From The Atlantic:
Yuri is a 52-year-old Ukrainian who runs a market stall in Kherson, not far from the front line. Yesterday, he was sorting through vegetables when he heard the loud, distinctive buzz of a Russian drone. As he later told the journalist Zarina Zabrisky, he had nothing more than a couple of garlic bulbs in his hands, and no weapons. “Not even a phone.” He gestured at his tomatoes and peppers, so that the drone operator, whoever and wherever he might be, could see that he wasn’t a soldier.
The drone kept following him. Police footage shows it chasing Yuri around his truck. He hides under the umbrella that covers the stand, runs from one side to the other, gestures at the vegetables. Then the drone dives beside him and explodes. Miraculously, Yuri survived, with just cuts and a concussion. Zabrisky interviewed him in the hospital, where he was lucid, and surprisingly sane.
Sane might be the key word here, because the experience of being chased by a murderous kamikaze drone, a flying machine that behaves as if it were alive, is not one that humans are equipped to understand. Premodern fanatics used to hallucinate flying devils. But few modern civilians have been chased by mechanized flying objects. Unless they live in or around Kherson.
Here is the original clip, as posted by President Zelensky:
Drones have been chasing humans now for many years. The US used them in Afghanistan, the Israelis use them in Gaza, the Russians and Ukrainians both use them on the frontline to kill soldiers. But the way in which they are being used now in southern Ukraine, especially in the city of Kherson, feels different. The video above, which went viral last week, shows a drone that is clearly intelligent, or is anyway being used by someone who can see what it sees. Its cameras and navigation allow it to chase its targets as they run and hide.
The possible uses of this new way of waging war - or of settling arguments, or of committing crimes - are now infinite. The Financial Times wrote last week about Colombian narcos and paramilatries who are signing up to fight in Ukraine in order to learn how to use drones. They want to take the technology home and use it against their government. Also this week, German officials found a drone packed with explosives at Leipzig airport, which they are treating as an attempted terrorist attack. We may be just at the beginning of a new wave of drone terrorism for which nobody is yet prepared.
Although not all Pentagon procurement officers (or indeed Pentagon leaders) know it yet, nobody is prepared, technically or psychologically, for a new era of intelligent, deadly machines. Warfare is on its way to being transformed beyond recognition. Separate drone battalions are a thing of the past. Every aspect of fighting now requires drones, and drone interceptors.
How long until the rest of the world also experiences this change? Crime and terrorism will be transformed next, followed by the work of lawyers and police. Today’s bizarre dystopia, something we view in video clips coming from Ukraine, might be tomorrow’s new normal.
The time for governments to get ahead of this technology, and to think about how it might be regulated or controlled, is now. Once it’s available to everyone, then it will be too late. But we now know that this rarely happens: Human beings are just not very good at anticipating the consequences of technological change, even when they can see it coming.
Read the whole article, “Putin’s Human Safari is the Dystopian Future of War” in the Atlantic (gift link here)
Two Wars, Iran and Ukraine
How are they connected? I discussed this, and other things, with Harry Litman
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Kleptocracy Tracker
Continuing to monitor conflicts of interest, ostentatious emoluments, outright corruption and policy changes that will facilitate outright corruption. (Read my original article, Kleptocracy Inc and check out the SNF Agora Institute chart)
July 31
Chevron, United Airlines, and RTX donated a combined $9 million to Trump’s Freedom 250, bringing the total the group has raised from corporate sponsors—in exchange for branding opportunities and private access to Trump—to more than $50 million. For those who don’t remember, Freedom 250 was the organization set up as a rival to the Congressional plan to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Not only was it a vehicle for corruption, it also spoiled the event for the entire nation.
August 1
Trump Media officially launched its paid subscription offering prioritized access to the president’s Truth Social posts. I discussed this, among other things, with Charlie Sykes.
August 3
Though Todd Blanche committed to ending the $1.8 billion slush fund for the president’s allies, Blanche is keeping the provision in the Department of Justice’s settlement with Trump that shields him, his sons, and the Trump Organization from IRS audits of returns filed before May 19—a provision that could save Trump more than $100 million in back taxes and penalties.
Officials from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) accepted Kennedy Center gala tickets from Paramount during, or immediately before, its review of the firm’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
August 4
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s chief examiner warned staff that they would face consequences if they policed financial firms too aggressively.
August
Hay bales, near my house in Poland. Best wishes for a good month to all.
“Although not all Pentagon procurement officers (or indeed Pentagon leaders) know it yet, nobody is prepared, technically or psychologically, for a new era of intelligent, deadly machines.”
I’ll be honest…I’m not sure Pete Hegseth, who seems obsessed with his testosterone, or lack of it, is the right person for the job.
Last week I watched Lioness - a streaming TV series about a CIA officer or some other acronym group officer and there was a drone attack in it. Like giant insane birds in formation. Terrifying. Imagine trying to wave off a single drone with a bunch of garlic ? This is not Band of Brothers anymore, folks ! I have no idea why anyone anymore thinks that war is an option under any circumstances.