Category Archives: War
Number Four on SWC’s "Most Wanted" List Arrested in Germany
It has been roughly 68 years since Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to General Eisenhower May 7, 1945. Think of that – 68 years!
I just read an email from the Simon Wiesenthal Center that Germany has finally decided to prosecute a German Concentration Camp guard for his involvement in the murders of 1.3 million people MOST of whom were Jews.
Here is the email followed by a cross post of the link to a BBC News story about 93 year old Hans Lipschis who has escaped justice and has still lived to be accountable for his part in killing Jews in the Nazi ethnic cleansing that history has labeled the Holocaust.
JRH 5/8/13
**********************************
Number Four on SWC’s “Most Wanted” List Arrested in Germany
Email sent by Simon Wiesenthal Center
Sent: May 6, 2013 3:03 PM
“Perhaps we would not be seeing the resurgence of neo-Nazi criminal activity today if a better job had been done convicting and punishing perpetrators for their crimes during the Holocaust,” — Dr. Efraim Zuroff, SWC Chief Nazi Hunter
The Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the arrest in Germany of Auschwitz SS-Death’s Head guard Hans (Antanas) Lipschis, number four on the Center’s “2013 Most Wanted Nazi War Criminals” list.
The Center noted that Lipschis served from October 1941 until January 1945 in the most notorious of Nazi death camps, where approximately 1,300,000 inmates were murdered, among them approximately 1,100,000 Jews.
“Lipschis’ arrest is a welcome first step in what we hope will be a large number of successful legal measures taken by the German judicial authorities against death camp personnel and those who served in the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), which together murdered more than three million Jews during the Holocaust,” said Dr. Zuroff.
His arrest was made possible by the 2011 conviction in Munich of Sobibor death camp guard Ivan Demjanjuk, who was the first Nazi war criminal convicted in Germany after many decades, without evidence being presented to the court of a specific crime with a specific victim. The importance of that verdict is that it provides a legal basis for the prosecution of many Holocaust peretrators (sic), who spent lengthy periods in carrying out mass murder, but would otherwise have escaped prosecution.
“There is no small irony in the fact that on the day of the opening of the most important trial of a neo-Nazi in recent years in Germany, the German authorities arrested a guard of the notorious Auschwitz death camp,” continued Dr. Zuroff.
“Despite the passage of decades since the latter committed his crimes, the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators remains extremely significant. The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers and old age should not afford protection to those who committed such terrible atrocities,” Dr. Zuroff concluded.
Read related BBC News story, Germany arrests ‘former Auschwitz guard’ Hans Lipschis
________________________
Germany arrests ‘former Auschwitz guard’ Hans Lipschis
6 May 2013 Last updated at 13:04 ET
A 93-year-old alleged former guard at the Auschwitz extermination camp has been arrested in southern Germany.
Hans Lipschis was taken into custody in Aalen after prosecutors concluded there was “compelling evidence” that he had been complicit in murder.
Mr Lipschis acknowledges he served with the Waffen SS at the camp in occupied Poland, but claims he was only a cook.
Last month, the Simon Wiesenthal Center named him as number four on its list of most-wanted Nazis.
The organisation accused him of participating in the mass murder and persecution of innocent civilians, primarily Jews, at Auschwitz between October 1941 and 1945.
“This is a very positive step, we welcome the arrest, I hope this will only be the first of many arrests, trials and convictions of death camp guards,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim Zuroff told AFP news agency.
Mr Lipschis is the first person arrested as a result of a series of new investigations launched by the German authorities into some 50 former Auschwitz guards who are still alive.
His house was searched by police and he was then brought before a judge and remanded in custody.
An indictment against him is currently being prepared, according to the Stuttgart prosecutor’s office.
Demjanjuk precedent
Auschwitz was the biggest Nazi extermination camp, where more than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered.
Prosecutors have pointed to a re-interpretation of criminal law after the conviction of John Demjanjuk in May 2011.
Demjanjuk was found guilty of being an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews while he was a guard at the Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland.
His case means that potential defendants might no longer be able to hide behind the argument, in court, that they were simply following orders.
Mr Lipschis’ wartime identification papers prove he belonged to an SS company deployed as guards in Auschwitz. He was reportedly granted “ethnic German” status by the Nazis.
He has told neighbours and reporters he worked only as a cook and saw nothing of the gas chambers and crematoria.
One German newspaper has previously reported that Mr Lipschis, who was born in what is now Lithuania in 1919, finished World War II fighting for Germany on the eastern front.
He moved to Chicago in the US in 1956, where he lived until 1983, when he was expelled for having concealed his Nazi past.
At the time it could not be proved that he was personally responsible for any killings.
He returned to Germany and his whereabouts, in Aalen, have apparently always been known to the authorities.
_________________
Number Four on SWC’s “Most Wanted” List Arrested in Germany
Understand Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Mission
© Copyright 2013 Simon Wiesenthal Center 1399 South Roxbury, Los Angeles, CA 90035. (310) 553-9036
_______________________
Germany arrests ‘former Auschwitz guard’ Hans Lipschis
BBC © 2013
U.S. National Interests and the Syrian Civil War
John R. Houk
© April 28, 2013
Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime is using chemical weapons to stop the momentum of the Syrian rebels from dethroning the Assad regime. Now I realize perhaps a half to even more than a half of the Rebels are radical Muslims perhaps making them no worse than Assad’s secular-socialized government dominated by Syria’s Alawite-Shia (See Here, Here and Here) minority. Nonetheless, chemical weapons are supposed to be illegal by international convention. I am guessing the U.N. Security Council could empower military sanctions against Assad’s regime.
Now I know many Conservatives – Danny Jeffrey comes to mind – are against the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P). R2P apparently has a few criticisms such as providing an excuse to invade to accomplish the National Interests of perhaps an agreed coalition bloc of nations. And perhaps R2P could embroil the USA in a war that is conducted beyond the pale of the U.S. Constitution.
I believe removing Assad is as much in the National Interests of the USA as there is a R2P military reason to save civilian lives. Now Danny Jeffrey’s concern is that R2P strategy is an Obama mask to discreetly aid invading Arab or Muslim armies to take down the Leftist perceived threat to world peace in the Jewish State of Israel. With Obama at the helm of the U.S. government I can see Danny’s view of a reprehensible motive behind the Obama R2P agenda. President Barack Hussein Obama is NO friend of Israel. Obama has gone beyond satisfying political correctness by saying Palestinians deserve a sovereign nation to forcing the issue including robbing Israel of half its capital city of Jerusalem and giving that to Jew-Hating Arabs who call themselves Palestinians.
Why is it in America’s National Interest to remove Bashar al-Assad? Anything that throws a monkey wrench into the radical Islamic agenda of America’s enemy Iran is good for America and perhaps signals those Twelver maniacs that American muscle might actually spank Iran for making good on their threats to drive Israeli Jews into the sea.
The fine line at issue is what will the U.S. government do after aiding Syrian rebels to give the Assad regime a boot? It would be crazy to get rid of Assad and allow a radical Muslim government to form to be the Sunni mirror image of Iran’s Shi’ite Twelver radical Muslim government.
The information I have managed to cull about the nature of the Syrian Rebels is that the Islamist militias – especially Jabhat al Nusra – are gaining infrastructure control of the rebel held land in Syria. Even though the secular or more moderate Muslim rebels figured prominently early in the Syrian Rebellion against Assad, it appears the radical Muslims by virtue of infrastructure possession would evolve into the controlling faction of any future Syrian government absent of Assad. This would not be good for American National Interests. A Sunni Islamist theocratic nation will be as much of an enemy of the USA and Israel as Iran is. Indeed I suspect Iran would make friendly overtures to a Sunni Islamist regime even though Iran represents Shia Islam. Just for perspective you should know that Sunnis are about 90% of Islam while Shias are roughly 10% of Islam. Radical Muslim Sunni Clerics have labeled Shias a heretic religion thus making the Shias as much of an infidel as Jews and Christians. Perhaps even more worth of death than Jews and Christians because a Shi’ite existence could be perceived as an insult to Allah and Mohammed. Among radical Muslims, in particular insulting Mo and Allah, is a good reason for the execution of the death penalty.
So here are the horns of a dilemma the U.S. government faces. Help the Syrian Rebels defeat Assad quite probably bring into power a Jew-Hating and American-Hating Islamist government OR do nothing while Assad uses chemical weapons of mass destruction to reverse the defeat he has been experiencing utilizing conventional weapons against the Rebels. Undoubtedly an Assad victory to remain in power would result in a wholesale genocide of Sunni Rebels and the civilian Sunni population that supported the Rebels. An Assad victory would also mean acquiring hubris perhaps leading the dictator to make rash moves against American interests and Israel, feeling an illusion of being undefeatable.
