Simplifying Logistics

With climate change threatening to raise sea levels and fossil fuels harder to get, the US Navy's new developments may be cause for guarded optimism. Coastal deployment of such a system (perhaps mounted on special modified cargo vessels) could provide much needed fuel and energy for some countries. Of course, with desalinization a key technology for arid countries (and there will be more of them), having this fuel to power those plants would be a literal lifesaver.

Supervillainy in Action

A certain official in Turkey has been making the supervillain rounds as of late for a number of reasons. From trying to block and hijack domains after a recorded phonecall of his own corruption leaked to use of brutal tactics against protesters against him to even talk of false flags, the election season in Turkey is likely to be full of such drama. Given the history of the region, perhaps a military coup or two may even be in the wings. Besides, it's not like the world could use another geopolitical upheaval...

Soft Power Insurgencies

A keystone of 4th generation warfare is the viability of soft power in more forms, especially when compared to conventional industrial warfare. It is a mistake to consign "protest" as the only form of soft power. From corporate PR to  political secession to bypassing the financial system, the complexity of a system allows new venues of attack. Combining these together may yield even more dramatic results.

Supervillain State

If any single nation state today has completely dropped the pretense of a social contract, North Korea counts. The fact it's a got state-sponsored organized crime syndicate or two is just the tip of the iceberg.

Bad Ideas

Casebook example of a potential problem. Whether they can fix it by decentralizing it is up in the air.

Heterotech Revisited

Some notes on steampunk in a catastrophic peak oil situation.

Have-Nots vs. Would-Earns

As John Robb notes, a key issue in Ukraine and elsewhere (including Venezuela, Thailand, and perhaps Turkey again) is the easy which an open source insurgency may be started and continued. If the 20th century and earlier history had the classic dichotomy of haves vs. have-nots, than perhaps the 21st might be the haves vs. the would-earns.

In this case, the underclass is comprised of people simply yearning for an honest day's work, a chance to perform a trade or profession without much interference from the power elites. However, many of the "power elites" are individually not that powerful themselves. The system/organization that employs them restricts their ability to use their individual judgment in certain situations, perhaps compounded by group-think and institutional bias. For example, a corrupt cop shaking down bribes may be given a blind eye (if not encouraged for a cut) by his cash-strapped superiors. However, an individual still effectively set an example that sparked a series of revolts. A fruit vendor burning himself in protest started the Arab Spring.

Even with tools like sock puppet accounts, online censorship/manipulation (even if subtle rather than overt), and plain spinning are deployed (and I believe they were in many such cases), there comes a point where a situation can no longer be contained. In the developed countries, there is less desperation (for now), allowing much of the systems to continue to function. In more desperate circumstances, even a humble fruit salesman or bulldozer operator can help topple a regime.