Ex-UNSC chief backs bid for permanent seat by India, ‘world’s third-most powerful country'

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As the ‘third most-powerful country’ in the world, India should get its ‘rightful place’ as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), according to ex-Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, a former president of the top UN body.

The United Kingdom, one of the five permanent members, should ‘step aside’ for India, he said.

“There is absolutely no question that India is the third most-powerful country today after the United States and China. The Great Britain (UK) is no longer great,” Mahbubani told NDTV.

On why he thinks that the UK should relinquish its permanent membership, Mahbubani, who headed the UNSC between January 2001 and May 2002, stated that fearing ‘backlash,’ the UK has not used its veto power ‘for decades.’

“So, the logical things is to give up its seat to India,” Singapore's former Permanent Representative to the UN, added.

India, where the British rule ended in August 1947, is the fifth-largest economy in the world, having surpassed the latter in September 2022.

An Indian Ocean Strategy Is Key to Prevailing Over China

Kaush Arha & James Himberger

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The United States needs robust and complementary Pacific and Indian Ocean strategies to prevail over China in an attritional economic competition or military conflict. The Indian Ocean, as the bridge between the Pacific and the Mediterranean-Atlantic Oceans, boasts the largest (India) and fastest-growing (Africa) populations, as well as the energy-rich West Asian nations. India, the fastest-growing large economy, is reinvigorating the historically consequential Indo-Mediterranean trade and commerce.

Over 60 percent of the world’s maritime trade transits through the Indian Ocean, including one-third of the world’s container cargo and two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments. Every day, over 50 million barrels of oil pass through the Straits of Malacca, Hormuz, and Bab-el-Mandeb. The Indian Ocean conveys China’s trade to South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, including 80 percent of its oil imports, which accounts for more than half of its total domestic consumption.

A protracted contest between the United States and China exposes the latter’s vulnerabilities on supply lines across the Indian Ocean. It would be prudent for Washington to have a strategy to exercise its leverage on the exposed Chinese flanks if the need ever arose to press the point.

Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian: The West’s Last Chance for Reconciliation - Opinion

Sarah Neumann

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Iran’s presidential elections have long been a stage between two major factions: those advocating closer ties with the West and revolutionary hardliners favoring the East. These latest elections vividly highlight the deep connection between Iran’s domestic and foreign policies—a political theater of moderates versus extremists. While the prevailing Western perception is that Iran, as a revolutionary government, lacks the rationality for calculated diplomacy and has never sought to be a “normal” state, this view fails to capture the full picture. The current state of Iran’s internal politics, to some extent, is a direct result of Western policies—whether intentional or not.

For several reasons, Masoud Pezeshkian’s presidency offers a rare chance to break the stalemate in Tehran’s relations with the West. The problem, however, is the pattern that has played out repeatedly in US foreign policy: strengthening the position of religious hardliners in Iran and derailing structural reforms. A look at recent history reveals how Washington’s policies have unintentionally driven Iran toward radicalism, preventing it from becoming a normalized state within the global order.

Pakistan: The Rise Of The Baloch Liberation Army – Analysis

Abubakar Siddique

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The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has waged an over 20-year insurgency against the Pakistani state, carrying out mostly small-scale attacks against government forces.

But that changed last week when the separatist militant group claimed responsibility for major coordinated attacks across the vast and impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan, killing over 70 people.

The bombings and shootings on August 25-26 were the deadliest in years in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to Pakistan’s Baluch ethnic minority.

Experts say the attacks highlight the growing strength of the BLA, which has boosted its recruitment and gained access to modern weapons. The U.S.-designated terrorist group has also adopted more lethal tactics like suicide bombings in recent years.

“These attacks were unprecedented and mark a new escalation in the tensions in Balochistan,” said Kiyya Baloch, a Pakistani journalist and commentator who tracks militancy in the region. “It shows the BLA’s determination to showcase its growing strength.”

Demonstrating Dominance

JF-17 PFX—A Pakistani Paradigm Shift: Is HAL Ready To Rise To The Challenge? – Analysis

Girish Linganna

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The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) is said to be collaborating with its Chinese partners to enhance its JF-17 fighter jet, creating an advanced version, named the JF-17 PFX. Recent information indicates this upgraded model may be notably bigger than the existing JF-17, possibly weighing as much as India’s Tejas MkII, estimated at approximately 17.5 tons.

