1. Modern Warfare, Security & Surveillance

2. Recent Wars 2001 – War in Afghanistan
2003 – Invasion of Iraq leading to the Iraq War
2006 – Second Lebanon War
2006 – Mexican Drug War
2008 – South Ossetia War
2008 – Turkish incursion into northern Iraq
2008 – Gaza War
2011 – Libyan Civil War
2011 – Syrian Civil War
2012 – Northern Mali Conflict
2014 – Iraqi Civil War
2014 – War in Donbass

3. Military bases around the world
The US still maintains nearly 800 military bases in at least 63 countries and territories abroad
The UK, France and Russia, by contrast, have about 30 foreign bases combined
China, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Pakistan and Turkey also have a few overseas bases
2:12

4. American Bases

5. Why so many?
Most of the main bases can be traced to Post-WWII stabilization efforts
Some were built in the Cold War, or after 9/11 when the US began its “Global War on Terrorism”
They can spy on and monitory the military strength of that country
They can protect US economic assets and political interests
ex: securing an area for an oil pipeline, aiding in a coup of a non-American friendly leader

6. Many countries like having them there as protection
ex: South Korea
ex: small nations like Palau and Micronesia who wouldn’t be able to defend themselves
It forces the US to try and be enduringly friendly with that country so as not to lose that base

7. Arms Dealing
The global arms trade is booming, 2:28
Can there be any certainty, in a region beset with uncertainties, that at no point will these weapons be used for purposes other than those for which they were intended?
Canada sells arms to Saudi Arabia, even though they have a terrible human rights record. How can we pretend to be a world leader in human rights but then sell tanks to the Saudis?

8. Trade wars
A trade war is an economic conflict resulting from extreme protectionism in which states raise or create tariffs or other trade barriers against each other in response to trade barriers created by the other party
Trade wars could be escalated to full conflict between states ex: Opium Wars

9. Security
Approaches to national security can have a complex impact on human rights and civil liberties.
Ex: the use of surveillance including in cyberspace
Struggle between government authority and the rights and freedoms of the general public
Debate: is freedom more important than security?

10. Cyber Warfare
: the use of computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or organization, especially for strategic or military purposes
Nearly every system we use is underpinned in some way by computers, which means pretty much every aspect of our lives could be vulnerable to cyberwarfare at some point
4:48

11. Governments and intelligence agencies worry that digital attacks against vital infrastructure -- like banking systems or power grids -- will give attackers a way of bypassing a country's traditional defences, and are racing to improve their computer security.

12. Targeted in our own homes??
Big industrial control systems or military networks are often considered the main targets
But the rise of the Internet of Things may be to bring the battlefield into our homes
The Internet of Things is the network of devices such as vehicles and home appliances that can connect to the internet and share data
These devices can eavesdrop on us, or give up personal data

13. Anonymous
Anonymous is a decentralized international hacktivist group that is widely known for its cyber attacks against several governments and corporations, the Church of Scientology, ISIL, child pornography sites, etc
Supporters have called the group "freedom fighters" and digital Robin Hoods while critics have described them as "a cyber lynch-mob" or "cyber terrorists"

14. A whistleblower is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public

15. Julian Assange and Wikileaks
The Australian editor of WikiLeaks
In 2010, WikiLeaks published a series of leaks, including videos of American soldiers shooting at Iraqi civilians from a helicopter, and more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war
The US launched a criminal investigation, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for him (allegations of sexual assault and rape)
Assange denied the allegations, and did not want to be extradited to the US, so he was granted asylum by Ecuador and has remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since then.

16. Assange: Hero or Traitor?
His fans call him a freedom fighter and whistleblower who has challenged global superpowers by exposing corruption and war crimes.
His detractors say he is a dangerous megalomaniac who abuses the vast power WikiLeaks has acquired as a staunch ally of the American right-wing and pawn of Vladimir Putin

17. Edward Snowden
A former CIA employee who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013.
His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and European governments.
Snowden's disclosure is the "most serious setback for Western intelligence since the Second World War.”
He is now living in Moscow

18. Some of Snowden’s revelations
The UN Headquarters was targeted by NSA employees disguised as diplomats
British officials had set up fake Internet cafes at the 2009 G-20 London summit to spy on the delegates' use of computers, and to install key-logging software on the delegates' phones.
The reservations system of a Russian airline was hacked by the NSA.
World leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife were placed under surveillance
Other prominent targets included members of "Anonymous“, and reporters who wrote critically about the government after 9/11
Other than to combat terrorism, these surveillance programs were employed to assess the foreign policy and economic stability of other countries
The global surveillance disclosure has caused tension in the bilateral relations of the US with several of its allies and economic partners as well as in its relationship with the EU

19. Social Surveillance
8:10, Life Inside China's Total Surveillance State
27:14, Exposing China's Digital Dystopian Dictatorship
5:44, Vice, China’s "Social Credit System" Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming