Derek Thornton

“In the past, winning meant having the largest army. That isn’t true anymore. Now, with new forms of warfare, any small group can successfully wage war. With simpler and more appealing goals, almost any cause can raise an army. And they will.”
― John Robb, Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

“This fourth-generation warfare (4GW) codified the use of guerrilla and terrorist proxies as the primary means of warfare between states, large and small. In Lind et al.’s view, 4GW was a method of warfare that allowed the weak forces to defeat the strong.”
― John Robb, Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

“This generation now serves as the desired model for the bulk of the world’s militaries (there is still debate as to whether the U.S. military has totally embraced third-generation warfare, given that it continues to focus on the “synchronized” firepower and centralized command and control of the second generation).”
― John Robb, Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

“The most disturbing aspect of the rise of global guerrillas is that they have found a way to fight nation-states strategically without the use of weapons of mass destruction. This method, collectively called systems disruption, uses sabotage of critical systems to inflict economic costs on the target state.”
― John Robb, Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization