Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns, and Money has started an interesting discussion about the reasons why armies are smaller, but more capable. His use of the British military as an example has sparked a lively debate in the comments section over how well the theory applies to that particular case. Well worth reading (and no, not because one of my old posts is cited as a reference).
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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.
« Back to our regularly scheduled programming | Main | You say uranium, I say plutonium... »
03/01/2007
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