There is no magical way to wage war without pain. Just make sure you wage it for good reasons. And reject the charlatans who promise silver non-bullets.
Remember when Twitter was the magic weapon to defeat despots? Until Elon Musk bought it, it became a tool to control people--not free them.
Don't get caught up in the idea that terrorists who use new means to communicate have discovered a new way of winning in the real world.
Remember Netwar that promised to make expensive militaries obsolete?
What's missing most of all from the U.S. military's arsenal is a deep understanding of networking, the loose but lively interconnection between people that creates and brings a new kind of collective intelligence, power, and purpose to bear -- for good and ill.
Behold the loose but lively interconnections! People write this stuff--and don't intend it to be satire!
As I said about netwar in this post that nearly drove me to pounding my thumb with a ball-peen hammer to distract me from the pain in my skull:
Here is the biggest and loopiest idea. Ah, "netwar." Recall the first celebrated [practitioners] of netwar--the Mexican Zapatistas in 1994. You remember them, they netwarred their way into power, seizing Mexico City. No? Then they succeeded in creating an independent state. No? Then they convinced the Mexican government to spend more there. Wow. This example of so-called netwar was a guy with a colorful name, some college education, an internet connection, and a bunch of ill-armed indigenous peoples following him. Add an adoring press and presto! Netwar!
The Zapatistas disappeared faster than you can say AOL discs. Where are they now?
Members and supporters of the Zapatista indigenous rebel movement celebrated the 30th anniversary of their brief armed uprising in southern Mexico on Monday even as their social base erodes and violence spurred by drug cartels encroaches on their territory.
Oooh. Scary. Their plight may be sad. But they didn't find a magical route to victory.
Remember when "flat" terrorist organizations would be immune to our traditional organizations to fight them? In fact, terrorists looked more like GM and not the imagined new kind of collective intelligence and power that would run rings around us.
Of course it isn't just these delusional visionaries. Sometimes we get calls from inside the house that air power can win wars alone. First it was just with dumb bombs when that's all the old planes had. Then nukes. Then precision weapons. Or maybe ill-defined effects! This time, for sure!
And I won't let the Army off the hook. Remember when the only issue was making the Army light enough to deploy overseas? Victory was assured once there!
Nor should we forget the worship of Russia's so-called new form of warfare! Hybrid warfare, indeed. Get a room.
And China got in the action, too, saying the nature of warfare had changed--until they built a military that looks suspiciously like America's.
War is Hell. Prepare for that rather than thinking we can imagine ways to refine it so it is antiseptic and pain-free--and home by Christmas. Wars tend not to end by Christmas.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.
