Category: World Affairs

Did Israel (France, UK, US) Just Overplay Their Hand in Syria?

17SEP2018 Russian MOD Map – Syrian coastline (Red) Russian IL-20 AWACS Surveillance Plane Route (Blue) Israeli F-16 and French naval ship actions

To understand the chess match (yes, leaders of the “free” world are sociopaths who love this “game” that involves other people’s lives) that is being played out on the world’s stage I will be drawing from various sources for this post:

  • Pat Buchanan’s article from Lew Rockwell
  • Moon of Alabama’s article
  • Robert Bridge article from Strategic Culture share on Lew Rockwell

[NOTE: A good researcher pulls from various sources and also thinks critically about the situation at hand before sharing their own thoughts]

From a high level view a few days later it becomes clear that Putin took a lot of heat from those in Syria as well in his own country in not retaliating against the actions of the west in the Mediterranean Sea near Syria this past week. I think of the mechanical operation of a ratchet, using rather small moves one can over time place a lot of torque on a situation IF one is patient and in the end have the upper hand.

Moon of Alabama, who follows the events in the Middle East so very well (I highly recommend a site visit there and IF you feel inclined, please do considering supporting that site) has a great overview of the political milestones that led up to this moment where a Russian propeller plane is accidentally shot down by a Syrian S-200 missile site that was focused on an Israeli F-16 that was shadowing the Russian IL-20 AWACS-like plane. Less than 24 hours prior to this setup:

Turkey and Russia agreed on a further de-escalation in Idelb province in Syria (see the update here). This agreement takes away the chance of an imminent wider war in which the U.S. and some of its allies would use a fake ‘chemical attack’ as a pretext to launch missiles against a large number of Syrian government targets and military positions.

.. peace was about to break out in Syria. However:

A peaceful solution of the Idleb situation is unsatisfying for Israel. The successful Syrian defeat of the Jihadi enemy inside the country would allow Syria and its allies to concentrate their forces against Israel. Israel wants the Syrian government destroyed and the country in chaos.

On Sunday September 16 Israel tried to hit an Iranian Boeing 747 freight plane at Damascus airport. The plane allegedly carried an Iranian copy of the Russian S-300 long range air defense System for the Syrian army.

Imagine any country in this world that can get away with attacking INSIDE another sovereign country and getting away with it. I can only think of two countries, Israel and the United States of America.

On Monday around 10:00pm local time 4 F-16 jets of the Israeli airforce, coming from the sea, launched missiles against at least three targets on Syria’s coast. The strike came only hours after Israel released satellite images of what it called “strategic targets” in Syria. The integrated Syrian and Russian air-defenses responded.

The Israeli air force had warned the Russian forces in Syria only one minute before the strike. A Russian IL-20 electronic warfare airplane (red line) was preparing to land at the Russian airport near Latakia just as the Israeli attack (blue) happened.

Israel chose to give a 60 second warning that could never be enough time for the IL-20 propeller plane to clear out of an area to a safer zone. Israel knew this but wanted to provoke the “Bear” so as not to loose even more strategic ground in the Middle East for their “defense”. Israel has chosen this path, and there will be blowback.

The IL-20 was hit 35 kilometers off the coast by a S-200 air-defense missile fired by the Syrian military towards the Israeli attack. There were 15 Russian soldiers on board of the plane which were likely all killed.

The Israeli attack came out of the same direction as the Russian IL-20. The large 4 propeller plane creates a much bigger radar reflection than the small F-16s fighter jets. The S-200 missiles have a semi-active radar homing seeker. These are passive detectors of a radar signal which is provided by an external source, in this case the Syrian and Russian radars on the ground. While the missile was aimed at the F-16 its seeker likely mistook the larger radar reflection of IL-20 for the intended target.

At the same time as the Israeli air force attacked, a Russian frigate (red) near the coast detected missile launches from the French Frigate Auvergne (blue) nearby. The French frigate carries air, ship and land attack missiles.

