Defence and strategy

Dear readers,

There are five articles and one review in this first issue, let's take a look at them. The opening text is a piece on lethal autonomous weapon systems. Here, Kadir Alpaslan Demir discusses a very ethically sensitive issue related to the transformation of the armed forces.

The second article deals with cybersecurity in healthcare and gives us an insight into a relatively recent ransomware attack on a Czech hospital. How the attack occurred and what lessons can be learned from it, we are told by the authors Ondřej Filipec and David Plášil.

The third text is an article by Vojtěch Bahenský focused on the potential US-China war and its possible consequences and threats. Although this is a hypothetical conflict, its likelihood is not so negligible that its possible consequences can be ignored.

In the following article, authors Karel Černý and Jiřina Stehlíková bring us an unusual probe into the environment of prominent Czech Muslim leaders. The main topic here is a rather controversial issue - how would these figures of Muslim public life behave in the event that a supporter of a radical interpretation of Islam appeared in their mosque? And what is their attitude towards the media-hyped category of jihad by the sword? The text by this pair of authors provides admittedly ambiguous answers, but, given the composition of the respondents, they are all the more fruitful.

The last article in this issue is a contribution by Ladislav Kulhanek, who focuses his attention on the proliferation of nuclear and missile weapons, all from the perspective of North Korea. For example, the reader will learn about rather surprising partnerships or motives of individual actors.

In addition to the scientific studies, this issue contains a book review of a title that should not be missed. Štěpán Kavan, who is the author of this publication, brings the readers a deep insight into the issues of teaching security topics, in relation to the social and political development since the beginnings of our statehood, i.e. since the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. The author tries to cover the topic of education in the fields of conscription education, civil defence and civil protection as completely as possible.

Finally, let me thank you on behalf of myself and the editorial board for your readership so far. Thanks to your support, we have been able to continuously improve the quality not only of the journal but also of the services we provide. This is evidenced by the changes made this year, which our regular readers have certainly noticed.

Our website www.obranaastrategie.cz has undergone a complete redesign, and above all, it is now fully responsive. It's no coincidence - we've made this change for you, our readers, to mark the anniversary of Defence & Strategy. Our magazine is celebrating 20 years of its existence this year! Your support allows us to keep going, thank you.

Chairman of the Editorial Board