Annihilation from Within - The Ultimate Threat to Nations

Klappentext In this eloquent and impassioned book! defense expert Fred Iklé predicts a revolution in national security that few strategists have grasped; fewer still are mindful of its historic roots. We are preoccupied with suicide bombers! jihadist terrorists! and rogue nations producing nuclear weapons! but these menaces are merely distant thunder that foretells the gathering storm. To explain how we have become so vulnerable! Iklé turns to history. Some 250 years ago! science was freed from political and religious constraints! causing a cultural split in which one part of our culture remained animated by religion and politics while the other became guided by science. Zusammenfassung Globalization guarantees the spread of new technologies! whether beneficial or destructive! and this proliferation reaches beyond North Korea! Iran! and other rogue states. Our greatest threat is a cunning tyrant who might gain a few weapons of mass destruction and annihilate a nation's government from within! assuming dictatorial power. The twentieth century offers vivid examples of tyrants who have exploited major national disasters by rallying violent followers and intimidating an entire nation. To explain how we have become so vulnerable! Fred Ikle turns to history. Some 250 years ago! science was freed from political and religious constraints! causing a cultural split. Since then! science has advanced at an accelerating pace while religion and politics have moved along a zigzag course. This divergence will widen and endanger the survival of nations. Drawing on his experience as a Washington insider! Ikle outlines the practical measures that could be implemented to help us avert catastrophe.

Product details

• Authors: Fred Charles Ikl?, Fred Charles Ikle, Fred Charles Iklé
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.10.2009
• EAN: 9780231139533
• ISBN: 978-0-231-13953-3
• No. of pages: 160
• Series: Columbia University Press
• Subjects: Non-fiction book; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political administration; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom, POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General, Politics & government, Terrorism, armed struggle, Impact of science and technology on society, Military and defence strategy, Religious intolerance, persecution and conflict