Steve Coll writes in this week’s New Yorker about the growth of America’s use of drones to carry out targeted assassinations. Disturbing, as you might expect. It’s particularly interesting that he links the current policy to the US’s policy under Eisenhower (an outgrowth of which led to the Pink Pantheresque exploding cigars and seashells used against Castro) as well as the Israeli use of assassination. Both which have been convincingly repudiated by participants afterwards.

What connects to the work of fiction I’ve recently been engaged in is his speculation on the future:

America’s drone campaign is also creating an ominous global precedent. Ten years or less from now, China will likely be able to field armed drones. How might its Politburo apply Obama’s doctrines to Tibetan activists holding meetings in Nepal?

And what happens when the various rebel groups and terrorist organizations of the world also get their hands on drones?

Full story here.