Asymmetric warfare


Now that the U.S. government has confirmed what everyone already knows - namely, that North Korea was involved in the attack on Sony - the question is what to do about it. From Bloomberg News:

“They caused a lot of damage, and we will respond. We will respond proportionally, and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose,” Obama said at his year-end White House news conference on Friday.

(Story.)

That's exactly wrong. The response should be disproportionate, and should not involve the internet.

Why fight in a forum where the forces are relatively closely matched? If anything, the U.S. is at a disadvantage on the internet, as is any developed country: the more you have there, the more you suffer.

Take out North Korea's electric grid. Bomb their computer facilities. Better yet, destroy the base where they test launch ballistic missiles, which sooner or later will threaten the U.S. We should use our advantages to their fullest. Or as the Rogue Warrior would put it: Never fight fair.

Unless the retaliation is massive, there is simply no incentive for North Korea to do anything but lie and laugh.

North Korea isn't the first, and won't be the last. There will be similar attacks in the future unless dramatic action is taken.