Le Monde is currently reporting an article by Mathieu Guével titled "Buffy, Vampires, and War." The article describes a report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that compares the problems challenging strategic decisionmaking in a world of diverse potential threats to the challenges that face Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the soon-to-be-seven-year television series of that name.
The basic idea is that one central characteristic of Buffy is that the enemy emerges with unpredictable forms, characteristics, tactics, motives, strengths, and weaknesses, just as happens with terrorist groups in real life. The protagonists of the show often find that research and past experience only get them part of the way in understanding what they're up against, and sometimes it doesn't get them anywhere.
Okay, I can see the comparison. I'm still amused that the author worked it into a thinktank report.
(Side comment: The PDF of the CSIS report disappointed me. It did not appear to have been carefully proofread at all. I should note that I only read part of it.)
