Sorry to be away, but I've been absolutely buried in work. You can't imagine. While I continue to dig away at the pile, I'll just share a quick clip, apropos of the day: Leonard Cohen singing "Democracy."
About this blog
Archives
- January 18, 2009 - January 24, 2009
- November 9, 2008 - November 15, 2008
- November 2, 2008 - November 8, 2008
- October 26, 2008 - November 1, 2008
- October 12, 2008 - October 18, 2008
- October 5, 2008 - October 11, 2008
- September 21, 2008 - September 27, 2008
- September 14, 2008 - September 20, 2008
- July 13, 2008 - July 19, 2008
- July 6, 2008 - July 12, 2008
Categories
- Afghanistan
- Alliance politics
- Asia
- Books
- Charter
- China
- Counterinsurgency
- Counterproliferation
- Counterterrorism
- Current Affairs
- Current events
- Declarations of war
- Democracy and constitutionalism
- Dynamics of strategy
- Europe
- Guerrilla warfare/insurgency
- History
- Intelligence
- Iran
- Iraq
- Islam
- Israel
- Japan
- Journalism
- Latin America
- Lebanon
- Leverage and power
- Middle East
- Military affairs
- Military theory
- Movies
- North Korea
- Off-topic
- Pakistan
- Podcast
- Practice
- Proliferation
- Religion and revolution
- Revolutionary warfare
- Russia
- Science and politics
- Special operations
- Spectrum of strategy
- Terrorism
- Turkey
- Unconventional weapons
- US foreign policy
- Vietnam
- War aims
- Wargames
- Weblogs
- WWII
Core topic
- 1. GETTING STARTED
- 2. WAR AIMS
- 2a. Why war?
- 2b. Meet Thomas Schelling
- 2c. The fog of war aims
- 2d. The war against what?
- 2e. How great a victory?
- 3. DECLARATIONS OF WAR
- 3a. The dog that didn't bark
- 3b. War and the US Constitution
- 3c. The dam and the river
- 4. LEVERAGE AND POWER
- 4a. Power is only potential
- 4b. Power and context
- 4c. Power and anti-politics
- 4d. Alliances are more than constraints
- 4e. Showing your hand
- 5. THE SPECTRUM OF STRATEGY
- 5a. "A war like no other"
- 5b. The levels of strategy
- 5c. The grand strategic level
- 5d. The theater level
- 5e. The operational level
- 5f. Operational strategy, another example
- 5g. The tactical level
- 5h. The technical level
- 6. DYNAMICS OF STRATEGY
- 6a. Friction
- 6b. The initiative
- 6c. Measure and counter-measure
- 6d. The indirect approach
- 6e. Simplicity and redunancy
- 6f. The center of gravity
- 7. REVOLUTION, TERROR, AND INSURGENCY
- 7a. Revolution and violence
- 7b. Revolutionaries and war aims
- 7c. Causes of revolutionary violence
- 7d. Elections and insurgencies
- 7e. The evolution of revolution
- 7f. Revolution's minimum entry requirements
- 7g. Revolutionary chaos, radical order
- 8. REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES
- 8a. The Maoist strategy
- 8b. The Leninist strategy
- 8c. The terrorist strategy
- 8d. Revolutionary organizations
- 8e. Dynamics of revolutionary strategy
- 9. COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGIES
- 9a. Counterinsurgency is hard, part I
- 9b. Counterinsurgency is hard, part II
- 9c. Counterinsurgency is hard, part III
- 9d. Counterinsurgency is hard, part IV
- 9e. Counterinsurgency is hard, part V
- 9f. Counterinsurgency is doable, part I
- 9g. Counterinsurgency is doable, part II
- 9h. Counterinsurgency is doable, part III
- 9i. Counterinsurgency is doable, part IV
- 9j. Counterinsurgency is doable, part V
- 9k. Counterterrorism is easier, part I
- 9l. Counterterrorism is easier, part II
- 9m. Counterterrorism is easier, part III
Exploding myths
- A terrorist nuclear attack is inevitable.
- Alliances constrain too much.
- Any good army can defeat guerrillas.
