PEOPLE AND PLACES

PEOPLE AND PLACES
All over the world in different countries, cultures, tongues, and colors are people who have the same basic desire for happiness and respect from his fellow men. We are the same all over as members of the human race. If we honor each other's boundaries with propriety and consideration our voyage thru life can be rich in knowledge and friendship..........AMOR PATRIAE

Saturday, September 7, 2024

 

















The Pentagon confirmed that a mysterious “Pyramid” UFO video as well as photos of three other bizarre flying objects, dubbed “Sphere,” “Acorn,” and “Metallic Blimp," are authentic, were taken by members of the U.S. Navy, and have been included in an investigation conducted by the military’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force.
“I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by Navy personnel. The UAPTF has included these incidents in their ongoing examinations,” Sue Gough, a spokeswoman for the Defense Department, told the Washington Examiner. “As we have said before, to maintain operations security and to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to potential adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examinations of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP.”
The website Extraordinary Beliefs said it had gained insight into an alleged classified “intelligence briefing” held on May 1, 2020, related to the study of UFOs through the Office of Naval Intelligence, and contended that briefing contained an estimated 10 videos and roughly a dozen photos documenting a number of unnamed aerial phenomena. In particular, the website referred to an “event series” from July 2019 “involving Strike Group 9 within the warning areas off of San Diego” where the USS Russell, an Arleigh Burke-class naval destroyer, “observed and recorded multiple ‘pyramid’ shaped craft.” A video of the incident appears to show a triangular object floating in the sky, and photos of the event appear to show more than one such UFO.






The outlet described a separate “event series” involving an FA-18 pilot and a weapon systems officer in the “warning area off the coast of Oceana” on March 4, 2019. The officer reportedly took the photos in the cockpit using his personal mobile phone, and “the intelligence briefing clarifies that the WSO captured THREE different craft on the same sorti with the same cell phone.”
The Mystery Wire website said that the March 2019 photos taken while the officer was seated behind the pilot included three mysterious floating objects — Sphere, Acorn, and Metallic Blimp. One of the photos was first posted to Twitter last May and has circulated since then, while a version of another photo appeared online in December. The website said it “has learned of sensitive briefings prepared by the UAP Task Force and delivered to multiple military and intelligence audiences” and that “the objects were able to remain stationary in high winds, with no movement, beyond the capability of known balloons or drones.” The outlet said it learned of the photos two years ago during a “private briefing” hosted by Robert Bigelow and others. Bigelow is the owner of Budget Suites of America, the founder of Bigelow Aerospace, and a UFO enthusiast.
Gough, the Pentagon spokeswoman, added to the Washington Examiner, “Also, to clarify, I am only confirming that the photographs and videos — what the Mystery Wire article refers to as ‘Sphere,’ ‘Acorn,’ and ‘Metallic Blimp,’ and the videos in the Extraordinary Beliefs article — were taken by Navy personnel. I have nothing for you regarding any other images or depictions in those articles.”


The Biden administration may miss the deadline to release a report on what it knows about UFOs, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, who was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when it wrote up a 180-day directive for such a disclosure included in the $2.3 trillion bill that former President Donald Trump signed in December.
The deadline is in June, and a spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Washington Examiner that the intelligence community is "aware of the requirement and will respond accordingly.”The Senate Intelligence Committee directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Pentagon and other agencies, to submit to Congress a report “on unidentified aerial phenomena (also known as ‘anomalous aerial vehicles’), including observed airborne objects that have not been identified.”
John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence under Trump, told Fox News that reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena" already in the public eye are only part of the bigger picture.
"When we talk about sightings, the other thing I will tell you is, it's not just a pilot or just a satellite, or some intelligence collection," Ratcliffe said. "Usually, we have multiple sensors that are picking up these things, and ... some of these are unexplained phenomenon, and there is actually quite a few more than have been made public."
FORMER INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: 'QUITE A FEW MORE' UFOS DETECTED THAN PUBLIC KNOWS
Ratcliffe added: “We are talking about objects that have been seen by Navy or Air Force pilots, or have been picked up by satellite imagery that frankly engage in actions that are difficult to explain. Movements that are hard to replicate that we don’t have the technology for, or traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom.”
The Defense Department announced the establishment of a UFO task force in August, saying the group would be led by the Navy under the cognizance of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.


Last year, videos from the Navy were released through the Freedom of Information Act that showed UFOs moving at incredible speeds and performing seemingly impossible aerial maneuvers. One of the videos was shot in November 2004; the other two were shot in January 2015. The three videos were code-named “FLIR1,” “Gimbal,” and “GoFast.” In the 2015 videos, Navy pilots can be heard expressing disbelief.
Earlier this month, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday was asked about reports about unidentified “drones” approaching U.S. naval vessels off the coast of California.
“I am aware of those sightings, and as it’s been reported there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships not only of the United States but other nations — and of course other elements within the U.S. joint force,” Gilday said, adding, “Those findings have been collected, and they still are being analyzed.”



The Defense Department has confirmed that leaked photos and video of “unidentified aerial phenomena” taken in 2019 are indeed legitimate images of unexplained objects.
Photos and videos of triangle-shaped objects blinking and moving through the clouds were taken by Navy personnel, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough said in a statement to CNN. She also confirmed that photos of three unidentified flying objects – one “sphere” shaped, another “acorn” shaped and one characterized as a “metallic blimp” – were also taken by Navy personnel.
“As we have said before, to maintain operations security and to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to potential adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examinations of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP,” Gough said.
She also said that the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, created in August to investigate UFO sightings observed by the military, has “included these incidents in their ongoing examinations.”
The Navy photos and videos were published by Mystery Wire and on Extraordinary Beliefs’ website last week but had been circulating online since last year.
There have been “a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years” the Navy said in 2019. Last year, the Pentagon released three videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena” – clips that the US Navy had previously confirmed were real.








Saturday, August 31, 2024

 









US SHOULD OCCUPY CUBA TO DEPRIVE AND STOP FROM BECOMING A  CHINESE AND RUSSIAN  MILITARY BASE   LIKE  THE CUBAN  MISSILE  CRISIS  OF  1962







It was unclear whether the report might complicate Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s rescheduled trip to Beijing for meetings that begin June 18

China Has Had a Spy Base in Cuba for Years, U.S. Official Says


The Senate Intelligence Committee is disturbed by the cooperation of Beijing and Havana.Credit...Yander Zamora/EPA, via Shutterstock


A recent report in the Wall Street Journal says Chinese troops could soon be on the US doorstep, if they aren't already. According to the report, it's all part of a deal for China to build a military base there, making the US worry that Chinese troops will be stationed there. In this episode of China Uncensored, we discuss why China wants a base in Cuba, what the US response has been, and what other plans for bases China has.




A Chinese spy base or facilities in Cuba that could intercept electronic signals from nearby U.S. military and commercial buildings have been up and running since before 2019, when they were upgraded, according to a Biden administration official.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said the spy base was an issue that the Biden administration had inherited from former President Donald J. Trump. After Mr. Biden took office, his administration was briefed about the base in Cuba as well as plans China was considering to build similar facilities across the globe, the official said.

The existence of an agreement to build a Chinese spy facility in Cuba, first reported on Thursday by The Wall Street Journal and also reported by The New York Times and other news outlets, prompted a forceful response from Capitol Hill. In a joint statement, Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the panel’s top Republican, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, said they were “deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people.”

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, denied the reports at the time, saying they were “not accurate.” He added that “we have had real concerns about China’s relationship with Cuba, and we have been concerned since Day 1 of the administration about China’s activities in our hemisphere and around the world.”






But a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence cited in Thursday’s reports insisted that China and Cuba had struck an accord to enhance existing spy capabilities.

Relations Between China and the U.S.Digital Cold War: The Biden administration is exploring what can be done to address security concerns about the cloud computing divisions of Chinese tech behemoths like Alibaba, potentially widening the scope of the technological tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Blinken’s Trip to China: Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, as the two governments sought to pull relations out of a deep chill that has raised global concerns about the growing risk of a conflict between them.
Spy Balloon: Intelligence agencies learned that Xi was kept in the dark about a spy balloon that crossed into United States airspace this winter as the incident unfolded, President Biden said in a seemingly unplanned riff at a campaign fund-raiser.

Carlos F. de Cossio, a deputy foreign minister of Cuba, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the latest reports on spying facilities were “slanderous speculation.”


Some of the Biden administration’s critics in Congress questioned the motives for the administration’s response.

“Why did the Biden administration previously deny these reports of a C.C.P. spy base in Cuba? Why did they downplay the ‘silly’ C.C.P. spy balloon?” Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the House select committee looking into strategic competition with China, said in a statement Saturday, referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its initials.

The Biden administration has been working to counter China’s continued efforts to gain a foothold in the region and elsewhere, an administration official said, chiefly by engaging diplomatically with nations that China was pursuing as potential hosts for such bases. The official added that the administration had slowed China’s plans but declined to give specifics.







While Beijing’s global efforts to build military bases and listening outposts have been documented previously, the reports detailed the extent to which China is bringing its intelligence-gathering operations into ever-closer proximity with the United States. Cuba’s coastline is less than 100 miles from the nearest part of Florida, a close enough distance to enhance China’s technological ability to conduct signals intelligence, by monitoring the electronic communications across the U.S. southeast, which is home to several military bases.

China and the United States routinely spy on one another’s activities, and Cuba proximity has long made it a strategically valuable foothold for U.S. adversaries, perhaps most famously during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union attempted to store nuclear missiles on the island nation during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, said Friday in response to the reports, “The U.S. is the global champion of hacking and superpower of surveillance.”

