It seems odd that there’s a rough societal consensus that 1+x=0 needs to have a solution—and that it’s not just an imaginary number to appease the accountants—but 1+x²=0 need not have a solution, unless it’s an imaginary number to appease the physicists and electrical engineers.
Unlike a formal military, insurgents often lack standard uniforms, a clear hierarchy, or a fixed front line. They operate within the population, using "asymmetric" tactics.
We have got on to slippery ice where there is no friction and so in a certain sense the conditions are ideal, but also, just because of that, we are unable to walk. We want to walk: so we need friction. Back to the rough ground!
It’s a valid question, and frankly, the answer is a cocktail of corporate greed, jurisdictional nightmares, and a "technological arms race" where the villains currently have the faster ships.