Unfulfilled futures (1/3): The Soviet invasion of NATO

Few people anticipated the outbreak of war in the Ukraine, partly because it has characteristics reminiscent of a war that should have happened forty years ago. The novel Red Storm, published in 1986, proved to be just such a visionary work.

OUR SERIES «UNFULFILLED FUTURES.» In the military world, it is said that no plan survives the test of reality. This observation is often true in politics as well. Futures that seemed inevitable in their time fade into oblivion—or are mocked, in hindsight, of course. Yet taking another look at them today sheds light not only on what the world could have been but also on what it has become. These scenarios also reflect the fears and hopes of their time. And sometimes, these possible futures—which we thought were doomed to oblivion—resurface, and it then becomes clear, in light of new events,