With so many Russian ships in the area plus Russian and Syrian radar sites on the mainland in Syria, there is plenty of evidence untainted by spin by Western powers to twist. Similar to Lincoln’s provocation at Ft. Sumter and FDR’s provocation of the Japanese before Pearl Harbor and even Bush I’s green light to Saddam in Kuwait at the start of Gulf War I, this was a blatant attempt at provoking conflict in the midst of the last two years of Russian accusations (election meddling) and US sanctions.

Sure the bully (Israel) “apologized” but said “it was not our missile”. Whatever. There is ZERO honor in that and there was no US response that indicated any kind of remorse at all.

The honor (again) came from “Cool Hand” Putin. As Robert Bridge points out:

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, took admirable efforts to prevent the blame game from reaching the boiling point, telling reporters that the downing of the Russian aircraft was the result of “a chain of tragic circumstances, because the Israeli plane didn’t shoot down our jet.”

Nevertheless, following this extremely tempered and reserved remark, Putin vowed that Russia would take extra precautions to protect its troops in Syria, saying these will be “the steps that everyone will notice.”

Now there is much consternation in Israel that the IDF will soon find its freedom to conduct operations against targets in Syria greatly impaired. That’s because Russia, having just suffered a ‘friendly-fire’ incident from its own antiquated S-200 system, may now be more open to the idea of providing Syria with the more advanced S-300 air-defense system.

.. or even the highly advanced S-400 systems:

The Israeli gamble did NOT pay off. Their reputation as a greedy neighbor who steals and maims others in the ‘hood all the while not adhering to international law that it demands others to follow. (While having 200+ nukes in their back pocket) The Russians know this and are being very patient in protecting a friend that asked for assistance back in 2015.

In summary, Pat Buchanan does a masterful job at giving a grand overview that spans decades of political ebb and flow on a global scale when he states:

By the end of his second term, President Ronald Reagan, who had called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” was strolling through Red Square with Russians slapping him on the back.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. And how have we husbanded the fruits of our Cold War triumph?

This month, China’s leader-for-life Xi Jinping stood beside Vladimir Putin as 3,000 Chinese troops maneuvered with 300,000 Russians, 1,000 planes and 900 tanks in Moscow’s largest military exercise in 40 years.

An uncoded message to the West from the East. Richard Nixon’s great achievement in bringing Peking in from the cold, and Reagan’s great achievement of ending the Cold War, are history.

Squandered. The “shining city on a hill” and “American Exceptionalism” are but a myth. The real DNA of our government along with that of Israel and NATO aligned countries are bent on war. Pat continues:

.. Bolshevism may be dead, but Russian nationalism, awakened by NATO’s quick march to Russia’s ancient frontiers, is alive and well. Russia appears to have given up on the West and accepted that its hopes for better times with President Donald Trump are not to be.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is berating Russia for secretly trading with North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions, saying, “Lying, cheating, and rogue behavior have become the new norm of the Russian culture.” Cold wars don’t get much colder than defaming another country’s culture as morally debased.

The U.S. has also signaled that it may start supplying naval and anti-aircraft weaponry to Ukraine, as Russia is being warned to cease its inspections of ships passing from the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait into the Sea of Azov. The three-mile-wide strait lies between Crimea and Kerch Peninsula. In Russia’s eyes, both banks of the strait are Russian national territory.

With U.S. backing, Ukraine has decided to build a naval base on the Sea of Azov to “create conditions for rebuffing the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in this region.”

Kiev has several patrol boats in the Sea of Azov, with a few more to be transferred there in coming months. Russia’s navy could sink those boats and wipe out that base in minutes. Are we going to send our Navy across the Black Sea to protect Ukraine’s naval rights inside a sea that has been as historically Russian as the Chesapeake Bay is historically American? ..

This is the height of American Empire stupidity. It is what Thomas Jefferson feared centuries ago that the United States arrogance may lead to:

Trade is honorable. Political solutions that promote peace is honorable.

