Last time I covered supply chain exploits as a prime example of 5th Gen Warfare.
Today I want to draw a bullseye around water and electricity, and their real or imagined scarcity. I have followed this hand-wringing crisis over the decades — and experience it firsthand in the Philippines — and so feel compelled to add some observations for your gray-matter processor.
Because a certain faction of people are nearing psychosis levels of angst about it all, when traditional solutions are well known. So let’s state a couple of terms, since the apparent lack of water in many places is traditionally defined by either physical or economic scarcity.
Physical scarcity of water derives from actual rainfall and ecosystem, i.e. the Sahara desert. Mankind has been smart enough usually to avoid building large population centers in such places. Usually. But they exist, think Southern California, or the NEOM project being built in Saudi Arabia. With enough willpower and engineering, you can overcome physical scarcity, for example cities like Dubai with its massive desalinization plant. California used to be able to overcome its rainfall deficit, but we’ll get back to that.
Economic scarcity is essentially lack of infrastructure, or poor management. A typical day here in Visayas in April (the Hot Season) involves most of the locals trying to fill buckets of water from dry faucets in their homes. Failing that, they trek on their motorcycles with empty containers to one of several local public wells. Imagine doing that a few times every day just to flush the toilet. Don’t we have municipal water? Yes we do, along with about sixty-eight inches annual rainfall, but municipal water here is under-sized and not reliable. It has been this way for decades, and people are either too poor or apathetic to change it.
To contrast, I spent some years in the Mojave desert back in the ‘80s. Despite only six inches annual rainfall where we lived, the town never ran out of water. We sprinkled our lawn frequently; only possible because of good infrastructure and management. Yet modern California has nothing but crisis after crisis related to water, thanks to decades of crazy people, the Water Resources Control Board, and the dam dismantling movement that has been going strong since the ‘80s.
The list of dams already removed and proposed to be removed is staggering. California would rather turn back the clock to the days of the Settlers rather than actually manage the resource. Or is this an example of 5th Gen Warfare?
Strategic Scarcity, then, must be added to the lexicon: the deliberate mis-management or destruction of a resource to ensure inadequate supply, as in California.
The result is all of those people and farms getting their water more frequently from the ground; hence the declining water table. So now access to the water becomes a choke point that can be controlled. You can’t dig a new well. You can’t pump more than X-number of gallons, etc. The Climate Faithful would have you believe it is man’s harm to the environment that has raised the temperature and dried up all those faucets. Shame on us for selfishly abusing this precious resource… I know you see how the programming works, Reader.
Let’s review the basic vulnerabilities associated with municipal-supplied water:
- Controlled access. As with electricity, most people can only access water that comes through a paid meter. What happens when you are no longer a Good Citizen, or fail to get your 10th vaccine? Remember this essay when that point arrives.
- Water additives. Flouride is still a hot debate after all these years. Regardless of its efficacy, do you really trust scientists to suggest what should be added to your water? In 2024? What else might they decide you need to ingest?
- Failing infrastructure. Flint, Michigan says it all. The municipal system may not just fail one day, but slowly poison you over years. The US in particular is not so great about maintaining old infrastructure, and drinking out of the tap may not be the best idea any more.
- Attack risk. We don’t need government reports to know that reservoirs and aquifers are vulnerable to attack. What damage could a hostile weather balloon flying across the American heartland cause? The system is vulnerable, period.
- If the Chinese, Russians, Mossad, or CIA are who you distrust most, then just imagine literally anyone being able to carry out a water-related attack. Hello, fentanyl in the reservoir. Cyber attacks are already a thing. “Us and them” becomes a silly game when you can take positive steps to secure your own water, Readers. There will be a mass attack to the water supply eventually, and reacting to it afterward will just put you in panic mode. One thing we should have learned in the last four years is to avoid panic mode.
If the water system is slowly angling toward a choke point in supply, then the electric grid is already there. Just pick from the numerous examples: Wind farm failures in Texas tripping the regional grid; rolling brown-outs in major population centers all over the world; mysterious fires that seem to attack the US whenever it is convenient, always near power lines; Smart MetersTM that are set up to control or penalize your electric access; the transparent push to phase out petro-fuels; and on and on.
What makes this an example of 5th Gen Warfare is the concerted lack of [upgrades to the grid], despite piling-on a trifecta of load increases: 1) population growth, 2) electric vehicles, 3) data usage like “AI” and crypto mining. It is clearly a recipe to limit electricity access, or at least to provide a source of political debate to thwart progress. Good Citizens will of course have no problems getting the electricity they need, but let’s think more maliciously:
Lack of upgrades has also left the power grid increasingly vulnerable to attack or misuse. Bad actors who are inclined to seriously disrupt power distribution, or to remotely light some fires, would not have to try very hard; which is why you should plan on it happening. I am one of those crazy people who think there is a lot more to the Maui fires than the official story. Maybe it is because random electrical fires are a perfect cover for malicious fires started by drones or energy weapons. Maybe it was the videos of fireballs traveling down the power lines in Lahaina. Maybe it is the fact that search-engine results on the subject are flooded with “fact check” articles debunking the whole idea. OK you beat me. But that is exactly why this is 5th Gen Warfare.
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