Russian Preparations for War

[Ryan Ruck]

Looks like a combination of (most of) the colors of Multicam and their camo pattern. Interesting...

Would like to see it "in the wild" to see it's effectiveness.

[vector7]

Russia sends military satellite into orbit for missile warnings

May 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Russia lofted a military satellite Thursday to join a network of orbiting early warning stations detecting and tracking missile launches around the world, providing the Russian government notice of potential attack.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military-run base about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow, at 0634 GMT (2:34 a.m. EDT; 9:34 a.m. Moscow time) Thursday, according to a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Thursday’s mission was the first satellite deployment flight dedicated to the Russian military in nearly one year, a decline from the usual pace of Russian military launches after two of the country’s rockets — the Soyuz and Proton — were grounded in the wake of mishaps last year.

The three-stage Soyuz rocket, fitted with a digital flight control computer and an upgraded RD-0124 third stage engine, propelled the military satellite into space in the first nine minutes of the mission. A Fregat upper stage was expected to separate and fire multiple times to guide its payload into an elliptical “Molniya-type” orbit ranging between approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) and 24,000 miles (38,600 kilometers) in altitude.

The target was inclined around 64 degrees to the equator, and the orbit’s position is designed to allow a satellite to hover over Earth’s high latitudes most of the time.

No data on the orbit achieved by Thursday’s launch was immediately available, but the Russian Defense Ministry said the flight went normally and delivered the payload to its intended orbit.

“Launch of the rocket vehicle and ascent to orbit were held under normal conditions,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

The Russian military named the satellite Kosmos 2518, consistent with the official nomenclature for Russia’s defense-related spacecraft. The type of launcher, time of liftoff and trajectory of the rocket indicated it carried a EKS-type missile warning satellite.

EKS is a Russian acronym that translates to integrated space system, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com. The EKS, or Tundra, satellites replace Russia’s Oko early warning system, which had its last satellite launch in 2012, the website said.

The first EKS satellite launched on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Plesetsk in November 2015. Russia uses the missile warning satellites, along with ground-based radars, to track missiles that approach the country’s territory.

Thursday’s launch marked the first space mission to lift off from Plesetsk this year. It was the fifth launch of the Soyuz rocket family worldwide in 2017.

[vector7]

Why Russia's Strategic Missile Forces Are Prepping to Stage Massive Drills

© Sputnik/ Alexandr Kryazhev
Military & Intelligence14:12 15.06.2017(updated 18:01 15.06.2017) Get short URL
33023320



Later this month, Russia' Strategic Missile Troops, the branch of the armed forces which operates the country's mobile land-based nuclear-armed ICBMS, will roll out ten mobile missile regiments for drills. Military analyst Andrei Kotz explains what message the obvious show of force is meant to send.

Earlier this week, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that ten Strategic Missile Forces regiments (i.e. up to 90 mobile Topol-M and RS-24 Yars ground-based intercontinental ballistic missile launchers) would begin drilling later this month. The elite units will practice everything from movement, to prepping launch positions, to 'maskirovka', a term describing the use of camouflage, denial and deception to thwart the prospective adversary's attempts at aerial reconnaisance and sabotage.

"In the second half of June, missile regiments will begin exercises in field positions in the Tver, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Irkutsk and Ivanovo regions," the MoD's press service confirmed.


© Sputnik/ Dmitry Astakhov
Not One More Step: Putin Outlines 'Red Lines' Which US & NATO Shouldn't Cross

And while the MoD says that the drills are routine, and part of summer training involving all branches of the service, military analyst and RIA Novosti contributor Andrei Kotz suggested that the maneuvers could also be interpreted as a show of strength, particularly given the present international situation.

The scale of the drills is serious enough. A single Topol-M launcher carries a lone 800 kiloton warhead, but its design also enables it to deploy multiple warheads, using what's known as a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV). As for the RS-24 Yars, that system is MIRV equipped from the get-go, with each missile containing at least 4 MIRVs, each armed with 150-250 kiloton warheads. In other words, the drills taking place later this month will involve units which are hypothetically capable of launching hundreds of Russia's deadliest and most advanced nuclear missiles.



