Here it goes:

1- It is easier to maintain an old hereditary monarchy, than to try to keep in power a new one. Do not trespass against old customs, respect local traditions and improvise for the rest.

2- It is difficult to keep a newly annexed dominion because of the inevitable damages inflicted on the local population by the soldiers and by the harshness of the occupation itself. It is therefore important not to provoke the population. Do not change old traditions. Change nothing in their laws and their taxes.

3- When a state acquires a territory with strange laws and customs and where a different language is spoken, there are great difficulties to overcome in order to keep it. The best way would be for the head-of-state to go and take up residence there.

The other way is to plant colonies on the new territory, to implant settlements on all strategic points. It is either necessary to do this or to maintain a large occupation force. These colonies will cost much less to implant and very little to maintain. The majority of the population will not suffer as it would if an occupation army would remain.

The one governing a newly annexed province must defend its weaker neighbours and try to weaken its stronger ones. He must take care that they would not be invaded by a foreign power as strong as himself. Such a power would be asked to intervene by malcontent citizens. The trick is not to give too much power to the elite and bring down the rest of the opposition.

4- One should never allow the creation or increase of disorders and public unrest in order to avoid war. Sometimes, war cannot be avoided. It can be differed only to the advantage of the other side.

5- Whoever helps- or allows another to become powerful is ruined himself. For that power is produced by him either through craft or force; and both of these are suspected by the one who has been raised to power.

6- The conquest of a centralized monarchy (land is unified, the king holds the totality of power) may be tougher, but it is much easier to keep afterwards because of the unified authority. All that is needed is to destroy or control the old ruling family.

On the contrary, a decentralized monarchy with numerous local leaders is easier to invade. With the help of malcontent local barons it is easy to enter it. It is much harder to keep it though, then the power is and has always been fragmented.

7- There are three ways to hold cities and states accustomed to live at liberty under their own laws. The first is to despoil them, the second is for the Prince to go and live there in person, and the third is to allow them to live under their own laws. But there is no sure method to keep free cities because of their memories of old freedom that lead to new rebellions. So the only solution is either to lay waste to them, reside in them or disperse their population by deportation.

8- You need either ability or luck to rise to power.

9- You need a favourable occasion.

10- New rules and regulations are very hard to introduce.

11- Only armed prophet have conquered durably.

12- The less you owe chance or the good will of others, the easier it will be to maintain yourself.

13- Never allow someone that you have offended in the past or who has cause to fear you to rise and become powerful. Prevent it if you can.

14- Upon seizing power, commit all the necessary cruelties at the same time (in one stroke) and do not repeat them afterwards, but exchange them for clemency measures.

15- Grant benefits only little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.

16- A strong prince can maintain himself alone in case of adversity.

17- The two strong foundations for a prince are good laws and good arms.

18- Mercenaries and auxiliary troops are useless and dangerous.

19- A prince must study diligently the art of war and take himself command of his army.

20- It is better to be called a miser, than to spend too much and become poor or have to increase taxes.

21- A prince must not fear to be called cruel, he must endeavour to be at the same time feared and loved.

22- However feared, he must still avoid becoming hated. He will accomplish this by not touching the property or the women of his subjects. People will forget and forgive much if you don't touch their possessions!

23- A prince must be both strong and clever: a lion and a fox . He must disguise his character, feign and simulate. He must seem to have certain qualities: goodness, generosity, mercifulness, faithfulness, sincerity, compassion, etc., but it is necessary that he does not really possess them.

24- He must avoid being despised. He must not be thought changeable, frivolous, effeminate, timid or irresolute. On the contrary, his actions must show grandeur, spirit, gravity and fortitude.

25- He has two dangers to fear: one internal (conspiracy, assassination), one external (invasion by a foreign power). He can defend against external dangers with good arms and good friends, and there will be no conspiracy if there is no disturbance from without and if he is not hated.

26- Sometimes corruption must be allowed to take place or to continue if it is necessary to satisfy a powerful party needed to maintain oneself in power.

27- To avoid dangers of assassination, he must take care not to gravely offend one of his collaborators or someone close to him. He must not keep in his service someone who might have cause to hate him.

28- He must not disarm his citizens but arm them (except in a newly acquired state).

29- Nothing makes a prince more popular as great enterprises and prowess in a successful war. He must continually do great things to keep his subjects' minds busy, so that they don't have time to conspire against him.

30- To gain respect, he must be either a true friend or a true enemy. Therefore he must declare himself and take side in times of war, and avoid neutrality.

