Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

Prices for book: Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

Book ISBN: 9780470261958

Author(s): James Fallows

Document type: Trade Paper

Publisher: Unknown

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Reviews

Globalism is no virtue

Rating: 40%

Someone said we have all come to value "worldwide economic and cultural integration".

Globalism is not an ideal to me or to a growing number of Americans who are against NAFTA, GATT, the IMF, WTO, World Bank, CAFTA, European Union, North American Union, U.N., NATO, and other attempts by the international banking cartel and MNC (multi national corporations).

For a true inside view of why globalism is a terrible thing and only used as a tool by greedy corporate monsters to go against democratic will of the people, I recommend the book

"Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins.

Of course, as growing numbers of people learn how corrupt and evil these scams are, there will be a need for these corporate quasi governmental invisible empires to protect themselves from dissenters and the people who might seek to bring those responsible for horrendous crimes to justice... cue "Brave New War".

J. Basquez (Amazon.com)

Fear mongering propaganda you can buy!

Rating: 20%

Brave New World is nothing short of the type of government produced, fear mongering propaganda that has most Americans living in a state of constant worry while our military fights a made-up, never ending war on invisible combatants.

While reading this book it will become painfully obvious to most readers (capable of critical thinking) that the author of this book is nothing more than an arrogant, ivy-league, ex USAF Pilot that is now filthy rich and completely oblivious to any other colors in the world apart from Red, White, and Blue. I'm sure Bush Jr. has a signed copy on his coffee table.

While I would rather douse this piece of garbage in gasoline I will however recommend a couple of books from "real" authors and writers.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (The title of which John Robb's literary catastrophe does a great disservice and disrespect to.)

Why these books? Because this is the America that people like the author John Robb (two first names?) want to make a reality.

Orwell E.N. Knightmare (Amazon.com)

Thought Leader

Rating: 80%

If you are a traditionalist and are expecting the usual treatise to counterinsurgency then you will be disappointed. This is an out of the box approach to war in the 21st century. This book is not modern updates to Galula, Kitson, Mao or Trinquier. Examples of some of the topics covered include; "Superempowered Competition", "Open Source Warfare", and Guerrilla Entrepreneurs". This book is not for the faint of heart, it will destroy your conventional notions about counterinsurgency and will require you to completely rethink the "Graduate" level art of war.

Terry Tucker, PhD
Mobile Training Team Battle Staff Trainer
Afghanistan

Terry Tucker (Amazon.com)

Welcome to the future, kid.

Rating: 100%

It sure requires a lot of effort to regard life as a pleasant experience when you have to wonder every day if you're going to get blown up in a bus on your way to work, or if there's going to be a sudden blackout, shortage of water or gas. This may seem like a distant scenario, something happening to some poor "unliberated" underdeveloped state - but according to John Robb, disruptions of this kind can take place anytime, anywhere. In fact, they're being prepared as we speak. New York, Madrid and London were merely a sneak preview - and of course, places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand and Chechnya have become classic sites for such disorder. What we are looking at, Robb argues, is a new type of globalized warfare involving small and largely independent "terrorist" cells with lots of cheap and accessible technology (from the internet to explosives). Robb aptly calls them the Global Guerrillas.

Never mind WHY such "nasty people" would want to disrupt your neat way of living: wars have always been fought for myriads of reasons and every murderer can be called a hero, every freedom fighter a terrorist, if you're so inclined. There is nothing particularly extraordinary about people plotting to disrupt other people's way of living (in fact, directly or indirectly, that's what we're all doing, all the time). One of the most refreshing aspects about Robb's book is that he doesn't waste many lines vilifying the global guerrillas, but rather coolly observes and describes their tactics, methods, even finances - and potential to emerge victorious. The one common aspect in all these groups (Al-Qaeda being the most famous) is that they are opposing a state, i.e., a huge organization with the (supposed) monopoly over violence (or security), taxation and all kinds of essential services such as the supply of energy, food, water and health care. And the interesting thing is that the global guerrillas have developed a cunning little trick to actually endanger the legitimacy and power of states: instead of going about waging massive wars with millions of soldiers and billions of explosions (which is really quite expensive), they engage in "systems disruption", damaging or destroying the very infrastructure on which states (and above all the population under their jurisdiction) rely. By blowing up pipelines, electricity grids, bridges, railroads, airplanes and buildings, the guerrillas cause massive damage and financial losses - not to speak of panic and insecurity - all of which end up weighing heavily on the state. For the perpetrators of such attacks, on the other hand, the costs can be minimal, as it is relatively cheap nowadays to organize and execute major disruptive actions. Plus they can be endlessly innovative, learning from each other's mistakes and successes, even though they are not connected or even cooperating with each other. Robb calls this "open-source warfare", analogous to Wikipedia, where millions of people can participate and improve, without need of a "central command". Which, of course, makes it all the more difficult for global guerrillas to be eliminated: you destroy one group here, and in the meantime ten others have sprouted up somewhere else.

Much of the book concentrates on Iraq, not only because it is such an obvious conundrum for America and its allies, but also for its variety of "terrorist" groups wreaking havoc on a daily basis and undermining the West's attempts to "conquer the hearts and minds" of the invaded territory's population. This provides a good basis to observe a (supposedly) powerful state's inability to actually detect, much less control all the insurgency against it. The end-result, Robb predicts, will be the failure of the American intervention. Surprising as that may sound.
With this in mind, Robb provides also countless examples of successful (and quite ingenious) recent operations in other countries, to finally conclude that we have entered a whole new stage in world events: the end of globalization and the beginning of global chaos. As he put it: "Now with the new forms of warfare any small group can wage war... and they will." A chilling prospect, perhaps, but Robb's arguments certainly sound convincing. Especially because he teaches us not to regard warfare as something stable, but rather as en ever evolving human talent, full of surprising twists and turns. The future will be one hell of an adventure. It's just a shame we will (most likely) have to participate in it.

Clary Antome (Amazon.com)

A desk-reference quality work

Rating: 80%

This book isn't of course as timeless as Lao Tsu's or von Clausewitz's, but it shares space on my desk with these and a few others, simply because it is the only concise fifth-generation warfare (and fourth) reference I've found. John Robb produced a minor watershed which I've tabbed with over a score of Post-It tabs. Nicely written and functionally useful. (Still, by the author's own admission, tentative in the face of our ignorance about the future's potential for yet-unrecognized means of conflict.)

L. vanVelzen (Amazon.com)

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