ChinaTalk: Learning from Ukraine, Preparing for Taiwan

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Mick Ryan is a retired major general in the Australian army and author of three books—War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First Century Great Power Competition and Conflict, White Sun War, which is a piece of fiction about a near-future Taiwan war, and The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire. He also writes the excellent Futura Doctrina Substacl, which has taught me a tremendous amount over the past few years. The way Mick synthesizes history and contemporary conflict makes it one of my few true must-read Substacks. 

In today’s conversation, we discuss…

• Lessons from the history of warfare, and how to apply them to modern conflict,

• Why superweapons don’t win wars, and how the human dimension of war will shape military applications of AI,

• Why economic integration alone cannot prevent a U.S.-China war, 

• The role of deception and limits of battlefield surveillance with case studies in Ukraine and Afghanistan, 

• Mick’s four filters for applying lessons from Ukraine to a Taiwan contingency, and the underappreciated role of Taiwanese public opinion in shaping CCP goals.

Thanks to the Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology for sponsoring this podcast. 

Outro Music: Elvis Presley — Down by the Riverside

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