Battlefield Ukraine

Forward

In writing this fictional series, we have strived to make it as realistic as possible. While it is not our intention or goal to advocate for one political ideology or chastise another, we would be remiss if we tried to omit any political references or acknowledgement of reality. Paraphrasing the Prussian general, Carl von Clausewitz, war is just an extension of a political disagreement. In truth, all wars are started over a very few common themes: resources (land, minerals, oil, rare earth elements), money (corporate interests, defense industry, greed), miscommunication (political disagreements, misunderstandings), and finally, fear (religion, etc.).

The 2016 US Presidential Election and the British Brexit vote showed the world how powerful social media can be in influencing an election (or war), and how incredibly detailed and targeted voting preferences could be. The ability of tech firms to leverage social media platforms to identify and specifically target individuals with tailor-made articles and posts to influence their decision or sway the public was nothing short of incredible.

As someone who has previously worked in human intelligence, it is my opinion that it truly would not have mattered who won the 2016 election; either way, special interest groups and foreign powers would have leveraged social media to taint the results and cause as much civil and political chaos as possible. While the US slowly becomes consumed by allegations and divisions, world powers are using that distraction to assert their own power and influence.

We chose to write this series based on what we believe are potential flashpoints that may ignite during the next eight years. This is not directly as a consequence of President Trump’s election or Brexit, rather, these are flashpoints have been years in the making and may come to fruition in the near future. The conflict with Ukraine has been brewing since the fall of 2013 — the question is, can the Russians and US continue to pit their proxies against each other, or will it at some point spill over into a direct confrontation? We hope you enjoy this potential “what-if” scenario. If you do, we hope you will consider reviewing it on Amazon.

— James Rosone