I guess I didn't see anywhere the reason why use a mini-nuke? Are they saying it wasn't possible with a sub/drone conventional explosive? Wouldn't that be opening the whole war to using tactical nukes while laying down a signature? Is this just an attempt to justify some future use of nukes?
My assumption is that a mini-nuke provides the combination of a relatively small package with greater power--necessary for rupturing a hardened target like at gas pipeline in a relatively inaccessible location. A submersible seems to me to have been absolutely required for this operation, and the required amounts of conventional explosives might be too heavy or bulky for a submersible. That's my speculation. Would that have been reckless, could it lead to escalation? Of course.
As to the proposal that the Nord Stream sabotage was a mini-nuke, there would then be absolutely no doubt as to who was responsible. Radiation apparently has a signature? I'll never believe that Russia was responsible, because of those things known as valves.
Re the radiation, I have no idea how that works with tactical nukes. Reading the Wiki account makes one wonder whether use on a pipeline would indeed be possible for the initial breach:
Does four make the use of such weapons less likely than just one? Logically, no. The effects of four would be no more catastrophic than just one. The Wiki article makes it clear that these weapons can be specifically designed for very limited areas and purposes:
"designed to be used ..., mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territory.
"Tactical nuclear weapons include ..., land mines, depth charges, ... . Small, two-man portable ... tactical weapons ... have been developed, .... In wartime, such explosives could be used for demolishing "chokepoints" ..., such as at tunnels, ..., and long viaducts."
Intelligence sources quoted in the news magazine Spiegel believe the pipelines were hit in four places by explosions using 500kg of TNT, the equivalent to the explosive power of a heavy aircraft bomb. German investigators have undertaken seismic readings to calculate the power of the blasts.
It remains a mystery as to how the explosives reached the pipeline. According to initial reports, the explosions happened at depths of between 70 and 90 metres.
#1 is legally a bit more complicated. My belief--I've read about this but have forgotten--is that the domestic collection is justified under the Patriot Act somehow. (NSA collection outside US is always done.) The FBI access (and its contractors) to content is legally justified with NSLs. My understanding is that metadata doesn't require an NSL, more or less like a pen register. The really big deal--what you thought that was already a big deal?--is that from 2012 there was a MOU between the FBI and CIA that provided CIA access under similar terms (NSL justification).
I believe the general outlines are along those lines. But there's also GCHQ collection of domestic US content that is shared, so no NSL since it comes from a foreign power. That's what was being done to Trump.
Read Erik Andersen @ErkPerk and @MichaKobs on this. Andersen is a Swedish engineer who carried out a private inspection and survey of Nordstream damage. He says that most of the damage was done by the jet (very high velocity) release of high pressure gas after a surgical rupture. I trust both these engineers.
That's what some other commenters here are saying, as well. I have nothing invested in this. It's clear to me that, in general terms--but probably specific as well--this was an American run operation. Nobody else would have done this without the Zhou regime's OK. Moreover, it seems to me that the logistics of creating the rupture at that depth requires a state actor, rather than 6 Ukrainians on a yacht. Few states have the required capabilities.
I pasted in a C&C substack offering an explanation that mentions he'll be saving a lot of money by getting rid of the bots. It's in the comments somewhere and is worth a read.
I read his analysis yesterday morning and Sundance’s.
My bw swag was based on my e-commerce experience, it’s amazing how much bw they suck up and the headaches of blocking them. And for small operations it’s a huge cost.
I can see that too, as per CTH's argument (Shy Boy's link above). Although of course who knows (other than Elon) if that is the primary driver of the decision.
and the virtual server usage was growing it appears beyond a normal curve of new accounts. Probably had been for sometime. DeepState Intel (DARPA) and all will suffer some... and good.
I'm pretty skeptical about the "mini-nuke" theory. But maybe it does sort of tie in with these bizarre unexplained localized ocean "extreme heatwave" events going on in the European coastal North Atlantic? Stirring up some seismic activity? Underwater volcanos are definitely a thing.
