In Selection of the Aim Part I, I described how important it is to understand exactly what your mission is. Now it’s time to discuss getting the mission right, because subtle changes can bring huge unintended consequences. Allow me to begin with a mundane example, which I used to use decades ago when teaching this subject at the Officer Candidate School in Chilliwack, BC. With … Continue reading Selection of the Aim: Part II

For many, Selection and Maintenance of the Aim is the first principle of war. Disregard that we are already on shaky ground since that is not a single principle (selection and maintenance) and consider what it means. Too often, this “principle” is paid lip service instead of deep consideration. Carefully selecting what we are seeking to achieve is critical and at the strategic level it … Continue reading Selection of the Aim: Part I

The latest in our podcast series has just been posted on youtube my by friend and host Marty. I hope you will take the time to listen. I remind you that we have no sponsors, no commercials and it is only audio so you can listen while doing “more important” things. Chuck. Continue reading Newest Podcast

I began writing posts in February of 2022 and in the spirit of full disclosure, allow me to say that I was wrong about Russia invading. I could see no reason for them to invade and said so. I thought that Putin was a rational man. I was wrong on both counts. That said, once they invaded, I began predicting Russia’s inability to win their … Continue reading Winning and Losing Part III

We have all seen it, and sighed. A spoiled child is in the park or in a playground. “Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!” The child will keep this up until the exasperated parent pays attention while it does something terrifyingly complicated and daring like, oh I don’t know, get onto a swing. Moments later, the process is repeated and then again … Continue reading Supplemental: American “Leadership”

WARNING: This is arguably one of the most hotly debated — and least well described — concepts in Clausewitz’s writing. The trinity is central to his analysis of war and defined the constantly changing relationship among: 1. primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, 2. chance and probability, and 3. war’s subordination to rational state policy. This tripartite and dynamic interplay of violent emotion, chance, and rational … Continue reading Winning and Losing Part II: Clausewitz’s Wondrous Trinity

As Canada’s PM, Pierre E. Trudeau single-mindedly drove the Canadian government to bring home our constitution. By the way, it was not repatriated. Our constitution was never here. It was patriated, but I digress. The process was not begun by the PM. It actually began in 1927, but the British parliament wasn’t interested until the Canadian provinces could agree on an amending formula. They couldn’t. … Continue reading The Wounding of the Great Republic

To an uninformed observer, the concept of winning a war or losing a war may seem straightforward. But war is not a board game like monopoly or checkers. Winning and losing are binary concepts that too often do not adequately describe what is happening in an armed conflict, whether it’s in a Russian oblast or a disputed Middle Eastern territory. A frequent question in many … Continue reading Winning and Losing (Part I)

I watched a news broadcast from Europe where the commentator said, “the US president has given Europe permission to shoot down Russian aircraft.” I stopped, wondered “wtf” and replayed it. Why on earth would ANY European country need — or care — whether a US president gave them “permission” to shoot down an intruder who violates sovereign air space? Here’s the point: they don’t BUT … Continue reading Hand Wringing and Pearl Clutching

If you are a student of William Butler Yeats (or Joni Mitchell) you will recognized the title as the first line of Yeats’ 1919 poem The Second Coming, where the Irish nationalist forecast doom, even as the world was trying with all its might to put the horrors of the First World War behind it. Had more Germans read Yeats poem, perhaps 1934 would have … Continue reading Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre