Military strikes against decentralized networks relocate threats rather than eliminate them

Evidence

Al Qaeda’s geographical dispersion and mobility preclude a conventional end to a military strike, because dismantling a terrorist operation in a particular locale does not eliminate the threat elsewhere. For example, with porous borders and proxy ground forces of suspect allegiance, the massive military campaign in Afghanistan relocated, rather than eradicating, the core al Qaeda leadership. Although weakened with the killing of bin Laden and some of the top officials, al Qaeda has continued to operate as an insurgent force, spreading terrorism worldwide against an expanding range of Western foes. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2306

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Implosion, not violent destruction, is the mode of resistance proper to networked societies — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 240; Greater connectivity systematically decreases rather than increases overall security. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 123; Decapitation strikes against decentralized networks are counterproductive — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1424