Not all my reading is spiritual these days.
As I mentioned I am rereading Benedict XVI’s third volume of Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. A good Advent read.
Also, on my Kindle right now, is John Allen’s, The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution.
Click!
I just finished reading two books by Christopher Kennedy – quick reads – with the intriguing scenario of the Chinese figuring out a way to invade Seattle and hold hostages in the city as a way to invade Taiwan and force its reintegration into the PRC. This isn’t heavy reading, but it is diverting and fun.
The serious side is that we in these USA have been pretty lax about our national cyber-security. In Kennedy’s book, the Chinese start with a savage cyber attack. This is a realistic threat.
Some years ago, on the recommendation of a retired 3-star Marine, I read a white paper by two Chinese colonels in the PLA about how to conduct an asymmetrical unrestricted war on us. 
Since they can’t go head to head with us, yet, in a conventional war, they posit ways to achieve many of the same effects through unconventional ways. For example, hacking a computer to cause sewage to flood a city’s streets can create havoc and damage that bombs could cause.
They can’t deliver bombs, but they can hack our computers. Get the idea?
Anyway, the title of the first of the two books by Kennedy is Red Tide. The second is Occupied Seattle. Kennedy hits a balance of light-hearted but serious, impossible but plausible. (And good guys win in the end, but not without a lot of good guys dying… nobly.)
I wonder why so many TEOWAWKI books are set in Washington state?
My Kindle reads to me!
BTW… books are inexpensive for Kindle!
I knocked off James Wesley Rawles’ latest in his series, Expatriates.
I am also rereading The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry That Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey and Caravaggio by Helen Langdon.
In the “Kydd” series, I am up to Invasion. I also read recently the newest Jack Reacher book, Never Go Back.
Moreover, I am pecking away at Charles Krauthammer’s new book, Things That Matter.
So… titles like these keep my lips moving day after day. They keep the mind fresh.
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Cyber attacks by the PRC against the US and elsewhere occur fairly often (of course they always deny it). One wonders what would happen if they ever called for all the money the have in our country’s debt? China is making great strides in Africa and is easing into South America, as well – money talks (and, if can believe it, the World Bank still gives China loans for internal projects!). Of course they regularly intimidate their neighbors, such as their recently proclaimed Air Defense Identification Zone.
For the Church in China, though it is a little dated, try this on page 5 and 6 (Heroism in the Face of Tyranny): http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/nl/pdf/nl2004-07.pdf
This is time of year that I get to read a lot. Just finished my favorite, The Cardinal (which I read every couple of years). Have seen The Shoes of the Fisherman on DVD which reminds me of the book by the same name (of a trilogy, if I remember right) which, as I remember has some similar events to today. Guess I’ll read it again after I finish Cleansing Fire.
Amazing, Father. You must be a very fast reader!
A book I am reading and can recommend is Jeffrey Bell’s the Case for Polarized Politics – talks about how we arrived at our current polarization in the US over social issues and how it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the way it is decried by many even on the Right who want their candidates to take weasely positions to avoid offending anyone, that actually it has been and can be a winning position, because there still are people out there that care about our country.
Impressive, Father. I also have become a huge fan of Benedict XVI’s writings. I can’t seem to get my hands on enough of his books. I am amazed at how it took such a cataclysmic shift in Rome for me to wake up and recognize the intellect and steadfastness of our former Pope. Stupid me.
I saw on my FoxNews app the following: ‘STALKING HORSE’? Mysterious ‘China City’ pitched for NY’s Catskills.
Basically, the Chinese want to set up a little China in NY, but, not like Chinatown. They want Chinese culture, government, and education there; representative from each Provence and a university. In other words, they want to have the real China here in the United States.
On the subject of cyberwarfare: I always think of that episode of Star Trek from the ’60s where the war between these two planets that Kirk and company stumbled into was basically conducted as a computer game; except that the people marked out as casualties willingly walked into disintegration chambers. And they thought they were a very advanced society too…
Dear Father Z,
To fully appreciate why so many TEOWAWKI books are set in Washington state, you simply must come visit our little corner of the world.