Steve Feldstein, "Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare" (St. Martin's Press, 2026)

Steve Feldstein's Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare (St. Martin's Press,

2026) opens with a juxtaposition: China spending vast sums to reach the

far side of the moon, and Ukraine using cheap drones to blunt a far

larger military. Both are stories about technology and power, but they

point in opposite directions.

In our conversation, Feldstein

argues that the outcome of technological competition is not

predetermined. Small states, non-state actors, and private companies

with the right engineers can now challenge much stronger adversaries. We

discuss Iran, whose military innovation grew out of decades of

sanctions rather than in spite of them, and why Western analysts

dismissed what was in plain sight. We then turn to China and Feldstein's