Comments on: Sun Tzu on George W. Bush

By: The Sharpener » Blog Archive » The Thursday rant #6

The Sharpener » Blog Archive » The Thursday rant #6 — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 09:43:24 +0000

[…] This week’s ranter: Paul has just joined The Sharpener team Ã¢â‚¬â€ you can find his first ‘proper’ piece, on Sun Tzu and George W. Bush, here. […]

By: Some Dude

Some Dude — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:35:08 +0000

I was just reading “The Art of War” and was feeling a similar sentiment. It does seem that Bush is going about this war the entirely wrong way. However, you might want to check on the translation used for the 5 sins of a commander; 4 and 5 are a bit off. It is a sin to have a “delicacy of honour which is sensitive to shame”, and “over-solicitude for his men”

By: The Sharpener » The Thursday rant #6

The Sharpener » The Thursday rant #6 — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 07:58:43 +0000

[…] team Ã¢â‚¬â€ you can find his first ‘proper’ piece, on Sun Tzu and George W. Bush, here. Tuneless in Islington Any regular gig-goer can sympathise with the classic ’support band dilemma […]

By: Backword Dave

Backword Dave — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:46:35 +0000

I think that’s one of the smartest posts I’ve read in a while (and that’s counting Talk Politics and Chris of S&M). However, the bit about generals will worry me for a while. I’m sure Alexander Haig would pass no bother; I’m less sure about Douglas MacArthur. As D2 says, Bush isn’t really Texan (IIRC his dad moved to Texas for his oil business, but kept his roots in New England; and besides, there’s quite a lot of DC in his past as well). And Texans don’t have quicker tempers than anyone else really. Bush may have, but that’s (from what I’ve read) more his arrogant-rich-kid background, which is true of his *class* rather than his geographic origins.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:15:43 +0000

I blame my sub editors… you just can’t the staff over here :)

By: dearieme

dearieme — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:11:34 +0000

“Senator Kelly”: cut out the Japanese jokes!

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 20:25:04 +0000

d^2 – “I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t really think that Texas can be blamed all that much for his character flaws.”

I didn’t really think I was… :)

(unless three flippant words in about 2,000 count as a psychological portrait… I’d bomb countries for that sort of perception :))

By: dsquared

dsquared — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:20:33 +0000

One small technicality; although George W Bush was born in Texas and is by that token a “Texan”, his family are New Englanders and he was educated at Andover and Yale. He didn’t buy that ranch in Crawford until he was elected governor. I don’t really think that Texas can be blamed all that much for his character flaws.

By: Twerpette

Twerpette — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:16:44 +0000

This is big news, thanks for addressing it. When will Bush learn? I just finished a post on this topic too on Twerpette. I also cited this cool article in my weblog.