This strategy of Sun Tzu is often quoted by military strategists today. Knowing one's strength and weaknesses versus the enemies is crucial to fight and win a war. Theoretically, every decent and well trained military leaders can understand this principle and would not head into a war without such considerations. In reality, many military leaders and political leaders are not that decent or well read, ie, not very smart to the point of reckless and irresponsible.
Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and all the clowns in Washington fall into this category of not very bright. Ok, excuse Biden, he did not know what was going on and all the decisions were made for him by Blinken. The basis of Sun Tzu's strategy is very simple. If one is weak relative to the enemy, and there is no way of winning, it is better not to start a fight. However, looking around, how many clowns have ignored this strategy and went head in into a war against an enemy that they knew was way superior to them and could bash them to pieces?
Ukraine is a good example. There is not a whisker of a hope that Ukraine can come up the winner against the Russians. Caveat, the stupid Neo Nazi Ukrainian soldiers were not calling the shot. Or they believe that with the Americans and NATO behind them, they could defeat Russia. They can be excused for their ignorance and stupidity, but not the Americans, not the military leaders. They know very well that Russia would use nuclear weapons in the face of defeat. But the political clowns like Victoria Nuland was calling the shot from Europe. Now Ukraine is paying a very heavy price for it. Oops, Nuland was just using the Ukrainians to weaken Russia, let the Ukrainians die, never mind.
But this is not the end. Europe is a region full of political clowns in every capital city, from London to Berlin, from Paris to Warsaw. They all think they can fight a war and win against Russia. They did not have the mental ability to think further than this. What's next if Russia is to lose a conventional war?
If the 'has been' European colonial powers can be that simplistic in their thinkings, one cannot blame the Mickey Mouse to think and behave like them. Did Mickey Marcos think like the European clowns? A better question, can he think, or did he bother to think? Or he is living by the day. Tomorrow is tomorrow's problem. Even Mickey Mouse New Zealand is joining the party. New Zealand is ramping up its military budget from 1% to 2% to counter their delusion of a China threat. They could not think further as usual. Even if New Zealand were to spend 100% of its GDP for defence, it is still meaningless.
Then there is Mickey Lai in Taiwan. He is buying more mines, more rifles, more antique second hand war planes from the Americans to take on China. He did not mind paying upfront without a delivery date for the weapons. The Americans know that there will be no need for the weapons, so no need to make delivery. Just collect the money upfront from this clown to make him happy. Not in his wildest wet dream is Taiwan going to be independent and to defeat China. Neither would he need to use the irrelevant and meaningless weapons he paid for.
Clowns are clowns. Mickey Mouse is no different from the clowns. How could they be able to understand Sun Tzu's military strategies?