Hypervelocity

Antoine Bousquet is Associate Professor at the Swedish Defence University, Stockholm. He is the author of The Eye of War: Military Perception from the Telescope to the Drone (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) and The Scientific Way of Warfare: Order and Chaos on the Battlefields of Modernity (Hurst, 2009). He has contributed an array of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on subjects that include nuclear war, the revolution in military affairs, jihadist networks, complexity theory, violent aesthetics, nihilism, and the conceptualisation of war. In today's episode we interview Antoine Bousquet, an associate professor at the Swedish Defense University, on his book 'The Eye of War.' The book offers a unique historical account of military perception, from the invention of the telescope to the modern-day drone. Bousquet talks about the evolution of military strategies and technologies such as the use of linear perspective, geographic information systems (GIS), and lasers. He also discusses the concept of global surveillance and the challenges posed by operations that blend into civilian society, such as suicide bombings. Additionally, Bousquet delves into the implications of autonomous drones and the complex issue of agency in war, as well as the possible legal recourse for the use of autonomous weapons.

00:02 Introduction to the Eye of War

01:11 Understanding the Concept of the Eye of War

03:22 The Evolution of Military Perception

04:39 The Role of Linear Perspective in Modern Military Technologies

14:11 The Impact of Laser Technology on Military Perception

26:37 The Influence of Digitized Mapping and GIS on Military Strategy

41:05 The Emergence of Hyper Camouflaged Warfare

50:16 The Future of Autonomous Drones in Warfare

58:38 Conclusion: The Changing Landscape of Military Perception Questions:

1. What does the Eye of War refer to within the context of your book?

2. How did the development of linear perspective during the Renaissance give rise to the modern military technologies of sensing, targeting and mapping?

3. By "marshalling photons into a lethal beam", does the laser represent the fulfilment of the "martial gaze"; the Gorgon's stare that at once completes the "alignment of perspective with annihilation" while threatening to blind the very eye that gave rise to it?

4. Contra Borges, with the emergence of digitised mapping and geographic information systems (GIS), can the map now exceed the territory?

5. Has the success of global surveillance given rise to the "hyper-camouflaged" suicide bomber, whose "fluid military concealment" in plain clothes right at the heart of civil society leads to the "endo-militarisation of peace", dissolving any delineation between military and civilian space?

6. With the rise of autonomous drones, do we face the total alienation of all human agency from military perception?

Dr Becky Alexis-Martin is a pacifist academic at the University of Bradford. Her work explores nuclear warfare, social justice, humanitarian and environmental issues, and human rights. Her expertise is focused on nuclear geographies and decolonising disarmament policy in the Pacific. She has authored over sixty-five news articles, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles. Her first book, “Disarming Doomsday: The Human Impact of Nuclear Weapons Since Hiroshima”, critically considers the social, cultural, ​and spatial harms perpetuated by nuclear warfare and was the recipient of the 2020 L.H.M. Ling Outstanding

Dr. Becky Alexis Martin explains how geographers identified isolated spaces for nuclear testing, often disregarding the presence of indigenous communities.

Dr. Martin also delves into the geotechnologies used in nuclear warfare, highlighting the military origins of technologies like GPS and satellite imaging. She discusses the use of cartography in public safety nuclear preparedness initiatives, pointing out how it was used to downplay the destructiveness of nuclear weapons.

The conversation also touches on the connection between Cold War nuclear strategy, game theory, and modern post-apocalyptic computer games, highlighting the tendency to abstract war to a game.

Dr. Martin emphasizes the importance of geography in understanding and addressing the impacts of nuclear weapons and the role of geographers in contributing to a nuclear-free world.

She also shares her experience as a delegate and speaker at the United Nations for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, underscoring the significance of the treaty in promoting nuclear disarmament and supporting affected communities.

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Becky Alexis Martin

00:14 Exploring Nuclear Geographies and Decolonizing Disarmament Policy

00:27 Discussion on Dr. Martin's Book 'Disarming Doomsday'

01:07 The Role of Geography in Nuclear Warfare

03:08 Impact of Nuclear Tests on Indigenous Communities

04:23 The Role of Geotechnologies in Nuclear Warfare

05:11 The Dehumanization in Nuclear Test Locations

06:12 The Class Character of Nuclear Testing

07:32 The 2021 Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

09:47 The Role of Geotechnologies in Modern Warfare

12:01 The Use of Cartography in Masking the Destructiveness of Nuclear Weapons

18:47 The Connection Between Cold War Nuclear Strategists and Modern Computer Games

32:53 The Role of Geography in a Nuclear Free World

34:51 Dr. Martin's Experience at the United Nations

39:55 The Importance of Geography in Understanding and Resolving Conflict

46:40 Conclusion: The Future of Geography in a Nuclear Free World

Questions

1. You quote the geographer Yves Lacoste: 'Geography serves, first and foremost, to wage war', and mention the work of Halford Mackinder. How has the academic discipline of geography been used to assist in the development of nuclear weapons, particularly in relation to indigenous peoples upon whose land many nuclear tests were carried out?
2. Nuclear Geotechnologies: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), GPS, Remote Sensing, spatial modeling, laser range finding, digital mapping, satellite imaging; are the geotechnologies of nuclear warfare simply geography under another name?
3. Mythologies of Risk: How has cartography, such as public safety nuclear preparedness initiatives under the guise of 'Protect and Survive', been used to mask the destructiveness of nuclear weapons?
4. Apocotainment: You draw a connection between Cold War nuclear strategist Hermann Kahn, Game Theory, War Gaming, geotechnologies such as topographic modelling and environment generation, and the eventual production of computer games such as 'Missile Command' and modern post-apocalyptic computer games such as 'Fallout'. Would you agree with the claim that the common thread linking each of these elements together is 'Apocotainment': a tendency to abstract war to a game?