The American Empire is not (nor has it been since the end of WWII) honorable. You can’t fix this, you can’t drain the swamp enough BUT you can research for yourself the reality of today’s political world and it does impact you, indirectly maybe, but it will eventually touch you or your kid’s lives. Not unlike the Roman Empire, this empire is entering its last days and only God knows the months or years this will take.

Be prepared

-SF1

If the US Bombs Syrian/Russian/Iranian forces in Syria? Who are They Protecting?

  • Is it the civilians in Idlib province of Syria?

  • Is it al Qaeda?

 

Things just don’t add up. I do believe that this is a pivot point for the narrative of the American Empire .. and as Ian56 @Ian56789 at Twitter says:

So you think PTSD levels among combat Vets & the drug sales as a result of these PTSD levels are off the scale?

Just imagine what will happen when these latest War Crimes & Treason sink in

Prozac, Oxycontin & Heroin dealers licking their lips at extra profit

We have been told many lies since 9/11, and IF you apply simple logic, you can see where this may lead. Maybe the US is protecting the civilians, but why didn’t they in Aleppo last year? Maybe the US is protecting al Qaeda. If so, what does that say about saving the very clan that according to the US government DID 9/11?

NOTE: if you still believe that, you do need to see James Corbett’s 911 A Conspiracy Theory. (video)

However, this would make MANY (a vast majority) people uncomfortable, because it upsets the worldview they have come to accept from one god ( the state) or the other god (their religion).

In my last post about Pearl Harbor, and the lies told in the run up to that “Day that will live in infamy” December 7th, 1941, it took several generations to really unpack and research documents that have shown us the truth of that day, two generations later? What will our kids and grand-kids find in declassified documents in 2070 in regards to 9/11? On the other hand, will we have to wait that long for truth to be unveiled?

So here we are in 2018 seeing the final push by Syria/Russia/Iran and the Hezbollah troops on the ISIS/alQaeda forces, an effort that tests the US foreign policy in the extreme:

.. and the United States (and possibly France, UK and even Germany) are coming on on the side of … al Qaeda!!!

So you might be thinking that al Qaeda is the United States’ main asset to protect in the Middle East.

Not so fast.

Today in 2018 we have seen the Taliban make some impressive gains in Afghanistan .. and the US seems fine with the stalemate, a weak Afghanistan is a well behaved Afghanistan:

So the 17 year war in Afghanistan AGAINST the Taliban is NOT BEING WON! 

What about the 14 year war in Iraq (2004 invasion / Gulf War II)? Iraq as a nation is very week and basically divided and impotent in this region and is not a threat to anyone.

[Originally the rationale for was was for Saddam’s WMDs (Weapons of Mass Desctruction), something the US knew something about since the US gave Saddam Hussein them in 1988 during the Iraq-Iran War]

 

ISIS (these are NOT religious zealots, they generally don’t read the Koran, they are 90% PLUS mercenaries only 5% are hard core fundamentalists) is seen below expanding to cover much of Iraq and eventually spilling over into Syria:

…  were given safe passage of over 500 miles across open desert to Syria:

From 2011-2015 the US was “fighting” ISIS in Syria, they claimed, but it was also noted that the US assisted in training ISIS and other moderate rebels in Jordan to get ready for phase 2 of the ISIS tour in the Middle East. All told, more than 250,000 combatants arrived from overseas to fight against the Syrian Arab Republic:

Not until 2015, when the Russians were invited by Syria’s President Assad to assist in battling ISIS/al Qaeda and other “moderate” rebel groups, did the US hand start to be seen clearly. The US (along with UK/Qatar/SaudiArabia and even Israel) were secret supporters of ISIS/al Qaeda.

Since 2015 is is interesting as much as ISIS/al Qaeda has been pressed, they do not enter Israel (although Israel has been observed aiding ISIS units across the borders in the Middle East).

The US apparently has not been in the Middle East since 1990 and then in Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2004), and Syria (2011) with a mission to “fight” al Qaeda (50 – 100 members at the time in 2001 when accused of 9/11) , or the Taliban, or ISIS.

