Mislav Kužić’s Reviews > Nuclear War: A Scenario > Status Update

It's a good thing the author didn't start pushing moral messages about pity in a nuclear war because once the Rubicon is crossed in that conflict there is no more mercy. The deterrence system died when the first missile was launched. There shouldn't be much emotion involved in military decisions, and that's especially in NATO because they should be used to the Russian threat anyway. The end of humanity is here.

Describing in detail the consequences of acute nuclear poisoning suffered by Harry Daghlian are gruesome, but also pointless because it is widely known how dangerous it is, but it is also good that it is so. Also, repeated attempts to get into the head of the Russian president are unnecessary and detract from the good parts of the procedural descriptions that would lead Russia to launch nuclear weapons at the USA.

Commotion in Europe and NATO will surely be interpreted by the Russians as preparations for an attack on them, and the game of broken telephones continues because the American president is missing. Trying to understand the thinking of the North Korean leadership is interesting and sinister because they are the only country that would be willing to destroy the world to save itself.

The scenario unfolds in a predictable direction where all good ideas and protocols are thrown to the wind when they meet reality. Some elements that the author has inserted are quite Hollywood and unbelievable. What is true is the panic that will immediately break out so that the Russians do not perceive the launch of an American missiles as a threat. It's interesting what will happen to the president.

It is ominous and quite cold-blooded to describe in detail the consequences of a nuclear attack on a nuclear power plant, it would be enough to say how much stronger it was than the one on Hiroshima. It is also interesting to follow the American response to the attack, because it took them a long time to launch it. Of course the Russian broken phone came into play, because they have spies everywhere and now is ON!

In the cold and sinister description, submarines from which nuclear missiles can be launched are the most dangerous for a possible conflict. An attack on a nuclear power plant is equally dangerous because then the so-called devil's scenario. Only North Korea would do something like that because it is the most desperate of all nuclear powers. Even its submarines could surprise the US defense, which is spread out.

Even the plan for a nuclear attack, has some unpredictable situations, because that same plan must be implemented by people. So until the president orders a launch, there is no launch, at least for now, although the military's nerves are slowly cracking. But that's why politicians are already looking at what the world will look like after the strike, which is already inevitable due to the two launched warheads.

The concept of the book is quite readable and interesting because it intertwines fictional parts that constantly extend the drama, with historical additions that explain the objects, strategies and procedures in the decision-making chain of the American nuclear response. In the fictional scenario, we have reached the moment when the president, with the help of a nuclear briefcase, initiated the US response.

There are two problems in the initial phase of a nuclear attack, the possibility of an early warning system reporting false results and the possibility of destroying the incoming missile itself. The first situation happened several times during the Cold War and smart heads prevailed, while the second situation is so expensive and untested that there is only a 54% chance of it succeeding. At least that is for US.

It is a paradoxical that the person who is most ignorant of the response plan to the launch of a nuclear missile is the same person who has to decide what the response of the USA is, the president. In a way, this is logical because if that decision comes to him, it means that the situation is serious. The doctrine of strike without waiting, is necessary the US will immediately retaliate, even on the alert itself.