Aesthetics of imprisonment
In today’s narratives, dominated by “multialignment”; “settlements” and “diplomacy” the reminders of the OranjeHotel force two questions:
What is the meaning of resistance?
What is the function of resistance?
WHO will give answer today to these questions in front of the nation and in front of history?
Groen op straat: between militarization of society and symbiosis
The home front
The distant front
What Should We Want?
With several states having achieved the status of near pear adversaries in the military field, and/or the capabilities that balance each outer out in economic or natural resources, the international context is marked by a higher level of potential global conflict. In this context, having a clear vision of one’s own position in global affairs and the will and capabilities to obtain and maintain that position is essential. It is thus not only a matter of capabilities, but also one of intent and choice. This is where the key question of the US NSS – What should we want? signals proactive or first mover position on the world stage, defining first the will to which one can best put one’s capabilities to use.
Faced with the same question – What should we want? - can Europe answer in a single voice?
Book review and reflections on “Gewapend met gevoel” by Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan.
“Armed with feelings” - the title of Elanor’s book can receive different meanings, depending on one’s own personal experience, timing and location of its lecture. A book described in the introduction as being about “The price of visibility and the power of the strange outsider - “buitenbeentje” ( a Dutch word difficult to translate in one equivalent word in the English language – what word by word would translate as “someone with one leg outside”) relates the experience of challenging or disrupting the status quo in the military and being SEEN as doing so due to the visible alterity given by gender.
Elanor’s honest personal story makes for a candid read, although, one may add, Elanor is anything but a soft or timid voice, seeing her speak on the topics she obviously cares about very much. This personal touch is what makes the message that more convincing and is one of the contributions of the book: challenging the status quo not through declarative, ostensive positions, but rather through rational questioning of realities that find rational reasons to be challenged and feasible and decent solutions to be implemented in an environment that affords to do so.
- Location, Location
- Uniforms ≠ uniformity
- War has no gender
- Landscape
- Technology
- The role of emotions
Legislative and governance international frameworks for Artificial Intelligence in the area of national security
The rapid development of artificial intelligence has surpassed the speed with which regulation can be formulated and legislation passed for its regulation. This is the case in most countries and technology development maintains its distance advantage in relation to accompanying regulation and legislation. In comparison to mainstream applications, regulation and legislation over AI use in the national security space is far more difficult to develop in an international approach, if possible or desirable at all.
In the competition for technological supremacy, even between allies, all parties would first weigh the impact of giving away strategic advantages through the potential of disclosure in dialogues or initiatives for developing international frameworks. Expressed objectives of increasing lethality of national defence capabilities and those of military alliances, and increasing risks of leeks with the dissemination of information further indicate to the need and incentives for capabilities stealth. Protecting first-adopter advantage becomes a stimulant for protection of exclusivity even between allies. Thus, the often lamented speed of regulation not being able to keep up with technological advancement can become an advantage for rapid innovation stimulation in a space of legislative void that servs strategic objectives. In a highly competitive world, securing and maintaining access and exclusivity of disruptive technologies will be a strategy that will have quantifiable practical benefits.
WHAT EUROPE CAN LEARN FROM CHINA, RUSSIA AND THE US
While the world shared in the upheaval caused by the tariffs imposed by the new US administration, Europe continued to be confronted with major security, economic and political challenges determined by the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its spillover effects. The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East also has strong reverberations across Europe, leading to legal, moral and political clashes. This accumulation of events or multiple crises, together with elections being held in many European states in the recent timeframe have exacerbated existing conditions and given rise to debates that challenge the very foundations on which the European project has been carefully constructed and has continued to develop in a West to East accumulation.
Notes on defence trends. The Hague. April-June’25
Taking the pulse of society on defence related matters
Threat perception and response capacity
Legislation
The NATO – EU relation
Technology opportunities and challenges
Remembrance sites
Notes from Berlin and Auschwitz-Birkenau
