Nuclear weapons

Dr. Strangelove? Russians Claim to Have “Doomsday” Submarine Weapon

Alex Hollings, on the main NEWSREP site, penned a very intriguing piece about the latest Russian weapon, which they’re calling a “doomsday” submarine. If you’re having flashbacks to Stanley Kubrick’s dark comedy masterpiece, “Dr. Strangelove”, then you’re not alone. Read on…

Russia’s struggling economy may not make for a particularly effective military, but the Kremlin’s ability to mold public perceptions remains among the nation’s most comprehensive and powerful skill sets. While some within the United States are still content to dispute the idea that Moscow uses a combination of state-run media outlets and social media outreach campaigns to shape the way the world perceives Russia (and ourselves), there are few better examples of this state-sanctioned chicanery than recent reactions to the “Poseidon” or Status 6 unmanned, submersible nuclear weapon.

Let there be no mistake, Russia’s Poseidon is both well within the nation’s technological capabilities to develop and promises to offer a never-before-seen level of destruction if ever detonated inside an American port. Yet, beyond the headline-grabbing 100-megaton yield and the promise of irradiated tsunamis laying waste to coastal communities for hundreds of miles, the Poseidon offers Russia truly little in terms of strategic value.
That may seem counter-intuitive. After all, with the largest nuclear warhead ever put into service secured inside a stealthy platform that, in all likelihood, could reach American shores undetected, one could be inclined to think the Poseidon poses perhaps the most pressing threat to American security since the Soviet Union first developed the atomic bomb. However, the truth is, the same nuclear deterrence strategies that defanged Russia’s previous “doomsday” weapons remain in effect whether the nuclear threat comes from the sky or beneath the waves.

Russia, in fact, already boasts nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that are massively more powerful than the platforms housed in America’s ICBM arsenal. Russia also holds the title for most nuclear weapons on hand, making it the clear winner in both categories for most and biggest nukes.
Even with Aegis-equipped destroyers, THAAD missile defense systems, America’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and a constellation of early warning satellites, there is no debating it: if Russia decided to throw every nuke it had at the U.S. (or even just a large chunk of them), America would have absolutely no chance of stopping them all.

It’s that understanding that led to the development of the nuclear triad: a system based on the ability to offer prompt nuclear retaliation no matter how overwhelming a nuclear attack may be. America’s nuclear triad relies on air-launched platforms (often carried by the B-52), ground-launched ICBMs, and submarine-launched weapons, making it all but impossible to neuter America’s nuclear response and guaranteeing Russia’s destruction in any nuclear exchange. America knows it can’t stop Russia from raining nuclear hellfire down on its people, so it’s settled for the next best thing: guaranteeing the U.S. would respond in kind.

That staring contest has been dubbed “mutually assured destruction,” and the concept is really about as simple as geopolitics can get: American and Russian leaders both know that launching even one nuke in the other nation’s direction will lead to a large-scale exchange that would likely end the world. If everyone is dead, it’s tough to pick a winner.
And that brings us back to Russia’s latest headline-grabbing Bond-villain-esque Poseidon. At 100 megatons (sometimes reported in Russian media as 200 megatons), the Poseidon carries a warhead that’s twice as large as the largest nuclear detonation ever recorded, making it a formidable weapon. Still, in terms of mutually assured destruction, it truly offers nothing of particular note. While a single Poseidon detonation could indeed cause an unprecedented level of destruction, headlines the following day (if there were any) would likely be focused on the hundreds of nuclear strikes that followed and the collapse of the modern world. Nothing would be different than if Russia had opted to launch an ICBM strike, rather than a sneaky, submersible one.

To read the entire article click here:

Photo; Russian Ministry of Defense

US Special Operations Troops Train To Capture Korean Nukes

The U.S. is reportedly conducting training to enter North Korean territory with the objective of “infiltrating” and “removing weapons of mass destruction,” according to foreign military sources.

