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This article was originally published by War on the Rocks on 20 January 2020.
According to some, artificial intelligence (AI) is the new electricity. Like electricity, AI will transform every major industry and open new opportunities that were never possible. However, unlike electricity, the ethics surrounding the development and use of AI remain controversial, which is a significant element constraining AI’s full potential.
This graphic provides an overview of Swiss respondent’s opinions to a survey on security, foreign policy and economic issues regarding relations between Switzerland and the US. To find out more, read the ‘Sicherheit 2019’ here. The ‘Sicherheit’ study is an annual survey conducted by the Center for Security Studies and the Military Academy at ETH Zurich. Since 1999, it has evaluated long-term trends and tendencies in public opinion on foreign, security and defense policy issues in Switzerland.
This article was originally published in the ASPI’s The Strategist on 21 January 2020.
For the first time since 1957, Europe finds itself in a situation where three major powers—the United States, China and Russia—have an interest in weakening it. They may squeeze the European Union in very different ways, but they share an essential hostility to its governance model.
The European model, after all, is based on the principle of shared sovereignty among states in crucial areas such as market standards and trade. That liberal idea is antithetical to the American, Chinese and Russian view of sovereignty, which places the prerogative of states above global rules and norms of behaviour. Shared sovereignty is possible only among liberal states; unalloyed sovereignty is the preserve of populists and authoritarians.
This article was originally published by the ASPI‘s The Strategist on 9 January 2020.
President Donald Trump’s public response to Iranian missile strikes on two US airbases in Iraq suggests that he and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have reached a mutual ‘no war’ agreement. Barring any miscalculation by either side that triggers military escalation, the confrontation will continue to be played out politically, with the US maintaining its ‘maximum pressure’ campaign that seeks to force regime change through severe economic sanctions. There will be a lot of bruising ahead for Iran, but Trump will not win politically.
This article was originally published by the International Crisis Group on 27 December 2019.
Friends and foes alike no longer know where the United States stands. As Washington overpromises and underdelivers, regional powers are seeking solutions on their own – both through violence and diplomacy.