The abbreviation, ‘PFX’, appears to stand for ‘Pakistan Fighter Experimental’. According to a PAF press release, the JF-17 PFX forms a key component of the PAF’s broader modernization plan for the future. However, the exact details of the JF-17 PFX programme are currently uncertain.

The increase in size and weight of the JF-17 PFX would place it in a different weight category compared to the current JF-17 and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL’s) Tejas Mk1A, both of which have maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) of around 13,500 kg. HAL’s Tejas MkII represents a significant advancement in capabilities compared to its predecessor and there is speculation that the JF-17 PFX could undergo similar enhancement.

Challenges for the U.S. in a New Bangladesh

Qamar-ul Huda

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The last three years of U.S. foreign policy in South Asia have not been very favorable, with three revolutions and three major partner leaders fleeing to save their lives from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and now Bangladesh. Less than a year after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled to the UAE in August 2021, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, too, narrowly escaped protesters demanding democratic reforms, accountability for national funds, and massive socio-economic reforms.

Now Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s fifteen-year reign ended on August 5, 2024; she fled to New Delhi, meeting with Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval on arrival. The State Department was cautiously balancing the bilateral relationship despite Hasina’s record of arresting opposition leaders, torturing dissidents, holding fraudulent elections, and mismanaging funds to support her party, the Awami League (AW). Earlier this year, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu visited Bangladesh and called for free and fair elections, an increased economic partnership, and an overall “reset” in U.S.-Bangladesh relations by exploring tangible ways to integrate the country into the U.S. Indo-Pacific policy.

But now, amid the “Bangla-Spring” revolution, the key questions are: As an interim caretaker government takes shape with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus at the helm, what are the challenges to U.S. geopolitical interests? More importantly, how will the new Bangladesh impact the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy?

China’s One Belt One Road is a spectacular domino of failed projects

Ninad D Sheth

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China's strategy hinged on a flawed belief that massive upfront investments in infrastructure would stimulate economic activity in the host countries, leading to increased demand, and prosperity.

In the Chinese epic 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', the tale of Zhuge Liang stands as a poignant reminder of the perils of hubris. Zhuge, a brilliant strategist, orchestrated massive multi-front wars on the Wei with grand ambitions of reunifying China. Yet, in his overreach he achieved only hollow victories, and stretched resources resulted in defeat.

China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, is a modern-day saga of imperial ambition, and mirrors the tale — a colossal effort beset by overconfidence and faltering outcomes.

Carrying Xi Jinping’s signature with a $1 trillion price tag, the OBOR vision was audacious: to resurrect ancient trade routes linking China to Europe, Africa, and beyond.

It promised to export Chinese capital, technology, and projects ensuring that Beijing sat at the heart of a new world order. In practice, however, the OBOR is a failed project. It leaves in its wake burdened host countries with unsustainable debt, and white elephant projects; and, in the face of China’s economic slowdown, it looks increasingly like a strategic miscalculation.

China Is Playing Games With the US in the Pacific - Opinion

Tobin Harshaw

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Oh man, is anybody having a tougher go of it right now than Jake Sullivan? The White House national security adviser was struggling to stay on top of hot wars in Europe and the Middle East, and a cold one in East Asia, even before his boss became a lame duck. His opposite number on the vice president’s team, Phil Gordon, is measuring the drapes in his office in preparation for a Kamala Harris administration.1And last week, he was dispatched to China to get talked at by Xi Jinping.

‘Dark’ tanker crash exposes dangers of China’s thirst for cheap oil

Rebecca Tan, Pei-Lin Wu and Júlia Ledur

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A crude oil tanker traveling from Iran made a delivery to the Chinese port city of Ningbo a few months ago before heading back toward the Middle East. The Ceres I had made this round trip several times in the past year, according to ship-tracking data. But it didn’t complete this voyage.

The Ceres I and another tanker collided off Malaysia in the South China Sea on July 19, causing significant damage to both vessels. Malaysian authorities said the Ceres I had experienced “technical difficulties.” But shipping and energy analysts say the pattern of the vessel’s movements before the collision suggests another explanation: The Ceres I had been broadcasting a fake location on ship locator channels.