According to Kotz, the upcoming exercises may be a response to US and NATO activity along Russia's western borders.


© AP Photo/ US Air Force, Airman 1st Class Zachary Hada
US Bomber Deployments to Europe is Show of Force, Commander Acknowledges

For example, the journalist recalled that just last week, Russian Su-27 fighters had to scramble twice to intercept US B-52 and B-1B Lancer bombers in the Baltic Sea. Each time, the Pentagon said the bombers were carrying out routine flights, as part of NATO's BaltOps naval drills (a large-scale, 14 nation exercise involving 55 aircraft, 50 surface ships and subs).

Kotz pointed out that routine or not, it's no secret that the B-52 and the B-1B are the backbone of the air component of the US nuclear triad. Each plane is capable of carrying ALCM AGM-86 nuclear cruise missiles, which feature a 200 kiloton warhead and have a range of over 2,500 km. This, the journalist stressed, is "more than enough to cover the major cities in the western part of Russia, beginning from the Baltic coast of Estonia." In other words, "it's no surprise that the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces promptly scrambled fighters to escort the US bombers; leaving such targets unattended would simply be foolish."

Earlier this week, Polish President Andrej Duda said that he intends to discuss increasing the US military presence in his country with US President Donald Trump next month. This may include talks on expanding the US missile defense system components presently being deployed in the Eastern European country.


© AP Photo/ Czarek Sokolowski
New Polish Defense Doctrine Wins 'Who's Most Paranoid About Russia' Contest

Warsaw's announcement comes amid what is already an unprecedented expansion of the US and NATO presence in Eastern Europe. Last week, Yuri Shvitkin, the deputy chairman of the Russian Duma's Committee on Defense, confirmed that Russia would be forced to respond to any further expansion of NATO's presence in Poland. "We have repeatedly stated that we will not ignore the strengthening of various contingents by the NATO Bloc…Of course, countermeasures will be taken," Shvitkin stressed.

One of these 'countermeasures', according to Kotz, probably includes the large-scale exercises involving Russia's Missile Forces scheduled for later this month. The military observer recalled that the last major strategic missile maneuvers were held back in March; in those drills, nine regiments were involved. Those drills had coincided with the US deployment of its THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, and amid the latest sharp exchanges between US and Russian diplomats over Washington's ongoing construction of its missile defense system in Poland and Romania.



In other words, the Strategic Missile Forces and their Topol-M and Yars missile systems seem to have their own 'diplomatic' note to play in at least checking excessive US and NATO ambitions.

"The main advantage of the Topol-M and Yars mobile ground missile systems is their mobility," Kotz explained. "In case of the threat of full-scale war, they go on combat patrol, and get 'lost' to enemy satellites and spies in the vast expanses of Russia. It becomes nearly impossible to track them."


© Sputnik/ Sergei Malgavko
Putin Vows to Defend Crimea With All Possible Means

The expert explained that in the upcoming drills, troops will practice movement through difficult terrain, movement and operation in conditions of nuclear and other contamination, repelling simulated ground and air attacks, cooperating with various units, and of course, missile launch simulations. "In addition, counter-sabotage units attached to each missile regiment will also take part in the maneuvers. During the exercises, they will carry out the tasks of locating, blocking and destroying saboteurs, using the Typhoon-M armored vehicles recently adopted into service and unmanned aerial vehicles," Kotz noted.


© Sputnik/ Alexandr Vilf
RS-24 Yars mobile ground missile systems with at the military parade in Moscow marking the 72nd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

Late last month, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu revealed that by the end of 2017, two thirds of the Strategic Missile Forces would be fully equipped with new weapons and equipment.

That's a pretty impressive statistic, Kotz wrote, "considering that only a decade ago almost the entire nuclear shield consisted of systems which had entered combat duty in the Soviet period."

