Warsaw Pact, 1968 CE

 
 

TopiC: AI Technology as a Weapon of Mass Destruction


The year is 1968 and the status of the Warsaw Pact can be described in one word: dire. Following the suppression of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, the alliance’s delicate stability has been thrown out of balance, exposing the ideological rifts between its nations, emphasized by Albania’s withdrawal. Reformist ideologists within the alliance push for greater autonomy and liberalization, threatening the uniformity and status quo set by traditional communist ideals. External problems run rampant: economic inefficiencies, leadership instability, rising nationalist sentiments, involvement in the Vietnam War, and global nuclear proliferation.

Despite the vast series of problems already present for the Warsaw Pact, one shocking development threatens to be the downfall of the alliance. Reliable intelligence sources have reported that NATO has achieved a groundbreaking technological advancement: the invention of artificial intelligence (AI). This development promises to completely redefine the balance of the Cold War, and it is up to you all to decide how to move forward, for the betterment of each member state. The future is now, delegates. Will you rise to the occasion and steer the course of history or will AI spell the beginning of the end for the Eastern bloc?


 

Greetings delegates!

My name is Justin Ricketts and I am so excited to serve as your director for the Warsaw Pact Committee at this year’s HMUN! I am a sophomore at Harvard, concentrating in both Neuroscience and English (and/or possibly with a secondary in Global Health & Health Policy) as a Pre-Med. I come from Lake Worth, Florida (about an hour north of Miami), so as you can imagine, I’m still adjusting to the Boston winters.

My first experience with Model UN came as I randomly chose to join Harvard’s Model UN team my freshman spring, and I haven’t looked back since. Beyond Model UN, I love books and music more than anything. Reading has been hard recently, but I am still on my phone at 12:00 AM every Friday morning to listen to every song that has been released (especially in love with Daniel Caesar, Frank Ocean, SZA, Kendrick…the list goes on and I could talk about music for hours so I’m stopping myself here). Truthfully, I’m a chronically-online, recovering/former theater kid, who loves word games (my Wordle streak is still going strong).

When it comes to committee, I hope this will be a unique, thrilling, and memorable experience for all of us. I value, in myself and others, creativity above most, so I’m excited to see which of many paths we will fall on, as I hope you all are. The future is now, delegates, so be ready for the ride of your life.

See you soon,

Justin Ricketts

Director, Warsaw Pact, 1968 CE

warsaw@harvardmun.org

Harvard Model United Nations 2025