In the realm of the lesser of two evils, it still seems to me Assad’s demise will in at least the short term be better for the National Interests of the USA even if the long term outcome of Assad’s removal may not be helpful. The best way to bring down Assad with the least amount of American blood is to provide arms to the Syrian Rebels. It may be a futile hope but weaponry should be distributed to the more secular minded Sunnis who desire an elected government rather than a theo-political Sharia religious government in which the religious elite call the shots.
It will be up to the U.S. government – cough the Obama Administration – to actively influence a relationship that is not inimical to American National Interests. That probably is a tough order for I sense even a secular government based on Islamic elections will still be a Jew-Hating anti-Israel government. Which brings us back to Danny Jeffrey’s thoughts that President Barack Hussein Obama will part of an agenda to use R2P to join Arab and Muslim government to end the existence of Israel.
I was brought to this line of thinking from reading a Caroline Glick article entitled, “Time to confront Obama”. Glick wants to confront Obama’s motives behind the decisions he has made relating to Islamic terrorism, his treatment of Israel, wondering the value the word of BHO in relation to the Chemical WMD attack perpetrated by Bashar al-Assad against his own citizens and so on.
As my thoughts began to evolve it became apparent I was following a different train of thinking than Ms Glick. Nonetheless, you should read her article which is anti-Obama and pro-Israel. I like that way of thinking.
JRH 4/28/13
ISW Report Examines the Free Syrian Army
Intro: Free Syrian Army
John R. Houk
© April 2, 2013
As Americans we should be kept up to date on the civil war happening now in Syria. Syria has been ruled by the Assad family for over 40 years as a ruthless dictatorship that is supportive of Syria’s minority religion of Alawite Shia Islam.
When the Arab Spring began to erupt across North Africa (Maghreb) against despotic regimes and influenced by Islamists but with secular minded Muslims in tow. The throw the dictators out syndrome reached Syria. Unfortunately for the anti-dictatorship crowd in Syria the current dictator Bashar al-Assad has aligned his regime politically and militarily with aspiring regional power Iran. Frankly I believe the Syrian civil war has lasted over a couple years because of Iranian support for the Assad Regime which has been a conduit connection with Lebanon’s Shi’ite terrorists Hezbollah.
Syria’s rebels are represented by the majority Sunni Muslims of which the most powerful elements are al Qaeda/Wahhabi influenced Islamists. This is significant because the Obama Administration is committed to bringing down Assad but is in the dilemma of supporting American-Jew hating Islamists to bring down Assad’s regime. Many people including me believe the secrecy being maintained by the Obama Administration has to do with Benghazigate; i.e. Islamic terrorists attacking a Consulate-like building in Benghazi killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others. The scandal surrounds the capability to prevent the attack (See HERE, HERE and HERE) and the reason that Stevens was there in the first place. That reason could be something to do with sending Qaddafi captured weapons to the Syrian rebels which in all likelihood are also American-Jew-hating Islamists.
Below is an email introduction from Institute for the Study of War (ISW) which has a link to a summary of the Free Syrian Army.
JRH 4/2/13
******************************
ISW Report Examines the Free Syrian Army
ISW – For Immediate Release
Contact person: Maggie Rackl
Sent: Mar 25, 2013 at 4:34 PM
ISW’s latest report, The Free Syrian Army, analyzes how rebel commanders on the ground in Syria have begun to coordinate tactically in order to plan operations and combine resources. This cooperation has facilitated many important offensives and rebels have taken control of the majority of the northern and eastern portions of the country. However, rebels have been unable to capitalize on these successes, and fighting has largely stalemated along current battle fronts particularly in the key areas of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus.
In her report, ISW Senior Syria Analyst Elizabeth O’Bagy explores how rebels have attempted to overcome the fragmentation and disorganization that have plagued Syria’s armed opposition since peaceful protestors took up arms in December 2011. A lack of unity has made cooperation and coordination difficult on the battlefield and has limited the effectiveness of rebel operations.
On December 7, 2012, rebel leaders from across Syria announced the election of a new 30-member unified command structure called the Supreme Joint Military Command Council, known as the Supreme Military Command (SMC). The Supreme Military Command improves upon previous attempts at armed opposition unification through higher integration of disparate rebel groups and enhanced communication, which suggest that it could prove to be an enduring security institution. The SMC has the potential to serve as a check on radicalization and help to assert a moderate authority in Syria. If the SMC can create enough incentives for moderation it will likely be able to marginalize the most radical elements within its structure.
There remain a number of critical obstacles ahead for the SMC. They include the incorporation of existing command networks, which will have an impact on command and control and resource allocation; mitigating the strength of extremist groups; and managing disparate sources of financing. As the SMC develops its institutional capacity, its ability to assert greater authority will likely depend on its transactional legitimacy and its ability to distribute critical resources to rebel-held communities. Overcoming these obstacles will be difficult, especially as the nature of the conflict transforms and the sectarian polarization makes it more challenging to create a strong military institution and professional armed force.
_____________________
The Free Syrian Army
Executive Summary
Institute for the Study of War
Fragmentation and disorganization have plagued Syria’s armed opposition since peaceful protestors took up arms in December 2011 and began forming rebel groups under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army. A lack of unity has made cooperation and coordination difficult on the battlefield and has limited the effectiveness of rebel operations.
Since the summer of 2012, rebel commanders on the ground in Syria have begun to coordinate tactically in order to plan operations and combine resources. This cooperation has facilitated many important offensives and rebels have taken control of the majority of the eastern portion of the country, overrunning their first provincial capital in March 2013 with the capture of al-Raqqa city. However, rebels have been unable to capitalize on these successes, and fighting has largely stalemated along current battle fronts particularly in the key areas of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus.
In order to overcome the current military stalemate, the opposition needs to develop an operational level headquarters that can designate campaign priorities, task units to support priority missions, and resource these units with the proper equipment to execute their missions. Recently, the opposition has established a new national military structure that may grow to serve this purpose.
On December 7, 2012, rebel leaders from across Syria announced the election of a new 30-member unified command structure called the Supreme Joint Military Command Council, known as the Supreme Military Command (SMC). The Supreme Military Command improves upon previous attempts at armed opposition unification through higher integration of disparate rebel groups and enhanced communication, which suggest that it could prove to be an enduring security institution.
The SMC includes all of Syria’s most important opposition field commanders, and its authority is based on the power and influence of these rebel leaders. Its legitimacy is derived from the bottom-up, rather than top-down, and it has no institutional legitimacy apart from the legitimacy of the commanders associated with the council. Thus, the SMC is not structurally cohesive, and its ability to enforce command and control is dependent on the cooperation of each of its members.
The incorporation of rebel networks has resulted in chains of command that are not uniform across the five fronts, with each sub-unit retaining their own unique authority structures.
The SMC’s primary function to date has been to serve as a platform for coordination. Regardless of the limits of its current command and control, the SMC has played an important role in syncing rebel operations with several notable successes. It has allowed for greater opportunities for collaboration and coordination among the disparate rebel groups operating in Syria.
As the SMC develops its institutional capacity, its ability to assert greater authority will likely depend on its transactional legitimacy and its ability to distribute critical resources to rebel-held communities.
To date, disparate sources of funding have significantly handicapped the rebels’ ability to unite and consolidate authority on a national level. Although private sources of funding will likely continue outside the parameters of the SMC, uniting the support channels of rebels’ main state sponsors will be fundamental to ensuring the legitimacy of the new organization. The ability to provide resources and material support to its sub-units is the determining factor in whether or not the SMC will be able to unite rebel forces under its command and establish a level of command and control.
The SMC has the potential to serve as a check on radicalization and help to assert a moderate authority in Syria. If the SMC can create enough incentives for moderation it will likely be able to marginalize the most radical elements within its structure. To this end, the SMC has recognized the importance of the inclusion of some of the more radical forces, while still drawing a red line at the inclusion of forces that seek the destruction of a Syrian state, such as jihadist groups like Jabhat Nusra.
Ultimately, even if the SMC only serves as a mechanism for greater cooperation and coordination, it is a significant development in that it has united the efforts of rebel commanders across Syria. It is the first attempt at unity that incorporates important commanders from all Syrian provinces and has enough legitimacy on the ground to even begin the process of building a structure capable of providing a national-level chain of command.
Syria’s state security apparatus will collapse as the Assad regime finishes its transformation into a militia-like entity. The Supreme Military Command is currently the only organization that could serve to fill the security vacuum left by this transformation. As the Syrian opposition begins to build a transitional government, the SMC could create a framework for rebuilding Syria’s security and governing institutions if properly supported. The SMC’s ability to act as a basis for a national defense institution will be an important component in filling the power vacuum left by Assad’s fall and will aid in a secure and stable Syria.
There remain a number of critical obstacles ahead for the SMC. They include the incorporation of existing command networks, which will have an impact on command and control and resource allocation; mitigating the strength of extremist groups; and managing disparate sources of financing. Overcoming these obstacles will be difficult, especially as the nature of the conflict transforms and the sectarian polarization makes it more challenging to create a strong military institution and professional armed force. Although the SMC must do its part internally to overcome these obstacles, its success will largely depend on greater international support and access to more resources.
