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War With Russia

On sale

9th February 2017

Price: £25

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Selected: Audiobook Downloadable / ISBN-13: 9781473660939

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‘You fail to read this book at your peril’ – Admiral James G Stavridis, US Navy, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Closely modelled on his NATO experience of war gaming future conflicts, 2017 War With Russia is a chilling account of where we are heading if we fail to recognise the threat posed by the Russian president.

Written by the recently retired Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe and endorsed by senior military figures, this book shows how war with Russia could erupt with the bloodiest and most appalling consequences if the necessary steps are not taken urgently.

President Putin said: ‘We have all the reasons to believe that the policy of containment of Russia which was happening in the 18th, 19th and 20th century is still going on…’ And ‘If you press the spring, it will release at some point. Something you should remember.’

Like any ‘strongman’, the Russian president’s reputation for strength is everything. Lose momentum, fail to give the people what they want and he fails. The President has already demonstrated that he has no intention of failing. He has already started a lethal dynamic which, unless checked right now, could see him invade the Baltic states.

Russia’s invasion and seizure of Georgia in 2008 was our ‘Rhineland moment’. We ignored the warning signs – as we did back in the 1930s – and we made it ‘business as usual’.

Crimea in 2014 was the President’s ‘Sudetenland moment’ and again he got away with it. Since 2014 Russia has invaded Ukraine. The Baltics could be next.

Our political leaders assume that nuclear deterrence will save us. General Sir Richard Shirreff shows us why this will not wash.

(P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton

Reviews

Robert Fox, Evening Standard
The great strength of this tale is that it is told by an insider who really knows. The moral of this story is clear. The relentless hollowing out of the military and defence postures of the west have placed us all in danger. This is a parable with a real message about our general ineptitude in the new realities of hard power...The best piece of super power military fiction since Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Enjoy this riot of a book. And be very afraid - it really could happen like this.
Michael Burleigh, The Times
This piece of "faction" is billed as an urgent warning - it's also an act of near mutiny.
Shashank Joshi, Financial Times
The evil gloating trope is much in evidence in General Sir Richard Shirreff's 2017: War With Russia...a pacy techno-thriller and a clarion call to the West.
Max Hastings, The Sunday Times
We sit on our hands while busy fingers in the East boot up for cyber-war.
Damian Whitworth, The Times
Make no mistake: if Russia marches into the Baltics it means nuclear war.
Tom Evans, Daily Star
On the brink of WW3? Top NATO official predicts massive global conflict NEXT YEAR.
Ewen MacAskill, Defence Correspondent, The Guardian
West and Russia on course for war.
The Sun
Is Britain headed for nuclear war with Russia NEXT YEAR? Former top Nato official predicts massive global conflict will break out in 2017.
Moscow Times
NATO must bolster its military presence in the Baltic states or risk nuclear war, a former general has warned.
The Express
The authenticity of the high-level crisis talks withing Nato which Shirreff attended in his past life, is so palpable that it lands this book like a 22lb bass. This and the foreword are reasons enough to buy a copy.
General Wesley K. Clark, US Army, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe
A must read...Shirreff's warnings - veiled as fiction - ring with authenticity, rich in technical details and insight.
Radoslaw Sikorski
Rarely has as a figure as senior as Sir Richard Shirreff, dared to put his name to as ominous a contingency history as one pictured in 2017 War With Russia. It can't happen? Just like the Anschluss of Crimea, or Brexit? Russia is again ruled by one man alone and President Putin has proved capable of gambling with the fate of his country and peace in Europe. In the guise of fast-paced novel, General Shirreff shows how it could actually be done: the disinformation, the subversion, the order of battle. And how woefully unprepared the free world would be to stand up to such a challenge. His warning should be read not only by anyone interested in fate of the West but, above all, by politicians whose decisions on defence determine our options in future emergencies.