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I’m busy reading final papers for the grand strategy seminar at Bard this spring, and the students are finishing up their exams and thinking about summer. It’s already time to start reading and thinking about the syllabus for the fall course in Anglo-American grand strategy. British and American strategic thinkers and policy makers developed a new form of global strategy in the last 300 years that enabled the two English speaking powers to build a global political and security order resting on a foundation of liberal capitalism. Understanding the grand strategy that shaped the modern world is surely something that...

In the classic Westerns, before the genre got all psychological and had people kissing everything except their horse and girl friend, there was a mandatory scene with a mandatory line. Early in the movie the bad guy would confront the good guy and say, “This town ain’t big enough for the two of us.” The rest of the movie consisted of everyone choosing sides, then the final, shoot-em-up, in which the good guy (against all odds) prevails. The classic version is Gary Cooper in High Noon. More complex is Clint Eastwood in The Unforgiven. The Byzantine version, in which a...

Are we losing the War on Terror? Five years after 9/11, the question is being asked with some urgency, and not by appeasers, defeatists, or the general run of whiner, but by individuals of respect, people of considerable expertise and experience, people deserving of close attention under any circumstance. They have come to believe that at worst, the war is being lost, and at best, the war effort is losing steam, that we've begun to cede the initiative to the Jihadis, an error that may cost us a terribly high price not far down the line. The pessimistic scenario This...

Jerusalem - Israel named a new top commander for its Lebanon war effort on Tuesday, effectively demoting another general after criticism of the army's handling of the four-week-old offensive. The military said in a statement that Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, a veteran of previous Lebanon campaigns, was named "to co-ordinate the Israeli army's operations in Lebanon". Israeli commentators saw the move as effectively pushing aside General Udi Adam, head of northern command, at a time when some Israelis are asking why the region's mightiest army has failed to halt Hezbollah rocket fire after 28 days of fighting. Channel Two television...

I BLAME CLAUSEWITZ. Or at least the way some of his disciples have distilled and simplified his ideas. In the 19th century, Carl von Clausewitz published his classic work “On War”. As virtually any American who survived a liberal arts education can recite by rote, “Clausewitz” serves as a crude shorthand for the maxim, “War is an extension of policy by other means.” Violent and ugly means, yes, but war in the Clausewitzian world view was inextricably linked with policy aims and diplomacy.

“If we [every man and woman living in America today] don’t understand the enemy we are fighting and the actual nature of this conflict, we have little likelihood of surviving this war, let alone prevailing in it,” he writes. But Gaffney and his contributors don’t just make sweeping if-then statements. They boil down the complexities of our enemy in a fashion that can be quickly and easily digested by all of us who need to know.

I am a military history major graduate from the United States Military Academy. The intent of this post is to take another brief look at the current conduct of war, in August 2005, by using the “Principles of War”. I am not on active duty, nor do I have access to any classified information pertaining to this war. Violating some principles of war does not mean we will lose this war, but these violations are NOT helping America win this war. The first principle discussed is “Offensive. The United States has been on the defensive for over two years. It...

…ambivalence has suddenly reemerged. Various officials, members of Congress and the media are attacking China's policies, from the exchange rate to military buildup The rise of China -- and of Asia -- will, over the next decades, bring about a substantial reordering of the international system Military imperialism is not the Chinese style. Clausewitz, the leading Western strategic theoretician, addresses the preparation and conduct of a central battle. Sun Tzu, his Chinese counterpart, focuses on the psychological weakening of the adversary. China seeks its objectives by careful study, patience and the accumulation of nuances U.S. policy in Asia must not...

The Lessons of 11 September 2001 A.D. Many will write over the next few days regarding the events of 3 years ago. Most such writings, no matter how good they are, will fall into a fairly predictable set of bounds and few will be truly challenging or discomforting. Well, so much for that. I will launch straight into what I believe to be the most critical lessons learned from the events of 11 September 2001 as well as their precursors and their aftermath. Lesson 1: Silence the Utopians As early as 1943, Western liberal intellectual utopians were hard at work...

Leaders & Success Thursday, February 19, 2004 Military Strategist Clausewitz BY MICHAEL MINK FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY When it came to war, Karl von Clausewitz said the only thing certain was unceratinty. A professional soldier who first saw combat at 13, Clausewitz (1780-1831) went on to achieve the rank of general in the Prussian army and the status of legend for his 10 volumes on warfare. The most notable of these were his three volumes titled "On War," considered by many experts to be the most important and influential work ever written on the subject. Studied in military colleges the...

efreedomnews         WAR ON TERRORISM - AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE War ReportJonathan Burns26 March 2003 Reality of War "While we hope reason and negotiation can insure peace, only wars have proven to create or preserve it." -  Victor David HansonA commentary directed at those professing disdain for the "slow" progress of the war:We have been at war for 1 week. Here are some timelines to ponder: WAR Length American War for Independence  7 years (1775 - 1783) World War 2  7 years (1938-1945) Korean War  3 years (1950 - 1953) Vietnam War  14 years (1961 - 1975) Afghanistan War  6...

CLAUSEWITZ’S CENTER OF GRAVITY [It’s Not What We Thought] Over the last two decades, the U.S. military has struggled to understand the center of gravity concept as developed by Carl von Clausewitz and to find practical ways to apply it. In the process, however, each of the services—shaped as they are by different roles, histories, and traditions—has brought individual perspectives to Clausewitz’s expression and redefined it in its respective image. Thus, the U.S. Marine Corps, a relatively small force designed more for winning battles than fighting campaigns or wars, prefers to strike at enemy weaknesses. Accordingly, it initially equated enemy...