The goal behind U.S. support to the opposition should be to build a force on the ground that is committed to building a nonsectarian, stable Syria, with a government more likely to respect American interests. Working with the SMC could enhance America’s position vis-à-vis Syria’s armed opposition and provide a mechanism for stability should the Assad regime fall.
PDF Document:
The free Syrian army
March 2013
_____________________
Intro: Free Syrian Army
John R. Houk
© April 2, 2013
____________________
ISW Report Examines the Free Syrian Army
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization. ISW advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education. We are committed to improving the nation’s ability to execute military operations and respond to emerging threats in order to achieve U.S. strategic objectives.
©2007 – 2013 THE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR
A War Between China and Japan: What It Could Cost You
It is my thought that a World War is inevitable. It is also my thought such a war will embroil the USA because of Islamic cultural hatred for America and the American love (not necessarily the U.S. government’s love) for Israel’s existence.
Just as America fought in two major war theaters in WWII, it is quite likely but not talked about enough that a global would again have two major theaters of war. Do you realize that there is a huge conflict dispute increasingly growing between Japan and (Communist) China?
Below are an essay and an incredible video effectively illustrating the choices that the USA must make in joining an Asian theater war. It is my opinion that if Middle Easter conflict draws the USA into war, then it will embolden Asian powers to militarily assert their national interests hoping America will be too committed elsewhere to interfere.
It is my opinion that Asian powers – China comes to my mind – are mistaken that the USA will not enter the Asian conflict. A less powerful USA entered World War II fighting in two theaters. I fully expect a call of allies will view the USA as the apex to maintain a free world joining in mutual interests to fight despotism occurring on a regional basis. I am just not sure who those allies to America will be. It may take awhile for free nations catch the vision of maintaining freedom on the long term in the face of short term economic benefits.
JRH 3/3/13 (Hat Tip: Emily S)
*********************************
A War Between China and Japan: What It Could Cost You
Global economists are keeping their eyes glued to the Asia-Pacific region, where a bitter feud is brewing between two of the world’s most powerful nations over a small collectivity of islands in the East China Sea. The Chinese government argues that a treaty signed during the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) conferred ownership of the islands to China. Japan has long disputed these claims, and today argues that the islands are integral to its national identity.
The argument came to a head last September, when a boycott of Japanese products led Chinese demonstrators to target fellow citizens who owned Japanese cars. Three months later, the situation escalated when when (sic)Japanese jets confronted a Chinese plane flying over the islands; no shots were fired, but the act of antagonism has set a troubling precedent between the military forces of both nations.
The conflict between China and Japan has put the United States in a precarious position: if a full-scale war were to erupt, the U.S. would be forced to choose between a long-time ally (Japan) and its largest economic lender (China). Last year, China’s holdings in U.S. securities reached $1.73 trillion and goods exported from the U.S. to China exceeded $100 billion. The two countries also share strong economic ties due to the large number of American companies that outsource jobs to China.
However, the U.S. government may be legally obligated to defend Japan. In November, the U.S. Senate added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that officially recognizes Japan’s claims to the disputed islands; the U.S. and Japan are also committed to a mutual defense treaty that requires either country to step in and defend the other when international disputes occur. Not honoring this treaty could very easily tarnish America’s diplomatic image.
The countries of the Asia-Pacific region are collectively responsible for 55 percent of the global GDP and 44 percent of the world’s trade. A major conflict between the region’s two largest economies would not only impose a harsh dilemma on U.S. diplomats, but also have a significant impact on the entire global economy. It is in every nation’s best interest that the Chinese and Japanese settle their territorial dispute peacefully.
VIDEO: The Economic Impact of a War Between Japan & China
Video Transcript
Whispers of the unthinkable are wafting throughout the Asian-Pacific Region: war between China and Japan over a small cluster of resource rich islands in the East China Sea claimed by China (Diaoyu) and Japan (Senkaku).
In September, the dispute quickly came to a boil. Fueled by nationalism and the memory of Japan’s brutal occupation of China during World War II, enraged Chinese crowds filled the streets. They targeted owners of Japanese cars and launched a massive boycott of Japanese products, sending a debilitating gut punch to Japan’s still struggling economy. In November, the Wall Street Journal Live reported that the boycott had cost Japanese companies “billions of dollars.”
Since then, both nations have flexed their military muscle. In December, Japan scrambled jet fighters to respond to a Chinese plane flying over the islands. Although no shots have been fired yet, such dangerous confrontations are likely to continue.
Should the crisis worsen from its current status to, say, missiles launched and a ship sunk or an airplane knocked out of the sky, the United States will be forced to choose between backing a longtime ally (Japan) and supporting a nation more central to our economic health (China).
In terms of economics, China has the clear bottom-line edge, serving as America’s biggest lender. As of September, China’s holdings in US securities ($1.73 trillion) topped the global list of creditors.
In terms of trade, the most significant US relationship in the Asia-Pacific Region is with China – by far. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, the export of US goods to China amounted to $104 billion in 2011, while exports to Japan over the same period were $66.2 billion.
Then there’s the extensive outsourcing by American companies, which ties the economies of China and the US even closer. A case in point is Apple, which designs its iPhone and other products in the US, but has them assembled at China’s massive Foxconn City facility.
All of this could be put at risk if the US sided with Japan in the current dispute – and the Chinese retaliated. A boycott would obviously harm American companies that ship agricultural products as well as cars and other finished goods to the Chinese market. Less clear is whether Chinese anger would extend to US firms such as Apple, which have deeper Chinese economic roots.
There’s also the possibility that China, to punish the US, could sell off its stash of US securities, a move that would devalue the dollar. It’s possible but not likely, at least according to a December report by the Congressional Research Service. Among other consequences, such a sale “could diminish the value of these securities” and “lead to large losses” for China.
In November, the US Senate unanimously approved an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act recognizing Japan’s administration of the Senkakus and opposing the use of force. The Japanese cheered, and the Chinese howled. But the provocative sentiment expressed in the amendment should be no surprise.
In 2011, President Obama announced a major foreign policy shift. He declared that the Asia-Pacific Region – which generates “approximately 55 percent of world GDP and about 44 percent of world trade” – would be a top US security priority. The declaration was couched in normal and nuanced diplomatic niceties.
It could also prompt the Japanese to scrap their antiwar constitution – adopted after the US However, China and the other nations of the region weren’t fooled.
For the United States, China is a classic “frenemy” – an economic partner, a rival, and a potential enemy that has upgraded its military capacity and used it to reinforce its claim to other disputed islands in the South China Sea.
More importantly, the US and Japan – which is home to ships of the powerful US Seventh Fleet – are bound together by a mutual defense treaty, which commits the US to defend its longtime ally. US failure to support Japan would undermine US credibility not just in Japan but throughout this strategically important region. Firebombing of Japanese cities and the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II – and commit their deep pool of technological skills and talent to a single goal: a massive rearmament program that could include nuclear weapons. No one doubts that the Japanese, have the capacity to become a world-class military power – an outcome no rational person wants to see.
Should a shooting war erupt, the US will side with Japan despite the nightmarish economic scenarios that could follow. The challenge facing US officials and diplomats in 2013 is to help China and Japan find a face-saving way to keep the dispute from getting that far.
_____________________________
Copyright © 2013
Prophecy: What Lies Ahead
Here is an alternative Bible Prophecy thought for you. The USA will remain the most powerful military on Earth and will enhance its military position by embracing nationalism to a greater degree. Turkey will supersede Iran as the Islamic regional power. Hamas will look to Turkey as an arbiter of destiny. Israel and Hamas will reconcile with Hamas becoming the dominant organization over Arabs that call themselves Palestinians. Turkey’s Islamic domination will lead Muslims away from Arab nationalism to a kind of Islamic Universalism leading to the reestablishment of the Caliphate under Turkish auspices.
These are just some of the predictions from Walid Shoebat that seems to be the prophetic theme of a new book “The Case for Islamophobia: America’s Final Warning.”
I am guessing the prophetic essay “Prophecy: What Lies Ahead” is a preview of what is in Walid’s book. The essay goes against the grain of recent Biblical prophecy pundits and theologians with an emphasis that the book series “Left Behind” has it wrong.
I am certain Walid’s predictions will be criticized by both geopolitists and Biblical oriented prophetic writers. Nevertheless, the case is well presented and the only real critic will be the progression of time.
JRH 2/25/13 (Hat Tip: Diana Fatouros – Closed Facebook Group 1683 AD)
Nuclear weapons replace depth of defense
Samson Blinded is one of those blogs you probably will not locate unless you specifically look for it. The posts at Samson Blinded are pro-Israel on the militant side of political incorrectness. The Jewish authors are not necessarily friendly to Christian Zionists as me; nonetheless the irony is I often agree with the Samson Blinded author. Below is a cross post with the theme of nuclear weaponry as a credible defense for little Israel to survive being surrounded by a sea of Jew-Hating Muslims that are actually acquiring sophisticated offensive capability thanks to both the USA and Russia.
