If a drone were ever to shoot dead a UK Cabinet minister in the royal box at Wimbledon, a Gulf potentate at Ascot, or a Chinese dissident in the stands at Wembley Stadium, we might look back at the 10 incremental steps that got us there and wonder why we let them happen when the West was still the dominant global force.
The only thing eroding is the veneer that anyone in the imperial core gives a shit about assassinations. We’re less able to credibly hand wring than ever before, but it was always only hand wringing.