The Wrong Lessons

Pravin Sawhney

There are two predicaments about war: its unpredictability, and finite allocations to prepare and sustain it. These dilemmas get enhanced with induction of new technologies which change the character of war implying how it should be fought to accomplish war objectives with minimal loss of lives.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Political and military leaders should keep two dictums close to heart: Never start a war you cannot win. And never get into a protracted war. But what if the war is forced by an enemy? Or, when one is compelled to fight with a proxy nation since the real enemy is disinclined for direct combat? The point is this: lessons of a war should be studied in totality but applied with wisdom. For example, what lessons can the Indian military learn and sensibly use from the Russian war with NATO playing out on Ukrainian soil. Here are a few of them.

Political Determination

The political will to fight (even against odds) is real deterrence. This is why the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) war concept has shifted from attrition to cognitive confrontation leading to quicker defeat of enemy with minimal bloodshed. This comprises two components played out simultaneously. Fight in the war zone or whole-of-nation with cyber, counter space, and information war to bring civilian life to a halt. And to fight in the combat zone by denying communications (eye and ears) by hitting command and control nodes under conditions of complete situational awareness.

Even when China was an insignificant military power, it had immense political determination. Weeks before the PLA entered the Korean war against the United States, it had consolidated its hold over Tibet and Xinjiang. On the other hand, the