Dencentralised Warfare

Hmm. I am saying that warefare's [sic] development is no longer in the hands of nation-states or other large organizations. Its development and innovation is in the control of amorphous groups participating in open source warfare. States are holding on for dear life since most of their grand plans for new weapons systems are being made obsolete.

-- John Robb, commenting on his own post on The Dynamic of Open Source Warfare

Open Source Warfare is John's term for the new fourth wave of warfare which is currently emerging. He's not the only one to identify the phenomena but he gives a consistent and focused analysis of current events in both the east and the west (see Open Source Warfare In London).

The above linked primer has a nice little picture which will help make more sense of the whole thing and will help explain why the western superpowers are very very worried.

The take home message is... I don't think there's anyway we can win 'The War on Terror'