Russia's Military Begins Massive Nuclear War Drill

the diplomat dot com h/t Ace

the timing of the drill is likely to cause great concern in Western capitals, particularly in Washington. The drill could very well be intended to signal Russia’s resolve over events in Ukraine where Russia has been at loggerheads with the West and the government in Kiev over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. A very visible reminder of Russia’s substantial nuclear capabilities would make sense for Moscow in a number of different contingencies, including if Russia is intending to move forces deeper into eastern Ukraine, as many currently fear.---Zachary Keck

Concern?  Does that concern include an action plan to deal with the threat?  Do they really believe that words are going to stop missiles?

Putin has something up his sleeve

That business about turning America into radioactive dust may be more than an indiscreet utterance.

This was Putin's man talking here and he may be sending a message.  The message may be that Putin thinks he can win a nuclear exchange.

Impossible!  No, only impossible in your own mind.  If it isn't impossible in his mind, he just might try it.  You have to make it impossible in his mind, or if you don't, and he believes in this winnable scenario, a nuclear exchange becomes a real possibility.

That's why we need a foolproof nuclear missile shield.  Impossible!  No, impossible only in your own mind.

Evidently, Putin believes Russia could have won the Cold War.  He is now going for a rematch.  A rematch that he intends to win.  Burn that into your brain because he is giving every indication that this is exactly what he intends.

Dirty Harry

The knife was pretty good.

Dirty Harry was "dirty" because he didn't play by all the rules.  But if he did here in this scene, he would've been dead.  The bad guys play dirty don't you know.

By the way, I know it is only a movie.  But it is a good movie and I like it.

There's plenty to take away from this movie because there's plenty of social commentary written into it.

Neutron bomb

Bring it back.

While it is true that it can be shielded against, the shielding will vastly reduce the effectiveness of an attacking force.  In other words, it is a good defensive weapon.  Particularly if you are being forced to fight on your own ground.

All the namby pambys managed to get this scuttled.  This is yet another example of why the leadership has failed us.

Casey Stengel: "Can't anybody play this game?"

A quote attributed to the man who was manager of the expansion New York Mets in 1962.  It is an apt metaphor for the GOP.

The GOP can win if they wanted to.  Maybe they just don't want to, or don't know how.

Reagan could do it, and he did.  Are there any others in the GOP who could today?  I am getting the impression that there aren't.  Hopefully, I'm wrong.

It isn't entirely a matter of ability.  The appropriate temperament helps.  There's bound to be some out there with that.  No, the abilities have to be honed to perfection by somebody who knows what they are doing.

Maybe Reagan did it naturally.  Anybody new won't be because that natural quality is being beaten out of us.

The tiny Estonian town that could spell the end of NATO

Free Republic


I did not read the whole thing.  Not necessary since I've already written something quite similar.

Animal House Food Fight

This is what the GOP should do...

Something completely futile and meaningless and they are just the guys to do it.

GOP is too passive

But I remember talking about that in a conversation 20 years ago.

Well, we're 20 years down the road and things aren't getting any better.

I don't know if the GOP passed the IRS legislation that Obama wanted, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Instead of being forceful, they are going to get shut down.  Just watch and see.

Instead of being the bulwark of the Republic, they will be the enabler of its destruction.

Why is the seizure of Crimea a big deal?  It is a violation of an agreement.  Russia was not to invade Ukraine, but it did and probably will do it again.  It is a violation of that agreement and calls into question why any agreement should be sought with them in the future.

The GOP should be shouting this from all the rooftops in America, but they just shrug their shoulders as if to say "who cares".  We've got Putin threatening to turn America into radioactive dust while the rest of the country continues to act as if business as usual isn't the proper response to this.

The proper response is not war, but it sure as hell is not doing meaningless and frivolous things.

We should have missile defense.  It would have cost $25 billion to install a good defense.  You could spend 10 times that much and it would be a bargain.  That should be one of the things being shouted from the rooftops.

