UNRESTRICTED WARFARE IN A MODERN LIGHT

Here is the analysis I have provided for each of the chapters of the book, along with explainations.
Sources used are meant to give a rough understanding, and are up to debate on total accuracy.

Chapters:

• PREFACE
"Even in the so-called post-modern, post-industrial age, warfare will not be totally dismantled.
It has only re-invaded human society in a more complex, extensive, concealed, and subtle manner."
- Unrestricted Warfare, pg 6.
Unrestricted warfare begins with the premise that the 90s were an era of immense change and siginifcance.
This is substantiated by the following events mentioned by the book:
The fall of the USSR
The conflicts in the balkans / Yugoslav Wars
The first instances of successful cloning
The rise of microsoft
The emergence of Hackers
The Internet as we know it now begins
The SEA Financial Crisis starts
The Euro is created
US Supremacy post Cold War

This claim is easy to understand in the context of today, namely because:


US Supremacy & Fall of the USSR - The USSR's collapse meant America was left unchallenged, resulting in:
1. The unchallenged direct interventions in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
2. The growth of NATO to include former warsaw pact nations.
(Poland,Hungary and Czech Republic in 1999, during the same year as the book's publishing)
(Bulgaria,Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania,Romania and Slovakia post 1999, all former Warsaw Pact members)
3. Loss of important assets for Russia, preventing it from challenging the US
(Most signifcant being in Ukraine, with 1700 nuclear warheads, of the types:)
(30 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each,
46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece and 33 heavy bombers)
4. The further US Containment of nations reliant on the former USSR (the DPRK and Cuba).

Yugoslav Wars - The collapse of Yugoslavia served a significant prologue to the crises of today, IE:
1. The Refugee Crisis then in Yugoslavia and now across the Middle east, Asia and Africa
(The big three being: Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan, with the numbers of:)
(Then: 2.4 Million refugees and 2 Million internally displaced during the Yugoslav Wars)
(Now: 5.6 Million refugees from Syria, 2.5 Million from Afghanistan and 2 Million from Sudan)
2. The similarities in the sources of these crises. For Yugoslavia and the modern nations of:
Sudan , Syria and Afghanistan
(Specifically how they emerged out of religious, ethnic and political issues)
(Ethnic conflicts involving the various tribes of South Sudan and Kurds in Syria)
(Religious conflicts involving Sunni and Shia factions of Afghanistan and Syria,
Muslims and Non-Muslims in Sudan)
(Political conflicts in South Sudan due to the president Salva Kiir consolidating power,
and during the Second Sudanese Civil war, political power being centralised only in the north)
(Political conflicts in Syria due to foreign support for rebel forces against Assad)
(Political conflicts in Afghanistan due to foreign support for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda against the Afghan Warlords)
3. The disturbing trend of genocide and mass killings amongst factions.
(Extremely prevalent in both the Second Sudanese and South Sudanese civil war)
(Existant during the Afghan and Syrian civil wars)

Successful Cloning - Laid the foundation for many medical and biological breakthroughs in recent years:
(Likely refers to the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep)
(Primary breakthroughs post 2000s would be:
the reproduction of cells for organ production,cloning animals with ideal traits and to potentially fight extinctions)

Microsoft's Rise - Marked Windows OS's domination and the Internet as we know it.
(Windows now runs on: 35.93% of all platforms and 82.88% of desktops)
(This gives microsoft immense leverage at determining the security of a vast majority of PCs)
(Which has led to disasterous consequences)
(Microsoft also popularised the internet with how Internet Explorer was included in early Windows OS, and following versions.)
(Both provided an easy GUI introduction into Personal Computing and Web Browsing)
(This greatly spread the use of both across the world, evident in the age of today's widespread use of the internet)

The emergence of Hackers - Actions that occured in cyberspace could now affect the real world.
(Back in 1990, the biggest case would be the Melissa macro virus)
(The virus would serve a precedent for the impact and damage of upcoming malicious software)
(Additionally, this was also when hackers began to use cyberspace to affect real life assets/situations)
(To define the difference, this was hacking with the implicit goal of producing real life results)
(It would precipitate malicious software designed with this goal in mind aswell)
(In short, the 90s would give a glimpse to the prevalence and potential of cyberwarfare in the modern era)

The Internet as we know it - The 90s were when the Internet began resembling what we know today.
(This refers to firstly, the replacement of BBSes (Bulletin Board System) with hypertext based graphical webpages)
(Secondly, the emergence of GUI based web browsers like Mosaic,Netscape and Internet Explorer)
(Thirdly, the use of URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) to link clients to the websites/IP Addresses these URLs represented)
(The changes to a graphical system along with word based addresses would increase the growth of the Internet in comparison to BBSes)
(Many primitive sites in this era served as an outlook of how powerful the Internet could be as a network for global information sharing)
(For example, the internet activism then would become far more commonplace and significant, as seen in recent years)

The SEA Financial crisis - The financial crisis of that era caused much distrust with the IMF.
(The distrust being financial tactics used by investors for personal gain, damaging the SEA economy)
(Granted, the situation of the SEA economy was not sustainable and the Thai baht was artifically overvalued)
(However, due to the profiting made by the Quantum and Tiger funds from the situation, the political situation worsened)
(For example, the economic hold by foreign entities became a trigger for many populist and extremist factions in SEA)
(The public image of concepts such as "free trade" was tarnished further in the region, so was trust in the IMF)
(This break of trust would push further the modern rival of the IMF: AIIB (Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank)
(This also represented the beginnings of economic warfare in the modern era, albeit not necessarily in the form of shorting.)
(Financial experts and the industry itself would become much more suspect and distrusted, such as George Soros)
(It also vaguely resembled the 2008 crisis, both having overvalued assets and damage to trust in the finance industry)
(Thus, similarily to the Yugoslav Wars, it represented a look at things to come.)

The Euro - The Currency that tied together fundamentally different economies with severe consequences.
(It's fundamental problems are explained here)
(The crisis resulted in the debt-filled nations fueling further populism)
(This populism itself potentially threatens the existance of the EU, examplified by Brexit for example)
(Granted in recent years it has subsided, but tensions from the euro crisis along with the refugee crisis continues to worsen)
(Thus with hindsight, the euro may have put the existance of the EU in danger, without further integration)
(Additionally, China now serves as a third party to lure EU member states away from relying on the EU)
• Chapter One
• Chapter Two

War Sounds (the background music)

Background from: arisuchan .

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