Drones, People, and the Miniaturization of Violence

On this day:

1453
Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire. Although the date of May 29, 1453, is that of the Julian Calendar, the event is commemorated in Istanbul on this day of the present Gregorian calendar.
1660
English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of Great Britain.
1780
American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton massacres Colonel Abraham Buford’s Continentals, allegedly after the Continentals' surrender. 113 Americans are killed.
1903
May coup d'etat: Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
1919
Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington’s observation of a total solar eclipse in Principe and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.
1953
Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.

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The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, has said the alliance is “ready to defend every inch” of its territory after a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Romania, a member state, during an overnight attack on neighbouring Ukraine.


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Robinhood launched agentic trading and an agentic credit card today, allowing AI agents to trade equities and make credit card purchases on customers' behalf.

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Russia has passed a law authorizing its central bank and other financial institutions to repel drone attacks with their own defense systems, as the country struggles to defend against Ukrainian strikes.

The law, passed by Russia’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday, will allow staff at Russia’s central bank to be armed and to operate the systems used to down unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or drone) attacks without the involvement of special forces.

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In Rome, actors could not vote, hold office, or be trusted to give an oath in legal proceedings.

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A Blue Origin rocket exploded on the launch tower in a fiery blast during a test of its engines on Thursday night, the company said.


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Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu is fund­ing a new pro­gram that gives “queer and trans” migrants up to $500 for mas­sages, yoga classes, and 'cre­at­ive heal­ing.'


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Drones, People, and the Miniaturization of Violence

The Uyghurs are a Turkic and predominantly Muslim ethnic minority spread across Central Asia but concentrated in China's far-western Xinjiang region. It is they who are always referenced as examples of Chinese oppression, in the U.S., called phonetically, wiː.ɡʊr.

Through circumstance and demographics, they have become the largest contingent of foreign fighters in Syria. They were responsible for the fall of Aleppo, indirectly responsible for the overthrow of Assad, and were gratefully integrated into the new Syrian military.

They have demonstrated serious military ability and hostility.

These are the same Uyghurs that the Chinese authorities have been suppressing at home, in the Xinjiang region, for years. Starting in 2017, authorities began sending hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs to "reeducation camps," where they were taught Mandarin and forced to memorize Chinese leader Xi Jinping's speeches, according to human rights organizations. Others were placed under house arrest, harassed, or subjected to extensive surveillance, or had their passports confiscated, according to prior NPR reporting and the findings of the United Nations and rights groups. In 2021, the U.S. labeled China's campaign a "genocide" aimed at eradicating Uyghur identity. (With the West's current infatuation with 'identity,' one would think they would care more.) Beijing slammed that decision and has defended the detention camps as a necessary facet of a wide-ranging de-radicalization effort in the region.

There is speculation that China is very unhappy that these people, an increasingly well-organized and disruptive group, have been welcomed in the Middle East. They also appear to hold a grudge. The belief is that China sees them as a potential destabilizing force within its own borders.

So it is in this new world where size doesn't matter, and no one is safe.