Strategy, an oft used and abused word. Governments are condemned for failing to develop coherent national security strategies, CEO’s find themselves sitting roadside seeking employment for not sketching the appropriate business strategy, and military tacticians are frequently condemned for not developing the appropriate strategy.
All of which begs the question, what the hell is “strategy?”
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More people have died in the name of ideology than religion. A contemporary truism. Prior to the 21st century historians and statisticians would have been hard pressed to render evidence sufficient to make this case. Then we had Hitler, Stalin and Mao. And a growing global population that made travesty on a grand-scale relatively simple.[…]
Solace and solutions—two endgames not likely to be found on a battlefield. And, yet, that is exactly what Syria’s Bashar al-Assad expects to extract from his four years of running gun battles. Or perhaps that is what his Alawite followers are demanding from Assad. The bastard stepchildren of Islam’s Shia sect, the Alawite have no […]
There is a pecking order in academia. Particularly amongst those employed in “research-oriented” institutions of higher learning. “Hard” sciences—think biology, chemistry, and physics—always draw a winning card over “soft” sciences—like anthropology, political science and sociology. One set of professors wears white lab coats and draw large research grants…the other shuffles about in worn tweed sport […]
Like many authors, I tend to work with music running in the background. Typically, classical or acoustic guitar. Am a big Segovia fan. (Look him up…Andreas Segovia – 1893-1987…arguably the greatest Spanish guitar player of all time.) Classical and guitar come to the front of my selections as I find it impossible to write when […]