Among groups that track ship movements, the Ceres I was widely known to be part of a “dark” fleet of tankers operating outside international regulations to feed China’s appetite for sanctioned crude oil. China, the world’s biggest importer of oil, is one of the few remaining customers of crude from countries such as Iran, Venezuela and Russia, which are subject to heavy sanctions by the United States.

China May Be Putting the Great Firewall Into Orbit

Mercedes Page

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The first satellites for China’s ambitious G60 mega-constellation are in orbit in preparation for offering global satellite internet services—and we should worry about how this will help Beijing export its model of digital authoritarianism around the world.

The G60’s inaugural launch on 5 August 2024 carried 18 satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) on a Long March 6A rocket. Led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology and backed by the Shanghai Municipal Government, the project aims to compete in the commercial satellite internet market with SpaceX’s Starlink, providing regional coverage by 2025 and global coverage by 2027.

The G60 is one of three mega-constellations that China is planning, alongside the Guowang project, run by state-owned China Satellite Services, and the Honghu-3 constellation, led by Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Technology Company. These constellations provide the infrastructure to support China’s rapidly growing commercial space sector, including its satellite internet initiatives which are making rapid advances.

China launched the world’s first 6G test satellite into LEO in January. GalaxySpace recently made headlines by deploying satellite internet services in Thailand, the first time Chinese LEO satellite internet had been deployed overseas. In June, the Chinese company OneLinQ launched China’s first civilian domestic satellite internet service, indicating it would expand through countries that had signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Peacekeepers Need Peacemakers

Jean-Pierre Lacroix

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Peacekeeping missions are often criticized, but rarely do critics imagine what the world would be like in their absence. In fact, multiple studies have shown that peacekeeping missions are one of the most effective tools the UN Security Council has at its disposal to prevent the expansion of war, stop atrocities, and make it more likely that peace agreements endure. In a comprehensive 2021 meta-analysis of peacekeeping operations presented in this magazine, the political scientists Barbara F. Walter, Lise Morjé Howard, and V. Page Fortna found that “peacekeeping not only works at stopping conflicts but works better than anything else experts know,” and “at a very low cost. . . . Conflict zones with peacekeeping missions produce less armed conflict and fewer deaths than zones without them.” The “relationship between peacekeeping and lower levels of violence is so consistent,” the authors concluded, that it ought to be considered “one of the most robust findings in international relations research.”

Today, however, the challenges facing UN Peacekeeping are greater than ever. Currently, the United Nations has 11 peacekeeping missions deployed around the globe—missions that are making extraordinary contributions to containing violence amid a surge in conflict worldwide. In the Golan Heights and Cyprus, peacekeepers are monitoring and preserving cease-fires. In the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan, they are protecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians. 

The Houthis now rule the Red Sea America has silently admitted defeat

Malcom Kyeyune

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If you’ve been following the news recently, you could be excused for thinking that the blockade in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Ansar Allah — commonly known as “the Houthis” — has been defeated. In recent months, we’ve heard barely a squeak from foreign policy “experts” about the insurgency. Does this mean the matter has been taken care of? Not quite.

Today, the blockade is stronger than ever, and the American military has given up on trying to lift it. Just a fortnight ago, faced with a deterrent bolstered by zero US aircraft carriers, the Houthis managed to board a Greek-flagged oil tanker, plant some explosives, and chant “Death to America! Death to Israel!” as the vessel went up in flames. Last week, the Pentagon quietly admitted that the tanker is still on fire and now appears to be leaking oil.

This should probably be huge news: one of the most important trade routes in the world is now blocked by a rag-tag group of militants, and the US Navy has thrown its hands up in defeat and sailed away. And yet, we just don’t want to talk about it.

The US Navy Is Going All In on Starlink

Jared Keller

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Life aboard a US Navy warship at sea can be stressful, boring, and lonely, with separation from friends and family and long stretches between port calls both isolating and monotonous. Now, Elon Musk is here to take the edge off.

In a now deleted press release from the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), the Navy recently announced that it is experimenting with bringing reliable and persistent high-speed internet to its surface warships. The connectivity comes via a new system developed under its Sailor Edge Afloat and Ashore (SEA2) initiative, which uses satellites from the Starlink network maintained by Musk’s SpaceX and other spaceborne broadband internet providers to maintain a constant and consistent internet connection for sailors—a system that NAVWAR says has “applications across the entire Navy.”