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia War Games, The Largest Since The Cold War, Raising Alarms

September 14, 2017

Russia and the former Soviet Republic of Belarus are holding major military exercises this week – and into next – right up on NATO'S eastern border.

Some newer NATO members, as well as the beleaguered country of Ukraine, are worried that Moscow may be up to something more than just training its troops for self-defense.

"This is designed to provoke us, it's designed to test our defenses, and that's why we have to be strong," British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC last week.

The term “Trojan Horse” has been bandied about quite a lot this week, with skeptics asking whether Russia is using the pretext of exercises to carry out a more aggressive plan – to annex Belarus, or use Belarus as a base for attacking Ukraine from the West.

Moscow has denied all of this, and turned the speculation game around. Some Russian officials have accused NATO of perpetuating these stories in order to justify beefing up its defenses in the Baltic states and Poland. And NATO has been doing that, particularly since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

That, incidentally, occurred right after Russia carried out some "snap exercises" not too far away.

The Zapad 2017 (Zapad means West, in Russian) exercises will take place in Belarus and Kaliningrad, a piece of territory disconnected from Russia's landmass, on the Baltic Sea and home to Russian military bases. Kaliningrad is wedged between two NATO countries, Poland and Lithuania. Belarus has borders with Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Russia.

These exercises are symbolic as well as strategic in that they are next to the very countries whose entry into the Western military alliance has angered Russia.

Belarus, trying to allay fears of any adventurism on NATO'S borders, had this to say.

"We are not threatening anyone," Oleg Voinov, an adviser to the Belarusian Defense Minister, told journalists Thursday. "We have chosen military bases that are significantly removed from the borders with Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia."

All of Russia's neighbors remember those so-called "green men," the soldiers who entered Crimea in early 2014 only to later be confirmed as Russian soldiers.

Janis Garisons of the Latvian Defense Ministry told the Washington Post this week that Russia's overall comportment has been destabilizing.

"They've been very successful in deceiving us. Hybrid warfare is not about green men with a lack of insignia. It is about giving us doubts," Garisons said. "Russian information war wants to convince our population that our country is small and indefensible, and that NATO won't defend us."

In the exercises, Russia and Belarus will be fighting a fake enemy, with a real name –Veishnoriya. The scenario goes that Veishnoriya, with the backing of a Western country, will enter Belarus and stir up a separatist insurgency.

Many see this as a practice for putting down a revolution like the one that took place in Kiev in 2014. They see Veishnoriyia as a thinly veiled disguise for a Baltic country. Many Belarussians have had a bit of fun on social media with the creation of the fake enemy, because some bristle under Moscow's influence. Sites have been giving out Veshnorian passports and setting up websites posing as official ones of the make-believe country.

The Zapad exercises happen every few years. But this year's will be the biggest since the end of the Cold War. Some military observers believe there may be as many as 100,000 Russian and Belarussian troops involved. Moscow has insisted that the real number is 12,700 troops – just short of the 13,000 that international law requires observers for. Observers have in fact been invited to attend Zapad. NATO, however, is still worried they won't be allowed the access they need to get the job done.

"These invitations fall short of the transparency required by the OSCE: briefings on the exercise scenario and progress, opportunities to talk to individual soldiers and overflights of the exercise," Radio Free Europe quoted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as saying earlier this month.

The Pentagon believes Russia is underreporting the number of troops taking part in the exercises, with some believing the number could be as high as 100,000.

“We continue to have concerns about the size of ZAPAD 2017, as the official estimates provided by Russia and Belarus do not correspond with media reporting,” Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza, a Pentagon spokesperson said. “We will be monitoring this exercise closely to identify any material difference between the personnel and equipment levels notified and the actual levels participating in the exercise.”

In a piece for Carnegie Europe, Andrew Michta writes: "If in the aftermath of the exercise, Moscow opts to make these additional military installations permanent, the overall strategic equation along NATO's Eastern flank will be further undermined.”

