From the Victor Davis Hanson Internet web site and thanks to the Professor as extracted and in the nutshell a listing of those elements of intrigue, calculations and geo-political considerations part and parcel of war-making!
"Ancient Laws, Modern Wars"
Essential and eternal truths, elements of intrigue and geo-political considerations to include but not necessarily limited to:
1. "Avoid making verbal threats that are not serious and backed up by force."
2. "The unlikely is not impossible."
3. "Big wars can start from small beginnings."
4. "Do not confuse tactics with strategy."
5. "Human nature is unchanging — and not always admirable."
6. "Majestic pronouncements and utopian speechifying . . . mean nothing to rogue nations."
7. "Public support for military action hinges mostly on perceived success."
8. "War is a harsh distillery of talent."
9. "War is rarely started by accident and far more often by mistaken calibrations of relative power."
10. "Deterrence that prevents war is usually smeared as war-mongering."
"Finally, it is always better to be safe and ridiculed than vulnerable and praised."
My instantaneous thought regrading "better to be safe and ridiculed" is George W. Bush and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Devoted readers to the blog may agree or disagree but that was my response. Instantaneous!
coolbert.
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