Read Online The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder Audible Audio Edition Sean McFate Joe Knezevich HarperAudio Books
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Download As PDF : The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder Audible Audio Edition Sean McFate Joe Knezevich HarperAudio Books
"Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu." (Admiral James Stavridis (retired), former supreme allied commander at NATO)
An urgent, fascinating exploration of warfare - past, present, and future - and what we must do if we want to win today from an 82nd Airborne veteran, former private military contractor, and professor of war studies at the National Defense University.
War is timeless. Some things change - weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, objectives - but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of durable disorder - a period of unrest created by numerous factors China's rise, Russia's resurgence, America's retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars. Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. He's seen firsthand the horrors of battle and understands the depth and complexity of the current global military situation.
This devastating turmoil has given rise to difficult questions. What is the future of war? How can we survive? If Americans are drawn into major armed conflict, can we win? McFate calls upon the legends of military study Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and others, as well as his own experience, and carefully constructs the new rules for the future of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age of entropy one where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and "nation states" have less. With examples from the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and others, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological and "shadow" warfare, and much more. McFate's new rules distill the essence of war today, describing what it is in the real world, not what we believe or wish it to be.
Some of these principles are ancient, others are new, but all will permanently shape war now and in the future. By following them, he argues, we can prevail. But if we do not, terrorists, rogue states, and others who do not fight conventionally will succeed - and rule the world.
Read Online The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder Audible Audio Edition Sean McFate Joe Knezevich HarperAudio Books
"The New Rules of War is an outstanding am long-overdue corrective to modern American strategic thinking, which remains obsessed with technology and the drive for decisive victory using conventional military force. It is not without flaws, but these are more than offset by the scythe that McFate brings to the conventional wisdom.
McFate’s essential premise is that conventional warfare is dead and that strategists need to focus on the tools that our adversaries use to circumvent conventional strength. This is not in itself a groundbreaking assertion—its become a de rigueur statement amongst strategists since the rise of insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as McFate points out, the chorus of voices making this point has done nothing to change the military’s emphasis on technical solutions to non-technical problems. This has only worsened since DoD reprioritized great power competition. McFate’s understanding of the coming “durable disorder†and the changing character of warfare is refreshing and should be considered deeply and at length by all involved in defense policy.
The book’s imperfections come not in McFate’s assessments, but in his tone and style. He often comes across as overly polemical, almost as though he has an axe to grind. While this doubtless makes for quicker reading--perhaps especially to a lay audience--it leads to blanket statements that undermine the strength of his arguments. For example, McFate dismisses the utility of Clausewitz to discussions of modern conflict, labeling him the “high priest of conventional warfare,†despite having recapitulated Clausewitz’s own distinction between the immutable nature of war and the changing character of warfare only a few paragraphs earlier. This is sloppy: while Clausewitz’s discussion on the conduct of warfare from the Napoleonic era is obviously divorced from conflict today, his understanding of war’s political nature, and that its conduct is governed by the blending of passion, reason, and chance remain as timeless as ever. Indeed McFate’s whole book could be read as an answer to the Prussian’s statement that the first and most important act of strategy is to understand the nature of war one is engaging in, neither mistaking it for nor attempting to change it into something alien to its nature.
Similar statements are sprinkled throughout the book, but they pale in comparison to the fresh thinking he brings to the table. Ultimately, the US and its allies are doomed to suffer failed strategies and increasing insecurity unless they understand, as McFate does, that the utility of conventional force is declining and that new method of advancing the national interest are required."
Product details - Audible Audiobook
- Listening Length 8 hours and 1 minute
- Program Type Audiobook
- Version Unabridged
- Publisher HarperAudio
- Audible.com Release Date January 22, 2019
- Whispersync for Voice Ready
- Language English, English
- ASIN B07L16HTHZ
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Tags : The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder (Audible Audio Edition) Sean McFate, Joe Knezevich, HarperAudio Books, ,Sean McFate, Joe Knezevich, HarperAudio,The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder,HarperAudio,B07L16HTHZ
The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder Audible Audio Edition Sean McFate Joe Knezevich HarperAudio Books Reviews :
The New Rules of War Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder Audible Audio Edition Sean McFate Joe Knezevich HarperAudio Books Reviews
- The New Rules of War is an outstanding am long-overdue corrective to modern American strategic thinking, which remains obsessed with technology and the drive for decisive victory using conventional military force. It is not without flaws, but these are more than offset by the scythe that McFate brings to the conventional wisdom.
