<<<His religious convictions, his anger, his bloody-mindedness, his sense of purpose, his sense of history, his sense of self, his military back-up, his political capital>> ... these are weaknesses and burdens, obstacles, and traps >
True. They can be weaknesses, but as the USA is finding, irrational religious convictions can lead to very unpleasant suicide attacks which are difficult to deal with. Anger can be a burden, leading to silly mistakes. But it can lead to belligerent attack over trivia, meaning an opponent can make a worse mistake in provoking an attack that wasn't really wanted. Bloody-mindedness can be an obstacle, but it can also lead to a bigger share of the cake as others give up on the nut-job. Etc.
It's hard to know what is good until after the event. Personally, I prefer not to have some of those characteristics on my side. Maybe I'm more Eastern than Western. But military back-up is handy when dealing with the likes of Adolf, Stalin etc. A sense of purpose is useful too.
Mqurice |