The GOP is going to play the next election and is going to lose it.  Even if they don't, they won't use the power that they won at the polls.  Instead, we will get excuses.

USA is weak tea

What to do a about Barack Obama? If Rush Limbaugh is any indication we'll just wait for the next 3 years for a new president. But we may not have that much time. Events can start moving at a pretty fast pace , 3 years can be an eternity. I think it's really that bad. Obama's walking all over the Gop. They're moving much too slowly to confront him. In fact they don't have the stomach for it. Limbaugh is the stalwart conservative yet it seems he does not to want to do anything but wait. They just don't have the stomach for it.

Obama holds up aid to Ukraine for new IRS rules

What a guy!  His IRS abuse gets swept under the rug if we so graciously agree to do what we should have done about Ukraine in the first place.  What a guy!

In the end, America becomes the singer in this BeeGees song.  Hope you can take a joke, people.

The song was created in 1968 of all dates.



Update:

There must be a news blackout on this issue.  I know I saw it in the news yesterday, but nothing today.  Evidently the bill passed both houses and now must be reconciled in conference before going to the President for his signature.  No news on this and I haven't the time to look.

Obama's Foreign Policy: "Remain calm: All is well!"

A little inside joke from Glenn Reynolds?





It is funny, but not so funny.  That leaves it up to me to point out the distasteful reality.  Things are not so well and it isn't funny.

Will America heed the wake-up call of Ukraine?

Washington Post, Condoleezza Rice

For Putin, the Cold War ended “tragically.” He will turn the clock back as far as intimidation through military power, economic leverage and Western inaction will allow.----  C. Rice

I agree.  As for America heeding the wake-up call question, I don't think so as long as this president remains in office.

If it is not heeded, dictators and extremists across the globe will be emboldened. And we will pay a price as our interests and our values are trampled in their wake.--- Rice

The dollar as the world's reserve currency will be in jeopardy if this goes too far, which is a distinct possibility.  If that happens, there's goes your welfare state.

By the way, I got this link from the Mahablog.  She says that the GOP is only criticizing the president because he's black.  Also that a GOP president would be doing the same thing and the GOP would be praising him.  My reaction to that is this:  what the Mahablog says is willfully untruthful, or it is appallingly ignorant.  I am inclined to believe the former.

Honda, Toyota Will Launch Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles By 2015 (But They Won't Be Cheap)

the car connection

excerpts:

• Honda and Toyota both plan to roll out hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and the cars are on-target to hit showrooms next year
• Nikkei reports that Honda and Toyota each expect to build 1,000 fuel cell vehicles in 2015 and slowly ramp up production, reaching the "tens of thousands" in the early 2020s
• prices should drop to the level of heavier elements within a few years, hopefully hitting the 3 million yen mark ($29,300) by the 2020s
• if grid-powered electric vehicles take off first -- as they probably will (comment: ???) -- the transition to hydrogen could be a very tough sell
• a question that also depends on numerous factors, including charging infrastructure, pricing, and battery capacity

Evidently, the author buys into Elon Musk's proposition of a battery electric car.  I am not impressed with Tesla.

The hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure problem is greatly overblown.  As I've mentioned before, you can transport the hydrogen carrier to the fueling locations using current technologies and infrastructure.  From that point, you can split the hydrogen from the hydrogen carrier substance ( such as ammonia, methane, etc. )

The cost to split the hydrogen at the retail location shouldn't be too high.  It could be relatively portable too, as there are small devices that can do the job.  Steam reformers could do it, but there may be better ways.

Andy Kaufman Impersonates Elvis Presley and Foreign Man on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show

I remember this!  It was such a surprise because the first part of the act wasn't very good.  When this came on, I'm sure I never even heard of Andy Kaufman.  So, the first part actually gets applause because they knew it was just part of the act.  The Elvis impersonation was pretty good.  That's what blows you away after the weak opening.  What a character, Andy Kaufman.

