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Sun Tzu's 2,500-Year-Old 'Art of War' Guides China's Strategy Today
newsmax.com ^ | Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 | Lev Navrozov

Posted on 09/10/2006 9:20:42 AM PDT by Korvac

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1 posted on 09/10/2006 9:20:44 AM PDT by Korvac
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To: Korvac

For those who pooh-pooh the author's concerns, a couple questions:

1) Where have millions of our jobs gone?
2) Where has our industrial base gone?
3) What country now leads the world in technology exports?
4) Which country has a currency which is rising in value?
5) Which country has the fastest-growing industry and economy?

And finally:

Did you ever. Ever. Meet a stupid Chinese person?

We're fast asleep.

We really are.

But never mind. Go to Wal*mart and buy more stuff.

Everything will be fine.


2 posted on 09/10/2006 9:26:42 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (Tehran: Iran leader insists development of gas chambers, ovens marked "Jews", is for peaceful use.)
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To: Korvac

bump.


3 posted on 09/10/2006 9:29:10 AM PDT by khnyny (Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.- Winston Churchill)
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To: Korvac

Remember the pronunciation:

Soon Suh (not sun sue)


4 posted on 09/10/2006 9:42:17 AM PDT by opbuzz (Right way, wrong way, Marine way)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

If we accept that we have been had, and we have been fast asleep, and that soon we will have lost without fighting, I believe Sun Tzu would say that we should now go forth and QI a whole lot of stuff.


5 posted on 09/10/2006 9:42:20 AM PDT by Sender (What was the best thing before sliced bread?)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

US wants closer military ties with India

Dated 28/3/2006

http://www.india-defence.com/reports/1628


Washington - The Bush administration, looking to build stronger military ties to India and other countries, wants to speed up arms export procedures and better share information, US officials said on Monday.

"To improve security cooperation more broadly, the department is taking steps to improve its ability to be a good partner," Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England told a Defense Security Cooperation Agency conference. "The US cannot predict with any certainty when and where we will need friends."

England said the Bush administration was working on several legislative proposals, including one giving the Pentagon permanent authority to pay for logistics support in combined military operations with other countries, a power it has had on a temporary basis in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, he said the administration was trying to speed up the approval process for export licenses, which now typically stands at around 21 days.

U.S. direct foreign military sales are seen rising to $12.9 billion in fiscal 2006 which ends in September, up from $10.6 billion last year, according to industry experts.

John Hillen, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said sharing technology and information was particularly vital as Washington sought to build stronger military ties to India.

"You cannot underestimate the strategic importance of what the president was trying to do in India. It shifts the geopolitical plates of the world in the most fundamental way since Nixon went to China," Hillen told the conference.

He said a "business as usual" approach could cost U.S. firms like Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. the chance to sell new fighter jets to India, and could undermine efforts to forge closer U.S.-Indian military ties.

The United States and India earlier this month agreed to a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation pact, which will give New Delhi access to American atomic technology and fuel to meet its soaring energy needs -- provided Congress gives its approval.

It also opened to door to more arms deals with India, which has the world's second largest standing army, but has largely bought its weapons from Russia until now.

"We have to get this right with India," said one U.S. defense official, who asked not to be named.

A defense industry executive, who also asked not to be named, underscored strong U.S. corporate interests in expanding trade with New Delhi, saying he had visited India three times in the past 90 days and would soon return.

Current U.S. regulations and slow handling of export requests often prevented U.S. companies from bidding for billions of dollars of Indian defense contracts, he said.

"If we don't do something to improve it, we will be cut out of that market," the executive said, calling the opening of the Indian defense market an "absolutely tremendous" opportunity.

England also said the Pentagon and State Department, which together oversee U.S. exports of sensitive technology, were trying to fix a complicated system often characterized by "byzantine" bureaucracies.

Australian Ambassador Dennis Richardson welcomed the remarks by Hillen and England, but said there was still work to be done on better sharing of information between close allies, and approval of export licenses remained "frustratingly slow."


6 posted on 09/10/2006 9:47:13 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick (The articles posted by me needn't necessarily reflect my opinion.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

I agree.


7 posted on 09/10/2006 9:47:45 AM PDT by AprilfromTexas
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
It isn't called the Chinese Century for nothing.
8 posted on 09/10/2006 9:48:29 AM PDT by Wormwood (Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
Did you ever. Ever. Meet a stupid Chinese person?

No, but I've known a couple very devious ones.

9 posted on 09/10/2006 9:49:57 AM PDT by fruitintheroom
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To: Korvac

BTTT


10 posted on 09/10/2006 9:50:00 AM PDT by siznartuf (If I Hear "Jobs Americans Won't Do" One More ^%&^%^%# Time)
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To: Korvac
Art of war in HTML
11 posted on 09/10/2006 9:51:31 AM PDT by CJ Wolf
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To: CJ Wolf

Every Navy S-3 Viking Tactics Instructor(VTI) receives a copy upon his graduation.


12 posted on 09/10/2006 9:55:21 AM PDT by opbuzz (Right way, wrong way, Marine way)
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To: Korvac
China will be the country to watch.

