5GW Theory Timeline

A guest post at the blog tdaxp which examines two points recently offered by two other bloggers —

• that 5GW is a war on the enemy’s “intellectual strength”
• that 5GW will go “deeper” into a target’s society

— and combines them in a consideration of who, exactly, may be the fifth generation warriors. The 5GWers may in fact be citizens of the targeted population who desire that country’s defeat or at least can be persuaded to act in a way that leads to that country’s defeat. The thumbnail sketches are given in terms of 4GW:

In 4GW the enemy attempts to use the target country’s media as a vehicle to sap the people’s and political leaders’ will to fight. In 5GW the enemy actually becomes the media and the political leadership. In 4GW a terrorist organization might attack a school or a courthouse in order to show that the government can’t defend itself; in 5GW the enemy would become the teachers and judges.

The point is also made that states will have virtually no role in such warfare, since the warfare is intellectual in nature; furthermore, an early mention is made of defense against 5GW requiring the development of 5GW tactics by the defender.

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