Saturday, April 12, 2003
ASSYMETRY AND THE HEIRS OF SUN-TZU
Also in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday is a series of excerpts from _ Unrestricted Warfare_ by Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiagsui of China's PLA examining how the first Gulf War required that all other states throw out the rule book vis-avis the United States. This book, published in 1999, is apparently not yet available in English, was translated by the CIA for the agency's Foreign Broadcast Service. The commentary is eerily prescient of what would happen on 9/11 yet fits fully within the Chinese strategic philosophy for those familiar with the writings of Sun-Tzu, Han Fei-Tzu, Mao ZeDong and _The General Mirror for the Aid of Government. My excerpts of the Trib's excerpts of the CIA's excerpts of _Unrestricted Warfare__
" There is nothing in the world today that cannot become a weapon "
" We believe some morning people will awake to discover with surprise that quite a few gentle and kind things have begun to have offensive and lethal characteristics "
" The appearance of precision-kill weapons is a turning point "
Of Bin Laden, after the USS COLE and Embassy bombings in Africa :
" The American military is naturally unprepared to deal with this type of enemy"
Mostly the weaker side selects as its main axis of battle those areas or battle lines where its adversary does not expect to be hit.....always a place which will result in a huge psychological shock to the adversary "
I would argue in response, in addition to those I wrote some time ago in an article, that the comparative advantage for the weaker side lasts so long as the stronger side continues to adhere to the disadvantageous " old rules ". When the stronger side takes the initiative in rewriting the rules, not merely reacting defensively, the precious advantage is lost and the weaker side risks being extirpated.
¶ 9:20 PM
Also in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday is a series of excerpts from _ Unrestricted Warfare_ by Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiagsui of China's PLA examining how the first Gulf War required that all other states throw out the rule book vis-avis the United States. This book, published in 1999, is apparently not yet available in English, was translated by the CIA for the agency's Foreign Broadcast Service. The commentary is eerily prescient of what would happen on 9/11 yet fits fully within the Chinese strategic philosophy for those familiar with the writings of Sun-Tzu, Han Fei-Tzu, Mao ZeDong and _The General Mirror for the Aid of Government. My excerpts of the Trib's excerpts of the CIA's excerpts of _Unrestricted Warfare__
" There is nothing in the world today that cannot become a weapon "
" We believe some morning people will awake to discover with surprise that quite a few gentle and kind things have begun to have offensive and lethal characteristics "
" The appearance of precision-kill weapons is a turning point "
Of Bin Laden, after the USS COLE and Embassy bombings in Africa :
" The American military is naturally unprepared to deal with this type of enemy"
Mostly the weaker side selects as its main axis of battle those areas or battle lines where its adversary does not expect to be hit.....always a place which will result in a huge psychological shock to the adversary "
I would argue in response, in addition to those I wrote some time ago in an article, that the comparative advantage for the weaker side lasts so long as the stronger side continues to adhere to the disadvantageous " old rules ". When the stronger side takes the initiative in rewriting the rules, not merely reacting defensively, the precious advantage is lost and the weaker side risks being extirpated.
¶ 9:20 PM
