Cuban Missile Crisis Redux?

Reported by CBS and 33-minutes:
In a story that broke on Monday, a Russian newspaper reported that a high-placed source in the Russian government said the Kremin may retaliate against the United States if it deployed Ground-based Mid-course Interceptors in Poland or Lithuania. The retaliation? Russia may base its Tupolev Tu-160 White Swan supersonic nuclear bombers in Cuba.
Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro didn’t confirm or deny the report...(more)

Dr. Strangelove Visits Iran

From American Spectator, more than one way to skin a cat…
…MUCH DISCUSSED RECENTLY in unclassified journals, the non-nuclear electro-magnetic pulse weapon has been under development for over twenty-five years by the United States. An EMP weapon has the ability to create a massive energy surge that can disable electrical/electronic systems in a target area. Integrated circuits are the most vulnerable, and they would be key to any nuclear development or weapon system. Some protection can be provided against EMP by the construction of “Faraday cages” around each separate circuit system and electrical lead, though new military-use EMP’s can circumvent these. Combined with advanced versions of high power microwave (HPM) devices, disabling damage is said to be capable of being inflicted on any e-system.In addition to the EMP both the United States and Israel have the advanced software ability to invade the Iranian military computer system in such a way as to negate Tehran’s ability to make operational any nuclear weapon it may have in development. Iran must know this already.The evidence of the existence of this particular computer hacking capability exists in the already publicly known fear that Washington itself has of an increasing danger of the Chinese ability to do just this very thing. And if the Chinese have such electronic invasion software, the U.S. has it already and the Russians certainly can’t be far behind. One of the more interesting weapons known to be under current development is the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) system. This weapon is being tested for air-to-ground use. This version reportedly has a target radius down to a matter of inches from a range of five miles at 10,000 feet. The weapon is adjudged to have the power to penetrate and destroy targets such as missile batteries, commo centers, and other more hardened C3 facilities.There are numerous other exotic weapon systems under development, some quite target specific. The proliferation and dispersion of Iranian nuclear development installations, many underground, is their primary method of defense. Nonetheless, each of these facilities is under high priority surveillance. The Iranians would have to be extraordinarily naive not to have realized this. IN THEORY, all these exotic weapons have an ability to contribute to destroying an enemy’s war-making potential without massive body counts or destruction of civilian population centers. It is perhaps not “surgical”, but certainly far less life threatening. It is a type of offensive capability of overwhelming strategic value. Even the promised Iranian counterstrike against traffic through the Gulf would be substantially degraded. Most important, aside from several covert special operations teams, no U.S. ground forces would participate. …(more)

Chavez calls for Russia alliance

Shades of the Cuban Missle Crisis. From the BBC:
Hugo Chavez has called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect Venezuela from the US.
The Venezuelan president’s call came as Moscow and Caracas agreed to extend bilateral co-operation on energy.
Speaking during a two-day visit to Russia, Mr Chavez said oil and military cooperation were vital to guarantee Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said three Russian energy companies are to be allowed to operate in Venezuela.
He gave no details of an anticipated arms deal between the two countries. But Mr Chavez seemed upbeat about the prospect of military co-operation.
“If Russia’s armed forces want to be present in Venezuela, they will be given a warm welcome,” he told a news conference after the meeting. (more)
One wonders how the “new JFK” would handle a “new” missle crisis…Yikes.

IDF trains for battle that may lie ahead

From Doctorbulldog:
A quick read. Israel knows once iran falls its proxies will attack them. They are getting ready. It matters little if Israel is attacked or is forced to invade its dirtbag neighbors a butt stomp is coming.
By ABE SELIG, 19 June, 2008, JPOSTA warm dawn haze lifted over the desert, but the moon was still out, and it dimly lit a group of soldiers in the distance – dots of green against the dark, barren landscape – charging silently towards the village.
Within minutes the silence was shattered. Gunfire, smoke and the low boom of grenade explosions echoed through the early morning, as regular infantry outfits mixed with occasional long-haired reservists advanced on their targets, yelling out commands.
“Cover me, I’m moving ahead!” yelled one private, lifting himself up from the ground and bee-lining to a small house on the village outskirts. His comrades followed, one after the other, as rays of sunlight and the neon green light of mosque minarets began to better illuminate the scene ..more

WWIII Technology Update: 30 MAV’s Heading to Iraq

By Noah Shachtman – Wired Blog
The Defense Secretary and Congress have been pounding on the Army, to start showing some results from its massive modernization project, Future Combat Systems. The Army is getting the message, sending a platoon of Future Combat’s flying robots to Iraq, immediately.
30 of the Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, “are on their way to Baghdad two weeks from now,” Future Combat Systems program manager Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright tells Defense News. (more and a cool picture here)

British Forces Now Using “Vacuum” Missile in Afghanistan

From the UK Times:
British forces in Afghanistan have used one of the world’s most deadly and controversial missiles to fight the Taliban.
Apache attack helicopters have fired the thermobaric weapons against fighters in buildings and caves, to create a pressure wave which sucks the air out of victims, shreds their internal organs and crushes their bodies.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted to the use of the weapons, condemned by human rights groups as “brutal”, on several occasions, including against a cave complex.
The use of the Hellfire AGM-114N weapons has been deemed so successful they will now be fired from RAF Reaper unmanned drones controlled by “pilots” at Creech air force base in Nevada, an MoD spokesman added. (more)
sucks to be the Taliban…

Gates ousts Air Force leaders in historic shake-up

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates ousted the Air Force’s top military and civilian leaders Thursday, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after embarrassing nuclear mix-ups. (more)

Why Does China Need a Blue Water Navy?

From the Brussels Journal:
Whilst the attention of the USA and the UK is distracted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our most likely enemy for the mid to long-term, Communist China, is beavering away at ramping up her military power. The objective becomes plainer by the day: to elevate herself to Super Power status with an Afro-Asian Empire to sustain her need for commodities.
Those naysayers who would stick their heads in the sand need look no further than all the signs: the ruthless exploitation of Darfur for its oil; the rapidly burgeoning presence of China in the business of minerals, oil and gems in Africa; its diversion of huge sums of money (though as yet not the sort of money the USA spends) to its defence budget; its hardline nationalist attitudes towards its neighbours such as Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
Today the Daily Telegraph reports yet another sign of its development of a blue water navy with a global strategic reach capable of threatening American and British cities: a huge underground naval base on the well-placed island of Hainan …more

Army to Move to 9 Month "In Country" Deployments

I don’t remember if the original post mentioned this but I heard yesterday that the move to a 12 month deployment for the Army means only 9 months on the ground. That’s good news for the Army and their families and as I said before, long overdue.

Europeans View China as Biggest Threat to Global Security

From Spiegal Online:
China may have been hoping to garner positive global attention in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, but the issue of Tibet has shattered its image. A new poll shows that Europeans now see China — not the US — as the biggest threat to global security. full story