The reports also surfaced at an awkward moment for the Biden administration, which has been trying to normalize relations with China after a protracted period of heightened tensions. Last year, several diplomatic, military and climate engagements between the two countries were frozen after Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan over objections from Beijing, which considers the self-governing island part of its territory.

High-level meetings, including an official trip by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, were canceled again earlier this year, after a Chinese spy balloon was seen crossing the United States by people on the ground, and tracked hovering near sensitive military sites.

Mr. Blinken is now scheduled to travel to Beijing for meetings that begin June 18, and it is unclear if revelations of a Chinese spy facility so close to U.S. territory could complicate those plans. Other issues hover over the trip, including growing calls for China to release Yuyu Dong, a prominent journalist who has been detained since February last year and is awaiting trial on charges of espionage that his family members say are false. Mr. Dong, a former Nieman fellow at Harvard, met for years in a transparent manner with American and Japanese diplomats and journalists in Beijing.
US can't do much to stop Chinese spy base in Cuba, expert says

Reports have surfaced over the last week about Chinese spy operations based in Cuba, only about 90 miles from Key West, Florida.


One expert notes the “confusion” surrounding the reports, but he says the realization that the Chinese are using Cuba to conduct surveillance shouldn’t come as a shock.

“I think it would be more of a news story if there wasn't a Chinese spy base on Cuba and there’s no spying operations there,” said Michael A. Allen, a political science professor at Boise State University, “because spying is a normal course of international relations. The U.S. does a ton of it, as well. And it's par for the course.”

Cuba hosted Soviet spy operations during the Cold War, he said. Now, it appears Cuba is hosting Chinese spy operations.






Chinese and Cuban officials have denied any such operations.

“What is true can never be false, and what is false can never be true,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday. “No matter how the U.S. tries with slanders and smears, it will not succeed in driving a wedge between two true friends, China and Cuba, nor can it cover up its deplorable track record of indiscriminate mass spying around the world.”

The “secret agreement” for an “electronic eavesdropping facility” in Cuba came to light with a Wall Street Journal report last week.



A Cuban flag hangs on Parque Central Hotel in Havana, Cuba, early Monday, July 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco)



The report cited U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence.


The Biden administration denied the report initially.

“I’ve seen that press report, it’s not accurate,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC. “What I can tell you is that we have been concerned since day one of this administration about China’s influence activities around the world. Certainly, in this hemisphere and in this region, we’re watching this very, very closely.”







But, over the weekend, the White House confirmed to the Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press that China has operated a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019. Neither outlet named a specific administration official in providing the confirmation, and the White House hasn’t issued an official statement.


“There's some mix-up in the reporting here that suggests that there might be two different levels happening, the existence of operations already versus a newer deal that might be going on,” said Allen, who is an expert in international relations.

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee put out a joint statement that seemed to frame the spy base news as something they didn’t already know about.

“We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people. The United States must respond to China’s ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation’s security,” reads the statement from Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

The U.S. is likely to bring this up in talks with China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reportedly planning to travel to China in the coming weeks after his trip there was canceled in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon incident.

But Allen said the U.S. really isn’t in the position to pressure either China or Cuba to shutter the reported surveillance operation. The U.S. doesn’t want to give up its spy operations as an incentive for China, and our relationship is too bad with Cuba to coax cooperation from the island nation.

Allen said the timing of this report is curious. If it’s all about a preexisting base, then why did it come to light now?

Still, Allen called this a “minor blip so far” in the already-strained China-U.S. relations.

“It's not ‘spy-balloon level,’” he said.

The U.S. and China have been in a trade war since 2018, with tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, and other export controls put in place.

And then there’s risk surrounding U.S. relations with Taiwan, over which China stakes claim.

The last two House speakers, Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, have met with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, drawing rebukes from China and sparking military exercises in the region as a sort of warning from China.






HIT ALL RUSSIAN ASSETS CLOSE TO FLORIDA COAST BEFORE THEY ESTABLISH A PERMANENT CUBAN BASE: THIS IS THE TIME TO DESTROY THE RUSSIAN FLEET WITHOUT AIR  PROTECTION. DAMAGE REPAIR SUPPORT DOES NOT EXIST THEREFORE SHIPS IN NEED WILL BE STRANDED. NO MATTER WHAT RUSSIA IS ALREADY PREPARING AN ALL OUT WAR.




“The Russians have been more active than we’ve seen them in years,” Army Gen. Chris Cavoli, the top commander for NATO and U.S. military operations in Europe, told Congress on Wednesday of Moscow’s undersea capabilities. Russia’s nuclear-powered submarine is now deployed in American waters. The Kazan 561 or K-561 is an advanced Russian Yasen Class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines. Operated only by Russia, Yasen class submarines are the newest subs in the Russian navy and are known for their sophisticated design, armament, and stealth capabilities. Is its deployment bringing US and Russia to the brink of war.

“Their patrols into the Atlantic and throughout the Atlantic are at a high level most of the time, at a higher level than we’ve seen in years,” Cavoli testified before the House Armed Services Committee. “And this, despite all the efforts they’re undertaking in Ukraine.”



Cavoli’s assessment represents a grave warning for future threats Russia may pose to the U.S. and Ukraine’s other western backers. Though analysts have expressed concerns about Russia’s submarine forces in recent weeks, they have largely centered on the recent attention the Kremlin has focused on its Pacific Fleet, which conducted massive drills last week and which Moscow analyzed and claimed last week has “high readiness.” Those maneuvers were seen in part as an acknowledgement of Moscow and Beijing’s increased partnership.





Putin previously raised concerns in the West in January when he dispatched surface warships to the Atlantic Ocean, including those the U.S. believes can fire hypersonic weapons potentially capable of defeating American missile defenses. Russia fields 11 ballistic missile submarines, which analysts previously assessed it deploys largely off its Arctic coasts.


Cavoli’s comments come at a time of growing consensus that Russia has severely harmed several key elements of its military power through President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 without provocation. A string of high-profile and embarrassing failures since then have exposed endemic issues within the Russian Ministry of Defense, particularly deeply rooted corruption among top commanders, logisticians and those overseeing stockpiles. And confusion and mismanagement on the battlefield has created a veritable meat grinder for Russian ground forces, despite Putin’s decision to continue pressing young men into service and sending them into the fight.


Russia continues to benefit from the sheer size of its forces, as seen in the persistent, grinding combat around cities such as Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east. But analysts have increasingly highlighted the core problems that plague its ground troops.







“Russian forces in Ukraine are operating in decentralized and largely degraded formations throughout the theater, and the current pattern of deployment suggests that most available units are already online and engaged in either offensive or defensive operations,” the independent Institute for the Study of War, which has fastidiously tracked Russian military movements in and around Ukraine, concluded in an analysis note on Sunday.


“It is highly likely that the majority of Russian elements throughout Ukraine are substantially below full strength due to losses taken during previous phases of the war,” the institute stated.


The grave warnings also come as a growing number of Republican lawmakers – and several leading GOP presidential candidates – question the value of U.S. support for Ukraine, saying those resources should instead focus on deterring China.


Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret commander, employed this argument on Wednesday, questioning Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander, who testified alongside Cavoli, about the need to continue dedicating resources to Ukraine when Russia’s military has been devastated.


“Its ground forces that are in Ukraine have been devastated,” Wallander pushed back. But she added that “Russia still retains strategic capabilities” – its nuclear force, the world’s largest – “an air force, cyber and underwater.”


“We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia’s military capabilities,” Wallander warned, “because the stakes of getting it wrong are too high.”




Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday spoke out for the first time about Russian warships in Cuban waters, criticizing the Biden administration for espousing "weakness" on the global stage.

Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday showed the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan sailing into Havana Bay, about 100 miles south of Florida. They were not carrying nuclear weapons but were armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry described the Russian naval presence as a reflection of the country's "historically friendly relations" with Moscow, even greeting the ships with a 21-cannon salute. Moscow has defended its four-ship fleet presence as part of routine military drills conducted with allies.

"I'm the governor of Florida, I'm not the commander-in-chief, but if my responsibilities were different, that would not be something that we would allow to be happening," DeSantis said Friday in Hollywood, Florida, according to footage recorded by Florida's Voice. "I think it's really concerning that under this administration, they've put out a posture of weakness that has invited more aggressive actions from our adversaries."



K-19: The Widowmaker FULL MOVIE

 
















PT 109 AND JFK






 
 


 



 

 

2nd – John F. Kennedy and PT 109

Tulagi, Solomon Islands. PT Boat Officers (L-R) James ("Jim") Reed ...


  

 

Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy aboard the PT-109, 1943.
(John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library)

It is arguably the most famous small-craft engagement in naval history, and it was an unmitigated disaster. At a later date, when asked to explain how he had come to be a hero, one of the young commanders involved, by then an aspiring politician, replied laconically, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

John F. Kennedy's comment speaks a soldier's clear-eyed appraisal of the mechanics of heroism. It is of course unjust, however true it may be, and to do justice to the young Lieutenant Kennedy, we must look at everything that he leaves out— everything that happened after the Japanese sank his boat sixty years ago this summer in the South Pacific during World War II.

To understand the events of August 1 - 2, 1943, which culminated in the sinking of PT-109, it is important to remember that it was dark— deeply, unrelievedly dark. The disorienting effect, even for experienced sailors, of a moonless, starless night on the ocean should not be underestimated. In this profound darkness, PT-109 stood at her station in Blackett Strait, south of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands, one of the remnants of an operation born into futility, the heir to bad planning and worse communication.

