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This century has never been free of war. Even now there are several global
flashpoints that could cause more conflict. In their disturbing book, The Next
War (Regnery, US, $27.50, ISBN 0 89526 447 1) Caspar Weinberger and Peter
Schweizer examine five potential powder kegs. Each is treated as fiction and is
viewed from an American viewpoint, with a cast of characters that includes the
president, politicians, military commanders and combat troops, using
contemporary weapons and those likely in the future. They read like treatments
for films. The uncomfortable moral drawn by the authors is the old Latin one:
“Let him who desires peace prepare for war.”