Drones make oppression much more cost-effective

John Robb writes: Drones are changing the dynamics of warfare in very scary ways. They make oppression much easier (and cost-effective).

To recap: Drones are extremely cost effective vs. ground/air assets (particularly in that with drones, operators aren't put at risk). They also enable extremely centralized command and control (as in: operations can be micro-manged in DC, down to the decision to kill). In sum, a small number of people in Washington CD can control/operate a vast 24x7 killing field for very few $$.

Botnets in the skies

MIT Technology Review: The Next Wave of Botnets Could Descend from the Skies. In two separate presentations last month, researchers showed off remote-controlled aerial vehicles loaded with technology designed to automatically detect and compromise wireless networks. The projects demonstrated that such drones could be used to create an airborne botnet controller for a few hundred dollars.

CIA focuses on killing targets

Washington Post: CIA shifts focus to killing targets

Delivering drugs by UAV

cnet: Matternet delivers drugs by robocopter

Economist: UAVs will be smaller, lighter, cheaper

The Economist: Joining the drone club: The future of air power is likely to be unmanned. It may also be surprisingly small. Reapers and Predators grab the headlines, but these big, high-profile drones are already outnumbered by small and cheap but capable craft.

Drones, and the future of war

Link: The DIY Terminator: Private Robot Armies And The Algorithm-Run Future Of War

[...] as the tech becomes more democratized and more deadly, what happens when anyone can assemble an army of killing machines?

Pentagon looks to double drone air force

Via Wired Magazine: Pentagon Looks to Double Its Unmanned Air Force

Tunisia: the first Wikileaks revolution?

Posted over at my other blog: Tunisia: the first Wikileaks revolution?

Chavez given decree powers

Reuters: Venezuela assembly gives Chavez decree powers

Venezuela's parliament gave President Hugo Chavez decree powers for 18 months on Friday, outraging opposition parties that accused him of turning South America's biggest oil producer into a dictatorship.

FT: A new global balance

FT columnist Philip Stephens writes:

We are living through one of history’s swerves. A multipolar world has been long predicted, but has always seemed to be perched safely on the horizon. Now it has rushed quite suddenly into the present. Two centuries of western hegemony are coming to a close rather earlier than many had imagined.