Yesterday I concluded the U.S. is not ready for a significant disaster. But one thing we commit plenty of resources to and are good at is fighting wars, right? In fact, we are so good nobody will even mess with us, right? Not so fast. There is buzz at the moment over a war game that supposedly showed the U.S. catastrophically losing a conflict over Taiwan. Communications were disrupted immediately by missiles, drones, and attacks on infrastructure like undersea cables, and without communications the U.S. forces couldn’t fight effectively.

I’m a little skeptical. Why would the U.S. military intentionally publicize something like this? I suppose scaring a domestic audience into committing even more resources is always one reason. A cold war with China is a good reason for our military-industrial complex to keep sucking up 5% or so of our economy, and Taiwan is the most obvious flashpoint that could go from cold to hot. If brinksmanship or bluffing to sustain military funding is the game here, the risks are too great to play the game. Seriously, let’s not let this happen.