JRH 2/11/13
****************************
Nuclear weapons replace depth of defense
By Obadiah Shoher
Email sent: 2/8/13
Peace, and even neutrality, have protected no state, ever. Small irrelevant states are tolerated, but they are rolled over without remorse when military needs arise. Germany occupied Belgium, and Italy annexed almost all the lands of the Vatican. Belgium was neutral, and the Vatican was even culturally indispensable for Catholic Italy. Israel cannot hope to convince the Muslims of her peaceful intentions and enjoy peace with them.
Hong Kong and Switzerland provide different examples. The evil empires of Communist China and Nazi Germany tolerated them out of utter economic necessity. But Hong Kong and Switzerland were indispensable for their imperial neighbors only because the evil states were isolated from the rest of the world. Muslim oil economies are very open, and do not need Israel as their gate into the world. Muslims won’t hesitate to wipe Israel off the map.
Could Israel possibly rely on outside protection, such as a mutual defense treaty? No country rose to defend Poland in WWII. Protection—however unreliable—could only come from the US, but its behemoth army wouldn’t be able to deploy in Israel before the Muslims overran her forty-mile depth of defense and annihilated the Jews.
Whatever are the peace arrangements, Israel would have to maintain military preparedness. Israel cannot conduct a defensive war in the current borders. Arab enemies could repeatedly mobilize at Israel’s borders without attacking her; Israel could either respond by mobilizing every time and eventually ruining her economy, or gamble that the Arabs won’t attack—and only once lose the gamble.
A peace treaty with the Muslims won’t help. Every war violates a peace treaty. Muslims fight their brethren, and won’t hesitate to attack Israel if her military might dwindles.
Israel is left with two choices. One is to maintain military capability indefinitely. That path is economically unsustainable. Another is to discourage the Arabs from encroaching on Israel. For that approach to work, our threat of must remain extremely credible; bluffing does not work long in international relations. Arabs must be unable to test Israeli defenses to see how Israel would react to this or that provocation, or to look for the breach in the retaliation doctrine. Israel should treat any clearly dangerous acts as casus belli. Israel may not tolerate Muslim acquisitions of WMD, modern aircraft and air defense systems, tanks and anti-tank missiles, or mobilizations. Confronting Syria over its military upgrade now makes more sense that defending Israel from a fully revamped Syrian army a few years later. Israel won’t need to fight very often. Once the credibility of Israeli response is established, Arabs will stop provoking her.
Israel must maintain a credible threat, but not an expensive, economically unbearable army. How so? Nuclear retaliation is the answer. Israel should not hesitate to employ nuclear weapons. Extensive and costly bombing of Lebanon could be replaced with pinpoint strikes with 10kt nuclear microcharges. A weapon of that size won’t even destroy a medium-sized village, and would cause no fallout dangerous to Israel. Numerous nuclear mushrooms, however, would terrify our enemies.
Attacks by regular Arab armies should be similarly countered with 20–50kt nuclear microcharges. Even the small 20kt weapons would not endanger the Jewish cities ten to fifteen miles away from the battlefield; the populations that have been exposed to the moderate levels of radiation around Hiroshima and Chernobyl are not particularly unhealthy. Israel could emulate the depth of defense by striking deep into the enemy’s territory. Large-scale bombing raids against Damascus, Cairo, or Tehran are prohibitively expensive, but 100kt nuclear bombs offer a practical solution: large enough to damage and frighten the enemy, yet small enough to avoid exposing Israeli cities to a radiological threat. Enemies will know that they cannot succeed even if they overrun narrow Israel.
Would the Muslims escalate in response to the Israeli nuclear threat? Yes, unless Israel proves the escalation to be a dead-end. During the Cold War, the US answered similar challenges with a doctrine of gradual escalation. Likewise, Israel would employ nuclear microcharges against the guerrillas, their supporters, and regular armies, and small bombs against the attacking enemy’s cities. If attacked with WMD, however, Israel would immediately demolish the Dome of the Rock, employ nuclear weapons against Mecca and Medina, and drop really large bombs on the enemy’s capitals.
That sounds like madness, but MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, prevented the Cold War from becoming WWIII. Arabs won’t attack a dangerously mad Israel. A country prepared for total war will live in total peace. Besides, Israel has no choice economically other than to rely on nuclear weapons.
_____________________
Samson Blinded: A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict, by Obadiah Shoher, abandons moralizing to view Israeli-Muslim struggle in terms of raw realpolitik. FREE BOOK DOWNLOAD
Google banned our site from the AdSense advertising program for “unacceptable content,” “advocating against a group,” and “sensitive content.” Yahoo/ Overture restricted our ads to a few odd keywords. Adbrite closed our account. Amazon deleted all reviews to stop the discussion. Russian ad provider Begun rejected our ads as “extremist.” Many other sites and conventional media outlets refused our ads. China blocked our site. We depend on word of mouth. Please help us to bring Shoher’s message: tell your friends about this site. Link exchange suggestions are welcome. For the link code, please visit www.samsonblinded.org/banners.php If you only add text links, ours is www.samsonblinded.org/blog
Why Samson Blinded? Biblical Samson, blinded by the Philistines, killed thousands of them in suicide attack. Israeli nuclear weapons are aptly called the Samson Option.
Obadiah Shoher is a pen name for veteran politician. Obadiah lived in the USSR, and sufficiently hated socialism to emigrate. It was quite a disappointment to find that Israeli socialism is in many respects worse. Obadiah contends that socialism, combined with quasi-liberal leftism – the infamous political correctness – spells Israeli destruction, as it has destroyed other societies before. Shoher despises Israeli ostriches who keep their heads in sand preferring not to see the uncomfortable questions: changing demography of the ostensibly Jewish state, accumulation of nuclear weapons by hostile regimes, radicalization of Islamic societies, and the economic dead end of maintaining Israeli military capability regardless of paper treaties.
Why the pen name? Rav Kahane’s example is one obvious reason: he was kicked out of the Knesset for “racist” opinion that Jewish state cannot have Arab majority. Security is another reason: Obadiah receives plenty of threats.
Write us at nospam@samsonblinded.org
Legal stuff in plain text: Wherever this site or its authors advocates expulsion of Arabs from the Land of Israel, annexing Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, and cruel retaliation against Israel’s enemies, it is implied that all such acts should be committed legally, by prior adopting the necessary laws. Our sole intention in regards to those acts is influencing the Knesset to adopt the necessary laws which would facilitate relocation of Arabs to Jordan, annexing the core Jewish territories, and retaliating in full force against Israel’s enemies. Neither this site, nor any of its authors advocates genocide.
‘How-to’ for EMP weapon stunningly accessible
Yesterday I posted “The EMP Threat” that was introductory thoughts to a WND email entitled “Ray gun feared as America’s biggest threat”. While I was researching the WND email I discovered that Part II was posted on December 17. Obviously this indicates the WND email sent yesterday was posted even earlier at the WND website. Below is that Part II.
JRH 12/28/12
********************************
‘How-to’ for EMP weapon stunningly accessible
Lone-wolf terrorists offered ‘Electromagnetic Blaster Gun, Gen II’
12/17/2012 at 8:35 PM
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series, and describes how easy it would be to create a portable EMP weapon. The first story described the ability of a lone-wolf terrorist to inflict major, anonymous damage on the United States.
WASHINGTON – The ability of a lone-wolf terrorist to make an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, weapon is made easy by the ready access such an individual has to websites and other open source information on how to construct such a device.
In the hands of a determined individual, a weapon like this could have serious consequences on the nation’s critical infrastructures that rely on electricity and their electronic components in order to function, experts say.
Estimates are that tens of millions of fatalities could occur in the aftermath of a major EMP calamity as food, fuel and power supplies evaporate and the nation is transported instantly back to the 18th century lifestyle without a power grid or anything else electronic.
As the first installment described, while many have focused on the possibility of an EMP disaster developing because of a nuclear explosion or an intense solar storm, there is another great danger: The lone-wolf terrorist.
The attack could come from someone someone who strikes out on his or her own without any group affiliation. Such individuals either may see themselves as supporting the views of various terrorist groups or may have a personal grudge.
Such an individual with a penchant for electronics can pull together components from a Radio Shack or electronic store – even order the components off of selected internet websites – and fashion a radio frequency, or RF, weapon.
As microprocessors become smaller but more sophisticated, they are even more susceptible to an RF pulse. The high power microwave from an RF weapon produces a short, very high power pulse, said to be billions of watts in a nanosecond, or billionths of a second.
