New Orleans       Not all bizarre news is about the presidential election, especially in what passes for modern warfare.  We’ve been amazed at the use of drones by both sides in Ukraine.  Now, pagers were detonated in Lebanon as an Israeli strike against Hezbollah, killing a dozen and injuring close to 3000.

First, I should explain for the Gen X and Gen Z crowd what a pager is.  Before cellphones became ubiquitous and when local and long-distance phone calls were not unlimited on most plans, but paid on-the-barrel-head, pagers were common.  They were small, often clip-on devises hardly much larger than a cigarette lighter (I won’t explain what that is, because you don’t need to know) or a matchbox.  Nothing but the phone number would flash across a small screen.  Sometimes, the number would print out a message.  For years, I wore one, because ACORN didn’t want to pay for both the incoming call and the outgoing call.  You would see the number and know you needed to give a ring back.  Maybe even doing so during cheaper hours early in the morning or later at night.  Sometimes, if you look carefully, you can see doctors and medical personnel still using them, so that a phone ringing won’t interrupt, or so they can get notice of emergencies.  If you watch enough television, you can see some drug dealers still sporting them.  Needless to say, pagers are old school.

For whatever reason, they were used by Hezbollah in the Middle East.  The United States classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization because of its opposition to the state of Israel.  In Lebanon it is also a political party and has been part of the parliament and governing coalitions for many years.  There is an armed wing, and they are rated as a medium-sized army with experience in a number of armed conflicts in the Middle East, often with in partnership and support of Iran.

Somehow, and it is likely to be a long, long time before we know the details, if ever, Israel seems to have embedded in their supply chain to such a degree that an explosive mechanism was inserted in the pager at the point of manufacturing.  Hezbollah bought 5000 to replace old pagers with more modern equipment.  Israel was able to detonate them simultaneously to lethal effect.

Wow!  This is crazy.  How was anyone able to pull that off, and, if Israel could do that, what might be possible for other countries.  What other equipment that many or any of us might purchase might become dangerous?  At one level, even if this kind of move is within the rules of war, and certainly Hezbollah and Israel have been in constant conflict for years, call it whatever, it’s war, it seems indiscriminate, and not just targeting combatants.  In fact, an eight-year-old was among the victims.

One of my Facebook friends posted something about being beware of exploding toasters.  How about phones manufactured in some country not sending love letters to us these days?  If the FBI and CIA have tried to get phone companies to put backdoors on phones, this wasn’t an idea original with them.  What might Elon Musk put in a Tesla?  How many kinds of equipment and various devices could be weaponized or neutralized or whatever in the name of conflict and disagreement?

Rules always follow after tragedy.  They are almost never preemptive.  In modern conflicts, especially when it comes to civilians, no rules seem to apply.  Electricity, water, and food sources all seem to be fair game for some countries in conflict.  Add electronics of all kinds to that list, and maybe more.  When there are no limits or boundaries, we are all in danger and potentially fair game.