In today’s world, financial systems are increasingly relying more on anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations as part of efforts to stop illicit cash flows. When those safeguards weaken, especially in conflict regions, the consequences can extend far beyond national borders.

Shortly after midnight on September 26, 1983, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov sat at his console at the Serpukhov-15 command center outside Moscow and watched his early warning system report that the United States had launched five intercontinental ballistic missiles. The screen flashed "launch." The siren howled. The automated alert registered at the system's highest confidence level.

On March 13, 1881, a young man named Ignaty Grinevitsky stood outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and watched his accomplice throw a small bomb at the convoy of Tsar Alexander II. The Tsar stepped out of his carriage, unhurt. Grinevitsky rushed forward and dropped a second bomb at Tsar’s feet. Both men died.

The ongoing conflict in West Asia has caught global attention for many reasons. In the domain of warfare however, the emergence of drones as central systems for offsetting technologically advanced adversaries appears to be one of the most consequential takeaways from this conflict.

The contemporary space race is primarily about securing strategic, military, technological, and economic advantages over rivals, more than scientific discovery or symbolic status. Although space has often been portrayed as a domain of international cooperation - embodied most visibly by the International Space Station - competition has always remained central to humanity’s expansion into orbit.