This so-called burst of electromagnetic waves in the gigahertz microwave frequency band can melt electrical circuitry and damage integrated circuits causing them to fail. Ironically, this type RF weapon won’t affect humans, although there are some forms that experts say can affect the body’s own electrical system.
The pulse from an RF weapon travels at the speed of light and can be fired without any visible emanation. These weapons can come in ultra-wideband or narrow-band, with the latter acting like a laser emitting a single frequency at very high power. This pulse then is directed at a specific electronic target.
What makes RF weapons so dangerous is their compactness and ability to be powered by hand-carried energy sources. Experts say that their range of intensity is from 200 meters to 1,000 meters, or from some 656 feet to 3,281 feet.
Experts also say the most frightening circumstance is how available the information is on how to make an EMP device – in this case, a radio-frequency, or RF, weapon.
For example, an obscure, 41-page paper published by Lt. Col. John A. Brunderman, U.S.A.F., outlined how high power radio frequency in what he termed a directed energy role has “huge potential” for both offensive and defensive military use.
His paper, “High Power Radio Frequency Weapons: A Potential Counter to U.S. Stealth and Cruise Missile Technology,” was written while he attended the Center for Strategy and Technology at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
That paper, readily available on the Internet, sufficiently details what sources say give insight on how radio frequency, or RF, weapons, can be used in downing stealth aircraft, including unmanned drones.
Sources say that where it lacks in detail, it is sufficiently able to point a knowledgeable engineer in a direction on how to proceed in developing systems to counter U.S. stealth technology.
The open source paper pointed out that if an enemy is able to exploit such technologies, then U.S. tactics and strategy inevitably will have to change, assuming the technologies were used in an integrated air defense role to counter U.S. high technology, deep-strike capabilities.
Ready access to such information could be dangerous in the hands of a lone wolf, or person not affiliated with a group, determined to attack society’s vital infrastructure which is largely dependent on the national electrical grid and electronic components to function.
As electronics become more densely packed, more energy efficient and operate at higher speeds, Brunderman pointed out that they become even more susceptible to high power RF microwave radiation.
While Brunderman’s paper is a readily available open source guideline on how to defeat U.S. stealth aircraft and drones, similar information from the Internet offers a “how-to” to construct a simple but effective electromagnetic pulse weapon using off-the-shelf components from retail electronic stores.
On the website BlockYourId, for example, there is a step-by-step approach to constructing a simple EMP generator.
While the one pictured won’t destroy “every computer in the neighborhood,” it does give a detailed technical overview of the steps needed to make up electromagnetic pulse warfare, including the off-the-shelf components that go into making an RF generator.
It points out that the most critical component will be a high-voltage pulse capacitor.
For “really significant results,” it will need a pulse capacitor output in the hundreds of Joules. It also offers suggestions on boosting the electromagnetic pulse. While some of the components may be a bit pricey, cost will be no object to those individuals or groups determined to make such a generator.
If a lone wolf or terrorist group wants to build an RF weapon, all the person would have to do is go to Information Unlimited at the website amazing1.com.
It is a virtual catalog of electromagnetic pulse devices offered in a variety of ranges, most capable of doing either severe damage or frying electronics at considerable distances.
The prospect also is there to upgrade the offered technology to increase the power and distance of the RF device, elements which are important to determine effectiveness.
For example, the website catalog offers a variety of “EMP/HERF/SHOCK Pulse Generators,” with the caveat that it is a “Dangerous electrical device, may damage sensitive electronic systems, computers, etc.”
“Shock wave generators are capable of producing focused acoustic or electromagnetic energy that can break up objects such as kidney stones and other similar materials. EMP generators can produce pulses of electromagnetic energy that can destroy the sensitive electronics in computers and microprocessors. Destabilized LCR circuits can produce multi megawatt pulses by using an explosive wire disruptive switch. These high power pulses can be coupled ‘with difficulty’ into antennas, conic sections, horns etc. for very directional effects. Research is currently being undertaken to disable vehicles thus avoiding dangerous high speed chases. The trick is to generate a high enough power pulse to fry the electronic control processor modules without creating collateral damage to unintended targets. This could be a lot simpler if the vehicle was covered in plastic or fiber glass rather than metal. The shielding of the metal body offers a challenge to the researcher to develop a practical system. A system could be built that could do this but would be costly, large and produce collateral damage to friendly targets.
“Devices described are intended for experienced researchers and qualified personnel who are aware of all hazards and liabilities in use of this equipment.”
This explanation implied guidance to a potential user on how to boost existing systems to provide greater damage to an intended target.
The catalog then goes into the specific generators, some of which come with the caveat that “This is an advanced and highly dangerous project!”
One in particular is the “Complete EMP Systems Crated with All Setup Instructions,” with the caveat that it will be “Sold only to qualified research companies and personnel” – a condition which easily could be manipulated by providing false representation to mask true intent.
While the EMP150 has an output of 300 Megawats and weighs 90 kilograms, or 198 lbs., selling for $8,000; the EMP400 has a 1.8 Gigawatt output and weighs 170 kg, or 374 lbs. selling for $14,000.
For $32,000, a would-be lone wolf or terrorist group can get the “Electromagnetic EMP Blaster Gun, Gen II,” capable of “shutting down a computer at a distance of 15 meters,” or almost 50 feet, and can “ignite highly explosive fuels in case of proximity or contact.”
The website also offers Marx Impulse generators which it describes as “Professional Equipment for Serious Research.”
The website describes its Marx Impulse generator as simulating a lightning strike, with a “current rise” faster than a natural lightning bolt.
With some technical savvy, a person may be able to take these basic elements and boost them to even greater levels of lethality either aimed at electronic systems or to provide greater coverage to maximize electronic destruction.
These and a myriad of other high voltage products, lasers, capacitors/rectifiers/diodes can be ordered from the website just like you’d order clothing from a catalog. There is one disclaimer that puts the burden of responsibility on the buyer, not the seller. It refers to the:
“Legal Status of these Products: It is the responsibility of the buyer, not the seller, to ascertain and obey all applicable local, state, federal, and international laws in the regard to the possession, use and sale of any item purchased from Information Unlimited, Inc. Absolutely no sales to minors. By placing an order, the buyer represents that the products ordered will be used only in a lawful manner and that he/she is of legal age. Information Unlimited, Inc. will not be held liable for the misuse of any product purchased from us or any of our direct distributors or dealers. Also, whereas no product is 100% effective against attack, Information United Inc. assumes no responsibility if a personal safety product purchased from us is not effective in preventing bodily injury or death.
“Some of the items we carry are ‘DANGEROUS’ and may be ‘ILLEGAL’ in your state or country. Please be sure to check local laws ‘BEFORE’ ordering.”
The company does offer a hazardous equipment affidavit for various items, compelling the purchaser to sign and acknowledging that the person understands the hazards involved.
It adds that, “Hazardous devices are only made available to qualified and established companies in these related fields,” but it doesn’t explain what constitutes a “qualified” company.
And that’s it.
There was no response to WND attempts to contact Information Unlimited through its http://www.amazing1.com website for a further explanation on how it goes about determining a company is “qualified” to obtain the equipment.
Some mail order catalogs that sell ammunition, for example, require the would-be buyer at least to submit a photocopy of a driver’s license or state-authorized identification card to determine some modicum of bona fides to determine age and list the person’s address. Such an approach also includes a photograph of the purchaser.
If the FBI then would launch an investigation following an electromagnetic attack on a facility, aircraft or any number of other targets that would result in widespread damage, then such information would offer a potential lead.
However, www.amazing1.com located in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire doesn’t have such a requirement.
For the individual who wants to increase the capability of an existing system or build one from scratch, open-source websites offer insight into how to make an RF weapon and make available all of the necessary components.
_______________________
F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND and G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense.
© Copyright 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved. WND.com.
The EMP Threat
John R. Houk
© December 27, 2012
I have always had a healthy respect for the old geopolitical term of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The geopolitical concept of MAD is that nations that possess powerful nuclear weaponry are restrained from using them in war because the other nation would retaliate with their nukes. The restraint in firing nuke weapons is based on the fear that a nuke military exchange-attack will destroy the nuclear combatants mutually. You see the target extends beyond military resource disabling. Civilization populations by the millions would die both immediately and in the radioactive aftermath. I am convinced MAD saved the world from destruction during the Cold War. Although there are probably clandestine moments in history that dodged the brink of a MAD scenario, the most common moment of nuclear brinksmanship was the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Early 1960s.
The thing about nuclear explosions is that they wreak more havoc than the blast and massive radiation poisoning of people and land. A nuke explosion also emanates an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). An EMP knocks out anything to do with electronics. In the case of a Nuke EMP that pulse knocks out a very large area that has anything electrical; e.g. cars, electricity grids, phones (land lines and wireless), radios, TVs and so on. Not only does the EMP destroy anything that operates by electricity I have read repairs are difficult to accomplish to the tune of days, weeks, months, years to perhaps never.
