Quote Originally Posted by Taiko View Post
The primary and secondary regulating principles are the basic framework from which you can identify the centre of gravity in a war. It is useful in understanding how dynamic the centre of gravity is, and can be, and why there can be a variation in the level and intensity of violence during a war. For example, you can use the regulating pricinples to understand how A'Q/UBL go about planning for attacks in different regions of the world. The countries they are operating in all have very different centres of gravity, the regulating principles are different for both violence and politics, and they need to plan operations accordingly otherwise they run the risk of creating an Anbar Awakening.
At the online edition of On War at the (calusewitz home page) COG's are also called Centers of Force and Centers of Power. Might be easier to understand using that description.