~ TIAAWTA ~ There Is Always Another War To Analyze
~ TBIFD-OOT-CBO-EPG-A-MI-A-WWFIVHTP ~ The Bill Is Falling Due – On Our Two-Century Binge Of – Eightfold Population Growth – And – Mass Industrialization – And – We Will Find It Very Hard To Pay
~ WBTGP-TKOWTKITM-IND-IOS-A-R-IHBTAB ~ War Between The Great Powers – The Kind Of War That Kills In The Millions – Is Not Dead – It’s Only Sleeping – And – Recently – It Has Been Twitching A Bit
~ HBDNIW-TII-OMDAPI-ADSOOPN-RDTTD ~ Human Beings Did Not Invent War – They Inherited It – Our Most Distant Ancestors Practised It – As Do Some Of Our Primate Near-Relatives Down To This Day
~ TWWNE-A-FHABL-W-D/J/S/S-P/P-WTTBUTTCCOTE-A-ABBI ~ The World Was Never Empty – And – Food Has Always Been Limited – Wether – Desert / Jungle / Seashore / Savannah – Predator / Prey – Will Tend To Breed Up To The Carrying Capacity Of The Environment – And – A Bit Beyond It
~ H-G-EABIIFS-WCAIC-B-YB-M-HTOO-SCTAMPOTNB-A-TOTFR-TGYTTC ~ Hunter-Gathers – Even A Brief Interruption In Food Supply – Will Create An Instant Crisis – But – Your Band – May – Have The Option Of – Systematically Culling The Adult Male Population Of The Neighbouring Band – And – Taking Over Their Food Resources – To Get You Through The Crisis
~ E-H-G-B-TAHHTOTSW-FE ~ Every – Hunter-Gather – Band – That Anthropologists Have Had The Opportunity To Study Was – Fiercely Egalitarian
~ TH-GOTLP-W-PIV-WFFWWNB-TER-DNETW-TWBF-A-EC-W-NQE-WR ~ The Hunter-Gathers Of The Long Past – Were – Proficient In Violence – Who Fought Frequent Wars With Neighbouring Bands – The Egalitarian Revolution – Did Not Eliminate The Wars – Then We Became Farmers – And – Everything Changed – Well – Not Quite Everything – War Remained
~ RN-AAMIVDTTFT-ER-TT-OC-T-O/ER-D-HIRITPASSOADPW-NCACO-B-E-RES-NAI-IHTBP-B-IITDOOTESLIOTATPOTS-OAMOV-S-T/P/L-A-FBA-PT-A-ADDNTD-TCTIA-P-SM-ITBTJAB ~ Rank Necessity – All Armies Make It Very Difficult To Transfer From The – Enlisted Ranks– To The – Officer Caste – The – Officer / Enlisted Ranks – Distinction – Has Its Roots In The Political And Social Structures Of A Distant Past When – Nobles Commanded And Commoners Obeyed – But – Even – Radically Egalitarian States – Never Abolished It – It Had To Be Preserved – Because – It Is The Duty Of Officers To Expend Their Soldiers’ Lives In Order To Accomplish The Purposes Of The State – Officers Are Managers Of Violence – Soldiers – Training / Pride / Loyalty – Are – Finely Balanced Against – Physical Terror – And – A Desperate Desire Not To Die – They Can Turn Into A – Panic -Stricken Mob – If That Balance Tilts Just A Bit
~ TDAWIAM-P-T-C-B-OAT-40O50%-OTME ~ The Dead And Wounded In A Major – Pre-Twentieth-Century – Battle – Often Amounted To – 40 Or 50 Percent – Of The Men Engaged
~ BCNCFW-A-BFEOIQS-‘CF’-MUIPCIMW-AAUMO-SGAUR-SV(MOWANB)-A-ALG-TBTB-WASITF-‘G’-T-BO ~ Battles Can Now Continue For Weeks – And – Battles Follow Each Other In Quick Succession – “Combat Fatigue” – Most Units In Prolonged Combat In Modern War – Are An Uneasy Mixture Of – Some Green And Unsure Replacements – Some Veterans (Many Of Whom Are Nearing Breakdown) – And – A Large Group – The Bigger The Better – Who Are Still In Transition From – “Green” – To – Burned Out
~ T-GAROD-I-NANT ~ The – Giving And Receiving Of Death – Is – Not A Normal Transaction
~ NBK? ~ Natural-Born Killers?
