4GW, Al-Qaeda, and Virtual Corporations

The key to understanding the concept of 4GW and Al-Qaeda is that of the Virtual Corporation. As noted in Imperial Hubris and The 9/11 Commission Report, Al-Qaeda has essentially outsourced its operations to independent groups. Al-Qaeda remains the overall planner, financier, and trainer of the Islamic insurgency. However, the main problem is that of quality control as is with all outsourcing arrangements.

In 4GW terms, a similar thing has happened with corporations: their production facilities are now overseas beyond the protection of their country's immediate protection. The assets that are threatened by a 3GW force may well belong to the corporation in the country of that force.

In the 3GW world, the assets of the capitalist class resided mainly in the home country and allied territories. There was a clear delineation between assets of competing capitalist classes. Now, your competitor may well be next to you in a foreign country, or may even share the same production faclities. So the concept of threatening your enemies' assets becomes meaningless.

As the success of the 3GW forces grows, they become less effective because the assets are increasingly controlled by a single capitalist class.