I looked at the area of the Nordstream pipeline explosion. As an ex-Navy diver, the max depth a diver can go is 300-feet using mixed gas. The area of the explosion is closer to 1000-feet deep. Hence a submersible would be needed. A prefab shape charge can be made but remember the gas pipe has an outer larger pipe which is usually concrete filled. Too much speculation.
My Father in Law used to be a hard-hat diver, commanded ASR-9 Florikan in the late 50s. Went on to dive for Merritt-Chapman in the early 60s. Got an image of him in his rig, minus the helmet & having a cigarette, just prior to a dive. An older Navy to be sure.
He's still kicking, now 90 years old. Loved the dirty shirt Nav.
He went to the VA recently, had never done so before. They set him up with a set of hearing aids which are the best he's ever had, and found some other service-related disabilities.
BTW, Nimitz had some thoughts which may be of interest, who am I to dispute a Fleet Admiral:
Musk loves bleeding edge technology & EVs. I wish the former wd just go away & they'll have to incapicitate me to take my Silverado 2500HD.
Beyond that, what other hi-tech maven is willing to even consider whether the latest innovations are a benefit to or hurt the users of the technology? Pretty damned horrifying that our govt is spending our money to scrape our data to essentially engage in mass mind control, eh?
"mass mind control, eh?" They don't seem very successful. The big news this Fourth of July is a poll that just came out. According to the poll, just 31% of American adults "have confidence" in the U.S. government, down from 56%, the highest in the G7, in 2006. A whopping 69% of Americans said they did not have confidence in the government. I would like to know if of the 31% there are a sizable number that positively support the government, or most haven't thought into the matter and have yet to lose trust. Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?
Yes, we know abt it now & glad to see few are willingly buying in any longer. Sometimes I forget to say what tense I'm speaking in - still stings that I went along w/all the psyops unquestioningly from the 70s(?) up thru early 2000s. Perhaps the peoples' saving grace will be that govt just continues to double down on the same ol plays from the same ol playbook that no one believes any longer?
Easy fiat currency might be reaching the end of the line for them too w/BRICS coming online. Interesting comments & rts on Luongo's twitter today. Yellen making a hasty trip to China.
Crazy. Looks to me like our 'adverseries' have this brash hegemon by the short & curlies, yet pretend Uncle Sam continues on oblivious?
Twitter is afire today w/Ukraine's nuclear war threats err warnings & quotes of the NATO article allowing instant membership for Ukr if things go nuclear.
Maybe all of this is bluster & distraction from looming economic issues? Sick. Nothing had or has to become unmanageable, but that wd require values like honesty & integrity. Guess those didn't make the CFR list.
I don't know what Elon's plans are either, but facts are facts. If you go on Twitter, you will see a whole lot of anti-globalist content, as opposed to when it was owned by Jack "Creepy Beard" Dorsey. As for Nordstream, who cares how it was done? The important thing is that we knew WHO did it. And that was obvious from the day after: America and/or her client states.
Plenty heap big drama in what Rickard has shared, but on the far-far-far-side (of the unlikely rainbow (= no use of a nuke). Yes, NATO-controlled data collection points could get gamed (sheesh, so far have we fallen to make that imagination a top-thought), but even a 'dinky' nuke will leave broadly distributed easily independently verifiably measurable clear signs of radioactive signatures (plural, and they waters can be sampled over time as the isotopes act-like clocks: they will announce the common time of detonation to within an hour, and that is from crude measurements at that). The echo-focus stuff is ... a nice touch? (=hoohey). The 'warmer than expected' idea is funky:: by the same arguments offered, could be gamed NATO data. The seismic signature establishes the lower detectable 'boom' threshold assignment at 150kt, meaning a 0.25kt blast would be noise on any signal. I would judge this input as FUD and distraction info from someone's IC (could be western or eastern dis-info, see below why). Finally, how over-the-top insane would the western military/political creatures have to be to introduce a 'stealth nuke hit'? It would quickly rupture NATO and western support for the war, and absolutely inflame the EU and Russian *and* US public. Nope, that story is a weird and unsettling (the goal, I think) bit of fake-news.
