Introducing Women Leaders, the podcast that discusses world complexities with women experts! Our host llana Bet-El welcomes one or two women experts for an informal conversation to explain, analyse, discuss and highlight events of the day by an array of wonderfully qualified women from all around the world.
On NATO’s 75th anniversary, and as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, Dr Leon Hartwell calls on NATO member states with larger economies to match the economic contributions to Ukraine of smaller NATO countries, as a percentage of GDP. He argues that if NATO properly utilised its economic advantage over Russia, Ukraine would then have the necessary capacity to win on the battlefield.
On the second anniversary of Putin’s war in Ukraine, Olamide Samuel writes that the invasion has upset the fragile balance of obligations in the NPT’s bargain by dramatically increasing the perceived salience of nuclear weapons and reigniting motivations for proliferation. In response, nuclear weapon states choosing to reinforce their extended deterrence commitments inadvertently devalues the wider framework of security assurances granted to non-nuclear weapon states and the perceived value of the NPT’s grand bargain.
In our latest commentary produced from our New European Voices on Existential Risk (NEVER) network, Rebecca Donaldson explores the potential of new technologies for security whilst minimising their potential for harm in the realms of AI and the life sciences. She proposes that more funds go towards the biological weapons convention, the creation of an Emerging Technology Utilisation and Response Unit (ETURU) and the fostering of a culture of AI assurance and responsible democratisation of biotechnologies.
YGLN members Maren Vieluf and Ananya Agustin Malhotra argue that NPT states need to start talking about whether or not “defensive” and “offensive” nuclear threats can be distinguished. If NPT states can find agreement on this matter, it could bridge the gap between states condemning any and all nuclear threats under any circumstances and those states that stand firmly behind “defensive” nuclear threats and allow for further progress to be made in the 11th NPT Review Cycle.
The defining challenge of the arms control interregnum is to ensure the NPT survives Russian brinkmanship and Chinese ambivalence, writes Maximilian Hoell. He argues that supporters of the NPT must face a simple choice: join forces to uphold the treaty to the extent possible and prevent its erosion or risk the treaty’s collapse. He argues that Western leadership is essential for safeguarding the NPT in the new security environment.
In the absence of globally acknowledged governance frameworks for AI in the military domain, two new initiatives came into existence in 2023 – the Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM) and the US-initiated Political Declaration. Mahmoud Javadi and Michal Onderco analyse both, writing that REAIM provides a much-needed space for a democratic, depoliticised, and decentralised approach to global military AI governance.
As the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, Karsten Friis writes that Ukraine must define a strategic end on its own terms. It should be one that Russia cannot prevent and that Ukraine and its Western partners can achieve together. This definition of victory should be decoupled from territorial demarcation lines and defined in broader, non-territorial terms.
Listen to the second episode of the NEVER podcast – Ok, Doomer! In this episode, we explore nuclear war, the first man-made existential risk. Featuring an introduction to the topic, disarmament versus deterrence, how governments have dealt with issues such as proliferation, and how they should respond to them in future.