friction and fog

"Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen war."

- Karl von Clausewitz [1780-1831]

Rouge River

 Toronto forests supplied the ship masts that the British navy used to thwart Napoleon.

forced into exile

"Estimates vary, but experts believe that at least 450,000 Grande Armée soldiers and perhaps as many as 650,000 ended up crossing the Niemen River to fight approximately 200,000 soldiers on the Russian side ... But less than 100,000 were around to retreat shortly after ... and with winter's onset, a small fraction made it all the way home."

Homo homini lupus

"Man is a wolf to man."

"Thoughts for the Times on War and Death"

 

Sigmund Freud [1856-1939] observes Germany's fall from the apex of civilization to brutality here.

how russia wil die

 

fear, helplessness, horror

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD] has two components: One is having been in an extremely stressful situation, and secondly, having reacted to it with an intense emotional response.

be underestimated

"All warfare is based on deception ... when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”
- Sun Tzu [544 BCE - 496 BCE]

bawdy

never give in

“A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost.”
– Marshal Ferdinand Foch

Vietnam: Canada’s Shadow War

Watch here.

on oral diplomacy

"Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war."

- Attributed to Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert

square root of 2

"Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals."
- T. E. Lawrence

synchronicity

"Like hitting a bullet with a bullet."
- On the unlikely possibility of intercepting a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, which travels at 11,000 mph

move!

"The true course in conducting military operations, is to make no movement until the preparations are complete."
- General George McClellan, who was ousted by Lincoln for inaction and replaced by alcoholic, last in his West Point class Ulysses S. Grant who won the Civil War

discord

"War? War is an organized bore."
- Justice Holmes

"courage gives you optimism"

"It is exhilarating to be shot at without result."
- Winston Churchill

on war

"If I must choose between righteousness and peace I choose righteousness.”
- Theodore Roosevelt

belicose

For about 250 years, the United States has not been at war for just 21 of them.

on playing it safe

"The side that stays within its fortifications is beaten."
- Napoleon