ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains some of the ways in which geography provides an important part of the context for nuclear deterrence and arms control and, by implication, for military strategy in general. It presents the relationship between anticipatory attacks and nuclear deterrence is analyzed and pertinent conclusions for policy. The book discusses the question of nuclear crisis management in the Information Age. It examines the relationship between nuclear weapons and the information age. The challenges of nuclear crisis management, of escalation control and war termination, and of nuclear-cyber conflicts are sufficiently daunting even without the complication of ballistic missile defenses (BMD). The book argues that Russian President Vladimir Putin chose a strategy of indirect warfare in the occupation and annexation of Crimea and in subsequent support for Ukrainian separatists in the east and south of that country.
