Shangri-La Dialogue: Implications for Asia-Pacific Stability
As May closed, delegates from 47 countries gathered in Singapore for the 22
nd
annual Shangri-La Dialogue. Named for the hotel where it is held and sponsored by London's prestigious Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), attendees included prime ministers, defense ministers, and policymakers with Indo-Pacific security as its primary focus of attention.
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Time Magazine
11 hours ago
- Time Magazine
Saab CEO Micael Johansson on the Future of Warfare
Swedish company Saab AB has been a cornerstone of the European aerospace and defense industry for almost nine decades. Renowned for its innovative approach, Saab develops military aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, submarines, and other defense systems for governments around the globe. Saab today sits at the cutting-edge of defense technology, continuously enhancing its product portfolio to meet evolving security challenges. And with security once again at the top of the world political agenda, Saab has benefited. The $27 billion firm has seen its share price double since the start of the year and rise eight-fold since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Micael Johansson has served as CEO and president of Saab since 2019. In May, he was also appointed president and chairman of the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), which represents over 4,000 defense-related companies across 21 European countries and works with policymakers and institutions across the continent to boost regional security. TIME caught up with Johansson on the sidelines of last month's Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. We're here at Shangri-la Dialogue, where U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just remarked that the Indo-Pacific is the 'primary theater' for the U.S. Is that how Saab is seeing things? Do you feel that this is a region for you to expand sales? We are not focusing only on Europe, and we are also in the U.S. But we have to be selective in what campaigns we can win, because bearing in mind Japan is very U.S.-oriented. [South] Korea as well. The Philippines has a big U.S. presence, especially in the naval domain. But we have things to offer that make a difference. And there is a feeling that, 'OK, we want to have the support of the U.S., but we also maybe need to work with a few others.' Even Japan is opening up a bit; South Korea as well—they selected the C390 transport aircraft [produced by Brazilian firm Embraer] and not [Lockheed Martin's] C130. So, of course, we can find our niches and work here. But it's super important the U.S. makes sure that these countries have the capabilities needed to work with them, and being interoperable is, of course, a given. That's the perception we have in Europe. [The U.S.] has been crystal clear, independent of administration, that Europe has to take responsibility for its security and create deterrence. And I agree completely that we've been too naive for decades now, since the [Berlin] Wall fell that eternal peace will happen, and we come from a peace dividend. So we have a lot to catch up to do, but we have a good foundation of defense industries. Secretary Hegseth talked about broadening the defense industrial base. That must be music to your ears in these days of 'America First' that the U.S. wants to be collaborative for military industries? Every politician, not only in the U.S. but also European, have now started to state that you don't have any defense capabilities unless you have a strong industrial base. And I also think it needs to be tighter—so much will be software-defined going forward, so you will need upgrades all the time. You see it in Ukraine. This means that you have to have a business model where you work closely in peace time and also in wartime, if that happens. What are some of the lessons Saab has learned from Ukraine in terms of the specific capabilities you've seen tested on the battlefield? It's going to be more and more autonomous systems in all domains going forward, for sure. Maybe one cannot draw full conclusions from the war in Ukraine—in terms of whether conflict will always look like that, if unfortunately we get a new one, because it depends on what kind of air superiority you have. And if that had happened, you maybe wouldn't have seen this standstill World War I type of war, at the same time with the drones taking everything out in a 10 km [6 mile] 'death valley' at the frontline. But autonomous systems and how often you have to upgrade your systems to cope with the congested environment, in terms of electronic warfare and stuff, we'll see a lot of that going forward. So these things we've learned, and then we learned a few things from what we have provided, either indirectly donated by other countries, or directly to Ukraine, and how things are actually working on the battlefield. And that's important feedback as well that affects our development going forward. Saab is a Swedish company and your country recently joined NATO. How has that affected government support and the mindset of your business? It's a big thing for our country. Because being an independent country, nonaligned, that is all about sovereign defense capabilities. Of course, we've had our bilateral relationships before and we have been supplying things that are interoperable with NATO, so that's not been a problem. But I think for the defense forces, being a country in the Nordic Region which now has to supply Finland—the transport perspective, the logistics, how to support the 1,300 km [800 mile] border that Finland has with Russia is, of course, something we never thought about. Before it's all about moving things south, north; now it's going to be west, east, and putting a number of capabilities and defense forces in Finland, and we're also doing that as we speak in the Baltic states. So the whole defense concept and NATO capability targets, which we've never had before, will be some new things. Saab as a company is well positioned—we have a portfolio of everything from fighters to submarines to globalized airborne early warning and also lots of sensors, command and control, and advanced weapon systems. So portfolio-wise we're in a very good position to support NATO adaptation. Read More: The Man Who Wants to Save NATO There's been a lot of focus on maintaining a status quo in the Taiwan Strait and you've started doing deals with U.S. allies here. Is Saab's Gripen E fighter a key component of that goal of maintaining peace and security in the Indo-Pacific? We hope that we will be selected from some countries on the Gripen fighter side. Thailand has selected us, we have a campaign with the Philippines, we will see which way they go. They are U.S.