Forests I.

This is coolbert:

From a recent blog entry:

"It should be realized that the maquis and garrigue have the form and appearance of a naturally occurring landscape . . . Are - - rather - - a 'man-formed landscape' that is the result of at least 2500 years of deforestation!"

Crusaders!

Those lands directly adjoining the Mediterranean Sea have been ravaged by millenniums of warfare.

What we observe today, the shrubland called the maquis or the garrigue is a "man-formed landscape"!

[the maquis and garrigue too, as noted previously, are very susceptible to fire!]

Here from the book: "The FIRST EDEN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND MAN" by David Attenborough.

In particular - - "PART THREE THE WASTES OF WAR":

"[regarding here the destruction of the forests of the Levant, those lands immediately adjacent to the eastern-most shore of the Mediterranean] The castles [Crusader] always had to be prepared for an attack . . . When large scale forces[Muslim] did arrive and laid siege to a castle, the effect on the countryside was devastating . . . They [Muslim] attacked the castle with rams, huge tree trunks . . . [and] Mangonels, long timbers pivoted near the middle and heavily weighted at the short end, were used to catapult boulders over castle walls. . . . The attackers might build siege towers . . . Every one of these devices demanded huge quantities of timbers . . . and the great armies needed tons of wood for their fires. So the inauguration of a siege meant inevitably that all the trees for miles around would be felled."

Attenborough too has totally missed the use of timbers as shoring. Supports used to bolster the mine shafts dug by sappers, seeking to undermine the very strong and quite often found-to-be-impregnable walls of a Crusader castle, such as Krak of the Chevaliers. Sapping was a popular way to defeat the walls of a castle, when direct assault proved to be unfeasible.

Prolonged sieges, sometimes lasting for YEARS were often only ended by determined and prolonged sapping which required enormous quantities of timber!

[Please understand that a prolonged siege of years did not mean continuous fighting, but rather confinement of the garrison and not actual combat on a perpetual basis. The most recent civil war in Lebanon is reputed to have seen some Christian mountain villages also besieged for years! But - - again, not actual continuous combat, but rather confinement! Capice!]

coolbert.

Breaking Point.

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The mutiny of the French Army in 1917 was not a unique phenomenon during the Great War [WW1]! A collective disobedience to order [mutiny] that did not exist within a vacuum!

A total breakdown, a collapse, a collective unwillingness of the troops "to go further", physical and mental exhaustion signifying a LACK OF WHEREWITHAL was NOT confined to the French!!

In his book, "The Face of Battle", Sir John Keegan makes some interesting points regarding the breakdown of the various combatants during World War One [WW1].

"And taking a very broad view of the war, a point was reached IN EVERY ARMY [my emphasis] at which either a majority or a disabling minority refused to go on. This point was reached":

* "for the French army in May 1917"
* "in the Russian Army in July 1917"
* "in the Italian army in November 1917"
* "in March 1918, the British Fifth Army collapsed"
* "in October [1918] the German army in the west signified . . . its unwillingness to continue."

There is - - according to Keegan - - a measurable and quantifiable way by which the breakdown can be understood:

"the relationship of total casualties to the number of fighting troops engaged."

"the break came soon after the total number of deaths suffered equalled the number of fighting infantry in the divisions."

"Counting the fighting infantry of a division at 10,000, and the number of British, French, Italian and Russian divisions engaged against the central powers as 60, 110, 45, and 120, we get figures of 600,000, 1,100,000, 450,000, and 1,200,000 [deaths respectively]"

"The German army, which certainly suffered a great many more deaths before cracking, escapes from the pattern."

BUT, EVENTUALLY, THE GERMAN ARMY DID TOO SUCCUMB AND DID SUFFER A BREAKDOWN, A "CRACKING"!

BUT - - THE "BREAK" POINT FOR THE GERMAN SOLDIER WAS DEMONSTRABLY HIGHER THAN IT WAS FOR THE TROOPS OF OTHER NATIONALITIES!

[Keegan attributes this to the fact that the German army on a number of fronts prior to 1918 had sustained victory against a variety of opponents. Losses were offset by "a light at the end of the tunnel!"]

There is SOMETHING IN THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE GERMAN THAT MAKES THEIR BREAKING POINT HIGHER THAN THAT OF OTHER NATIONALITIES?

American participation in the Great War was not protracted as it was for the other major combatants! American casualties were mild and small compared to what was suffered by the Germans, British, French, Russians, etc.! Prolonged engagement in the war would have seen the American Army reaching a breaking point too!

It can happen to anyone!

coolbert.

Destroyer of Enemies.

This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune today:

"NATION & WORLD"

"INDIA"

"Nuclear sub launches"

"NEW DELHI - - India on Sunday launched the first nuclear-powered submarine built on its soil, asserting itself as a world power, by joining just five other countries that can design and construct such vessels."

"The 367-foot submarine, named 'Arihant' or 'Destroyer of Enemies,' was sent to sea trials"

"It will be capable of launching nuclear weapons"

This is a surprise? India needs a nuclear-powered submarine. ONLY five other nations have the same - - a nuclear powered submarine. USA, Russia, England, France, China! An elite league has now been joined by India!

India is going against the grain with regard to submarine development. AIP is recognized as the way to go? BUT India also wants power projection? Against whom and where? China? This is unclear. This is perhaps a gaudy spectacle? Merely a show of force? Just to show the rest of the world the capability India now has.

Nuclear weaponry can include submarine delivered mines, torpedoes, missiles of all shapes and forms.

"The INS Arihant can stay underwater for long periods up to 100 days unlike the diesel powered submarines which needs to surface every few days to refuel. The 6000 tonne INS Arihant will give India the capability to launch ballistic missiles up to 300 kilometers. "

300 kilometers for a ballistic missile is not that far. I am not sure but the tactics and doctrine for a nuclear-powered sub would normally call for the vessel to operate in deep pelagic [blue] waters far from the coastline, and fire a missile of whatever variety at a target inland. the current variety of missile available to the Indians does not allow for this?

coolbert.

Irishman?

This is coolbert:

Whoa!!

It seems it is not only the Americans that cannot detect an illegal alien that penetrates the security apparatus of the realm, even to join and be accepted in an elite military and placed in a position of great trust!

"Queen guarded by illegal immigrant who joined Army under fake name"

"A soldier who guards the Queen at Buckingham Palace has been arrested after he was found to be illegal immigrant who joined the Army under a fake name, it has been reported."

This headline is misleading. This bloke had joined the British Army, enrolled in the ranks of an elite regiment, and stood guard duty for the Queen of England, and all the while was AN ILLEGAL ALIEN!! NOT JUST A MAN WITH A "FAKE NAME", AN ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO RESIDENCE IN ENGLAND WAS CRIMINAL! AND NOT DETECTED - - BUT ONLY BY ACCIDENT WAS THIS DECEPTION UNCOVERED!

[the use of the word immigrant too is deceptive. Having been determined to be ILLEGAL make this chap a criminal and not eligible for immigrant status.]

"The guardsman is believed to have used fake documents to join the Army . . . and his scam was only uncovered after a car crash when police discovered he had numerous aliases."

Numerous aliases!

"The soldier, named only as Guardsman Kapinga, is from an African Commonwealth country"

"For an illegal immigrant to gain membership of any Army regiment is unbelievable when you consider the potential damage an enemy could do there."

"But to be accepted into a Guards regiment, and therefore to have such close proximity to the monarch, is nothing short of a scandal."

This Kapinga actually stood guard at Buckingham Palace? Guarding the Queen herself? And all the while an illegal alien, undetected, with NUMEROUS ALIASES!

This elite unit is "the elite Battalion Irish Guards"! Kapinga is a real Irishman? I think not. Maybe you don't have to be an Irishman to be an Irish Guard?

Comment:

* "not only the Americans that cannot detect an illegal alien that penetrates the security"! I am thinking here of Jihad Jane! Nada Prouty. A Lebanese national [?] with terrorist relatives who was able work for the FBI and CIA, all the while residing in the U.S. as an illegal alien!!

coolbert.