Nuclear EMP weapons
Even though we have only recently begun to hear about EMP weapons, the concept has been in existence for a very long time. In fact, between 1960 and 1980, the United States was very concerned with the possibility of a nuclear EMP attack.
In 1958, American tests of hydrogen bombs generated some surprising results. An experimental explosion over the Pacific Ocean ended up blowing out streetlights in parts of Hawaii, which was hundreds of miles away. It even reportedly interrupted radio equipment as far away as Australia.
Researchers decided that this disturbance was due to the Compton effect. What the Compton effect states is that photons of electromagnetic energy could knock loose electrons from atoms with low atomic numbers. The flood of electrons interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field to create a fluctuating electric current, which induces a powerful magnetic field. The resulting electromagnetic pulse induces an intense electrical current in conductive materials over a large area. (Excerpted from: The Electromagnetic Bomb; by Amber Persson; http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/03s/Persson2.htm)
EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) Bombs
An electromagnetic pulse EMP is a byproduct of detonating an atomic bomb above the Earth’s atmosphere. When a nuclear weapon is detonated in space, the gamma rays emitted trigger a massive electrical disturbance in the upper atmosphere. Moving at the speed of light, this overload will short out all electrical equipment, power grids and delicate electronics on the Earth’s surface. In fact, it would take only one to three weapons exploding above the continental United States to wipe out our entire grid and transportation network. It might take years to recover from, if ever. (Excerpted from: Nuclear Bombs vs Dirty Bombs vs Suitcase Bombs vs EMP Bombs; NukePills.com)
I have followed the Nuke EMP consequences for some time; however I have discovered that non-nuke EMP weapons – complicated to cheap – have been a part of governments’ research and development for some time as well. AND cheap versions of non-nuke EMP weapons can be made from parts easily available from your local Radio Shack or electronics store or even from the Internet.
Below is an email from WND that bills itself as Part One of an article about non-nuke EMP. Really the email is a WND effort to also market a book entitled “A Nation Forsaken”. This email as a promotional also advertises other books available at WND Super Store. I am just going to link the titles of those books. In checking out the EMP facts I ran into Part II which I will cross post separately than Part I.
JRH 12/27/12
*********************************
Ray gun feared as America’s biggest threat
‘We dance with high tech, but if it breaks, where will we be?’
By Author Not Named in Email
Sent: Dec 27, 2012 at 9:05 AM
Sent by WND
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. It describes the capability of a lone-wolf terrorist to inflict major, anonymous damage on the United States. The second will describe how easy it would be to create a portable EMP weapon.
The nation’s attention of late has focused on a nuclear bomb or an intense solar storm as the source of an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, assault on the nation’s vulnerable electrical grid system that could fry our electronics and wreak havoc on critical infrastructures.
Estimates are that tens of millions of fatalities could occur in the aftermath of such an event as food, fuel and power supplies evaporate and the nation is transported instantly back to the 18th-century lifestyle without a power grid or anything else electronic.
However, a similar threat has emerged from the so-called lone-wolf terrorist who can devise a portable EMP device and aim it at computers in a building, telecommunications linkages and banking automated teller machines – all on which the society has come to rely heavily for present-day existence.
And it can be done without a trace of who did it.
Recent concerns have been raised by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the lone wolf – someone who strikes out on his or her own without any group affiliation – is considered a larger threat than one from al-Qaida or other organized groups.
Such individuals either may see themselves as supporting the views of various terrorist groups or may have a personal grudge.
Such an individual with a penchant for electronics can pull together components from a Radio Shack or electronic store – even order the components off of selected Internet websites – and fashion a radio frequency, or RF, weapon.
As microprocessors become smaller but more sophisticated, they are even more susceptible to an RF pulse. The high power microwave from an RF weapon produces a short, very high power pulse, said to be billions of watts in a nanosecond, or billionths of a second.
This so-called burst of electromagnetic waves in the gigahertz microwave frequency band can melt electrical circuitry and damage integrated circuits, causing them to fail. Ironically, this type RF weapon won’t affect humans, although there are some forms that experts say can affect the body’s own electrical system.
The pulse from an RF weapon travels at the speed of light and can be fired without any visible emanation. These weapons can come in ultra-wideband or narrow-band, with the latter acting like a laser emitting a single frequency at very high power. This pulse then is directed at a specific electronic target.
What makes RF weapons so dangerous is their compactness and ability to be powered by hand-carried energy sources. Experts say that their range of intensity is from 200 meters to 1,000 meters, or from some 656 feet to 3,281 feet.
Concern over the effects of RF weapons has been known to the U.S. Congress since at least 1997 when retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Robert L. Schweitzer testified before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on RF weapons and their impact on the U.S. infrastructure.
His concern then was that readily available technology, much of it off-the- shelf, places the capability of making RF weapons in the hands of lone wolves or more organized terrorists.
Given the rush to decontrol critical technologies due to the downward spiral of Western economies, they are often available to other countries without the needed scrutiny of U.S. licensing officials and are readily available for people residing in the U.S.
When he testified, Schweitzer called for drawing up a list of those technologies needed to make RF weapons and placing them on what was then called the Militarily Critical Technologies List, or MTCL, which was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense. While the MTCL wasn’t a control list, it did show how technologies relate to the development of weapons systems.
However, many of the items listed on the MTCL were not placed on control lists of dual-use technologies administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce or the munitions list overseen by the U.S. Department of State.
Today, that list remains only as a reference and no longer is updated. Everything on the MTCL isn’t subject to export controls and isn’t referred to that often to show how certain technologies relate to developing weapons systems.
Part of the reason for virtually ignoring the MTCL today is economic, but the basis for eliminating the MTCL mostly was political, since calling them “critical” suggested that they be subject to export controls and then would interfere with the ability to conduct business in a competitive world.
At the time of Schweitzer’s testimony, however, consideration of placing certain technologies under export control was meant to deflect the ability of countries and terrorist groups from easily gaining access to those technologies.
One of the items Schweitzer gave as an example of technology that should be controlled was Reltron tubes. He said that these tubes can be small or large, generate intense radio frequency pulses and can be used as RF weapons.
While RF weapon components are on the MTCL, Schweitzer said at the time that even then there were no up-to-date guidelines or directives on limiting their access to end-users. He added that several countries have RF weapons programs and Russia admits to selling some technologies to various countries, making them readily available.
“Users of new weapons can be criminals, individuals, or organized gangs of narco or domestic terrorists – or a determined, organized, well-funded foreign adversary, either a group or nation who hates us,” Schweitzer said.
RF weapons emit a non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse, even though they project the same type of pulse that a nuclear weapon does.
“As a practical matter,” Schweitzer testified, “a piece of electronic gear on the ground, in a vehicle, ship or plane does not really care whether it is hit by a nuclear magnetic pulse or a non-nuclear one.
“The effect is the same,” he said. “It burns out the electronics. The same is true of the computers in this Senate office building, in industry, or on Wall Street.”
Schweitzer also referred to the possible existence of radio-frequency munitions which contain high explosives that produce radio frequency energy “as their primary kill mechanism.”
“Applications or potential targets would include all military computers, circuit boards or chips, of any description and include …key components of our military and national infrastructure,” he said. “They would have equal impact on civilian targets with the advantage less power would be required.”
Schweitzer pointed out that the effects of RF and EMP weapons have been known to presidential commissions, the Infrastructure Protection Task Force, a Critical Infrastructure Working Group, an Information Warfare School at National Defense University as well as divisions on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.
At the time, Schweitzer pointed out that there were some 90 to 100 references in 26 pages of the 70-page Quadrennial Defense Review that speaks to this new threat and there were some 2,800 references “while a more thorough search found many tens of thousands of documents where the key words ‘radio frequency weapons’ appear.
“For many reasons the knowledge is diffused,” Schweitzer testified. “In the public sector the subject has yet to draw any real attention or concerted action.”
Schweitzer added that while the federal government is aware of these threats from RF weapons, “a general understanding is lacking. This is true not only of RF weapons, but of their immediate threat to our (Department of Defense) and national infrastructure.”
Nevertheless, Schweitzer said that vulnerable targets include airplanes, ships and vehicles.
“Of interest is the fact that we are doubly vulnerable because we are, and will remain, in an era of dual-use of military and civilian systems,” he said.
As an example, Schweitzer pointed to military communications.
“Our military communications now passes over civilian networks,” he said. “If an electromagnetic pulse takes out the telephone systems, we are in deep trouble because our military and non-military nets are virtually inseparable.
“It is almost equally impossible to distinguish between the U.S. national telecommunication network and the global one,” Schweitzer said. “What this means is that it is finally becoming possible to do what Sun Tzu wrote about 2,000 years ago: to conquer an enemy without fighting.
