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International Seminar Strategic Geopolitics and Security Issues
The International Seminar on "Strategic Geopolitics and Security Issues," aims to provide a platform for global discourse on the challenges and opportunities in geopolitics and security. The event will bring together esteemed academics, policymakers, and students to deliberate on pressing issues like Indo-Pacific regional security and strategic policymaking. Key sessions include inaugural addresses, a keynote lecture by Prof. Paolo von Schirach, and discussions on topics such as Indo - Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities, making it pivotal event for fostering understanding and collaboration in global strategic studies.
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“More Ships” Must Become a Battle Cry for Today’s Maritime Industrial Base
By John Luddy -January 15, 2024 -This is a battle America can win. The mismatch between the Navy’s proposed fleet size and shipbuilding plans, and America’s strained shipbuilding capacity, is among the hottest topics in defense policy circles. “More ships” must become a battle cry in the Navy and across the defense department, with strong support from the Departments of Transportation, Commerce, and Treasury. The US Congress is already gearing up for this fight, and President-elect Donald Trump has strongly signaled his continuing support for domestic commercial shipbuilding programs. This is a battle America can win – again. Back in 1941, the first Liberty Ships launched and became a symbol of America’s World War II “Arsenal of Democracy.” At the height of World War II, U.S. shipyards launched three of those cargo vessels every two days, to carry supplies across the Atlantic. In total, American shipyards built 2751 Liberty ships, along with their faster, bigger sisters, the 531 Victory ships. The U.S. doesn’t need to repeat that miracle, but it is time to apply the same sense of urgency to supporting the thousands of companies that build and sustain our ships. Today, most Americans would be surprised to learn that the U.S. accounts for 0.2% of global shipbuilding in 2022, U.S yards had only five large commercial oceangoing ships under construction, while China was building nearly 1,800. It’s a longstanding problem. The most recent decline in U.S. oceangoing shipbuilding began in the 1980s, and was, for a time, offset by robust Navy ship construction. All along the Jones Act has undergirded some limited domestic ship construction for shipments between U.S. ports.
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America Has a Drone Problem (From FOX News)
By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D. - January 13, 2025 - America’s Got a Drone Problem and No One is In Charge. Read at FOX News here, and below. President-elect Donald J. Trump wants to create an Iron Dome missile shield over the USA. But what about the drones flying underneath it? “Mystery Drone sightings all over the Country. Can this really be happening without our government’s knowledge. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he wrote Friday on Truth Social. Couldn’t agree more, except please don’t get your shotgun out of the closet and start rooting around for a box of shells. It’s illegal to interfere with any aircraft in flight, manned or unmanned. Maybe its deer season where you live, but alas, it is never drone season. Right now, statutes limit even the military’s ability to intercept drones in the U.S. America has drone problem. Some are actually airplanes. Some drones are legal and no threat to you and me. Some are flown by drug cartels dropping off fentanyl in San Diego. Gen. Greg Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command, told the Senate more than 1,000 drones per month cross the southern border. Other drones belong to the police, or to the military. Don’t forget the NYPD has 110 drone operators qualified by the FAA. I also expect some of the drone sightings connect to military experiments and operations.
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Aptera will Launch EVs with Solar Panels
By Paolo von Schirach - January 10, 2025 - Can you have a three-wheel super-efficient electric vehicle, EV, with built in solar panels that produce some of its energy? Can this be the future of EVs? Yes, according to Aptera, a relatively new California based company soon offering a new type of EV: three wheels, lightweight, efficient, dependable, very spacious trunk, and relatively low cost. More on Aptera in a just a bit. Electric vehicles are still new These days there is incessant talk about EVs. It is focused primarily on the hundreds of billions of dollars invested or soon to be invested by all global automakers into this sector. All this hype allows casual observers to believe that EVs are old and proven products, based on mature technologies.
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Made in America T-shirts?
By Paolo von Schirach - January 07, 2025 – Due to the shock waves of globalization, American industry lost all or most of the labor intensive sectors. In just a few years, millions of jobs moved to Asia, China in particular, on account of the comparatively much lower labor costs. A huge number of U.S. manufacturing plants closed down and outsourced production to factories in East Asia, especially in China. The U.S. textiles and apparel industries were hit particularly hard. The downfall of the American textile and apparel industries This created a huge sector crisis. Until the 1970s, especially in the Southeast, there was a thriving textile and apparel industry in America. A piece in The State describes vibrant companies, particularly in South Carolina. “Major textile mills operated across the South and in the upstate and coastal areas of South Carolina.” If one looked at the entire United States, about 1.3 million people worked in textile mills nationwide in 1948. But in recent decades the picture changed dramatically. “Cheaper labor overseas –continues the article in The State– technology and automation, international trade agreements and other conditions consistent with modernization, wages, education and economic diversification led to the demise of the textile industry in South Carolina from the 1970s through the 2000s.
