Booming Global Spyware Industry | Ukraine Facing a Complete Blackout | Only Offensive Realism Can Contain China, and more

Argentina Court Sentences VP Kirchner to Six Years in Prison  (Al Jazeera)
A federal court in Argentina has found Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner guilty in a high-profile corruption case, sentencing the influential politician to six years in prison and disqualifying her from holding public office.
The decision on Tuesday is expected to be appealed by Fernandez de Kirchner, who has rejected the allegations against her as a “staged fable” and is unlikely to soon serve any prison time due to governmental immunity.

NATO Prepares for Cyber War  (Maggie Miller, Politico)
More than 1,000 cyber professionals in NATO members and its allies across the globe participated in an exercise this week to test and strengthen cyber defenses.

Is Xi Jinping Ready to Seize Taiwan?  (Dexter Filkins, New Yorker)
“A war would fundamentally change the character and complexion of global power,” one expert on U.S.-China relations said.

Disentangling the Digital Battlefield: How the Internet Has Changed War  (Steven Feldstein, War on the Rocks)
Journalists have described the invasion of Ukraine as the world’s “first TikTok war,” the most “internet-accessible war in history,” and history’s “most viral” social media war. But this kind of hype tells us only so much about the real impact of digital technology on the current conflict. 
So far, three significant digital trends have emerged from the war in Ukraine. First, technological innovation has helped Ukraine to offset Russia’s conventional military advantage, particularly by increasing the participation of ordinary citizens. Second, as these citizens have become uniquely involved in digital warfighting, the lines between civilian and military actors have blurred. Unfortunately, international humanitarian law has not kept pace, leading to growing concerns about how the rules of war apply in a digital conflict. Third, the conflict has generated a massive amount of data potentially useful for holding war criminals to account. However, the proliferation of open-source investigations also creates new risks for analytic bias and procedural inconsistencies. 
Governments and civil society organizations that are concerned with upholding the laws of war should take note of these emerging challenges. Digital technology is now a central feature of warfare. The sooner new policies and legal guidance can be articulated, the more effectively international institutions will be able to protect civilians and prosecute violators in future conflicts.

Only Offensive Realism Can Contain China  (Ionut Popescu, National Interest)
The Biden administration’s prescriptions for containing China are largely inadequate because they are stuck in a liberal internationalist mindset that no longer fits the realities of our realist world order.