Following my piece last week wherein I had written on President Donald Trump’s claim that American forces allegedly used a mysterious weapon dubbed the ‘Discombobulator’ during its operation in Venezuela to depose Maduro, some readers have asked me that if such a weapon was indeed so effective, why did it not work in Iran? The short answer is that wars are rarely decided by weapons alone. A technological advantage can destroy an installation, disrupt communications or incapac

The U.S. President’s latest military buzzword may be political theatre. Even so, it captures a profound shift towards wars fought by perceptions and paralysing systems. When Donald Trump spoke of a mysterious “Discombobulator” after the dramatic American operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January this year, reactions oscillated between scepticism and intrigue. Operation Absolute Resolve was extraordinary by any measure, involving more than 150 airc