Today looks to be a very big news day—accumulating developments appear to be clarifying the emerging geo-strategic and geo-political landscape. Let’s start, however, with a backstory that explains the leverage that Russia has vs. the US. A major caveat.
No one can know here in the West what is going on inside the Kremlin. I read the transcript of Putin's Feb 24 speech today 3 times. It was reasoned. It was logical. They were not the words of a madman. I read them because the latest propaganda offering in the UK today is that Putin is not being told the truth about how badly things are going (we are expected to believe he doesn't have direct access to the internet??), which I found particularly condescending. Anyway, I thought the paragraph in which he addresses NATO in that speech relevant to this discussion:
"No matter how the events unfold, we are ready. All the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken. I hope that my words will be heard."
EMP or otherwise I know not. But I take from those words that he has gamed the situation out like a chess master and Boris Johnson, Biden et al should heed him.
I do not know how real or imminent the EMP threat is, but I will note that such reports put a pretty big chill on cyber currency. Useful chill for some, I would imagine.
Mark, hypersonic cruise missiles don't exist. See the explanation of the physics in the link below.
There are two types of missiles. Missiles that carry their own oxygen, and missiles that breath oxygen from the atmosphere. Traditional missiles carrying their own oxygen in some form and can burn fuel in outer space or the upper atmosphere. Cruise missiles must breath oxygen from the atmosphere.
There are two problems with "hypersonic" cruise missiles. Hypersonic means greater than 5 times the speed of sound, which is roughly about 4,000 mph in the lower atmosphere. Problem 1: All metals will burn up at that speed in the lower atmosphere. Problem 2: Scram jets are the only way to breath oxygen at hypersonic speed, and they don't work at lower speeds. This means that you have to carry a scram jet on a plane up to max airplane altitudes, and then you have to launch it on the back of a conventional missile to get it to hypersonic speed in the upper atmosphere where the scram jet can function. As it comes down it stops working and burns up.
Whatever the Russians claim to have, it can't be a hypersonic cruise missile. See Sabine Hassenfelder's video:
Interesting! So it can’t be a cruise missile because of the burning up thing. (In case you can’t tell, I’m not a scientist. ) Does that mean there are no hypersonic missiles of any kind?
I turn 70 in a few weeks and have taken a page from Scott Adams and decided that I am simply living in a simulation - what has happened in the world during my lifetime, and particularly the past few years, cannot be explained in any other way. This doomsday scenario would be an ideal way for my simulation to end. GAME OVER - RESTART?
I would suggest Russia already has won the war against America, without firing a single shot. The first stage was Russiagate which demeaned American politics as never before. Then came the election where strange things happened, and our authorities stonewalled any attempt to investigate any and all allegations. Now we have a year of Biden, and in view of the multiple mishaps and gaffes anyone who maintains we are better off is clearly delusional. Whether anything will happen in the November election to reverse course is problematic. The trick is to come together as a nation, and this may prove beyond our reach. Meantime both China and Russia have no interest in military conflict, as it is so much simpler to pay those politicians who are up for sale.
There is a meme going about today that seems to have been implanted by the US administration- that Putin and the Russians are incompetent. This is a sound propaganda tool, but for whom, exactly, is the propaganda? The Russians? I doubt it- what I see is an incompetent administration trying to look smart and savvy, and to my eyes, looking exactly the opposite.
For anyone interested in an outstanding and petrifying read on the subject may I suggest "One Second After" by William Forstchen (sp?). It's available on Kindle, etc. Some time ago, while home for a work injury and having a few days on my butt, I read it - in one day! I was literally dumbstruck by it. The staggering level of destruction that would be caused by an EMP will scare the crap out of anyone. The everyday things we take for granted that would be affected scared the hell out of me. For instance - anything with a microchip in it is dead...DEAD. Cars, the pump in your well, your refrigerator, etc, etc. Aircraft falling out of the sky because there aren't any cable connections to flight surfaces. Anyone on life support in hospitals. Well, they have generators right? Wrong. The chips in them are fried. I have never read a book more concerning and I read a lot, probably like most people here. It is another reason to fight the moronic attempts at the forced electrification of cars. One of the most stupid, freedom-killing things around AND it puts us at more of a strategic disadvantage.