-oriented but you never know; maybe they may need a more agile fleet, or dual fleet. But everyone selects what they think would be needed. But these megadeals are extremely political. So, it's prime minister level or defense minister level. So even if you have a fantastic product, they involve security agreements, and you have a government-to-government agreement. And if a country like the U.S. leans in and uses its leverage, of course, it's difficult to win. But there are countries that do not want that and those are where we try to be successful. But we have a fantastic product, that's not a problem. But if you're supplying countries which are U.S. allies enlisted as part of Washington's strategy of containment of China, Sweden might face pushback from Beijing. Is that something which enters into your calculus? It's never been something that's popped up. We never had any pushback from China for being in the region. Absolutely not. But it's an interesting question. Can that happen? I don't think so. But I can't be 100% sure. How are AI and other future technologies being infused into your products? And how do they aid the product development in terms of digital twins and things to be able to reach the market quickly? AI agents are incredibly important when you have so much information to digest and to quickly get to a situation awareness picture. If you don't use AI, you won't be able to make out a reasonable situation awareness, and the quicker you can do that, the better you will [respond] toward your aggressor. The future is not to create a super-secret electronic warfare library, where you would have your sensors picking out signatures on certain platforms and next time you fly you recognize: 'This is a MIG29, this is a SU57.' Now the sensor systems are intelligent in the way that you can reshape your signal so that you have cognitive understanding of what the threat looks like. If you don't use AI in that perspective, you're done. That's also the future. So we do include AI agents in our electronic warfare systems to continuously understand what you're looking at, what you're trying to hit. And in terms of gray zone tactics, what are you learning from both Ukraine and what's happening in other theaters? There are lots of gray zone things happening, of course. It's obvious … when you deliberately ruin cabling at the sea bottom, and the Nord Stream gas [pipeline] blowing up, and there are shadow ships 'by mistake' dragging their anchors for 20 km. Crazy, of course. But also probing critical infrastructure and power junctions and stuff like that. And also agencies, authorities, even community offices have been taken out by cyber. Of course, there's a cyber threat all the time and it's a battle in itself to cope with that. You've been made president and chairman of ASD. How do you expect to use this position to strengthen Europe's security landscape? These are very important times. We need to push for more collaboration and creating scale and to actually run a few flagship projects together, and to get the incentives from the [European] Commission to do that. To have countries put some money into a common bucket where we can do things together is important. Then I want the U.K. to be part of the European way of working on defense as if they were still in the E.U. That's super important. But then we have the regulation perspective. So there's lots to do from a European perspective. And the challenge is that the E.U. is a consensus organization. But industry can do a lot to create bridges by working together to create stronger defense in Europe. We have a good foundation of a defense industrial base, and that's because we are globally competitive as industries, but we have so much spending going outside Europe in a different direction, mainly the U.S. I want a competitive landscape. But you can't have the U.S. buying everything from the U.S.—98% or something—and then we've been spending like 78% outside Europe, and the majority of that in the U.S. We have to do more ourselves to be really competitive going forward and to take care of our security landscape. As such, are President Trump's tariffs positive for you, given selling between Europeans means avoiding these levies? Or will they still affect your supply chains? In the end, it will [affect supply chains.] Of course, trade wars are terrible but I think we have a bit more resilience in our business segment, because we carry more stockpiles, we have some protection when it comes to contracts, we don't have a hub somewhere where all the components are being built for everything we do—like the car industry, which could be extremely dependent on what's happening in Mexico, for example. [Our industry] is more regionalized when it comes to the supply chain as well. But, of course, we have dependencies, and it's not good, but it will take a little bit longer before we are super affected. Also, so many countries have reciprocal agreements between Europe and the U.S., where this is exempted from tariffs and taxes. I don't know whether these executive orders overrule all of this—that has never been discussed—but, of course, it's not good to have tariffs. Are they dangerous for global security? Yeah, I think they'll create complexities, and maybe you don't get the best capability because you have to rely upon other things—you can't afford, or you can't work with some companies, and then you get stuff that is not the best. So in the end, indirectly, it could be affecting what capabilities you build. There's been lots of changes in defense procurement like drone technology and undermanned submersibles. But what is the next great leap you are looking at in the future of the security industry? Obviously, lots of swarm technology and drones and collaborative combat aircraft. But I also think [it will be] the connectivity aspect of systems. Everything will be connected going forward. And then you have hypersonic weapon systems and being able to protect yourself from them. That's the big next step. It's going to be dangerous, it's going to be super quick, and that's probably the next step. But how to use AI's compute power is also absolutely something we put a lot of effort into. President Trump recently advocated a Golden Dome missile defense system for the U.S. Is this something which Europe should also consider? Absolutely. That's the flagship project that I would like to push for—not only for Saab but also for ASD. We need to come together—industries and countries—to create things like that: integrated enemy cell defense systems with short, medium, and long-range capabilities. We don't have that in Europe. We need to have that. Is there enough cohesion and unity in Europe for this type of thing to happen? I think so. We have the capabilities to do it. It's just how you create that industry construct, and how do you align the requirements. It comes with aligning requirements and demand, and then industry will come together. We're not really there yet. There have been political statements like the European Sky Shield Initiative, but it's really slow. That's the problem.