The exercises continue through September 20th.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia War Games, The Largest Since The Cold War, Raising Alarms

Russia ‘Secretly Practised Full-Scale Invasion Of Europe With Bombing Raids On Germany During Vladimir Putin’s Military Drills’

The terrifying Russian war drills were carried out in September and featured ground, sea and air forces as well as artillery and missile launches.

December 20, 2017

RUSSIA has practised a full-scale mock invasion of the West that includes capturing Baltic states, bombing Germany and invading neutral countries, it has been revealed.

The terrifying war drills were carried out in September and featured troops, artillery, tanks, missile attacks and naval and air force raids.



Details of the Vladimir Putin's so-called "Zapad" (West) exercises were revealed by analysts from two leading intelligence agencies, Bild reported. They did not specify the methods used to collect the intel.

At the time, Putin claimed the exercises were for anti-terror purposes and were purely defensive in nature.

However, the paper reported that the drills were a dry-run for a "shock campaign" against Western European NATO countries.

This included first overrunning the Sulwalki Gap - a 60 mile stretch of NATO land that connects the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad with its ally Belarus.


A Russian soldier takes part in the Zapad training drills in Kaliningrad in September


Russian helicopters launch missiles during the drills


Western analysts now believe the drills were a mock invasion of NATO countries


They involved missile launches as well as ground, sea and air dry-runs

It practised this by creating a mock state on an identical piece of land in Belarus then invading it.

At the same time, the analysts said, the Kremlin also rehearsed "neutralising or taking under control air fields and harbours (in eastern Europe), so there are no reinforcements arriving from other NATO states there".

They added: "This does not mean that you have to occupy the countries and declare 'Peoples' Republics' or something like that, but that you have to occupy the harbours, airports and so on."

Over two days, Russian fighter jets also flew mock sorties through the Baltic and North Seas, swooping down onto the edges of Germany and the Netherlands.


Multiple rocket launcher systems fire during the Zapad-2017 war games


A serviceman of a Russian Baltic Fleet unit checks his weapon


Tanks roll during the military exercise at the Luzhsky Range, near St Petersburg

These were designed to be a practice run for destroying high-value targets such as power reactors, airports and other forces, including naval battalions, practised invading neutral Finland, as well as Sweden, Norway and Poland.

The Zapad war games, held by Russian and Belarussian troops on territory in both countries in September, are a new source of concern for neighbouring Ukraine and NATO member states on Europe's eastern flank.

Russia has said the exercise was to rehearse a purely defensive scenario, that the scale of the wargames was in line with international rules, and that allegations it was a springboard to invade Poland, Lithuania or Ukraine were false.

General Petr Pavel, head of NATO’s military committee, warned in September: "All together, what we see is a serious preparation for big war.

"When we only look at the exercise that is presented by Russia there should be no worry.

"But when we look it in the big picture, we have to be worried, because Russia was not transparent."


Russia's defence chiefs Dmitry Bulgakov and Sergei Shoigu with President Putin


Russian helicopters taking part in the joint Russian-Belarusian military drill


A reported 13,000 military servicemen are taking part in the drill

[Ryan Ruck]

NATO Official: Russian Submarine Activity Highest 'Since The Cold War'

December 23, 2017

Russia's undersea activity has reached levels not seen since the height of the Cold War, a NATO official said Saturday.

Rear Adm. Andrew Lennon, NATO's commander of submarine forces, told reporters that Russia's submarine activity has ticked up considerably in the past few years, with more Russian deployments spotted every year.

“Russian submarine activity is higher now in the last three years than it has been since the Cold War," Lennon said, according to the Express.

“What we have observed over the past three years are more deployments annually of Russian submarines away from their local waters than we have observed in the prior decade.”

Russia's navy deteriorated after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. In recent years, however, the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin has made a “strong investment” toward rebuilding the country's navy, Lennon told reporters.

Lennon also noted a major increase in submarine activity around NATO undersea communication lines, according to The Washington Post.

