Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)’s Post

Great framework to consider integrated deterrence and strategic competition:

WASHINGTON, DC—Finally, someone in official Washington has decided to tell the truth about the Chinese Communist Party’s genocidal chemical warfare against America. The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party issued the results of an investigation establishing that the blame for devastating carnage being wrought here via the deliberate weaponization of fentanyl lies squarely with our mortal enemy: the CCP. By some estimates, over 100,000 Americans will lose their lives this year alone to what the panel calls the Xi regime’s “drug warfare.” Many times that number of us have perished since the CCP initiated in 2018 what Committee on the Present Danger: China member and author of The Devil and Communist China Steven Mosher calls the “Third Opium War.” The Select Committee described the ongoing devastation as equivalent to having a jetliner with 200 people aboard crash here every single day. This is all the more unspeakably outrageous since our government knows that, in the words of the House panel: “The Chinese Communist Party promotes the fentanyl crisis through government programs, protects fentanyl traffickers operating within its borders, and directly benefits from the #fentanyl crisis .” Insult is added to the immense injury inflicted by this form of Beijing’s comprehensive “unrestricted warfare” by the fact that the CCP has, so far, gotten away with it completely. This week’s Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) webinar, “Fentanyl: The CCP’s Chemical Warfare Against America,” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET today will address the damage being done to our people, society and country by the CCP’s ongoing, relentless and lethal chemical attacks and the sorts of costs that must be extracted from their perpetrators, starting now. #Fentanyl #CCPChina #Murder #genocide

Today marks more than 100 years that have passed since the Battle of Ypres and the first use of chemical warfare. It also marks the first day of the 25th Meeting of the CBRNE Sensing Conference at SPIE Defense and Security Symposium. Come hear how US, allies, and NATO partners continue to make developments towards next generation sensing that supports early warning, contamination avoidance, decontamination, medical surveillance and battlefield forensics of CBRNE threats. #SPIE, #DCS, #CBRNE

The first large-scale use of chemical weapons in Ieper, Belgium.

Insightful commentary on deterrence and what the US must do to revitalise and deliver the necessary capability investment to maintain competitive advantage, but I would add: changing the policy and procurement restrictions to enable true partnerships with the critical non-traditional primes and smaller innovative companies (as well, not instead of, the traditional primes). Without which procurement will be slower, more expensive and less effective; and missing opportunities to deliver the game changing capabilities needed to keep pace - let alone deter - our adversaries!

This is just another great essay from one of our nation's true experts on all things related public diplomacy, information and influence, psychological operations ,and political warfare, Matt Armstrong. Hopefully this will make the light bulb go on in the minds of some: QUOTE: Even if you’re not interested in political warfare, political warfare may be interested in you. I wrote “maybe” because a neat trick of political warfare is the ability to bypass or neutralize resistance, like an island-hopping campaign. END QUOTE We must get better at political warfare if we want to be successful in strategic competition. This is going to become a seminal reference in my writings. I recommend that people read and reread this paragraph at least a dozen times. QUOTE: It is useful to know that Russia and China, among others, would be dumb not to wage political warfare against our interests and those of our democratic allies. Political warfare is inexpensive, especially relative to traditional warfare. Munitions, which include but go well beyond mere “information,” are cheap. The damage to physical infrastructure from political warfare is virtually or completely nil compared to a traditional invasion. If we want to be glib, we can throw in that political warfare is environmentally friendly. Political warfare is tolerant of mistakes and missteps. It allows for multiple and simultaneous, even potentially contradictory, lines of effort along multiple fronts, audiences, and territories. Further, political warfare can result in a deeper and longer-lasting positive result without post-invasion reconstruction, occupation troops, or possibly a directly appointed viceroy, depending on the objective. END QUOTE And I think this is the best definition of political warfare I have found: QUOTE: My definition of political warfare is derived primarily from Burnham: Political warfare is the expression of power for hostile intent through discrete, subversive, or overt means, short of open combat, onto another. It is not mere rivalry or competition, it may have strategic or tactical objectives, and it may operate in one or more areas—political, societal, economic, psychological, or other—that are available for exploitation to affect change.END QUOTE Political warfare: the obvious choice against our Maginot Line https://lnkd.in/erxHNuhW

The Synergistic Relationship between Lawfare and Cognitive Warfare Russia's recent disinformation campaign weaponized a key mechanism within the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), proving that even international treaties aren't immune to political games. Both this incident and a similar one with Cuba in 1997 highlight the weaponization of Article V for political leverage rather than genuine problem-solving. While the BWC lacks a robust verification system, Article V, designed for dispute resolution, became Russia's megaphone for spreading misinformation. This misuse disrupted treaty proceedings and exposed the need for a more pragmatic consultation approach. #geopoliticalrisk #misinformation #disinformation #lawfare #russia https://lnkd.in/gi38WuAy

New report from GTI: "The Chinese Communist Party’s Political Warfare Directed Against Taiwan: Overview and Analysis." Discover the intricate methods used to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty. https://ow.ly/FNK650RNOEn

Interesting analysis of how China applies the concept of deterrence in a different, more instrumental way than the West…