Life in Ladakh Along the Disputed Sino-Indian Border

Meha Dixit

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On the occasion of Diwali (October 31), a Hindu Festival of Lights, Indian and Chinese troops exchanged sweets at several border points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In October, an agreement was reached on disengagement of troops and patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, a breakthrough to end the over four-year stand-off between India and China. The 2020 border clashes between the two neighbors saw rare hand-to-hand combat between the Indian and Chinese soldiers along the LAC. Subsequently, thousands of soldiers were deployed on both sides of the border.

Militarization of the region has had an adverse impact on the semi-nomadic communities such as the Changpa people on the Indian side of the border.

Toiling amid the barren mountains, under the shadow of India-China border tensions, the lives of border residents were divested of peace and any hope for a settlement between the two neighbors. They have lost access to grazing land. The Chinese soldiers have reportedly taken over territories that, until a few years ago, were patrolled by the Indian Armed Forces. These pastures were easily accessed by the Indian farmers in the border region but in the last few years have shrunk dramatically. It remains to be seen whether the recent rapprochement between India and China can ameliorate the lives of the border residents.

Scale Drones to Win the Droid Market

Mark Rosenblatt

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What if you knew the next big market China will dominate?

And what if you could act right now to prevent losing it to China?

The next big thing is droids. There are two key drivers for droids. The first is artificial intelligence (AI), where the U.S. leads in research, chip and systems design, and software applications. AI turns dumb robots into intelligent actors able to perform simple and even complex tasks. Droids will transform our lives and businesses.

The second driver is a problem: Droids require scale-efficient manufacturing of the type the U.S. no longer does. Droids are the natural evolution of robots, both consumer and industrial, and drones which the U.S. also does not make at scale.

Robots, drones, and droids (DRD) exist on a continuum of size, complexity, and capability with similar inputs. They will be critical to defense, manufacturing, and consumer goods and services with China supporting the industry with significant funding of at least $2.8 billion. These products have similar inputs, the need for scale manufacturing, and the lowest possible cost. China’s early humanoid droids from companies worldwide showcase vim and vigor among startups and established companies for creating functional and useful robots. So far, these are “dumb” robots compared to expected capabilities from embedding recent advances in AI; a few examples and Tesla’s.

China Can't Win Trump's New Trade War - Opinion

Gordon G. Chang

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Everyone is worried about a "trade war," and last week's U.S. presidential election has only heightened those fears. Donald Trump, the resounding winner in that contest, has threatened high across-the-board tariffs on all goods coming into the United States, and many fear a global downturn as a result. "If you have some very serious decoupling and broad scale use of tariffs, you could end up with a loss to world GDP of close to 7 percent," Gita Gopinath, the IMF's first deputy managing director, told the BBC last month. "These are very large numbers; 7 percent is basically losing the French and German economies," she added.

The concerns are real, but observers and analysts are identifying the wrong culprit, confusing the victim and the perpetrator. Don't blame Trump or America. Blame Xi Jinping and China.

Yes, Trump loves tariffs and tariff increases can cause global downturns. The former and future president has talked about them throughout his career and during the campaign, calling himself "Mr. Tariff" and "Tariff Man." "To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is 'tariff,'" he said at the Economic Club of Chicago in the middle of last month. "It's my favorite word. It needs a public relations firm."

Yes, that word could use some help. Economists abhor these measures, and global leaders do not like them either. Take Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank and former IMF managing director. She sees parallels between today and the "economic nationalism" that led to a collapse in global trade and ultimately the Great Depression.

2 Navy Destroyers Attacked by Barrage of Houthi Drones, Missiles Off Yemen Coast

Konstantin Toropin

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Two Navy destroyers came under attack by missiles and drones launched by Houthi rebels while they were sailing through a strait located between Yemen and Djibouti on Monday, according to the Pentagon.

"During the transit, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stockdale and USS Spruance were attacked by at least eight one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles, which were successfully engaged and defeated," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters Tuesday.

The attack on the ships was the latest in months of violence in the region by the Yemen rebels, who are backed by Iran and have targeted commercial shipping as well as the U.S. naval forces deployed to the region to protect the key trade route. The Navy and Air Force responded overnight with "a series of precise airstrikes," Ryder said.