I hope that they become a democracy and then a superpower. Hate to have the Chinese prove that a dictatorial system can do better than surrounding slowpoke, messy democracies.
13 posted on 09/10/2006 9:57:04 AM PDT by voletti (Awareness and Equanimity.)
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To: opbuzz

So, why are we fighting like drunken retards?


14 posted on 09/10/2006 9:57:12 AM PDT by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
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To: CJ Wolf

Do you know where it is in txt?


15 posted on 09/10/2006 9:57:52 AM PDT by dsc
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Another, and equally compelling question: What foreign power has been buying the huge American debt being incurred by our massive trade deficit?


16 posted on 09/10/2006 10:00:41 AM PDT by middie
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
I personally suspect the Chinese had a hand in 911. Reading attack by fire I think it fits the Art of war. They were allied with the taliban and were pretty hot after the spy plane incident.

1. Sun Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.

2. In order to carry out an attack, we must have means available. The material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness.

3. There is a proper season for making attacks with fire, and special days for starting a conflagration.

4. The proper season is when the weather is very dry; the special days are those when the moon is in the constellations of the Sieve, the Wall, the Wing or the Cross-bar; for these four are all days of rising wind.

Remember the weather, September 11th.

5. In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to meet five possible developments:

6. (1) When fire breaks out inside to enemy's camp, respond at once with an attack from without.

7. (2) If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy's soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack. We were quiet and composed, didn't lash out, took care of our own and got our ducks in a row on how to respond an attack, the full chinese attack on 911 was a bust, which is why there was not a followup attack.

8. (3) When the force of the flames has reached its height, follow it up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, stay where you are. was not practical

9. (4) If it is possible to make an assault with fire from without, do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a favorable moment. Sept 11 was and attempted delivery

10. (5) When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do not attack from the leeward.

11. A wind that rises in the daytime lasts long, but a night breeze soon falls.

12. In every army, the five developments connected with fire must be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for the proper days.

13. Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.

14. By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings.

15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.

16. Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.

17. Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical. They used the taliban insted of their troops 18. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

19. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.

20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.

21. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.

Oh look football is on!!!!

17 posted on 09/10/2006 10:13:04 AM PDT by CJ Wolf (A theory in any rate.)
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To: Korvac

The Chinese might have something there.. China is becoming capitalistic much slower(if at all) than the United States is becoming Socialist.. The capitalism of socialism is the same as the socialism of capitalism.. China seems to be winning..


18 posted on 09/10/2006 10:15:32 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
"Sun Tzu's ‘Art of War' advocates winning ‘without fighting.'"

My recollection of Sun Tzu's thesis is that subordination of the Emperor's soldiers was the underlying premise to success. He demonstrated this by having court ladies do dismounted drill. They laughed and made light of the exercise. He then executed one of the ladies. The rest then followed orders.

Fear is the underlying principle in maintaining the Emperor's power. So it goes with the Communists. This is at odds when contrasted to Machiavelli's "Art of War" His method of selecting soldiers was to find tough country men such as farmers accustomed to hard work. He studied and gave examples of successful Roman military strategies. He wrote a rational treatise, based on reason not fear.

The Chinese managed to maintain local control over tribes and people who really didn't care to be free of the Chinese. But, the Mongols cleaned their clocks but good. When China decided to teach Vietnam a lesson and bloody their nose in 1979, it cost them dearly with a lot of casualties. They withdrew in a few months.

China's success on the world market has more to do with Western belief in Free Trade. It's got nothing to do with Sun Tzu. Whether or not free trade will work as theoretically posited, wealth for everyone remains to be seen. The other axiom that democracies don't go to war with each other is not likely to be tested to the extreme as much of the world is under control of thugs and elitists of one kind or another. There really is no democracy. Coming from Massachusetts where the majority would never permit homosexual marriage, the elitists have taken control of the state machinery and dictated it to be. Alas, democracy does not even exist in the United States.

19 posted on 09/10/2006 10:37:37 AM PDT by LoneRangerMassachusetts (The only good Mullah is a dead Mullah. The only good Mosque is the one that used to be there.)
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To: Korvac
Victor Davis Hanson had some fascinating things to say in an essay devoted to contrasting Sun Tzu with von Clausewitz - I'm looking for the reference unsuccessfully at the moment. The Art Of War was probably written by at least two pens, Sun Tzu's himself and a later interpreter whose approach was somewhat different from the Master's.

Nor was Sun Tzu the only authority on the richness of Chinese military theory. T'ai Kung, Wu-tzu, Wei Liaou-tzu, and Huang Shih-kung (all Pinyin spellings, sorry) had a good deal to say about why Chinese military applications came to be the way they are. One might object that present-day Chinese military doctrine resembles that of Sun Tzu as much as current Western doctrine does Clausewitz, that is, in theory but not necessarily in the field.

As for the value of spies, however, this is something that is universally acknowledged in the ancient world most visibly by the barbaric treatment they were accorded when caught. The Old Testament has a number of references to the efficacy of personal intelligence gathering, some dating from right around the time Sun Tzu was writing. Assyrian and Babylonian practices from roughly the same period contain roughly the same advocacy. Satellites really haven't changed that as much for us as a lot of people (notably in the Clinton administration) thought that they had.

20 posted on 09/10/2006 10:39:33 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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