Regime/state methods against 4GW

Characteristics of 4th Generation War

Fourth Generation War is normally characterised by a “stateless” entity fighting a state or regime (the EUSSR). Fighting can be physically such as Hezbollah or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to use two modern examples. In this realm the 4GW entity uses all three levels of Fourth Generation War. These are the physical (actual combat; it is considered the least important), mental (the will to fight, belief in victory, etc) and moral (the most important, this includes cultural norms, etc) levels. Fighting can also be without the physical level of war. This is via non-violent means. Examples of this could be Gandhi’s opposition to the British Empire or by Martin Luther King’s marches. Both desired their factions to deescalate the conflict while the state escalates against them, the objective being to target the opponent on the moral and mental levels rather than the physical level. The state is then seen as a bully and loses support.

Another characteristic of 4GW is that as with 3rd Generation War the 4GW combatant’s forces are decentralised. With 4GW there may even be no one combatant and that smaller groups organise into impromptu alliances to target a bigger threat (that being the state armed forces or another faction). As a result these alliances are weak and if the state’s military leadership is smart enough they can split their enemy and cause them to fight amongst themselves (f example get the cultural conservatives (pro Israel) to fight the racial conservatives (anti-Jewish).

Fourth Generation Warfare Goals:

· Survival

· To convince the enemy’s political decision makers that their goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit (The cost of Muslim mass immigration and continued efforts to undermine Western Culture (implementation of multiculturalism) will be too costly.

· To eventually replace the regime after weakening it (this process will take decades)

Disaggregated forces, such as paramilitaries, militias, guerrillas lacking a center of gravity, deny to their enemies a focal point at which to deliver a conflict ending blow. As a result strategy becomes more problematic while combating a 4GW entity.

There are few examples of the state being effective in a 4GW conflict. The only major example is that of the British Army in Northern Ireland after the events of Bloody Sunday. A notable theorist of 4GW, William Lind, believes that the reason for the British being successful in that conflict was that the British Army did not use heavy weapons in that period and that the British Government forces attempted to get to know the areas involved in the conflict. Also according to Lind the British did not engage in collective punishment and desired to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. In other words they won over the population by reducing the risk of damage to civilians and their property and by getting to know the local area.

Mao once wrote "the guerrilla must swim in the people as the fish swims in the sea." The public opinion is crucial.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-31