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Cosmopolitan
Inside Block9 at Glastonbury, where protest, politics, and partying align
Despite the tired debate about whether politics 'belongs in music', protest has always been at the heart of Glastonbury. The festival has long supported the anti-nuclear and anti-war movements, been a haven for stigmatised Traveller communities, championed environmentalism and social justice, and invited MPs and other political figures to galvanise festivalgoers with messages of peace, unity, and, notably in the case of Jeremy Corbyn in 2017, hope. Protest is also etched into the structures of the site itself. The Pyramid Stage is famously emblazoned with a giant peace symbol, which first appeared in 1982 as a nod to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's involvement in the festival that year. More recently, in 2023, the late-night area Shangri-La introduced an immersive 'shopping' installation as a commentary on consumerism and capitalism. Ahead of the 2024 general election, an archway in the Greenpeace area of the site was engraved with the words 'Vote Out to Help Out', a nod to the Tories' deadly 'Eat Out to Help Out' campaign during the pandemic. So, then, it should come as no surprise that Glastonbury 2025 was as political as ever. Palestine flags could be seen flying around the whole festival site, including one mounted on a stage. And, although the media has focused on two 'controversial' protests — by Irish rap group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan, who both spoke out about the ongoing genocide in Palestine — countless acts used their performances to express solidarity with Palestinians, who remain under siege by Israel. This has always been something to celebrate — but, at a time of political turmoil, when the structures that govern us feel impenetrable and contemptuous; as our clubs and music venues are shuttering at an astronomical rate; and as algorithms seek to divide us, it feels more urgent than ever to utilise the countercultural and political power of partying, especially via an immense world stage like Glastonbury. One key area of the site that knows a thing or two about the political nature of partying is Block9 — the coolest corner of Glastonbury's late-night area, known as South East Corner. Not only is it the place to go after dark — a heady haven for pleasure-seekers, electronic music lovers, LGBTQ+ partygoers, and the most voguish celebs (this year, we spotted Lorde, Harry Styles, Charli XCX and George Daniel, Haim, and Paul Mescal) — it's also one of the most politically-charged areas of the site. It houses the festival's first and only queer club — the illustrious NYC Downlow — and hosts an ever-changing roster of activists and artists, each of whom bring their own galvanising vision. Following in the footsteps of fashion designer and activist Katharine Hamnett, who brought her general election-inspired political slogans to Block9 in 2024, this year it was the turn of political campaign group Led By Donkeys, who are renowned for their guerrilla techniques, including plastering hypocritical tweets by pro-Brexit politicians on billboards, displaying banners behind politicians giving speeches (including one that read, 'I crashed the economy' behind Liz Truss), and, most recently, projecting a photo of Elon Musk doing a Nazi-style salute onto Tesla's Berlin factory. 'This Labour government is continuing the work of the Tories in shutting down space to protest,' Led By Donkeys tells Cosmopolitan UK. 'Designating Palestine Action as a terrorist group is dangerous and shameful. So we need to find ways to protest and resist that can't be shut down. Glastonbury showed one way to do that — showing dissent through music and partying.' At Glastonbury, the group unleashed their unique blend of activism and guerrilla art… with some very familiar faces. At the edge of Block9's immersive audio-visual IICON stage — a colossal, pseudo-religious head that spits out trippy visuals and plays host to cutting edge electronic DJs — was a gigantic rocket commandeered by Elon Musk. The Tesla founder and X owner has long talked about his company SpaceX's determination to colonise Mars, turning it into a self-sustaining and self-governing settlement. Thank God, then, that someone has finally taken the initiative to send him there (if only for a weekend). But he wasn't going alone. Musk was flanked by a queue of tech billionaires, politicians, and other public figures waiting to board who have, as Led By Donkeys sees it, 'made life on Earth more difficult for us in recent years'. Scheduled on the flight were Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump and JD Vance, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Liz Truss, Keir Starmer, and Boris Johnson, JK Rowling, and many more. A nearby sign expanded on the concept. It read: 'Block9 and Led by Donkeys have constructed a massive space rocket to carry Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos to the red planet, and it's launching from Glastonbury. The tech bros want to go to Mars, so we're sending them there — [and] there's room on the rocket for a few more souls. Let's send them to Mars while we party on Earth.' The launch site also contained a Tesla with a number plate reading 'Fascism', which was, amazingly, crushed by Ken, a 98-year-old, anti-fascist World War Two veteran driving a tank. And if you think that needs to be seen to be believed, lucky for you, Led By Donkeys documented the whole thing. 