Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Some politicians are irresponsibly putting the livelihoods of the Filipino people at risk through their selfish behavior. The world is facing wars in different parts of the world and the Philippines is busy with itself instead of taking care of itself.

The innovative approach of “hybrid warfare” is apparently still largely unknown among leading politicians here. The phenomenon is not new, but the methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Hybrid warfare is the expansion of a purely military combat operation with the help of espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, election interference, propaganda or disinformation campaigns, or with auxiliary measures such as chemical and biological warfare and weapons in enemy territory, long before a conflict breaks out at the military level, with the aim of weakening and destabilizing the enemy from within.

An artificially created wave of flu, for example, can paralyze the country’s leadership and scare the civilian population, which can lead to chaos and anarchy. COVID-19 sends its regards, but is 100 times stronger. In fact, targeted killings of enemy leaders are also a means of hybrid warfare. This was not only the case during the so-called “Cold War.” It is actually forbidden by the Geneva Convention, but is a perfectly acceptable method in the event of war.

Who wouldn’t have liked to see Adolf Hitler dead before the end of the war? Or the hundreds of failed attempts by the CIA to eliminate Fidel Castro, who was disliked by them? Therefore, we must expect a very broad spectrum of attacks in the Philippines in the future—also because of the stationing of certain US troops. Anything else would be negligent irresponsibility toward the population.

The flexibility with which one must react to such attacks should also be correspondingly high. It is difficult to overlook the disunity of domestic politics here. A situation that is no longer quite peace, but not quite war either, and moves back and forth in this gray area. This could also be the outbreak of a civil war within the country. This includes testing how far one can go. Therefore, one should limit oneself to the training of experts and specialists for civil protection and critical infrastructure rather than to political intrigues among politicians and their families. National security falls by the wayside here.

Jürgen Schöfer, Ph.D.,

[email protected]