In 2018, the prescient Brian Berletic wrote Blocking Nord Stream 2, noting how desperate the US was to block Nord Stream 2 satellite drone and incapable it was to go beyond threats and coercion, “I asked ‘how far would the US go?,’ and now we know. Here’s his update since the explosions:
Little adds up regarding America’s narrative regarding Nord Stream 2. What is clear through objective observation is that Washington desires to eliminate a competitor at all costs and to do so, not through competition but coercion by threatening dangerous conflict specifically because it cannot compete economically. So its success or failure depends on its ability to wield its wide arsenal of soft power weapons – coercion, subversion, sanctions – and proxy conflicts. How far it will go, time will tell.
Increasingly Dangerous Conflict: The Role of Satellite Drone Technology
To see what near-peer combat looks like in the 21st century, join a Russian Army technical specialist on night shift. Russia’s thermal imaging satellite drone sent the coordinates of squad-level troop movement. He sent a drone to investigate:
Did you notice the patrol’s reaction when they realize that they are being surveilled by a drone? The drone’s accuracy (with a $50 bomblet)? The fate of each man?
Advantages
Satellites’ thermal cameras detect warm vehicles and humans and send a ‘suspicious activity’ coordinates to the drone team, cutting out fragile helicopters, expensive jets, and vulnerable counter-patrols. Cheap; a kid can operate it well; safe; short reaction time; deadly accurate.
Russia kills 20 Ukraine soldiers for every one it loses because it fights this way. 300,000 more Russian troops multiply such missions tenfold. All day. All night. Everywhere.
The new face of war.