“The paradigm of war may well be changing,” Schweitzer said. “If you can take out the civilian economic infrastructure of a nation, then that nation in addition to not being able to function internally cannot deploy its military by air or sea, or supply them with any real effectiveness – if at all.”
Schweitzer warned that in addition to the advanced countries, “pariah” nations have similar interests in developing RF weapons and some have the financial resources to develop or procure them.
“Russian information on RF weapons has been moving across borders for many years,” he said. “The horse is out of the barn.”
To determine whether cheap, home-made RF weapons could be built by people with little technical know-how, the U.S. Army a few years ago conducted tests at its Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
The tests, conducted on behalf of the Department of Defense, were successful.
“The message here is that any number of groups in the U.S. or other countries can do just this, relatively easily and at relatively low cost,” said Mike Powell of Schriner Engineering in Ridgecrest, California. Schriner Engineering made the weapons.
The RF weapons were made from components readily available from electronic stores and out of catalogs. They generated an extremely short but powerful pulse of electromagnetic radio waves.
Powell said that such RF weapons also would be capable of bringing down an aircraft.
“Our whole nation is vulnerable,” said David Schriner, who helped design the RF device. “We dance along with all this high technology, and we’re very dependent on it. But if it breaks, where will we be?”
As a side note, Schriner sought to bring to the U.S. Capitol an RF weapon he made himself for display purposes when he testified before the Joint Economic Committee as far back as February 1998.
When the Sergeant-at-Arms to the U.S. House of Representatives heard what the capability of the device was – namely, capable of frying the electronics of computers that were in all the Capitol office buildings – Schriner was not allowed to bring the device into the building.
In his testimony titled “The Design and Fabrication of a Damage Inflicting RF Weapons by ‘Back Yard’ Methods,” Schriner told of how he made one in his own garage.
Click here to read more about “A Nation Forsaken.”
His point was to show that the low-end technology needed to fashion together an RF weapon was readily available at very reasonable cost. In fact, his testimony went into detail on how a person can fashion such a device in his own home.
Schweitzer similarly had told the congressional Joint Economic Committee that he had challenged a group of young scientists from a national laboratory to devise an RF weapon. He testified that they had gone to a Radio Shack and bought the components needed to make the RF weapon. They then mounted it on top of a minivan.
“I had suggested a pickup truck and they didn’t have a pickup truck, so it went on top of a minivan,” Schweiter said.
“So, you’ve got a situation on the one hand where you could put components from Radio Shack inside of a van no bigger than a UPS (United Postal Services) truck with an antenna. And, that’s really what an RF weapon often looks like, a radar or antenna showing, and drive it around the Dirksen (Senate Office) Building, make a series of passes over the Pentagon or the White House, or the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration facility out at Langley) and pulse,” Schweitzer said.
The FAA facility at Langley, Va., just outside Washington up the George Washington Parkway shares a highly guarded campus with the Central Intelligence Agency.
With a radar loaded in the back of a van or pickup truck, it can be directed at whatever target is intended. Because the radar is directional, it won’t have any effect on the vehicle carrying the radar as long as it is pointed away from its electronics.
“You make a number of passes around the building and emit these pulses,” Schweitzer said. “They go through concrete walls. Barriers are no resistance to them. And, they will either burn out or upset all of the computers or the electronic gear in the building.”
Given such power, it may be able to penetrate the walls at CIA, even though the windows are covered with a fine copper mesh to avoid listening devices picking up on classified conversations inside the buildings.
A surplus radar which operates at a multiple Gigahertz level and capable of reaching out over a thousand kilometers easily can be fashioned into a directional RF weapon.
Schweitzer in his testimony had pointed out that a radar mounted in the back of a truck and aimed toward traffic or buildings would make a very effective RF weapon.
Open source information also has documented how an RF weapon can be used against aircraft in an Intentional Electro Magnetic Interference, or IEMI. In a 2005 technical paper titled “Potential IEMI Threats Against Civilian Air Traffic,” D. J. Serafin outlined such a scenario.
“An airport area could be a selected target for (Electro Magnetic) terrorism due to the high concentration of electronics equipment likely to be perturbed by EM threats, so producing broad chaos,” Serafin wrote.
Serafin said that the main areas for a terrorist RF attack would be the airport terminal, including registration and transit areas, the traffic control tower, the parking areas for the planes and the touch down and take-off runways.
“Potential targets inside these areas include communication and navigation systems devoted to flight aircraft and safety…as well as computer networks…”
Sarafin gave the scenarios on introducing a small RF weapon concealed inside a suitcase, placed near terminal computer networks and a truck-mounted RF weapon, which could be located near an airport with direct view of the runways with a range extended to 1,000 meters, or the length of three 100-yard football fields.
In the case of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., like many airports throughout the U.S., such a van or car could park at a lot adjacent to the runway where planes take off or land. On the flight path of the aircraft flying into Reagan National Airport, they fly over the Potomac River coming from the north and either fly across or near Roosevelt Island, which is a U.S. Park Service-administered site complete with woods and deer, with a statute dedicated to the first environmental president, Theodore Roosevelt.
There are many areas on the island in which someone easily could set up a radio-frequency weapon under the cover of a canopy of trees and through the various openings aim the device at aircraft that either are making their approaches or taking off, depending on wind direction.
In his scenario of introducing RF weapons into the area of the airport, Sarafin provided detailed descriptions of the microwave bandwidth, distance and megahertz ranges for the most effect – something which a technically competent terrorist would easily understand and duplicate.
Targets for the RF weapon would include such aircraft equipment as onboard navigation and global positioning systems. Because of the antenna on top of the aircraft’s fuselage, these systems would be vulnerable, as would the display unit or computer inside the cockpit.
While the scenario concerned aircraft, there are reports that RF weapons have been used to defeat security systems, disable police communications and disrupt bank computers.
More advanced RF weapons can jam satellites, cause aircraft to crash, create pipeline explosions and large gas spills and cause life-saving medical equipment to malfunction. They also can be used to cause public water systems to malfunction and potentially create flooding as a result.
A Nation Forsaken is available NOW from the WND Superstore. Click here to get it autographed!
Other WND Book Offers in this Email:
The Beatles, God and the Bible & Genius Bundle
“Dead Men Flying – Victory in Viet Nam, The Legend of Dust Off: America’s Battlefield Angels”
______________________
The EMP Threat
John R. Houk
© December 27, 2012
_____________________
Ray gun feared as America’s biggest threat
WND | 2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #351 | Washington, DC 20006
Copyright 1997-2012 WND.com Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The American Brotherhood Versus Israel
Wow!
My readers need to read a post from Danny Jeffrey from a few days ago. Danny ties a couple years of writing and predictions that for the most part I do concur. The teaser is the predictions about Obama Foreign Policy, Islam, Israel, Iran and nuclear war. Keep in mind as I write this, today is the day a bunch of Muslims across the Muslim Maghreb of North Africa, the Caucasus area of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East have attacked American Embassies (or are threatening to attack) and at least one case it resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens stationed in Libya.
In light of these recent events it would behoove all to read Danny Jeffrey’s “The American Brotherhood Versus Israel”.
JRH 9/12/12 (Hat Tip: Facebook Group – 1683 AD)
*************************
The American Brotherhood Versus Israel
By Danny Jeffrey
September 6, 2012
I must confess that I am not overly fond of my role as a 21st. Century Cassandra, but can no longer hope that I am mistaken as so many pieces are falling into place that there can be no doubt as to my assumptions being correct. Before proceeding I must acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Frank Gaffney and associates for it is they who first started me down this treacherous path to an understanding of pure evil.
The following is not light reading and if you choose to pursue it be prepared for several hours of study. The reading is not light, nor is the topic for it entails no less than a plan to destroy Israel and launch the world into a nuclear war.
America made a great error in electing a Muslim to the White House, for the most wretched belief to ever take shape on the Planet Earth is now in control of the most powerful nation that mankind has ever seen.
I have spent the last two years following information as it became available and have long believed that Obama is intent on the destruction of Israel and bringing a nuclear holocaust to the human race. Below there is a collection of essays that I have written during that period and projections made with each new discovery, but first I shall begin with today’s events that I have long anticipated. Read them and then follow me into the past where I predicted what is inevitable if Hussein Obama cannot be stopped.
Israel Betrayed by Frank Gaffney Sept. 04, 2012. In this Mister Gaffney points out Obama’s political attacks on Israel, which Mitt Romney described as “throwing Israel under the bus”, and his growing financial and military aid to Islam. Excerpt: “President Obama and his civilian and military subordinates have done just about everything short of a preemptive strike on the Jewish State to prevent the Israelis from trying to neutralize a looming existential threat to their nation.”