Fifteen PT boats ("Patrol Torpedo" boats) had set out to engage, damage, and maybe even turn back the well-known "Tokyo Express," the Japanese navy's more or less regular resupply convoy that enabled resistance to the advance of U.S. forces in the islands farther south. When the patrol actually did come in contact with the Tokyo Express— three Japanese destroyers acting as transports with a fourth serving as escort— the encounter had not gone well. Thirty torpedoes were fired with no more effect than to make the Japanese even warier than they had been. Boats that had used up their complement of torpedoes were ordered home. The few that still had torpedoes remained in the strait, in the doubtful hope of catching the Express on its return voyage. The only thing that could be said about the action was that if the Japanese had not been damaged, neither had the Americans. That was about to change.

PT-109 was one of the boats left behind. Lieutenant Kennedy rendezvoused his boat with PT-162 of his own patrol section and PT-169, which had been separated from another section, and the three boats spread out to make a picket line across the strait. At about 2:30 in the morning, a shape loomed out of the darkness three hundred yards off PT-109's starboard bow. So difficult was visibility that it was first believed to be another PT. When it became apparent that it was one of the Japanese destroyers, Kennedy attempted to turn to starboard to bring his torpedoes to bear. But there was not enough time. The destroyer, later identified as the Amagiri, the escort ship of the Express, struck PT-109 just forward of the forward starboard torpedo tube, ripping away the starboard aft side of the boat. Less than a minute had passed since the first sighting.

The impact tossed Kennedy around the cockpit, and his radioman, John E. Maguire, was actually thrown from it. Most of the crew were knocked or fell into the water. The one man below decks, engineer Patrick McMahon, miraculously escaped, although he was badly burned by exploding fuel. Fear that PT-109 would go up in flames drove Kennedy to order the men who still remained on the wreck to abandon ship. But the destroyer's wake dispersed the burning fuel, and when the fire began to subside, Kennedy sent his men back to what was left of the boat.

From the wreckage of the boat, Kennedy ordered the men with him, Edgar Mauer and John E. Maguire, to identify the location of their shipmates still in the water. Ens. Leonard Thom, Gerard Zinser, Ens. George Ross, and Raymond Albert were able to swim back on their own. Kennedy swam out to McMahon and Charles Harris. Towing the incapacitated McMahon by a life-vest strap, Kennedy returned to the boat, alternately cajoling and berating the hurt, exhausted Harris, who followed behind, to get him through the difficult swim. Meanwhile, Thom pulled in William Johnston, who was debilitated by the gasoline he had accidentally swallowed and the heavy fumes that lay on the water. Finally Raymond Starkey swam in from where he had been flung by the shock.

Floating on and around the hulk, the crew took stock. Two men, Harold Marney and Andrew Jackson Kirksey, had disappeared in the collision, very likely killed at the impact. All the men were exhausted, a few were hurt, although none as badly as McMahon, and several had been sickened by the fuel fumes, with Johnston the most severely affected. On the other hand, there had been no sign of other boats or ships in the area; the men were afraid to fire their flare gun for fear of attracting the attention of the Japanese who were on islands on all sides. Furthermore, although the wreckage was still afloat because of its sealed bulkheads, it was taking on water, and it capsized on the morning of August 2. After a discussion of options, and aware that time was running out, the men abandoned the remains of PT-109 and struck out for an islet, three and a half miles away, that they hoped was unoccupied.

Kennedy had been on the swim team at Harvard; even towing McMahon by a belt through his teeth, he was undaunted by the distance. Several of the other men were also good swimmers, but several were not; two, Johnston and Mauer, could not swim at all. These last two were lashed to a plank that the other seven men pulled and pushed as they could. Kennedy arrived first at the island, named Plum Pudding but called by the men "Bird" Island because of the guano that coated the bushes. So spent that he had to be helped up the beach by the man he had towed, Kennedy collapsed and waited for the rest of the crew.

But Kennedy's swimming was not over. Alarmed by a Japanese barge that passed close by, Kennedy determined to swim down into Ferguson Passage, through which the American PTs passed when they were operating in Blackett Strait. Island-hopping and clinging to reefs, Kennedy made his way out into the passage, where he treaded water for an hour before deciding that the PTs were in action elsewhere that night. The return voyage nearly killed him as strong currents spun him out into Blackett Strait and then back into Ferguson Passage.

Making the weary trip again, Kennedy stopped on Leorava Island, southeast of Bird Island, where he slept long enough to recoup himself for the final leg of the trip. Returning to Bird Island, Kennedy slept through the day but also made Ross promise to go out on the same trip that night. But Ross did not see any sign of the PTs either.

On August 4 Kennedy led the men back into the ocean, striking out for Olasana Island in hopes of finding food and fresh water but also wishing to be closer to Ferguson Passage. Kennedy again hauled McMahon by the strap of his life vest while the rest of the crew clustered around the plank and thrashed their way along. Olasana Island proved to be something of a disappointment. The coconuts were more plentiful but had a sickening effect on some of the men. Fresh water was not in evidence, and the men were too nervous about Japanese patrols to explore more than a small corner of this larger island. When the night of August 4 turned wet and cold, Kennedy determined to try the next island over the following day.

Naru, or Cross, Island is the last in the chain, and its eastern shores look out over Ferguson Passage. Kennedy and Ross climbed up on to its beach a little past noon on August 5. Fearing enemy patrols, the two men stepped carefully through the brush but only saw the wreck of a small Japanese vessel out on the reef. On the beach they spotted a small box with Japanese labels. When they broke it open, they were delighted to discover it contained Japanese candy. Even better, a little further up the island they discovered a tin of water and a one-man canoe hidden in the bushes. Having had a drink, Kennedy and Ross were just walking back onto the beach when they saw two men out at the Japanese wreck. The men, clearly islanders, took fright and paddled away from the wreck in a canoe, despite Kennedy's hails. Uncertain about the outcome of this encounter, that night Kennedy took the canoe into Ferguson Passage once more, with as little success as previously.

JFK and 3 colleagues on Solomon Islands

In this photo taken in 1943 at Tulagi, Solomon Islands, George "Barney" Ross (top) poses with (left to right) James "Jim" Reed, John F. Kennedy, and Paul "Red" Fay. Ross was on board PT-109 when the Amagiri struck the boat.

Kennedy decided to take the canoe back to Olasana; he stopped off long enough to gather the candy and the water to bring to the other men, leaving Ross to rest until the next morning. Arriving at Olasana, Kennedy discovered that the two men he and Ross had seen at Naru had made contact with the rest of the crew. The two men, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana, were islander scouts for the Allies. Their hasty departure from Naru had left them tired and thirsty, and they had stopped for coconuts at Olasana, where Thom had been able to convince them that the crew was American. The next morning, August 6, Kennedy returned with Gasa and Kumana to Naru, intercepting Ross along the way as he was swimming back. The islanders showed the two Americans where a boat had been hidden on Naru. When Kennedy was at a loss for a way to send a message, Gasa showed him how it could be scratched into a green coconut husk. Gasa and Kumana left with the message—

NAURO ISL
COMMANDER . . . NATIVE KNOWS
POS'IT . . . HE CAN PILOT . . . 11 ALIVE
NEED SMALL BOAT . . . KENNEDY

— as well as a backup note that they got from Thom when they stopped at Olasana. Perhaps not fully believing that their luck had changed, Kennedy insisted on going out with Ross into Ferguson Passage in the two-man canoe. Heavy seas swamped the canoe and so battered the men that they barely made it back to Naru. But the next morning, August 7, eight islanders appeared at Naru shortly after Kennedy and Ross awoke. They brought food and instructions from the local Allied coastwatcher, Lt. A. Reginald Evans, that Kennedy should come over to Evans's post. Stopping long enough at Olasana to feed the crew, the islanders hid Kennedy under a pile of palm fronds and paddled him to Gomu Island in Blackett Strait. Early in the evening of the seventh, a little more than six days after PT-109's sinking, Kennedy stepped onto Gomu. There was still a rescue to be planned with Evans, no small thing in enemy-held waters, but the ordeal of PT-109 was over.

Evans had already notified Rendova of the discovery of PT 109's survivors, and the base commander was proposing to send the rescue mission directly to Olasana. Understandably somewhat wary of the ability of such a mission to be directed from afar, Kennedy insisted on being picked up first so that he could guide the rescue boats, PTs 157 and 171, among the reefs and shallows of the island chain. Late on the night of August 7, the boats met Kennedy at the rendezvous point, exchanging a prearranged signal of four shots. Kennedy's revolver was down to only three rounds, so he borrowed a rifle from Evans for the fourth. Standing up in the canoe to give the signal, Kennedy did not anticipate the rifle's recoil, which threw him off balance and dumped him in the water. It was a wet and thoroughly exasperated navy lieutenant who climbed aboard PT-157. The PTs crossed Blackett Strait under Kennedy's direction and eased up to Olasana Island early in the morning of August 8. The exhausted men of PT-109 were all asleep, and Kennedy, his relief and exhilaration enhanced by a couple of doses of medicinal brandy, began yelling for them, much to the chagrin of his rescuers, nervous over the proximity of the Japanese. But the rescue went forward without incident, and the men of PT-109 reached Rendova at 5:30 in the morning on August 8.