“We are now seeing Russian underwater activity in the vicinity of undersea cables that I don’t believe we have ever seen,” Lennon said. “Russia is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations’ undersea infrastructure.”

Earlier this year, Russia's Adm. Vladimir Korolev said that Russian naval activity had reached levels only achieved during the Soviet Union.

“Last year we reached the same level as before the post-Soviet period, in terms of running hours,” Korolev said, according to the Post.

“This is more than 3,000 days at sea for the Russian submarine fleet," he added. "This is an excellent sign.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia's Su-35 and Su-34 Nuclear Bombers Just Practiced a War with NATO

April 6, 2018
Just when it seemed that Zapad-2017 was finally moving into the rear-view mirror, it came back to life. Unlike in September 2017, when the whole world was watching (and counter-exercising), this time it passed by virtually unnoticed. Russia has a long history of breaking up its strategic-operational exercises to give its commanders the opportunity to practice General Staff plans in real time and so it is no surprise that more Zapad activities were added later; however, controlling the amount of interest in the West has been much easier this time around.

From March 26 to 29, Russia held the exercise Ladoga-2018. Officially, this was a relatively small affair by Russian military exercise standards: a little more than fifty pilots practiced detecting a conventional enemy and launching a variety of missiles in the northwest of Russia (Ladoga is the largest lake in Europe, northeast of St. Petersburg and famous for being crossed while frozen to relieve Leningrad during World War II).

However, those fifty pilots were paired with anything up to one hundred aircraft, including the 4++-generation Su-35 interceptor and the new nuclear-capable Su-34 bomber. This makes Ladoga easily the largest air exercise in Russia since Zapad-2017, indeed larger as Zapad claimed only seventy aircraft officially. In 2009, Ladoga was part of the Zapad-2009 narrative, deploying units from all services as it was the strategic-operational capstone exercise of the now-merged Northwest Military District. Since then, Ladoga has been an annual Russian Air Force event for fifty-odd pilots, though it again added substantial ground elements in 2013 as Zapad-2013 approached. However, Ladoga-2017 never happened and so my interest rose as the exercise returned in 2018.

Ladoga-2018 did feature substantial deployments of aircraft from across the Western Military District to the Besovets Air Base near the Finnish border. It seems to have simulated the mammoth air operation that the Soviet Air Force trained to conduct at the start of a major war with NATO during the Cold War, firing expensive guided rockets Russia rarely uses during ordinary training. However, there was no ground component as there was in the Ladoga exercises leading up to Zapad-2009 and 2013.

Or was there?

On March 12, a group of Belarusian Special Forces from Brest (on the Polish border) arrived in Ulyanovsk, Russia on the Volga River. After a week’s training, these Belarusians joined Russia’s elite 31st Air Assault Brigade (one of the first formations deployed to Crimea in 2014) on a joint peacekeeping operation. This exercise lasted March 19–22. Like most high-profile Russian exercises, it featured a colorful storyboard of events for its six hundred participants to enact.

The exercise began with a rapid insertion into the zone of conflict. By day two, the Russians and Belarusians had taken control of the region and switched priorities to establishing areas of responsibility for occupation, setting up checkpoints to defuse the crisis in which they were peacekeeping. However, on the last two days of the exercise, a group of “terrorists” attacked these checkpoints separating the conflicting parties, requiring an anti-terrorist operation to restore order. These terrorists were attacking humanitarian convoys set up by the Russian branch of the Red Cross, which has famously delivered dubious convoys into eastern Ukraine since the outbreak of the war there in 2014.

However, rather than ending happily as most of these set-piece exercises do, this one ended with a transition of duties toward defending refugees and internally-displaced persons. Furthermore, despite the exercise officially ending on March 22, further action was taken on March 23 as “terrorist” groups attempted to penetrate Russian and Belarusian military positions. Also on March 23, a Russian Airborne Command delegation arrived in Belarus for three-day organizational session with Belarus’ other Special Forces brigade. These two brigades represent the best servicemen and formations of Belarus today.

