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When speaking of contradictions, Marxist theory (including Chinese Communist theory) holds that the central contradiction is class struggle. When Chinese general says the “contradictions” between America and China cannot be resolved by a single individual, he is referring to the inevitable outcome of class struggle. That outcome, by Marxian historical necessity, can only signify defeat of the world bourgeoisie; and America is the embodiment of the world bourgeoisie,

President Barack Obama said during the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in February that “we welcome China’s peaceful rise [and] we believe that a strong and prosperous China is one that can help bring stability and prosperity to the region and the world.” Few presidents have made statements so stunningly disingenuous as this. For as he was speaking, Obama was presiding over a shift in military doctrine whose central tenet is that China is, and will be, the main military threat to the United States for at least the next generation. Weeks earlier, in November 2011, the Pentagon...

... Many military organizations maintain professional reading lists and require their officers to read books selected from it by senior officers. Some units have formal requirements, say, a book a quarter. Other units take it a notch further, and hold round-table sessions or so-called “officer calls” to discuss their reading. Typically, these books cover leadership, tactics or military history, although now and then an unexpected title appears. Many readers, whether or not they are directly involved in the wars, might be interested in these lists and recommendations. At War will dig up several of them, and, on occasion, post reviews....

The constitution of the new democratic Russia adopted in 1993 contains a special clause that the nation must have a public military doctrine to mark the end of the time of communist tyranny. A provisional military doctrine was adopted in 1993 and in this document Russia rejected the use of military force to solve international disputes, a notion that is today scorned by the pro-Kremlin press (Izvestiya, February 8). In 2000, the then President Vladimir Putin signed Russia’s first permanent military doctrine, but in fact the text was prepared during the rule of his predecessor Boris Yeltsin. The 2000 military...

Major Malkhaz Dumbatze was in a celebratory mood. His 14 Georgian tanks had just taken control of the rebel South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, and he was already looking forward to a trip to Israel to study new battle command systems. The jets flying over the city, where his men were mopping up Ossetian snipers, he took to be Georgian fighters. Major Dumbatze is still going to Israel, but now it is to have reconstruction surgery on his legs. The aircraft he had spotted were in fact Russian, and one of them dropped two bombs on his armoured unit. Speaking with...

GENERAL MAXIMSIt is the nature of war that what is beneficial to you is detrimental to the enemy and what is of service to him always hurts you. It is therefore a maxim never to do, or to omit doing, anything as a consequence of his actions, but to consult invariably your own interest only. And you depart from this interest whenever you imitate such measures as he pursues for his benefit. For the same reason it would be wrong for him to follow such steps as you take for your advantage. The more your troops have been accustomed to...