Capitalism and the War Machine.  Technological Evolution of Warfare to Capitalism. 7 17 2026

If we look at the evolution of modern capitalist warfare, drone technology and missiles capable of shooting down missiles have totally changed society.  The one way drone aircraft, primarily developed by Iran, based on a design of a more sophisticated two way drone brought down a little more than a decade ago, has been used in Ukraine, where the most high tech weapons are being used in a fight between Russia and America’s proxies.

It has gotten to the point Germany has decided not to cooperate on a new generation of fighter jet aircraft with France.  They have not publicly cited a reason for this, but what should be obvious is jets are getting shot down by Russia.  They can hardly even fire a missile at Russia without it being shot down, no less a manned aircraft.

It is so impossible to use fighter jets there that drones are the main means of warfare, that is in the trenches.  But the camera on the drone, combined with satellite tracking systems, primarily the one built by Elon Musk, the star link internet connections, have proved, in combination with long range ballistic missiles fired by Ukraine, to hit targets in Russia often a thousand kilometers or more from  Russia’s borders to Kiev.  

But without Starlink, Ukraine has little hope of defeating Russia. The drones are totally reliant on it.   The missiles too are part of the machine.

It is remarkable though to see the failure of jet aircraft, which Russia also owns, to be of any help in a front line condition where any movement of individuals or small groups face drone attacks by both parties.

The Patriot missiles proved effective in stopping missiles fired at Kiev, but at a cost of a million dollars a missile has left Kiev unable to stop Russian missiles.  But the presence of these systems have made airplanes a failure in this new form of warfare. Ukraine now wants to produce their own, but Germany gave up on it as it was too costly and difficult to produce without American engineering. 

The peace movement was focused on American and the Soviet Union learning to live with each other.  Groups like Greenpeace showed ecological cooperation was required, but what did the bourgeoisie do?  Remove the socialists from power, now violently in Ukraine.   They can’t even get along with Vladimir Putin, a capitalist oligarch himself. Apparently he is too far left for the reactionary bourgeoisie in Germany. 

Donald Trump has had success with aircraft technology in the developing world, in Venezuela for instance. The coup de tet has given  America a new colony there. 

After Trump’s success in Venezuela  he felt he could handle Iran. But even in Iran the aircraft keep getting destroyed.  They have lost 50 or more, some in flight, others parked on the ground.  Given its close proximity to what was the Iron Curtain,  they have missile defenses.  They also have missile and drone technology capable of stopping Chevron and ExxonMobil from mining oil and shipping it in the region.

If anything Iran should prove that even with a sophisticated air bombing campaign, air power will not dislodge Iran’s leadership from power.  If anything it empowered them to fight  back, with missiles and drones.  

But what has really been strange is how easy it was to shut off the strait of Hormuz, where massive amounts of oil were flowing from Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.  It is shut again, Iran controls it.  The shipping companies cannot insure the ships,  it costs a lot of money to use ships in war zones, the companies usually avoid bad areas with ships worth tens of millions of dollars. 

Iran is limited though as they have not found a way to attack the nuclear powered aircraft carriers with drones.  Without a sophisticated Navy they have yet to sink a big ship.  But the aircraft get hit sometimes now that  the war has been going on, and large ships and drone technology seem to be on a collision course.  Ukraine is using missiles to destroy Russian grain shipments, it is proving to be easy to target large vessels, which could face the fate of war aircraft, if Iran can build the missiles to do it.

The Saudis are shipping oil through the Red Sea, but Iran’s friends the Houthi rebels are even making this harder, contesting control of the Red sea by the Saudis.  What drone warfare has shown is just how vulnerable petroleum production is to small explosives on drones.

Iran knew this, and was prepared to hit petroleum production in their region, striking Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain ,with missiles, crippling their now privately owned oil shipping and production.  They are cutting off access by the bourgeoisie to conquered territory in Iraq, where money was being made for the  home country after several wars that removed nationalized oil. But without stable shipping; with ground transport of Iraq’s oil basically impossible, oil must move through the strait of Hormuz. 

Thus the embargo on Iran’s ports by America, in a conflict that looked solved until Trump and Iran again started fighting.  One thing should be clear, America’s nuclear weapons have been of no assistance in Iran.  This should teach the Iranians that nuclear weapons are a crutch not an asset.  And reject building nuclear weapons.

Even with little or no drones or aircraft of any kind Afghanistan removed the American bourgeoisie.  It took 20 years, but America was conquered there.  No nuclear weapons were used, they were of no help. 

The only option is to stop producing jet fighter aircraft.  They are only effective in the developing world, where the primitive conditions do not include antimissile defenses.  Trump is living in a fantasy world if he thinks by air bombing Iran they are going to give in.  They are shooting down the F35’s, we saw the pictures at the beginning of the war there, the crashing down airplanes.  Short of a ground invasion, in a large new Middle Eastern war, Trump looks destined for failure in Iran.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

7 17 2026