[ WP ] In the future the U.N. has found a way to stop the killing and the destruction of War : RISK , The UN version . The game has evolved so much that has become a complete simulation of war with super-computers doing the math and specialists discussing the game .

`` Of course the simulation puts us ahead, we're the United States of America.'' General Dowell waved away the military-issue iPad. `` I do n't need a stack of computers at UNOSIM to tell me we could bury the Chinese twenty different ways before I've had my coffee. Is it certified?'' 
 
 The aide flicked at the tablet, revealing the pale blue of the United Nations Office of Simulation emblem, and the standard garble of multilingual legalize and technical jargon that indicated that the attack plans had been officially confirmed. It was real war. 
 
 `` I suppose we'll see that good old Detroit iron rolling back into Guangdong once again. Time to buy GM stock!'' 
 
 This is how war was done now. If you have a dispute with your neighbor over, say, tariffs on steel and automobiles, nobody rattles sabers or picks up arms. The generals all meet, submit their Plans of Aggression and Plans of Retaliation, and it's run through a complex of computers that tells you exactly who wins and who loses, down to the tenth of a civilian casualty. Results are published, and concessions are handed out. It turns out that if you can crunch the numbers and show the inevitable results, you do n't even need to have a war. 
 
 `` Anything else?'' 
 
 `` Well, sir, Secretary Lewis wanted to meet with you about our Korean Peninsula strategy, given the latest yearly psychologicals.'' 
 
 Dowell furrowed his brow. How do you handle a problem like North Korea? The annual Psychological Examination of Leadership said the same as last year -- Exalted Leader Kim had a Bomb, and the doctors said he was crazy enough to use it. That meant it was officially `` in play'' as far as UNOSIM was concerned, and they'd have another year of kowtowing and tiptoeing around Kim Jong Psychopath from filing nuclear extortion plans against South Korea or Japan. At least he did n't have to go on boot-licking tours to appease homicidal maniacs -- that was up to Secretary of State Lewis and the President. 
 
 `` The President also wants you to meet with his office about our strategy if the Cartels get an account.'' 
 
 This mess, again. While there were no sovereign enemies on North American soil -- the U.S. still maintained good relations with Canada and Mexico -- a coalition of Mexican ganglords had been lobbying for a UNOSIM account, claiming that their level of open warfare was just as bloody and legitimate as any country's. It was looking more and more like the UN would let them in, which was going to be a mess of concessions and retaliation. Try getting a local policeman to understand that the gang running a neighborhood won it fair and square as War Concessions. 
 
 `` Forget them for now. Back to the adults. What about the situation with Russia?'' 
 
 `` Volkov is still pressing to see the numbers. He thinks we do n't have what we reported as far as naval capability, and that our training is rusty.'' 
 
 Even if nobody got hurt, you still could n't be all talk. You had to prove that those little blips you were moving around the board actually meant something -- fleets of ships, aircraft, drones, infantry and specialists. Every year, the UN did its inspections, and totalled up the numbers. Every year Russia complained that the U.S. was inflating the numbers, every year the U.S. complained that Russia was inflating them. As sure as rain in the spring and snow in the winter. 
 
 `` He's just grandstanding. We both know those numbers are solid, and so does UNOSIM. He'll go away.'' 
 
 `` Well, the President is worried. Russia has been pushing hard on the Security Council, so he wants us to run an internal investigation just in case UNOSIM comes snooping around. If they find anything wrong, it could jeopardize the China deal.'' 
 
 Dowell scowled down at his muddy coffee, guts gurgling. So it would be another months-long scurry of coordinating troop counts and inventories, just to keep Congress and the President sleeping well. More late nights and 3AM phone calls to overseas bases. Dowell wondered if he'd brought his antacids. War was hell on the stomach. 