The US Defense Department has for decades relied on a network of aging satellites to furnish service members at sea with decidedly slow internet access, according to an updated release NAVWAR shared with WIRED. By contrast, commercial satellite constellations like Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb, which number in the thousands and offer coverage from a significantly lower orbit, provide a far superior connection.

U.S. Soldiers Could Fly into Combat on Powered Paragliders

Kyle Mizokami

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Since World War II, United States Army paratroopers have trained to jump out of airplanes to seize critical objectives. Once they’re on the ground, however, lacking trucks and infantry fighting vehicles of their own, they tend to be limited to walking as a means of transportation. That could change soon—the service is exploring powered paragliders as a means of battlefield transportation.

Filling the Flying Soldier Gap

As originally reported by Soldier Systems, the Army recently solicited ideas on a Personnel Air Mobility System, or PAMS for short. According to the Request for Proposals notice, the service wants a powered paraglider system capable of “addressing a capability gap to provide unit organic personnel air mobility to support freedom of movement in contested environments.

“Future battlefield threats,” the proposal explains, “are expected to require dispersed operations by small units in complex, contested environments. Traditional air assets, including fixed wing and rotary wing transport aircraft, will likely be unavailable for the movement of small teams due to supporting other missions and the difficulty of operating these vehicles in anti-access/area denial threat areas.”

Ukraine's Bradley Fighting Vehicle Dilemma Won't Go Away

Harrison Kass

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Bradley Fighting Vehicles: The Key to Ukraine’s Defense or Just More Wishful Thinking?

The U.S. has gifted Ukraine more than 300 Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Cold War-era Bradley, supplied to Ukraine in far greater numbers than tanks like the Abrams, has bolstered Ukraine’s defense and gained something of a legendary status among Ukrainian fighters.

Now, critics of the slow, incremental way the U.S. has supplied military aid to Ukraine point to the success of the Bradley as an example of what can be accomplished when Western weapons are gifted in greater quantity.

“The way Ukraine’s Western partners have supplied weapons, often in small numbers and after significant delays, has come with heavy criticism throughout the war,” Sinead Baker wrote for Business Insider. “Having enough of a weapon is important for militaries as it allows them to use those weapons more flexibly. It means being able to put the weapons in risky situations where they could achieve big breakthroughs, and if any are lost, it’s not a major tactical and public-relations disaster.”

Hybrid Warfare in Ukraine: Russia's Strategic Playbook with China, Iran, and North Korea

Ken Robinson

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Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine represents a stark application of hybrid warfare, involving a calculated blend of military might, cyber operations, disinformation, and economic manipulation. Backed by China, Iran, and North Korea, Russia's multifaceted approach aims to destabilize Ukraine while exerting broader influence over the global geopolitical landscape. We must examine the tactical, operational, and strategic dimensions of Russia’s hybrid warfare, identifying the roles of its allies, and outlining the necessary steps for Ukraine, NATO, the EU, and the broader Western alliance to counter this threat.

Tactical, Operational, and Strategic Objectives

Russia’s hybrid warfare campaign against Ukraine operates on multiple levels:

• Tactical Level: Russia’s immediate objectives include disrupting Ukrainian defense capabilities, targeting critical infrastructure through cyberattacks, and spreading disinformation to confuse and demoralize both the Ukrainian military and civilian populations. Tactics like these aim to create chaos, reduce Ukraine's operational effectiveness, and undermine public confidence in the Ukrainian government.
• Operational Level: Russia employs a mix of conventional military engagements, cyber operations, and the manipulation of energy supplies to pressure Ukraine and its allies. By maintaining a sustained military presence and periodically escalating hostilities, Russia seeks to keep Ukraine in a state of constant instability. Cyber warfare tactics, such as disrupting communication networks and infrastructure, are designed to cripple Ukraine’s ability to respond effectively.

Analysts Say Ukraine Strikes On Russian Power Plants Hurt Putin’s War Effort

Ken Silverstein

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Communism and oppression led to the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1989. But the final nail in its coffin was its war with Afghanistan, which lasted from 1979 to 1989. Indeed, the conflict drained the empire’s dwindling coffers and the people’s energies — a battle fought mainly with conscripts.

