| | | | D-Day's Precarious Mission | | On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, it's worth considering the sheer scale of the undertaking—and how the invasion could've gone differently or never happened in the first place. In a New Statesman essay, British historian David Reynolds highlights the operation's precarious prospects, from a drafted announcement of its failure Eisenhower kept in his wallet, just in case; to the smaller successes that enabled it and the massive Red Army offensive that accompanied it from the East; to Stalin urging Churchill in Tehran to go ahead with the plan.
D-Day's launch was a victory for Roosevelt, Nigel Hamilton points out in his new book, War and Peace: FDR's Final Odyssey, D-Day to Yalta, 1943–1945. As the allies considered their options, Hamilton writes that Churchill opposed and sought to undermine the plan to invade at Normandy, but FDR's insistence won out. | | Russia Joins the Chinese Tech Wave | | News that Huawei will develop Russia's first 5G network is likely to stoke concerns over a global tech divide, now that Russia seems to have joined China's sphere of technological influence, but it also accompanies observations of a broader geopolitical realignment, with Russia and China partnering in the face of US pressure.
"Cooperation is expanding in a wide range of areas including aerospace, energy, Arctic exploration and people-to-people exchanges," the South China Morning Post writes, describing the two powers as teaming up in the face of "damaging" American policies. As for the consequences, a deeper Russian-Chinese alliance "would be felt on issues from the Arctic to the Middle East, and from North Korea to Venezuela," writes the Atlantic Council's Frederick Kempe. | | In the Great Tech Game, Europe Lags Behind | | | While not everyone is convinced that world politics will evolve into a terrifying competition between AI superpowers, André Loesekrug-Pietri writes for the German Marshall Fund that Europe faces a "Sputnik moment" over its lack of technological prowess, as tech becomes more important to economic, military, and political security.
Having grown complacent under the US security umbrella, Europe now finds itself without any massively successful tech firms of its own, soon to face a dilemma over where to buy 5G technology, and lacking its own advancements in AI, semiconductor technology, software, space, and cybersecurity. European countries are "just beginning to understand the full vulnerability of their critical infrastructure, the disruptive effect technologies can have on their election systems and democratic processes, or the growing overlap between military and civilian theaters," Loesekrug-Pietri writes, warning that "Europe's values are at risk if it loses the technological battle." | | Caught Between China and the US | | With the US and China locked in a broader competition, East Asian countries are caught in the middle, The Economist writes.
The US is pushing for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" as a counterweight to Chinese influence, but smaller East Asian countries don't trust the US will truly commit, as President Trump has proven mercurial and military confrontation with China wouldn't be worth it for America. The US vision for Asian security has been a tough sell for acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, the magazine writes, and Asia's smaller powers simply "hate the idea of taking sides, despite widespread misgivings about China's intentions." | | The Meaning of 'Radicalization' | | The term "radicalization" has been used in so many different ways that it may not be useful, writes extremism expert Rik Coolsaet of the Belgian Egmont institute in an essay for a new book, Radicalization in Belgium and the Netherlands: Critical Perspectives on Violence and Security. The term has morphed through a "twisted history" as intelligence observers used it "loosely" after 9/11 to refer to Muslim "anger," then acknowledged the possibility of "self-radicalization," produced models of a long psychological process of radicalization, and more recently concluded "flash" radicalization can happen in an instant.
The term "has been less helpful or adequate at explaining and countering terrorism than its early advocates envisaged fifteen years ago. Yet, since it has become a household concept, we can't escape its use," Coolsaet writes. "In order to minimize its drawbacks, it is useful to remember its intricacies and its multiple layers." | | | | | | |
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