It seems John Robb’s book is one step closer to your bookshelf. It’s listed here at Amazon. Shloky caught it first. You can’t preorder yet but there is some information there to read. Here’s the description from Amazon.
Book Description
Terrorism has become global, and incredibly complex, because it exists inside a social and economic system that’s become global and complex. Globalization, unfortunately, has planted the seeds of its own destruction. Every new technology for improving the world system, is also a tool for undoing it. The question John Robb is most concerned about boils down to: will terrorism, in the end, be able to destroy the current system? The tragedy of 9/11 represents the pinnacle—and finale—of terrorism the old way. The goal was to inflict psychic damage, and nothing will ever top that—but they don’t need to. Most forward thinking military strategists understand that we’ve entered the age of “fourth generation warfare.” The first three “generations” of strategy revolved around the best way for one state’s large army to inflict massive casualties on the other state’s army. Political scientists are moving away from state against state thinking, to thinking about non-state actors. Our enemies are now much smaller than that: small, ad-hoc bands of like-minded insurgents, organized less like bees in a hive than like the millions of users for Wikipedia, each with its own competing, but complementary agenda.
Read the rest at Amazon and add it to your wishlist.
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COMMENTS / 8 COMMENTS
sembawang squid added these pithy words on 26 Oct 06 at 12:49 pm“Our enemies are now … organized less like bees in a hive than like the millions of users for Wikipedia… .”
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I find that assumption rather reassuring.
subadei added these pithy words on 27 Oct 06 at 12:50 amDraw up a strategy to find and eliminate the ideals and motivations of every user of Wikipedia. If you get past the “who do we start with” phase songs will be sung about you. :)
Chris Mewett added these pithy words on 27 Oct 06 at 4:14 amIt seems like nitpicking, but the quality of that description is brutal. I’m not sure who wrote it, but a reader could easily be confused into thinking that the entire book would be similarly poor.
Arcane added these pithy words on 29 Oct 06 at 2:03 amI don’t know what to think of John Robb… while he may be highly intelligent, he seems to be to be something of a cult figure and know-it-all. Just look at this description of him from one of his articles:
John Robb was a mission commander for a “black” counterterrorism unit that worked with Delta Force and Seal Team 6 before becoming the first Internet analyst at Forrester Research and a key architect in the rise of Web logs and RSS.
How convenient! He worked for a non-descript “black counterterrorism unit” as a “mission commander” for Delta Force and “Seal Team 6” (how selective in his choice of teams!) before abandoning his life of action to be an “Internet analyst at Forrester Research” and becoming a “key architect in the rise of Web logs and RSS” (remember, Al Gore invented the internet, too!).
The guy needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Curzon added these pithy words on 29 Oct 06 at 3:36 amArcane: I see your point and share it to an extent. But I’m more sympathetic. Being in the military is a young man’s game. It’s not something you want to be doing long after the age of, say, 40; and the only role in the military after that is bureaucracy.
So plenty of soldiers go on to have second careers. I attended law school with a 38-yo former marine who is now an up-and-coming products liability litigator! John Robb is one of a few former soldiers (along with Ralph Peters) who have taken their truly unique military experience and translated it into publishing public commentary. I think that both Robb and Peters leave much to be desired in the style of their prose and the readability of their articles. As Mewett pointed out, Robb needs a new editor. However, I find that Robb’s content is always original and thought-provoking.
moorethanthis added these pithy words on 29 Oct 06 at 5:26 pmHe certainly makes some very interesting points. I find he tends to leave matters of ideology and culture on the backburner to concentrate on strategy and theories of organisation, but the originality of his theories makes up for it.
Arcane added these pithy words on 29 Oct 06 at 10:48 pmI agree with you both. That was sort of a nonsensical comment anyways… everything should be read with a grain of salt…
Sembawang Squid added these pithy words on 30 Oct 06 at 1:54 pmHey Arcane – “Seal Team Six” LMAO even a black shoe paper pushing gob like me knows it’s “SEAL” not “Seal”. Why is it these wanna-bes are ALWAYS with Six. If just once one said “Two” they might be believeable…