Militant Islam is waning but the root causes endure

Emile Nakhleh

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As the Israeli assault on Gaza passes the 13-month mark, and as Hezbollah reels under the massive Israeli bombing campaign on its leaders and operational centers in Lebanon, it has become clear that militant political Islam has run out of steam. Concurrently, Iran’s defense strategic doctrine has been deprived of a major component; namely, its “proxy” militia groups.

As a U.S. government senior analyst, I followed political Islam and Islamic activism since the early 1990s. Now nearly 30 years later, it’s safe to judge with confidence that if this phenomenon is to survive, leaders of Islamic parties must jettison violence and militancy and return to participatory politics.

Israel’s recent military successes against Hamas and Hezbollah might give the government of Benjamin Netanyahu cause for celebration. But because of his refusal or unwillingness to address the root causes that helped create Islamic political parties and movements in Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere, Israeli successes in war could prove no more than a Pyrrhic victory.

Nuclear Energy Will Play A Vital Role In Europe’s Clean Energy Mix

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We are now witnessing an energy revolution. We live in an age of electrification amid a climate crisis that demands clean energy solutions. Nuclear energy, an energy source that has faced skepticism for decades, might be key in solving this issue in conjunction with renewable energy sources.

The growing interest in nuclear energy signals a clear shift in the energy sector.

For instance, Microsoft is exploring a deal to reopen Unit 1 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant at a price of around $100 per megawatt-hour for its electricity. While this price is higher than the levelized costs of solar and wind, it underscores the growing value of stable, year-round power.

This follows a trend among tech giants entering the nuclear energy space, driven by the desire for stable, emission-free power year-round.

A bigger role than previously anticipated

In a recent study of the European Power system to 2050, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found that even costly nuclear energy can lead to a more affordable energy system overall. Most importantly, nuclear energy can reduce the need for costly power grid expansions and energy storage.

Too Good to Lose: America’s Stake in Intel

Sujai Shivakumar, Charles Wessner, and Thomas Howell

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In 2022, Congress enacted the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act), a pivotal initiative which seeks to ensure U.S. leadership in semiconductor technology—the backbone of everything from cars to household appliances to defense systems. The CHIPS Act represents a national effort to reverse recent trends, driven by major industrial policies of other countries, that have led to the loss of U.S. leadership in the technology needed to manufacture the most advanced semiconductors. The United States has also seen an erosion of onshore chipmaking, which now accounts for only about 10 percent of global capacity. The urgency of the situation was brought into sharp relief by highly disruptive chip shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, China—the United States’ most formidable strategic competitor—is making rapid strides in semiconductor technology, particularly in defense-related areas.

In its plan for implementing the CHIPS Act, the U.S. government has earmarked substantial federal assistance for the world’s three most advanced chipmakers, among others, to construct leading-edge manufacturing facilities and grow U.S. regional semiconductor ecosystems. Two of these firms, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) and Samsung, are slated to receive substantial funding to support major investments in such ecosystems, which bring manifold opportunities for local growth and employment. Both firms are headquartered outside the United States and have, in the past, kept the lion’s share of their research and development (R&D) and technology development in their respective home countries.

Understanding the Military AI Ecosystem of Ukraine

Kateryna Bondar

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Executive Summary

This report is the first part of a series on military artificial intelligence (AI) development and its application in the war in Ukraine. It will focus on two critical aspects of AI adoption in Ukraine’s military:

1. The conditions and factors that contributed to military AI development from the beginning of the war with Russia in 2014
2. The key government institutions and initiatives responsible for driving AI adoption, along with a summary of their major AI-related initiatives

The summary section below presents key findings and insights on both of these aspects.

1. AI is in experimental deployment and is overwhelmingly geared toward supportive functions.

Although AI is frequently discussed in the context of the war in Ukraine, its full deployment on the battlefield remains limited. Numerous AI-driven capabilities and technologies are being tested along the frontlines, in long-range strikes within Russian territory, and across multidomain operations, but these efforts are largely experimental rather than indicative of AI systematically replacing human functions in warfare. AI currently assumes a predominantly supportive and informational role, and even when AI capabilities advance and improve, they are not yet implemented in fully autonomous modes on the battlefield.

