5GW Theory Timeline

Summary:

A blog post considering how "micropowers" might utilize 5GW to conduct warfare in the future.

The post begins with a look at a discussion on the blogs Coming Anarchy and Global Guerrillas, concerning the issue of micropowers and how Georgia (the nation) might be able to thwart Russian influence.

John Robb suggests systempunkt attacks; system disruption could coerce Russia to back down: This approach would not be 5GW, but 4GW (even though John Robb has called it fifth-generation), for two reasons:

1. "Directly hiring terrorists / mercenaries to carry out the operation may be old school very shortly. It allows too much opportunity for tracing the activity back to the employer, threatens the very secrecy necessary for running a successful 5GW operation."
2. "Again, we have the standard GG and 4GW ‘negativity’ approach, of merely: disruption, chaos, confusion, destruction. 5GW may indeed use these things, but the ultimate goal is not so much systempunkt as the creation of new orders that will continue to operate long after the 5GW force has finished its operations."

The post continues with a consideration of how micropowers, which seem to be forming on the world stage, may be setting the stage for 5GW. First, they are too small to directly attack (by whatever means, kinetic or non-kinetic) much larger nations; retaliations would be swift and probably decisive. Second, the "power" in "micropowers" may translate to a great capacity for influence if not control on the world stage: thus, a 5GW paradigm which greatly differs from pre-5GW paradigms.