Dr. Dale C. Copeland is a professor of international relations with a focus on trade, war and economic interdependence. His recent book is “A World Safe for Commerce: American Foreign Policy from the Revolution to the Rise of China.” He discusses how trade dynamics have influenced America's approach to peace and conflict throughout history. By focusing on the current geopolitical landscape, particularly with regards to China, he reflects the historical tensions and opportunities of centuries of international trade and commerce. A major challenge is the delicate balance between expanding influence for resource access and avoiding trade disruptions that could lead to armed conflict. One suggestion is to improve the overall trade expectations as a means to foster long-term peace and stability between nations, as well as comprehending interactions of globalization. Throughout history, many countries have shifted from peaceful policies to coercion and force in the pursuit of trade interests.

Dr Peter Layton is a Visiting Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane Australia; a Royal United Services Institute Associate Fellow; London and a Fellow of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group Canberra. He has extensive aviation and defense experience. His research interests include grand strategy, national security policies particularly relating to middle powers, defence force structure concepts and the impacts of emerging technology. He is the author of the book “Grand Strategy” and co-author of “Warfare in the Robotic Age.” Advances in robotics are profoundly reshaping the world but so are any other things and not all of them are technological. The character of warfare will be different in the robotic age but the nature of warfare remains Clausewitzian, that is war is waged for political objectives. Robots may be considered as machines able to perform four basic tasks: sense, think, act and communicate.

Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, highlights the need to focus on the Rule of Law rather than Rule of War. The United Nations, although it is not perfect, is the only international organization that brings together countries of the world to deal with nuclear proliferation, climate change, human trafficking, poverty, hunger, empowering women, and scores of other challenges. Currently, there are about 13,000 nukes controlled by 9-nuclar power states. Many countries are moving to expend trillions of dollars to modernize their nuclear stockpiles, which will add to the proliferation. Given that the US and Russia have withdrawn from several major international treaties, this creates an even more dangerous world. The danger is even more severe when the Russian president denies the sovereignty of Ukraine and the former U.S. president basically ignores or violates international laws and treaties. There is a lack of trust among the nations.