Weaponized Containers: A Warship-in-a-Box for Warfighting Advantage

Steve Wills

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Introduction

Naval vessels of all types have grown over the past 50 years. Even relatively low-end warship classes, such as the littoral combat ship, possessed significant system complexity. The tilt towards increasing warship complexity occurred before the mid-20th century. Arguably, the warship significantly diverged from its civilian, merchant counterparts around the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865), the last major conflict the U.S. converted large numbers of commercial vessels into front-line warships. At the time, one could merely provide a naval crew and mount a few guns onto a merchant ship to create a relevant warship. While that level of simplicity has long passed, technology has again made it possible to use elements of the commercial maritime system to quickly create functional warships. The ubiquitous shipping container, equipped with everything from cruise missiles to towed array sonars, generators, berthing, and command spaces, allows for the conversion of any container-capable commercial ship into a combatant.

These conversions do come with limitations in speed and especially the ability to sustain and recover from damage. That said, the “warship in a box” concept offers navies the ability to create combatants of different sizes and capabilities rapidly, from smaller offshore resupply ships with only a couple of containers to large “missile merchant” vessels depending on the number and types of container-based systems fitted.

The West’s Pivotal Defeat in Ukraine

David Ramsay Steele

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The West’s failed Ukraine project has forced us to confront a bewildering array of what look like instances of stupidity, verging even on psychosis. Competent analysts like John Mearsheimer and Jacques Baud confirmed the obvious: total defeat for Ukraine has been inevitable from the get-go, yet the politicians and media kept telling us Ukraine was sure to win, and even if Ukraine lost, at least Putin could easily be removed from office.

To me, the most puzzling of all the many mystifying occurrences was the failure of the U.S. to arrange for a greater output of necessary military supplies, especially artillery shells. If I were planning to go to war with nearly everyone in order to take over the world, I think I would make sure to have enough shells coming off the production lines, not to mention tanks, missiles, and jet fighters.

So outrageous were the screw-ups, we found it hard to dismiss the nagging suspicion that this was an elaborate façade. Behind it all, there must surely be some marvelously deep and intricate conspiracy, some form of quantum chess that would make it all come out right, or perhaps fiendishly wrong. But no, we eventually had to conclude that everything was just as thoroughly bungled and botched as it appeared on the surface, in the sorry mode of U.S. debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan. And just to remove the slightest doubt, we’ve now witnessed the U.S., freshly defeated by the Houthis in Yemen, still fondly dreaming about starting a war with China!

‘Bring Them Home’? No,‘Let Them Go’ - OPINION

Luke Moon and Phillip Dolitsky

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Hamas slaughtered some 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 250 on Oct. 7, 2023. The world’s response has thus far been a three-word command to the Jewish state: “Bring them home.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken used these words after Israel killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar last month. This slogan is misguided. We should instead follow Moses’ example and tell Hamas: “Let them go.”

Moses’ call to Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus to “let my people go” wasn’t a request for negotiation but a demand for freedom. Adapting his words today would help reject the notion that compromise is needed to free innocent people. “Bring them home” places the responsibility for securing the hostages’ release on Israel, as if Hamas has nothing to do with their captivity.

“Let them go,” however, makes clear that Hamas is responsible for the hell these captives have endured for more than a year. The terrorist group started this war and holds the power to end it. The revised command is also directed at Hamas’s enablers, such as Iran and Qatar, who share responsibility for these crimes.

Annexation vs. security: Israel’s strategic choice in a tense moment

JPOST EDITORIAL

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Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent call for West Bank annexation has put Israel at a decisive crossroads, one that invites scrutiny for the timing of his statements.

Smotrich envisions a bold step toward Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, eyeing the incoming Trump administration as a potential ally. But amid rising regional threats – from Iran’s relentless drive for influence to the ongoing conflicts with Hezbollah and Hamas – Israel faces far more urgent priorities that demand focus.

Smotrich said on Monday that he hoped Israel would extend sovereignty into the West Bank in 2025 and that he would push the government to engage the incoming administration to gain Washington’s support. Israel’s new foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, separately said that while no decision was made, the issue could come up in talks with the future US administration in Washington.

