[vonnik]

I found this to be a remarkably uninsightful work. He somehow negates the inherent drama of war with the milquetoast prose and myopia of an academic. Much of what he says is in fact false, presumably because he is far from the action and relies on Clausewitz as a crutch for thought.

The key nodes to control have to do with supply chain, energy and information; ie depots, road and rail, bridges, factories, substations and data centers or satellites.

Ukraine has severely weakened Russia by attacking those points, as Russia has Ukraine.

Beijing could well defeat Taiwan (and the US by proxy) by controlling its sea lanes, cutting its cables, and jamming its radio spectrum.

[nradov]

China might be able to blockade Taiwan for a while but China's own SLOC are far more vulnerable. They are dependent on critical food, energy, and mineral imports — most of which pass through a few choke points where they are still unable to project sustained naval power. The US and its allies could cut those off at any time and China lacks the internal reserves to survive a long blockade.

[vonnik]

It sounds like we agree on the larger strategic point.

The PRC seems to be doing a good job building out its energy infra, fwiw. And it shares a massive land border with an ally and energy producer.

[red-iron-pine]

> I found this to be a remarkably uninsightful work.

aye. it read like 2008 "hearts and minds" claptrap about capturing but also protecting a population.

it would be totally ignorable if it didn't have whiffs of "we're going to occupy American cities now, too"