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Two Navy Standard Missiles Divide and Conquer 62 Miles Up (From National Interest)
By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D. - January 06, 2025 - The confusion over SM-3 highlights why the incoming Trump administration must pay closer attention to missile defense production priorities, as I wrote here for National Interest. Standard Missile 3 Block IB, launched by Navy destroyers, made its combat debut on April 13, countering Iran’s barrage attacks on Israel by intercepting Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles in the exo-atmosphere, more than 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. Yet just a few weeks earlier, President Joe Biden’s defense budget terminated production of that same missile in an attempt to budget release decision to “pivot from and discontinue” the SM-3 Block IB procurements in favor of the longer-range SM-3 Block IIA. In fact, these missiles are a matched pair with different capabilities needed by the Navy to operate in the harsh regime of exo-atmospheric defense. Missile defense has not always been a high priority for the political or defense establishment in Washington. But the war in Ukraine, missile attacks on Israel, and the rising threat of China have gotten everyone’s attention. The confusion over SM-3 highlights why the incoming Trump administration must pay closer attention to missile defense production priorities.
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Boosting The Maritime Industrial Base for Navy Combat Power (From RealClearDefense)
By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D. - The full text is available below and on the RealClearDefense website here - January 02, 2025 - President-elect Trump’s incoming defense team will soon face a sobering fact: China’s navy is bigger than the U.S. Navy. “Our U.S. Navy shipbuilding is in a crisis and the U.S. Navy is dramatically shrinking, Sen. Dan Sullivan has said. By 2027, the U.S. Navy may be down to 280 ships while China’s navy hits 400. China’s navy “has been on a historic trajectory these last 25 years,” according to ADM Samuel Paparo, Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. “We are not overmatched, but I don’t like the pace of the trajectory.” The U.S. Navy must ramp up production. While investments in the shipyards are crucial, sparking a renaissance in Navy shipbuilding also depends on careful attention to the whole of the supplier base. Navy suppliers are found all over America. “We will not be successful in building these ships if we do not have the supplier base fully engaged and participating,” Navy Rear Admiral Todd Weeks, Program Executive Officer for Strategic Submarines, said on December 16. “There’s a lot more folks working in those suppliers than there are in the shipyards,” he noted.
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AI Can Boost Urban Farming Productivity
By Paolo von Schirach - December 30, 2024 - Artificial Intelligence, AI, can help boost the growth of a new modality to grow food: vertical urban farming. Yes, we are talking about growing edible plants in appropriately configured buildings in which the natural environment for various types of plants can be replicated, in fact optimized. This is what we learn from reading an article by Gaurav Roy in Securities.io titled Indoor Farming Set to See Efficiency Boost Through AI (September 11, 2024) AI will optimize urban farms According to the article, through the analysis of enormous quantities of data collected related to growth time, humidity, temperatures, nutrition provided, and more AI will be able to create optimized, cost-effective environments that will guarantee the best growing conditions, especially by recommending exactly how to use artificial light, essential for growing plants in an enclosed environment, in an optimal way. By continuous refinement of best practices, AI will ensure best results at the lowest possible cost, this way making urban farming more competitive and therefore more profitable.
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Will AI Restructure U.S. Healthcare Policy?
By Janice Tagoe, MBA, MSc. - December 26, 2024 - The Changing Face of AI in U.S. Healthcare. As we approach the end of 2024, the integration of AI in the U.S. healthcare sector continues to evolve dynamically. An article by DLA Piper provides some insights about the latest moves in Congress regarding AI in healthcare. This revealed increased activity within Congress and federal agencies around the topics of drug development, care delivery, and insurance coverage, thus reflecting a growing recognition of AI’s transformative potential in patient care, medical research, and healthcare economics nationwide. Just a few years ago, discussions about public policy for AI in healthcare were steeped in caution and uncertainty. Today, lawmakers are taking bolder strides, crafting policies that balance innovation with safety and ethical considerations. Recent congressional initiatives to enhance oversight, improve data governance, and establish frameworks for the responsible deployment of AI highl
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The Digital Divide Delays Africa’s Development
By Paolo von Schirach - December 23, 2024 - The internet revolution affected every aspect of business, corporate organizations, government activities, military operations, and the lives of people in developed countries. To a lesser extent, it also changed the lives of hundreds of millions in emerging economies, depending on the degree of internet adoption and related costs and fees for companies and average consumers. Fast changes In the span of just a few decades, internet related technology evolved at fantastic speed. We went from copper telephone lines to satellites and fiber optic cables. These technology upgrades expanded enormously the amount of data that can be carried, and the transmission speed.
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