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Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” — Principals of Warfare Putin has Failed to Consider
War, an element of the human condition, has existed throughout time, and though the tools of warfare have changed, the strategic rules for a successful campaign have not. Mr. Putin has ignored those rules and is suffering the consequences.
It is now week three of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian. A war started by Mr. Putin has become a war that he is destined to lose.
A thoughtful analysis of Mr. Putin’s goals leads one to conclude that he intended to flood Ukraine with overwhelming firepower, freeze the Ukrainian defenders to seize key cities and remove the current Ukraine government. What he envisioned as a quick Russian takedown of an inferior Ukrainian defending force has instead turned into increasingly bloody slog with no guarantee of success.
That the war has stagnated should be of no surprise to those who study and practice the art of war. The seeds of this fiasco are sown early by the flawed planning and execution plaguing this campaign. Mr. Putin, and the commanders under him, ignored the basics principals of preparing an army and waging war. They did not understand the capabilities of Ukrainian…
