Lockheed RQ-170 (Sentinel) |
Droning is the sound bees make. One also talks about people droning on. Of course, the noun is the far more nefarious form of the word. Drones are the avatars of that modern day computer game known as war. An operator at some far away outpost spots the target whether it’s an Al-Qaeda big wig like Ayman al-Zawahiri (who was recently terminated with extreme prejudice by a drone in Kabul) or a city like Kiev, where the terror derives from the ability of the drone to feint. You don’t know where it will finally hit. The one thing that drones and computer games have in common is that they’re a value free, no contact sport (at least as far as the players are concerned). Missiles carrying nuclear warheads also are operated remotely, but they’re impact is less shielded from the operator since unleashing Armageddon anywhere is like standing on the Event Horizon of a Black Hole. The game itself is threatened. Drones of course can theoretically strike at the opponent’s drone factory. Drones are disconcerting. They resemble sophisticated toys and share a similar innocence, but how does one compare to another? How does the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stack up against the Shahed-136, the drone Iran has given to the Russians. And what, ultimately, can drones accomplish that armies can’t? The answer must be left to the generals.
"What Do Khalil Gibran and Karl von Clausewitz Have in Common?" by Francis Levy, HuffPost
and watch the trailer for Erotomania
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