Urban Climate Disasters, How America Can Dominate the AI Race, and More

February 5, 2022

A West Metro Wildland crew member extinguishes a fire at a home in the aftermath of the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colorado, U.S

Financial markets fueled Colorado’s fires

America’s flawed infrastructure approach has set the stage for several recent urban climate disasters, including the Dec. 2021 wildfires in Boulder County, Colorado that caused at least $513 million in damage and destroyed 1,100 buildings. Joseph Kane and Adie Tomer say it is time for the country to reconsider where it invests and what it builds.

How the US can dominate in the race to national AI supremacy

While the United States leads the world on technology infrastructure, it has a people problem that will stand in its way in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Gregory Dawson and Kevin Desouza offer several methods to bridge this gap.

The Houthis have won in Yemen: What next?

In a remarkable accomplishment for a militia group with no air force or navy, the Houthis have won the war in Yemen, defeating their opponents in the civil war, the Saudis who intervened against them, and the United States which backed the Saudis. Bruce Riedel explains who the Houthis are, how they won, and what lies ahead for Yemen and the international community.

More on nonstate armed groups and geopolitics

Alive and powerful. In 2021, criminal and militant groups had major successes, expanding their territorial control and influence in places like Mexico, Nigeria, and Somalia. Vanda Felbab-Brown explores how these groups will shape geopolitics this year and beyond.

Myanmar's fledgling resistance. One year after the coup in Myanmar, the resistance campaign is struggling with divisions. It has a long way to go before it can effectively stack up against the military, Yun Sun argues.

AI on the battlefield. The advent of inexpensive, commercial, off-the-shelf AI is narrowing the technological gap between states and nonstate actors. Sarah Kreps and Richard Li discuss the security implications of this trend and outline policies to handle the misuse of AI.

For more, see the full selection of papers in the "Nonstate armed actors and illicit economies in 2022" series.

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