Clausewitz’s thinking is far more nuanced than a discussion of one aphorism allows; so is Foucault’s. The prevailing discourses around peace and war limit our conceptions of strategy, primarily to what seems to me to be a naïve understanding of power.
President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.
