4GW and angry Swedes

After seeing something on the television earlier about "Fourth-Generation Warfare", I felt compelled to do a bit of reading on the subject. What I read seemed to lend more credence to some of the suspicions I've had for a while about where the nature of war has been headed in recent decades. Events such as those on September 11th last year only help to drive home the point - in the future, anywhere may be a battlefield. There will be a blurring of the lines between civilian, governmental and military. The front lines may be our back yards, our intelligence, our technology and our very culture.

These quotes struck me as particularly interesting:

"Armies will be replaced by police-like security forces on the one hand and bands of ruffians on the other, not that the difference is always clear even today. National frontiers, that at present constitute perhaps the greatest single obstacle to combating low-intensity conflict, may be obliterated or else become meaningless as rival organizations chase each other across them. As frontiers go, so will territorial states..."

"Where does this fragmentation leave the national military, including the United States Marine Corps? As we have seen in Lebanon, Yugoslavia, and elsewhere, when the nation fragments so do its military forces. We could end up with two, three, many Marine Corps: white Marine Corps, black Marine Corps, Christian Marine Corps, possibly even a gay Marine Corps. These fragments would compete with other organizations to provide the security that counts: security for the individual person, family, home, and neighborhood. In effect, the future Marine could be a rent-a-cop."

Certain novels, articles and game worlds of that genre that I've looked at in the past are increasingly appearing to be eerily prescient. Not every future is a viable one, certainly, but many are coming into sharper relief with every passing terrorist act, diplomatic incident, or legal precedent.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Cyberpunk.

Well, I do believe democrazy
Is good for you and me
Everyone needs a nuklear bomb
And we can all maintain the peace
This could be a hobby
This could be a ball
This could mean equality
Equality for all