Edward Luttwak
Article
Edward Luttwak is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 4 times across 4 issues between April 19, 2021 and July 01, 2022. The archive places it in contexts such as “I’ve read Edward Luttwak’s guide to holding a coup”; ""I’ve read Edward Luttwak’s guide to holding a coup""; “Edward Luttwak: C This is the guy who wrote Coup D’Etat , a handbook for attempting coups”. It most often appears alongside Russia, Biden, China.
Metadata
- Category: People
- Mention count: 4
- Issue count: 4
- First seen: April 19, 2021
- Last seen: July 01, 2022
Appears In
- Mantic Monday: Grading My Trump Predictions
- Ukraine Warcasting
- Highlights From The Comments On Xi Jinping
- Links For June
Related Pages
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- Russia (3 shared issues)
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- Biden (2 shared issues)
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- China (2 shared issues)
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- Democrats (2 shared issues)
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- Joe Biden (2 shared issues)
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- Less Wrong (2 shared issues)
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- Matt Yglesias (2 shared issues)
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- New York Times (2 shared issues)
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- Richard Hanania (2 shared issues)
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- Scott Adams (2 shared issues)
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- SSC (2 shared issues)
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- Twitter (2 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
I graded this one a B. A lot of people who did predict a coup took the Capitol riot as proof that they were right. I didn't see it this way, because, well, it wasn't a coup. When rioters got in the Capitol, Trump tweeted saying that they needed to stay peaceful, then released a video saying that this wasn't what he wanted and they should leave. I've read Edward Luttwak's guide to holding a coup, and telling your supporters "stop and don't hold a coup" is not in it. Actual coups involve interfacing with the military, friendly media, local police forces, etc and coordinating some kind of meaningful strike. Trump did none of that and was clearly not capable of it. Trump's plan, as far as it's worth dignifying with that term, was to challenge the election results a lot, and get a bunch of angry supporters to chant outside the Capitol in a scary way while senators were voting on it. This is evil, anti-democratic, and terrifying, but not a coup. When his plan for angry supporters chanting turned into angry supporters rioting and getting into the Capitol, he was clearly against this and tried to stop it. While he is an idiot for not anticipating this possibility and deserves blame for it, I don't think it qualifies as a coup, and I think everyone who gave arguments for why an actual coup was unlikely were basically right.
Inline links: released a video saying
That having been said, let’s move on to the pundits who took interesting and strong positions, starting with: Edward Luttwak: C This is the guy who wrote Coup D’Etat, a handbook for attempting coups. He is a famous international relations and geopolitics theorist, has served in the IDF, speaks six languages, and has written a book on the military strategy of the late Roman Empire. I read his coup handbook a while ago and was very impressed by him.
— Muster the Squirrels quotes an excerpt from Edward Luttwak, an analyst I’m generally well-disposed to:
Inline links: Muster the Squirrels, excerpt
24: Interview with Edward Luttwak. TIL that Xi Jinping has memorized Faust. Also, the claim of global cognitive decline due to decreasing nicotine use hits exactly my sweet spot for insane yet intriguing theories.
Inline links: Interview with Edward Luttwak