Evacuate!

This is coolbert:

"In the history of modern warfare only two nations have demonstrated their ability to leave a hostile shore with any semblance of order. At Dunkirk in 1940, the British faced with a choice, wisely elected to save their men and to forgo the hope of saving their equipment. At Hungnam [Korea] in December 1950, the X Corps [U.S.] was able to withdraw its units intact with all equipment -- over 100,000 Soldiers, 17,500 vehicles, and 350,000 tons of bulk cargo. The Navy [U.S.] used 109 ships (some twice) in transporting 192 shiploads. In addition, over 98,000 refugees were evacuated."

This statement - - ONLY "two nations have demonstrated their ability to leave a hostile shore with any semblance of order" is not 100 % correct?

Here are several other modern instances of naval evacuation, carried out on a large scale, relatively successful:

1. The evacuation of the White Russian Army under the command of Wrangel from Black Sea ports. Carried out - - the fall of 1920. An army, anti-communist, with their backs to the wall [sea], being evacuated by an armada of British/American/French ships.

"The evacuation of General Wrangel's Army lasted from 20th November to 26th November 1920. There were two main evacuation points: Novorossijsk (under British Command) and Sevastopol (under Russian (Wrangel's) Command). The Allies (USA, UK and France) send about 100 steamers and other vessels to help general Wrangel to evacuate his army."

"146,200 Russians including 29,000 civilians were evacuated. Some had cholera and typhus."

Primarily White Russian troops and their dependents but a lot of other civilians too. A further large number of persons - - non-military also desiring evacuation had to be left behind, under desperate circumstances. Generally speaking, an evacuation orderly and according to plan?

2. Operation Hannibal - - 1945. Evacuation by the German Navy of military personnel and a lot of civilians from the Baltic Sea areas still under German control but surrounded by Red Army troops. 1.5 million [?] Germans successfully embarked and taken to friendly territory. Again, fairly orderly and according to plan, but suffering very heavy casualties on a number of occasions.

[Hannibal] constitutes the one great success of the German Navy during both World Wars?

Please note the mix of civilians and military men! Once that ship sailed it became a legitimate target of war!

Operations [evacuations] of this sort are always fraught with great danger and difficulty? Amphibious operations [going from sea to land or going from land to sea] are the most difficult of all military maneuvers. And ONLY the American and British navies during modern times have had the means and the experience "to do" such evacuations?

coolbert.

Bush Pilot!

This is coolbert:

"We shall be unable to turn natural advantage to account unless we make use of local guides." - - Sun Tzu - - VII. Maneuvering - - 14.

In this particular case - - not a guide - - but the African bush pilot.

"The term bush flying most likely came from a term to describe the land in Southern Africa, bush . . . any wilderness areas beyond clearings and settlements, which bush flying flies over."

"Bush flying is the primary method of access across the Canadian and Alaskan tundra and the Australian Outback." AND IN THIS CASE, INTO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA!

"Airline contracts in Africa ease strain on U.S. pilots"

"Companies know tricks of flying in rugged territory"

American military forces [Camp Lemonier and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa] employing local nationals, "bush pilots" for military air service, and with great success.

Employing local nationals in what is normally a military role, the task being performed perhaps better, and cheaper too!

"Another benefit is the familiarity the local pilots have with Africa, Crocker said. 'These guys fly in and out of these fields and they are good at it,' he said. 'They are experienced, they have the understanding. Because of them we can get places we couldn’t get to otherwise.'”

"The cost for a trip is $1,800 an hour, Crocker said, only a fraction of the roughly $3,000 to $4,000 it would cost to have a U.S. military C-130 make a comparable flight"

Bush pilots, intimately familiar with the local conditions, the airstrips, the operating conditions, the weather, the peculiarities of flying the Africa skies, and good at it - - pilots sometimes with DECADES OF EXPERIENCE under the most trying of circumstances and used to same!!

"Shaw [one of the bush pilots] said he knows exactly what to look for when he flies African skies."

"'A lot of animals like the heat of the tarmac,' he said. 'I’ve seen a zebra get hit by propellers; wildebeests and gazelles. I could go on all day. You really have to watch it.'”

“'You have to watch out for birds, animals and people,' he continued. 'Some of the airstrips are water logged. The tricks come with time.'”

Africa poses a perhaps unique challenge for military forces in that soldiers have to contend with DANGEROUS ANIMAL LIFE! "Critters" that can stalk, attack, kill and eat you, and are most desirous to do so. For aircraft, east Africa is a major bird migratory route, large birds, storks, eagles, etc., BASH posing a serious threat to airplanes!

Roads, quite often serving as "airstrips", to the extent they do exist in some of these isolated areas, are for the most part dirt paths with a slight degree of improvement? East African weather too consists of the dry and wet! When the wet [monsoon season] occurs, those "roads" become mud bogs and are generally unusable?

I would have to think that pilots such as Shaw are too a product of a Darwinian selection process at work. This bush pilot flying is rough and dangerous work. Those that last a long time just by virtue of their ability and knowledge survive, lesser aviators having "bite the dust" a long time ago.

There is too a World War Two [WW2] era James Cagney movie the subject of which is the bush pilot [Canadian] desiring to join the military as an aviator! This is: "Captains of the Clouds ".

"Inspired by Churchill's Dunkirk speech, brash, undisciplined bush pilot Brian MacLean and three friends enlist in the RCAF but are deemed too old to be fliers."

Canadian bush pilots, to their great disappointment, are told they are too old to fly as combat pilots, BUT ARE ACCEPTED INTO THE RCAF AS PILOT INSTRUCTORS! A role in real life that these masters of the air are ideally suited for.

And in the case of the African bush pilots now employed by the U.S. military, ideally suited too, in a way that "outsiders" would not be.

coolbert.

Counter-Diversionary.

This is coolbert:

From the web site: Russian All Round Fighting [RAF].

"The fighters of RAF school, when joining the Russian Army, always serve in the Special Forces."

"In the Russian Army athletes with RAF background served in . . . counter-diversion troops of the Strategic Missile Forces"

The web site of a uniquely Russian martial arts form, boasts - - that among those practitioners of the RAF fighting style are found persons who serve or have served in the elite special purpose units of the Russian military. Elite units to include those that guard the primary nuclear striking power of the Russian military, the Strategic Missile Forces. [until relatively recently the missile forces were called the Strategic Rocket Forces!]

"The Strategic Rocket Forces (Strategic Missile Troops) . . . are an arm of service . . . of the Russian armed forces that controls Russia's land-based ICBMs."

"Each missile regiment had 400 soldiers in security, transportation, and maintenance units above ground."

Above ground elements to include security. Security guards but providing much more than just the normal capability of a sentry. Specially trained AND SELECTED troops who can at a moments notice function and fight as conventional infantry and then some. TRAINED IN THE PARTICULARLY UNIQUE RUSSIAN FIGHTING FORM OF RAF to augment traditional infantry skills and weaponry!! TRAINED KILLERS AND NOT MERELY SECURITY GUARDS OR "POLICE" AS THE TERM IS GENERALLY, COMMONLY AND ORDINARILY UNDERSTOOD!

Specially SELECTED from the standpoint of loyalty and during the communist era [and even now] politically reliable. Can be counted on not to betray their trust and have been verified as being trustworthy through exhaustive background checks.

These "spetsnaz" troops of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces perform a mission analogous to that of the Australian Airfield Defence Guards, the British or German. Air Force Regiment[s], the French Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air, or the American Air Force Security Forces?

Guard and protect the missiles themselves, the warhead depots and storage facilities, the command and control apparatus! An elite, trained and able to employ esoteric measures [RAF] of combat if needed!