Today, history is repeating itself. The Soviet Union has collapsed, but Russia's current war against Ukraine serves as a stark reminder of the past. Throughout history, societies have consistently chosen freedom over totalitarianism. Ukrainians are determined to never again live in a closed, authoritarian system. To achieve victory, they are effectively targeting Russia's energy infrastructure deep inside the country.

“Ukrainians can win this war, and we see it,” says Elina Beketova, democracy fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, at a virtual press event.

Interestingly, Putin said a few months ago that Russia has 700,000 troops and could outlast the West. The reality is that Russia is using poorly trained conscripts. By now, everyone is familiar with how Ukrainian troops marched straight into Russian territory just north of Ukraine’s Sumy region. The conscripts just surrendered.

‘Moving in the Dark’: Hamas Documents Show Tunnel Battle Strategy

Adam Goldman, Ronen Bergman and Natan Odenheimer

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Hamas’s handbook for underground combat describes, in meticulous detail, how to navigate in darkness, move stealthily beneath Gaza and fire automatic weapons in confined spaces for maximum lethality.

Battlefield commanders were even instructed to time, down to the second, how long it took their fighters to move between various points underground.

The 2019 manual, which was seized by Israeli forces and reviewed by The New York Times, was part of a yearslong effort by Hamas, well before its Oct. 7 attack and current war with Israel, to build an underground military operation that could withstand prolonged attacks and slow down Israeli ground forces inside the darkened tunnels.

Just a year before attacking Israel, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, approved spending $225,000 to install blast doors to protect the militia’s tunnel network from airstrikes and ground assaults.

Ukraine’s Gamble The Risks and Rewards of the Offensive Into Russia’s Kursk Region

Michael Kofman and Rob Lee

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On August 6, Ukraine launched a bold offensive into Russia’s Kursk region, leveraging surprise and speed to quickly bypass Russian defensive lines. Since then, Ukraine has captured a significant tract of Russian territory and taken hundreds of Russian soldiers as prisoners. Now, three weeks into the attack, Ukrainian forces are holding territory and continuing offensive operations. They appear intent on consolidating a defensible buffer inside Russia.

This offensive has shifted the formerly gloomy narrative, at least for the moment, about the negative trajectory of the war. But Kyiv must decide what to make of its initial win. The offensive has yet to draw significant Russian forces from Ukraine’s eastern regions, and it remains unclear how Ukraine’s leaders intend to translate this tactical success into strategic or political gains. The offensive offers opportunities, but also carries considerable risks and costs. So far, Ukraine’s operations have been conducted by a mixed grouping of units, featuring perhaps 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers in total, with elements of regular brigades and Ukrainian special operations forces. These are some of Ukraine’s better and most experienced troops, with the backbone drawn from Ukraine’s elite Air Assault Forces. Some have been pulled off the frontlines in Donetsk and Kharkiv, where they were fighting against a Russian advance, whereas others would have served as an important reserve to stem Russian momentum.

The centre of Europe’s migrant crisis has shifted

William Nattrass

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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was elected on a pledge to tackle illegal migration to Italy across the Mediterranean. Now data suggests her hardline approach — which has seen another NGO migrant rescue ship impounded this week — is reaping rewards.

The Geo Barents search and rescue vessel, operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, was detained for 60 days after the ship disembarked 191 migrants in Salerno, a port city south of Naples. The ship had carried out a night-time rescue operation in the central Mediterranean after crew members saw people falling overboard from a small boat. Out of the 191 migrants rescued, three are women and 23 are unaccompanied minors.

Meloni and her government maintain that the operation of these foreign NGO rescue ships constitutes a major “pull factor” encouraging migrants to make the perilous voyage across the Mediterranean. Médecins Sans Frontières, meanwhile, claims it has “no choice” but to rescue those in need and that the impounding of the Geo Barents was an “arbitrary and inhumane decision”. The ethics of the activities of NGO rescue ships remain a topic for passionate debate: on Wednesday Pope Francis condemned “those who work systematically and with every means to reject migrants.”

Russians Bomb Kharkiv, Ukraine Says, After Russia Reports Wave of Attacks

Marc Santora and David Guttenfelder

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Russia on Sunday bombarded residential areas of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, with ballistic missiles and powerful guided bombs, wounding more than 40 civilians, Ukrainian officials said. The attack came hours after what Russian authorities said was a wave of drone attacks against energy facilities across Russia, including an oil refinery in Moscow.