As for Nordstream, what shocks me is that my understanding that Norway was a willing participant, which would mean that they allowed a nuke to be detonated in their waters. Then again, Hersh claims Scholz was okay with Nordstream 2 being destroyed. Even looking at Trudeau, on the other side of the planet, it's clear that globalists don't care about their own citizens, so none of this should surprise me. And they certainly don't care about the environment, except as a tool to control us "useless eaters."
I just hope that NATO/Ukraine don't go through with a false flag involving the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but as the Duran keeps reminding us, the neocons have no reverse gear.
No. It's not a ban on links. It's Twitter making it impossible to actually embed tweets. That's fine as far as texts and images go--I can copy and paste. The hangup comes with embedded media.
Thank you, sir. I read every post you make because you have access to a lot of information most of us do not have.
If I had enough cash to do anything beyond "existing" (Thanks, Joe!), I'd subscribe to the pay side. Maybe install a "tip jar?" My wife is dying of dementia, but I keep her home with me after fifty years of marriage; I owe her that much. I was a paramedic for 12 years and then an ER RN for 27 years, so I have the knowledge and skills to do so.
It also helps me realize that our buddy Joe is suffering from the same disease as my wife. I know what those bewildered facial expressions mean. (This does not compute!)
"The boot of freedom." I like it and I think Mr. Benz is spot on regarding the implications of Musk's actions, even if his intent remains murky. If his intent is to block the data scraping that has been done for surveillance and narrative manipulative purposes, and if he can succeed at this, I feel Twitter will gain many new users such as myself who have been reticent to open accounts thus far.
The idea that blocking scraping by putting up a joinwall keeps out the "deep state" and other users of bulk data is just laughable. Maybe it incentivizes some of them to pay their fare:
NSLs aren't for backdoors. They're basically NS subpoenas--admin subpoenas for NS purposes. Backdoors are written into permanent agreements. The joinwall isn't the only part of what he's done. OTOH, I have no idea how effective the total package is.
I would think that a sufficiently broad and long-lived NS subpoena isn't really any different from a contractual backdoor. Just, the recipient of a NSL has no leverage to negotiate. Almost certainly Musk inherited something of the sort. But anyway, what I had in mind was Dr Shiva's thing.
Good question. I did a search and couldn't find anything about an impact on sea life. In fairness, the types of TNT equivalents they were talking about should have had an impact using conventional explosives, too. Could the depth have made a difference? Not so much sea life at that depth?
To be clear, I'm not advancing the mini-nuke theory, simply airing it. You express the reason well:
"Questions beget questions. The lack of investigation (questioning) can be telling - or are there known answers that aren't for public consumption ( usual govt modus operandi )?"
Judge Blocks "Egregious" Biden Officials, Academic Watchdogs From Manipulating Social Media Narratives
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/judge-blocks-egregious-biden-officials-academic-watchdogs-manipulating-social-media
I guess I didn't see anywhere the reason why use a mini-nuke? Are they saying it wasn't possible with a sub/drone conventional explosive? Wouldn't that be opening the whole war to using tactical nukes while laying down a signature? Is this just an attempt to justify some future use of nukes?
My assumption is that a mini-nuke provides the combination of a relatively small package with greater power--necessary for rupturing a hardened target like at gas pipeline in a relatively inaccessible location. A submersible seems to me to have been absolutely required for this operation, and the required amounts of conventional explosives might be too heavy or bulky for a submersible. That's my speculation. Would that have been reckless, could it lead to escalation? Of course.
As to the proposal that the Nord Stream sabotage was a mini-nuke, there would then be absolutely no doubt as to who was responsible. Radiation apparently has a signature? I'll never believe that Russia was responsible, because of those things known as valves.
Re the radiation, I have no idea how that works with tactical nukes. Reading the Wiki account makes one wonder whether use on a pipeline would indeed be possible for the initial breach:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_nuclear_weapon#Yield
Does four make the use of such weapons less likely than just one? Logically, no. The effects of four would be no more catastrophic than just one. The Wiki article makes it clear that these weapons can be specifically designed for very limited areas and purposes:
"designed to be used ..., mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territory.
"Tactical nuclear weapons include ..., land mines, depth charges, ... . Small, two-man portable ... tactical weapons ... have been developed, .... In wartime, such explosives could be used for demolishing "chokepoints" ..., such as at tunnels, ..., and long viaducts."