Are described as "counter-diversion troops". As envisaged by the Soviet/Russian Soviet Missile Force commanders, will parry and defeat A GROUND ATTACK BY HOSTILE FORCES HOPING TO DESTROY THE MAIN RUSSIAN STRIKING NUCLEAR POWER - - BEFORE LAUNCH - - WHILE THE MISSILES ARE STILL IN THEIR SILOS.

Attack presumably coming from American Special Forces, Rangers, Navy SEALS, British SAS, etc. Troops of the "hunter class"!

Hard core combat units fighting it out with other hard core combat units with the security of nuclear weaponry and delivery systems being at stake. Close quarter combat in many cases, using RAF on the Russian side!

coolbert.

Information Warfare? [IW]

This is coolbert:

"A criminal act or an act of war? Until 9-11, the U.S. government treated terror as a criminal-type activity to be confronted with a robust law enforcement effort. That approach, however, proved inadequate."

Here an op-ed piece, from a year ago now but still very relevant, by the distinguished retired Colonel Austin Bay:

"In the computer age — and 2008 is definitely in the computer age — the difference between an act of war and crime is often a matter of interpretation as well as degree."

"An electronic attack doesn't leave craters or bleeding human casualties . . . However, the economic costs can be much larger than a classic barrage or bombing campaign"

Colonel Bay is speaking here of information or cyber warfare [IW]! Invasive attacks on computers from a hostile foreign power [or criminal gang] that can can bring a nation to the a standstill. Attacks - - no different - - according to U.S. case law, than a traditional criminal trespass, an intrusion - - no different - - than if a burglar had physically entered your home to rob you. Attacks upon military, governmental, scientific, and commercial computers and networks vital to the defense and prosperity of a nation!

Stealing data and information, slowing down economic activity, denying the use of valuable and absolutely essential computer time and access, etc. All done from a distance, in an insidious, even sinister manner. Even placing of deceptive and misleading data to confuse and flummox the unwary!

Recent REPORTED CASES ABOUND? Just from the last several years we have:

1. "Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar to disable Estonia· Parliament, ministries, banks, media targeted" [Two years ago!]

"Nato experts sent in to strengthen defences"

"A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with Nato urgently examining the offensive and its implications."

2. "Coordinated Russia vs Georgia cyber attack in progress" [One year ago!]

"In the wake of the Russian-Georgian conflict . . . speculations around Russian Internet forums have finally materialized into a coordinated cyber attack against Georgia’s Internet infrastructure. The attacks have already managed to compromise several government web sites, with continuing DDoS [Denial of Service] attacks against numerous other Georgian government sites, prompting the government to switch to hosting locations to the U.S"

3. "U.S. officials eye N. Korea in cyberattack" [From just recently, less than a month ago now!]

"WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. authorities say they are eyeing North Korea as the origin of the cyberattack that overwhelmed government websites in the United States and South Korea. But they warned it will be difficult to quickly identify the attackers."

4. "Wide Cyber Attack Is Linked to China" [Continuing, all-encompassing, all-pervasive!]

"Security researchers said they have discovered software capable of stealing information installed on computers in 103 countries from a network that targeted government agencies."

"The software infected more than 1,200 computers, almost 30% of which were considered high-value targets"

"Among the affected computers were those in embassies belonging to Germany, India, and Thailand, ministries of Iran and Latvia, and a computer network operated by the organization of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader."

"The researchers . . . they traced the attacks to computers located in China, but didn't say who they thought was behind it."

5. The most recent report use of IW - - against those Iranian dissidents and protesters - - just a few weeks ago now, a rebellion gone-a-fizzle due to Iranian governmental IW directed against those in a state of semi-insurrection!

Comments:

* Russia, North Korea, China, Iran. All nations hostile to the U.S. They, as it was during the Cold War, are on the offensive and we [U.S.] are on the defensive? The U.S. could respond in kind to cyber-attack if it so desired, but declines to do so. ONLY acts in a defensive manner and then reactive when an attack is detected? The U.S. HAS the capability to go on the offensive but hesitates to do so? The U.S. too is much more susceptible to cyber-attack than those nations less sophisticated and less-reliant upon cyber systems?

* Are these attacks to be defined as a mere criminal matter or an act of war? This cannot be decided by those in authority in Washington [or anywhere else for that matter]? The Obama administration has made the decision that this is a criminal matter?

* Stealing data or IMPAIRING the function of your computer is the same as ordinary criminal trespass! This is U.S. case law. And is international corporate law too?

* This sort of "warfare" is very cheap and relatively easy to do? The culprit nations can quite often be identified [?] with a degree of certainty, but NOT absolutely so.

* This is too an intimidating factor, no less so than weapons of mass destruction? Demonstrations are quite often carried out to scare and frighten. "See what we can do on a limited basis? Imagine what it would be like if we did this big time?!" This is the message in part.

* And as mentioned in the case of the Iranians, you can, using a cyber attack, not only observe and watch your opposition from afar, but have the potentiality to introduce deception - - creating chaos in the process. Deny your opposition the use of their computers and also if possible use their own computers against them at the same time!

Very scary!

coolbert.

Bashir!

This is coolbert:

This is big?

Another American, a convert to Islam, an adherent to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, has been captured. NOW cooperating with the FBI!

Bryant Neal Vinas. A native born American, described as the son of Peruvian immigrants, actually took up arms and participated in a military style attack upon American troops in Afghan.

Captured while in Pakistan, returned to the U.S. and again, NOW cooperating!

As clear cut a case of treason as you can possibly find. The punishment for which, after a fair and speedy trial, is almost always DEATH!

And a man, who had "inside information" of great value to the jihadi villains? Provided this info, unreservedly so, to Al Qaeda, and has admitted as much?

"Feds: US man gave al-Qaida NYC subway information"

"NEW YORK – An American man charged with giving al-Qaeda information on the New York transit system and attacking a U.S. military base in Afghanistan has been a secret witness in the fight against terror both here and overseas, authorities revealed Wednesday."

"Court papers unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn identified the defendant as Bryant Neal Vinas, nicknamed 'Ibrahim' or 'Bashir al-Ameriki,' who grew up on Long Island."

"he pleaded guilty in January in a sealed courtroom in Brooklyn and remains in U.S. custody in New York."

"he also gave 'expert advice and assistance ... on the New York transit system and Long Island Railroad.'"

Exactly what expert advice this man could have given Al Qaeda is unclear. Gave same [advice] on both the NYC subway system and the Long Island Railroad [LIRR] both? What exactly is his expertise?

A subway represents a mouth-watering target for terrorists in general? Persons, confined within further confinement, make an easy target for a weapon of mass destruction, biological, chemical, radiological, etc. It has been demonstrated that Al Qaeda DID possess the ability to deploy a chemical weapon that would dispense hydrogen-cyanide gas of lethal proportions within a confined space.

Any mention of the Long Island Railroad [LIRR] brings instantly to mind the case of the mad [?] gunman, Colin Ferguson. Ran amok [1993] on a LIRR commuter train - - the "lone wolf" assassin, killing six and wounding nineteen. They said the man was mad, deranged, demented, etc. Never was the matter made clear!

"On December 7, 1993 Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island commuter train and began shooting the passengers with a Ruger P-89 9mm pistol. The incident known as the Long Island Railroad Massacre resulted in six people being killed and 19 injured."

This Bryant [Bashir] is in the same league as is Adam [Azzam] Gadahn and John Walker Lindh [Abdul Hamid]! A highly impressionable and confused young man that has gotten himself in deep doo-doo? Attracted by the exotic dress, language, religion, ritual, etc. of Islam! NOT exactly sure what he has gotten into until the road back home is "barricaded" shut with no exit?

Or a zealot and a convert to be greatly feared, but now, thankfully, in custody, "cooperating"? NOT, however, having a date with the hangman!!

coolbert.

F-22.

This is coolbert:

From the op-ed page of the Chicago Tribune today:

"Luxury vs. Reality"

"A disciplined vote against the F-22."

As is well known [?] now, the Department of Defense [DoD] is going to stop production of the F-22 fighter plane.