For his courage and leadership, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and injuries suffered during the incident qualified him for the Purple Heart; Ens. Leonard Thom also received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. But the consequences of the event for John F. Kennedy were more far-reaching than simple decorations for a uniform. The story was picked up by the writer John Hersey, who told it to the readers of The New Yorker and Reader's Digest, and it followed Kennedy into politics, where it was a strong foundation of his appeal. For here was a war hero who had not won battles but who had shown courage and dogged will, responsibility for those he led and the ability to inspire them— and it would be hard to better this as a short list of qualifications for a political leader.

"Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, 'I served in the United States Navy,'" wrote President John F. Kennedy in August 1963. A former naval officer, Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on 29 May 1917 to Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy. After attending public schools in Brookline, Kennedy went on to The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and attended the London School of Economics from 1935 to 1936. Kennedy graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1940 and began graduate school at Stanford University.
Despite having a bad back, Kennedy was able to join the U.S. Navy through the help of Captain Alan Kirk, the Director, Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) who had been the Naval Attache in London when Joseph Kennedy was the Ambassador. In October 1941, Kennedy was appointed an Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve and joined the staff of the Office of Naval Intelligence. The office, for which Kennedy worked, prepared intelligence bulletins and briefing information for the Secretary of the Navy and other top officials. On 15 January 1942, he was assigned to an ONI field office the Sixth Naval District in Charleston, South Carolina. After spending most of April and May at Naval Hospitals at Charleston and at Chelsea, Massachusetts, Kennedy attended Naval Reserve Officers Training School at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, from 27 July through 27 September. After completing this training, Kennedy entered the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center, Melville, Rhode Island. On 10 October, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Upon completing his training 2 December, he was ordered to the training squadron, Motor Torpedo Squadron FOUR, for duty as the Commanding Officer of a motor torpedo boat, PT 101, a 78- foot Higgins boat. In January 1943, PT 101 with four other boats was ordered to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FOURTEEN, which was assigned to Panama.
Seeking combat duty, Kennedy transferred on 23 February as a replacement officer to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TWO, which was based at Tulagi Island in the Solomons. Traveling to the Pacific on USSRochambeau, Kennedy arrived at Tulagi on 14 April and took command of PT 109 on 23 April 1943. On 30 May, several PT boats, including PT 109 were ordered to the Russell Islands, in preparation for the invasion of New Georgia. After the invasion of Rendova, PT 109 moved to Lumbari. From that base PT boats conducted nightly operations to interdict the heavy Japanese barge traffic resupplying the Japanese garrisons in New Georgia and to patrol the Ferguson and Blackett Straits near the islands of Kolumbangara, Gizo, and Vella-Lavella in order to sight and to give warning when the Japanese Tokyo Express warships came into the straits to assault U.S. forces in the New Georgia-Rendova area.
PT 109 commanded by Kennedy with executive officer, Ensign Leonard Jay Thom, and ten enlisted men was one of the fifteen boats sent out on patrol on the night of 1-2 August 1943 to intercept Japanese warships in the straits. A friend of Kennedy, Ensign George H. R. Ross, whose ship was damaged, joined Kennedy's crew that night. The PT boat was creeping along to keep the wake and noise to a minimum in order to avoid detection. Around 0200 with Kennedy at the helm, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri traveling at 40 knots cut PT 109 in two in ten seconds. Although the Japanese destroyer had not realized that their ship had struck an enemy vessel, the damage to PT 109 was severe. At the impact, Kennedy was thrown into the cockpit where he landed on his bad back. As Amagiri steamed away, its wake doused the flames on the floating section of PT 109 to which five Americans clung: Kennedy, Thom, and three enlisted men, S1/c Raymond Albert, RM2/c John E. Maguire and QM3/c Edman Edgar Mauer. Kennedy yelled out for others in the water and heard the replies of Ross and five members of the crew, two of which were injured. GM3/c Charles A. Harris had a hurt leg and MoMM1/c Patrick Henry McMahon, the engineer was badly burned. Kennedy swam to these men as Ross and Thom helped the others, MoMM2/c William Johnston, TM2/c Ray L. Starkey, and MoMM1/c Gerald E. Zinser to the remnant of PT 109. Although they were only one hundred yards from the floating piece, in the dark it took Kennedy three hours to tow McMahon and help Harris back to the PT hulk. Unfortunately, TM2/c Andrew Jackson Kirksey and MoMM2/c Harold W. Marney were killed in the collision with Amagiri.
Because the remnant was listing badly and starting to swamp, Kennedy decided to swim for a small island barely visible (actually three miles) to the southeast. Five hours later, all eleven survivors had made it to the island after having spent a total of fifteen hours in the water. Kennedy had given McMahon a life-jacket and had towed him all three miles with the strap of the device in his teeth. After finding no food or water on the island, Kennedy concluded that he should swim the route the PT boats took through Ferguson Passage in hopes of sighting another ship. After Kennedy had no luck, Ross also made an attempt, but saw no one and returned to the island. Ross and Kennedy had spotted another slightly larger island with coconuts to eat and all the men swam there with Kennedy again towing McMahon. Now at their fourth day, Kennedy and Ross made it to Nauru Island and found several natives. Kennedy cut a message on a coconut that read "11 alive native knows posit & reef Nauru Island Kennedy." He purportedly handed the coconut to one of the natives and said, "Rendova, Rendova!," indicating that the coconut should be taken to the PT base on Rendova.
Kennedy and Ross again attempted to look for boats that night with no luck. The next morning the natives returned with food and supplies, as well as a letter from the coastwatcher commander of the New Zealand camp, Lieutenant Arthur Reginald Evans. The message indicated that the natives should return with the American commander, and Kennedy complied immediately. He was greeted warmly and then taken to meet PT 157 which returned to the island and finally rescued the survivors on 8 August.
Kennedy was later awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroics in the rescue of the crew of PT 109, as well as the Purple Heart Medal for injuries sustained in the accident on the night of 1 August 1943. An official account of the entire incident was written by intelligence officers in August 1943 and subsequently declassified in 1959. As President, Kennedy met once again with his rescuers and was toasted by members of the Japanese destroyer crew.
In September, Kennedy went to Tulagi and accepted the command of PT 59 which was scheduled to be converted to a gunboat. In October 1943, Kennedy was promoted to Lieutenant and continued to command the motor torpedo boat when the squadron moved to Vella Lavella until a doctor directed him to leave PT 59 on 18 November. Kennedy left the Solomons on 21 December and returned to the U.S. in early January 1944.
On 15 February, Kennedy reported to the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center, Melville, Rhode Island. Due to the reinjury of his back during the sinking of PT 109, Kennedy entered a hospital for treatment. In March, Kennedy went to the Submarine Chaser Training Center, Miami, Florida. In May while still assigned to the Center, Kennedy entered the Naval Hospital, Chelsea, Massachusetts, for further treatment of his back injury. At the Hospital in June, he received his Navy and Marine Corps Medals. Under treatment as an outpatient, Kennedy was ordered detached from the Miami Center on 30 October 1944. Subsequently, Kennedy was released from all active duty and finally retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve on physical disability in March 1945.



 


 





 


 

·PT-109


 

 












Thursday, August 15, 2024

Are we prepared;: Scientist outlines terrifying vision of what would happen if America was hit by a nuclear bomb

 

 






ARE WE  PREPARED IN A  NUCLEAR WAR: VISIONS  OF   AFTERMATH














 RUSSIAN GENERALS WILL KILL PUTIN BEFORE HE USES NUCLEAR WEAPONS

 







ARE WE  PREPARED IN A  NUCLEAR WAR: VISIONS  OF   AFTERMATH






















 





The terrible fate of Earth after a nuclear war has been mapped out using computer models for the first time.

   

 

 

 


  Researchers from Colorado have studied the effects of nuclear conflict on Earth, looking at the result of detonating 100 warheads (stock image left). In their paper they conclude humanity would have been affected for decades from nuclear winter (Pripyat shown bottom right), black carbon (top right) ozone losses and more, resulting in the death of hundreds of millions 

'We are not prepared': Scientist outlines terrifying vision of what would happen if America was hit by a nuclear bomb

  • Cham Dallas looks at what might happen if 10kt nuclear bomb went off
  • Most of the 100,000 deaths would happen soon after the detonation
  • Local health care response capability would be largely eradicated
  • No real evacuation plans are in place, so survivors will be trapped
  • He says officials are in denial over the threat of nuclear weapons

As we observe the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it may seem like the threat from nuclear weapons has receded.

But it hasn't; the threat is actually increasing steadily.

This is difficult to face for many people, and this denial also means that we are not very well-prepared for nuclear and radiological events.

Scroll down for video

Professor Cham Dallas at University of Georgia says that many people are in denial over the threat of nuclear weapons, and as a result, the nation is not prepared for the consequences


Professor Cham Dallas at University of Georgia says that many people are in denial over the threat of nuclear weapons, and as a result, the nation is not prepared for the consequences


WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A 10 KILOTON NUKE HIT THE US?

The majority of deaths - around 100,000, depending on the area - would happen soon after the detonation.

No real evacuation plans are in place, so survivors will remain trapped in area.

Local health care response capability would be largely eradicated.

Damage will make it extremely difficult to respond, recover and rehabilitate.

Health care workers would have little to no familiarity with the treatment of radiation victims.

There would also be a massive number of laceration injuries from the breakage of virtually all glass in a wide area.

Large swaths of territory will be uninhabitable for decades.

Many could die from the effects years later, as the fallout spreads across the country.

What if a nuclear device were detonated in an urban area today?

As in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the majority of deaths would happen soon after the detonation, and the local health care response capability would be largely eradicated.

