Viewpoint: The New, More Dangerous Massive Attacks of Disruption
1/5/2022
By Harlan Ullman
To paraphrase Karl Marx: A specter is haunting the globe. It is the specter of the new MAD — not the Cold War’s “mutual assured destruction” that could have erupted into a thermonuclear holocaust eviscerating much of society. The new MAD stands for “massive attacks of disruption.” Unlike the old MAD, the newer version has already wreaked havoc across the planet and will continue to do so with greater intensity unless it is checked.
Massive attacks of disruption induced by acts of nature, from pandemics to extreme weather conditions, threaten society at large. So do manmade acts of disruption. China, Russia and non-state actors understand the potency and force of this concept. Beijing and Moscow are developing kinetic and non-kinetic strategies based on disrupting military forces, the U.S. system of government, the homeland, and allies and alliances.
COVID-19 was the most obvious precursor of the new MAD. More Americans have died of the novel coronavirus than in every conflict the United States has fought since the Civil War ended. Unlike the Spanish flu of 1918-1920, COVID-19 massively disrupted international trade and finance. And unlike nuclear war, much of the new MAD is not deterrable, including climate change and certain types of cyber attacks from state and non-state actors. And these trends may not be preventable or containable absent unified global action.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/1/5/the-new-more-dangerous-massive-attacks-of-disruption
