Arms and influence: Bauer in Boston

About this blog

Who is Kingdaddy?
Email me
Syndicate this site (XML)
Add me to your TypePad People List
Contact me

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.

« What's wrong with the "surge"? (5) | Main | A poem to Congress »

02/08/2007

Bauer in Boston

IN THE NEWS
Boston's Aqua Teen Hunger Force fiasco was sad, not funny. 24 is repulsive, but not funny. The only way to make something However, if you smash the two together, achieving a critical mass of stupidity, you might trigger an explosion of guffaws.