Buzzed out

Life is full of contradictions.  Or maybe it is just full of it.  Just this morning, I wrote something about the "buzz".  Now, I'm not even practicing what I preached.  Look, I just added one of the posts to the "best of" category.  The best of category is another way of saying "the buzz".  So, I'm employing the buzz too!

Maybe I ought to just "buzz off".  Don't bet on it.

What a wonderful world - LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

What a wonderful world?  What bullshit.  But I like it anyway.  I know.  I know.  I said I hated bullshit.  But this bullshit is different.  Don't ask me why.

If you want the truth, don't follow the buzz

Something I noticed just now on my cruising around Free Republic.  It is kind of the same thing that I noticed back in 2008 when Obama was running for President.  It's the "buzz".  The buzz defined here is where all the people seem to be and what they are talking about.

The "bots" are controlling the buzz counters.  This buzz counters will tell you where the buzz is.  Okay, let me explain.  If you look at Free Republic, you'll notice how much buzz there is by the comment count.  If there's a lot of comments, that means a lot of buzz.  Glenn Reynolds started using a type of buzz meter on his blog in the last several months.  Now, the thing is this: back in 2008 when I wrote something critical or at variance to the what the "bots" wanted to control, I got a lot of negative feedback.  I took it as an attempt to discredit me.  The thing is that the truth was not in the buzz, but away from the buzz.  The controllers of the buzz didn't want anybody to see the truth, so they guided you away from the truth by supporting anything and everything that increased the buzz in the opposite direction.

The buzz control is keeping you in conventional wisdom mode.  That's a problem because the conventional wisdom is the problem and not the solution.  We have to go outside the box for solutions, but the buzz meisters are keeping us squarely in the buzz zone.  You have to challenge the conventional wisdom, but you can't if you are enslaved by the buzz.  Don't follow the buzz, if you are interested in the truth.

The Roots of Russia’s Revanchism — Energy

The American Spectator via Free Republic

This pretty much sums up what I think.  Actually, it is a lot like what I've been writing about for the past 3 1/2 years.

The Crimean crisis is revealing what history has proven over and over again — a country that develops a powerful economy on a firm foundation of energy resources can push its weight around on the world stage, and a country that lets its economy languish can believe itself much more powerful than it really is.--- William Tucker

Energy and space---we need to conquer both if we are to progress to the next level.  But we are going the wrong way.

Greenpeace on fusion: Whatever it is, we're against it ( 2008 )

the register uk

quote:

Fusion seems to exemplify what Moore means: an anti-modernity superstition. Greenpeace doesn't understand what fusion is, but whatever it is it will be scary, it will be bad, and it must be stopped.( emphasis added ) ----Andrew Orlowski

That seems pretty accurate to me.  Unfortunately, the new Luddites are succeeding far more than they should be.  It has occurred to me that if you were to look across the board throughout the Western World, you see that real material progress is screeching to a halt.

Next Big Future: What Comes After Pax Americana ?

Next Big Future: What Comes After Pax Americana ?: Pax Americana (1946-today) followed Pax Brittanica (1815-1914) . Those were where the world was often more at peace with America and Britai...

Summary:

• He thinks that MAD will work for at least another 15-20 years.
• Won't be a big war because major powers can't be bothered
• In the next 15 years, China will double or triple the US Economy\
• He thinks the US is going to take a lesser role

Bottom line is that he is bullish on China.

I don't think MAD will work anymore.  Witness 9-11-2001.  Globalism is failing, witness Russia.  Unless there's a miracle, America is kaput.  America is failing because it is slipping into leftist utopianism.

China has yet to demonstrate that it can lead.  Once the US craps out, the world will slip into chaos.

Crimea seizure act of Russian 'weakness': Obama

Free Republic


If you put it that way, Obama sounds like Baghdad Bob.  If Russian tanks were rolling in DC, Obama would still call Russia a "regional power".  Sorta in denial, I'd say.

