The fault lines between khaki and civilians should disappear
RAWALPINDI: Today, information is the most powerful element of power, thanks to the explosion in computer and telecom technologies. We can safely claim that information is becoming stronger than military, economic, social and political power. An information revolution is already under way with about 20 per cent of the world’s population having access to the internet. The United States realised the true potency of information power during its operations in Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo, and, above all, in Somalia. Leigh Armistead says, “General Farah Aideed of Somalia manipulated the media to keep the militarily-superior US forces off-balance throughout most of the operations during 1993. In fact, with the use of a $600 video camera, Aideed changed forever US foreign policy in the region…He effectively used the mass media to his advantage, he in fact controlled the flow of events. Since then, information operations have evolved to serve as a model for future international relations.” Russia is so fearful of computer attacks on its networks that Moscow actually lobbied for UN legislation to ban computer-network attacks. The US stalled the proposed legislation to retain her supremacy in this field.
We live in the age of information and propaganda. The friend-and-foe concepts in this age have changed. Attacks on computer systems, negative media publicity, internet spamming and the threat of infrastructure failure are features of the modern age. New theories with new concepts in international relations of peace and war have come into being. Information warfare is a broad term, which covers concepts like intellectual information and logic warfare, cyber terrorism, electro-magnetic energy and cyber weapons, stealth unmanned combat platforms and so on. Homogeneous civil-military relations are safeguards against foreign aggression. Therefore, the fault lines between khaki and civilians should disappear.
Amjed Jaaved
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2017.
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