XII
STATECRAFT
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Kings
Governance
Elections
Cabinets
Ministers
Envoys
Espionage
Warfare
Fortification
Generals
Army
Strategy
Dispositions
Battle
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Category Archives: Statecraft
Kings -/- Governance
12:1
Kings
Government cannot properly operate
Without executive power
Fearlessness, liberality, wisdom, energy:
Encapsulates astraean sceptersway
Frequently conducting inspectorial tours
Renders monarchy accessible
Subjects serving unkind kings
Deserts lacking rainfall
***
Exposing omnishambling presidential fauxpas
Upsurges universal indignance
One nation’s illustrious avatar
Another’s terrible terrorist
Cunning auotocrats foster opposition
They’ll glorify overcoming
12:2
Governance
Governance’s inalienable, implementable rights:
Life, liberty, property
Towards improving civic institutions
Channel state resources
Prefer persuading antipathetic minds
Before regulating lifestyle
Wind, waves, sea, magma:
Ample power provide
***
Economies expand like plants
Water roots accordingly
Resolutely taxing burgeoning riches
Feeds needy children
Where hearing hunger’s howlings
Lower taxes immediately
Elections / Cabinets
12:3
Elections
Elect ministers thro’ merit
Not partisan politics
Whichever departments interest voters
Encourage opinionated discourse
Perusing individual candidate credentials
Electorates choose efficiently
Each guild’s elected leader
Cabinet seats command
***
As antholes collapse embankments
Civilians topple governments
Governments create provisional contracts
Signed by voters
Thro’ the perfect election
Each voice heard
12:4
Cabinets
Exchequer chancellors attend economies:
Taxation, pensions, employment
While judges guarantee justice
Generals defend populations
Chief practitioners protect health:
Hospitals, doctors, research
While professors disseminate education
Quarterconsuls dripfeed nations
***
Transport managers unclog arteries:
Roads, rails, flightpaths
Culture, media, enterprise, sport;
Social wardens dynamize
Cabinet’s vitally important responsibilities:
Energy, environment, climachange
Ministers -/- Envoys
12:5
Ministers
Minsisterial ability clearly revealed
Handling troubled times
Soundly advising ignorant leaders
First ministerial duty
Complicated issues seldom settled
Without detailed discussions
Clever cabinets cast out
Winking, whispering turnoats
***
Faultlessness, scrupulosity, patriotism, sinophobia:
Esteem’d ministerial attributes
Firmness, respectability, lucidity, persistence:
Moulds good ministers
Approachablity, erudition, energy, decisiveness:
Edifices of office
12:6
Envoys
Loyalty, wisdom, infallibility, eloquence:
Indispensable ambassadorial attributes
Erudition, energy, eloquence, etiquette:
Empowers impressive emissaries
Decorum, timing, delivery, balance:
Define chief envoys
Purity, respect, posipraxis, honesty:
Complement faithful diplomats
***
Deliver unto bellicose realms
Cleverest, uncontroversial consuls
Words – flawless, flattering, focused –
Elucidate royal replies
Exemplifying, soundly, diplomacy’s art
Destroys enemy joys
Espionage -/- Warfare
12:7
Espionage
Fearlessness, invisibility, firmness, eloquence:
Elevate able spying
Concealants dress’d as ascetics
Freely probe undetected
Whenever spies concur unwittingly
Deem data correct
Before fearing bladed foes
Beware friendly traitors
***
Knowing everybody’s daily business
Statesmanship’s unceasing duty
Ambition, luck, vanity, idealism;
Maketh prosperous spies
Publicly praising successful spying
Exposes secret agents
12:8
Warfare
Maintain, like beloved children,
Battle’s diabolical enginery
Defenceless Kings perish promptly,
At war’s onset
In statecraft act straightforwardly
In warfare, craftily
Spirited, prudent, swift, decisive:
Combat’s optimum conduct
***
Infinities of petty circumstances
Disappoint military planning
No greater misfortune exists –
Underestimating one’s enemies
Enmitial capabilities absolutely essential
When waging war
Fortification -/- Generals
12:9
Fortification
If borders left unguarded
Sophisticated nations fail
Supercitadels blend heroic garrisons
With plentiful supplies
Massive castles easily defendable
Decay enemy courage
Exquisite fortresses merely rubble
Without excellent inmates
***
Height, strength, width, inaccessibility:
Characterize important citadels
Fortified features demotivate aggressors;
Impregnability, defendability, stockpiles
Water, elevation, firewood:
Defence’s veritable essentials
12:10
Generals
Surfing battle’s intense obscurities
Intelligent generals thrive
If commanders acting ignorantly
Excellent troops useless
Gigantic battalions exist ephemerally
Without competent leadership
Whereas archers unleash arrows
Generals focus armies
***
Wise, courageous, fatherly, subursine:
Define favourite commanders
Unscrupulousness, impetuousness, cowardice, vanity:
Stains feckless officers
Energy, speed, resolution, foresight:
Envelop excellent generals
Army -/- Strategy
12:11
Army
Armies perish without subsistence
Supplylines ceaselessly secure
Preparing warriors for fatigues
Avoids embarrassing despondancies
Good iron never nails
Good soldiers, cannonfodder
Adorning swine in armor
Battletuskers never creates
***
Deem fearless, dignified forces
Regalism’s foremost riches
Corragio, loyalty, honour, tradition:
Pervades professional platoons
Valorous veterans never envisage;
Defeat, desertion, disgrace
12:12
Strategy
Whencesoever victory beckons, fight!
Otherwise ingenuities employ
When dividing one’s enemies
Synchonise wide-fronted attacks
Before engaging armies militarily
Study past wars
Sharks: invincible in water,
Powerless on land
***
Speeding along unanticipated roads
Renders planning unfathomable
Prefer inferior enemy forces,
Never oppose impregnability
Never interrupt one’s enemies
When making mistakes
Dispositions -/- Battle
12:13
Dispositions
Offering combat fronted widely
Thins enemy forces
Hostile enemies concentrating forces
Presage imminent attacks
Deem no army indestructable
Defeat detachments piecemeal
Unless obtaining advantageous terrain
Aggressive activities avoid
***
Powerless armies become powerful
Choosing private battlefields
Engagement among cramped places
Demoralizes massive armies
Mountainous territory denies wings
Carving armies equal
12:14
Battle
Properly conceiving battlefield tactics
Supplements strategic manouvering
Where enemies make effort
Send timely reserves
Bulwark useful battlefield achievements;
Evaluation, preservation, improvement
Pacy counterattacks cleverly placed
Panic confident belligerents
***
Tirelessly pursue routing enemies
Time’s rejuvenation swift
Assisting enemies bleeding profusely
Surpasses battlefield triumph
Delaying denoument defers advantages
Reinforcements rapidly entrench
Humanology 