1. Sun Tzŭ said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
Blowtorch said: Politics is war by other means.
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
Blowtorch said: War is a clash of wills, of those who choose to act. As combatant’s actions are linked by triggers of procedure and automation, war becomes itself a circuit; spirit is obscured and abstracted and eugenic conflict becomes dysgenic.
Mortal combat that curates life turns into procedural action that merely accelerates death.
3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
Blowtorch said: Modern war manuals and treatises, staring from Clausewitz, define and categorize what war is, dis-integrating it to understand it. This Hegelian deconstruction cuts war away from the things it is naturally connected to and would not have been possible prior to the Enlightenment.
4. These are:
(1) The Moral Law
(2) Heaven
(3) Earth
(4) The Commander
(5) Method and discipline
Blowtorch said: Sun Tzu considers war from his being and senses, to the extent of the world, rather than political definitions of war. This allows him to see war in ways those who try to classify and deconstruct war cannot. Those who can see more will find the attack appropriate to their adversary’s weakness.
6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
Blowtorch said: In the information age, cultural nihilism makes men susceptible to moral law. Moral law is the easiest factor to manipulate rhetorically, but the hardest to penetrate a population with either a strong culture, or a strong mass media system. Moral law shapes how we see and experience everything else. Moral law constrains and shapes the Will.
7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
Blowtorch said: Heaven is the ephemeral aspects of the world we can see as derived from instruments or procedure. This includes things on the EM spectrum, or intangible ideas in logic or persona cyber layers.
8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
Blowtorch said: This includes terrain, weather, sea, air, space, and other physicalities that we can directly experience our environment.
9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
Blowtorch said: The propensity for virtue can only be found in the commander’s mandate to lead. Constraints of procedure and regulation decentralize responsibility and diminish credibility. A commander is only as strong as the power that is vested in him. The commander must be the root of virtue for the army.
10. By Method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the gradations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
Blowtorch said: Today the Joes are capable of linking their soldiers together through method and procedure so they become part of their weapons themselves. When this happens, we imbue the process itself with the characteristics of a soldier, an inversion of war. The process can never be a thinking spirit, it is no more than a series of triggers to be executed. The commander must strike a balance between method and spirit. Discipline is when the responsibility to act is imbued on the soldier rather than the process. Discipline has its roots in both moral law and the natural law of punishment for a standard.
11. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.
12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:—
13.
(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?
(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
(5) Which army is the stronger?
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?
(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.
Blowtorch said: This criteria must be extended to the sovereign if we are to have an accurate analysis. That is not easy in the Joes’ liberal democracy.
15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:—let such a one be dismissed!
16. While heeding the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.
17. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.
18. All warfare is based on deception.
Blowtorch said: The reason for this is because a stronger opponent will destroy a weaker opponent, so to attack a stronger opponent is to invite destruction. By fooling the opponent as to our strength is to degrade his own posture and make him weak. Every attack Cobra has launched against the Joes has been through surprise and deception, naturally.
19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem 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.
20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
Blowtorch said: The farther the army must project power, the more obvious the signature of its deployment. Attacking where the opponent is unprepared is dependent on the possibilities for the army to deploy from, and possibilities on where the army can land.
25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
Blowtorch said: One must understand the constant factors when making calculations. One must understand both the factors he is considering and those he is not. He must be rooted outside of the world of moral law to see into constant factors.
Yo Joe!