Connectivity Wars

When Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in November 2015, calls for revenge exploded across the Russian media and internet. Protesters hurled stones and eggs at the Turkish embassy, and a leading TV talk show host compared the incident to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which triggered the First World War. So how did Putin respond to the battle cries of his people?He signed a decree halting fruit and vegetable imports from Turkey, banning charter flights and the sale of package holidays, and scrapping Russia's visa-free regime with the country. His proxies warned about possible escalation involving energy imports, while the media speculated about cyber-attacks.The most important battleground of this and future conflicts will not be the air or ground but rather the interconnected infrastructure of the global economy: disrupting trade and investment, international law, the internet, transport links, adn the movement of people. Welcome to the connectivity wars.