The state-of-the-art air superiority fighter, highly vaunted, but very expensive.

187 total [F-22's] have been built and are already in the inventory.

The F-35 fighter plane now [?] coming off the assembly line has been decided as the way to go? About 2,000 are going to be built, with a goodly number also sold to foreign nations! Less expensive than the F-22, less capable [how much less?], but still more than adequate!

And here from the op-ed piece, this quote, which somewhat startles me:

According to Defense analyst Cindy William s of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT]:

"I would be surprised if Russia or China could match the F-35 as soon as 25 years from now."

Whoa! 25 years for the Chinese or Russians to produce and field an aircraft that will match the F-35?

The F-35 is expected to last until about 2050 as the mainstay of the USAF striking force? And of course Cindy is MIT, so she must be right, but I do ask myself, WHOA!

Such an estimate - - does it surprise anyone else other than me?

coolbert.

Smartest?

This is coolbert:

"Cronkite: Jimmy Carter 'Smartest President'"

"Deceased news icon Walter Cronkite went on the record saying that in his opinion President Jimmy Carter was the nation’s 'smartest president,'"

"Cronkite . . . added 'that the smartest President he ever met was Jimmy Carter'"

This is news? Anecdotal comments by the recently passed away television news anchor Walter Cronkite regarding the "smarts" of President Jimmy Carter.

President Carter is the smartest man in the office that Cronkite ever met? NOT necessarily the smartest president but the smartest president that Walter actually MET!

This may well be true. Carter was and is bright, did have an excellent education at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, and DID STUDY NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND NUCLEAR REACTOR PHYSICS!

Carter did [does?] like to refer to himself as a physicist. Actually not a physicist, but had studied nuclear physics, specifically the physics as applicable to a nuclear reactor as would be found on a submarine. This part of the naval program as instituted by the famous Admiral Rickover.

You CANNOT have attended Annapolis, graduated, and have studied nuclear physics as part of the nuclear submarine program, done well, and NOT HAVE BEEN SMART!!

Policies, programs, and record of the Carter presidency aside, just as to the merits of Carter as a educated, brilliant, and highly intelligent man, what Walter says sounds correct!

The smartest president he MET!

coolbert.

Geuzen.

This is coolbert:

Those German surface raiders, both during World War One and Two, represent unconventional/guerrilla warfare as fought as sea?

Unconventional naval fighters, having the attributes of the guerrilla fighter on land - - attacking where the enemy is weak, avoiding where the enemy is strong, appearing without warning, disappearing without a trace, constantly on the move, capturing supplies and gathering intelligence from the enemy as they go, using every possible subterfuge and ruse available, etc.!

Here is another instance of naval guerrilla warfare - - as practiced by rebellious Dutch Protestants, circa the 16th century.

Watergeuzen. Also known as sea-beggars.

"Geuzen . . . was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles and other malcontents, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen (English: Sea Beggars)."

"In 1569 William of Orange . . . granted letters of marque to a number of vessels manned by crews of desperadoes drawn from all nationalities. These fierce privateers . . . were called . . . Watergeuzen in Dutch. At first they were content to merely plunder both by sea and land, and carrying their booty to the English ports where they were able to refit and replenish their stores."

Watergeuzen having met the criteria as espoused by Mao for successful guerrilla warfare:

* Having the support of the people [Dutch Calvinists].
* Having a sanctuary [English ports].
* Having the support of a foreign power [England for a period of three years].

The watergeuzen, first to take to the field [the sea] in battle for their cause, became nucleus of what became the successful Dutch rebellion against despotic Spanish rule! Leaders, leading in the Dutch manner, not from land but from the sea!

coolbert.

Sineva.

This is coolbert:

One day good, one day bad!


Russian missile and weapons development and testing continues unabated.

Here from RIA Novosti:

1. "Russia outwitted U.S. strategic defenses with missile test"

"MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - The United States was unable to detect the presence of Russian strategic submarines in the Arctic before they test-launched two ballistic missiles, a Russian intelligence source said on Wednesday."

"Russia carried out test launches of two Sineva intercontinental ballistic missiles from two Delta IV class nuclear-powered submarines, located near the North Pole, on July 13-14."

"The first missile, flying a ballistic path, hit its designated target . . . the second, fired with a flat trajectory, destroyed a target at the Chizha testing site"

"The source said that the launch area, covered by ice floe, was heavily patrolled by Russian attack submarines and the Americans were unable to detect the arrival of two strategic submarines before the launch."

"The RSM-54 Sineva (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a third-generation liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile"

"the Russians have continued to use liquid-propelled missiles, perhaps on grounds of extensive experience and confidence in their safety, but surely because of consistent disappointment with the solid-propelled [missiles]"

"the use of different types of the flight trajectories to the minimum and intermediate firing distance"

Comments:

* This was a Delta class boat firing from an arctic bastion. A missile firing submarine operating from within a protected area, FIRING THE MISSILES WHILE SUBMERGED - - THE WATER ON THE SURFACE COVERED PARTIALLY BY FLOES OF ICE!

* I am surprised that the Russian missile firing submarines are still using, even after DECADES of development - - liquid-fueled missiles! This is so, three generations of such missiles having been fielded? Liquid missile fuels carried on a submarine pose a great risk? Toxicity, fumes, dangerous loading operations, etc.? ONLY just before launch are such missiles fueled?

* The Skiff has the ability to be programmed for task-tailored trajectory. This too is new to me. Is not just for attacking targets at long range, can be used for "minimum and intermediate firing distance" as well?

2. "New Bulava missile test results in failure - Russian military"

"MOSCOW, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - A scheduled test of Russia's new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on July 15 was a failure, the Defense Ministry's press service said on Thursday."

This photo gives one a good perspective as to the scale of those missile firing submersible boats. I believe this was taken from the deck of a Typhoon class Russian sub.

"Six of the 11 test launches of the Bulava have ended in failure. The launches were temporarily suspended and the missile components were tested in the labs after a series of previous failures."

Bulava is the oceanic-going submarine launched version of the land-based TOPOL ICBM. For some reason the Bulava is not working right when fired from a sub. That series of tests has a bad yield, less than 50 % working! Bugs have yet to be worked out - - reliability is questionable, BUT ONLY FOR THE SEA-BASED VERSION?

* Bulava is a solid-fueled missile, an ICBM, and intended to be used on the Borei-class of Russian sub. A sub the first of which is under construction [?] and not deploy able until 2010?

coolbert.

V-12.

This is coolbert:

"because this regiment, and especially this battalion, is such a fucking good one, I have almost no doubt that we will be the first to put foot onshore.”

The first to put foot onshore - - on Japanese soil - - 1945. The invasion of Japan.

Here thanks to the tip from Steve, and courtesy of the New Yorker, a short story, fiction, newly discovered and published [?]:

"Rat Beach" - - by William Styron

An American U.S. Marine Corps infantry lieutenant, callow and never having experienced combat, scared "shitless", contemplating the forthcoming invasion of Japan! An invasion in which his division, his regiment, his battalion, his company, would be the first to hit the beaches!!

From the short story: "the Vww12 unit at Duke"

This was the "V-12 Navy College Training Program". Young men, able, intelligent, educated to graduate of secondary level - - potential officer material, but still too young and immature in the eyes of the military, sent to college for an accelerated university education, combined with physical fitness training. Year-round college, no breaks, preparing young men for officer candidacy.

"The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II . . . more than 125,000 men were enrolled in the V-12 program in 131 colleges and universities in the United States."

"V-12 participants were required to carry 17 credit hours and 9-1/2 hours of physical training each week. Study was year-round, and the number of terms for a trainee depended on his previous college background . . . Marine candidates went to boot camp and then to the 12-week Officer Candidate Course at Quantico, Virginia. The curriculum was heavy on math and science for "regulars" (those entering college for the first time)."

The V-12 program was a uniquely American idea that proved very successful. A number of post-war American luminaries were graduates of the program. The U.S. military does come up with some good ideas that benefit the society AS A WHOLE!!

coolbert.

