Mystic quill

  HOW DRONES CHANGED MODERN WARFARE By Selva Ganesh K mysticquill.blogspot.com We always assumed "drone" was a modern word. But the first drone used in war dates back to 1849. During the First Italian War of Independence, Austrian forces launched 200 incendiary balloons over Venice, each carrying 24 to 30 pounds of explosives. Humans have understood unmanned weapons since the 18th century.   Austrian forces launched incendiary balloons over Venice in 1849 — history's first recorded drone attack. But nothing prepared the world for what happened in 2020.   During the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Azerbaijan and Armenia, drones played a decisive role for the first time in history. Azerbaijan deployed a sophisticated fleet of Israeli and Turkish drones that systematically dismantled Armenia’s Soviet-era defense system. Everyone predicted the war would last months. Maybe years. It ended in 44 days.   The Bayraktar TB2 drone — deployed by Azerbai...

  Tamil Nadu's Quiet Secret: How a Single State in India Keeps Peace Between Hindus and Muslims By Selva Ganesh K In current times, we hear a lot about communal violence from every part of our planet. As far-right ideology grows, many minorities feel threatened over race, culture and religion — a world where one community dominates another through supremacist mentality. Even in India, whose national motto is "Unity in Diversity," communal violence between Hindus and Muslims is rising. From chanting "Jai Shree Ram" inside mosques — an act the Karnataka High Court declined to prosecute, a decision now being challenged in the Supreme Court ( The Wire, 2024 ) — to a BJP candidate mimicking shooting an arrow at a mosque during the Hyderabad elections ( Scroll.in, 2024 ), communal tensions continue to grow. But there is a state in southern India that tells a different story. Tamil Nadu, home to one of the world's oldest languages, has a unique culture. Despite bei...