Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
  
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RE: virus: Rods from God
« on: 2005-11-03 01:36:46 » |
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[Blunderov] By their memes ye shall know them. "Mirror, mirror on the wall,
who is the most dangerous of them all?
Best Regards
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/4353
The Bigger Picture: The March Towards World War
Submitted by David Swanson on Wed, 2005-11-02 21:29. Media
By D. Lindley Young
Published The Modern Tribune November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. (11/1) - While some Americans are worrying about what got
the US in the Iraq war, others are focusing upon what could be a much bigger
conflict. There is an ever growing trend towards a potential military
conflict with China and Russia. It is receiving little attention by the US
media, but, China and Russia appear to be taking it very seriously as they
prepare for the potential.
Some would argue that the Bush administrations plans for the new American
century are painting China and Russia into a defend to survive corner which
is compelling China to rapidly expand its military, expand and affirm
geopolitical relationships, Chinese and Russian defense cooperation and a
race to weaponize space or prevent the US from doing it first.
Pushing the trend towards military conflict with China and Russia are US
plans to militarize space; the de facto withdrawal of the US from the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; a Bush first nuclear strike policy (that
specifically names China and Russia as contingent targets); US expansion of
military bases to "surround" China, Russia and Iran, and the aggressive
implementation of plans to expand strategic presence in the Middle East and
Asia (purportedly protect Taiwan).
Ostensible attempts to control important oil resources in Iraq; possibly cut
off threats oil supplies from Iran to China and Russia; US efforts to set
the stage for war with Iran with UN sanctions for Iran's nuclear program
(opposed by China and Russia) and the Bush administrations attempts to sell
$10 billion dollars of weapons to Taiwan.
It what some believe are attempts to goad China and Russia towards eventual
conflict, the US made agreements this week with Japan to realignment US
military forces in Japan. As put by Japanese Defense Agency chief Yoshinori
Ono, "This is the beginning of a significant era for the military
transformation of the Japan-US alliance." Ono said the agreement "is
necessary to maintain Japan's national security."
The agreement to transform the US military presence in Japan comes at a time
when there is increased hostility between Japan and China as evidence by
recent demonstrations in China against atrocities committed by Japan against
the Chinese people in World War II. The US military force realignment
agreement with Japan has special meaning since US policy for regime change
in Iraq was designed to create a greater presence in the Mid-East and to
expand the parameters for the protection of Taiwan. It comes only a few
months after the US and Japan announced a joint agreement to protect Taiwan
and follows the speech by Condoleezza Rice made in Japan praising the man
who advanced the strategy of surrounding Russia with military bases during
the post-World War II era.
Willy Lam for The Jamestown Foundation noted, "In the eyes of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) leadership, the new doctrine of encirclement and
containment was spelled out during a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice to Tokyo."
"It did not help that Rice saluted in her Sophia speech the father of the
anti-Soviet containment policy George Kennan - who had just passed away - as
one of the "great architects of American foreign policy". Kennan had written
in a celebrated 1947 Foreign Affairs piece that 'the main element of any
United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term,
patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies'.
The Chinese must be very nervous about the possibility that Rice - and Bush
- will simply substitute PRC for USSR. After all, it was Rice who coined the
phrase "strategic competitor" in a 2000 Foreign Affairs article about the
need to adequately take on a fast-emerging China."
Moreover, tensions relating to an expanded war have been exacerbated by
recent revelations that the US is building military bases in Azerbaijan and
Kyrgyzstan to expand its military presence to prepare for conflict with Iran
and possibly Syria and to protect Taiwan or deter the every growing threat
of military dominance is the region. Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan border Iran,
Russian and China. Placement of US military bases in these countries is
clearly to further the "surround" strategy praised by Rice. The US is
playing a dangerous and potential dangerous game of painting China and
Russia in a corner to compel these countries to prepare for conflict with
the US and defend themselves.
The militarization of space has already occurred and the US strategy of
surround and contain is developing rapidly.