China II. [Conclusion]

This is coolbert:

Here is another "bad egg", an ethnic Chinese [American citizen?], working for American intelligence, all the while, also working as a penetration agent for the Red Chinese!

Larry Wu-Tai Chin.

"Larry Wu-tai Chin . . . was a former Chinese language translator working for the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service [FBIS]. He sold classified documents to the People's Republic of China from 1952 to 1985."

And prior to working for the CIA, was a civilian [??] employee of the U.S. Army, during the Korean conflict, and AT THE SAME TIME, A SPY FOR COMMUNIST CHINA!! A man, a spy for the enemy, causing damage to United Nations forces in Korea that cannot be underestimated.

From the wiki entry on Larry:

"Chin served as a Chinese translator in the US Army during the Korean War . . . He misrepresented the intelligence that he was translating from captured Chinese soldiers . . . He also provided the Chinese with the names of captured Chinese soldiers who were revealing information or intended to defect. The Chinese then specifically requested these soldiers by name to be released back to China before the armistice negotiations could take place. This delayed the negotiations process for over a year, resulting in countless lost lives."

"The main point of contention during the talks was the question surrounding the prisoners of war . . . As many as one third of the captured North Koreans and many more of the Chinese did not want to be returned to their communist countries"

"A major, problematic negotiation was the repatriation of prisoners of war (PoWs) . . . because many PVA and KPA soldiers refused repatriation to China and North Korea, the tactical warfare continued until the Chinese and North Koreans dropped the matter"

THE KOREAN WAR ARMISTICE TALKS RESULTED IN STALEMATE FOR A PERIOD OF TWO YEARS, IN LARGE MEASURE BECAUSE OF THE VILLAINY AND TREACHERY OF THIS ONE MAN, LARRY WU-TAI CHIN??!!

Comments:

* Larry actually sat in as a translator during the interrogations of captured Chinese communist [Chicom] troops and DELIBERATELY MISINTERPRETED THOSE INTERROGATIONS!! Valuable intelligence was not only lost, but deception perhaps entered into the process?

* Larry passed on the names of cooperative Chicom POW to his spymasters. Those giving information AND THOSE WILLING TO DEFECT TO THE U.N. FORCES, NOT WILLING TO RETURN TO CHINA!!

* Someone ought to look at those translations Larry did for the CIA [FBIS] as well!

* Larry was active as an agent for over thirty years and never was even fully debriefed and interrogated when "discovered"! He hung himself while in jail, precluding the CIA [and the U.S. Army for that matter!] from finding out what exact damage he had done.

One man could wreak so much havoc, and get away with it, evading capture for so long as did Larry!?

Seems so!

coolbert.

China I.

This is coolbert:

Here from the Chicago Tribune today

"Business"

"Engineer is found guilty in economic espionage case"

"An engineer was convicted of stealing trade secrets critical to the U.S. space program under the nation's FIRST TRIAL UNDER THE ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE LAW."

"former Boeing Co. engineer Dongfan Chung guilty of six counts of economic espionage and other charges for hoarding 300,000 pages of sensitive documents in his home."

"accused . . . of using his 30-year career at Boeing and Rockwell . . . to steal the documents and pass them to China."

[documents, proprietary, not classified] "employees were told to lock up at the close of work each day."

Comments:

* I was not aware there was a law covering ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE!

* 300,000 pages of documents is a lot of paper. Where did this guy store it all? And you have to assume it WAS ALL PASSED TO CHINA!

* 30-year career? How long was this guy active in the espionage business? Rockwell is no longer in the missile and aerospace industry, but was quite active at one time! And NOT ONCE was this Chung detected while up-to-no-good. A lot of cases like this exist and are NEVER DETECTED?

* And, yet again, the characteristic signature of the Chinese intelligence services? Working only with a Chinese citizen, or a person - - a Chinese national or ethnic Chinese!!

coolbert.

The Old Ways!

This is coolbert:

For some reason, I have an special interest in the old ways of doing things! Especially as pertains to warfare. And even more so if those "old ways" are still in use, modern times notwithstanding!

Here, the German, in World War One [WW1] and World War Two [WW2], employing with success SAILING SHIPS! Masted vessels of the old design, using sail and the force of the wind for propulsion!

* The voyages [WW2] of the German clandestine warfare vessel, the sailing ship Passim.

As commanded by a renowned German deep-ocean sailor, a master of sail and trans-oceanic crossings, Heinrich Garbers.



"the Passim, a 16 meter long sailing yacht [a yawl] which also was
equipped with an emergency engine [sometimes spelled as Passime]"

["A yawl . . . is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mizzen mast well aft of the
main mast"]

On at least three occasions, Garbers, at the helm of the Passim, was able to complete military missions, crossing the Atlantic and down the coast of Africa, observed a number of times by allied forces, using all manner of subterfuge and disguise to evade detection!

1. "on August 2, 1943 left France for South Africa."

"Garbers reached the Namibian (former Deutsch-Südwestafrika)
desert-coastline on October 5. After two of the agents went ashore
. . . Garbers set sail to go 1300 kilometers to the Bay of
Mossamedes [modern day Angola] to land the third agent."

2. "He had to transport and put ashore [Brazil] two agents, a German and a Brazilian" [this "Brazilian" was actually a black "Dutchman", William Baarn, recruited to act as a spy in Brazil. NOT a native born Brazilian.]

3. "The third journey of Garbers and the Passim went to Argentina with two agents and a load of medicine for the Argentinians."

"When captured in May of 1945, Heinrich Garbers was interrogated by
the CIA [OSS] who wanted to know which U-boats Garbers had used on his different secret journeys . . . but when he told that he had [used] a sailing yacht, they didn't believe him!"

* The voyages of the German surface raider Seeadler [World War One [WW1]], a windjammer sailing ship, commanded by Felix von Luckner.

"A windjammer was a type of sailing ship with a large iron or steel hull, built to carry cargo in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century."

"SMS Seeadler (Ger.: sea eagle) was a three-master windjammer (1916 to 1917). She was the one of the last fighting steam/sail ships to be used in war when she served as a merchant raider with Imperial Germany."



"The Seeadler was equipped with an auxiliary engine, hidden
lounges, accommodation for additional crew and prisoner sailors,
two hidden 105 mm cannons that could emerge from the deck . . .
two hidden heavy machine guns, and rifles for boarding parties."

"During [a period of] 225 days [1917] she captured 15 ships in the
Atlantic and Pacific and led the British and US Navies on a merry
chase."

The Seeadler was poorly armed, but adequate for the task. Most of the time powered by the wind, using sail, having an auxiliary motor if needed? AND IN EACH AND EVERY INSTANCE, OVERTOOK, OVERPOWERED, AND CAPTURED AN ENEMY MERCHANT VESSEL THAT WAS A STEAM SHIP, FORCING SURRENDER!

The Seeadler, commanded by von Luckner, a man who in a time of war and extreme violence, seemed to eschew violence, taking great pains to operate in as chivalrous a manner possible!

"only one single accidental casualty on either side during the entire journey"

coolbert.

Stealth!

This is coolbert:

It is not just the Americans who are accused of having profligate and ill-conceived military budgets. Money spent unwisely and without proper and due consideration?

"Indian Army uses 10 million rupees of defence budget on golf carts"

"At first sight the deal looked honourable: Indian army chiefs claimed they had spent 10 million rupees (£127,000) on silent reconnaissance vehicles for missions beyond enemy lines."

"This week, however, it was revealed that they had bought 22 golf buggies, several of which were deployed to patrol the army’s Shivalik Golf Course in Chandigarh"

Items listed as stealth electric powered reconnaissance vehicles actually were golf carts. Used by the upper echelons of command for their round of golf? I was not aware that the game of golf was even played in India. Much less a popular game indulged in by the senior generals of the Indian Army!

