AUTHOR: Edward Luttwack in Foreign Policy magazine
ALSO KNOWN FOR: Arguing in the New York Times that, according Islamic rules of religious heritage, Barack Obama is a Muslim by birth and would damage relations with the Muslim world
ALSO KNOWN FOR: Arguing in the New York Times that, according Islamic rules of religious heritage, Barack Obama is a Muslim by birth and would damage relations with the Muslim world
THESIS: Because of poor empire management, "America needs serious serious strategic counseling"
FROM WHOM: The Byzantines
BYZANTINE VIRTUES: They wrote everything down. The Romans didn't. Also, "Byzantium ... outlasted its Roman predecessor by eight centuries"
UNMENTIONED DETAILS ABOUT BYZANTIUM: Violent riots; a sacked capital; Ottoman conquest of the empire; plague; reliance on slave labor
UNMENTIONED DETAILS ABOUT BYZANTIUM: Violent riots; a sacked capital; Ottoman conquest of the empire; plague; reliance on slave labor
YEARS LUTTWACK SPENT PORING OVER BYZANTINE TEXTS: 20
DISTILLED PRINCIPLES: 7
NAMELY:
- "Avoid war"
- "Gather intelligence on the enemy"
- "Campaign vigorously"
- "Replace the battle of attrition and occupation of countries with maneuver warfare"
- "Strive to end wars successfully by recruiting allies to change the balance of power"
- "Subversion is the cheapest path to victory"
- "Use methods and tactics that exploit enemy weaknesses"
PARTING WISDOM: "Only the empire is eternal"
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Heather Horn
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