As these events were played out on the Volga, the Baltic Fleet simultaneously came to life as it has not since Zapad-2017 with a missile defense exercise on March 20 and a one-thousand-man, ten-ship command-staff exercise starting on the March 22—complete even with missile firing tests both at sea and in the air. Action was simultaneously taken to raise the readiness of all three Ground Forces armies of Russia’s Western Military District: near St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Ukrainian border. Meanwhile, Belarus undertook a large-scale (two-thousand-man) reservist training exercise. As these forces raised their combat readiness, Ladoga-2018 arrived, delivering a notional major air operation, coupled with a simultaneous massive command-staff exercise of the 106th Guards Airborne Division just south of Moscow.

These were only the tip of the iceberg of the total amount of tactical exercises underway across Russia in March. Much of these upswing in activity can be attributed to two factors:

- Winter is coming to an end, easing the conduct of such exercises.
- Russian conscripts have now been in training for four months, giving plenty of time for them to learn their basic tasks and allow their units to begin conducting more complicated tactical exercises again.

Nevertheless, the sudden synchronization of all these exercises in a manner reminiscent of classical Russian operational planning indicates that this was a rehearsal of the unplayed first phase of the Zapad operation. In addition to the missile defense exercise in the Baltic, similar exercises were held near Moscow and the Black Sea, all within the space of four days (and directly before Ladoga). Combined with the September rehearsal of similar tactics over the Arctic, there finally seems some explanation of Russian use of its Air Force from day one of a massive Zapad operation despite Russian expectations of NATO degradation of Russian airfields by systematic cruise missile strikes.

Other naysayers might contend that only some of these exercises took place near the site of even the Zapad exercise, let alone where a Zapad operation might take place. However, Russia frequently holds rehearsals of operations away from their probable operation sites to train commanders and soldiers how to operate in “unfamiliar terrain” after learning elementary tactics on well-worn training ranges. This might shed some additional light on the (presumably) very long-range ASW exercise held on March 29 of a Tu-142 flying to the southeast Mediterranean Sea from an airfield in Russia.

Finally, others might question why reopen Zapad now after it caused so much public relations grief for Russia last year. For one thing, no one has raised much fuss this month. For another, the Russian General Staff frequently breaks up its strategic-operational exercises to practice many different aspects of a large-scale plan without causing undue strain upon Russian diplomacy, its officers and enlisted men and women, and its budget. In 2017, official Zapad preparation exercises began in Belarus as early as March and some debatably earlier. Even now, the first preparatory exercises for Vostok-2018 (in the Far East) appear to be underway near Lake Baikal. So why not keep the calendar open afterward?

The author would also like to state that this was not a rehearsal for an attack on the West in the Spring. Not only is the Spring the most disadvantageous time of year to begin a war in Central or Eastern Europe (witness the two World Wars), but most Russian engineer forces are currently actively engaged in conducting flood mitigation exercises as the Siberian rivers unfreeze and threaten a number of communities in the middle of Russia.

Overtly, Ladoga-2018 was a relatively minor exercise that almost no one took note of this week. However, it appears to be a critical piece of the grander Zapad operational picture.

[American Patriot]

Looks like the real thing about to start

[vector7]

U.S. Fears Russia Employing ‘Combat Laser System’ in Space

Russian President Vladimir Putin / Getty Images


BY: Adam Kredo Follow @Kredo0

October 23, 2018 3:29 pm

The United States is warning that recent Russian movements in space signal the country is building a military space force that could employ a "combat laser system" capable of knocking American satellites offline, according to senior administration official.

In remarks before the United Nations Tuesday, Yleem Poblete, the assistant secretary for arms control, verification, and compliance warned that Russia is making unprecedented moves towards militarizing space with offensive weaponry.
"The United States is concerned with what appears as very abnormal behavior by this so-called ‘space apparatus inspector,'" Poblete said. "We do not know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify its mission. Moreover, Russian intentions with respect to this satellite are unclear."

