![]() ![]() While some may feel that the book ends rather pessimistically, this reader found Kilcullen’s examination to be pragmatic, nuanced, and showing of a talent for framing complex problems.Ĭhapter one introduces the Woolseyan security era framed by a speech given by the incoming CIA director James Woosley which introduces the reader to the dragon and snakes. ![]() The book’s takeaway is that the “Western high-tech, high-precision, high-cost…” model of warfare used by the West “…is no longer working.” This approach is failing because, through intentional and unintentional adaptation, the dragons have learned to fight like the snakes, and the snakes have learned to fight like the dragons. The book’s namesake is resultant of a speech given by CIA director James Woosley who, at the end of the cold war, describes large nations such as Russia as “dragons”, and rogue regimes and insurgencies as snakes. ![]() His background in counter insurgencies, intelligence, and strategy shine through in this work. Oxford University Press, 2020.ĭavid Kilcullen’s fifth book, The Dragons and the Snakes, provides an evolutionary perspective on how opponents have adapted to counter the dominant military power of the US and its allies. The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West. ![]()
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