Who is there left to PROTECT in the Middle East?

To see who you are protecting, look at the checkbook!

Who else can it be?

Why else would the US even get involved in 1990 with Gulf War I but to keep Iraq from encroaching on Israel (with US military hardware)?

Why else would the US in 2006 birth ISIS in Iraq but to keep Iran from encroaching on Israel?

Why else would the US in 2011 allow safe passage of ISIS into Syria but to keep Iran from encroaching on Israel?

Remember the conditions Trump’s administration was stating not more than a week ago about WHO has to leave Syria first?

The Trump administration won’t consider withdrawing US forces until Iran leaves the country.

Come on now! Russia was invited. Iran was invited. Hezbollah was invited.

The United States was NOT invited. ISIS/alQaeda was NOT invited.

WHO is complaining in the neighborhood?

There is no other way to look at this except that the Zionist nation of Israel needs the US Empire to accomplish the long-distance “defense” of their “homeland”.

So is the following incorrect in its assumptions?

Thoughts? Am I losing my mind here?

Let’s think on this some more.

-SF1

 

 

 

The Historical Path of Freedom – Weaves Through the Reformation Period (1500s)

Free thinkers has always been a problem for those in authority. Back when the thought existed that the King was divine or the closest to it, any contrary thought was typically squashed. In time when the free thinkers did get traction, they too would tend to quash any public rebellion to tyrannical leadership, whether religious, state or both.

Bionic Mosquito has had a series of posts on a book by Gerard Casey called ‘Freedom’s Progress?: A History of Political Thought‘ and shares clips from it in his post on “The Reformation”. Here are some quotes to consider:

It is better that all of the peasants should be killed rather than that the sovereign and magistrates should be destroyed, because the peasants take up the sword without God’s authorisation. – Martin Luther

So the leader of the 1517 movement toward reforming the church was still resolute in thinking that the common man needed a ruler and needed to be restrained. Even free thinkers prior to this like John Wycliff focused his message of freedom towards the church itself but not the state in the 1370s.  His recommendation that pope and the church were second in authority to Scripture earned him an early death. Wycliff also questioned indulgences and confessions at that time BUT it was out of the box thinking that common man could even own their own property according to Wycliff.

Basically, Bionic points out that where people start from usually restrains them in their own revolutionary thinking:

As you will note from the opening quote from Luther, Augustine’s unfortunate interpretation of Romans 13 was influential; Luther, after all, began his religious life as an Augustinian.

“As Ellen Meiksins Wood puts it, ‘there hardly exists in the Western canon a more uncompromising case for strict obedience to secular authority; and this…belongs to the essence of Lutheran doctrine.’”

John Calvin too started out as a lawyer, so there is no doubt there are limits to where freedom SHOULD* be limited in his mind to as we will see in his role in governance over Geneva, Switzerland.

[NOTE: SHOULD is a word I try to avoid, I recommend that friends not SHOULD on their friends .. to honor them as unique individuals created in God’s image, COULD is a better suggestion ]

This is an important rabbit trail for me as I was raised in a religious environment, that while it had plenty of good in it, it also had plenty of guilt trip traps along the way. I find this with any controlling authority whether it be religious or the state. Try taking a knee these days and you will find out, blind obedience is mandatory at some points, you can’t make it look like authority does not have total control of you “in public” (or now with the NSA, in private either)

I like how Wayne Jacobson lays it out in this article at Lifestream where the difference between religion and relationship is revealed:

There’s nothing about real love that can be made into a weapon. But that doesn’t keep people from trying, especially scared parents and religious people.

They turn their twisted view of love into a weapon. When you’ve done enough, especially the things they think you should do, they will love you. When you don’t, they will not only withhold affection from you, they’ll resort to whatever means they have at their disposal to get you to change. They’ll give you the cold shoulder or disapproving glance. They will gossip about you with other family members. That will rant and rave until you conform to their desires. They will should all over you thinking that increasing levels of obnoxiousness will endear you to their point of view.

