The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West - Softcover

Kilcullen, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1787387216 ISBN 13: 9781787387218

Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, 2022

Synopsis

In 1993, a newly-appointed CIA director warned that Western powers might have ‘slain a large dragon’ with the fall of the USSR, but now faced a ‘bewildering variety of poisonous snakes’. Since then, both dragons (state enemies like Russia and China) and snakes (terrorist and guerrilla organisations) have watched the US struggle in Iraq and Afghanistan, and mastered new methods in response: hybrid and urban warfare, political manipulation, and harnessing digital technology. Leading soldier-scholar David Kilcullen reveals everything the West’s opponents have learned from twenty-first-century conflict and explains how their cutting-edge tactics and adaptability pose a serious threat to America and its allies, disabling the West’s military advantage. The Dragons and the Snakes is a compelling, counterintuitive look at the new, vastly complex global arena. Kilcullen reshapes our understanding of the West’s foes, and shows how it can respond.

About this title

About the Author

David Kilcullen is an author, an expert on unconventional and guerrilla warfare, and a former soldier and diplomat. He was a senior counterinsurgency adviser during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His previous books with Hurst include The Accidental Guerrilla; Blood Year; and Out of the Mountains.

Edition details

• Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 2022
• ISBN 10: 1787387216
• ISBN 13: 9781787387218
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336