At least 10 explosions rocked Kharkiv, a city of 1.3 million situated less than 25 miles from the Russian border, local officials said, warning that they expected the number of casualties to rise as emergency crews raced across the city to various blast sites.

The attack on Kharkiv came less than 48 hours after powerful Russian guided bombs hit the city on Friday, striking a 12-story residential building and devastating a children’s park. At least six people were killed in those strikes, including a 14-year-old girl. Another 59 people were reported injured, with 20 in serious condition and some requiring amputations, Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv military administration, said in a statement.

In the attack on Sunday, Mr. Syniehubov said that a post office, a sports complex, a shopping center, stores and cars were damaged. “The enemy targeted only civilian infrastructure,” Mr. Syniehubov said. In a later statement, he said that at least 41 people were wounded.

Brazil’s ban on X is a taste of things to come

Fraser Myers

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X, the social-media giant owned by Elon Musk, has officially been banned in Brazil. Last night, X failed to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to block vast swathes of content and appoint a local legal representative for the company. It has now gone offline to its 22million Brazilian users – roughly one tenth of the national population.

The Brazilian elites loathe X for precisely the same reason as the elites across the rest of the democratic world do – they blame it for the spread of so-called disinformation, particularly since it was taken over by Musk and its content-moderation policies were relaxed. Just as disinformation has been blamed for Brexit in the UK and Trump’s election in the US, it is blamed in Brazil for the 2018 election of right-wing firebrand Jair Bolsonaro – and especially for his supporters’ storming of the Brazilian congress in 2023 after he failed to win re-election (a kind of ‘January 6’ tribute act). Essentially, elites believe that fake news, by boosting populist movements, poses a direct challenge to their rule.

The censorship orders from judge Alexandre de Moraes, which X and Musk refused to comply with, make this all too clear. While Moraes claims he is merely trying to tackle disinformation, hate speech or what he calls ‘digital militias’ (those users promoting content that supposedly undermines democracy or the rule of law), his demands are nakedly political. As the New York Times reports, X was ordered to ban over 140 accounts, among them some of Brazil’s most prominent right-wing pundits and even elected members of congress. X has refused to comply as it says these takedown orders are themselves illegal and unconstitutional.

A Sustainable Future Within Reach: The Promise Of Digital Transformation – OpEd

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Zhaslan Madiyev

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The development paradigm has shifted to ‘digital by default’ as a norm, reshaping societies and economies. As a hub for digitally driven innovations, Asia and the Pacific is well positioned to leverage the transformative potential of digital technologies to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Emerging technologies are enabling smarter climate action, building more disaster-resilient cities and optimizing urban development. Artificial intelligence is helping improve the accuracy of early warning systems for disasters by providing the right information that reaches all the right people at the right time. Digital finance is more inclusive – expanding access especially for marginalized groups – while digital government platforms likewise enable public services to reach all citizens more effectively and efficiently.

The Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2024, which will be launched this week, demonstrates how digital innovations have enabled more sophisticated climate mitigation and adaptation measures across infrastructure, governance, mobility, industry and trade, disaster risk reduction, and agricultural and biodiversity ecosystems. Drawing from International Energy Agency data, the deployment of digital technologies and big data could save $80 billion per year or around 5 per cent of total world annual power generation costs, while digitalization can help the integration of renewables by enabling smart grids to better match energy demand.

The Danger of AI in War: It Doesn’t Care About Self-Preservation

Nishank Motwani

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Recent wargames using artificial-intelligence models from OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic revealed a troubling trend: AI models are more likely than humans to escalate conflicts to kinetic, even nuclear, war.

This outcome highlights a fundamental difference in the nature of war between humans and AI. For humans, war is a means to impose will for survival; for AI the calculus of risk and reward is entirely different, because, as the pioneering scientist Geoffrey Hinton noted, ‘we’re biological systems, and these are digital systems.’

Regardless of how much control humans exercise over AI systems, we cannot stop the widening divergence between their behaviour and ours, because AI neural networks are moving towards autonomy and are increasingly hard to explain.

To put it bluntly, whereas human wargames and war itself entail the deliberate use of force to compel an enemy to our will, AI is not bound to the core of human instincts, self-preservation. The human desire for survival opens the door for diplomacy and conflict resolution, but whether and to what extent AI models can be trusted to handle the nuances of negotiation that align with human values is unknown.