Which do you think is more threatening, the “cyber cold war,” which Russia currently appears to be winning, or the prospect of “hot war” with North Korea or another hostile power?
2 thoughts on “Week 13 Day 2 Discussion Question 1”
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Personally, I believe the thought of a cyber war holds a more significant threat to the free world than the current active military situation taking place in North Korea. First off, I do not believe conflict between North Korea and the United States or any other westernized country will ever take place. The vast amount of military leaders around the world recognize the fact that if a major conflict with an unstable country such as North Korea were to take place, nuclear weapons would most likely be used. Therefore, the consequences would be far too great to ever justify military action. This will result in a permanent stalemate of empty threats and aggression until the conflict slowly cools down, eventually putting the countries back to a position of non threatening towards each other. Cyber war is much more realistic and frightening because it has already taken place numerous times within recent years without any ability for the United States to stop these attacks. Additionally, one could argue that the Russians completely dictated the result of the 2016 election, which compromises a fundamental principle of American democracy. How can we have pride in our freedom if our elections are no longer fair. This is a much larger concern for me, and recent events have proved that cyber attacks should be at the forefront of American concerns for the near future.
I feel it a bit concerning to prioritize one over the other. The fact of the matter is that both the cyber cold war and the potential hot war destabilize our country in different ways. While the hot war has obvious consequences in terms of lives that would be lost and devastating effects to American terrain, the cyber war destabilizes our illusion of unity and has created what may be incurable rifts amongst Americans. These divisions, indirectly catalyze violence which though not as quantitatively bad as the lives lost due to nuclear attack, would be particularly disheartening due to the fact the violence would be perpetuated by and toward Americans. The cyber attacks threaten fundamental American ideologies of privacy, democracy, and internal unification which unlike buildings and mourning which can be repaired and soothe with time, will forever alter the nation.