If the first quarter of the twenty-first century has taught strategists anything, it is that our models are broken. The Russo-Ukrainian War was not supposed to devolve into a networked trench stalemate; the Middle East was supposed to have been stabilized by economic integration; and the global economy was supposed to be insulated by ‘efficient’ risk management. Instead, we live in an era defined by shock, cascading failure, and the persistent humiliation of expert prediction.