Slingers in Tehran

The war in the Middle East, re-premiered with the satanic aggression of the United States and Israel against the theocratic Iran, at first glance, has traces of an unprecedented technological dispute: artificial intelligence, automated interception systems and a digitized war economy. However, beneath this layer of modernity emerges a classic of the art of war, the tension between the material sophistication of power and the functional efficacy of simplicity, not exempt from intelligence and scientific and technical knowledge, reappears. A tension that has been accumulating in a heap of postcolonialist disagreements.Low-cost Iranian drones have become a symbol of the dialectic of simplicity. Tactical success against multi-million dollar armament systems points to the idea that effectiveness is not directly proportional to investment, but to strategic intelligence and adaptability. It is not surprising, therefore, that when it was discovered that these artifacts could become the star of the conflict, the comparison came to mind with the Balearic slingers of ancient Mediterranean times who, with minimal armament and refined technique, became a key part of the Carthaginian and Roman armies of the era.The connection is not merely anecdotal; in the comparison of the two systems –slingers and drones–, the power of the periphery is revealed against the monumentality of power, when it manages to articulate efficiency, ingenuity, and knowledge of the environment. The slingers were an example of this: a successful army, with low-cost equipment, although globally it might not have been so cheap. More than for its cost, it was appreciated for its mobility, lightness, and efficiency, the result of highly professional and disciplined behavior. The members of this troop had been formed and trained since childhood: legend has it that they did not eat until they had hit a target.Julius Caesar used them during the Gallic Wars as light infantry in the vanguard, which engaged just before the main clash of battle, often associating with Cretan archers. Caesar himself, in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, highlights their decisive role. Specifically, when speaking of the defense of the Roman fortified settlement of Bibrax, he says: “Upon their arrival, the Rems saw their protection guaranteed and their defensive ardor increased, and the enemies, for this very reason, lost hope of seizing the place”. In the Punic Wars, it was Hamilcar Barca who recruited them to form part of his army, especially in the campaigns in Sicily, against the Greeks, and in the conquest of Hispania, a feat never repeated by the islanders.In the current Middle East conflict, a logic similar to the one that gave international fame to slingers can be discerned. We could consider it ironic, but the technological accumulation of great powers does not guarantee strategic superiority; artificial intelligence is not equivalent to political intelligence. The only certainty is that large technology corporations, with contracts with the Pentagon and the armies of the United States and Israel, are very expensive for the taxpayers of these countries. They are the same companies that support Trump and the European far-right, against the EU, which intends to regulate their activity. Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, and SpaceX, among others, have an important business niche in war: these are the wars of capital.In this context, low-cost Iranian drones operate as a symbol of a tactical, economic, and adaptability rationality different from that of the great powers. Their effectiveness lies not in the accumulation of power, but in the intelligent management of scarcity. It is this dynamic that refers us to a deeper historical genealogy in time, in which marginal actors manage to influence global domination systems. And, indeed, the Balearic slingers embodied a unique relationship between technique, territory, and strategy. Equipped with exceptional expertise and minimal equipment, they became winners.The asymmetry of power and capacity between the adversaries that characterizes the conflict in the Middle East is explained by several reasons. In the aggressor countries (the US and Israel), two often contradictory circumstances have a powerful influence: (1) colonial intention and (2) the existence of democratic public opinions. Neither the United States nor Israel could withstand the number of victims from Iran. A formally democratic society, with rights to preserve, is obliged to have an advanced and expensive system of protection and interception. In addition to a sophisticated and complex machinery of destruction commensurate with their colonial interest.The fact that Iran is a theocratic regime, with no citizen rights to protect, means that public opinion is managed by the police, which allows it to focus its military strategy simply on inflicting harm on the enemy, both internal and external. There are no essential defense systems, only attack systems. There is no better defense than a good offense. Overall, the current digital war shows a growing symbiosis between political power, data economy, and technological militarization. Following Paul Virilio's dromological reasoning, in which speed is the basis of modern technological society, it could be said that instrumental speed has replaced territorial extension as the matrix of power. However, extreme acceleration does not guarantee dominance. An old Persian proverb says that “patience is a tree with bitter roots and sweet fruits”.