A year-old paper by Sara B. King provides a primer on warfare in the global information age:
[I]n most modern war, physical battles, if they exist, will be for the purpose of defining psychological battlespace. For example, insurgents in Iraq may blow up U.S. military vehicles because they want spectacular video footage that can appear on the evening news, a jihadist recruiting website, or YouTube. And terrorists may time a vicious attack—such as the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center—to make sure it appears on live television.
Modern insurgent campaigns are essentially information operations supported by violent activity and terrorists are “armed propaganda organizations” who are waging psychological warfare through the media. Information, these military theorists argue, is now the primary battlefield and persuasion the essential weapon.
(Hat tip: Vaughan Bell)
The Dish 