(2006-01-31) Fabius Myth Grand Strategy

Fabius Maximus on the Myth of Grand Strategy. We can describe these as "grand strategies", but to do so has an element of falsity. Such intellectual analysis, based on theory, had no place in the hearts of these peoples. History also suggests than leaders cannot manufacture a "PrimalStrategy." You either have it, or you don't (Emergence?)... We can only envy these "primal strategies." The people of a developed western state seldom have a widely agreed goal and the willingness to sacrifice for its achievement. History shows that a mature state often tries to imitate a "primal strategy," a vain attempt to recapture a lost element from its past. Developed states have wealth, income, and security. They have complex societies, whose elements have a wide range of goals and viewpoints (Coalition). Their leaders and people have a large degree of cynicism. All of these make a "primal strategy" difficult to achieve. Europe"s last attempt was burnt out of its culture in the fires of World War I... General Semantics also sees the world in terms of maps. It is a science of applied epistemology invented in 1933 by Alfred Korzybski. The "ABC-s" of General Semantics explain why grand strategies tend to fail, and greater ambition increases the odds of failure. (This is 1st in his 4-part Grand Strategy series.)