"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"

The writing is on the wall.

And this is the writing that was inscribed: mina, mina, shekel, half-mina. This is the interpretation of the matter: mina, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; shekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; half-mina, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. —Daniel 5:25–28

Hopefully, the writing is not on the wall yet for the US itself, but it isn't looking good.  I'd say the writing is on the wall for Europe and perhaps a few other places that are under US "protection".

Update:

Pull out of NATO.  If Russia wants Europe, go for it.  If the Russian bear swallows Europe, it will get a powerful case of indigestion.

It Seems The US Has Lost The Ability To Intercept Russian Communications

Ace of Spades blog

Good title, bad conclusion.

quote:

U.S. military satellites spied Russian troops amassing within striking distance of Crimea last month. But intelligence analysts were surprised because they hadn't intercepted any telltale communications where Russian leaders, military commanders or soldiers discussed plans to invade.--- source at link above

The good news is that somebody has noticed that our military is now at least partly blind, thanks to this administration.  The bad news is that the remedy is to punish Snowden---quote:

I'm happy to have Snowden come back to the US and face a firing squad but I don't think we should jump to the conclusion that every intelligence failure from here on out is because of his crimes. --- "Drew M."

What do you think should have higher priority:  a) We know that our government is spying on EVERYBODY or b) that our military is now blind to a certain extent.

We wouldn't know the domestic spying, and because of that we may not know b).  Therefore, a) is more important.  It is vital that we know what our government is doing.  I don't trust Obama any further than I could throw Mt. Everest.  He is commander in chief.  Even with uncompromised intelligence, he is still no damned good.

In other words, what Obama is doing is more important than what Putin is doing.  Even though what Putin is doing is bad.  What Obama doing is even worse.

What Harry Reid was talking about

Republicans say that Harry Reid is unhinged after blaming GOP for Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Comment:

Buried beneath all the headlines is the core of the problem:

Many Republicans object to the IMF reforms because they are partly paid for by taking money from accounts used to buy Army and Air Force aircraft and missiles. Republicans also argue the reforms would diminish U.S. influence, since they would let the U.S. shift billions from crisis IMF accounts to its general lending fund. For these reasons, many Republicans have come out in vehement opposition to the provision, arguing it could even empower Russia.---Business Insider

The good and the bad news:  The bad news is that people will only read the headlines and line up on a partisan basis.  The good news is at least the Business Insider put out the GOP point of view.

The last thing we should be doing is weakening our defense posture.  Not to mention raiding the government for even more funds for a dubious enterprise.

As for Harry Reid, he looks to be trying to get "to the right" of the GOP.  The Democrats really want to appear to be tough, when they certainly are no such thing.

REPORT: HOUSE DEMS WILL TRY TO FORCE AMNESTY VOTE WITH DISCHARGE PETITION

Breitbart  via Free Republic

comment:

And here is the example.  Immigration is changing the very character of the nation.  Democrats want to overthrow the current order and swamp the polls with new voters like these who do not understand nor like our system of government.

It is a slow motion coup de etat.

The U.S. Economy's Big Baby Problem

Free Republic

Last September, the U.S. government announced that our birthrate fell to "another record low" in 2012, following a long, steady slide since the Baby Boom after World War II.

It goes without saying that, morally speaking, there's nothing wrong with this.---Atlantic

Nothing wrong with it except that the culture dies with the older generation as there's nobody to replace them.  The technology fix for this is way too far off into the future to have an effect.  The longer this continues, the less likely that said fix will be implemented because the people won't be smart enough to continue the progress.

I was thinking about all this yesterday.  While Russia is improving its weapons systems, ours remain stuck in the past.  Those in denial will say that it is only the military, but other things are being neglected too.  We are reverting back to a more primitive state, whether we want to acknowledge it or not.  Solar and wind energy are not advanced technologies, they are old technologies.  There may come a day when even solar and wind won't be acceptable because of their "environmental damage".

