The “something” is that we’re in a world war. It looks more like the Spanish Succession War (fought by small, professional forces for relatively limited stakes), as well as perhaps the round that preceded it (where the war of the Armada, the Dutch Warbof Independence, and/or the 30 Years War all featured irregular, mercenary, and proxy forces. And it also bears a strong resemblance to the collapse of the Soviet Union (with the positions tragically reversed). But it’s a world war. And the bases are vulnerable to just about anything, not least including drone attack. In a way, William Lind et al’s “Fourth Generation War” concept may have been more early than misguided. Before “4GW” was made synonymous with the GWOT after 9/11, and before Lind himself asserted that it should instead be understood as a “crisis of legitimacy of the state,” the actual article that inaugurated the concept understood it as a combination of “little green men” attacks involving deep strikes against infrastructure, and (speculatively) a broader concept of the opponent’s society being the target. Ie, a little Putin and a little Chinese-style “Unrestricted Warfare” or “combination war.” And, we see that in all sorts of ways. Link here for the curious: pratclif.com/guerre/history.…