Your hypothetical situations are fair, but the author never said that no-one should ever play the short game. They are simply highlighting the (possibly) under-appreciated power of the long-game, and encouraging people to try and favor it more when they can.
I agree that the long game is under-appreciated but an article that does not appropriately address the nuances of the reasons for its under-appreciation is not really useful or wise.
Well, o-wise one. Maybe for you. But for a non-wise pleb like me. I think this article is really great for introducing the indentifiers "short-game" and "long-game" to me. I think it's a great way to describe this concept.