Or hardened pipelines? Seems an obvious use.
It's a good argument. But, the sheer amount of conventional explosives makes the operation quite difficult, given the need for secrecy ...
I don't know the capabilities of the submersibles in question, but ...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/30/nord-stream-blasts-size-equal-to-large-amount-of-explosive-un-told
Intelligence sources quoted in the news magazine Spiegel believe the pipelines were hit in four places by explosions using 500kg of TNT, the equivalent to the explosive power of a heavy aircraft bomb. German investigators have undertaken seismic readings to calculate the power of the blasts.
It remains a mystery as to how the explosives reached the pipeline. According to initial reports, the explosions happened at depths of between 70 and 90 metres.
Swag’s:
1. NSA has a pipeline into Twitter directly. Either at overseas cable where they make copy of all internet traffic passing through, or elsewhere.
This then gets sent into super duper Data warehouse in Utah, along with all emails and text messages.
It’s legal since theoretically till it’s searched / used, no search warrants needed. Fbi etc has access. And at one time some contractors.
Who does not have access is third party, private censors.
2. Third party influencers/ censors that government outsourced due to due to legal issues and deniability are hit hard.
3. AI using Twitter data without paying to learn, are kneecapped.
4. Twitter sees huge decrease in bandwidth costs.
#1 is legally a bit more complicated. My belief--I've read about this but have forgotten--is that the domestic collection is justified under the Patriot Act somehow. (NSA collection outside US is always done.) The FBI access (and its contractors) to content is legally justified with NSLs. My understanding is that metadata doesn't require an NSL, more or less like a pen register. The really big deal--what you thought that was already a big deal?--is that from 2012 there was a MOU between the FBI and CIA that provided CIA access under similar terms (NSL justification).
I believe the general outlines are along those lines. But there's also GCHQ collection of domestic US content that is shared, so no NSL since it comes from a foreign power. That's what was being done to Trump.
Read Erik Andersen @ErkPerk and @MichaKobs on this. Andersen is a Swedish engineer who carried out a private inspection and survey of Nordstream damage. He says that most of the damage was done by the jet (very high velocity) release of high pressure gas after a surgical rupture. I trust both these engineers.
That's what some other commenters here are saying, as well. I have nothing invested in this. It's clear to me that, in general terms--but probably specific as well--this was an American run operation. Nobody else would have done this without the Zhou regime's OK. Moreover, it seems to me that the logistics of creating the rupture at that depth requires a state actor, rather than 6 Ukrainians on a yacht. Few states have the required capabilities.
You are probably not getting feedback Mark, because of your statement:
"It's clear to me... this was an American run operation."
It is clear to everyone reading, as well (or should be).
But of course.
The rest is all details.
The idea of a mini-nuke, however, I find laughable on its face. I don't have any inside knowledge however.
HAPPY Fourth ❗
I was hoping to get some feedback here.
Bandwidth costs.
I would not be surprised if this new policy cuts Twitter bandwidth costs by at least 2/3rds.
I pasted in a C&C substack offering an explanation that mentions he'll be saving a lot of money by getting rid of the bots. It's in the comments somewhere and is worth a read.
He has a very good substack:
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/limitations-monday-july-3-2023-c
500+ comments!
I read his analysis yesterday morning and Sundance’s.
My bw swag was based on my e-commerce experience, it’s amazing how much bw they suck up and the headaches of blocking them. And for small operations it’s a huge cost.
Yeah, he spells it all out with more specifics than just our common sense swags.
Right. Will read.
I can see that too, as per CTH's argument (Shy Boy's link above). Although of course who knows (other than Elon) if that is the primary driver of the decision.
and the virtual server usage was growing it appears beyond a normal curve of new accounts. Probably had been for sometime. DeepState Intel (DARPA) and all will suffer some... and good.
In this video Mike Benz delivers a fantastic primer on how the private/public partnership he dubs the “censorship industry” works.
https://twitter.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1666925704334950402?s=20
I'm pretty skeptical about the "mini-nuke" theory. But maybe it does sort of tie in with these bizarre unexplained localized ocean "extreme heatwave" events going on in the European coastal North Atlantic? Stirring up some seismic activity? Underwater volcanos are definitely a thing.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/seamen-friday-june-23-2023-c-and
IDK... it seems like something Jake the Snake Sullivan would love to try (and authorize)!
