Tomorrow's war today

Well teleportation we might not have, but look at this pic from Greece last summer.
Here we have a "protester" (misunderstood youth with a lack of job opportunities and government representation, not a communist hooligan burning his own city. Get it straight.)
using a green laser to attack the eyes of Greek riot police. These lasers were recently outlawed in Australia because of suspected Islamic militants were shining them at the cockpits of jets as they came in for landing. This could very easily blind the pilot and cause the plane to crash. Exposure of lasers to the eyes is also thought to cause ocular cancers. So this is not some cute peacenik trick to play on police, like chaining yourself to a fence. This is an attack, with a dangerous weapon.

Lasers and other energy weapons are becoming increasing important and will play a larger role in missile and air defense as the technologies, and more importantly the power sources are
advanced. The military has been working on a gigantic airborne laser for a long time now, but are still having problems with it, not the least of which is that most lasers that are for more than exercising the cat need huge tanks of expensive, corrosive chemicals to work.



One other note, protesting is a fine way to show your dissent, and I believe that free peoples have the right to protest. But the second that you wear a mask, throw a stone, tip a car, or shine a laser at some one's eyes, you are no longer a protester. You are a asshole rioter. And the response to a riot is commensurate with the size of the riot. 40 idiots protesting the G8 in St. Simons= stern looks from overly well-equipped police. 25,000 masked hooligans burning the city to protest whatever is upsetting them=National Guard in APCs with live ammo. Police have a duty to end a riot with as little loss of life as possible, but some people on the extreme left like to think that they can use methods against "the system" that they would consider war crimes if they were used in war. Like, um, I dunno, intentionally blinding people.