This is where the early reformation leaders went, they did not like attributes of the Catholic church they were rebelling against and yet they could not release the “control” of common people to their exercise of natural rights. Religion at some point demands obligation and obedience.

As Bionic shares again from Gerard Casey’s work:

“It is worth noting the prevalence of a popular but mistaken belief that the Protestant Reformers, in contrast to the repressive Catholic Church, were the apostles of liberty.”

“The Reformation was many things but by no stretch of the imagination was it the result of a clamour for religious liberty or, indeed, for liberty more broadly construed.”

In fact, it ushered in perhaps the most intolerant period in Christian history.

If anyone has the interest and the time, there is a lot of information on the Reformation period that proves that freedom did not always advance. Like I mentioned before about John Calvin and his actions in Geneva where he and four other pastors and 12 lay elders ruled the city. While his written works ( ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion‘ ) contained great thoughts on how the Catholic church focused on things wrongly, his actions to me speak louder than words. At the end of the day, I am not a fan of John Calvin.

Not all what happened during the Reformation is gloomy, there were bright spots as well in those that followed Luther and Calvin and even those in Scotland as they would give future generations hope in what real freedom and liberty is all about:

Eventually, the idea of private resistance to the prince would gain some traction, more by those who followed Luther and Calvin than in the two leaders themselves – driven by the fact that the secular leader was removing privileges previously granted to the Protestant communities. Where the secular leaders were unsympathetic to Protestant views, private resistance was seen more favorably – and Biblical interpretation would therefore evolve according to this necessity.

Further, in Calvinist communities of Scotland, for example, the idea of private resistance had traction almost from the beginning. Hey, they are Protestants…to each his own! But without the medieval Church and its recognized authority to sanction the prince, such resistance had little power or authority behind it.

Out of this period came other free thinkers that gave the Dutch Republic, a confederation of seven provinces from 1581 – 1795, ..

Dutch Republic

.. as well as the American confederation of thirteen colonies from 1776 – 1787 (under the Articles of Confederation)

John Paul Jones flag 1779

… a fair amount of written works on liberty and freedom.

We too, stand on the shoulders of all those who went before us, in terms of seeking freedom and liberty from any external controlling human force whether it be religion or statism. It is imperative that each person research as they are convinced toward, and be convicted of their own thoughts and principles in their own mind.

“… one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience ..” Romans 14:5 in the paraphrase The Message

I leave you with this inspiring song based on German 13th century written works of  Walther von der Vogelweide on the freedom of one’s thoughts and later in the 1780s became five stanzas in distributed leaflets and later put to music called “Die Gedanken Sind Frei”

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday y’all!

-SF1

Ukraine Conflict Ramp Up Eminent?

Donetsk People’s Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko

No sooner had I posted a couple days ago about Novorossiya federation in the eastern areas of Ukraine that emerged in 2014 and word comes of possible escalation on the Kiev government’s fight in two eastern provinces with assistance from the US, of course. A tip-off toward this trend that might neglect the Minsk II Agreement agreed to (Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany) on 12FEB2015 (to a protocol that was agreed to the previous September 2014 called Minsk I) was the assassination of a leader of the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko on 31AUG2018.

This “match” was lit to activate those in Russia who believe that Putin is too passive when it comes to these two provinces in Ukraine that are saturated with Russian culture / language. Putin actually urged these breakaway republics (Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR)) NOT to ask for reunification with Russia for geopolitical reasons. The US/NATO wants a fight to break out here just like they hope a fight will break out in Syria.

The latest detailed map for the Minsk II Agreement lines between Ukraine and “rebel” forces can be seen at this excellent site.

The rebels are attempting to hold this all together as the leader’s wife met with them on the front lines as articulated in this article:

Wife of the DPR Head Nataliya arrived to the front to talk to soldiers. She told them to tell all the questions and problems to the Commanders and that she would take part, and do everything possible to help.She asked them to save that her husband Alexandr Zakharchenko started in 2014.