Models show that such an event in an urban area in particular will not only destroy the existing public health protections but will, most likely, make it extremely difficult to respond, recover and rehabilitate them.

With medical facilities decimated after a detonation, treating the injured will be a tremendous challenge.

Very few medical personnel today have the skills or knowledge to treat the kind and the quantity of injuries a nuclear blast can cause.

Health care workers would have little to no familiarity with the treatment of radiation victims.

Thermal burns would require enormous resources to treat even a single patient, and a large number of patients with these injuries will overwhelm any existing medical system.

There would also be a massive number of laceration injuries from the breakage of virtually all glass in a wide area.

Currently, it has not been worked out how medical systems in affected areas are supposed to cope with the overwhelming numbers of patients from an urban nuclear detonation.

A major nuclear event would also leave large swaths of territory uninhabitable for decades, with catastrophic impacts on humans, the economy and the environment.

Decisions to evacuate at-risk populations must be made within hours, but plans for and criteria to evacuate are lacking. And the scale of these evacuations and potential resettlement is tremendous.

Pictured is some of the devastation after the American Atom bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan, which was dropped on 8th August 1945. As in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the majority of deaths if a bomb were to hit the US would happen soon after the detonation, and the local health care response capability would be eradicated


Pictured is some of the devastation after the American Atom bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan, which was dropped on 8th August 1945. As in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the majority of deaths if a bomb were to hit the US would happen soon after the detonation, and the local health care response capability would be eradicated

The current Department of Homeland Security most-anticipated scenario for a nuclear attack in the US is for smaller nuclear weapons – 10 kilotons – about the size of the weapons used to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And new evidence has altered previous dire predictions in relatively low-yield nuclear blasts such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Current US nuclear war response protocols do not rely as much on large-scale evacuations from nearby areas.

For instance, in a hypothetical low-yield (10 kiloton) nuclear bomb over Washington DC, only limited evacuations are planned.


Aftermath of atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (related)


WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A NUCLEAR BOMB HIT WASHINGTON DC?

This image shows the plan of action if a nuclear bomb was detonated. The half-mile radius around the bomb would have a low chance of survival and most buildings - including that of the federal government - would be destroyed. The next half mile would suffer extensive damage, fires and serious injuries

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This image shows the plan of action if a nuclear bomb was detonated. The half-mile radius around the bomb would have a low chance of survival and most buildings - including that of the federal government - would be destroyed. The next half mile would suffer extensive damage, fires and serious injuries

What would happen if a 10 kiloton nuclear explosive went of in downtown Washington, DC at the intersection of 16th and K Streets NW?

The half-mile radius around the bomb would have a low chance of survival and most buildings - including that of the federal government - would be destroyed, according to a 2012 report by Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The next half mile would suffer extensive damage, fires and serious injuries, and those within three miles could suffer minor injuries and slight damage to their homes.

But it was the fallout which the National Capital Region: Key Response Planning Factors for the Aftermath of Nuclear Terrorism study - held last year - suggested could be the most fearful aspect.

It suggests that unlike bombs detonated in the Cold War, which were designed to decimate entire cities, the smaller bomb would leave survivors - and asks, what would they have to deal with?

The 2012 study points out that radioactive fallout would vary depending on the time of year.

In April, Washington's Bethesda area would suffer the brunt of the dust, while throughout the rest of the year, the city's poorer regions and Northern Virginia would be exposed.

Within 10 to 20 miles of the explosion, radioactive exposure would cause nausea and vomiting within hours, and death without medical treatment.

But for those near enough to the blast, experiencing more than 800R of radiation, not seeking shelter immediately would cause deaths with or without medical treatment, the study found.

People would not be able to evacuate this area as fallout would arrive within just 10 minutes.

And for those not in this zone, many could die from the effects years later, as the fallout spreads across the country.

The report worryingly concludes: 'The magnitude of a terrorist attack involving [such an attack] will overwhelm all response resources.'

Despite projections of 100,000 fatalities and about 150,000 casualties, the casualty-producing radiation plume would actually be expected to be confined to a relatively small area.

People upwind would not need to take any action, and most of those downwind, in areas receiving relatively small radiation levels, would need to seek only 'moderate shelter.'

A Nuclear Global Health Workforce could start to lay out plans for how to rapidly respond to such an attack and project whether and what sort of evacuation plans would be needed.

According to the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), about 1,900 excess cancer deaths can be attributed to the atomic bombs, with about 200 cases of leukaemia and 1,700 solid cancers.

Today, the risk for a nuclear exchange – and its devastating impact on medicine and public health worldwide – has only escalated.

Nuclear weapons are spreading to more nations, and international relations are increasingly volatile.

The developing technological sophistication among terrorist groups and the growing global availability and distribution of radioactive materials are also especially worrying.

Despite the gloomy prospects of health outcomes of any large scale nuclear event common in the minds of many, it is our mutually shared moral and ethical obligation to respond.

The full version of this article originally appeared in The Conversation. Cham Dallas os Professor and Director, Institute for Disaster Management at University of Georgia

For those not in this zone, many could die from the effects years later, as the fallout spreads across the country. Pictured is Dr Nagai, medical instructor and x-ray specialist at Nagasaki Hospital, a victim of atomic radiation caused by the nuclear bombing on August 9. August 1945

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For those not in this zone, many could die from the effects years later, as the fallout spreads across the country. Pictured is Dr Nagai, medical instructor and x-ray specialist at Nagasaki Hospital, a victim of atomic radiation caused by the nuclear bombing on August 9. August 1945

 

   

Armageddon: With its struggling human survivors making their way through a burnt out world, this scene could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Armageddon: With its struggling human survivors making their way through a burnt out world, this scene could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

 

Statue of Liberty Light up the Sky



A top Russian diplomat has accused the U.S. of trying to use sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine to engineer a regime change in Moscow.

'It is hardly a secret that the goal of the sanctions is to create social and economic conditions to carry out a change of power in Russia,' said deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov.

'There will be no easy or fast way out of this.'



Under pressure: Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Francois Hollande, France's president, on Saturday. Moscow believes U.S. sanctions are an attempt to engineer regime change

Russian President Vladimir Putin has struck a belligerent tone in his relations with the West, particularly over the crisis in Ukraine and the gradual spread eastwards of Nato.

His inner circle has been personally targeted by economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU, touted as an attempt to erode support for his policies at the highest level in Russia.

 

Speaking in the lower house of Russia's parliament, Mr Ryabkov told deputies relations between Moscow and Washington were in a deep chill and were likely to remain so if sanctions continued.

Ties between Russia and the U.S. took a dive this year as the Cold War-era foes traded accusations following a coup which brought to power a new pro-West government in Ukraine.

Russia responded by annexing the Ukrainian province of Crimea, site of a major Russian naval base, while partisans seized towns in the east and refused to recognise Kiev's new regime.

Holy place: Mr Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, right, visit the renovated Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve in St Petersburg

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Holy place: Mr Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, right, visit the renovated Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve in St Petersburg

Tragedy: A grave of an unknown soldier killed fighting for the airport outside the rebel-held city of Donetsk, east Ukraine. The airport itself has been totally destroyed in fighting between rebels and government forces

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Tragedy: A grave of an unknown soldier killed fighting for the airport outside the rebel-held city of Donetsk, east Ukraine. The airport itself has been totally destroyed in fighting between rebels and government forces

Well armed: Pro-Russian separatists ride on a tank at the town of Khartsyzk, east of Donetsk. Nato and Kiev say that Russia has been providing material support, including weapons and manpower, to the insurgency

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Well armed: Pro-Russian separatists ride on a tank at the town of Khartsyzk, east of Donetsk. Nato and Kiev say that Russia has been providing material support, including weapons and manpower, to the insurgency

Kiev and Nato have accused Russia of providing material support to the insurgency, while Moscow has accused the West of helping to engineer Ukraine's coup and supporting fascist groups which now hold positions in government.

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution that would authorise President Barack Obama to openly send weapons to the Kiev government. Although that still needs approval from the Senate, it would mark a serious escalation of the conflict.

President Putin has portrayed Western sanctions as an attempt to contain Russia and punish it for becoming strong and independent, an opinion echoed by influential Russian media.

In his state-of-the-nation address last week, the Russian president accused the the West of ‘trying to build a new Iron Curtain’.

He claimed Russia was asserting its ‘sovereignty and national pride’ over its dealings with neighbouring Ukraine – and said his country’s survival depended on it.

Also well armed: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shakes hands with a soldier from a mechanised infantry brigade as he presented the unit with 100 units of heavy arms, including tanks and helicopters

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Also well armed: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shakes hands with a soldier from a mechanised infantry brigade as he presented the unit with 100 units of heavy arms, including tanks and helicopters

Soon to be even better armed... Last week the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution that would authorise President Barack Obama to openly send weapons to the Kiev government

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Soon to be even better armed: Last week the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution that would authorise President Barack Obama to openly send weapons to the Kiev government

Claiming the West wanted to see a Yugoslav-style ‘collapse and dismemberment’ of Russia, he said: ‘This has not happened. We did not allow it.

‘Hitler also failed when, with his hateful ideas, he was going to destroy Russia, throw us back behind the Urals. Everyone should remember how it ended.’

An opinion poll released by the independent Levada research group on Monday showed 74 per cent of Russians have negative views of the U.S.

Levada said the figures marked the lowest point in Russians' attitudes towards the United States since 1990, the year before the Soviet Union collapsed

 

01-Jacob-Rothschild2

We The People and the Establishment’s Top Policy-Makers are engaged in a Mad Race to the End. If We The People win, we get to survive along with the preservation of our Great Republic the United States of America.

