To some extent, the riots could be seen as an extension of what is called ‘asymmetrical’ warfare. Instead of armies meeting with established rules, on a defined fighting ground, the insurgent conducts attacks in a pattern unforeseeable in conventional warfare. This was true of the Viet Kong, and the so-called war between the US & Al-Qaeda. One can also see the way it relates to how governments view the vulnerability of their own territoriality, traduced by the impossibility of securing land against an enemy using asymmetrical warfare, or maintaining their sovereignty against the massive speed & attack of international financial systems, which undermine the fiscal integrity of states.