The race now is to weaponize space. The weaponization of space has been
planned for a long time.
Before becoming secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, a founding member of
Project for the New American Century, chaired the Commission to Assess
United States National Security Space Management and Organization, more
commonly referred to as the Space Commission. The report of this Rumsfeld
commission, released in January 2001, concluded:
"The United States is more dependent than any other nation on the use of
space." The Commission recommended "that U.S. national security space
interests be recognized as a top national security priority" and that "the
U.S. must develop the means both to deter and to defend against hostile acts
in and from space."
According to PINR, "The Pentagon's plans to militarize space have definitely
emerged. In mid-May 2005, the U.S. Air Force formally asked President George
W. Bush to issue a presidential directive that allows Washington to deploy
defensive and offensive weapons into orbit. Formally, the new directive is
necessary to replace a precedent decree (PDD-NSC-49 -- National Space
Policy) issued by the Clinton administration which forbids the
indiscriminate militarization of space. While the decree has not yet been
issued, speculations over the Pentagon's move already hit the news.
On the technological level, the Pentagon's planning is in the advanced
stage: some projects -- aimed at space weaponization -- have already been in
place for some time. Among the (partially known) Pentagon's new plans, the
two most interesting projects are the "Global Strike" program and the "Rods
from God" program. Global Strike involves the employment of military space
planes capable of carrying about 500 kg (1100 lbs) of high-precision weapons
(with a circular error probability less than 3 meters) with the primary use
of striking enemy military bases and command and control facilities in any
point of the world."
That is what the US is doing and that is what concerns China and Russia.
Those who expect China and Russia to just lay down, underestimate the
instinct for national survival and national pride. No reasonable country
will let the US put nuclear weapons above their cities. They are forced to
prepare. Shortly after Bush was reelected Russian President Putin announced
that if the US continues on its path to weaponize space Russia would build
nuclear bombs the world has never seen with ten nuclear warheads and that
Russia would build enough hydrogen bombs to supersaturate any US defense
system. China has said it will not let the US weaponize space.
I guess the Bush strategy is to cause them to prepare themselves into
bankruptcy. It may well backfire. In any event, it is a dangerous game of
chicken for the world.
[Bl.] Some other links
http://www.tidmus.com/blog/index.php?id=115
<snip> While Rods from God might sound like the title of an irreverent gay
porn flick or the tagline of a Rod Stewart Fan Club (I'm sure there is such
a thing), in fact, the USA, soon to be Constitutionally-renamed the United
Dominion of America for Christ (UDAC), has decided to move ahead with a new
generation of space-based weaponry, onward, upward and with God-speed, lest
those God-hating commie Chinese, or the North Koreans, or the Iranians, or
the Pakistanis, or the Tanzanians beat God's Chosen People, Inc. into the
final frontier. </snip>
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/generaltechnology/df869aa138b84010vg
nvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
<snip>If so-called "Rods from God"-an informal nickname of untraceable
origin-ever do materialize, it won't be for at least 15 years. Launching
heavy tungsten rods into space will require substantially cheaper rocket
technology than we have today. But there are numerous other obstacles to
making such a system work. Pike, of GlobalSecurity.org, argues that the
rods' speed would be so high that they would vaporize on impact, before the
rods could penetrate the surface. Furthermore, the "absentee ratio"-the fact
that orbiting satellites circle the Earth every 100 minutes and so at any
given time might be far from the desired target-would be prohibitive. A
better solution, Pike argues, is to pursue the original concept: Place the
rods atop intercontinental ballistic missiles, which would slow down enough
during the downward part of their trajectory to avoid vaporizing on impact.
ICBMs would also be less expensive and, since they're stationed on Earth,
would take less time to reach their targets. "The space-basing people seem
to understand the downside of space weapons," Pike says-among them, high
costs and the difficulty of maintaining weapon platforms in orbit. "But I'll
still bet you there's a lot of classified work on this going on right now."
</snip>
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