If We lose, not only do We fail to overcome the sinister most Evil Agenda of the Establishment’s Top Policy-Makers who are puppets of a foreign power, We lose our Republic forever and our Great Nation will be completely Balkanized.

During the last hundred years since 1913 when the WZ’s Federal Reserve System attained such World Hegemony through the deployment of its massive Counterfeiting System, it has inflicted Mass Death and Destruction on many nation-states of the World. Many believe that it is now beginning it move to reduce the World’s population up to 90% as a part of its Agenda of Mass Death for purification of the human race.

It has also generated continual wars of aggression for Bankster and defense contractor profits, all as part of a plan to transform the whole world into a Kingdom with a future anointed ruler to be seated in Jerusalem. Thus the name the label the “New Crusaders” has been given to this Western WZ Confederacy.

The WZ Confederacy joined hands with the SSG to increase their War Powers.

One of the tools the WZs used to rise to World’s prominence was their financial support of and alliance with the technology and weapons American Secret Shadow Government (SSG) which helped them with their foreign wars of aggression and acquisition. This provided increased revenues and motivated them to provide an elastic checkbook to Congress and Intel to fund the various SSG deep black, beyond-black, and black within black unacknowledged programs.

The Secret Shadow Government (SSG) is a shadowy, secret Government comprised of the largest private Defense Contractors who run these “black within black”, “deep-black” and “beyond-black” unacknowledged programs.

These programs are so secret even some top officials in each company do not know each and every of these hidden programs or who works in them, how much they spend, or even what they do because they know it has been classically unsafe and even life-threatening to ask any serious questions about these matters.

This complete compartmentalization, lack of any written records or accounting trails or even employment lists, gives incredible power to these unacknowledged units, some of which have been used for RICO crime activities of the WZ Confederacy, and some used against it.

The bottom line is this, often the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing and there has been no centralized accountability of any kind except for the top ranking members of Majestic Twelve. And apparently these few men who sit at the top of the highest faction of the SSG typically sit back and wait to see where it is all going.

Then when some kind of intervention is possible and appropriate, they make their moves. And it is likely that they believe their best interventions now are to initiate or stimulate populism using the Worldwide Internet as the new Gutenberg Press to thus elicit a “rear-guard” domestic action in most cases which is necessary for any serious defeat of the WZ Confederacy because it has become so deeply entrenched.

The new Russian Military weapons specialize in pin point accuracy and group launching with “hiving” (aka “smart coordination”).

Some senior US Military analysts believe that the new Russian nuclear weapons are based on pin point accuracy in their targeting and a focus on important military and WZ targets only. It is also known that the new Russian nuclear weapons are neutron types or even more advanced that specialize in anti-personnel capability with minimal fallout and radiation aftereffects.

These devices are believed to be delivered via supersonic missiles that are “hived” that is have the ability to coordinate targeting with one another and able to defeat all known jamming systems.

Some sea capable systems can zig-zag low to the waterline at speeds perhaps up to 15,000 miles per hour or even faster.

Russia also has supersonic torpedoes that use some incredible technology to disrupt the usual resistance of water.

What this may mean in practical terms is that US naval battle groups may be sunk in mere minutes when faced with such ultra high tech weapons.

Some reports suggest that President Putin has no beef with the American people in general and that he does not blame them for the WZ’s and all their human compromising of at least half of the USG, most of Congress and about one half of the US Military.

Has the Top Faction of the SSG attained enough power to step in and take over and prevent this WW3 which now seem imminent with the recent Republican victory in Congress?

It has been rumored from deeply connected inside sources that one man has risen in the SSG System to the very top of the faction that control it is now positioned with enough power and support that he is untouchable by the WZ Confederacy and their Cutouts and cronies, including the whole US Congress and about one-half the US Military. Who is this man?

Some insiders now claim that Zbigniew Brzezinski has risen to the very top of the SSG. Is this man MJ-1? No one will say for sure, but he might as well be because some say it appears that he is now running the top faction of the SSG.

He has now apparently accrued enough respect, power and support from his top colleagues to sidestep the whole WZ Confederacy which is Hell bent on starting WW3 because of their Evil Agenda, if he decides to do so.

Dr. Brzezinski probably now has enough power to take complete control over the WZ Confederacy itself if he decides this is his best move to thwart these insane WZ Confederacy monsters who are Hell-bent of starting WW3 to sustain their hegemony over Big Oil and perhaps take over the whole World.

Or he could just sit back and allow the Russian Federation to destroy the WZ Confederacy Forces, and perhaps also be destroyed along with them when they start WW3 with Russia, which they now seem obsessed with doing.

Could a back-channel compromise be worked out?

220px-Brzezinski_1977

Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser under President Jimmy Carter, whose Presidency was sabotaged by the WZs. Top Insiders suggest that no one should ever make the mistake of underestimating his innate intelligence and politicalcraft.

Could a back-channel compromise be worked out between the top faction of the SSG and President Putin, perhaps a very functional win/win situation for the United states of America and the Russian Republic, one that would defeat the WZ Confederacy and liberate the whole World from it grip of ultimate Evil?

Is there a chance that Dr. Brzezinski will assert the control that he has probably attained and decide to work directly with President Putin via back-channels to avert a WW3 which seems inevitable unless the WZ Confederacy is stopped cold.

It is believed by some insiders that Dr. Brzezinski has harbored some deep resentment for the Soviet Union’s Bolshevist Communism and may still distrust those who are running the new Russian Republic.

He may feel a natural aversion for any new Russian leadership based on past inside knowledge and experience which would have to be overcome.

Dr. Brzezinski is known to have attained great power and respect, more than a few fear him greatly too. It is also know that many also respect and fear President Putin.

There is always the possibility that Dr. Brzezinski may feel that the American People have given consent to those that make up the WZ Confederacy by not standing up against it in mass, perhaps being too busy watching TV and the Nightly News which is little more than a WZ propaganda dispenser.

Dr. Brzezinsky may be tempted to let the WZ Confederacy run its course and find out what lies unexpectedly in store for them due to their criminally insane obsession with subduing the whole world for their sinister Evil purposes and starting WW3.

There is a chance that the American people will wake up in mass and start challenging the WZ Confederacy’s hold on America. This could occur because a powerful new Populism is now arising from the independent Alternative News available on some of the Internet websites like Veterans Today or the sites that dare to carry their articles. The worldwide Internet is the new Gutenberg Press and is a powerful source of World Populism as well as Populist Sovereignty in many nations.

Conclusion:

If this new American Populism arises in enough prominence, it may be a signal to Dr. Brzezinski and his compatriots in the top faction of the SSG that any move by this top faction of the SSG to take control of the USG and reestablish Rule of Law, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights would be fully supported by the  High Command of the US Military, the good half of the US Military, and as well as the American People in mass.

In the past Dr. Brzezinsky was the driving force behind bringing in President Jimmy Carter and some fresh air to block the abject corruption of the WZ Confederacy. The first thing President Carter did was to appoint Stanfield Turner as the new Director of the CIA with a mission to clean it up. Admiral Turner then proceeded to fire over 750 of the dirtiest drug dealing CIA covert operators, many some of the worst, prolific criminals one could ever imagine.

Unfortunately many of these went on to form the “Enterprise” when the Bush Crime Cabal was to re-establish control after the WZ Confederacy was able to manipulate Bush1 into the Presidency after he ran an assassination attempt against President Reagan with the full support of his controllers at the top of the WZ Pyramid of Power.

Some believe that Dr. Brzezinsky has a long memory and has finally accrued enough power to disjoint the WZ Confederation one way or another, using advanced covert and very crafty methods. Some believe that Dr. Brzezinski is known to compromise when he sees a clear advantage in maintaining his position and power but can still maintain his own future aspirations and expectations for the changes he hope for and is now perhaps empowered and motivated to make.

His political and military tactical astuteness is beyond question. It is a fact that he was the brilliant strategist behind the solidification of the Mujaheddin as a major fighting force which defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan.

Undoubtedly Zbigniew Brzezinski’s orchestration of the Russian defeat in Afghanistan played a major part in the major inner stress that contributed to the financial collapse of the Soviet union which was pushed to the edge and finished off by Lee Wanta.

After this, it was the Bush Crime Cabal working with the International Zionist Crime Syndicate that once again hijacked the USG, the Congress and the US High Military Command to infiltrate and gain control over the Mujaheddin and turn them into Al CIA Duh and now ISIS/ISIL (aka Al CIA Duh version 2).

No one is saying for sure but my best guess is that Dr. Brzezinski has been biding his time, quietly building a very powerful top SSG faction which is now likely powerful enough to take on the WZ Confederacy if he deems it is appropriate or necessary.

On the other hand he may allow them to stupidly dial in their own focused destruction by waging an insane “doomed from the start” war with the Russian Federation and President Putin and then help the surviving American people rebuild their nation free of the WZ Confederacy controls which means free of the BCC and the IZCS and all those they have been in control of through their sinister human compromise means. As one top insider recently said, don’t ever underestimate Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinsky, ever.

He is very, very crafty, a top notch political and military strategist who apparently hates Bolshevism in any form especially the WZ form which was the basis of Soviet Russia and Maoist China, and loves America the Republic. Hopefully he may now be able to start trusting President Putin and the new Russian Federation and be motivated to use back-channels to negotiate a win/win agreement with President Putin that will push the WZ Confederacy to the side. This could then evaporate the WZ Confedracy’s massive espionage against all American Institutions of Government including Congress, the Judiciary, the Department of Justice, the US Military and Intel. And hopefully an end can be brought to the WZ’s massive Counterfeiting System which has enveloped much of the World in a massive Web-of-Debt.

