The rise of remote-control wars and the death of restraint
In 2025, as we complete the first quarter of the 21st century, the global security landscape is defined less by diplomacy and more by drones. Weaponising of modern technology has upended the very nature of warfare, bringing the world to the precipice of unprecedented and invisible destruction, not just of nations, assets but of humanity itself. From the war-ravaged alleys of Gaza and the plains of Ukraine to the snowy peaks of the Himalayas and the shadowy deserts of the West Asia, conflict zones are multiplying, and with them, a dangerous trend: wars fought remotely, laws massively flouted with impunity, and the nuclear taboo, that once was seen under control, growing alarmingly thin.
As the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) warns in its 2025 Yearbook, the era of nuclear reductions is over. The world is now hurtling toward a new arms race, more complex, unpredictable, and catastrophic than the Cold War ever was.
Remote-controlled wars where humans and emotions are absent, machines substitute them. Modern warfare is no longer a battlefield affair. Soldiers are increasingly replaced by machines. Attack drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), precision-guided missiles, AI-assisted targeting systems, and space-based surveillance dominate the scene. War rooms and control centres thousands of miles from the frontlines now determine the fate of civilians, infrastructure, and entire states. Civilians are no longer collateral damage; they are targets. Dams are bombed, hospitals are shelled, and nuclear power plants are struck with chilling regularity. International law, which once provided at least a moral speed bump, has been reduced to statements of “grave concern” issued by powerless global institutions. As wars escalate without boots on the ground, without crossing the borders, accountability continues to vanish into the cloud of digital warfare and fake news.
Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza, Russia and Ukraine continuing strikes on each other’s civilian infrastructure, and drone operations in West Asia all reflect this new reality. The idea of proportionality and distinction in warfare, enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, has become irrelevant. War is no longer just dehumanised; it is disembodied. Even as violations of international law accumulate, the institutions tasked with protecting order and peace, such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or the International Criminal Court (ICC), have become bystanders on the sidelines. Their mandates are undermined by vetoes, political paralysis, or deliberate boycotts or remain absent. The failure of global institutions to respond effectively to repeated ongoing conflicts like Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, Israel- Iran to the flattening of cities in Sudan and Syria, has emboldened states to act unilaterally. As SIPRI Director Dan Smith puts it, “In this period of high geopolitical tension and mistrust, with communication channels between nuclear-armed rivals closed or barely functioning, the risks of miscalculation, misunderstanding or accident are unacceptably high.”
A new nuclear age
The world now holds an estimated 12,241 nuclear warheads. Of these, 9,614 are in military stockpiles ready for potential use, and around 2,100 are in a state of high operational alert, primed for launch at a moment’s notice. Nearly all of these belong to Russia and the United States. However, according to SIPRI, China is racing to catch up. Beijing now possesses at least 600 warheads and is building hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos. If trends continue, China could have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as the U.S. or Russia by the early 2030s, according to SIPRI. This expansion, estimated at 100 new warheads per year since 2023, marks a strategic shift. China, once content with a minimalist deterrent posture, is now leaning toward equality, if not dominance.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan, despite periodic diplomacy, continue their slow and silent nuclear buildup. North Korea remains defiant, working toward tactical nuclear weapons. Israel, officially silent, is believed to be modernising its arsenal, including long-range delivery systems. The United Kingdom and France, although not expanding rapidly, are investing heavily in submarine-based deterrents. This nuclear resurgence is not just about numbers. It is about instability. Arms control treaties are collapsing. New START, the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, will expire in February 2026. No negotiations are in sight, as reported by SIPRI.
Technology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing are adding layers of uncertainty to nuclear posturing. AI-enabled decision-making systems promise faster response times, but they also amplify the risks of error. In a future crisis, a false alarm or a misinterpreted data feed could trigger a chain of escalation too fast to reverse. Missile defence systems, cyber warfare capabilities, and hypersonic delivery platforms are further complicating deterrence equations. The Cold War concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) relied on rational actors and slow escalation. Today, those assumptions no longer hold. “The signs are that a new arms race is gearing up that carries much more risk and uncertainty than the last one,” Smith warns. “The old, largely numerical formulas of arms control will no longer suffice.”
Disinformation, amplified by deepfakes, social media bots, and cyber espionage, is now a major destabilising force. In the current ongoing conflicts, one thing is common. Conflicts and wars are often fuelled by disinformation. This “digital fog of war” could soon prove as dangerous as any missile. In a world where war decisions can be made based on manipulated data and preconceived ideas, the prospect of accidental escalation becomes terrifyingly real.
The danger is not just to human lives, but to the planet itself. The environmental fallout from even a limited nuclear exchange would be devastating. Soot from urban firestorms could lead to global temperature drops, disrupt agriculture, and trigger widespread starvation. In this context, the line between military strategy and ecological suicide is vanishing. Moreover, wars fought over diminishing resources like water, food, and land will only grow more intense in a heating world. The intersection of climate breakdown and military conflict is becoming a vicious loop: war exacerbates environmental degradation, and environmental crises provoke new wars.
The world is entering one of the most challenging periods in human history. The taboo against nuclear use, maintained for eight decades since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is now weakening. SIPRI’s latest warning is stark: “Most of the nuclear-armed states are presently hardening their stand. Nuclear arms race continues to grow, overtly as well as covertly. The Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has never been closer to midnight.
What Can Be Done?
The solution begins with diplomacy, however difficult that may seem in today’s polarised environment. Nuclear arms control, disarmament, and confidence-building measures must return to the international agenda. Backchannels must be revived. Dialogue, not drones, must lead.
Second, a global treaty on autonomous weapons, so-called “killer robots”, is urgently needed. AI cannot be trusted with the power to make life-and-death decisions. Human accountability must remain central to the laws of war.
Third, international law must be revived, not revised. Bring more countries into fading organisations like the UNSC to have veto power. The International courts, such as the ICC and the ICJ, must have more authority to make decisions and be empowered and supported to enforce accountability. Otherwise, the world risks becoming a jungle ruled by digital predators.
Finally, it is vital to rekindle public awareness. The public lacks knowledge of the consequences. The media and film industry again need to be activated. Movies like “Day After” need to bring to the masses how technology is being misused and machines are substituting for humans in the war field. The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hibakusha, have been warning for decades. Their voices must not be drowned out by the hum of drones or the silence of institutional inertia. They need to be revised.
Eighty years after the first nuclear bombs fell, we stand again at the edge of the abyss, this time with smarter bombs, colder calculations, and weaker restraints. Technology has made killing easier, faster, and more impersonal. Laws are being ignored. Civilians are being targeted. And the machines of war are no longer on the battlefield; they are hovering above cities, watching from space, and lurking in cyberspace. This is the new world disorder. And unless the international community acts decisively, the next great war may not only be unmanned, but also unstoppable.
Surinder Singh Oberoi,
National Editor Greater Kashmir