'We've crushed fascism before,' Ken says in the video, 'and we'll crush it again.' The car spent the rest of Glastonbury weekend flattened once again, this time underneath a giant shipping container. 'Block9 is an incredible collective; we've loved and admired their work for years,' Led By Donkeys tells Cosmopolitan UK. 'Block9 and Led By Donkeys have a pretty similar take on the world and we've got to know them a bit over the past year. The things they build are stunning, but often try to say something important. A couple of months ago, we started talking about how we could use the space at Glastonbury to say something about the tech bros who wield enormous power over our lives with zero accountability.' 'Elon Musk and his mates want humans to become an interplanetary species. But they're dangerously wrong,' the collective continues. 'We don't need to live on Mars, we need to protect our planet and celebrate the fact that Earth is the only place where humanity can thrive.' The billboards weren't up long before Glastonbury goers added their own slogans. By Friday, each of the figures queueing up — all of whom were wearing orange astronaut/prison jumpsuits — had their own personal insults graffitied next to them, most of which are a little too NSFW to print. But beneath Netanyahu, Trump, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, someone had scrawled the words, 'Viva la revolution'. 'People seemed to love it,' Led By Donkeys reflects after the festival. Block9's political partnerships didn't stop there. 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of Block9's long-time collaborators PrEPster, a London-based HIV prevention activist organisation — and so, as well as promoting HIV prevention drug PrEP on site, the group widened its remit this year. 'We provided information on sex and consent, rehydration, drugs harm reduction, and where to go if anyone needed support across the festival,' PrEPster co-founder Dr Will Nutland tells Cosmopolitan UK. 'We also had earplugs, period products, and sexual health info.' The group were also handing out 'Fuck Packs', containing condoms and lube. 'Sometimes people use them across the weekend, if they get lucky,' continues Nutland. 'Otherwise we know people put them in a bumbag and have a happy Glastonbury memory when they come across them days, weeks, or months later. Inside the packs, we remind folks to look after themselves and each other; our work is embedded in care.' Nutland says Block9 is a brilliant fit with PrEPster's grassroots, DIY, and community sexual health work. 'We're a lived experience organisation, and most of us are queer, so being in the queer space, where people see us as part of the crowd, brings great engagement and connection.' 'Because we're part of our communities, people know us, and so it was at 3am on the dancefloor when we got the best responses: people come and start chatting about what we're doing; they ask for water or earplugs, or they need extra condoms because they've just got lucky. We always get the most stunning responses.' Whether you're ruminating on the evils of capitalism while admiring striking art installations, dancing with drag queens in the burning heat at Downlow, two-stepping to techno at Block9's brutalist Genosys stage, or worshipping at IICON until the sun comes up, Block9 has long embraced partying as an act of rebellion and resistance — which is what Glastonbury is really all about. 'The 90s rave culture was a potent organising force against the Tories back then,' concludes Led By Donkeys. 'And there are other examples over the years. Protest can be celebratory, joyful and affirming.' So, if you're lucky enough to score tickets for 2027, make sure you pay it a visit. Who knows what Block9 — and our increasingly dystopian world — will have in store for us then?
Bloomberg
25-06-2025
- Bloomberg
Alhasan: Iran Weakened But Vengeful After Conflict
The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appears to be holding. During a war that lasted 12 days, Iran found itself isolated and alone, while its network of partners in the Middle East stayed on the sidelines. Hasan Alhasan, Senior Middle East Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies told Bloomberg's Horizons Middle East and Africa anchor Joumanna Bercetche about Iran's nuclear plans ahead. (Source: Bloomberg)