It is important to note that Dr. Brzezinski has never been linked to the 9/11/01 WZ Nuclear Attack on America at the Twin Towers in NYC and the Rumsfeld/Cheney attack on the Pentagon Naval Intel section designed to take out Able Danger Investigators in which it murdered 35 of them.

It is also possible that Dr. Brzezinski may just wait and see and then direct the picking up of the pieces after WW3 destroys the WZ Confederacy. Some believe he is perhaps in command of a secret “breakaway society” of the top echelons of the SSG, which could later use their ultra high technology to rebuild a new American Republic free of the WZs and their Kingpins and Cutouts like the BCC, the IZCS, PNACers, NeoCons, American-Israeli “Israeli-first” Dual Citizens and Republic Party criminals and traitors.

Note: It is known that Veterans Today has some Editors and/or staff who may have clearances at the very highest levels within the SSG. Sources for this article did not include them, and any information included has been provided by other sources not linked or associated with Veterans Today.

This article reveals what has been traditionally very closely guarded information considered so sensitive it was never to be revealed to the Public. Once again, Veterans Today brings you incredible bombshell secret information on the Root Causes of the Evils that are destroying America and much of the World, now revealed for the first time anywhere.

You can thank the Major Foreign Intel Dumps into the Public Domain which are now occurring all over the World. 

Russia and America are on nuclear alert…this is why

Congress is about to vote on a resolution to strike Syria, already the Senate panel voted (4 Sep 2013) authorizing war. The Lobby is pushing hard, the drums of war are beating loudly in the halls of Congress. It is very probable that Congress will approve a ‘limited’ strike on Syria based on the lies of the Obama administration. Is this a good idea? Will it escalate into WW3? Are we ill prepared if it does? What might happen if things go terribly wrong?



In the final scene of 1968 film, “The Planet of the Apes“, Charlton Heston (playing the part of Astronaut Taylor who just realized he landed back on earth) condemns mankind for destroying the world. This could be you in the near future and it can happen if we don’t stop this current drive to attack Syria and Iran.

In the final scene of 1968 film, “The Planet of the Apes“, Charlton Heston (playing the part of Astronaut Taylor who just realized he landed back on earth) condemns mankind for destroying the world. This could be you in the near future and it can happen if we don’t stop this current drive to attack Syria and Iran.

Because of all the previous wars, which have not caused a catastrophic change in living standards or the sudden collapse of the world economy, most Americans are content to do nothing to prevent another war. But this war is far different than the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, this time Russia and Iran are backing Syria and warning the US not to attack. In just the last month, the US backed terrorists (i.e. rebels) have leveled whole cities and killed over 100,000 civilians and displaced another 2 million. America and Israel are already causing hell in Syria, they already know full well what awaits them, and are going to fight back with everything they have if America attacks.

Apocalypse now in Syria, there is already catastrophic damage to Syrian cities, millions displayed, hundreds of thousands killed by the Zionist unleashed hell.

Apocalypse now in Syria, there is already catastrophic damage to Syrian cities, millions displayed, hundreds of thousands killed by the Zionist unleashed hell.

Caption: Jehovah Witness art - Jesus destroys the world. Compare the painting to the recent photo of Syria above, they are the same image. Are Christians manifesting Armageddon with their collective thoughts?

Jesus destroys the world. Compare the painting to the recent photo of Syria above, they are the same image. Are Christians manifesting Armageddon with their collective thoughts?

The file photo shows a NATO Sea Sparrow missile launched during a live-fire self-defense missile exercise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in 2004.

The file photo shows a NATO Sea Sparrow missile launched during a live-fire self-defense missile exercise aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in 2004.

By Gordon Duff and Press TV
“When Israel admitted the launch but claimed the US was ‘partnering,’ the Department of Defense issued a denial.” Today, Israel claimed they tested their missile defense system in the Eastern Mediterranean by firing a Sea Sparrow missile in order to simulate an Iranian ICBM attack. However, everything Israel announced was a lie.

The Sea Sparrow, more appropriately, RIM 162 ESSM, is a short-range, ship-launched air defense missile.

Israel currently has no stock of sea-launched missiles of this type and opted not to join the 12 nation consortium that developed this missile.

In no way does the Sea Sparrow resemble an ICBM, not in appearance, performance, range or radar signature. Israel possesses none of these weapons and certainly didn’t launch one.

Israel claimed this exercise was done in coordination with the US Navy. Nevertheless, the US Navy, when told of the launch by Russia, accused that nation of “rumor mongering” and denied any knowledge of the launch.

When Israel admitted the launch but claimed the US was “partnering,” the Department of Defense issued a denial.

War conditions, Eastern Mediterranean

The US has five advanced destroyers, three nuclear submarines, four frigates, several supply and support ships and one ship carrying a Marine amphibious landing force in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Russia has one heavy cruiser, a dozen support ships, two fast attack nuclear submarines and a newly commissioned electronic warfare ship on station near the American taskforce.

Israel has three Dolphin submarines in the region, one of them “on permanent station,” having been sunk by a helicopter-launched Russian anti-submarine torpedo at 2:36 PM on the night of May 2/3, 2013. The Israeli submarine had been on a routine mission supporting reconnaissance teams during an exfiltration from Syria. Neither the bodies of the crew nor the submarine have been recovered.

Naval forces are on high alert, both US and Russian. Russian forces are supported by advanced ship launched air defenses supported by both satellite SAR/IR and optical sensors and advanced radar systems with sufficient range to cover the region from Russian territory.

The US has similar capabilities plus operates AWAC early warning aircraft that cover all air traffic from Iran to Italy.

No Israeli aircraft were then operating over the Mediterranean, nor were they seen to launch one or more missiles, either the sea launched Sparrow or the much smaller AIM 7.

That missile is for air to air combat and is decades old. No aspect of its launch or flight characteristics could be mistaken for an ICBM. Its range is so limited that it could never be used as a target. A child can carry one of these under his arm without considerable difficulty.

This is the missile Israel claimed it tested.

When all else is eliminated …


The only missiles that could have been launched would have come from submarines.

Israel could and did in some ways, claim to be testing their Iron Dome air defense system. However, a key component of the Iron Dome or “Iron Yamuka” as it is called, is the naval defense component supplied by the US Navy.

The US has agreed that during tests of the system, up to four American air defense frigates would supply offshore radar and launch support, without which the Iron Dome is ineffective.

The US denies participation in any such test.

Israel claims it was testing its system to prepare for attacks from Iran and Syria. Nonetheless, were they to have actually used the types of missiles they claim, no potential target would have come within the range of Israel’s defenses.

Additionally, not only are the targets dissimilar to the claimed threat, but the approach predicted could only imply a perceived threat from either Russian or American naval forces, the only launch platforms capable of such an attack except, of course, for the two functioning Dolphin submarines armed with Tomahawk missiles, which were patrolling between the US and Russian fleets.

False flag

Russian radar and satellite systems detected two launches. Were Israel to have launched both missiles as they claim, they could only have been firing at:

  • - Israel, in order to simulate a Russian attack or
  • - Syria, in order to simulate an American attack

There are no other options.

As Israel has no air defense capabilities of any kind over the Mediterranean, the only way the one or more Israeli missiles could have been intercepted is by naval forces of either the United States or Russia. No one else in the region has that capability.

News stories published online claim the United States shot down two Israeli-launched cruise type missiles heading toward Syria.

Though the sources reporting have both poor reliability and a history of contact with Israeli intelligence, it is possible this report is accurate and has been purposefully “poisoned” to cover a major strategic blunder by Israel.

Were an unauthorized missile to have been launched within 200 miles of US Naval forces in the region, as admitted by Israel, the US would have automatically shot them down. Cruise missiles travel at the speed of commercial aircraft. American missile interceptors travel at many times that speed.

Historical problems

The US has a long history of failures in protecting assets in the region and elsewhere.

  • In 1967, the US was unable to respond when Israeli planes and boats attacked the USS Liberty for four hours, killing or wounding most of the crew.
  • In 1987, Iraq fired an anti-ship missile into the USS Stark, seriously damaging that ship.
  • In 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner on a regularly scheduled direct route to Dubai, killing 290 passengers.
  • In 1996, TWA flight 800 was shot down off New York by a missile fired within sight of an American destroyer with advanced air defense capabilities.
  • In 2000, two Yemeni fishermen in a rowboat exploded a bomb, seriously damaging the USS Cole.
  • In 2001, there are reports that multiple hijacked aircraft were crashed into, not just the World Trade Center but Pentagon, areas defended by AEGIS defense systems that had 45 minutes warning, were on high alert, but unable to respond quickly enough.

Maybe the US saw the missile launches, maybe they didn’t or maybe they see what they want to see.

War through deception

What would be gained by firing missiles from the Mediterranean into Syria? It is obvious that no missiles were fired toward Israel. Only a complete idiot could accept a story like that, especially when the US government failed to confirm any aspect of it.

- The Russians could have seen this attack as a threat to their own naval forces and fired on Israel or the American fleet, bringing about a world war.

- Syria could have fired its advanced anti-ship missiles at the closest surface ships to the origin of the launch. Were one or more American ships sunk, which the Syrians are more than capable of as Israel has learned much to its own dismay, this might bring about a world war.

