1. Sun Tzŭ said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entirely than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
Blowtorch said: The geographic boundaries that make a nation no longer define the forces of influence and control of a nation as the world is interconnected across a multitude of physical and non-physical domains. Nations themselves have become abstracted, and it is possible to control a foreign nation to an extent that the “nation” itself is only recognized as such in the minds of its inhabitants. In cases like these, a nation can be taken without it even knowing it.
Blowtorch said: Infospace is the dominant domain.
2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to baulk the enemy’s plans; the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
Blowtorch said: Deterrence as we understand it today implies some type of parrying of violent conflict, but here Sun Tzu is talking about decision dominance. Forcing an adversary to change their plans is the most effective form of warfare in a world categorized and interlinked systems and ideas. An imperceptible attack, once discovered, forces a re-configuration of resources that can disrupt or even defeat an adversary. The constant factors are more easily manipulated today as well, leaving the traditional way armies like that of the Joes plan and operate highly vulnerable. What looks to the Joes like deterrence of Cobra, looks to Cobra like internal political plays (which in reality it is).
4. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.
5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.
6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
Blowtorch said: The scope of war is larger than kinetic conflict, and a nation must be prepared to fight as such. War is the father of all things.
7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.
Blowtorch said: Threat that drives an adversary to act is attack itself.
8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two.
Blowtorch said: Through manipulation of the Heaven and Moral Law this calculus can be changed. Today the Joes are fighters who do not fight freely; Cobra is unconstrained, and thus is truly fighting.
9. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
10. Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force, in the end it must be captured by the larger force.
11. Now the general is the bulwark of the State: if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the State will be weak.
12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:—
13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army.
14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
Blowtorch said: This is the way a liberal democracy must fight its army by nature of bureaucracy itself. Hence, it can never truly wage war in the sense that Cobra can.
16. But when the army is restless and distrustful, trouble is sure to come from the other feudal princes. This is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging victory away.
17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
Victory lies in the knowledge of these five points.
Blowtorch said: In the Joes’ world of infinite data that is infinitely available, all truths become equal. Belief itself is what drives victory. War is the final manifestation of will to power.
Blowtorch said: The infospace is the dominant domain, until the Will is strong enough.
18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Blowtorch said: One must know themselves removed from the Joes’ world, or forever be shaped by it.