Arms and Influence podcast #3
Theater strategy: high stakes, annoying allies, and risk-reducing approaches. Download AI3.mp3
About this blog
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
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- Journalism
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- Leverage and power
- Middle East
- Military affairs
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- Off-topic
- Pakistan
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- 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.
03/25/2007
02/28/2007
Arms and Influence podcast #1
(Reposted) Politics and war. Book and game recommendations that fit this theme.
Podcast #2, production notes
Main topic:
Levels of strategy, grand strategy.
Books mentioned:
Luttwak, Strategy
Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire
Gaddis, Strategies of Containment
Halle, The Cold War As History
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
Kagan, The Peloponnesian War
Games mentioned:
Twilight Struggle
Pax Romana
Medieval: Total War (computer game)
Europa Universalis II (computer game)
Twilight Imperium
The links go to more information about these games. To purchase games that are in print, check out online game retailers, such as Boulder Games or Fair Play Games. Otherwise, eBay is your best bet for finding out of print titles.
I had some minor sound editing issues during this podcast, so the quality is not as good as it should be. This problem should disappear by the next podcast.
Arms and Influence podcast #2
Levels of strategy, grand strategy. Plus, the usual book and game recommendations.
02/04/2007
Arms and Influence podcast #1
Main topic:
Politics and war.
Direct link:
Download AI1.mp3
Books mentioned:
Clausewitz, On War
Ikle, Every War Must End
Green, The Greco-Persian Wars
Hoyt, Japan's War
Herring, America's Longest War
Fall, Street Without Joy
Lacquer, Voices of Terror
Games mentioned:
Princes of the Renaissance
Algeria
For the People
A Line in the Sand (out of print)
Republic of Rome (out of print)
The links go to more information about these games. To purchase games that are in print, check out online game retailers, such as Boulder Games or Fair Play Games. Otherwise, eBay is your best bet for finding out of print titles.
This is my first attempt at podcasting, so please excuse my amateurish audio engineering, or other goofs you may experience.
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