The rebels have been getting Intel that things are brewing again, courtesy of the United States as outlined in this article and quoted below:

According to DPR Deputy Commander-In-Chief Eduard Basurin:

“(o)ur intelligence (indicates) that subdivisions of (Kiev’s) 128th Brigade are on full alert. Main attack force was deployed on the Mariupol direction” near Donbass. An offensive could start any time.

On Sunday, DPR spokesman Daniil Bezsonov said large numbers of US and Canadian military personnel arrived in Ukraine ahead of what may be a major offensive in Donbass, saying:

“Our intelligence noticed the arrival of a large number of foreign servicemen to the 56th motorized infantry and 406th artillery brigades near Urzuf.”

“The arrival of a group of high-ranking military officials from the US and Canadian armed forces to the headquarters of (Kiev’s) Operational Command East was also noticed.”

“(I)t seems that the command of Ukraine’s ‘unified forces operation’ allocates the central role in an offensive to the 36th marines brigade, 56th mechanized infantry and 79th assault airborne brigades.”

“Nazis from the Azov group will be tasked to back the offensive in the rear. All these operations will be commanded by the military from the United States and Canada, or, in other words, by NATO military.”

I find it no coincidence that the US would choose this time to escalate pressure in both eastern Ukraine and Syria. The neo-cons in Washington DC are itching for a fight somewhere as elections loom on the horizon and having a conflict break out that the US could “police” and ensure “humanitarian” efforts are made would look good on the Trump administration AND would bring in the war-hawk Democrats under the DC neo-con umbrella. Unifying the remnants of the McCain era allies that crossed political aisles is a win-win for any administration that is in power, because if the Deep State is happy, then the government, politicians and MIC are all happy.

I swear, DC stands for Dysfunctional Central .. where sociopaths and psychopaths hook up.

-SF1

 

Russia’s Underdog Achievement – High Tech / Innovative Advancements Shock USA

In a previous post, I outlined that path that the strategists in Russia have chosen since being disrespected in the 1990s by US/NATO advances in Russia’s “backyard”.

… the Russians have been quietly embarking on a strategic path toward learning from the fall of an over extended USSR and towards technological transformation to allow their “Tier 2” status not to render themselves defenseless from pressures from the outside. THIS is what defense is all about ..

This spring, Russia announced several technological advancements in various states of development that place quote a bit of the US’s military technology in early obsolescence. From this in depth article by Donald W. Miller Jr. MD at Lew Rockwell, six technological areas have been successfully realized by a country that spends only 10% what the US spends in their annual military budgets. The late John McCain as recent as three years ago in 2015 said:

“Look, Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country.”

Boy did he get this one wrong. After the US federal government released the “2018 Nuclear Posture Review: U.S. nuclear deterrence policy, strategy, and force posture” on 02FEB2018, Russia coolly waited almost a month and on 01MAR2018 released their bombshell:

President Vladimir Putin gave his annual State of the Nation speech to the Russian Federal Assembly in Moscow. The last third of his 2-hour, 13,340-word speech dealt with nuclear treaties and nuclear weapons.

As an overview to kick off this defensive method to retain sovereignty in the 21st century as nations that don’t want to end up like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya went like this:

“Any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies, weapons of short, medium or any range at all, will be considered as a nuclear attack on this country. Retaliation will be immediate, with all the attendant consequences. There should be no doubt about this whatsoever.”

This ain’t no gun-free zone. This isn’t a 3rd tier nation like Iraq with an antiquated military wrecked by sanctions, this is a 2nd tier nation who has taken the strategy to “shock-n-awe” without killing innocent people. Yet again, the US intelligence community was too busy with politics than achieving their main goal for this nation, to provide “data” so that this country will never be surprised, ideally. [NOTE: I purposely did NOT use the word “again” after that statement because the US government was NOT surprised on 11SEP2001 (WTC & Pentagon 9/11), and they were NOT surprised on 07DEC1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor]

The first of six technological advances is the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile.