I looked at the area of the Nordstream pipeline explosion. As an ex-Navy diver, the max depth a diver can go is 300-feet using mixed gas. The area of the explosion is closer to 1000-feet deep. Hence a submersible would be needed. A prefab shape charge can be made but remember the gas pipe has an outer larger pipe which is usually concrete filled. Too much speculation.
Yo shipmate.
My Father in Law used to be a hard-hat diver, commanded ASR-9 Florikan in the late 50s. Went on to dive for Merritt-Chapman in the early 60s. Got an image of him in his rig, minus the helmet & having a cigarette, just prior to a dive. An older Navy to be sure.
He's still kicking, now 90 years old. Loved the dirty shirt Nav.
He went to the VA recently, had never done so before. They set him up with a set of hearing aids which are the best he's ever had, and found some other service-related disabilities.
BTW, Nimitz had some thoughts which may be of interest, who am I to dispute a Fleet Admiral:
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/have-yourself-a-very-nimitz-july
So the Ukrainian did it using a rented sailboat is not plausible?
Next you will tell me Biden did not get 81 million votes.
Well played!
Thanks. Those things are built to last and to withstand serious shocks. I suspect a lot of people don't get that.
Musk loves bleeding edge technology & EVs. I wish the former wd just go away & they'll have to incapicitate me to take my Silverado 2500HD.
Beyond that, what other hi-tech maven is willing to even consider whether the latest innovations are a benefit to or hurt the users of the technology? Pretty damned horrifying that our govt is spending our money to scrape our data to essentially engage in mass mind control, eh?
"mass mind control, eh?" They don't seem very successful. The big news this Fourth of July is a poll that just came out. According to the poll, just 31% of American adults "have confidence" in the U.S. government, down from 56%, the highest in the G7, in 2006. A whopping 69% of Americans said they did not have confidence in the government. I would like to know if of the 31% there are a sizable number that positively support the government, or most haven't thought into the matter and have yet to lose trust. Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?
Yes, we know abt it now & glad to see few are willingly buying in any longer. Sometimes I forget to say what tense I'm speaking in - still stings that I went along w/all the psyops unquestioningly from the 70s(?) up thru early 2000s. Perhaps the peoples' saving grace will be that govt just continues to double down on the same ol plays from the same ol playbook that no one believes any longer?
Easy fiat currency might be reaching the end of the line for them too w/BRICS coming online. Interesting comments & rts on Luongo's twitter today. Yellen making a hasty trip to China.
Hmmmm.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/07/punishing-sanctions.html
I’m guessing China used predatory prices to drive other producers out of the market. Then raised prices. Now trying sanctions.
Crazy. Looks to me like our 'adverseries' have this brash hegemon by the short & curlies, yet pretend Uncle Sam continues on oblivious?
Twitter is afire today w/Ukraine's nuclear war threats err warnings & quotes of the NATO article allowing instant membership for Ukr if things go nuclear.
Maybe all of this is bluster & distraction from looming economic issues? Sick. Nothing had or has to become unmanageable, but that wd require values like honesty & integrity. Guess those didn't make the CFR list.
We're in the Matrix. Keep the Silverado forever too.
Horse and cart gonna make a comeback I think.
Say it all together: American Exceptionalism!
I don't know what Elon's plans are either, but facts are facts. If you go on Twitter, you will see a whole lot of anti-globalist content, as opposed to when it was owned by Jack "Creepy Beard" Dorsey. As for Nordstream, who cares how it was done? The important thing is that we knew WHO did it. And that was obvious from the day after: America and/or her client states.
