Posted by Steve,

First is why Tripoli still has a TV broadcast system, which they use to great advantage.

Second is a knowledgeable Brit's advisor who explained that well-planned disinformation, re: who is defecting from Q, and Q's use of foreign mercenaries to gun down Libyans, would be the greatest impact versus military efforts.
Steve, I think it would be better to present these questions on another thread concerning Libya or how to use influence to augment the conduct of war. I'm trying to keep this one focused on using information to maintain or achieve peace. I think you make good points though, and it still amazes me that Q can use mercenaries to kill his own people, and yet in the Muslim world the focus will be on the West attacking another Arab nation and the longer Qadhafi lives, the more heroic he will become as one who stands up against the barbaric West. Little will be said about Qadhafi killing his own his own people. Of course if we didn't intervene, we would also get slammed by the Arab world. It is beyond a psychological disorder, it is a serious social disease where the majority of an entire religion is delusional. Rational approaches don't work. Maybe we better off dropping anti-psychotic meds instead of bombs?

anonamatic, I enjoyed your posts on hacktivism and would like to see some examples. I recall a few hactivist movements that went after North Korea once or twice, and then a popular online generated movement that went after the Cartels in Columbia, etc. In the Philippines it "appears" (I write that cautiously, because it is an assumption based on limited reading material and discussions with some people there) that the youth there are motivated to challenge the old ideas of their parents that has kept the country in a state of conflict grid lock due to fear, hate, and greed (corruption). Through education, and I'm sure expats returning, they know they have unlimited potential as a people and nation. The NGOs and academic groups are facilitating a dialogue between various groups to discuss issues and explore solutions. It seems to be gaining ground. The Philippines is also the location where thousands (if not millions) were mobilized by SMS texts to toss a corrupt President out. Those of us that worked there are frustrated because they are a great people that are trapped in poverty by bad ideas that have not been challenged previously, they were simply accepted as the norm, the norm that will never change, but now that norm is at least being questioned.

I know there are many naysayers out there who claim the revolution in information technology doesn't matter that much, and while I respect their views I also think we are only in the beginning of the IT revolution and as people learn to leverage it then its impact on war and peace could be exponential. Revolutions can and have been started by word of mouth, but that process was significantly accelerated by the printing press where ideas could be shared on a wider basis, then we had radio which permitted one communications to a mass audience, and if it was the only access to information you had it was determinative in how you viewed the world (and the decisions you made), one only need to review the impact of the radio show "War of the Worlds", a fiction story that many thought was real and went into a panic, then we had T.V., again a one way broadcast media mechanism controlled by a few media elites who added powerful visual images to their words (in my opinion largely shaped our views of which wars to enter, ignore, and pull out of such as Vietnam and Somalia based on selective information presented with selective imagines and maybe even moving music). Break and now we jump not only to the internet where counterviews can be researched, but more importantly we have interactive media for the masses (globally) where the common man can present his own observations, views and supporting media. Not an equal voice to media elites yet in the West, but perhaps in developing countries this form of communication is considered more credible than state controlled media? What does mean? The bottom line is we don't know, but I think many of us who study war, irregular war and the impact of information on war think there is more there than we currently realize.