{"id":14605,"date":"2026-10-11T18:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T23:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=14605"},"modified":"2026-10-11T18:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T23:13:18","slug":"drone-ontology-part-2-ukrainian-drones-techno-fossil-imperialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2026\/10\/11\/drone-ontology-part-2-ukrainian-drones-techno-fossil-imperialism\/","title":{"rendered":"Drone ontology, part 2: Ukrainian drones & techno-fossil imperialism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s been a couple of years since I posted on the topic of “drone ontology,” in a piece that was intended to be followed up soon after (“Drone ontology, part 1<\/a>“). The Russo-Ukrainian war has since taken my thoughts on drones in a somewhat different direction. “Part 2,” therefore, focuses on what drones are doing in that part of the world \u2014 and on how it is affecting what we all think, read, and imagine in the rest of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the targeting of Yandex, Russia’s main internet provider (some call it “Russia’s Google”), alongside the targeting of oil and military infrastructure in Russia, is a way of trying to bring down not only Russian imperialism but also the multipolar, multi-modal kind of imperialism that unites Putinist Russia, Trumpist America, and other fossil-fuel extractivist empires with the misinformation-fueled techno-extractivism of the global far right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or so I argue. You can read the full piece at Terrestri(e)alism<\/a> (or in its original version at UKR-TAZ<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a couple of years since I posted on the topic of “drone ontology,” in a piece that was intended to be followed up soon after (“Drone ontology, part 1“). The Russo-Ukrainian war has since taken my thoughts on drones in a somewhat different direction. “Part 2,” therefore, focuses on what drones are doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-3Nz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14482,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2026\/04\/24\/how-war-is-environmental-the-ukrainian-case\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":0},"title":"How war is environmental: the Ukrainian case","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This is cross-posted from Terrestrialism. The footnotes direct you there (but if you wish to follow them and return here, just use the back button on your browser). The Russo-Ukrainian war is an environmental war, for at least the following reasons. 1. It is an environmental war because environmental destruction\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthropocene"","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13821,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2024\/12\/17\/drone-ontology-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":1},"title":"Drone ontology, part 1","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I suspect I'm not the only one fascinated by the mystery #drone sightings that have been reported in various parts of the eastern United States and occasionally near military installations in Europe and the UK over the last several weeks. There are three general hypotheses I can think of to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media ecology"","block_context":{"text":"Media ecology","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/media_ecology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2024\/12\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13246,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/06\/29\/russia-the-climate-crisis-ecocide\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":2},"title":"Russia, the climate crisis, & ecocide","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"June 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My recent E-Flux article, \"Russia, Decolonization, and the Capitalism-Democracy Muddle,\" raised the question of Russia's potential \"decolonization\" -- what it means (and doesn't), and how the debate over it, and over decolonization in general, needs some political updating. The article seems no less relevant after the abortive mutiny led last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2023\/06\/image-6.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7078,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2013\/12\/01\/ontologies-of-bilocation\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":3},"title":"Ontologies of bilocation","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For interdisciplinary scholars, it's always a challenge to decide which conferences to attend and which to forgo. The problem is particularly acute when the conferences are held at the same time, as occurred last week with the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and American Academy of Religion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8017,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/02\/08\/ontology-across-the-disciplines-reading-group\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":4},"title":"“Ontology Across the Disciplines” reading group","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"February 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm participating in a reading group here at the University of Vermont entitled \"Ontology Across the Disciplines.\" (More than just participating... I've been gently arm-twisted by the organizers, anthropologists Parker Van Valkenberg and Ben Eastman, into chairing the discussions. Thanks, guys ;-) ) Since I know there are folks out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philosophy"","block_context":{"text":"Philosophy","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/geo_philosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14203,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2025\/08\/19\/the-axis-of-oil\/","url_meta":{"origin":14605,"position":5},"title":"The axis of oil","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There are three main hypotheses explaining Donald Trump's eagerness to please Vladimir Putin. The first is \"conspiratorial\": that Putin has something over Trump, related perhaps to the Steele dossier, Trump's real estate shenanigans, the KGB's long-term efforts to cultivate Trump as a \"Russian asset,\" or maybe even the Epstein files\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Climate change"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/climate-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv-ukrtaz\/files\/2025\/08\/image-17-868x1024.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14606,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14605\/revisions\/14606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}