Plenty heap big drama in what Rickard has shared, but on the far-far-far-side (of the unlikely rainbow (= no use of a nuke). Yes, NATO-controlled data collection points could get gamed (sheesh, so far have we fallen to make that imagination a top-thought), but even a 'dinky' nuke will leave broadly distributed easily independently verifiably measurable clear signs of radioactive signatures (plural, and they waters can be sampled over time as the isotopes act-like clocks: they will announce the common time of detonation to within an hour, and that is from crude measurements at that). The echo-focus stuff is ... a nice touch? (=hoohey). The 'warmer than expected' idea is funky:: by the same arguments offered, could be gamed NATO data. The seismic signature establishes the lower detectable 'boom' threshold assignment at 150kt, meaning a 0.25kt blast would be noise on any signal. I would judge this input as FUD and distraction info from someone's IC (could be western or eastern dis-info, see below why). Finally, how over-the-top insane would the western military/political creatures have to be to introduce a 'stealth nuke hit'? It would quickly rupture NATO and western support for the war, and absolutely inflame the EU and Russian *and* US public. Nope, that story is a weird and unsettling (the goal, I think) bit of fake-news.
It looks like Elon did us a favour. I think.
As for Nordstream, what shocks me is that my understanding that Norway was a willing participant, which would mean that they allowed a nuke to be detonated in their waters. Then again, Hersh claims Scholz was okay with Nordstream 2 being destroyed. Even looking at Trudeau, on the other side of the planet, it's clear that globalists don't care about their own citizens, so none of this should surprise me. And they certainly don't care about the environment, except as a tool to control us "useless eaters."
I just hope that NATO/Ukraine don't go through with a false flag involving the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, but as the Duran keeps reminding us, the neocons have no reverse gear.
Reference the ban on links to Twitter, would you be able to use a service like https://tinyurl.com/app ?
No. It's not a ban on links. It's Twitter making it impossible to actually embed tweets. That's fine as far as texts and images go--I can copy and paste. The hangup comes with embedded media.
Thank you, sir. I read every post you make because you have access to a lot of information most of us do not have.
If I had enough cash to do anything beyond "existing" (Thanks, Joe!), I'd subscribe to the pay side. Maybe install a "tip jar?" My wife is dying of dementia, but I keep her home with me after fifty years of marriage; I owe her that much. I was a paramedic for 12 years and then an ER RN for 27 years, so I have the knowledge and skills to do so.
It also helps me realize that our buddy Joe is suffering from the same disease as my wife. I know what those bewildered facial expressions mean. (This does not compute!)
THANK YOU for everything you do.
Seconded. Excellent blog, Mr W!
God bless you!
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/musks-tweet-limiting-move-prevent-completion-ai-censorship-death-star
"The boot of freedom." I like it and I think Mr. Benz is spot on regarding the implications of Musk's actions, even if his intent remains murky. If his intent is to block the data scraping that has been done for surveillance and narrative manipulative purposes, and if he can succeed at this, I feel Twitter will gain many new users such as myself who have been reticent to open accounts thus far.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/07/01/elon-musk-is-self-immolating-on-twitter-and-being-disingenuous-about-the-reasoning/
The idea that blocking scraping by putting up a joinwall keeps out the "deep state" and other users of bulk data is just laughable. Maybe it incentivizes some of them to pay their fare:
https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/enterprise
The real spooky players still have their backdoors, of course. That's what a National Security Letter is for.
NSLs aren't for backdoors. They're basically NS subpoenas--admin subpoenas for NS purposes. Backdoors are written into permanent agreements. The joinwall isn't the only part of what he's done. OTOH, I have no idea how effective the total package is.
I would think that a sufficiently broad and long-lived NS subpoena isn't really any different from a contractual backdoor. Just, the recipient of a NSL has no leverage to negotiate. Almost certainly Musk inherited something of the sort. But anyway, what I had in mind was Dr Shiva's thing.
https://vashiva.com/twitters-backdoor-enables-government-to-shutdown-political-speech/
Still up and functioning like it always was, last I looked.
"I would think ..."
You might well think that, but you'd be wrong.
Good question. I did a search and couldn't find anything about an impact on sea life. In fairness, the types of TNT equivalents they were talking about should have had an impact using conventional explosives, too. Could the depth have made a difference? Not so much sea life at that depth?
To be clear, I'm not advancing the mini-nuke theory, simply airing it. You express the reason well:
"Questions beget questions. The lack of investigation (questioning) can be telling - or are there known answers that aren't for public consumption ( usual govt modus operandi )?"