In this episode, my guest Italo Brandimarte discussed his journal article 'Breathless war: martial bodies, aerial experiences and the atmosphere of empire.' Italo's article covers the use of poison gas by the Italian air force in the Abyssinian War. We covered the following questions:

1. Why do you think that the usual discussions of aerial warfare tend to split between the strategic, technical and the ontological plane on one hand, and the intimate, embodied and phenomenological on the other, and how does your use of concepts such as the 'envelope', the 'weather', and 'warfare beyond the human' in your analysis overcome this split?
2. Why was it that imperial Italy had come to frame its desire for imperial dominance so strongly through the frame of the weaponisation of the air in the Abyssinian war?
3. If the Futurist conception of aerial warfare resisted the full fusion of human subject and machine in the 'dissolution of the body as a locus of elemental sensing', what is different about modern drone warfare in which this seems to be the goal?
4. What is the relationship between Mussolini's use of poison gas in Ethiopia and the use of gas chambers by the Nazis?
5. When Italy is bombing Ethiopia, Italy sees aerial bombardment as the act of an advanced civilisation, yet when Nazi Germany bombs Europe, aerial bombardment is seen as a barbarian tactic. How are hierarchies of imperial dominance inscribed in the logic of: civilised=bomber, uncivilised=bombed?

Italo Brandimarte is a PhD Candidate in Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research is broadly concerned with the relations between the techno-scientific and the bodily dimensions of war and security, particularly with reference to racial and colonial violence. In his current project – provisionally titled ‘The Technology of Empire: War Experience and the Embodied Production of the International’ - Italo develops a theory of war experience that takes seriously the role of technology in the imperial history of world politics. Some of the findings from this research have been published in the European Journal of International Relations. His previous work on the politics of measurement in global counterterrorist surveillance has appeared in International Political Sociology.

Professor Andrew Futter specialises in contemporary nuclear weapons issues, specifically emerging technologies and their impact on nuclear strategy, stability and arms control. His work is centred on raising international awareness of nuclear risks, and shaping the climate of ideas that ensures governments and policymakers can make the best decisions possible. 

In this interview we discussed Andrew's book, Hacking the Bomb: Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons, which covers how "the increasing sophistication of hacking and cyber weapons, information warfare capabilities, and other dynamics of the cyber age are challenging the management, safeguards, and warning systems for nuclear weapons." 1. One of the most counter-intuitive differences you point out between nuclear weapons and cyber operations is that whereas nuclear weapons need to be openly declared in order to exhibit their coercive power, cyber capabilities must be kept secret in order to maintain the enemies wariness of how they might be used. Instead of cyber warfare being seen as a separate field to nuclear warfare, to what extent could cyber operations be used a precursor to kinetic conflict in order to electronically degrade the enemy's nuclear weapons before a shot has been fired?

2. Why is the human being still the weakest link in nuclear cyber security?

3. You mention Peggy Morse, the Director of ICBM systems at Boeing, saying that the age of some nuclear command and control systems, such as 8-inch floppy discs, could actually protect the US nuclear deterrent from cyber threats. Do you think archaic computer systems could actually be being used by nuclear proliferators such as North Korea to prevent cyber infiltration by the US and others?

4. By using commercial Windows operating systems rather than more secure Linux based systems on its Vanguard class submarines, is the UK's nuclear deterrent at risk of cyber disablement?

5. How might the ever increasing sophistication of ballistic missile defences and cyber operations constitute a serious threat to assured retaliation or even be viewed as facilitating a nonnuclear first-strike capability, thereby ushering in a third nuclear age?

Dr Michael Mulvihill is a Research Associate at the University of Newcastle's. His recent project, 'Turning Fylingdales Inside Out: making practice visible at the UK’s ballistic missile early warning and space monitoring station' was a multimedia art project intending to demystify nuclear weapons through showing that they are made of everyday materials: the original panel sections of the geodesic domes covering RAF Fylingdales were made of laminated cardboard, for example.

In our discussion, Michael explained that the pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear sides often mirror each other in their rhetoric by showing powerful images of nuclear weapons. Whereas by revealing the mundanity of nuclear construction through his audio-visual and very tactile artwork, Michael's work helps to break this spell and remind us that nuclear weapons are human created things that we control, not some godlike structure that rules over us. We built them, so we can take them apart too.

We also talked about the BBC Arena documentary, A British Guide to the End of the World, based on Michael's PhD thesis, which covered British nuclear testing at Christmas Island and the effects it had on British forces participants who were there at the time.

Questions

1. I very much connected with your story of trying to run home from school within the four minute warning. Similarly, I think seeing RAF Fylingdales and RAF Menwith Hill on childhood trips to Scarborough planted subconscious questions around nuclear war that emerged years later in my PhD thesis. To what extent do you feel your work is an attempt to gain some kind of control over that fear of nuclear war that concerned you so much as a child?

2. Do you feel that your sculptures and artwork are an attempt to gain close-at-hand control over global forces of nuclear deterrence?

3. To what extent do you feel that your work is an attempt to create a nomadic war machine to disrupt the assemblages of nuclear war? Something akin to Deleuze and Guittari’s Warrior-Animal-Weapon as Artist-Hair-Paintbrush?

4. Can we overcome what Gunter Anders calls the ‘Promethean gap’ between the embodied limits of human imagination and the enormous powers that nuclear weapons bestow, whereby ‘We can bomb to shreds hundreds of thousands, but we cannot mourn or regret them’?