Additionally, the Indian Army is also accused of poor procurement and unnecessary and unfounded purchase of questionable or unusable battlefield equipment? Including:

* "the army bought Dhruv helicopters that can fly to a height of only 5,000 metres (16,400ft) — well short of the 6,500 metres required to patrol the Himalayan battlefields."

* "Thousands of Russian-made heavy artillery shells that do not fire were bought"

* "the Northern Command, which oversees Kashmir, bought stretchers that were unsuitable for evacuating combat casualties"

The Dhruv helicopter is a totally indigenous Indian design! Very capable but not able to work in the altitudes of the high Himalaya! I would question IF ANY helicopter is able to work at such altitudes. Maybe can reach in excess of 20,000 feet, BUT NOT WHILE CARRYING ANY LOAD!! Traditionally, helicopters are assigned in the U.S. military a flight envelope 3,000 feet above-ground-level and that is that!!

"The Helicopter Division of the government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has developed the Dhruv (Pole Star) advanced light helicopter (ALH) . . . multi-role and multi-mission helicopter for army, air force, navy, coast guard and civil operations for both utility and attack roles by day and night."

coolbert.

Philip of Greece.

glishThis is coolbert:

"Philip of Greece a god - - Philip - - a god??!!"

"Prince Philip, they hardly know ye"

"A South Pacific 'cargo cult' petitions its deity for bags of rice and a Land Rover."

"Vanuatu - the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu."

Vanuatu, formerly known as the New Hebrides, Melanesia!

As unlikely as it sounds, a few thousand villagers on the island of Tanna worship the 85-year-old prince [Philip] as a deity, holding hope that he will one day appear among them, dispensing gifts."

"'He is a god, not a man,' . . . 'Sometimes we hear his voice, but we can't see him.'
"

"The unusual beliefs held by the inhabitants of Yaohnanen and surrounding villages in the jungles of Tanna first emerged in the 1960s, anthropologists say."

The cargo cult is alive and well and thriving in Vanuatu. Islands of the South Pacific, Melanesia, inhabited by persons who worship Prince Philip of Greece, consort to Elizabeth II, Queen of England [Missus Kwin]!! NOT dating from the 1960's? Pre-dates that time?

The cargo cult phenomenon appearing in the aftermath of World War Two. Melanesian natives of the various islands of the South Pacific, leading a stone-age existence, responding to the appearance of the modern world in the form of the American military!

Natives of the area, practicing a religion, emulating perceived actions of the American military man, all in the effort to obtain "cargo". Material goads unloaded from aircraft and ships, "supplies" brought from a "far-and-distant-place"! Supplies, "cargo" that will assuredly arrive in response to the proper combination of supplication, incantation, and ritual pantomime similar to the behavior of American troops involved in logistics operations.

["supplication", "incantation" and "ritual pantomime" such as talking into a fake radio, setting up marker panels for an air drop, or signalling out to sea with an ALDIS lamp to non-existent naval ships!!]

In this particular case, Prince Philip is the man [god] of the hour. In other locales throughout Melanesia, the "god" is a white man called "Tom Navy" or "John Frum"! Prince Philip did see extensive military service during World War Two, BUT NOT in the Pacific theatre, other than to witness the surrender of the Japanese.

And Philip, hurry up with that rice and the Land Rover. Time is awaiting on NO ONE!

coolbert.

Korea.

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog:

"I just hope no war is sparked by these tensions in Korea."

"Many of my relatives live in South Korea, and it would be a tragedy to see such a civilized and improved country crumble from a deadly conflict."

This is absolutely correct. It would be a terrible tragedy not only for those persons living on the Korean peninsula, but for the world as a whole.

It has been nearly sixty years since the beginning of the Korea War [1950].

The southern part of Korea, that portion below the Demilitarized-Zone [DMZ], the Republic of Korea [ROK]has become a player on the world stage. A economic powerhouse, one of the ten largest economies in the world, having a population of well-fed, well-dressed, well-educated, fairly prosperous, confident people. A nation, ROK, where progress is constant and on-going in a way it is not in other places in the world!

What has transpired in the ROK in the last few decades can perhaps best be described as a "miracle"!

And too, THE ROK NOW ENJOYS, MUCH TO ITS CREDIT, A DEMOCRATIC, NOT AN AUTHORITARIAN TYPE OF GOVERNMENT. Economic prosperity is now coupled with a large measure of democracy, free elections, and liberty!

It has been over forty years now since I have served one tour of duty in Korea [U.S. Army]. The changes in ROK since that time have been stupendous, and all for the better!!

I recall very well when the Hyundai corporation first began selling cars in the U.S. The three Korean representatives of the firm made a special trip to the Korea War Memorial to lay a wreath in memory of those that died in the first Korean Conflict. A very true and meaningful tribute that is appreciated.

And as for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea [DPRK]? Perhaps the most, if not one of the most repressive and brutal regimes on the planet! What of them? Indeed, why have they not attacked and launched a second Korean War? ON PAPER, they seem to possess a formidable, perhaps even unstoppable arsenal!!

I recall reading this some time ago, during one of the more recent episodes of food shortage as suffered by the residents of the North, that the North Korean army [NKPA] standard curve for uniforms was not longer valid from what it had been in prior decades! The population has suffered from hunger and malnutrition for so long that the populace has become STUNTED AND WEAK! The NKPA cannot find suitably sized and fitting uniforms for their bantam weight conscript troops.

Those leaders of the NKPA know very well that their soldiers are just physically incapable of initiating and maintaining a blitzkrieg offensive? This is so?

coolbert.

Komet.

This is coolbert:

Here is an instance of Soviet World War Two [WW2] collaboration with the German that the modern day Russian probably wants to forget?

Soviet collaboration with the German, prior to 22 June 1941, much to the detriment of the English cause!

The permission, aiding and abetting, for German surface raiders [the Komet] to transit the North East Passage, Arctic waters north of Siberia, gaining access to the Pacific Ocean, the mission of which was to attack English, Australian, and New Zealand targets.

"Komet (German for comet) (HSK-7) was an auxiliary cruiser . . . intended for service as a commerce raider . . . [this was] Raider B."

[for a few months during the summer, the Arctic waterway adjacent to the Siberian land mass becomes to a degree open water, allowing for the limited movement of shipping]

"the Soviets agreed to provide Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route [North East Passage?] through which Germany could access both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."

"Prior to being sent to the Northern Sea Route, the Komet was equipped with a special strengthened bow and a special propeller suitable for ice navigation . . . With the consent of the then neutral Soviet Union . . . With assistance from Soviet icebreaker Lenin [and icebreaker Joseph Stalin also], she passed through the several Arctic Ocean passages . . . In early September, the Komet crossed the Bering Straits into the Pacific Ocean. The passage navigation was an amazing achievement in itself"

Having completed the North East Passage, the Komet, in conjunction with two other German warships [Orion and a re-supply ship], sailing out of Japan, did conduct naval military operations in the Pacific. Most successfully too, posing a constant threat to allied merchant shipping, British, French, and Dutch ruled island domains and the territories of Australia and New Zealand itself!

coolbert.

Internet.

This is coolbert:

From the DEBKAfile:

"First round in Internet war goes to Iranian intelligence"

We have seen the recent protests, the "riots", demonstrations directed against the ruling government of Iran. An election was purportedly stolen? The allegations of fraud have not been proven, but is BELIEVED TO BE TRUE BY THOSE IN THE STREETS!

Young folks for the most part, giving the ruling powers some aggravation, those young folks hoping for "change"!

Protests, "riots", demonstrations that have fizzled out, lost the momentum, and are now history?

Fizzled out in an unanticipated manner! From hidden reasons not fully realized by those in the streets! An unseen hand was at work, MANIPULATION BEHIND THE SCENES!

"millions of sympathizers around the world looked forward to seeing Iran's protest movement using the Internet for the first online coup in history."

"[the] organizers' heavy reliance on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other social sites to orchestrate their protest movement . . . Iranian intelligence Internet experts, operating from secret headquarters established months ago, were using their communications to shoot them down."