The Axis of Resilience

Renad Mansour

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In response to Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, the Israeli government launched a regional war meant to reshape the Middle East. Israel specifically targeted the so-called axis of resistance, a network of groups allied with Iran that includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and parts of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq. Working on a scale that dwarfs previous efforts against the axis, Israel has spent the past year trying to destroy the network’s political, economic, military, logistical, and communications infrastructure. It has also undertaken an unprecedented campaign against the axis’s leadership, killing the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and several senior commanders in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The ferocity of the Israeli offensive, which has been bolstered by advanced technologies and a strategy of total war that flattens and depopulates neighborhoods and cities, will significantly alter the balance of power in the Middle East. Yet for all its undeniable military superiority, not to mention its support from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, Israel is unlikely to eradicate the organizations and regimes that belong to the axis in the way it hopes. Time and again the axis has demonstrated an adaptability and a resilience that attest to the deep connections its member groups maintain within their own states and societies. What’s more, the transnational relationships that compose the axis mean that Hamas, Hezbollah, and the other member organizations are best understood not merely as discrete nonstate actors or insurgent armed groups but as interlinking nodes of durable political, economic, military, and ideological networks.

Is Donald Trump about to wreck Brexit?

Jon Stone

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Donald Trump once called himself “Mr. Brexit.” But eight years on, could he be about to wreck it?

The president-elect’s America First trade policies make Britain’s attempted pivot to global free trade that bit tricker. His lukewarm attitude to Ukraine and NATO also has people on both sides of the Channel worried.

For many Brussels officials involved in shaping the relationship between the EU and U.K, last week’s U.S. election result means one thing: stronger ties between the somewhat estranged neighbors.

It may not be what the billionaire Republican politician had in mind — and in Britain, too, Brexiteers worry that the new U.S. president might end up pushing Britain into Brussels’ arms.

Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch this week urged the government not to turn away from Washington, bemoaning that “Labour is not interested in anything except the EU.” She called on ministers to see beyond Trump’s rhetoric and invoke his “historic and familial links to the U.K.”

Russian and DPRK Military Cooperation in Ukraine – A Win-Win?

Mats Engman, Johanna Miskolczi Persson, and Irene Spennacchio

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In recent years, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia have strengthened bilateral ties through several strategic agreements, which has seen a deepening of military, political, and economic cooperation. This new partnership drew global attention when Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un met for a summit in Russia in 2023. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the 2023 summit discussions included more than just the supply of military material to Russia.

The arms deal marked the beginning of an increasingly more ambitious military cooperation, with the DPRK providing artillery shells, missiles, and other military supplies to support Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. This deal has allowed Russia to make up for its military shortages and highlights Pyongyang’s key role in sustaining Russian military operations in Ukraine.

In June 2024, Putin reciprocated by visiting Pyongyang, culminating in the signing of the “DPRK-Russia Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”, which the North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs hailed as an “unbreakable unity”.2 This agreement formalizes further military ties, particularly in expanding cooperation from simple arms supplies to a broader defensive alliance that could involve direct military support if one of them is attacked. The agreement was unanimously ratified by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on October 24, with the upper house expected to follow.

The war against Ukraine through the prism of Russian military thought

Krisztián Jójárt

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Introduction

The experience of the war in Ukraine will profoundly shape Russian military thinking in the next decades. This is not just because it is the largest war that Russia has fought since the Great Patriotic War (1941–5), but also because the Russian military elite sees it as a testing ground for NATO weaponry and doctrines.Footnote1 Despite this, few scholarly works have been written about the Russian military scientific discussion on the strategic and operational lessons of the war so far. Among those that exist is McDermott and Bartles’ study on the initial period of war, which concluded that Russian operational planning has completely disregarded this key concept of Russian military thought. Instead, the idea of the ‘special military operation’ did not assume a need to fight a large-scale war against a peer adversary, the context in which the initial period of war is understood.Footnote2

The Legacy of Dave Dilegge and the Future of Small Wars and U.S. National Security

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Retired Marine Major Dave Dilegge passed away suddenly on May 2, 2020. For 15 years he and co-founder Bill Nagle, also a retired Marine, led the intellectual transformation of the U.S. and allied militaries and national security communities in recognizing the importance of “Small Wars.” Dave and Bill established Small Wars Journal in 2005 and paved the way for intellectual discussions about everything related to warfighting in the 21st Century. Just as important, their efforts sparked the creation of a new online ecosystem that has produced gigabytes of critical thought on complex political-military and national security challenges.

Even as the national security community continues to debate the efficacy of irregular, unconventional, political, revolutionary, and counterinsurgency warfare (and more), “Small Wars” remains the best overall descriptor of the phenomena that the national security community wrestles with short of large scale combat operations (LSCO) and major theater war (MTW). And paradoxically “Small Wars” activities take place in LSCO/MTW but not the reverse. The importance of “Small Wars” cannot be underestimated.

