Survival October November 2023

Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment. In this issue: Nick Childs assesses the ambitions and perils of the AUKUS partnership for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States Kimberly Marten explores how the demise of its key figures will affect future operations of the Wagner Group and similar Russian paramilitaries Steven Feldstein investigates the uses and risks of generative-AI systems From the Survival archives, the late Pierre Hassner interpreted Russia’s August 2008 attack on Georgia as signalling the emergence of a new cold war with the West Dana H. Allin reflects on the European vision advanced by members of a rapidly disappearing generation of scholars who had lived through war and sought to preserve and extend peace And eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular Book Reviews and Noteworthy column. Editor: Dr Dana Allin Managing Editor: Jonathan Stevenson Associate Editor: Carolyn West Editorial Assistant: Conor Hodges

Survival, the IISS's bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment. In this issue: Nick Childs assesses the ambitions and perils of the AUKUS partnership for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States Kimberly Marten explores how the demise of its key figures will affect future operations of the Wagner Group and similar Russian paramilitaries Steven Feldstein investigates the uses and risks of generative-AI systems From the Survival archives, the late Pierre Hassner interpreted Russia's August 2008 attack on Georgia as signalling the emergence of a new cold war with the West Dana H. Allin reflects on the European vision advanced by members of a rapidly disappearing generation of scholars who had lived through war and sought to preserve and extend peace And eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular Book Reviews and Noteworthy column. Editor: Dr Dana Allin Managing Editor: Jonathan Stevenson Associate Editor: Carolyn West Editorial Assistant: Conor Hodges

Central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the eighth leading cause of cancer death and the second most common childhood cancer worldwide. Current treatment methods include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immune therapy etc. However, patients with CNS tumors usually have an unsatisfactory prognosis accompanied by impaired neurologic functions when compared with other cancers. Few drugs or treatments have been proven effective in CNS tumors due to the presence of blood-brain barriers and its distinctive tumor microenvironment.

Salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs) are a heterogeneous group of rare head and neck cancers made of more than 20 pathologic types. Although the treatments of the early or loco-regionally advanced disease are similar across the different entities, these malignancies have variable biological characteristics and clinical behaviors. These specificities, especially the pathologic type and, when available, the molecular profile, are taken into account while choosing the treatment for the recurrent/metastatic phase. In this context, only few druggable molecular targets have been tested so far and not all are available in clinical practice. However, due to the rarity of SGCs, clinical trials are challenging to conduct, and most of the available evidence comes from retrospective studies.

A common feature of cancer metabolism is the ability to obtain essential nutrients from a nutrient-poor environment and use them to maintain viability as well as generate new biomass. Alterations in intracellular and extracellular metabolites can be accompanied by tumor-associated metabolic reprogramming with profound effects on gene expression, cell differentiation, and tumor microenvironment. In these cases, the metabolic microenvironment of the tumor itself can present an immunosuppressive environment that needs to be overcome. Specifically, it will help maximize the efficacy of cancer therapies by identifying targets that suppress or alter cancer metabolism to improve the tumor microenvironment nutrient availability or that modulate immune metabolism to bolster inflammation.

Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment. In this issue: Adam Roberts explores pandemics and politics through the ages, arguing that trust in leadership is essential in the struggle against infectious diseases Rebecca Barber and Sarah Teitt contend that ASEAN should take a more activist approach to the Rohingya crisis to salvage its credibility Greg Austin assesses the strategic implications of China’s weak cyber defences Øystein Tunsjø casts doubt on the prospect of the Arctic becoming a theatre of great-power conflict And eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular book reviews and Noteworthy column.

This report addresses the latest trends in cancer incidence and mortality in the EU and reviews key cancer risk factors, cancer screening programmes and early diagnoses, and issues in the provision of high-quality cancer care.

The year 2022 was supposed the best year of my career. Being in my early 50s I was about to complete my first decade working in the pharmaceutical industry. I would be lying if I said that the transition from the energy industry to pharmaceuticals had been easy, but after a few difficult years I felt confident about the future. Then one day, I was rushed to hospital because I had collapsed in the garden. A scan showed that I had a brain tumour. From that day onwards matters changed dramatically – things that were important to me before lost all their value whilst other things that I had taken for granted before became suddenly very important to me. This book is my attempt to make a difference to all people who are suffering from a terminal illness, or indeed all people who must make personal decisions at difficult and emotionally charged times. This book is intended for individuals who wish to improve their decision-making skills by using structured and analytical thinking. In this personal book, I am using examples and thought experiments to illustrate how decision analysis can be used to increase our awareness of available choices and uncertainties that we are exposed to.