 80s were fucked up. The conclusion that they want you to draw is that the US needs to spend all the dollars on defense and the CIA because if we don't, everyone will go to war with us and they will have magical space lasers and fairy dust and they will beat us...maybe...sometimes...I mean, we won all of the scenarios in the end, presumably, except for all the cliffhangers, I guess...so, I think they kind of undid all of their efforts there. It's just like how the Right can't meme...they also can't really scare anyone with more than two brain cells. Because when you lack logic to begin with, you can't confer it to others.
The basic premise of this book, as outlined in the introduction, is that any cuts to military spending for any reason by any one are ultimately bad and will lead to the doom of the entire world - no, this is not hyperbole. And, even though this book was published in 1996, they had to have Margaret Thatcher (no, I will not use her title as I'm an American, screw your nobility) write a foreword in which she blames everything on the damn Commies - as the right-wingers will never get over the blue-balls that they suffer from every day because they weren't able to unleash the entire American nuclear arsenal on the Soviet Union. Let's examine these scenarios, shall we? (oh, and these aren't supposed to be linked or related, they say - but they use the same characters over and over and over again because god forbid we try a little creativity):
Oh, I should also mention that it is clear that President St. John is possibly a newly elected President in all of these scenarios - taking over after a presumably "damned Liberal" administration wrecked everything militarily...
#1 North Korea invades South Korea in 1998 (and China invades many of the islands of the South China Sea, because why not?): So, the basic premise of this book, that "we must spend all the dollars on the military and the CIA to prevent all the wars," is immediately undone with this case as Kim Jong Ill initiates the war with a biological attack (Anthrax) on an American base and then drops a nuclear bomb or two on the retreating survivors. These are not the actions of a rational person, or one who would be kowtowed by the presence of say 20,000 American Troops versus 10,000 American Troops. In point of fact, the only difference would be that there would be more American casualties from the opening salvo. Ultimately, the US is able to stop the advance of the North Koreans at about the same demarcation lines as those which were drawn in the Korean War of the '50s, and even begin to push back. Kim Jong Ill decides that he must deploy his entire nuclear arsenal, however, before he can, one of his Generals (a more rational person) shoots him and takes over the government. A cease-fire is reached and everyone returns to their pre-war borders...presumably. China just sort of agrees, too, I guess. General Hu (apparently, the leader of China) is just an ancillary character who also thought Kim Jong Ill was crazy...so, see...when you don't allow unlimited military spending Liberals, the North Koreans are still beaten, and probably better off since the Kim dynasty is no more...and well, I mean...the USA won and stuff anyway - but buy more tanks and stuff, damned liberals!!
#2 The Great Iranian Boogey-Man: Man these right-wingers are terrified of Iran. They even try to scare you buy telling you that Iran is like 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the USA, so BE SCARED!! This scenario begins in 1999, where the Iranians have acquired a handful of nuclear weapons because they hired a bunch of ex-Soviet scientists. They demonstrate their power by blowing one up in the skies above Iran, and tell everyone to be scared. They then invade Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. They claim that they will allow the Persian Gulf to stay open for trade, but then lie and threaten to invade Saudi Arabia. They also state that if anyone tries to stop them, they'll nuke a random European City. Thusly, the American President tells Saudi Arabia, too bad about those treaty commitments, we can let a city full of white people get blowed up! So, the US runs away...also because if Iran followed through with their threats oil prices could shoot up to the "outrageous price" of $100 per barrel...however, as soon as the US announces that it's running away, oil prices shoot up to $105 per barrel...so I'm missing the author's point there. Eventually, the US decides to send a few submarines in and Iran retaliates by nuking some city in Italy. They meant to nuke Rome, but faulty Soviet guidance systems sent them off course - silly Commies. Anyway, the US retaliates by nuking the Iranian nuclear facility and...the end, I guess. No resolution is written...I guess Iran surrenders maybe or something...but, of course, none of this would have happened if it weren't for those stinking kids, uh, I mean, if the CIA had a bajillion dollars and stuff...
#3 Let's Invade Mexico! The right-wingers are really creaming all over themselves with this one. It's 2003 and drugs and immigrants are flooding over the US borders (several million a year, per the author - the real actual rate seems to be about one million that year from all over the world, but, we gotta feed our right-wing narrative). The President's staff calls it a civilian invasion, and there are shootouts in the streets between drug cartels, which must be the fault of that damned "quasi-Marxist" President the Mexicans freely and legally elected into office in 1999. The solution: Invade Mexico! So, of course, this goes over without a hitch, because it's Mexico, and the US unilaterally declares war on Mexico, and is clearly the aggressor/invader. The US easily succeeds in overthrowing the LEGALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF ONE OF OUR CLOSEST ALLIES and installs a a pro-American dictator (the former Mexican Foreign Minister) who promises to hold elections in 6 months: the end! Everyone's happy and the right-wingers get to jack off all over each other with their success. Keep in mind that nothing has actually changed. The socio-economic situation which led to the mass-wave of immigration from Mexico remains unchanged. The drug cartels are still conducting business as usual because drug policies haven't changed, nor were any operations conducted against them or their support system...so I have no fucking idea how the authors thought this was a win! Hooray, go USA, I guess. I mean, of course, the US violated about a dozen treaties (but, as in the earlier scenarios - and those yet to come, the author's don't seem to care one iota about treaties) and one could argue the the entire United Nations will now come after the USA...after all - we were the aggressor. We invaded a sovereign state for no reason. But, buy more tanks! USA! USA! Not to mention the Organization of American States...