The recently finished military exercise conducted with South Korean forces called Warrior Strike IX, shows a military unit conducting training with night-vision equipment, armored vehicles, and full-face protective gear, including gas masks. However, the pictures that were made public look more like conventional troops than SOF.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, which quoted anonymous military sources, the combined exercise was designed to simulate “infiltrating North Korea and removing weapons of mass destruction in case of conflict.” An Army spokesperson stationed in South Korea declined to comment.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested repeatedly that one of his main goals in Korea was to avoid sending U.S. forces into North Korean territory. But he also seemed to concede last week that is a scenario that might need to be addressed.
On Dec. 13, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert reiterated to reporters what Tillerson has described as the four things he won’t do when it comes to North Korea – a list he calls the “four no’s.”
“We are not seeking the collapse of the North Korean regime. We are not seeking regime change. We are not seeking the accelerated reunification of the Korean Peninsula. And we are not seeking an excuse to send our military north of the [border with South Korea],” according to Nauert.
John Bolton, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and a Fox News contributor …sees when it comes to North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is to convince China to support a regime change in Pyongyang.
“We’re either going to have to kind of play it using military force, or accept that North Korea will be the nuclear arms sale center of the world – to Iran, to terrorist groups, to other third-world countries that have nuclear aspirations,” Bolton said. “That is not a future I look forward to,” he added.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has become terrified about an assassination plot and is now paranoid about his security according to the report. So, he’s bought in totally that the U.S. and South Korea are serious about regime change.

To read the entire article from Fox News: click here:

Photo courtesy: US Army

Israel Willing to Stand Alone, Attack Iran to Stop Nuclear Program

Israel knows that a nuclear-capable Iran is having a neighbor with a gun to its head and the Iranians have made it clear, they intend to destroy the state of Israel. So the Israeli government is willing to resort to military action, alone if necessary to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons.

Israel’s intelligence minister Israel Katz made these comments on Thursday in Japan where he is hoping that U.S. President Donald Trump’s will back their tough stance on Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.

“If international efforts led these days by U.S. President Trump don’t help stop Iran attaining nuclear capabilities, Israel will act militarily by itself,” Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said in an interview in Tokyo. “There are changes that can be made (to the agreement) to ensure that they will never have the ability to have a nuclear weapon.”
Israel has taken unilateral action in the past without the consent of its major ally, the United States, including air strikes on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007 and in Iraq in 1981. A strike against Iran, however, would be a risky venture with the potential to provoke a counter strike and roil financial markets.
“We will not allow Iran to transform Syria into forward base sea harbors, air bases and Shia militias,” he said. “We will act together with the United States and other countries in the world until they stop the ballistic missiles that threaten Israel.”

The Japanese have been one of the US’ staunchest allies in the east, and Katz was hoping to stoke the fires there ahead of President Trump’s visit on November 5. But the Japanese get nearly all of their oil from the Middle East and have tried for a very long time to get along with all of the players there, including Iran.

The other NATO powers have not agreed that this is an option and if the US and Israel decide to take action, they’ll no doubt be alone in this. Which may actually encourage Tehran to act even more boldly in the near future.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

United States Sanctions North Korea and Their Military Suppliers

While the United States is unable to stop the North Koreans from abandoning their nuclear weapons program, they’re going after the companies that do business with the government of Kim Jong Un.

The Treasury Department has slapped additional sanctions on the financial, coal mining and military interests of North Korea by targeting companies that aid it in obtaining weapons of mass destruction and its continued violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The sanctions bar the companies and individuals from doing business with American citizens, and any assets they have in the United States or under U.S. control would be frozen
The sanctions are mostly symbolic since it’s unlikely that the targeted companies or individuals have any such business dealings or U.S. assets. Previous sanctions have had little apparent effect.
The penalties come as the Trump administration seeks to block North Korea’s ability to build a nuclear weapon small enough to put atop a missile, and a ballistic missile powerful enough to deliver it to U.S. shores.
North Korea also has test-fired at least nine ballistic missiles so far this year, most recently on Monday. That missile flew 280 miles toward Japan before falling in the ocean.
The U.S. on Tuesday conducted its own test of a missile defense system, launching a rocket from California that officials said successfully hit and destroyed a target warhead fired from an atoll in the mid-Pacific.
The latest sanctions target North Korea’s army and Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, its revenue from mining coal and minerals, and several overseas financial operations, according to the Treasury statement.
Among the companies is Moscow-based Ardis-Bearings LLC and its director, Igor Aleksandrovich Michurin. It allegedly works with a North Korean trading company, Tangun, which the U.S. accuses of securing supplies for the nuclear program.
The order also blacklisted Korea Computer Center, a state-run technology research and development company that generates income for the government of Kim Jong Un, with reported overseas locations in Germany, China, India and the Middle East, Treasury said.

President Trump called the North Korean attempts to gain a nuclear arsenal an imminent threat to the United States and has repeatedly called on the north’s biggest ally to do more to stop their nuclear testing. The Chinese have encouraged North Korea to cease and have been working back channels to get them to obey the UN sanctions.

To read the entire article from Los Angeles Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Getty