This amounts to a "troubling development—particularly, when considered in concert with statements by Russia's Space Troops Commander which highlighted that ‘assimilat[ing] new prototypes of weapons [into] Space Forces' military units' is a ‘main task facing the Aerospace Forces Space Troops,'" according to Poblete.

This could constitute a violation of U.N. bans of the militarization of space.

"It is also concerning in light of statements from senior Russian military officials that Russia's Space Troops have taken delivery of a ‘combat laser system,'" according to Poblete. "Further, Russia claims to be developing missiles that can be launched from an aircraft mid-flight to destroy American satellites. To the United States, these developments are yet further proof that Russian military actions do not match their diplomatic rhetoric."

Poblete went on to warn that "the drafters of the NFP resolution and the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space (or PPWT) are developing capabilities that are designed to attack satellites in space—the very thing that they claim to seek to prohibit."

The Trump administration will not sit idly by as Russia and others attempt to gain the advantage in the militarization of space.

"While the United States would prefer that the space domain remain free of conflict, it will prepare to meet and overcome any challenges that arise," Poblete said. "As Vice President Pence recently noted, ‘Our adversaries have transformed space into a warfighting domain already. And the United States will not shrink from this challenge.'"

The United States will not support various treaties proposed by the Russians to limit space militarization at a time when they are behaving in the opposite manner, Poblete said.

"The draft PPWT and the NFP resolution are not the right mechanisms for achieving these goals," she said. "They are fundamentally flawed proposals advanced by a country that has routinely violated its international obligations. That is why the United States continues to urge countries not to support the façade of Russia's Potemkin resolution and instead vote ‘No.'"

Russia's New Blitzkrieg Is An Electronic ‘Lightning War’ So Potentially Decisive That An Entire Civilization Could Be Overthrown In Hours

- Russia's new way of warfare is the greatest Revolution in Military Affairs in history

By Dr Peter Vincent Pry - All News Pipeline

October 25, 2018

Days before U.S. congressional elections crucial to Trump Administration plans for protecting the U.S. and deterring World War III, Moscow’s new “peace offensive” is trying to mobilize the kind of American voter Vladimir Lenin allegedly once described as “useful idiots.”

Will Americans vote for congressional gridlock or for U.S. national security?

At stake are Trump Administration programs strengthening U.S. military might and homeland security, all long-neglected or opposed by the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats:

— Rebuilding the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines.

— Modernizing U.S. nuclear deterrent forces and their scientific-industrial base.

— Protecting the U.S. electric grid and other life-sustaining critical infrastructures from cyber and EMP attack.

But wait! Are these programs really necessary?

Just last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised: “We have no concept of a preemptive strike.”

“We expect to be struck by nuclear weapons, but we will not use them [first],” Putin said, “The aggressor will have to understand that retaliation is inevitable, that it will be destroyed, and that we, as victims of aggression, as martyrs, will go to heaven.” Whereas Americans “will simply die because they won’t even have time to repent.”

On October 18, according to TASS: “Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes that Moscow and Washington should reaffirm the idea it will be impossible to win a nuclear war.”

Lavrov: "The Americans and we have made two fundamental statements since the Soviet era to the effect nobody can win a nuclear war and for that reason it cannot happen. It might be a good idea to reaffirm this postulate.”

Lavrov criticizes U.S. nuclear deterrent modernization, including the development of a U.S. low-yield warhead to counter Russia’s 10-to-1 advantage in tactical nuclear weapons, as dangerously destabilizing and threatening to “undermine all existing agreements.”

Yet Moscow expects Washington to be OK with Russia’s violations of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, too long tolerated by the Obama Administration, but now challenged by President Trump.

Threatens Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on October 21, U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty, which now constrains only the United States and NATO, not Russia or China, would be “very dangerous.”

Who would believe such propaganda, be cowed by such threats?

Too many Americans.

