First it was Great Britain; and now it’s . . . Tajikistan??!!!

What did H. G. Wells know, at the end of the 19th Century, that no one else had yet imagined?

No, I’m not implying that today’s visitors are from outer space. But the drones are up there, and they’re hovering in some places they shouldn’t be. Earlier reports of sightings have come from three U.S. Air Force bases in the United Kingdom. Despite assurances from authorities that there appears to be no danger, none have yet been intercepted in an attempt to identify them . . . or. at least, we haven’t been informed otherwise.

And now an “unmanned aerial vehicle” (UAV) — the preferred name, apparently, for anything from a military prototype to a dragonfly — has crashed just five kilometers from Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan, in an area where both Tajik and Russian military bases are located. And it is definitely not a dragonfly.

Witness video footage indicates that the drone struck a utility pole before crashing to the ground, with flames being seen at the crash site. The area was immediately cordoned off by police and military personnel. [RFE/RL, December 4, 2024.]

No comment has yet been received from Tajikistan’s Defense Ministry. However, both the Tajik Aini Military Airbase and a Russian military base — part of the 201st Military Division — are located nearby, and both are central to the regional security infrastructure.

Some analysts have speculated that the craft may have been a UAV “from a third country.” What is known is that the Russian base — Moscow’s largest military presence outside of Russia — regularly conducts drone operations from that location. [Id.] So it may well be that this was just a test — which would, of course, be the best-case scenario.

But whether “friendly” or otherwise, the proliferation of drone (or other UAV) sightings points up the ease with which our lives can now be penetrated from above . . . and not just by little green men from Jupiter.

It makes one long for the days when all you had to worry about from the sky was pigeon poop.

Ah, those were good times indeed.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/6/24