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This place is a dream.
Only a sleeper considers it real.
Rumi
We are no longer fighting a defined adversary in a defined battlespace for a defined period of time. Instead the 5th generation mission space is a continuous global battle of narratives that will play out over both virtual and physical space and encompass a range of violent and non-violent actions and effects.
And so to war...The slow escalation through the phases towards the open commitment of military forces in phase 5 will be achieved with subtly and ambiguity to such an existent that it will be difficult to know at which point the phase of conflict has changed. It will be extremely difficult to set ‘Red Lines’ and threshold for when to act. We may well find ourselves way past the point of intervention without having realized we were even in a contest, akin to the fable of the boiling frog. In this event the adversaries setting of the narrative will have achieved, at least partially, the desired outcome, without the commitment of forces to the lethal fight. To paraphrase Sun Tzu, This is the supreme art of 5th Generation War.
However, in 5GW, the state of war will never be declared as the adversary will seek to impose its values on another through the cognitive effect. The next conflict, be it between a state, a non-state or a combination of the two, will certainly be an economic and a social contest, whether or not it becomes a lethal military fight: it will be a contest over the cognitive mission space.
FIFTH-GENERATION WARFARE (5GW): A BATTLE OF PERCEPTIONS
Initially, theorists associated with fifth-generation warfare (5GW), such as Abbott,198 Herring,199 Safranski,200 Slog,201 and Weeks,202 attempted to define 5GW. A more thorough understanding by Slog defines 5GW as the secret deliberative manipulation of actors, networks, institutions, states or any [0GW, 1GW] 2GW/3GW/4GW forces to achieve a goal or set of goals across a combination of socioeconomic and political domains while attempting to avoid or minimize the retaliatory offensive or defensive actions/reactions of 2GW, 3GW, 4GW powered actors, networks, institutions, and/ or states.
5GW is the battle of perceptions and information. In 5GW, violence is so discreetly dispersed that the victim is not even aware that it is a victim of war and the victim is not aware that it is losing the war. The secrecy of this warfare makes it the most dangerous warfare generation of all time.
[reads from Goldstein's book] "In accordance to the principles of doublethink, it does not matter if the war is not real, or when it is, that victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won. It is meant to be continuous. The essential act of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle, the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects, and its object is not victory over Eurasia or Eastasia, but to keep the very structure of society intact." [notices Julia is asleep] Julia? Are you awake? There is truth, and there is untruth. To be in a minority of one doesn't make you mad. Julia, my love, I understand how, but I don't understand why.
originally posted by: PillarOfFire
That's how it was in 1776. When majority (The People) stand up to tierrany and push back, then It will end.