This morning, I watched a report from Novara Media, one of the few news outlets I still trust. It quoted Dr. Fiona Hill—respected scholar and former U.S. National Security Advisor—who suggested that we may already be living through the early stages of World War Three. The hosts of the show disagreed, arguing that today’s reality doesn’t align with what most people typically understand a “world war” to mean.
But for once, I found myself at odds with their take. While I agree that WW3 has not been officially declared, I cannot help but feel we are already deep within its grasp. We are, in no uncertain terms, a world at war.
The difficulty lies in the way we still cling to an outdated concept of what war looks like. In truth, that image—trenches, uniforms, tanks rolling across borders—is no longer accurate. Fifth-generational warfare (5GW), a term coined by Robert Steele in 2003, has changed the game entirely. The battlefield is no longer confined to geography. It’s digital, psychological, economic—and far harder to see.
And yet, the signs are everywhere.
Mass oppression by our own governments. Democracies being hijacked by billionaires. The collapse of faith in mainstream media. Foreign genocides unfolding with the full knowledge—and often the tacit support—of Western powers, despite overwhelming public opposition. Censorship, mass surveillance, algorithmic manipulation. This is not peacetime. This is not normal. This is war.
The tragedy is that so few people realise they’ve even been attacked.
In fifth-generational warfare, the weapons are not guns and bombs. They are social engineering, cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and psychological operations. They are subtle shifts in what we see, think, and believe—delivered through newsfeeds and search results, embedded in algorithms, designed to divide, pacify, and control.
Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous systems only escalate this dynamic, giving those in power tools of unprecedented influence and scale. And while the power structure adapts rapidly, the general public is still clinging to an analogue understanding of war in a digital world.
We need to wake up. We need to evolve our thinking.
Because until we do—until we accept that the nature of war has changed—we will keep on losing. We will keep on surrendering our agency, our freedoms, and our future, without even realising we’re on the battlefield.
World War Three might not look like the last two. But it’s here. And we’re in it.
