Tomorrow's Affairs | John Sipher
The age of asymmetry has fundamentally reshaped modern conflict, revealing that military superiority no longer guarantees political victory for strong powers, as evidenced by historical and contemporary struggles. U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller's 2026 comments, reflecting a belief that power is self-justifying, are challenged by the realities of modern warfare. Examples from Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Gaza demonstrate that weaker adversaries survive punishment and deny victory by employing asymmetric strategies, including dispersed forces, drones, missiles, proxies, cyber campaigns, and information manipulation. This dynamic means that while firepower still matters, survivability, legitimacy, endurance, and adaptation are often more critical. The article argues that this challenges great powers like the United States and China, suggesting that conquering and pacifying territories like Taiwan could be far more difficult and costly than imagined. Furthermore, the casual use of force by great powers inadvertently incentivizes weaker states to pursue nuclear deterrence, viewing conventional weakness as an invitation to intervention.
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