First book of the year is The Art of War. Lessons so far: be of sound defense, limit your mistakes and pay careful attention to your opponent while waiting for him to provide you with an opportunity. Vary your tactics and do not repeat patterns. Do the unexpected. Deception is key. Knowledge of the enemy is essential, be subtle in obtaining it.
Several passages jump out as relevant to our current quagmire. Now, granted, things have changed an awful lot where warfare is concerned, but there are a few underlying ideas that probably hold true across time, geography and culture and that anyone considering strategy would do well to heed. For instance, in chapter two, Sun Tzu says:
6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
And then later, in chapter twelve, he gets more philosophical, and it is here that a 21st century American can only wince:
20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.
21. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come back again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.
Oy.