Targeted Killings Won’t Destroy Hezbollah

Sarah E. Parkinson and Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl

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On September 27, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, by dropping between 60 to 80 bunker buster bombs on a densely populated neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The strike killed several other Hezbollah leaders, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general, and at least 33 civilians. It injured 195 more.

This attack, others that followed, and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon represent the ramping-up of a yearlong escalation against Hezbollah’s leadership. In that time frame, Israel’s military has killed hundreds of militants and thousands of civilians. 

An Alliance of America’s Greatest Foes Is Getting Tighter

Hal Brands

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The deployment of North Korean troops to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine was one October surprise among many. November, December and the months thereafter will reveal how much Kim Jong Un’s forces can do to abet Vladimir Putin’s aggression. Yet the larger significance of the North Korean move may be what it reveals about the arsenal of autocracy taking shape.

The phrase “arsenal of democracy” was coined by Franklin Roosevelt during World War II. The thrust was that the US, not yet in the war, would arm and empower the friendly countries that were. Since February 2022, President Joe Biden has revived the concept in explaining America’s support for Ukraine. Yet the most striking, potentially historical advances toward deeper defense cooperation are coming from the autocratic side.

That integration is part of a broader phenomenon preoccupying the US government — the linking of arms by countries assaulting the international order. A “no limits” strategic partnership unites China and Russia, the two Eurasian giants. Iran and Russia have built what American officials call a “full-scale defense partnership.” Moscow and Pyongyang signed their treaty of alliance, which complements North Korea’s longstanding — if ambivalent — defense pact with China. Russia is helping a longtime Iranian client, Yemen’s Houthis, attack international shipping in the Red Sea.

Will Artificial Intelligence Develop At The Expense Of Natural Intelligence? – OpEd

N. S. Venkataraman

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Since time immemorial, humans have taken pride in the natural intelligence they possess, which helps them analyse information, process ideas, assess the pros and cons of various scenarios, and arrive at firm judgements. This is an essential human attribute that animals lack, as they are driven solely by survival instincts and do not possess the capacity to discern between good and bad.

While this natural intelligence—featuring analytical ability, memory power, and the capability for quick thinking and logical conclusions—is inherent in every human being, it must be developed and fine-tuned through practice. If neglected, this ability will become dormant and may decline over time. Failure to nurture and apply our natural intelligence effectively amounts to disregarding this God-given capacity.

At a recent consultative meeting, a school teacher from India shared an anecdote illustrating how the learning process is evolving among young students in line with technological advancements and the proliferation of electronic gadgets. The teacher recounted asking a student his age, to which he correctly responded, “12 years and 4 months.” When asked for his grandfather’s age, the student also answered correctly, saying, “79 years and 3 months.” However, when asked to calculate the difference between the two ages within 20 seconds, the student initially tried to count on his fingers before starting to look around. Upon being asked what he was searching for, he replied, “A calculator.”

What RISC-V Means for the Future of Chip Development

Sujai Shivakumar and Julie Heng

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Many believe that the future of chip design—and the development of new technologies like next-generation artificial intelligence (AI)—will depend on RISC-V architecture. RISC-V is an open standard developed through international collaboration. Participating in international standards like RISC-V is perceived as enabling firms to maintain greater control over their intellectual property and strengthen innovation across public and private sectors. However, some U.S. policymakers also worry that the RISC-V architecture standard could endanger U.S. national security and competitive advantage.

Q1: What is (and isn’t) RISC-V?

A1: An instruction set architecture (ISA) determines how software controls a processor’s hardware. It instructs a chip on what to do, including how to handle data or perform memory operations. Chip designers implement ISAs in their own ways to build their own chips. Currently, designers of specialized AI chips, like Nvidia, often design custom in-house ISAs, whereas chips for general computing (also known as central processing units, or CPUs) usually adopt existing ISAs instead of creating new ones, citing lower costs, software compatibility, and proven reliability.

Large Language Models and International Security: A Primer

IOANA PUSCAS

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Introduction

Large language models (LLMs) represent one of the most prominent types of contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) systems. They are best known for their ability to generate content or summarize text when embedded in chatbots, but the range of applications of this technology is far broader – including emerging and potential use cases with impacts for international security.

