The first, the supreme, the most far–reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish by that test the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to turn it into, something that is alien to its nature.

— Carl von Clausewitz, On War.

To determine the outcome of any contest, all competitors must assume resolution at the highest level of politically acceptable violence. The goal of this blog is to determine the more powerful position, and thereby to diminish the political acceptability of violence in the Great Power Competition.