‘Superior at the Decisive Point’ → Iran-Israel or Russia-Ukraine?

“Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus.” – Helmuth von Moltke

Victory is not about manpower or firepower, but of Leadership.

Iran, appears you heeded my words in 2021:

“Time is running out for your empire to strike. When the Republican administration takes office in January 2024, it seems more likely to take a harder line on Iran than a softer line.”

Or, is this strike simply Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran as Elaine Sciolino writes?

Israel, you became an easy mark, a means to an end.

Ukraine, end justifies your means.

Russia understands well Moltke’s “offensive–defensive strategy.’ Yet, instead of only cutting lines of communication, Ukraine’s energy source was strategically targeted. President Vladimir Putin, question is, are you also employing Moltke’s ‘mission-type tactics” by decentralizing command and control?

Moltke forged his use of railways. Putin, you harnessed hypersonic aircraft. RAF, under your command and control are Energy and Nuclear power, a SEAL team and Satellites. Or what I see as “Lord of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” in New ‘Twilight of the Gods.’”

Strategy of penetrating a frontline has been superseded by surrounding enemy via sea, air and land. Israel, appears you reverse engineered Moltke’s strategy conducting a defensive-offensive strike with the enemy at your iron gate by taking it three steps further: communication plus energy, water and food.

Israel Defense Force, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Iron Dome stands as your Goliath amidst a Grand Global enemy of many David’s. Says Sciolino, “Iranians are like water in a vase. If the vase is a globe, they become a globe; if the vase is long-necked, they become long-necked.”

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami, likewise, do not forget the White Queen with her power “to remember future events before they have happened,” as I note in my December 17, 2021 paper, “Lety’s Ventures Through Persia’s Looking-Glass.”

IDF, are you following the right white rabbit with a pocket watch found in “Persian Empire Ready to Strike Back!” Sciolino may agree with my counsels to you last April and August as she notes, “Iran is the Bermuda Triangle of American Foreign Policy, so don’t let your guard down.”

Speaking of ‘rabbit holes,’ Prime Minister Naftali Bennett previously stated, “Israel will defend itself by itself.” Not according to Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and CIA. At the Iranian American Jewish Federation (IAJF) held in New York on December 2, 2021, Pompeo stated “The day is coming. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will defend Israel.”

If this Kingdom is in fact the chosen one, then its compass will be clear in the moonlight or as Bennett says, “Israel is a lighthouse in a storm.” But Iranians too have a saying, “When the storm comes, they bend; when the storm passes, they stand up again.”

Ukraine, NATO has shrugged you once again to face alone the biggest of all Goliaths. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appears your mistake was to ‘bite off more than you can chew.’

Kenneth Pollack, as to the ‘Ugly Americans’ you write about in The Persian Puzzle bet you could not imagine how ugly it would get in the Middle East. Says Sciolino, ‘A time bomb is ticking and it has nothing to do with explosives.’

Indeed, East and Middle East hands are tied by the enemy’s capture of spies and captives. Sun Tzu playbook highlights this ‘Art of War.’

Americans, your red sore faces reveal a Knockout! Moltke or Tyson punch? Indeed, Generals dare not question Moltke’s concluding remark as forces in Middle East and Europe were under his successful command. 

“Only the layman believes that in the course of a campaign he sees the consistent implementation of an original thought that has been considered in advance in every detail and retained to the end.”

Moltke may agree with me: Victory is not about manpower or firepower, but of Leadership.

Iran-Israel or Russia-Ukraine, in the End, who will be “Superior at the Decisive Point’?