Reflectii

On Friday, December 6, at 1:30 p.m. ET. the Atlantic Council will host a virtual public event entitled “Commanding the Alliance: Perspectives from SACEURs.”

The world’s 100 largest defense companies increased their combined revenues from sales of arms and military services by 4.2% last year, totaling $632 billion, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

President-elect Trump campaigned on being a “crpyto president,” promising to open up the floodgates on cryptocurrency by undoing regulations imposed by President Joe Biden’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

But according to a Wednesday report in the Guardian, crypto deregulation could provide a significant benefit to extremist groups and foreign terrorist organizations that use crypto to finance their activity. The outlet noted that neo-Nazi group The Base – which has been under FBI investigation for years — used the new development of an incoming pro-crypto administration to solicit donations via cryptocurrency on Election Day.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday demanded that BRICS member countries commit to not creating a new currency or supporting another currency that would replace the United States dollar or face 100% tariffs, Reuters reported.

“We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Abstract: Since 2018, the United States has been trying to figure out what counterterrorism looks like during an era of strategic competition, and how it can maximize and optimize returns from its counterterrorism investments. There are important differences between these two national security priorities—strategic competition and counterterrorism—but if the United States wants to gain resource efficiencies, it should look across the gray space at how and where these two priorities interplay and converge. This is because a key part of the pathway to CT optimization lies in realizing how counterterrorism has evolved as a form of influence. This article introduces a conceptual framework to help the counterterrorism community situate the returns from CT investments, especially deployed CT force activity. It recommends that those returns be understood through two lenses: 1) those that are direct and oriented around threat mitigation and 2) those that are intersectional and oriented around influence. Interviews with three experts provide context to elements of the framework and highlight the interplay between counterterrorism and strategic competition in different regional areas.

Abstract: When it comes to counterterrorism, the United States has been living through an inflection point. It wants to focus less on terrorism so it can place more emphasis on strategic competition, but key terrorist adversaries remain committed. The terrorism landscape and the approaches used by key terror adversaries have also been evolving. The United States and its partners have been placing various forms of pressure against priority networks such as the Islamic State and al-Qa`ida in key locations to keep the threats these groups pose degraded, and to restrict their ability to conduct external operations and other impactful acts of terror. But over the past two years, there have been growing signs that the Islamic State is evolving around the pressure that has been placed against it, developments that highlight the limits of existing CT pressure approaches and the need for those approaches to evolve. This article introduces two frameworks: 1) a framework to help conceptualize non-state VEO power and CT pressure efforts to degrade those elements of power and 2) a defense and degradation in depth framework that can be used to help strategically guide future CT pressure campaigns. It is hoped that these frameworks provoke debate within the counterterrorism community and that they help the United States and its allies adjust their CT approaches so they can evolve to stay ahead of the threat.

À quoi ressemblera le mouvement de masse du futur proche ?

Cinq hypothèses, mais aucune d’elles n’est passionnante

L’idée d’une « fabrication de la politique » est une invention de l’époque contemporaine.

L’idée que le peuple en tant que tel est en charge du destin du monde est en effet l’enfant de l’avènement de la bourgeoisie, de l’urbanisation et, enfin, de la société de masse et/ou de consommation.

“Polycrisis” is a word that has recently come into use to characterize the way crises in many different spheres – ranging from geopolitics and economics to climate and pandemic – are aggravating each other and even converging. Trump and Trumpism, like similar leaders and movements around the world, took off in the era of polycrisis and reflect many of its themes. They are also likely to severely aggravate the dynamics of the polycrisis.

• Clear Priorities, Military Readiness: In his first interview as Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz declared on November 21 that preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is Jerusalem’s top priority in the ongoing regional war. Katz emphasized that military action is now seen as essential, arguing that diplomatic measures, including sanctions, are insufficient to dismantle Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Katz explained how the defense establishment’s stance has evolved, observing that “in the past, there was pushback against the military option, with claims it wasn’t necessary or possible. Today, all agencies agree it is necessary—and now, everyone is united in the view that it is possible.”
• Iran’s Weakening Defenses: Katz asserted that Iran has never been more vulnerable, citing Israel’s October 26 strikes that crippled Tehran’s air defense network, including Russian-supplied S-300 systems. Additionally, Hezbollah’s ability to retaliate on Iran’s behalf has been significantly diminished. Katz stated that Israel is actively lobbying the United States and other allies to act decisively against Iran’s nuclear program before it is too late.
• Netanyahu Reveals Major Achievements: On November 18, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to the Knesset outlining unprecedented military successes against Iran. He revealed that Israel had destroyed all four of Iran’s S-300 air defense batteries, along with an undisclosed component of its nuclear program. Analysts at FDD suggest the October 26 strike may have targeted a nuclear weaponization facility at Parchin.
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