QUESTION: You said Iran is playing 3-D Chess while we are playing checkers. That Iran is also using tactics to disrupt the Israeli and US elections. Can you provide any details to that assessment?
Jeb
ANSWER: There is never anything new under the sun. When the infighting with a country is dominant, an adversary can use that to prevent a unified decision of defense as they argue among themselves. This is the position the United States finds itself in and within Israel, the resistance toward Netanyahu is significant.
This tactic has been adopted through history in military confrontations. I remember I discussed that with the Citadel Military College of South Carolina back in the ’80s when the wanted to teach the ECM to their students. I am not certain if they ever taught this at West Point.
The example is Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great’s father. Philip brilliantly used this precise tactic to undermine Athens, which allowed him to conquer Athens and all of Greece. The political infighting in Athens significantly undermined its ability to respond to the rising threat of Macedon.
Iran is employing the same tactic today, knowing that the Democrats will champion their cause simply because Trump is the opposition. Fanning this division prevents any cohesive response to Iran as took place during the conquest of Greece by Philip II.
This polarization of politics within ancient Athens contributed directly to its loss of independence at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338BC. The city’s democratic system, while a source of strength, proved vulnerable to a combination of internal factionalism and the strategic exploitation of these divisions by Philip II of Macedon.
While Philip’s son, Alexander the Great, is famous for his military genius, his approach to conquering the vast Persian Empire was adopting this tactic. He primarily relied on decisive military force, but he was also highly strategic in cultivating political factions within conquered territories to secure his rule.
Alexander’s primary strategy was to decisively seek a military confrontation to shatter the enemy’s power. His goal was to bring the Persian King, Darius III, to battle and defeat him in a way that would make him the uncontested ruler of Asia. By winning decisive victories like those at Granicus and Gaugamela, he made himself the de facto King of Kings, which led to major cities like Babylon and Persepolis surrendering to him without a fight.
Julius Caesar is closely associated with the “divide and conquer” (“divide et impera”) strategy, he adopted in his strategy during the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC). He faced a significant challenge: the Gauls were numerous and possessed formidable cavalry, but they were organized into dozens of small, independent, and often rivalrous tribes. Caesar brilliantly exploited this disunity. He actively sowed discord among the Gallic tribes, forming strategic alliances with some (like the Aedui and Remi) to help him defeat others.
Exploiting the division between Democrat and Republican is the key strategy to drag this out to undermine the Trump Administration and embarass it precisely as they did to Jimmy Carter. This is a well establish strategy to employ against an adversary. This seems to go over the heads of those in media because they are too busy reading the scripts written for them by the Neocons like the Institute Study for [Perpetual] War.