theatlantic:

Imagining a Drone-Proof City

Kohn’s envisioned drone-proof community, which he calls “Shura City,” is a thought experiment, a provocation (shura, Arabic for consultation, is a word associated with group decision-making in the Islamic world). It’s a self-contained environment with elaborate architectural devices designed to thwart robotic predators overhead. Minarets, along with the wind-catching cooling towers called badgirs, would obstruct the flight path of the drones. A latticed roof, extending over the entire community, would create shade patterns to make visual target identification difficult. A fully climate-controlled environment would confuse heat-seeking detection systems. He has not included any anti-aircraft weapons in this scenario.

Read more. [Image: Asher J. Kohn]

nationalpost:

U.S. has been operating secret drone base in Saudi Arabia for two years
The United States has been operating a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia for the past two years as a launch pad for attacks on terrorist targets in Yemen, it emerged Wednesday.

The first pilotless CIA mission flown from the base killed Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born cleric and senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and a deputy in September 2011, reports said. (HO/AFP/Getty Images)

newyorker:

A Sunday morning cartoon by Christopher Weyant. For more from this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/Q22Wd0