LLMs are increasingly of interest to intelligence and military organizations, including for analysis, planning and other operational tasks. LLMs are also relevant to international security insofar as malicious actors could exploit capabilities afforded by LLMs for a range of nefarious purposes, such as to enhance disinformation campaigns, to conduct attacks in the cyber domain or to seek assistance with the production of weapons, including biological weapons.

This primer aims to provide an overview of LLMs and their relevance to international security: first, by introducing and explaining the basics of the technology, including how it works and where key vulnerabilities lie, and second, by illustrating the impact of LLMs on international security through select examples of uses and applications.

Looking to the skies: The importance of satellite cybersecurity

Tom Barrett

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Between 7,5001 and 9,200 active satellites2 orbit the Earth every day. Yet, losing a single satellite can have more of an impact than ever before. Satellites are now integral components in our economies, governments and telecommunications networks; losing even a single satellite can have disastrous consequences. Case in point, in early 2022 a cyber-attack on one satellite, KA-SAT, cut internet access for more than 40,000 internet modems across Europe, taking offline thousands of wind turbines in Germany, impacting emergency services in France and leaving remote communities without any means of contact to the outside world.3

The cybersecurity of satellites is a well-documented but long-overlooked issue. This brief examines the Russian attack on KA-SAT and considers what Australia and the region can learn from this event, particularly as satellites become an increasingly vital component of regional communications networks. It also considers the role of satellites in broader digital connectivity as well as their complex supply chains and dual-use nature.

In Between Digital War and Peace

Jasmijn Boeken

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Introduction

In an age where everything is becoming increasingly digital, so is war. Recently, at the same location where, over a decade ago, the first major cyberattack hit, another attack happened (Corera Citation2021). A power blackout at a nuclear enrichment plant received global attention. According to Iran, the attack was made by Israel, however, as is typical of cyberattacks, the attribution of the act remains ambiguous. The digital sphere has become a new domain of warfare, supplementing the traditional arenas of land, sea, air and space (Taddeo Citation2012). This new addition to warfare has prompted scholars to explore the ethical implications of cyberwar, using frameworks such as Just War Theory (Boylan Citation2013; Sleat Citation2018; Taddeo Citation2012).

As is well-known to readers of this journal, Just War Theory is concerned with the question of what is ethical in warfare (Fotion Citation2007). The traditional paradigm of just war has developed over many centuries and is today known not least for Michael Walzer’s contributions (with Walzer Citation1977 as the paradigm text; see also Boylan Citation2013). Applying it to the topic of cyberwar, scholars have found multiple issues to discuss, such as the identification of combatants and non-combatants (Taddeo Citation2012), the issue of attribution (Boylan Citation2013), non-human targets (Sleat Citation2018), and the fact that the “ground” in cyberspace is continuously increasing (Singer and Friedman Citation2014). The various scholars have also posed their possible solutions, such as changing the architecture of the internet (Boylan Citation2013), applying information ethics (Taddeo Citation2012), or adjusting Just War Theory to make it appropriate for the topic of cyberwar (Sleat Citation2018). There is, however, yet to be a widespread consensus on the definition of cyberwar and the ethical parameters guiding it.

Look before we leap: peace, security and the second quantum revolutio

Dr Alexander Blanchard

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We are on the cusp of a second quantum revolution. The first saw the advent of world-changing technologies like nuclear fission, lasers and semiconductors. The second, which exploits the behaviour of individual quantum systems, promises to transform technologies for sensing, imaging, navigation, computing, information science, communications and many other applications. Some of these advances will soon be mature enough to be adopted at scale. This has profound implications for a wide range of fields, including global peace and security.

The second quantum revolution could have many benefits for peace and security. For instance, advances in quantum sensing could provide better detection of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards and threats. Moreover, quantum computing could bring about advances in climate modelling and monitoring, allowing us to better forecast the long-term effects of climate change.

But this coming revolution could also introduce substantial risks. Advances in quantum computing could, for example, undermine current encryption methods on which digital information security depends, including for communications and financial transactions. New quantum technologies could bring advances to several critical industries tied closely to global peace and security, such as semiconductor research and development, thereby instigating a race to securitize these technologies. These risks—many of which we barely understand and some, undoubtedly, that we cannot anticipate—require governance responses, including at the multilateral level. It is high time to set this in motion.