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Drone warfare strikes back
YAHYA ARHAB/EPA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
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LOCATIONS UK 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EU Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 11, Suite 3, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 Tel +61 2 9422 8559 USA 45 Prospect St, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8773
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE For our latest subscription offers, visit newscientist.com/subscribe Customer and subscription services are also available by: Telephone +44 (0) 330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Web newscientist.com/subscribe Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH One year subscription (51 issues) UK £150 CONTACTS Contact us newscientist.com/contact Who’s who newscientist.com/people General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] UK Newsstand Tel +44 (0) 20 3787 9001 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 [email protected] New Scientist Live Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1273 [email protected]
© 2017 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Drone warfare strikes back High-tech weaponry eventually becomes available to all SHORTLY after 9/11, the US deployed a new form of high-tech warfare: sending drones into foreign airspace to kill terror suspects. At first the strikes were restricted to Afghanistan, but soon they were extended into Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The strategy has been escalated by presidents Obama and Trump. Initially the US had a virtual monopoly on drone technology, but commentators pointed out that this would only be temporary. Legal scholars also warned that the strikes were of dubious international legality. The implication was clear: if the US could strike with impunity, what was there to stop others from doing the same?
That threat has yet to come to pass. But China and Russia are both reportedly in possession of combat drones and there are fears that the development of cheaper models will lead to global proliferation. That latter danger now appears imminent, with a company in Ukraine developing combat drones at a fraction of the cost of a US Predator drone (see page 22). Meanwhile, ISIS fighters in Iraq are customising commercial drones to drop grenades. It isn’t inconceivable that this tactic could be used on the streets of Paris, London or Brussels. Some may say that reporting on such possibilities is irresponsible, because it risks seeding ideas into
Dams in distress EVIDENCE of the Anthropocene is all around us. Even if humans were wiped out tomorrow, future scientists couldn’t fail to notice planet-wide changes: a surge of greenhouse gases, a mass extinction event, a layer of plastic in ocean sediments, and more. One signal of the Anthropocene that often goes unremarked is our drastic replumbing of the planet’s fresh water. Our future
scientists would note alterations in sediment flows, the sinking of deltas and, possibly, the remains of huge artificial structures across many of the world’s great rivers. Over the past century we have built dams at a staggering rate. Dams bring benefits to humans but can be extremely damaging to nature. In recent years many have been demolished in order to alleviate the problems. But the
the minds of would-be terrorists. But the drone genie is out of the bottle; ISIS videos already show weaponised drones being used on the battlefield. It is better to be open about the threat so as to stimulate discussion about how to combat it – including action on the dissemination of extremist material by social media outlets. The aftermath of 9/11 saw the revival of the CIA term “blowback”, referring to the unintended consequences of covert military action. The current wave of terrorist attacks in the West is fuelled, in part, by perceived injustices of Western foreign policy, including drone strikes. The blowback is on – or maybe just over – the horizon. n
cost is prohibitive, and new dams continue to be built. And so an alternative approach – making dams work with nature – is on the rise (see page 36). This is part of an emerging “good Anthropocene” movement, which accepts that we cannot restore nature to a pristine state but must instead become better stewards of change. Dams offer an opportunity to show that we can live in better harmony with nature – and open the floodgates for more of the same. n 1 July 2017 | NewScientist | 5
LEADERS
LOCATIONS UK 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EU Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 11, Suite 3, 100 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060 Tel +61 2 9422 8559 USA 45 Prospect St, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8773
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE For our latest subscription offers, visit newscientist.com/subscribe Customer and subscription services are also available by: Telephone +44 (0) 330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Web newscientist.com/subscribe Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH One year subscription (51 issues) UK £150 CONTACTS Contact us newscientist.com/contact Who’s who newscientist.com/people General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] UK Newsstand Tel +44 (0) 20 3787 9001 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 [email protected] New Scientist Live Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1273 [email protected]
© 2017 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Drone warfare strikes back High-tech weaponry eventually becomes available to all SHORTLY after 9/11, the US deployed a new form of high-tech warfare: sending drones into foreign airspace to kill terror suspects. At first the strikes were restricted to Afghanistan, but soon they were extended into Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The strategy has been escalated by presidents Obama and Trump. Initially the US had a virtual monopoly on drone technology, but commentators pointed out that this would only be temporary. Legal scholars also warned that the strikes were of dubious international legality. The implication was clear: if the US could strike with impunity, what was there to stop others from doing the same?
That threat has yet to come to pass. But China and Russia are both reportedly in possession of combat drones and there are fears that the development of cheaper models will lead to global proliferation. That latter danger now appears imminent, with a company in Ukraine developing combat drones at a fraction of the cost of a US Predator drone (see page 22). Meanwhile, ISIS fighters in Iraq are customising commercial drones to drop grenades. It isn’t inconceivable that this tactic could be used on the streets of Paris, London or Brussels. Some may say that reporting on such possibilities is irresponsible, because it risks seeding ideas into
Dams in distress EVIDENCE of the Anthropocene is all around us. Even if humans were wiped out tomorrow, future scientists couldn’t fail to notice planet-wide changes: a surge of greenhouse gases, a mass extinction event, a layer of plastic in ocean sediments, and more. One signal of the Anthropocene that often goes unremarked is our drastic replumbing of the planet’s fresh water. Our future
scientists would note alterations in sediment flows, the sinking of deltas and, possibly, the remains of huge artificial structures across many of the world’s great rivers. Over the past century we have built dams at a staggering rate. Dams bring benefits to humans but can be extremely damaging to nature. In recent years many have been demolished in order to alleviate the problems. But the
the minds of would-be terrorists. But the drone genie is out of the bottle; ISIS videos already show weaponised drones being used on the battlefield. It is better to be open about the threat so as to stimulate discussion about how to combat it – including action on the dissemination of extremist material by social media outlets. The aftermath of 9/11 saw the revival of the CIA term “blowback”, referring to the unintended consequences of covert military action. The current wave of terrorist attacks in the West is fuelled, in part, by perceived injustices of Western foreign policy, including drone strikes. The blowback is on – or maybe just over – the horizon. n
cost is prohibitive, and new dams continue to be built. And so an alternative approach – making dams work with nature – is on the rise (see page 36). This is part of an emerging “good Anthropocene” movement, which accepts that we cannot restore nature to a pristine state but must instead become better stewards of change. Dams offer an opportunity to show that we can live in better harmony with nature – and open the floodgates for more of the same. n 1 July 2017 | NewScientist | 5