McFate’s essential premise is that conventional warfare is dead and that strategists need to focus on the tools that our adversaries use to circumvent conventional strength. This is not in itself a groundbreaking assertion—its become a de rigueur statement amongst strategists since the rise of insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as McFate points out, the chorus of voices making this point has done nothing to change the military’s emphasis on technical solutions to non-technical problems. This has only worsened since DoD reprioritized great power competition. McFate’s understanding of the coming “durable disorder†and the changing character of warfare is refreshing and should be considered deeply and at length by all involved in defense policy.
The book’s imperfections come not in McFate’s assessments, but in his tone and style. He often comes across as overly polemical, almost as though he has an axe to grind. While this doubtless makes for quicker reading--perhaps especially to a lay audience--it leads to blanket statements that undermine the strength of his arguments. For example, McFate dismisses the utility of Clausewitz to discussions of modern conflict, labeling him the “high priest of conventional warfare,†despite having recapitulated Clausewitz’s own distinction between the immutable nature of war and the changing character of warfare only a few paragraphs earlier. This is sloppy while Clausewitz’s discussion on the conduct of warfare from the Napoleonic era is obviously divorced from conflict today, his understanding of war’s political nature, and that its conduct is governed by the blending of passion, reason, and chance remain as timeless as ever. Indeed McFate’s whole book could be read as an answer to the Prussian’s statement that the first and most important act of strategy is to understand the nature of war one is engaging in, neither mistaking it for nor attempting to change it into something alien to its nature.
Similar statements are sprinkled throughout the book, but they pale in comparison to the fresh thinking he brings to the table. Ultimately, the US and its allies are doomed to suffer failed strategies and increasing insecurity unless they understand, as McFate does, that the utility of conventional force is declining and that new method of advancing the national interest are required. - I recommend the book. I agree with the other reviewers. There is some overreaching at times, but overreach is part of being passionate about changes. I have four disagreements or perhaps added perspectives as disagreement is too strong a word
1) The problem is not only an over reliance on technology vs human wits, but lacking the understanding of what is truly threatening from a technological perspective. A good example is an EMP. The author rightly so pointed out that the use of air carriers and the attack on Pearl Harbor were predicted, but these predictions dismissed by the establishment. The money spent on the F35 would have been enough not only to better protect the grid and having spare parts available, but also to protect nuclear reactors, military bases dependent on electricity and, as battery technology evolves, to provide large household batteries and renewables to most households in the US. The F35 is the battleship of yesterday. But again, this is technology vs. technology + imagination.
2) Borrowing from Kissinger, it is possible to divide the world in three historical moments places where war as a political tool is unthinkable (e.g. between West European states), places where national interests and alliances resemble the 1st World War (e.g. the Asia of China, Japan, etc.) and places where the 30-year war did not take place as yet (e.g. the islamic world). Of course this is a simplification, but the increased complexity of warfare is not only be due to the rise of non-state actors but also to the multidimensional interaction of different historical moments.
3) The author stresses that the rise of non-state agents, the use of subterfuge and weaponization of information and the impact of mercenaries will change how war is waged. In fact, it has already changed. He stresses that the laws of war will not or may not be followed if one is to be victorious. However, the doctrine of jus in bello and jus ad bellum precedes nation states. My understanding is that the Catholic Church developed these ideas to assist Christian Princes to wage war in moral way in a world characterized by disorder. Of course this is not a book about the moral of warfare, but I am sure that the author gave some thought to the issue. A new understanding of jus in bello and ad bellum will be necessary for democratic societies to succeed, not a utilitarian dismissal of the subject.
4) I am a civilian and by no means know how military education is delivered. However, I suspect that the necessary changes of education must go much deeper than the early introduction to strategy studies. The ability to think differently depends in part on the ability to not believe one's opinions too strongly. There is benefit of having doubts. I suspect that the strength of certainty is a preferred quality in the military career. This is surely difficult to change.
To a degree, these are straw man arguments. The author's positions are fluid enough to accommodate all four points. I enjoyed the book very much. I am sure his classes are not only informative, but truly formative of officers and others lucky enough to meet him in person. - Sean has done a brilliant job of capturing the essence of modern warfare. He describes why the American military's preferred form of warfare has failed over the past 50 years to win a single war, and how our enemies are out-thinking us and winning, often without engaging us in direct combat. He proposes ten new rules for waging war in an era of durable disorder in which states and non-state actors fight without regard for our geographic, organizational, and functional boundaries; how they use information much more skillfully; and how private military corporations are commercializing war and relegating Westphalian warfare to the scrap heap of history. This is graduate-level military art, but Sean simplifies the complexity of modern warfare so that novices can understand it, while experienced practitioners can expand their professional horizons and make sense of the last 18 years of wars in the Middle east and elsewhere. This book should be mandatory reading in professional military education currricula, and in the library of every national security professional.