I spoke to a friend who works in gov't security, and he wasn't nearly as concerned about EMP as me. He argued that when they first discovered the effects of EMP, that they were pretty random. Some city blocks were affected, others weren't. It wasn't clear if it had to do with orientation with respect to the EMP origin, or other factors. And he was also fairly confident in the shielding that had been erected to protect ... stuff. He said there were protocols in place to get us through about six months or so until the large scale generators could be replaced.
But then I reminded him that we don't make those generators any more and would have to rely on - I think it was Germany - to supply them, and really, how confident are we that Germany or any of our other allies would rush to our aid in that scenario. To which he replied: "hmm, good point."
That is mentioned in the book actually. Those are only made in Germany and it takes months to build them. That is of course when everything is working correctly. Think of the big cities when they have no power for weeks on end. Not pretty.
I am always wary of the the "no win" scenarios. Winning is a subjective thing at the point of decision taking. One man's defeat might not be viewed that way by another.
If you don't know what a Faraday cage is, you should read up and become intimately familiar with how these work. Not difficult or expensive to build, but very necessary in the event of an EMP blast. There are plans and discussions on the internet about how to scale to include your entire house.
Yes, we have so dumbed down here in every single profession over the last several decades. In the name of "fairness" we have sacrificed excellence and true progress. It's sad to see, and obviously, quite dangerous.
There have been numerous clashes over the years between Russia and China along the very long border they share. There was a joke in the military about how Russia finally tires of these skirmishes and decides to occupy China. On the first day, the Russians take a great deal of land and 10 million prisoners. On the second day, the Russians take even more land and 50 million prisoners. On the third day, the Russians surrender.
No one can know here in the West what is going on inside the Kremlin. I read the transcript of Putin's Feb 24 speech today 3 times. It was reasoned. It was logical. They were not the words of a madman. I read them because the latest propaganda offering in the UK today is that Putin is not being told the truth about how badly things are going (we are expected to believe he doesn't have direct access to the internet??), which I found particularly condescending. Anyway, I thought the paragraph in which he addresses NATO in that speech relevant to this discussion:
"No matter how the events unfold, we are ready. All the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken. I hope that my words will be heard."
EMP or otherwise I know not. But I take from those words that he has gamed the situation out like a chess master and Boris Johnson, Biden et al should heed him.
Ahhhh. Who are we kidding? We all know we aren't gonna be nuked or EMPd by the Russkies or Chicoms or NoKos.
Our OWN government will take care of that themselves.
I do not know how real or imminent the EMP threat is, but I will note that such reports put a pretty big chill on cyber currency. Useful chill for some, I would imagine.
Mark, hypersonic cruise missiles don't exist. See the explanation of the physics in the link below.
There are two types of missiles. Missiles that carry their own oxygen, and missiles that breath oxygen from the atmosphere. Traditional missiles carrying their own oxygen in some form and can burn fuel in outer space or the upper atmosphere. Cruise missiles must breath oxygen from the atmosphere.
There are two problems with "hypersonic" cruise missiles. Hypersonic means greater than 5 times the speed of sound, which is roughly about 4,000 mph in the lower atmosphere. Problem 1: All metals will burn up at that speed in the lower atmosphere. Problem 2: Scram jets are the only way to breath oxygen at hypersonic speed, and they don't work at lower speeds. This means that you have to carry a scram jet on a plane up to max airplane altitudes, and then you have to launch it on the back of a conventional missile to get it to hypersonic speed in the upper atmosphere where the scram jet can function. As it comes down it stops working and burns up.
Whatever the Russians claim to have, it can't be a hypersonic cruise missile. See Sabine Hassenfelder's video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTEhG8zzftQ
Interesting! So it can’t be a cruise missile because of the burning up thing. (In case you can’t tell, I’m not a scientist. ) Does that mean there are no hypersonic missiles of any kind?
