Texas National Security Review
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Why did Putin think the war in Ukraine would be over in three days?
In this clip, Rose McDermott (The Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University) breaks down the psychological and structural flaws of personalist regimes. When loyalty is valued more than competence, leaders are often insulated from reality by the very people meant to advise them.
In a nuclear crisis, leaders often face intense pressure to act quickly, sometimes with incomplete information. But what if emerging technologies could change that dynamic?
Harold Trinkunas (Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies )explores how advances in sensing, data processing, and analytical tools might provide earlier and more accurate information to decision-makers. His argument points to a key possibility: that these technologies could extend decision timelines, allowing leaders to slow down, assess the situation more carefully, and make more deliberate choices. This shift could have major implications for nuclear stability, potentially reducing the likelihood of miscalculation in high-stakes moments. At the same time, it raises important questions about how these systems will be used in practice and whether they will truly ease, or instead intensify, decision pressure.
Listen to the full episode at: https://tnsr.org/2026/03/strategic-stability-in-a-rapidly-changing-world/
04/04/2026
Does the use of precision-strike weapons in Ukraine signal a fundamental shift in how wars are fought?
In our latest Roundtable contribution, Cameron L. Tracy examines the Russo-Ukrainian War to argue that military technologies are typically incorporated into existing systems rather than disrupting them. We invite you to explore this deep dive into why practices of warfare remain such durable constructions in the face of new tech.
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