America's Drone Campaign Is Both Moral And Effective

America's Drone Campaign Is Both Moral And Effective

Bug splats. That’s what the American operators of drones, sitting in safety thousands of miles away, call the casualties of a drone attack in Pakistan or Yemen. Why bug splats? Because that’s what a human body zapped by a drone looks like on those Americans’ video screens. Thousands of those splats were in fact innocent bystanders unfortunate enough to be nearby the “target”. We call this warfare but it isn’t: it’s assassination. Drones allow political and military leaders, unhampered by public or legal scrutiny, to eliminate anyone they want killed. But moral and legal arguments aside, what do drones actually achieve? A drone strike is a sure way to inflame a community against the West and throw it into the arms of the local militants. In sum, drones are not just illegal and immoral. They are counterproductive. That’s the cry we hear as we learn more about America’s drone programme. But do the gentle souls who condemn drones have a better strategy for dealing with the militants operating within the... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(1559)

University is an unwise investment

University is an unwise investment

For many Western teenagers university has long been considered a passport to the good life: a rite of passage consisting of mind-expanding reading and writing or the acquisition of a professional qual...

14 Aug 20141h 4min

It's Time to End The War on Drugs

It's Time to End The War on Drugs

To liberalise or prohibit, that is the question. Prohibitionists argue that legalising anything increases its consumption. The world has enough of a problem with legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco...

4 Aug 20142h 13min

"Contemporary Art Excludes the 99%"

"Contemporary Art Excludes the 99%"

What is the role of contemporary art museums today? Are biennales and art fairs platforms for experiment and exchange, or little more than social attractions for the elite? Have collectors become the ...

31 Jul 20141h 19min

Sex, bugs & video tapes: the private lives of public figures deserve more protection from the press

Sex, bugs & video tapes: the private lives of public figures deserve more protection from the press

Would you like the details of your sex life, private conversations, and hidden passions splashed across the pages of a British tabloid or published online? Could you do anything to stop it? In Britain...

17 Jul 201448min

Art Schools Are Bad At Producing Good Artists

Art Schools Are Bad At Producing Good Artists

What makes a good artist? Can creativity can be taught? What kind of education ups the ante for success in today’s global culture? These are some of the questions that were explored in this Intellige...

10 Jul 20141h 33min

Jesus Would Have Voted Democrat

Jesus Would Have Voted Democrat

Remember the rich man and the eye of the needle? Blessed are the meek? The last shall be first? Jesus didn’t hold much truck for wealth or power, nor was he exactly a supporter of family values. He di...

3 Jul 20141h 43min

Shakespeare vs Milton: The Kings of English Literature Debate

Shakespeare vs Milton: The Kings of English Literature Debate

Nearly four centuries after his death, no writer has come close to matching Shakespeare’s understanding of the world – or his gift for dramatic poetry. It’s not just kings and queens that he captured ...

26 Jun 20142h 14min

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