#4 Russia Has Space Magic: It's 2006 and for the last five years, Russia has been under the thumb of an unelected nationalist President. Not only that, but Russia has been able to secretly develop a nation-wide anti-ballistic missile defense shield rendering them impervious to nuclear attack, and we were completely unaware of it because those damned liberals wouldn't give the CIA unlimited moneys, plus they developed a directed radio-wave energy cannon on a tank which we see a demonstration of - as it kills a whole room full of dogs instantaneously...and then we never see it again throughout the rest of the story. Oh, but they also developed some kind of laser beam which blinds pilots instantly - which we don't see being developed...so, I wonder if the authors forgot what they actually created at one point so made something else up. This "laser" by the way, is never described. Is it a pistol? A rifle? On a tank? I have no fucking idea...but it's an "Infantry Weapon"...so, yep. Anyway, the troops on the ground are able to aim these lasers at overhead fighter jets and blind the pilots, who then all crash (all of them - literally hundreds of them). So let me get this straight: troops on the ground...shoot lasers...at jets flying hundreds of feet overhead...going hundreds of miles per hour...somehow not only hitting the cockpit on top of the small, fast-moving target...but also precisely striking the pilot right in the eyes. See! Anyone can win when they have the power of space magic.
The Russians invade Poland and the Czech Republic and we don't stop them because, even though we have treaties that obligate us to do so, and supposedly have principles, the Russians threatened to nuke American cities if we try to stop them. So for "practicality," the US pulls out of Europe and almost all of the nations of Europe surrender because no one can stop the Russians without being nuked (I guess the axiom of "Better Die on One's Feet Then Live As a Slave" doesn't apply to those damned liberal Europeans, eh?). Flash forward two years later, and President St. John - I have no idea how this man was re-elected in 2008 being the "coward" who surrendered Europe to the Russians (that's how the Right will see him) - but, who knows, maybe he's actually fulfilled the right-wing fantasy and declared himself a dictator for reasons of "national security"...and the US has somehow deployed satellites capable of shooting down nukes. How we launched literally thousands of rockets into space over a two-year time frame whilst telling the Russians it was "nothing to worry about" I have no fucking clue. The Russians eventually say stop after it's too late, and we say no, so they launch two nukes at us: the end. Seriously, that's how it ends. No resolution, no plot furtherance, no idea if the satellites worked. Oh, get this, after the Russians conquer Europe, the author's go on about how the centrally-planned economy Russia has always had is a wreck and they are unable to do anything and have to extort money from the USA to stay afloat. So how the hell did they build all the magical space fairy laser weapons over the past decade to begin with?!?!?
#5 World War Two All Over Again: It's 2007 and the Japanese decide to build an Empire and since the Liberals have slashed military funding, the US only has 11 carrier battle groups instead of 15 (this is stated as a "slashing of titanic proportions" by the way: 15 to 11, not 15 to 8 or 15 to 5, but 15 to 11 - 25% ain't exactly "titanic" - but, oh no, say it ain't so). Also the Japanese have created their own nuclear weapons in 2001 and apparently have built 7 aircraft carriers of their own by 2007. According to my real world database here, they had none of those things at the time. But, I guess 2007 seems awfully far away from 1996. I mean, knowing what I know about aircraft carriers and their nearly decades-long build time, they'd pretty much already have to be building them in 1996 to have them tested, shook down, maiden-voyaged, and commissioned by 2007 (plus, where did they get all of the carrier-capable aircraft - not to mention figuring out how to conduct them operationally and fit them into their own naval strategies...we have nearly 100 years of carriers in the navy to build from), but why would logic stop a right-winger. Also, the Japanese apparently have "stealth subs" that can't be detected by any means and are used in this story to sink one group of destroyers as a sort of opening salvo in the war, and then they are never seen again (pun unintended)...because the authors keep bad notes, I guess. At the end, eventually the tide has turned against the Japanese and they decide to seek an armistice rather than launch their nuclear weapons. We are treated to a scene where the Defense Minister disagrees with the Cabinet and leaves the room whilst armed troops storm in with guns drawn and then...the end. Seriously, that's how it ends. Did his coup succeed? Did he launch the nukes? Were those even his troops? Were they private security? Was it all a Romulan plot? Um...
Anyway, this book was fun to read, but oh my god, if this was the man that Regan had as his Defense Secretary, no wonder the 80s were fucked up. The conclusion that they want you to draw is that the US needs to spend all the dollars on defense and the CIA because if we don't, everyone will go to war with us and they will have magical space lasers and fairy dust and they will beat us...maybe...sometimes...I mean, we won all of the scenarios in the end, presumably, except for all the cliffhangers, I guess...so, I think they kind of undid all of their efforts there. It's just like how the Right can't meme...they also can't really scare anyone with more than two brain cells. Because when you lack logic to begin with, you can't confer it to others.
November 29, 2011
A series of vignettes that read like poorly written stories that Tom Clancy discarded because they weren't believable enough. Weinberger is trying to scare us into believing that these horrible events can occur. Most of them don't pass the laugh test.
March 6, 2007
Hmph. In retrospect- total paranoia.
This book was pretty interesting because it taught me a lot about weapons/ weapons systems back when I was deeply interested in that sort of thing...
This book was pretty interesting because it taught me a lot about weapons/ weapons systems back when I was deeply interested in that sort of thing...
October 23, 2009
An interesting book that points up some of the problems we now have. It would have been better to have read it when it was new.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews