How The Hell Did We Get Here?: A Citizen's Guide to the New Cold War and the Rebuilding of Deterrence

It's the beginning of the end of "Pax Americana," the nearly eighty years of relative peace without a World War. The world finds itself in a period of change, with increasing chaos and violence raging around the globe. It's not an accident. An "Axis of Tyranny"-a new generation of autocrats in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea-are engaged in a struggle to subvert the global world order of the US and our allies. Like it or not, the world is entering a new Cold War. A Cold War that can only be fought and won with deterrence. But what is deterrence exactly? Paul Struhsaker's new book, How Hell Did We Get Here? is a comprehensive guide to this emerging new Cold War and our need to rebuild deterrence. The book unpacks the players and politics that have brought us to the brink of world war and how deterrence, the application of soft and hard power, can restore peace. Deterrence is a complex subject. Historically, the subject of Cold War deterrence and resilience has been dealt with piecemeal, and a comprehensive overview of deterrence has not been available. The purpose of this book is to fill that void. You will love this book if you are interested in: The back story behind world events. The consequences of foreign policy decisions. The technology behind the military and space systems featured in today's news headlines from hotspots in Europe, the Middle East, and the South China Sea.

Review :
"Deterrence and moral leadership are what keep America safe. It's as simple as that. Now, as international crises unfold with breakneck speed all around us, Paul Struhsaker, a former NSA analyst and Big Tech executive, lays out with clear, chilling, and readable analysis how the mechanisms of effective deterrence have eroded and what we need to rebuild them. How The Hell Did We Get Here? A Citizen's Guide to the New Cold War and the Rebuilding of Deterrence is a compelling and necessary book in a particularly fraught time." --Peter Heller, bestselling author of The Dog Stars and Burn. "Deterrence, the ability to de-escalate violent conflict and maintain peace, is quickly becoming THE ISSUE of our times. Yet, who understands the combination of intelligence, reconnaissance, and application of soft and hard power that make up deterrence? Paul Struhsaker, a frequent lecturer on satellite and space technology, insightfully decodes the world situation and the deterrence strategy needed to keep the peace. How The Hell Did We Get Here? A Citizen's Guide to the New Cold War and the Rebuilding of Deterrence is a fascinating, insightful, and must-read book to understand our chaotic world." - Silvano Payne, Chief Editor and CEO, Satnews. "How The Hell Did We Get Here?" a frightening look at the lessons we forgot from the last Cold War, takes us on a journey into several possible futures, most of which should scare the hell out of us. Conflicts in Russia and Ukraine, China's imperial surge in the Pacific, war between India and Pakistan. Struhsaker analyzes and explains how things have gone wrong in the past and how we can keep the new Cold War from heating up. Struhsaker knows what he's talking about. An entrepreneur helping tech firms make business deals in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa, he's also a former naval officer who spent decades in the halls of the American intelligence community and held top-secret clearance in the National Security Agency. The book is also a personal plea for peace from Struhsaker; his own father was a Navy carrier pilot shot down in the Pacific during World War II; an uncle was executed as POW by the Japanese. Written with a nonpartisan historian's eye for research and a strategist's sense for playing out scenarios, Struhsaker helps citizens understand the dire straits we find ourselves in, and what we need to do to achieve the most difficult goal of war-peace. Make no mistake, Struhsaker's book isn't a warning shot across the bow. It's a broadside fusillade we ignore at our own peril." -- Jad Davenport, National Geographic photographer, former war correspondent, 1985 - 1998