In 1942, the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, began building prototypes of a long-range plane, the Me-264, known as “the New York Bomber.”
Fortunately, Adolf Hitler never got the chance to use it against the United States (or an intercontinental ballistic missile, which appeared later on German drawing boards).
Other than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has not been attacked since Pearl Harbor.
In fact, though our politics and some of our basic consumer services in finance and health have been subject to rising cyberattacks, American citizens have not been bombed, blockaded or starved since the War of 1812.
Our overriding goal should be to keep it that way. It will not be easy.
War is the natural state of humankind. It always has been.
With North Korea sending troops to Russia for its war against Ukraine, China holding live fire drills off Taiwan, and the significant risk of full-scale war in the Middle East, chances are growing for a global conflagration. To avoid it, the world needs strong U.S. leadership.
Our foreign wars since World War II have not been very successful. Korea, the “Forgotten War,” took 36,000 American lives and ended in a stalemate. Vietnam tore up the country and cost more than 58,000 lives. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost trillions and made Americans question the use of military power.
But wars fought at home are much, much worse. And the next one could be very bad indeed.
There is more armed conflict today than at any time since the end of World War II. The temptation is to turn away, to disengage, to retreat to Fortress America. Tempting, but impossible.
So far, it has been limited to Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa, but with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea forming a hate-America coalition, there is talk of World War III.
What would it look like? A dizzying kind of total war, waged with all manner of technology against entire populations.
Already, the Chinese are planting malware in our infrastructure through shadowy programs with code-names such as Volt Typhoon.
A hideous weapon called an EMP attack would permanently fry the electric grid with the electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude nuclear detonation. And satellites have just spotted Russia expanding a biological warfare facility.