Heavy as in the ability to place 10 tons in near earth orbit with a range that allows a trajectory that goes over the SOUTH pole on the way to the US mainland. If you ever heard of the Maginot Line in France during WWII, you know how quickly this “defense” was made obsolete by Hitler’s German military’s “trajectory”. The article states:

This new generation of thermonuclear warheads are both multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) and maneuverable reentry vehicles (MARV). The Sarmat ICBM carries ten 750-kiloton nuclear warheads, 7.5 megatons, enough destructive power precisely dispersed to wipe out the state of Florida.

The next defensive weapon is the Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile that is launched from 60,000 feet above the earth from a high altitude aircraft like the MIG-31BM.

This missile is 26 ft. long, can accelerate to a speed of Mach 10 (7,500 mph), and executes evasive maneuvers along its flight trajectory.

Mach 10 and a 1200 mile range puts all current air defense technologies in the obsolete category.

Third on Putin’s list was the Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle. The Sarmat, mentioned above, launches up to 16 of these EACH with 500 kiloton nuclear warheads. This glide vehicle’s speed is clocked at Mach 20 which is approximately 15,000 MPH.

President Putin described it this way: “It flies to its target like a meteorite, like a ball of fire. The temperature on its surface reaches 1,600-2,000 degrees Celsius [3,600 degrees Fahrenheit] but the cruise bloc nevertheless stays reliably guided.”

The fourth emerging technology that Russia will be using for its defense is a yet to be named (publicly) low-flying, terrain-hugging Nuclear Powered GLOBAL Cruise Missile. Testing from “ground-launch” site is underway

The fifth is an Underwater Nuclear Drone with a 5000 mile range at speeds of 50-80 knots and can descend to depths of 3000 feet equipped with a 2,50 or 100 megaton warhead. Placed well, these could trigger tsunamis that would generate waves ranging from 300 to over 1000 feet!

The sixth item, to be used for critical anti-missile defense is the Combat Laser which is most likely powered by a miniaturized nuclear reactor.

As a way of involving the people in these innovative technological projects, Putin invited the Russians to name these last three:

Putin invited Russians to submit names for the three yet unnamed weapons on a web portal set up for that purpose. For the underwater drone, Russians chose “Poseidon,” after the Greek god of the sea. For the nuclear-powered cruise missile, they chose “Burevestnik,” the Russian name for the Storm Petrel seabird, whose presence mariners believe foretells bad weather. And for the combat laser, “Peresvet,” after the medieval warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who died taking part in a 14th century battle against invading Mongols.

So, where does this leave the US military which has been spending 10x more than Russia?

The U.S. military has no such weapons—no hypersonic missiles or glide vehicles, no nuclear-powered cruise missiles or underwater drones, and no megawatt combat lasers.

The hub of America’s global navy, the aircraft carriers, are now highly vulnerable to these weapons. When you add up the the Ford-class carriers in the queue, 14 of them totaling $200B USD, you have to wonder at what point does the US military regroup and innovate, catch-up or remain in denial as to their eroding supremacy.

Beyond this, the F-35 program has proven to give the military a 2nd rate aircraft that is nowhere near the capability of the Russian SU-57. Another area where the US has failed to keep up is in their Littoral class ships that under-perform when compared to the Russian Corvette option which at half the displacement of the US equivalent, while able to launch cruise missiles (Kalibr-NK missile) up to 1500 miles away which the Littoral class can not do. In the submarine department, 4th generation Russian subs  started being deployed in 2014 and for the US it is estimated to be 2030.

The list goes on to include Russian S-400 and U.S. Patriot Missiles, Helicopters, Civil Nuclear Power .. all of these areas show significant lag on the US’s part to stay competitive.

The positive effect of this is it may keep the US Empire more humble in its reach around the world knowing that at any time, Russia could strategically and surgically strike defensively should the US arrogance play out. Bullies do tend to overplay their cards.

-SF1