The New Gate Keepers This is a recent essay of mine. You need not read it in its entirety as only part of the information is pertinent to this essay. This is the relevant data excerpt. “Hillary also bypasses Congress under a different title than Executive Privilege. You will see the term “Waiver of Congressional Restrictions” used multiple times as she openly breaks our laws. One such waiver allowed her to give 1.5 BILLION Dollars to Egypt. She also uses a waiver to illegally aid the Palestinian Authority and give $170 Million to Hamas and Fatah.” Not wanting to use myself as a reference, the above can be validated in a PDF file of a Congressional letter from Michelle Bachman to the Inspector General.
This from the ally of all of our enemies: The New York Times, writes of us providing Egypt with F16s and components to construct 125 Abrams M1A1 tanks in Egypt. What could be a better deal for the Muslim Brotherhood. This not only strengthens the Muslim Brotherhood’s military, while further endangering Israel, it also puts American labor out of work. If this is not high treason, then I do not know the definition of high treason.
The US has just recently announced that a long planned military exercise with Israel is being scaled back to a minimum use of our resources and those remaining resources are being rerouted to Egypt where they will participate in war games with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, with part of the exercise to be training flights over the Sinai desert where Egyptian tanks are now being deployed disregarding the Camp David accords between pre MB Egypt and Israel. Needless to say, Israel is none too happy with the turn of events.
The latest news report from Israel indicates that Islamic forces are probing for weak points. They should soon be prepared for a major assault which will most assuredly come when Israel attacks the Iranian nuclear sites.
This link from the Gatestone Institute pretty well sounds the death knell for the US and Israel alliance. Obama keeps telling the gullible of America that he supports Israel. Actions speak louder than lies.
I have no doubt that anyone who has made it this far with me can connect the dots in the above news items and realize that Israel is now facing a bleak future. Now, journey with me into my archives where I connected these dots long ago and project them still farther into the future … Warning, you are in for a rough ride.
MY PAST ESSAYS…
Obama Is Selling Israel Out Soon … Published Nov. 2010. Frank Gaffney’s article from two years ago got me started on this Israel saga and then I branched off onto my own research. This first link is a summary of what I learned from him. Those following are what I learned from multiple sources and my own deductions.
The Coming Assault On Israel … Published Apr. 2011. This is one of my most difficult to read as it is so full of links. In spite of this it is still on the top ten of my most read essays. The evidence collected here took weeks to assemble and the links provided tie in all of the major people and groups involved in the plan to destroy Israel. This is where I learned about the Soros funded groups and their involvement in “Responsibility to Protect” which is now UN doctrine. R2P’s first use was on assigning U.S. air power to protect Al Qaeda as they gained control of Libya. Libya was sacrificed to provide a precedent that will be used later to cover Hezbollah and Hamas as they assault Israel. One issue they attempted at the time was seeking a UN resolution declaring Palestine to be a free state. Public and Congressional outcries forced the U.S. to veto the effort. It is soon to be tried again.
Obama … Forcing A Nuclear War Published May 2011. The title speaks for itself. Anyone knowing the facts will conclude that events will inevitably lead to nuclear war. Obama knows this as well as I do, but he and his Islamic allies are unconcerned about it. They have but one focus … Destroy Israel.
The Countdown To War Continues. Published July 2011. This was an extreme danger point that was thankfully delayed. This is when Glenn Beck, Frank Gaffney, and Caroline Glick also started projecting nuclear holocaust if events continued unchecked. At this point Palestine becoming a state and the war beginning seemed inevitable. I was but one of many to call on Congress to stop the insanity of a Palestinian state. They did and we dodged the bullet for the moment. I also projected that if Israel is defeated they would launch all of their nuclear devices just before their defeat was inevitable.
The Coming Assault On Israel … Part Two. Published Mar. 2012. At this point things are apparently getting out of hand and we are learning that our military is now subject to International Law i.e.:, The U.N. and NATO. Congress is no longer involved in the matter of war as part of their duties provided by our Constitution.
The Sampson Option … Israel’s Hole Card. Published Mar. 2012. Now the plot thickens as I discover my prediction that Israel would do an all out nuclear assault on Islam and those nations who had betrayed her before suffering defeat. They do have such a plan and it is called “The Samson Option.”
Israel’s Doomsday Scheme. Published June of 2012. Now the word is getting out. Israel does have a doomsday plan in place. If facing destruction they do not plan to face it alone, choosing instead to take along some prime enemies when they fall. Israel intentionally leaked this information as there is NO benefit to having a doomsday device and keeping it secret. The whole purpose of such a plan is for it to act as a deterrent. Unfortunately such a deterrent only works if you are dealing with rational people, and that precludes all of Islam, and their allies in our nation’s capitol.
Well, this pretty well outlines the whole plan. The dots are all connected and if anyone can show me another scenario than what I have outlined here I will certainly breathe a deep sigh of relief, but, there is no other scenario possible. The best argument that anyone could use against my predictions is to say that no one wants nuclear war. That, unfortunately, is not true.
The madmen of Iran actually seek an end to the world in hopes of resurrecting that warlord from long ago. Our leaders, with access to radiation proof bunkers, are unconcerned. China is convinced that it is coming. They are building twenty new cities a year and no one lives there. The West is arguing that China is only involved in a make work program to keep their people working. That is absurd. They are building new cities for the survivors of the coming holocaust. By doing this they will be the only nation in the world with a ready to occupy civilization.
To put all of the above into a nutshell: Obama is weakening America, strengthening Islam, abandoning Israel, and if Israel is defeated the human race will reap the rewards of their hatred of a tiny little state in the homeland of a great people. Some would call that Armageddon.
____________________________
I’m sixty seven and since Ronald Reagan left office I have watched my country slowly deteriorate as freedoms are lost and the value of our currency dwindles. This has been a slow but steady decline until Barrack Obama entered the White House. I will not refer to this man as President. That is a job that deserves respect and he has earned none at all. I am convinced that were it not for the Tea Party stirring up the public we would now be living under a total dictatorship. He seeks only power and has no loyalty at all to the United States, and as long as he is in office I shall write to any who will read and speak of what he is and what he is doing to this country.
If YOU Think Peace will Break-out in the Middle East, You’re Dreaming
John R. Houk
© August 18, 2012
I don’t have to be a prophet to predict that a war will explode in the Middle East soon. The Muslim nations surrounding Israel have been trying to destroy the Jewish State ever since their modern independence in 1948. For some Islamic Supremacist jealousy cannot court the concept of a sliver of land that a religion other than Islam sets the parameters for governance in the region.
Couple this with the old Arab League set up of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) which has been legitimized by Western Powers by linking the PLO to a Western created Palestinian Authority (PA). Western reasoning for the PA is idiotically attempting to set up Israeli-Arab peace by grabbing Israeli land by forcing Israel to accept a Jew-hating sovereign Palestine to Israel’s East. Of course there is PLO-independent Hamas to the southwest of Israel which is a tool of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and there is Iranian client terrorists Hezbollah to the north of Israel. Iran has been rattling swords against Israel for over half a decade. Egypt is becoming a Radical Muslim State as the Muslim Brotherhood tentacles spread through its government. Muslim Brotherhood Clerics have been voicing a call for unity among Muslim-Arabs for a pan-Islamic State with Jerusalem as its capital city. Syria directly north and east of Israel has been an Iranian client rattling swords against Israel ever since 1948 but they are having a problem with a civil war currently. I look to Syria to continue hostility with Israel no matter who wins that civil war. And there is Lebanon to the north which has become a client of the Shia dominated Hezbollah. Lebanon essentially has become a State within a State.
This report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and written by Christopher Harmer will give you an idea what an all out war in the Middle Eastern region will look like. And by all out war I mean more than the USA and any coalition of the willing trying to use Western concepts in rebuilding a nation-state.
This war will have the appearance initially of multiple Muslim nations and Islamic terrorists attacking tiny Israel. If America honors its treaty with Israel will enter into the fray. If America enters the fray I have little doubt that Russia and Communist China will at first join in the Muslim side because of oil. America’s NATO allies will have to join on our side because an increasingly militant Russia will be a little scary for Europe that has diverted most of its money to Socialist programs that are barely staying afloat PLUS the issue of oil will force Europe to join USA-Israel so they are not cut off by a potential Russia-China-Iran victory.
I might point out the allegiance of nations I am pointing out here is conditional only our Treaty allies honor the military treaty terms. It could go bad for the USA if other variables take place in which treaties are broken.
The first broken treaty that would make a lot of nations very pleased is if America fails to honor our military treaty with Israel. If Obama is around when this war breaks out Obama could very easily throw Israel under the bus to see if another 1948 miracle occurs with Israel surviving multiple fronts of invasion.
Another scenario is that various European nations break away from NATO to join the Russia-China-Iran axis for petroleum and petro-Dollars/petro-Euros with the hope of abandoning America would ease the socio-economic pain that will occur if the NATO is honored on the European side.
When all out war breaks out globally this time it will make the ugliness of WWII look like a picnic.
JRH 8/18/12 (You can also read the ISW text version of “Threat and Response: Israeli Missile Defense” directly below these thoughts at SlantRight 2.0.)