Who's to blame for this?  Do you blame the people or the leadership?  For me, it is the leadership.  The leadership is lost.

Look.  Russia had the same problem with their birth rates.  Maybe they haven't turned things completely around, but at least the trends are improving in that country.  As mentioned, Russia is also improving its military capabilities, while ours stagnates.  The thing that changed in Russia was its leadership.  Despite what Putin is doing in Ukraine, I am going to keep mentioning that he is doing the right kind of things for his country.  We aren't.

Missile defense--- another case of the government failing us

Missile defense would have worked.  Forget the Democrat's attempts to trivialize it by calling it Star Wars.  It would have worked.  It wouldn't have cost a trillion dollars ( nor anywhere near that ) and it wouldn't have caused a "space war".  It may well have achieved Reagan's dream of making nuclear missiles obsolete.

Instead of that, our government decided to kill the program, which left us vulnerable to an attack.  The Russians made it clear that they may well attempt to do just that if they think they can get away with it.  Hopefully, they won't ever be, but why take that chance?

This one goes into the list of major governmental failures.  Nixon killed off the nuclear rocket, Saturn V, and molten-salt reactors.  Clinton killed off missile defense.  Obama is trying to kill off coal and fracking.

Maybe we can fight the Russians with rocks while we freeze in the dark.

The significance of Putin

Ah, another one of these quickie posts.  It is a bit off topic to mention that, but what the heck.  If you want a refund, the check is in the mail.

Anyway, that last post about the Shroud is a bit out there in relation to what I usually post here.  I mention the Shroud for Apocalyptic reasons.  For if Putin is what he appears to me to be now, we could be on the verge of a really bad situation here.

I'm not saying Putin is an anti-christ or what have you.  But that business about the Russian news anchor saying that Russia is the only country that could turn the US into radioactive dust--- well, that's an attention getter.  It is no idle threat.  Yes, it is a threat.  Yes, it does come from Putin.  It may as well have come from him personally.

Try to imagine something similar in this country.  Given the rather pacifist attitude of this President and his party, it seems to me that if such were to happen in this country, the offender would have to resign immediately.  It is also inconceivable that Obama could hire a man who would say such a thing.  So, you can see a difference right there.

As for the opposition party to Obama, well, they wouldn't do it either.  Reagan once joked about declaring the Soviet Union as an outlaw state and bombing was to commence immediately, but that was a joke.  This Russian anchorman seems serious to me.  There is no joking around on this one.

Also, Putin said something in criticism of American exceptionalism.  Trouble is, Obama is not of that mind set.  Obama would be happy if the US became just another country.  How do we know this?  He pretty much has said it already.  So, why is Putin talking about American exceptionalism?  Is he trying to whip up animosity within his own people towards the US?  The thing that struck me about it was that at the moment the US is not acting that way.  In other words, I think Putin is lying about us to his own people.

Why would he do this?  To prepare his people for war with the United States?  Is he contemplating such an idea?  Given what the anchorman said, perhaps he thinks Russia could win such a war?

What about the American response?  I'm not too encouraged by it.  I think that this country is way too trusting sometimes.  That's how we get bombed at Pearl Harbor.  That's how we get hit on 9/11/2001.  We tend to leave ourselves open for dastardly attacks like these.  Will we do that again, or will we be vigilant?  Such may be required as long as this man is in power in Russia.  He has already told anybody with a lick of sense what he is.

Shroud of Turin

This is the thing that changed my mind about atheism.  In retrospect, perhaps it was too easy.  I saw this on TV, but since then, I have become quite suspicious of television and media in general.  Perhaps I was misled?

