How the Davids of this World can compete against the Goliaths of the world?

The ongoing Western-led military operations in Libya (or should I call them “Kinetic actions” as the Western leaders like to call them?) reminds me of the quote made by ancient Greek philosophers “the strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must”. Indeed for most part in Human history we have observed this phenomenon of the powerful dictating their and if needed imposing their will upon the weak and getting away with it. That is why it is said that it is the victors who go on to write history.

If you are an independent-minded leader of a small nation and you do have a large amount of natural or other resources inside your borders and to top it off if you want to make your own rules which may not be approved by the superpowers of the World then you are in well … deep , deep trouble.

There are many ways that the superpower of the day may try to cut you down to your size; it may bribe some of the leading stakeholders in your nation like military, intelligence etc to topple you in an outright military coup (e.g. the Iranian military coup in 1953 and the Chilean military coup in 1973) , it may try to create divisions in your country among different ethnicities within your borders for breaking up your country into pieces that it hopes to control (e.g. South Sudan) , imposing crippling economic sanctions (e.g. sanctions on Iran , North Korea and other “rogue states”) or outright military interventions. (Iraq , Afghanistan and Libya )

Now the question is if you happen to be an independent minded leader ala David and facing the Goliath of the day in the modern-day superpower, what options do you have to protect and preserve your sovereignty and dignity. Following are few tricks that you could think about trying out. One fact about all these tricks is that all of them are historically proven and time -tested tactics.

Deterrence: Prevention is always better than cure. So if you are a relatively weak nation facing a bigger and much stronger enemy you should first think about this option. Historically deterrence meant that if you are threatened by a big enemy then you should try to reach out to the enemies of your enemy for help. As they say “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

If you are the modern day version of David 0.0 facing the might of the Superpower as a modern version of Goliath 0.0, then the modern day version of your sting 0.0 is: nukes. See how useful Einstein was to the would-be modern Davids of 21-st century. In fact nukes are the first things you should think about if you are even thinking about standing up to the mighty superpower.

So we have got two ways in terms of deterrence i.e. alliance with the enemy of your enemy or the possession of nuclear weapons.




Historical Case Studies: The tiny nation of Cuba managed to remain independent during the turbulent cold war period thanks to its alliance with the Soviet Union.

Pakistan, Israel and North Korea all have survived by adopting both the sub-options i.e. alliance and nukes. In case of Pakistan and North Korea it has been their alliances with China as well as their growing stockpiles of nukes that provide them security.

In case of Israel it is its “special relationship” with the USA and its 300-odd nukes that keep this country afloat.

Downsides: The nuclear weapons are very costly things and going for them might invite significant economic hardships which may threaten your economic well being.

Nuclear weapons may help your cause of deterring your enemy but it may make some of your neighbors nervous about your motives as we can see in the cases of Israel and Iran. These nervous neighbors of yours may turn against you and side with your enemy.

People power: Modern wars are said to be total wars where not only armies but whole societies are involved in the war effort. If you can motivate and include all the segments of your society then there is a very good chance that you can win.

You need to convince your society that this fight is not only necessary for your dignity but also for your very survival. Normally when a stronger nation invades it is depending upon its technical and organizational superiority over you. If your society is motivated and completely back you then you can face even the strongest of the powers since human power is still stronger than machines.

Historical Case Studies: Vietnam is the most classical example of involving your whole society in the war and winning not once, not twice but four times. The small nation of Vietnam which faced the colossal enemies i.e. the likes of France, USA or China managed to outmaneuver and survive against all. Let us look at the success of this tiny nation against the heaviest of odds.

1954- Vietnamese forces defeat the French in Dien Bien Phu to thwart any attempt to by the French to dictate its history.
1973- The last American forces leave the country after failing to defeat the Vietnamese in one of the most bloody and brutal conflicts in modern history.
1978 – Vietnamese forces overrun Cambodia to end the bloody regime of the “Khmer Rouge” i.e. one of World’s notorious mass-murdering regimes.
1979- Vietnamese beat back the Chinese military intervention into their country.

The Vietnamese record of constantly punching above their weight really speaks for itself.

Downsides: It is not so easy to motivate and put the whole of your society behind your war effort. As we all know human beings are generally individualistic and are ready to compromise when faced with a stronger power. You need to have a really strong and motivating leader to keep your people focused even among the most challenging of the times.

Rounding up your traitors: How often a nation is defeated not because of its soldiers but because of its traitors and collaborators who hamstrung it from within!!! It is always important to keep your camp clean from those who are willing to sell you for thirteen peaces of silver.

Historical Case Studies: Throughout recorded history nations have been defeated by the efforts of collaborators and traitors. The Israelis have used their intelligence agency Mossad over the years with great effort to cultivate potential traitors and collaborators among Arab populations. And now days the techniques of Mossad to cultivate potential traitors and collaborators are copied and pasted by all Western intelligence agencies in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the reasons that the West has been able to dominate the Western Asian region is because of its clever manipulation of the region’s collaborators.

If you are an independent-minded leader who is facing possible collaborators inside your war cabinet then it is always mandatory to find ways to neutralize those people. It is always a good practice to expose these people in public and let the public decide about the fates of these people who are willing to harm their own countries for material benefits.

Downsides: There is no downside in finishing off your traitors and collaborators.

Take the fight to the enemy: There are many ways through which you can take the fight directly to your enemy even though he happens to be much more powerful than you. Many of today’s conventional militaries tend to depend upon diverse computer-based systems for their day-today as well as real combat operations. If you can cultivate a crack team of hackers then you can very easily think about sabotaging the computer network systems of your enemy’s most important military and civilian institutions.

Assassinations are also another set of method. If you have capable-enough intelligence agencies you can think about that particular option.

Historical Case Studies: North Korea’s intelligence agency in recent years used its powerful group of hackers to hack the computer systems of a major South Korean Bank. The famous Stuxnet virus, which is said to have paralyzed the nuclear research facilities in Iran, is believed to be used by Israel to delay the Iranian nuclear research program.

Israel has always used the assassination option to instill fear and confusion against Arab states.

Downsides: These kinds of operations can make your enemy hurt but not decapitated. So this may go on to anger him further making him come against with a more furious way.


So these were some of the pros and cons of using various tricks to hold on to your against your enemies. The Davids of 21-st century may need to find out their own creative initiatives to thwart the Goliaths of the 21-st century. I leave it to my readers to come up with their own conclusions and suggestions. So best of luck for the would-be Davids of this millennium.