Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- November 7, 2019

Illustration of a robot taking a ‘selfie,’ signifying artificial intelligence. Source: AFP

Bill Gertz, Asia Times: US and China racing to weaponize AI

US defense secretary compares artificial intelligence warfare buildup to space race

The Pentagon is racing to outpace China in building military artificial intelligence (AI) systems ranging from vehicle maintenance to advanced warfighting tools like cyber weapons and drones, according to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

“Whichever nation harnesses AI first will have a decisive advantage on the battlefield for many, many years,” Esper said this week at a conference in Washington on artificial intelligence.

“We have to get there first. Future wars will be fought not just on the land and in the sea as they have for thousands of years, or in the air as they have for the past century, but also in outer space and cyberspace in unprecedented ways.”

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- November 7, 2019

Can Vietnam Be America’s New Ally Against China? -- Anders Corr, National Interest

New generation insurgents raising hell in Thailand -- Richard S Ehrlich, Asia Times

Anger on campus: Behind the student protests that have rocked Indonesia -- Stanley Widianto and Gayatri Suroyo, Reuters

Made In America: How the U.S. Government Paid For Turkey's War in Syria -- Matthew Petti, National Interest

How Saudi Arabia monitors and intimidates its critics abroad -- Tom Allinson, DW

Trump Needs to Reestablish Deterrence with Iran -- Kaleigh Thomas, National Interest

Lebanon protests: How WhatsApp tax anger revealed a much deeper crisis -- BBC

Why There Is No Kurdish Nation -- John Broich, The Conversation

Attack on Canadian mining firm in Burkina Faso threatens gold’s final frontier -- David Lewis, Helen Reid and Zandi Shabalala, Reuters

Macron, Europe’s wannabe president -- Rym Momtaz, Politico.eu

It’s not just Britain that’s breaking up, Europe is too -- Martin Kettle, The Guardian

Catalonia challenge awaits Spain's next prime minister -- Joan Faus and Ingrid Melander, Reuters

Germans divided on unity legacy 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall -- Rebecca Staudenmaier, DW

‘End of history’? 30 years on, does that idea still hold up? -- Tamer Fakahany, AP

Trump: What does the US do for Nato in Europe -- BBC

How the phrase 'OK boomer' suddenly went all over the internet -- Michael Collett, ABC News Online