- By showing strength, we automatically deter our enemies.
- Captured terrorists have information that could help stop an imminent attack.
- Citizen soldiers form our military.
- Complete secrecy is required when fighting terrorists.
- Doing something and having the right values are the measures of leadership.
- Elections can stop insurgencies.
- Federal authorities are doing a great job identifying, monitoring, and nabbing terrorists in the US.
- Iraq can't possibly be like Vietnam.
- Middle Eastern countries are medieval.
- More information is better information.
- Our troops are the finest in the world, so they are fated to win.
- Releasing more photos and video will make a bad situation worse.
- The Constitution doesn't fit the new reality of war against terrorists.
- The Iraq invasion has crippled terrorist groups.
- The war against terrorists is like nothing else we've ever faced.
- Torture helps get convictions.
- Torture works.
- We are fighting a single insurgency in Iraq that's part of the global terrorist network.
- We have to be hyper-vigilant to stop terrorists.
- We know what victory in this war means.
- We're fighting a war on terror.
- We're winning the war of ideas.
- What al Qaeda wants is a mystery.
Tip Jar
Thanks!
Blogs
- Afghan Warrior
- Alexander the Average
- American Footprints
- Armchair Generalist
- Arms Control Wonk
- Back to Iraq
- Blue Force
- Bobby's World
- Body and Soul
- Civic Soldier Forum
- Counterterrorism Blog
- Democracy Arsenal
- Draft Zinni
- Duck of Minverva
- Fruits and Votes
- Global Guerrillas
- Homeland Security Watch
- Informed Comment
- Intel Dump
- Irregular Analyses
- Jawa Report
- Lawyers, Guns, and Money
- Liberals Against Terrorism
- Making a military historian
- Mental Mayhem
- No Quarter
- Opino Juris
- Poliblogger
- Politics Among Nations
- Strategic Security Project Blog
- Tell Me A Secret
- The War In Context
- This Is Rumor Control
- War Historian
- Zenpundit
- The War In Context
- Mountain Runner
- Battlefield Biker
- Misfire! Misfire! Misfire!
- Reading Your Way Through History
Resources
- Army Historical Foundation
- Army Times
- British American Security Information Council
- Center for Technology and National Security Policy
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Defense and the National Interest
- Dupuy Institute
- Foreign Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Foreign Policy Research Institute
- GlobalSecurity.org
- HistoryNet.com
- Consimworld
- Marine Corps Gazette
- Military Week
- National Security Archive
- Naval Institute Proceedings
- Partnership for a Secure America
- Parameters
- RAND Corporation
- Strategy Page
- Terrorism Knowledge Base
- The Wargamer
- US Army CAC, Military Review
- US Army, Combat Studies Institute
- US Department of Defense web site
- US order of battle in Iraq
- World conflict database
- Maps of War
What I'm playing
- Boardgames I've played recently, or I plan to play soon.
Need to read
- Allison, Essence of Decision
- Ambrose, D-Day
- Baer, See No Evil
- Blaufarb, The Counterinsurgency Era
- Boot, Savage Wars of Peace
- Brogan, The Fighting Never Stopped
- Calwell, Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice
- Clausewitz, On War
- Coll, Ghost Wars
- Cottam, Competitive Interference and Twentieth Century Diplomacy
- Gaddis, Strategies of Containment
- George, The Limits of Coercive Diplomacy
- Herr, America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975
- Herrington, Silence Was a Weapon
- Hersh, Chain of Command
- Hoffman, Inside Terrorism
- Ikle, Every War Must End
- Janis, Victims of Groupthink
- Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God
- Kagan, The Peloponnesian Wars
- Karnow, Vietnam
- Keegan, The Face of Battle
- Keegan, The Mask of Command
- Krepinevich, The Army and Vietnam
- Laquer, Voices of Terror
- Liddell-Hart, Strategy
- Luttwak, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace
- Paret, The Makers of Modern Strategy
- Pipes, In the Path of God
- Priest, The Mission
- Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia
- Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks
- Schelling, Arms and Influence
- Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict
- Shulsky and Schmitt, Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence
- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian Wars