The demonstrators, the protesters, the "rioters" were using the latest technology, cell phones, Internet access, etc., to organize and coordinate their activities. ALL THE WHILE BEING WATCHED, DECEIVED AND MANIPULATED BY THE IRANIAN AUTHORITIES!

"The high-end apparatus, installed in late 2008 by the German Siemens AG and Finnish Nokia Corp. cell phone giant, gave Iranian intelligence the most advanced tools anywhere for controlling, inspecting, censoring and altering Internet and cell phone messaging."

THE MOST ADVANCED TOOLS ANYWHERE! THE MOST ADVANCED ANYWHERE! BEARS REPEATING.

"Iranian intelligence invaded their computers and cell phones to plant false leads for smoking unsuspecting activists out in the open and keeping them under inspection"

NOT ONLY WERE THE IRANIAN DISSIDENTS BEING WATCHED, THEY HAD DISINFORMATION PLANTED AMONG THEM AND WERE BEING DECEIVED AT THE SAME TIME!! A COORDINATED AND SYNCHRONIZED PLAN ON THE PART OF THE DISSIDENTS BECAME IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE OF SO MUCH CHAOS AND CONFUSION DELIBERATELY PLANTED BY IRANIAN INTELLIGENCE!!

There too is not something mentioned in the DEBKAfile article. Many of the servers for those various Internet web sites are U.S. based. Web packet traffic of the Iranian dissidents might very well be traveling through U.S. based Internet routers, Iranian dissidents having an Internet chat becoming U.S. "persons" whose conversation is inviolable for American intelligence agencies inspection without a search warrant being issued!!

coolbert.

Dolphin.

This is coolbert:

Read here, here, and here my previous blog entry on the Israeli Dolphin class submarines. Believed to be armed with nuclear weaponry.

Thanks to the DEBKAfile just from the other day [July 7, 2009, 9:43 PM (GMT+02:00)]:

"Israeli sub said armed with nuclear-capable torpedoes navigates Suez Canal"

An Israeli nuclear [??] equipped submarine has just transited the Suez canal. This is an event worthy of the news? And that "nuclear-capable torpedoes" should actually read, "nuclear-capable" cruise missiles fired from a torpedo tube!



There is a message being sent here? The Israeli navy has three such Dolphin class conventionally powered submarines. BUT carrying cruise missiles that have nuclear warheads?

"The Dolphin-class attack submarine is reported to be the first Israeli naval vessel to transit the Suez Canal in four years on its way from Haifa to Eilat last month"

That force of three submarines would normally consist of one on station in the Mediterranean, one on station in the Indian Ocean or Red Sea, "somewhere", and one in port during a rest and refurbishment period.

This current move bolsters the submarine forth that can "move out" in case of a decision being reached with regard to the nuclear potential of Iran?

"since the Israel Navy lost the Dakar submarine near Greece in 1968, all Israeli subs are armed when they move out of harbor"

ARMED IN THE CASE OF THE DOLPHINS, WITH CRUISE MISSILE TIPPED WITH NUCLEAR WARHEADS, AND READY FOR ACTION?

coolbert.

Again!

This is coolbert:

“'your country has this system to analyze' e-mail for keywords."

Lemme' tell you bout' the story of a man named Kuok!

Red Chinese espionage once again alive and well in the U.S. Thanks here to Wired!

"Chinese Spying Claimed in Purchases of NSA Crypto Gear"

And once again - - too, the trademark characteristic signature of the Chinese intelligence services. Dealing only with their own citizens, Chinese nationals or ethnic Chinese!!

"A Chinese national was indicted this week . . . following a nearly three-year investigation into his alleged efforts to acquire sensitive military and NSA-encryption gear"

"Chi Tong Kuok, of Macau, told Defense Department and Customs investigators that he had been 'acting at the direction of officials for the People’s Republic of China,'"

This Kuok had been "tasked" to "hunt" for CRYPTO gear. Those items used to secure American communications and non-communications emitters!! This guy knew what to look for and was also very wary of American counter-intelligence as well!!

Those items of crypto secure gear [among others] that Kuok was after included:

* [the] "VDC-300 airborne data controller, used for secure satellite communications from American military aircraft"

* "a GPS receiver with anti-spoofing defenses"

* [the] "NSA-developed AN/CYZ-10 crypto key management device"

* "PRC-148 handheld digital military radios"

* "a KG-175 TACLANE — an NSA designed encryption device used to communicate with classified military computer networks, such as the Defense Department’s SIPRNet"





Three years the FBI had their sights on Kuok! Good old Kuok. A long-term in a SuperMax will do him good. Is that what they do with spies nowadays?

coolbert.

Yazidis.

This is coolbert:

This headline thanks to the DEBKAfile from almost two years ago [August 17, 2007] now came to my immediate attention:

"Al Qaeda Dislocates US Security Plan by Genocidal Massacre"

This attack, by Al Qaeda in Iraq, was done in response to the American troop "surge" that was just beginning. I do not recall this specific incident being mentioned in the media. Was probably just covered as "a truck bomb or bombs" and nothing more?

What is most important here is the context. Who was focus of the the attack and why, and what this exactly says about the jihadi, especially those of the Al Qaeda persuasion!

"This time, Al Qaeda in Iraq selected a tiny, isolated, unprotected community of some 150,000 Yazidi Kurds . . . as the victims of its barbarity. Tuesday, Aug. 14, within minutes, three oil tankers driven by suicide bombers had murdered at least 500 people, injured more than 1,000"

"To defeat the US-led security campaign, al Qaeda appears to have opted for meting out death and destruction among large groups of civilians . . . causing hundreds of thousands of displaced people to wander hither and thither in search of safety, strangling communications and generating mayhem"

As to the "highly inflammable oil trucks driven by suicide bombers.":

"Intelligence source estimate that each [??] of the trucks . . . was packed with between 250 and 300 tons of explosives . . . The force of the third blast was such that dozens of cars and buildings by the wayside were shattered and sent up flames visible to witnesses 2 kilometers away."

"The Yazidi . . . is a Kurdish religion with ancient Indo-European roots. Yazidis are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq."

The Yazidi. An enigmatic ethnic group, practicing [??] the ancient Indo-European way of life to this day, worshipping a god or gods of most ancient lineage. NOT a group that is Christian, Jewish, or Muslim! Totally unique, small in number, pacifistic [?] and not a threat to anyone.

[one of the Yazidi gods is reputed to live in a cave, rule the earth, his color is red, and he has horns sprouting from his head!! The western and Christian image of the devil is from the Yazid and their beliefs!!]

Specifically targeted [?] for their religious manner and beliefs by the villains of Al Qaeda! An attack, not exactly genocidal, but horrific nonetheless. Totally unprovoked, wanton, cruel, absolutely ruthless, all indicators of a malevolent and very evil mind and mind-set at work.

Those truck bombs, oil fuel tankers, combined, are getting pretty close to about the explosive force of a tactical nuclear weapon.

I do recall very well in the days right after 9/11, how the American authorities voiced concern about persons, suspected jihadi, living in the U.S., legal or otherwise, who had made an effort to obtain truck drivers licenses, with the intent of specifically becoming able to drive HAZMAT trucks! There was even a well-covered incident where an illegal alien from Pakistan enrolled in an American truck driving school, telling the instructors he did not care about being able to back up, all he wanted to do is drive forward! In the aftermath of 9/11 that caught the attention of everyone right away!!

The Yazid, representing to the jihadi a kaffir of the worst possible sort, were no more entitled to life than would be an ant being crushed underfoot by an unsuspecting person. AND ALL THIS DONE TO MERELY CREATE A DIVERSION, CHAOS, ETC.!!

Attacks of this nature, unprovoked, premeditated, disproportionate, with malice aforethought, against a non-resisting and non-threatening civilian populace, AND DONE WITH EXTREME HATE, again, would normally preclude the perpetrators from any consideration as deserving of treatment under the Geneva Conventions. This is no longer the case?

coolbert.

