"Strictly speaking, we are not dealing with a world war, but with four different levels of war that are interlocked," and the interconnectedness of the world only makes it easier for destruction to pass across the globe, warns Maier, whose ideas have been published in a book, 'The End of Comfort.'
"The internet, first invented by the military as a new communications structure, has been hijacked by intelligence services, corporations, political agitators and global profiteers. We are experiencing the technical-industrial revolution of its destructive side."
The first level of destruction is real war, encouraged by technology such as drones, which enable "clean" killing over a joystick, he writes.
"There is no declaration of war, no distinction between civilians and soldiers. The perpetrators of the so-called 'targeted killings' remain in the dark. There are no more regular armies: mercenaries fight everywhere."
In addition, global interconnectedness allows money flows to travel around the globe at the speed of light, enabling crippling financial warfare.
"Many of the war phenomena we face today have been long in the making. They are the result of targeted attacks on other financial systems. Some state governments command great armies of financial warriors," who carry out their manipulations without detection, and are able to bring mass destruction to another government or company.
Perpetrators of cyber warfare have the ability to paralyze infrastructure, and again remain unidentified, writes Meier, who also identifies the "fourth war raging in the technological age, the propaganda war."
"Actually, there might have been the possibility for unprecedented freedom and diversity today. But the economic crisis and the erosion of the business model has sent many publications into the arms of spin doctors and PR machinery."
"So the media is drawn into the propaganda war, which must orchestrate the real war, the financial war, and the cyber wars. Whose resources are inexhaustible, and their unscrupulousness universal."
— Heinz Reisz (@systemknechte) 2 декабря 2015
'On the Eve of the War: The Apocalyptic Riders Get Ready,' the article in Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten.'
"The memory of Nazi crimes and their willing helpers meant that the cry, 'never again war' bestowed Europe with an unusually long period of peace and prosperity."
"But the horsemen of the Apocalyse have not disappeared. They have only changed their tactics. Now, a half century later, this golden epoch seems to have come to an end," writes Meier, who believes the war in Syria has the potential to unite these four forms of warfare of the modern world, and lead to a conflict which could last decades.
"It is not certain that it has really escalated. The shooting down of a Russian plane by Turkey reminds us, how quickly a situation can escalate."
"If not in Syria, then the global hostilities will be discharged somewhere else," Meier predicts, and draws attention to global debt levels, financial and demographic imbalances, and the applications of the technological revolution as accelerators for conflict in the age of globalization.
