Hybrid War

Just like the appearance of poverty has changed in developed countries from the Dickensian emaciation of ragged street beggars to the poverty of overweight people with big TVs, so did the nature of war change from the way it looked back in 1914 or 1941. Many people are not catching up, though. It’s impossible to get them to recognize that poverty means death from obesity and not death from starvation in 1st world countries and that war is no longer waged according to the rules of 100 years ago.

We live in the age of fluid warfare known as hybrid war. Warring parties farm out conflict to poorer proxies in the same way as they farmed out their manufacturing. Russia is mad at the US and bombs Syria, a country Russians don’t know or care about. 

But bombing is only a small part of it. Hybrid war relies much more on terrorism, propaganda, cyber attacks, economic attacks, etc. Why go to the trouble of sending tanks to breach Germany’s borders and risk getting a very painful blowback when you can send a million refugees followed with money invested into political sponsorship and propaganda? The latter method brings zero negative consequences, no loss of life at home, and costs a pittance compared to traditional warfare. Throw a nuclear bomb at the US and you’ll be erased from the face of the Earth within minutes. Who needs that trouble when you can simply use Wikileaks, Facebook and willing collaborators in the target country?