Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome!

This is the first post of my new foreign policy and defence blog - Bia+Metis. First up is to answer your burning question 'What's with the title'? If that's not your question then I'm ignoring you for the time being.

Firstly, it's ancient greek. It's classy. Like when someone uses a Latin phrase and you nod along with a stern look of approval on your face while on the inside you're hoping no one realises that you have no idea what was just said.

Second, the title was inspired from an early chapter of Freedman's book Strategy. Basically, Bia and Metis are two different ideals of how to conduct war. Yes 'ideals' is the right word. The Ancient Greeks really liked talking up how awesome war was despite it being absolutely terrible for almost everyone. The word 'bia' is derived from the Greek Goddess of the same name, the personification of force. I generally just imagine Bia is like Tyra Banks going off but with a sword instead of a modelling contract. 'Metis' on the other hand is often described as guile or a sort of martial cunning. The champion of this form of victory according to Freedman and many other classics scholars is Odysseus. You know, the dude who came up with the idea for the Trojan horse. It was a pretty clever idea. We're still talking about it today so I'm inclined to agree with Freedman on this.

You could, and I recommend you do this if you're a nerd like me, or just want to have a fancy looking book to read in public (people notice these things), read the story of the Iliad as an allegory comparing these two different ideals of war. Achilles represents bia and is pretty badass, but also surprisingly annoying and prone to tantrums. Tantrums aren't really an age-appropriate response and Achilles spends long periods of time basically letting his bros die because he's not super duper psyched about lots of things. Meanwhile, Odysseus is constantly being like 'you guys, we should probably think things through some more, trust me...' But, because of his reputation as being clever and a trickster, his fellow Greeks don't listen to him and just get their shruggie on ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. As a result more bros die and this goes on for years. No one is having fun anymore and their DVRs are too full and stopped recording long long ago.

Finding a balance between these two ideals was a source of friction for the Greeks and their strategy throughout the Trojan War. When the Gods weren't busy mucking things up and being terrible at their jobs, the Greeks struggled to find the proper mix of both bia and metis. Eventually they got it right. They listened to Odysseus and built a big horse to get inside the city walls. Once inside the soldiers went full-on bia. It wasn't great back then for civilians and there's a reason there isn't a Troy you can go visit today with nice beaches and World Heritage Building listings.

This is what this blog hopes to do. Look at issues with both bia and metis in mind. Both are essential to our understanding of security and foreign policy issues. There's a time and a place for both.

Also, because this stuff get depressing sometimes, I'll be throwing in the occasional bit on something a bit more joyful, like pop culture. Because it's fun and sometimes I just want to write about how awesome the new season of Fargo is. In case you're wondering, it's totally awesome. Betsy Solverson is some sort of crime-solving savant who makes soufflés. And Mike Milligan is all kinds of passive-aggressive sass. Check it out.