~ TRTKAHBIU-IILETL-HETCBTIDIA-B-SEPC-A-T ~ The Reluctance To Kill Another Human Being Is Universal – It Is Less Encouraging To Learn – How Easily They Can Be Tricked Into Doing It Anyway – By – Some Elementary Psychological Conditioning – And – Training
~ ASMOM-DNFTURTK-WTCMI-N/P ~ A Small Minority Of Men – Do Not Feel The Usual Reluctance To Kill – When The Circumstances Make It – Necessary / Praiseworthy
~ AT-DB-TTF-A-TTI-I-DA-FHM-WDI ~ As The – Distance Between – The Trigger Finger – And – The Target Increase – Inhibitions – Drop Away – Five Hundred Metres – Will Do It
~ DA-DOTSHOEDOTDLOTT-STTCFCTIWC-AT-FA-TAP-WTCBHWETLOO-TITT-TPISLD-O-GTP-A-MO-TTIL-TMABRTLITA-TSITTWK-TSNOT-O-D-‘D-T’-ATTOT-RA/OM-MDOSFPERTWTHSAD-‘PD’-‘MI’-TMTWTT-GD/PWTK-TGT-‘ROMI’ ~ Drone Attack – Drone Operators Typically Spend Hours Or Even Days Observing The Daily Lives Of Their Targets – So That They Can First Confirm Their Identities With Confidence – And Then – Find A – Time And Place – Where They Can Be Hit Without Endangering The Lives Of Others – That Is The Theory – The Practice Is Sometimes Less Diligent – Occasionally – Great Time Pressure – And – Mistakes Occur – That Take Innocent Lives – They May Also Be Required To Loiter In The Area – To See If The Target Was Killed – To Say Nothing Of The – Oft-Denied – “Double-Tap” – Attacks That Take Out The – Rescuers And/Or Mourners – Many Drone Operators Suffer From Powerful Emotional Reactions To What They Have Seen And Done – “Psychological Distress” – “Moral Injury” – The More They Watched Their Targets – Getting Dressed / Playing With Their Kids – The Greater Their – “Risk Of Moral Injury”
~ IWCNTRWP-R-K/DKD-NTBTIASS-‘LAWS’-FTMTOKD ~ It’s What Comes Next That Really Worries People – Robots – Kill / Don’t Kill Decisions – Need To Be Taken In A Split Second – “Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems” – Free To Make Their Own Killing Decisions
~ AL-90%-OTSTEE-HB-DBW ~ At Least – 90 Percent – Of – The States That Ever Existed – Have Been – Destroyed By War
~ AS-B-2000BCE-TOMOHBWF-A-AALISTW-EU-W-SK-ATT-A-AMOS/S-ATB-PF-WNTKATNTHOTH-GIL-M/T-BAU ~ Anthill Society – By – 2000 BCE – The Overwhelming Majority Of Human Beings Were Farmers – And – Almost All Lived In States That Were – Extravagantly Unequal – With – Semidivine Kings – At The Top – And – A Mass Of Serfs / Slaves – At The Bottom – Physical Force – Was Needed To Keep All These Newly Tamed Heirs Of The Hunter-Gathers In Line – Militarization / Tyranny – Became Almost Universal
~ P-E-BKA-N-G-WPIIWW ~ Pseudo-Egalitarianism – Better Known As – Nationalism – Get – Whole Populations Involved In Waging War
~ T-WOA-I-NOS-B-C ~ The – War Of Attrition – Involved – Not Only Soldiers – But – Civilians
~ LARM-A-N-BTM-B-BG ~ Labour And Raw Materials – Allocated – Not – By The Market – But – By Government
~ ‘HF’ ~ “Home Front”
~ TW ~ Total War
~WTB-HL-KU-B-HP-T-PTWA-AMCAAE ~ Willingness To Bear – Huge Losses – Kept Up – By – Hate Propaganda – That – Paints The War As – A Moral Crusade Against Absolute Evil
~ P-HCTS-W-A-G-A-HI-CTSIA-AHP ~ People – Have Ceased To See – War – As – Glorious – And – Have Instead – Come To See It As – A Huge Problem
~ NW-HDST-Y-WKPNAHTWAWIW-T-P/E/C-E ~ Nuclear Weapons – Have Dominated Strategic Thinking – Yet – We Know Practically Nothing About How They Would Actually Work In War – The – Psychological / Electromagnetic / Climate – Effects
~ NASD-T-TNHBESII-JAFGTIS ~ Nukes Are So Destructive – That – The Number Held By Each Side Is Irrelevant – Just A Few Getting Through Is Sufficient
~TFO-LNW ~ The Fallacy Of – Limited Nuclear War
~ EOS? ~ Engineers Or Soldiers?
~ TCW-NQTH-ICHBJFYODL-FICCTTAUONWST-A-NTCUNIITS ~ The Cold War – Never Quite Turned Hot – It Could Have Been Just Forty Years Of Dumb Luck – For It Came Close To The Actual Use Of Nuclear Weapons Several Times – And – New Technologies Continually Unleashed New Instabilities Into The System
~ ‘NW’ ~ “Nuclear Winter”
~ ‘RIMA’ ~ “Revolution In Military Affairs”
~ UGW’ ~ “Urban Guerrilla Warfare”
~ WWHTS-TPOW-WTCO-TESS ~ We Will Have To Solve – The Problem Of War – Within The Context Of – The Existing State System
~ MPARTAT-WANSAIL-A-TTBROO-TMGUMOTO-TVMOIBSTTONSHCI ~ Most People Are Reluctant To Accept That – War And National Sovereignty Are Indissolubly Linked – And – That To Be Rid Of One – They Must Give Up Much Of The Other – The Vast Majority Of Individuals Believe Strongly That Their Own Nation Should Have Complete Independence
~ ‘CW’ ~ “Cyberwar”