I turn 70 in a few weeks and have taken a page from Scott Adams and decided that I am simply living in a simulation - what has happened in the world during my lifetime, and particularly the past few years, cannot be explained in any other way. This doomsday scenario would be an ideal way for my simulation to end. GAME OVER - RESTART?
LOL??
That's the intent.
I would suggest Russia already has won the war against America, without firing a single shot. The first stage was Russiagate which demeaned American politics as never before. Then came the election where strange things happened, and our authorities stonewalled any attempt to investigate any and all allegations. Now we have a year of Biden, and in view of the multiple mishaps and gaffes anyone who maintains we are better off is clearly delusional. Whether anything will happen in the November election to reverse course is problematic. The trick is to come together as a nation, and this may prove beyond our reach. Meantime both China and Russia have no interest in military conflict, as it is so much simpler to pay those politicians who are up for sale.
"The trick is to come together as a nation"
Right. That's some trick.
"Meantime both China and Russia have no interest in military conflict, as it is so much simpler to pay those politicians who are up for sale."
That hits the nail right smack dab on the head. Nicely put.
sounds a whole lot like America beating America.
We've done most of the world's heavy lifting since WWII, so why should our destruction be any different?
There is a meme going about today that seems to have been implanted by the US administration- that Putin and the Russians are incompetent. This is a sound propaganda tool, but for whom, exactly, is the propaganda? The Russians? I doubt it- what I see is an incompetent administration trying to look smart and savvy, and to my eyes, looking exactly the opposite.
For anyone interested in an outstanding and petrifying read on the subject may I suggest "One Second After" by William Forstchen (sp?). It's available on Kindle, etc. Some time ago, while home for a work injury and having a few days on my butt, I read it - in one day! I was literally dumbstruck by it. The staggering level of destruction that would be caused by an EMP will scare the crap out of anyone. The everyday things we take for granted that would be affected scared the hell out of me. For instance - anything with a microchip in it is dead...DEAD. Cars, the pump in your well, your refrigerator, etc, etc. Aircraft falling out of the sky because there aren't any cable connections to flight surfaces. Anyone on life support in hospitals. Well, they have generators right? Wrong. The chips in them are fried. I have never read a book more concerning and I read a lot, probably like most people here. It is another reason to fight the moronic attempts at the forced electrification of cars. One of the most stupid, freedom-killing things around AND it puts us at more of a strategic disadvantage.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the chips in cars. We have an ATV that is chip-less and fairly easy to maintain. But for how long?
I spoke to a friend who works in gov't security, and he wasn't nearly as concerned about EMP as me. He argued that when they first discovered the effects of EMP, that they were pretty random. Some city blocks were affected, others weren't. It wasn't clear if it had to do with orientation with respect to the EMP origin, or other factors. And he was also fairly confident in the shielding that had been erected to protect ... stuff. He said there were protocols in place to get us through about six months or so until the large scale generators could be replaced.
But then I reminded him that we don't make those generators any more and would have to rely on - I think it was Germany - to supply them, and really, how confident are we that Germany or any of our other allies would rush to our aid in that scenario. To which he replied: "hmm, good point."
That is mentioned in the book actually. Those are only made in Germany and it takes months to build them. That is of course when everything is working correctly. Think of the big cities when they have no power for weeks on end. Not pretty.
I am always wary of the the "no win" scenarios. Winning is a subjective thing at the point of decision taking. One man's defeat might not be viewed that way by another.
If you don't know what a Faraday cage is, you should read up and become intimately familiar with how these work. Not difficult or expensive to build, but very necessary in the event of an EMP blast. There are plans and discussions on the internet about how to scale to include your entire house.
Yes, we have so dumbed down here in every single profession over the last several decades. In the name of "fairness" we have sacrificed excellence and true progress. It's sad to see, and obviously, quite dangerous.
I didn't read it as the US being benign world cop. I read it as the US being complete rainbow colored, virtue signaling idiots.
There have been numerous clashes over the years between Russia and China along the very long border they share. There was a joke in the military about how Russia finally tires of these skirmishes and decides to occupy China. On the first day, the Russians take a great deal of land and 10 million prisoners. On the second day, the Russians take even more land and 50 million prisoners. On the third day, the Russians surrender.