Created by the bestselling SF novelist Jerry Pournelle, THERE WILL BE WAR is a landmark science fiction anthology series that combines top-notch military science fiction with factual essays by various generals and military experts on everything from High Frontier and the Strategic Defense Initiative to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. THERE WILL BE WAR is a treasure trove of science fiction and history that will educate and amaze new readers while reminding old ones how much the world has changed over the last three decades. Most of the stories, like war itself, remain entirely relevant today.
This fifth volume includes:
- Warriors and Statesmen Jerry Pournelle
- He Fell Into a Dark Hole Jerry Pournelle
- Coup Mack Reynolds
- The Prevention of War Stefan T. Possony, Jerry E. Pournelle, and Francis X. Kane
- The Wedding March Edward P. Hughes
- Ford O’ Kabul River Rudyard Kipling
- Fighting Back Douglas J. Greenlaw and Robert Gleason
- Victory J. P. Boyd
- The War Against “Star Wars” Robert Jastrow
- Final Solution Ames Mackenzie
- Masterplay William F. Wu
- Defense in a N-dimensional World Stefan T. Possony
- Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries a. E. Housman
- The Oracles a. E. Housman
- The Last Three Days Timothy P. Sarnecki
- The Interrogation Team David Drake
- A Time of Martyrs Jim Fiscus
- The Road Not Taken Harry Turtledove
- Delusions of Soviet Weakness Edward N. Luttwak
- The Day and the Hour Duncan Lunan
- House of Weapons Gordon R. Dickson
It is axiomatic that one must never underestimate the enemy. If the Soviets are not giants, neither are they midgets. They do have weaknesses, and in recent years a spate of books showing those weaknesses have enjoyed wide popularity. One, Tom Clancy’s The Hunt For Red October, was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. There was also General Hackett’s series of works in which the West loses all the battles of World War III, but eventually triumphs because of internal stresses within the Soviet Empire. I fervently hope that these books reflect the true state of affairs inside the Soviet military machine; but I am much afraid that there is an element of wishful thinking at work here. Without military power the Soviet Union is no more than a rather large conglomerate of backward and undeveloped countries. Despite spectaculars like the Moscow subway, their rail and surface road net is primitive. They have yet to achieve the agricultural triumphs of Czarist times. Industrial production is low and quality of goods is lower. We see this and naturally assume that military structure is equally fouled up. Alas, that may well be no more than hope, and dangerous hope at that. Fortunately we have Edward Luttwak to give us warning. — Delusions Of Soviet Weakness by Edward N. Luttwak first appeared in the January 1985 Commentary.
This was written in 1985 but nothing has changed in almost 40 years. The West’s war hawks continue to believe that Russia continues be the Soviet Union and as the late McCain said “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country”. Or Yuval Noah Harari saying “Russia is a gas station with nukes.” Or, Lindsey Graham who wants the United States to fight Russia, China and Iran all at the same time. They have all ignored Edward Luttwak’s warning.
I have started reading the second book in the Collapse Chronicles Series by Dmitry Orlov. This is again a collection of essays from his ClubOrlov blog written in the 1980s. This quote is from one of those essays that I think has current relevance.
In the United States the problem is significantly worse. Here, there is no unique national language, no single ethnic, historical or cultural identity, and the nation as a whole is a synthetic entity—the result of an explicit political pact. We are expected to derive our sense of belonging from our inclusion in a set of impersonal public institutions and participation in a scripted political process. But in spite of what our handlers in politics and the media tell us, our gut sense is that these public institutions do not belong to us, and that the political process is one of manipulation rather than inclusion. Many of us know full well that we live in a kleptocracy that prioritizes international financial interests and the interests of a small, privileged rentier class above all else. More and more of us are being excluded—based on our inability to pay for a middle-class lifestyle.…
Inability to maintain a psychologically healthy sense of belonging gives rise to a certain consistent syndrome, first described by Wilfred Bion in Experiences in Groups and Other Papers (New York: Basic Books 1961). When the dominant culture fails to produce a sense of belonging, the human mind regresses to a preverbal state, where it is ruled by innate, subconscious impulses that are common to higher social animals. Depending on one’s personality and situation, one or another of three major impulses described by Bion may come to dominate the behavior of the individual, and, in due course, the society as a whole.
When it comes to aggressive young males, the sense of disconnection produces in them a heightened sense of insecurity and anxiety which directly affects the sympathetic nervous system. This may cause an animal to behave more aggressively, or, in the case of the human animal, to gather rocks and to find and sharpen sticks, or, technology and finances allowing, to purchase semiautomatic assault weapons and lots of ammunition. This process may then progress through several stages. The end result is the spontaneous development of a warrior mentality—a cultural universal marked by a desire to prove oneself in battle, contempt for death, and a tendency toward what Emile Durkheim called “altruistic suicide.” — Politics of the Unconscious in Societies That Collapse