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