This book offers a concise yet clear explanation on how different international actors weaponize non-military things such as culture, information, trade, etc in respknding to conflicts amongst themselves. It is fascinating how thia book puts things in proper perspective.

Mr. Galeotti persuasively argues that war waged with guns and bombs is today outdated and the current conflict in Ukraine is proving the author's point. In my view the publication date for this book could not have been more presciently selected. 200,000 Ukrainian solders armed with anti-tank missiles has fought Russia's modern army, navy, and air force (overall the world's third largest army) to a standstill and if President Zelenski can withstand the Biden administration's pressure to negotiate a ceasefire the Ukrainian David is very likely to defeat the Russian Goliath outright.

THE WEAPONISATION OF EVERYTHING by Mark Galeotti is subtitled "A Field Guide to the New Way of War." Galeotti, an honorary professor at University College London - UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), begins the book with a hypothetical tale of massive power outages as an example of the "undeclared shadow wars of the twenty-first century." He notes further that "states have always used non-military means to bully, bait and beguile their way to victory." Seems someone forgot to tell Putin since we are sadly experiencing daily news barrage with horrific footage of tank warfare and the results of an intense bombing campaign in Ukraine. If anything, Galeotti is pointing to a path for the West to damage Russia without physical combat: "if all we do is react, we will always be complaining. Nothing, after all, is more powerful when weaponized than intellect and imagination." The writing style is informal and it is tempting to wonder how prescient this title is, especially in light of his 2019 text titled We Need to Talk about Putin. For now, though, I will be recommending Spies, Lies, and Algorithms (by Amy Zegart, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution) which the Washington Post called "a perfect primer for anyone trying to understand how the intelligence community is meeting the challenges of the digital age."

The Weaponization of Everything, A Field Guide to a New Way of War by Mark Galeotti
Mr. Galeotti’s book is both timely and perhaps not as it has come out while the war in Ukraine is going on. I say timely, as this war does highlight the use of non-kinetic warfare to aid in the success. A primary example of this “Weaponization of Everything” is the use of sanctions and banking restrictions on Russia. As Mr. Galeotti says, “One could argue it is irrelevant whether one dies on the battlefield or in a refugee camp, whether one loses one’s job to economic warfare or a bombing raid.” Indeed, we do hope these efforts to restrict the flow of money for resources forces an end of Russian aggression.
Additionally, it does seem the NATO Allies and President Zelensky are winning the information battle vs. Mr. Putin. This is unlike the war in 2018 where Mr. Putin was able to shape the war as one to save Russians in the Dombast region from persecution. In this case, Putin’s claim that Ukraine is not a country is not being accepted by all but at this time the isolated Russian population.
An interesting topic raised by Mr. Galeotti is the increasing use of mercenary troops to do the fighting by merely paying money. Unlike the past, these mercenaries are part of corporations or countries. Examples of countries are: Uganda that makes more money from renting out their soldiers than their revenue from coffee. The US is not saint in this endeavor. The war with Iraq we along with the UK and France were paid 84B$ by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Is the US Blackwater Group any different than the Wagner Group run out of Russia.
No matter how you look at this, people lose their lives, families are destroyed and future dreams of people are gone.
I am not sure I have a solution but I did find this book an excellent read to get me to think.