Why?

This is coolbert:

Consider this from the Chicago Tribune today:

"NATION & WORLD"

"COLORADO"

"Obama books called threat"

"The federal government's most secure prison has determined that two books written by President Barack Obama contain material 'potentially detrimental to national security' and rejected an inmate's request to read them."

This villain, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali [the inmate] is serving a 30-year sentence . . . for joining Al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush.

These two books written by Obama are: "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."

"prison officials, citing guidance from the FBI, determined that passages in both books contain information that could damage national security."

And what would those dangerous passages consist of? What is so dangerous about what something the President has written a number of years ago now that is classified as information the revelation of which to a prison inmate "could damage national security"?

My first inclination to to suggest that familial relationships, however tenuous and weak, are at question here. Persons related to Obama and living in Kenya in particular and identified in the two books, and Muslims at that, might very well be subject to attack or intimidation or kidnapping. Obama has half-brothers and half-sisters living all over the world, for that matter!

All with the purpose of causing grievous hurt to Obama?

You might not be interested in war, but war can become interested in you!

This is what is at stake here?

coolbert.

Suspected!

This is coolbert:

"Fight the enemy with the weapons he lacks."
- Alexander Suvorov

Asymmetric warfare can be waged in both directions. Fight the enemy with the weapons he lacks, that you have, and for which your adversary has no warning or counter!!

From the Chicago Tribune today:

"NATION & WORLD"

"PAKISTAN"

"Missile strikes kill at least 45"

"Attacks . . . target suspected Taliban training camp convoy"

"Suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft launched two attack against militants loyal to the head of the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday, killing at least 45."

Suspected! Suspected! Suspected! More than suspected! "Drone therapy" of the finest sort being administered!

"The first strike Wednesday took place before dawn. Six missiles were fired at a mountaintop training camp . . .. killing 10 militants."

"Hours later . . . missiles hit four vehicles carrying Taliban militants"

"On Tuesday, a suspected U.S. missile attack killed 12 militants . . . including five foreigners . . . Another recent strike killed up to 80 insurgents attending a funeral."

Six missiles fired at one time against "militants" represents a multi-number of Predators attacking in concert, according to plan, massing in a manner of warfare that the drones have not been associated with!

The Hellfire is still the weapon of choice as fired from the Predators and other "birds" of similar species? DIME is being used too?

And attacking a funeral can be seen as a stroke of inspired genius? When the opportunity presents itself - - don't hesitate. The villains are hard to spot, corner and obliterate. If the opportunity presents itself, go for it!

Good job remote pilots!! Have no-second thoughts whatsoever.

coolbert.

Dong Feng.

Thius is coolbert:

The latest and greatest Chinese threat to the American aircraft carrier task force has materialized?

"Chinese Develop Special 'Kill Weapon' to Destroy U.S. Aircraft Carriers"

"an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) [a modified Dong Feng 21 missile] that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km."

"Supporting the missile is a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles that can locate U.S. ships and then guide the weapon, enabling it to hit moving targets."

An existing ballistic missile, the Dong Feng 21, has been modified as an anti-ship missile of extraordinary range. Able to attack at long distance an American aircraft carrier battle group.

A ground based mobile missile that resembles the U.S. Pershing II? The Dong Feng 21 is part of an entire family of Chinese ballistic missiles. Modification of a ballistic missile to attack naval vessels on the high seas is a first for any military? Ordinarily the Dong Feng would carry a nuclear warhead. A conventional warhead of massive and prodigious proportions can be fitted to the Dong Feng 21?

And from a comment to this particular web article:

"the Chinese are thought to have stolen the plans to the US Pershing II's. The Pershing II's had a radar guided terminal phase allowing for last moment maneuvering allowing pin point accuracy"

The DF-21 is a two-stage, solid-fuel, medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) . . . [a] solid-fueled balletic missile . . . The missile carries a single 500 kT nuclear warhead, up to 1,800 km range.

This development resembles to a degree the old coast artillery? NOW, ballistic missiles have replaced the old fashioned cannon that has been passe' for a long time now, but with much extended range?

The Dong Feng 21 does not exist in a vacuum? Requires "a network of satellites, radar and unmanned aerial vehicles"! Otherwise is blind and cannot find the target? Attack that network and the Dong Feng is a "boxer" deaf and blind!

coolbert.

Cut-backs?

This is coolbert:

Here today from the Chicago Tribune:

"NATION & WORLD"

"Summit opens in agreement"

"U.S. and Russia set framework to trim nuclear stockpiles"

"Strategic warheads just one part of picture."

NUCLEAR WARHEAD STOCKPILES: [as currently existing]

Russia:

Strategic - - 2,790
Tactical - - 2,050.
Non-operational - - 8,160.

U.S.:

Strategic - - 2,200.
Tactical- - 500.
Non-operational - - 6,700.

Russia TOTAL - - 13,000
U.S. TOTAL - - 9,400

These cut-backs will reduce strategic warheads alone, deployed and ready-to-go atomic strategic weaponry reduced to 1,500 for each nation.

And commensurate cut-backs also of delivery systems. Manned bombers, submarine launched and land based intercontinental ballistic missiles [ICBM]. All to be reduced in numbers also.

This agreement is only a continuation of existing agreements. For decades now, the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia [Soviet Union] have been slowly but surely decreased in number. Warheads and delivery systems both!

MOST MARKEDLY SO TOO! In the early 1980's, the U.S. and the Soviet Union each had about 15,000 atomic warheads on "stand-by", "ready-to-go" status, aimed at one another.

That number of 15,000 has been cut back by about 80 % already!! Quite remarkable.

[I am thinking here about actual warheads actually mounted on missiles or in the bomb bays of long-range aviation warplanes!!]

NOW, EVEN FURTHER REDUCTION!!

This can only be seen as a thing of good.

coolbert.

Disinformation!

This is coolbert:

"When strong - - appear weak. When weak - - appear strong!" - - Sun Tzu.

"All war is deceit" - - Muhammad.

Here are some interesting headlines, so much "water over the dam now", material that confirms my original suspicions were pretty much on the money, but not exactly correct as I had thought!

1. "Saddam Hussein said WMD claims were to mislead Iran"

"Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told the FBI . . . he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews."

"He also denounced Osama bin Laden as 'a zealot' and said he had no dealings with al-Qaida."

2. "FBI says Saddam's weapons bluff aimed at Iran "

"Saddam Hussein believed Iran was a significant threat to Iraq and left open the possibility that he had weapons of mass destruction rather than appear vulnerable, according to declassified FBI documents"

And here from my previous blog entry from way back when in 2004.

"the adversary is feeding you disinformation intended to fool and confuse you."

"Chalabi . . . his 'chief of intelligence' . . . may have been in cahoots with the Iranians and was passing on disinformation and doing so as if it was the real thing this chief had obtained from an Iraqi source."

From the unclassified portion of the FBI interrogations of Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, we are able to learn that the Iraqi, AS OF 2003, DID NOT POSSESS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!

The Iraqi, at the command of Saddam, had conducted an elaborate and very successful DECEPTION campaign to convince the rest of the world that the Baghdad regime DID HAVE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION [WMD]! WEAPONRY WHICH THEY DID NOT HAVE!! This would have included surely poison gas and radiological weapons, possibly biological agents, and maybe even tinkering and dabbling in atomic bomb development!!

NONE of this weaponry actually existed [??], but Saddam was successful in fooling the entire world in believing that he did have at his disposal WMD!

Saddam was primarily motivated by a desire to SCARE THE IRANIANS, NOT THE AMERICANS!!

Appear strong when he was weak!

A successful and elaborate and very deceitful disinformation campaign that backfired on Saddam! In the aftermath of 9/11, the Iraqi was seen as a threat whose possession of WMD [which he did not have], rendered his position and continued dictatorial rule as untenable.

The deception of Saddam worked TOO WELL!!

coolbert.