WORTH A LOOK
A few days ago, I did a focused skim British Army General Rupert Smith’s memoir , The Utility of Force. Smith deals in detail with scenarios that readers here would recognize as “System Administration” and “4GW“, though Smith uses neither of those terms. Smith also understands that war is no longer compartmentalized but is part of a seamless arc of conflict going on at multiple levels. Interview video clip of General Smith talking to Jon Stewart here.
April 12th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Here is part 2 of that clip from above.
This is a book I hope to check out at some point. I am looking forward to your indepth review Mark.
As for the comment “war is no longer compartmentalized”, didn’t good old Clause teach us that a couple hundred years back?
April 12th, 2007 at 3:52 am
“Clause teach us that a couple hundred years back?”
LOL ! He did indeed but how many 4 stars, presidents and prime ministers have read him ?
And, in fairness to the last century, Clausewitz wrote prior to the extreme specialization and complexity of mass-industrial societies. That kind of reductionism was not anticipated in an era when the elite of great powers generally numbered in the hundreds of families and the state was a tiny structure at the apex.
On a related note, the Chiang Kai-shek bio I’m reading has a good deal of detail on China’s “warlord” period. A lot of relevance to 4GW/COIN and the relationship between politics and war