A war plan develops a concept to win a war militarily and politically; it is the detailed ways and means of an overarching strategy. The Department of Defense has no definition of “war plan” according to its own doctrine. There are the Unified Command Plan, campaign plans, theaters of war, and regional theater strategies. There […]
Tag Archives: DIME
ELLUL’S “PROPAGANDA”: OVER FIFTY YEARS’ WARNING, BUT ARE WE LISTENING? (DUSTY SHELVES)
Western nations have again become concerned about propaganda and disinformation due to the actions of the Chinese and Russian governments. An overlooked classic of information warfare/operations, disinformation, and fake news is Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (1965). Jacques Ellul was a French sociologist and philosopher who served as professor at the University […]
SANCTIONS IN ACTION: THE IRANIAN PROTESTS
Iran is suffering significantly due to increasing inflation and stagnant economic growth because of economic sanctions imposed by the United States. What started as peaceful protests over gas prices in cities across Iran escalated into riots against a broad spectrum of issues in 29 of Iran’s 31 provinces (as of 5 December, 2019). Current estimates […]
THE LEAVENWORTH HERESY?
Operational art had become all-encompassing, because the Joint community called all war making at the national and theater level ‘campaigns.’ Ten years ago, Australian defense experts Justin Kelly and Michael Brennan published scathing critiques of American strategic thinking in Alien: How Operational Art Devoured Strategy and “The Leavenworth Heresy and the Perversion of Operational Art”. […]
RETOOLING THOR’S HAMMER: GETTING RECONSTRUCTION RIGHT
Successful international development requires the persistent, intelligent, and adaptive application of a broad set of government tools … and support from local populations. In Norse mythology, Thor’s hammer is a legendary weapon that crushes the enemies of the Aesir (the Norse pantheon), and protects Asgard. The U.S. military is a modern Thor’s hammer, able to […]