As I have written before, the truth is a slippery thing.  As I wrote yesterday, everything we are has been given to us.  Perhaps, in consequence of this observation, I surmise that I wanted to believe in it, but never saw anything in my life up to that time that was conclusive enough for me to be a believer.  When I saw this on TV back then, I changed my mind.  Or so I thought.  One can kid oneself quite easily.  This too, I have learned in all these years.  How do you know the truth?

Yesterday, I spent most of the day watching videos.  One of these was about the Shroud.  So, now what do I think of it?  I pondered on this question, and just now decided to write a little about that.  One thing that made me hesitate was that if I can figure out a theory for explaining the image in the cloth, it may make people lose their faith.  I wouldn't want to be responsible for that.  But the truth is a hard thing.  You cannot turn away from it.  So, I decided to go ahead and write.  I wouldn't be considered an authority, anyway.

Not that I have figured out something significant.  But a theory just popped up in my mind that may explain it.  Furthermore, there is no way for me to test the theory.

But before I mention the theory, there is one explanation that can be ruled out.  It wasn't a painting.  This was the explanation given that seemed to stick for a long time, but eventually it had to give way because there's no evidence whatever that it was a painting.

Here's one possible explanation that could be tested, but permission would probably be necessary before it was allowed.  Let's say a radioactive source was ingested and the radioactivity made a type of photographic negative on to the cloth.  You could test this by making a replication of the cloth and then having a subject ingest a certain amount of radioactive substance.  Obviously, the amount ingested couldn't be a fatal dose.  You couldn't get permission to kill people willy-nilly until the right dose was obtained.  There may be problems running this type of experiment.

Well, you could always test animals.  But the PETA crowd may object.

The question is, could you obtain an image like the one on the cloth in this fashion?

What brought about that question is that an energy source must come from somewhere in order to make an image on the cloth.  It can't be outside the body.  It must originate from within the body.  For if it were outside the body, the energy source would hit the cloth first.  How could that make an image if the energy source hit the cloth first?  So, it must come from within the body, I surmise.

A bit of thought may rule this out though.  Maybe such an experiment wouldn't yield what you might expect.  It may give some different results.

All of this may have been covered in a report, by the way.  Studies of the Shroud have been made.  Perhaps the best thing to do would be to study those and make a conclusion based upon that.  A single view of a video isn't enough to make an informed decision on what to believe about the Shroud.

Very hard to be independent in thought and action

How enthralled we all seem to be to this culture!  Is there really any way at all to be independent of it, to step back and critically examine it?  Everything that a person is is what has been given by that culture.  All skills are learned from somewhere, and that somewhere is provided for by the culture.

If that same culture is ill, how can it cure itself?  Unless there is some way to spot what is wrong and to apply corrective measures, the culture must die off.  It has all happened before in the history of the West, it could all happen again.

As I write this, I note to myself with a certain bit of disgust that few people in this culture could identify this illness, as most would not welcome anybody's criticism of it.  I recall someone on the radio talking to a youngster.  The youngster didn't believe that he was being "brainwashed".  Everybody is brainwashed in some way.  The culture is given to you.  You didn't invent it.  Everything you see, hear, feel, and touch gives an impression that is registered by a brain that thinks just exactly the way it was taught to think about that impression.  Independence is an illusion.  The world is full of illusions given to us by our culture.  One would think that to be intelligent that you could be able to step back from that and see it for what it is.  It appears to me that is a rare quality, if it exists at all.

Recap of the last week's posts

A new habit that I want to remember to establish.

This week seemed to be dominated by the international situation in Ukraine/Russia.  Lack of confidence in leadership.  Fear about the future is starting to intensify.  Turning point reached on 21st, as Israel official says that US isn't reliable anymore.  Russia is looking quite suspicious to me now.  Prior to that, I was more sympathetic to their point of view.  The situation as I see it is changing rapidly from possibly friendly relations to hostile relations.

Going forward, this is likely to lead to a perceived weakness in this administration.  It could spill over into economic matters quite easily.  If so, Obama is in very deep trouble.