Trump’s six strikes so far this fall on boats in international waters, killing a reported 26 people, echo a pattern of identifying a “terrorist enemy” and employing means of aerial weapons to “take out” human beings so designated as military targets because he claims they are drug runners. Though Trump doesn’t bother with the pretense of an actual war declaration on a military force, his actions are not so different than what Obama ordered via weaponized drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen against people said to be Taliban, even as the government knew civilians were being killed. George W. Bush began the use of weaponized drones in Afghanistan in 2001 during the so-called “war on terror.”

20+ years later, millions of small drones are being built, deployed, and destroyed in the proxy war between the U.S. and Russia being fought in Ukraine. Lethality for only hundreds of dollars each, in the service of no good for humanity.

We thank him for guest-editing this week’s newsletter.  

ARGUMENTS for the BANNING of WEAPONIZED DRONES

By Nick Mottern of BanKillerDrones.org

Drone killing has become a major feature of the Ukraine War and of the genocide against the Palestinian people. Drone killing has been embraced by political and military leaders as essential to their control over people outside and inside the borders of their nations, as is evidenced in President Trump’s push to use drones to kill citizens of Mexico whom he describes as criminals.

David O. Sacks, Chair of President Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said recently, “There’s no question that the armies of the future are gonna be drones and robots, and they’re gonna be AI-powered… I would define winning as the whole world consolidates around the American tech stack.”

This casual description of a horrifying future of relentless mechanized slaughter, which totally ignores the gruesome reality of nearly 25 years of drone killing, maiming and indiscriminate terrorization, makes it clear why we must make every effort to stop further use of weaponized drones.

In briefly presenting arguments for disarming drones, we will refer from time to time to Gregoire Chamayou’s “A Theory of the Drone”, in which he brilliantly analyzes aspects of the political/emotional appeal of weaponized drones that entrance those who use them.

Why we must stop the use of weaponized drones:

• Spreading and prolonging armed conflict.
• Killing, surveillance and terrorization of civilian populations.
• Compartmentalization and inability to act to survive.

Read Nick’s full report here, where each of the above sections is discussed in detail.

Nick’s report also includes a separate Appendix which discusses the primary categories of killer drones now in use; where some have been, or are in now, in use; and their manufacturers. These are representative types; many more models, by many more manufacturers, are in use by government and non-state actors in dozens of nations