31- A prince must never make common cause with one more powerful than himself to attack a third party.

32- A prince must reward merit, give preference to the able, and honor those who excel in every part.

33- His choice of collaborators is very important, then it determines his wisdom according to whether they are able or not. The first impression that one gets of a ruler and his intelligence is from seeing the men he has about him.

34- A prince ought to take counsel, but only when he wishes. He should discourage attempts to advise him unless he asks it.

35- A prince who is not wise cannot be well advised. A prudent prince will benefit from a good advice, a bad prince will not.

So, follow these rules and you will stay permanently in power... according to Machiavelli!

All theoreticians of the science of power (Khanology) are looking for the mathematical (magical?) formula of World Conquest allowing to reach Total Power. Here is what Machiavelli's formula would look like. In his endeavour to gain and keep power, there are things that a prince must do and others that he must avoid. Here goes:

1- Do not trespass against old customs, respect local traditions

2- Do not change their laws and their taxes

3- The head-of-state goes and take up residence in the new territory

4- Plant colonies on the new territory, implant settlements on all strategic points.

5- Defend you weaker neighbours and try to weaken the stronger ones.

6- Take care that the newly annexed province is not be invaded by a foreign power as strong as yourself.

7- Do not to give too much power to the local elite and bring down the rest of the opposition.

8- Never allow the creation or increase of disorders in order to avoid war.

9- Never help another to become powerful.

10- Exterminate the old ruling family of a newly annexed territory.

11- Cities and states accustomed to live at liberty under their own laws must either be destroyed or have their population dispersed by deportation.

12- You need either ability or luck to rise to power.

13- You need a favourable occasion.

14- New rules and regulations must be introduced.

15- Do not owe too much to chance or the good will of others.

16- Never allow someone that you have offended in the past or who has cause to fear you to rise and become powerful.

17- Upon seizing power, commit all the necessary cruelties at the same time (in one stroke) and do not repeat them afterwards.

18- Grant benefits only little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.

19- A strong prince can maintain himself alone in case of adversity.

20- The two strong foundations for a prince are good laws and good arms.

21- Do not use mercenaries or foreign troops.

22- Study diligently the art of war and take command of your army in person.

23- It is better to be called a miser, than to spend too much.

24- A prince must not fear to be called cruel. He must have no scruples to punish those who break the law. Make examples when necessary but justify the executions publicly.

25- He must avoid becoming hated. He must not touch the property or the women of his subjects.

26- A prince must seem to have certain qualities: goodness, generosity, mercifulness, faithfulness, sincerity, compassion, etc., but it is necessary that he does not possess them.

27- He must avoid being despised. He must not be thought changeable, frivolous, effeminate, timid or irresolute. His actions must show grandeur, spirit, gravity and fortitude.

28- He must take care not to gravely offend one of his collaborators or someone close to him. He must not keep in his service someone who might have cause to hate him.

29- He must not disarm his citizens but arm them (except in a newly acquired state).

30- He must be either a true friend or a true enemy. Therefore he must declare himself and take side in times of war, and avoid neutrality.

31- He must never make common cause with one more powerful than himself to attack a third party.

32- He must reward merit, give preference to the able, and honor those who excel in every part.

33- He must make a wise choice collaborators. They must be able and faithful.

34- A prince ought to take counsel, but only when he wishes. He should discourage unsolicited attempts to advise him. A prudent prince will benefit from a good advice, but a prince who is not wise cannot be well advised.

35- Be more impetuous than cautious.
 

It will translate in the formula:

RESPECT TRADITIONS + PUNISH + EXTERMINATE PRETENDERS + GIVE THE EXAMPLE + COLONIES + DEFEND AND WEAKEN + USE MALCONTENTS + DESTROY FREEDOM + TAKE EXAMPLE + WAIT FOR FAVOURABLE OCCASION + INNOVATE + COERCE POPULATION + BE HARD + BE JUST + BE FEARED + BE LOVED + BE RESPECTED + NEUTRALIZE NUISANCE + CRUELTY FIRST + GENEROSITY AFTERWARDS + HELP YOURSELF + NATIONAL ARMY + LEARN ART OF WAR + SAVE + JUSTIFY EXECUTIONS + CUNNING + ACT WITH FORCE AND COURAGE + MERCILESS SENTENCING + KEEP FAITHFUL SERVANTS AND DRIVE AWAY THE OTHERS + ARM OWN CITIZENS + DIVIDE OTHERS AND UNIFY YOUR OWN + REWARD MERIT + BE CLEARLY FOR OR AGAINST + LISTEN AND INQUIRE + AUDACITY = TOTAL POWER

OUT OF LOVE

Why do they want power? Those who are neither good looking, nor sexy or charming have only one tool and one choice to get loved and appreciated by others (and by society at large): to get rich or powerful, or both at the same time. And those who, in spite of all that, do not succeed at getting loved, will then try through power to get people's attention nevertheless.

