Episode 46: No Neat Battlefields


Peter Maurer, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, sees no distinction between how the West and other belligerents wage war.

In discussion with Professor Peter Roberts, Dr Maurer evinces a grimmer reality in which the cumulative effects of climate change, poverty and poor governance combine with the ‘democratisation’ of access to sophisticated weapons, which are now held by a multitude of actors. The result is a modern battlefield torn asunder by precision weapons, one which more resembles Armageddon than ideas of the beautiful ’surgical’ use of force that are often rehashed by military and political leaders. Sobering stuff.

Western Way of War Podcast Series

A collection of discussions with those in the Profession of Arms that tries to understand the issues around how to fight, and succeed, against adversaries in the 2020s. We pose the questions as whether a single Western Way of Warfare (how Western militaries fight) has been successful, whether it remains fit for task today, and how it might need to adapt in the future? It is complemented by the ‘Adversarial Studies’ project that looks at how adversaries fight.


PODCAST HOST

Professor Peter Roberts

Senior Associate Fellow

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Footnotes


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