…a lesson in war strategy
As you know, Dear Reader, your Eyewitness is always on the lookout as he scours the news for lessons we in Guyana can apply to improve our condition. So here we have that new Israel/Palestinian war that’s dominating our newsfeed – and TV screens, if we’re of the older generation!! So, what can we glean from the goings-on to date?? After all, we’ve got that loudmouth Maduro on our western border threatening us with all sorts of doomsday scenarios – one of which gotta be an invasion with their superior arms, like fighter jets and suchlike.
The first thing that comes to your Eyewitness’s mind is that the Israelis had lulled themselves into a false sense of security, because they’d created a border wall embedded with micro surveillance devices: finely-calibrated subterranean digital sensors of extremely high sensitivity to monitor Hamas’s movements through tunnels; patrolled the border terrain by technologically-equipped Israeli Ground Forces; and protected their airspace by their renowned Iron Dome system – which formed a supposedly impenetrable antimissile shield over Israel for twelve years now.
But here it was – hundreds of Hamas fighters swept across the border on motorcycles, paragliders and SUVs – even as they simultaneously launched a blitz with more than 7,000 missiles!! So all the best laid plans of mice and the Israelis went awry!! And the impenetrable border came to nought. The Dome didn’t work! The Gaza barrier was infiltrated! Intelligence and surveillance collapsed! The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were caught by surprise! Israel’s much-vaunted security and microsurveillance creds are in the dust! Israel is no longer the most securitized country in the world! That boast is toast!
So, what’s the lesson?? Simply that this was a low-tech Hamas takedown of the most sophisticated high-tech national security system on the planet. And it demonstrated that an old battle technique – mass attacks – can bring down more than the walls of Jericho!!
Didn’t we read about the Mongols overrunning the Russians and Poles en masse? And the Russians learning that lesson and swarming over allied troops during WWII? What about those attacks against fortified castles during medieval times?? The troops rushing forward in full-tilt charges by war-horses under cover of fusillades of arrows — to overwhelm the supposedly better guarded walls??
So, this is the lesson for us: Just as Hamas swarmed Israel with an age-old military tactic, we’ve gotta prepare for the same against the Venezies! So what if they got their F16s?? We can mount swarm attacks by cheaply assembled and disposable drones!! Our GDF gotta move away from the fixed-position strategies and surprise the Venezies with swarm attacks!!
We’ll bring the past and future into the present!!
…to treasure the girl child
Last week, we were supposed to commemorate “International Day of the Girl Child” on Oct 11. But your Eyewitness didn’t notice no particularly noteworthy event arranged by the movers and shakers to remind Guyanese about our collective responsibility to correct their historic discrimination, did we?? It wasn’t till the late sixties that large sections of our nation even thought it “proper” to educate girls!! Their role was to “stay home and mind baby!!”
But girls have been clawing their way out of that ghetto on their own!! Have you noticed that, in the last decade, girls have been outperforming boys at the secondary school exams?? Did you notice that the entire Robotics Team at the World Championships are girls?? Have you noticed that the only local company that bid for an oil block in the latest round was all female??
But there’s still a long way to go in doing justice by our girl children. The pay disparity between them and men is a critical one that must go!!
…about cricket consistency
Your Eyewitness still can’t get over that we aren’t in the World Cup. He’s old enough to remember when India were minnows. But now they’re dominating in all versions of the game. They play for country! And we??
