The 2020 Commission Report - book wrapup

Recently finished reading Jeffrey Lewis' "The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel".  Lewis is a renowned expert on arms control and close observer of the North Korean weapons program.

The novel tells of a not-too-distant future where misunderstandings, miscalculations and asymmetric information lead Kim Jong Un to launch nuclear strikes on South Korea, Japan and the United States.

I will not spoil the ending -- who perishes and who survives -- but the visuals are based on witness testimony from past nuclear fallouts (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  The back story, and the rationale for the ICBM attacks, closely resembles the thought processes of leaders entangled in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

So it's really not as far fetched as it sounds!  Actually, last year we were closer to an all-out war than many believed!