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Much has been made of the intelligence failure that allowed the brutal and surprising attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to catch the Israeli military off guard.
More surprising was Hamas’ ability to use bulldozers, hang gliders and motorbikes to breach and overcome sophisticated defense systems that include a 40-mile-long wall separating Israel from where the majority of Palestinians live in Gaza.
But what some military analysts did not expect was Israeli military officials’ apparent overreliance on intelligence and early detection systems.
Over the course of his career in special operations, retired U.S. Colonel Liam Collins conducted hundreds of tactical, operational and strategic missions based on intelligence. “Never once did I expect intelligence to be perfect,” Collins wrote. “In fact, it rarely was.”
More important in preparing a military defense, Collins explained, is “understanding how your enemy thinks and operates.”
And on that front, the Israeli military also appeared to struggle.
Lastly, we’ve got a special Friday the 13th news quiz today, written by University of South Carolina sociology professor and expert on superstition Barry Markovsky. Could it be your lucky week? We’ll send The Conversation stickers to the first 13 readers who send us a screenshot showing a score of 7 or 8.
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Howard Manly
Race + Equity Editor
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Israeli soldiers ride on a transport vehicle near Re'im, Israel, on Oct. 10, 2023.
Marcus Yam/ Los Angeles Times
Liam Collins, United States Military Academy West Point
A special forces officer explains why an overreliance on intelligence is a recipe for disaster.
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Politics + Society
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Topher L. McDougal, University of San Diego
Many people in Gaza are reliant on the United Nations and other international aid groups to meet their basic needs, like food and medical care. A scholar of peace and conflict economics explains why.
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Economy + Business
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Christopher A. Hartwell, Kozminski University; Paul Vaaler, University of Minnesota
A new study traces how Russia’s empire building, especially in Ukraine, resulted in long-term economic damage and fomented rebellion for over a century.
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Science + Technology
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Iain Boyd, University of Colorado Boulder
If Israel’s Iron Dome is the best air defense system in the world, how did so many Hamas missiles get through? An aerospace engineer explains it’s a game of numbers.
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John van de Lindt, Colorado State University
One way to prevent the destruction wrought by a devastating earthquake – like the one that hit Morocco in September 2023 – is to construct resilient homes and buildings.
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Ethics + Religion
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Rhona Trauvitch, Florida International University
Advanced artificial intelligence is new, but a similar idea has been around for hundreds of years: the power of a just-right sequence of numbers, letters or elements to animate matter.
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Health + Medicine
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Zachary Gillen, Mississippi State University
Weightlifting and other forms of resistance training can help stave off loss of muscle mass and other age-related physical decline.
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Education
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Francesco Fedele, Georgia Institute of Technology
Art and science combine in this engineering course to let students turn their brainwaves into creative works.
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International
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Simon D Angus, Monash University
Kiptum – and to some extent Kipchoge – have done just enough to make the ‘sub-2’ moment a likely reality in the next few years.
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Thomas Froehlich, King's College London
Nato has promised to act if the pipeline has been attacked, but a thorough investigation is needed before jumping to any conclusions.
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The Conversation Quiz 🧠
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We've got a special Friday the 13th news quiz today, written by University of South Carolina sociology professor and expert on superstition Barry Markovsky.
Here’s the first question of this week’s edition:
I’ve written for The Conversation about Friday the 13th. The day has a bad reputation because…
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A. More bad things happen than expected by chance
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B. Parents dread weekends with their 13-year-olds
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C. The day-date combination functions like a cultural “meme”
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D. Apollo 13 exploded on a Friday
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Test your knowledge
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