2034, Stavridis & Ackerman - B +

   The Sino-American war begins with a provocation by the Chinese during an American 'freedom of navigation patrol' near the Spratlys in the South China Sea.  Two US destroyers are sunk after Chinese cyberwarfare eliminates all US Naval technological capacity in the Pacific. The US will be fighting a 21st century war with a hundred years old tool box. Slowly, the escalation begins. Two US fleets respond and again, without the ability to use their avionics, they are sunk. A tactical nuke hits the Chinese mainland, and two responses hit the US. Enjoying the chaos, Russia grabs Polish territory in order to pen up a corridor to Kaliningrad. The Indians intervene dramatically and stop the war before it ends the world. The US, though, is greatly diminished, and China is hurt as much. 

   Insight into the two sides are seen through a Chinese Admiral whose mother was American and an Indian-American staffer on the NSC in the White House, who was born in the US to immigrant parents. The author points out each nation's failings based on their historic tendencies. The US still believes it has the right to do whatever it wants, without regard to its own hypocrisies. Decades of partisan battles have left the country a shadow of itself.  Even this war can't bring the US together. The technologically superior Chinese are too are arrogant, and are convinced that the concept of appropriate response form Sun Tzu will keep matters under control. It doesn't. 

 The authors, two very important members of the US military military establishment, close with a quote from Lincoln: "If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. " This is a dark warning to us about our overreliance on technology and fractious, non-constructive methods of governance.