- Were missiles to land in Syria, particularly near the seat of government or hitting a school or hospital, Iran would likely immediately sink the USS Nimitz, currently on station in the Persian Gulf. America would be hated by the world, Russia would be forced to attack US ships in the Mediterranean and world war would begin.

Is this, perhaps, why the United States would have shot down the Israeli Tomahawk missiles heading toward Syria?

Are any other scenarios possible?

What nations may have been cooperating with Israel in this plan? Who would benefit?

The possibilities here are frightening.

 

Researchers from Colorado have studied the effects of nuclear conflict on Earth, looking at the result of detonating

Life after a nuclear war revealed: Computer models reveal Earth would suffer a 20-year-long winter and worldwide famine

  • Researchers from Colorado studied the effects of nuclear conflict on Earth

  • They used climate models to predict what would become of the planet
  • Their research looked at the detonation of 100 'small' nuclear warheads
  • In their paper they conclude humanity would have been affected for decades
  • There would be worldwide famine, deadly frosts and huge ozone losses
  • The results would be the death of hundreds of millions or billions
  • They hope their research will be an incentive for superpowers to disarm

  • The terrible fate of Earth after a nuclear war has been mapped out using computer models for the first time.

    Worldwide famine, deadly frosts, global ozone losses of up to 50 per cent and more would greet any inhabitants of the planet still remaining after a nuclear conflict.

    And the researchers hope their study of what they call a relatively 'small' nuclear war will serve as a deterrent against such weapons being used by any nation in the future.


    Researchers based in Colorado have studied the effects of a nuclear conflict on Earth. They used climate models to predict what would become of the planet after the detonation of 100 'small' nuclear warheads, and conclude there would be global devastation. Pictured is an atomic weapon test in the 1950s

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    Researchers based in Colorado have studied the effects of a nuclear conflict on Earth. They used climate models to predict what would become of the planet after the detonation of 100 'small' nuclear warheads, and conclude there would be global devastation. Pictured is an atomic weapon test in the 1950s

    The unnerving consequences were laid out in a paper called ‘Multidecadal global cooling and unprecedented ozone loss following a regional nuclear conflict.’

    THE AFTERMATH OF NUCLEAR WAR ACCORDING TO THE STUDY

    Year 0

    Five megatons of black carbon released into the atmosphere, which absorbs sunlight and begins to cool the planet. Black carbon rain also kills millions.

    Year 1

    Average surface temperature drops by 1°C (2°F).

    Year 2

    Crop growing season is shortened by 10 to 40 days.

    Year 5

    Earth is an average of 1.5°C (3°F) colder than the present day, colder than it has been in 1,000 years. There is also nine per cent less rainfall. The ozone is also up to 25 per cent thinner, increasing UV rays on Earth.

    Year 10

    Ozone recovers slightly to just 8 per cent less than modern day.

    Year 20

    Planet warms slightly to 0.5°C (1°F) lower than the present day.

    Year 26

    Rainfall increases to about 4.5 per cent less than today.

    In it the researchers looked at the outcome of a ‘limited, regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan in which each side detonates 50 15-kiloton weapons.’

    They then used computer models to examine the impact on the planet and its environment - and it makes for grim reading. The immediate result of 100 nuclear weapons roughly the size of those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki being detonated would be the release of five megatons of black carbon into the atmosphere.

    Black carbon, not too dissimilar to soot, would block out the sun and can also be fatal to humans.

    Following a spell of black carbon rain, a deadly weather front that would devastate what remained of humanity following the nuclear war, the temperature of Earth would begin to drop.

    After a year the temperature would fall by 1°C (2°F), while after five it would be 1.5°C (3°F) cooler than it is now.

    About 20 years after the conflict it would warm again to just 0.5°C (1°F) below today’s temperature.

    Accompanying what the researchers call ‘the coldest average surface temperatures in the last 1,000 years’ would be a huge loss in ozone levels.

    They say that global ozone losses of 20 to 50 per cent would occur over populated areas, ‘levels unprecedented in human history’.

    Archive: Behind the scenes of a nuclear missile command centre

    The immediate result of 100 nuclear weapons being detonated would be the release of five megatons of black carbon (shown) into the atmosphere, say researchers. Black carbon, not too dissimilar to soot and released from the burning of things such as fossil fuels, would block out the sun and can also be fatal to humans

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    The immediate result of 100 nuclear weapons being detonated would be the release of five megatons of black carbon (shown) into the atmosphere, say researchers. Black carbon, not too dissimilar to soot and released from the burning of things such as fossil fuels, would block out the sun and can also be fatal to humans

    The drop in temperature would produce ‘killing frosts’ that reduce the world’s growing season by 10 to 40 days.

    Meanwhile the eradication of up to half of the ozone would increase UV rays in some locations by as much as 80 per cent, raising the chance of developing skin cancer for large swathes of humanity.

    Combined with the global cooling, this ‘would put significant pressures on global food supplies and could trigger a global nuclear famine.’

    The planet’s falling temperature would also decrease the amount of rainfall.

    Five years after the conflict Earth would see 9 per cent less rain, while 26 years after the war there would still be 4.5 per cent less rain.

    The result of all this would be devastation and ultimately death for hundreds of millions, and perhaps billions.

    But the researchers hope that their example of a relatively small nuclear war between two modestly armed nuclear nations, India and Pakistan, will encourage superpowers such as the U.S. and Russia to discuss nuclear disarmament.

    ‘Knowledge of the impacts of 100 small nuclear weapons should motivate the elimination of more than 17,000 nuclear weapons that exist today,’ they write.

    In their paper the researchers conclude humanity would suffer worldwide famine, deadly frosts and huge ozone losses. The results would be the death of hundreds of millions or billions. Pictured is the abandoned city of Prypiat, which is still experiencing the negative effects of nuclear fallout from Chernobyl

    +3

    In their paper the researchers conclude humanity would suffer worldwide famine, deadly frosts and huge ozone losses. The results would be the death of hundreds of millions or billions. Pictured is the abandoned city of Prypiat, which is still experiencing the negative effects of nuclear fallout from Chernobyl

    #

    This image from Russian artist Vladimir Manyuhin's Life after the Apocalypse is reminiscent of scenes from the 2007 film I am Legend

    Welcome to the jungle: This image of New York's Times Square from Russian artist Vladimir Manyuhin's Life after the Apocalypse is reminiscent of scenes from the 2007 film I am Legend

    By night: The same scene of a deserted city - minus some lions - with the sun slowly setting in the background

    By night: The same view of New York - minus some lions - with the sun slowly setting in the background

    Busy: Times Square as it looks today

    Busy: Times Square as it looks today

    Still sitting: The 1920 statue of former American President, Abraham Lincoln, in a collapsing Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

    Still sitting: The 1920 statue of former American President, Abraham Lincoln, in a collapsing Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

    Tourist attraction: Today the Lincoln Memorial is one of the most popular sights for visitors to the U.S. capital

    Tourist attraction: Today the Lincoln Memorial is one of the most popular sights for visitors to the U.S. capital






     

    In a land far, far away: Manyuhin's photo manipulation imagines the Kremlin in the distant future

    In a land far, far away: Manyuhin imagines St Basil's Cathedral and Red Square , Moscow, as a beautiful pastoral scene in a future where the city has been reclaimed by the forces of nature  the same as other European Capitals

    Orthodox: How Red Square and St. Basil's cathedral look today

    Orthodox: How Red Square and St. Basil's cathedral look today

    Underground: Manyuhin has transformed a picture of a subway to a scene of destruction

    Underground: Manyuhin has transformed a picture of a subway to a scene of destruction

    The A train subway line, New York City

    Unsuspecting: The A train subway line, New York City

    Manyuhin has added the odd human survivor to his pieces - but they are few and far between

    Nature's revenge: Manyuhin has added the odd human survivor to his pieces - but they are few and far between

    End of the world as we know it: Decay and sprawling overgrowth have been added to the photographs to create eerie scenes of a post-apocalyptic Earth

    End of the world as we know it: Decay and sprawling overgrowth have been added to the photographs to create eerie scenes of a post-apocalyptic Earth

    Armageddon: With its struggling human survivors making their way through a burnt out world, this scene could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

    Armageddon: With its struggling human survivors making their way through a burnt out world, this scene could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

    Final fantasy: The imaginings of life after an apocalypse are strangely beautiful

    Final fantasy: The imaginings of life after an apocalypse are strangely beautiful

    Many viewers have commented how the scenes resemble well known computer games such as Final Fantasy, Fall Out, and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

    Some of Manyuhin's scenes also look startlingly similar to the backdrop of New York in the post-apocalyptic 2007 film I am Legend starring Will Smith.

    While other images, with struggling human survivors making their way through burnt out surroundings, could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy starring Viggo Mortensen.

    Contrasting: Manyuhin has transformed this landscape in to swamps and marshland in sharp contrast to other burnt out scenes

    Contrasting: Manyuhin has transformed this landscape in to swamps and marshland in sharp contrast to other burnt out scenes

    Power out: Defunct electricity cables have come down while the pylons slowly erode

    Power out: Defunct electricity cables have come down while the pylons slowly erode

    Survivors: Two lone walkers make their way home in a cold and harsh post-apocalyptic world

    Survivors: Two lone walkers make their way home in a cold and harsh post-apocalyptic world

    Man's best friend: But even in Manyuhin's desolate world, one survivor still has his pet dog to keep him company, just like Will Smith's character Robert Neville in the movie I am Legend

    Man's best friend: But even in Manyuhin's desolate world, one survivor still has his pet dog to keep him company, just like Will Smith's character Robert Neville in the movie I am Legend