They take their revenge from a world that doesn't like them in sowing hate and destruction. <<You don't like me, then I will kill you>>; this is the Law of compensation.

But when the Conqueror will have the whole world in his hand and ask himself: <<Now, what will I do with it ? Why then conquer the whole universe ?>>, only one answer will come to mind: <<I did it to show them that I exist, that I am someone important, that I am worthy of being either loved or hated>>.

The Conquest of the World by one man is an Act of affirmation of oneself, all together of one's existence and importance as an individual. When this goal is reached, the Conqueror generally acknowledges the uselessness and futility of his endeavour: conquest, empire foundation and all the rest. In reality, the Quest for Power is an Act of Love, and War is one committed by a broken Heart !

You ought to be crazy to compare four conquerors so widely apart in history.

1- Ever heard of epistemological problems ?

Of course there are problems when you compare two or more periods of time in history. Everything is different: morality, sets of values, etc..., but it does not mean, because it is difficult, that it is impossible, or worse pointless. The first trip to the moon was no doubt difficult and full of problems, but by no means impossible.

2- What aspects do you compare, what are your criteria ?

We use eight (8) points of comparison: qualities of leadership, military organization, home politics, foreign policy, communications, espionage and intelligence gathering systems, stratagems of war (deception) and massacres.

3- What are the parameters of the Formula ?

Here is the list (39 in all !):

1- Qualities of leadership

2- Military organization

3- Communications

4- Espionage and Intelligence gathering

5- Home politics

6- Foreign politics

7- Deception, Stratagems of war

8- Massacres

9- The Public Speaker (Power of words)

10- Political organization

11- Ideology

12- Terrorism

13- The Succession

14- People's decline

15- The decadence of the elite

16- Rise to Power vs keep the Power

17- Unity of Power

18- Political war

19- Cultural war

20- Economic war

21- Ideological war

22- Social war

23- Religious war

24- Chance

25- Resistance to change

26- Resistance to authority

27- Human imperfection

28- Laziness

29- Limitations of the physical body

30- Mental anarchy

31- Emotions

32- Inside vs Outside

33- Disorder

34- Perpetuate a hierarchical society

35- Propaganda

36- Psychological police

37- The occupation of a country

38- Guerrilla warfare

39- Humanity or inhumanity of governments

More soon

GOOD NEWS
We have come closer now than ever before to the formula.

GOOD NEWS This site is now the spearhead of our Panzerlike advance towards the truth ! And what is the truth ? It is:

1- A New Grail
2- The Philosopher's Stone
3- What Nicolas Flamel and Harry Potter were searching for all along.
 

POUR L'AMOUR

Pourquoi le pouvoir ? Ceux qui ne sont ni beaux ni charmants n'ont, pour se faire aimer, d'autre choix que de devenir puissants ou riches, ou les deux à la fois. Et ceux qui malgré tout cela n'arrivent pas à se faire aimer, chercheront alors par le pouvoir à attirer quand même sur eux l'attention.

Ils se vengeront du monde qui ne les aime pas en semant la haine et la destruction, <<tu ne m'aimes pas, alors je te tuerai>>; c'est la loi de la compensation.

Mais, lorsque le conquérant aura le monde entier dans sa main et qu'il se demandera : <<maintenant, que vais-je en faire ? Pourquoi donc conquérir l'univers ?>>, une seule réponse lui viendra à l'esprit: <<j'ai fait cela pour montrer à tous que moi j'existe, que je suis quelqu'un d'important, que je suis digne d'être aimé ou détesté>>.

La conquête du monde par un homme est un geste d'affirmation de soi, à la fois de son existence et de son importance en tant qu'individu. Lorsque ce but est atteint, le conquérant reconnaît généralement l'inutilité et la puérilité de sa conquête, de l'empire qu'il vient de fonder et de tout le reste. Au fond, la recherche du pouvoir est un geste d'amour, et la guerre en est un de dépit amoureux !

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