Too many Americans belong to the party of “blame America first” and to the party of suicidal appeasement and to the party that fantasizes about former President Obama’s “world without nuclear weapons” beginning with U.S. unilateral disarmament.

For example, according to national security expert Peter Huessy (October 15): “The Princeton University disarmament group, Global Zero, has released a new…report — The End of Nuclear Warfighting — that calls for the unilateral disarmament of more than two-thirds of the U.S. nuclear deterrent and…placing most U.S. warheads in storage bunkers.”

Moscow wants Americans to temporarily forget, until after voting on November 6, dictator Putin’s March 1 televised briefing to the world describing new nuclear super-weapons giving Russia “nuclear superiority” and demanding that the U.S. “listen to us now.”

Moscow hopes voting Americans never read former Director of the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency, Vice Admiral Robert Monroe’s recent article accurately describing Russia’s hyper-aggressive nuclear strategy in The Hill:

Russia makes “no distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons. They consider the full spectrum of weaponry to be available for military use; and they have even gone farther, by establishing a preferred strategy of early (conflict-ending) use of low-yield nukes in all military actions, large and small. For a quarter-century Russia has been focusing their nuclear weapons research and testing on very low yields (say, from ten to 500 tons). During this same period, they have also been researching and testing greater use of fusion, less of fission, possibly achieving pure fusion. These weapons would emit only neutrons and gamma rays, and leave little or no contaminating residual radiation.”

“Their tactics of use would be ones we’ve never seen or thought about. Putin has threatened military action in many areas of Europe, to recover the former Soviet empire. If armed conflict broke out tomorrow, the advancing Russian armor, mobilized infantry, artillery, and tactical aircraft would be preceded by dozens of low-yield nuclear detonations, killing everything, but leaving roads and bridges intact. The war would be over in days or hours.”


Moscow doesn’t want American voters to read the Congressional EMP Commission Chairman’s Report, recently approved for unclassified publication by the Defense Department:

Russian military doctrine “describes the combined use of cyber viruses and hacking, physical attacks, non-nuclear EMP weapons, and ultimately nuclear EMP attack against electric grids and critical infrastructures as a new way of warfare that is the greatest Revolution in Military Affairs in history. Like Nazi Germany's Blitzkrieg (‘Lightning War’) Strategy that coordinated airpower, armor, and mobile infantry to achieve strategic and technological surprise that nearly defeated the Allies in World War II, the New Blitzkrieg is, literally and figuratively, an electronic ‘Lightning War’ so potentially decisive in its effects that an entire civilization could be overthrown in hours.”

[vector7]

Mysterious Russian missile identified as anti-satellite weapon will be ready for warfare by 2022

Published Thu, Oct 25 2018 • 7:35 AM EDT | Updated 4 hours ago
Amanda Macias@amanda_m_macias

Key Points

• A mysterious missile photographed last month on a Russian jet is believed to be a mock-up of an anti-satellite weapon, three sources with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report say.
• The Russian anti-satellite weapon, which is attached to a space launch vehicle, is expected to target communication and imagery satellites in low Earth orbit, according to one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
• The weapon is expected to join Moscow’s arsenal by 2022.

watch now

VIDEO01:03
Russia may have anti-satellite weapon that will be battle-ready by 2022

WASHINGTON — A never-before-seen missile photographed last month on a Russian MiG-31 interceptor is believed to be a mock-up of an anti-satellite weapon that will be ready for warfare by 2022, three sources with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report say.

The Russian anti-satellite weapon, which is attached to a space launch vehicle, is expected to target communication and imagery satellites in low Earth orbit, according to one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. For reference, the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope travel in low Earth orbit.

Images of the mysterious missile on a modified Russian MiG-31, a supersonic near-space interceptor, appeared in mid-September.

Initial testing of the mock system began in September and is slated to run through Wednesday, according to one of the sources. The tests, which are referred to as a “captive carry tests,” are designed to evaluate the mock weapon during flight, according to the source.

“These are the types of tests you do first in order to gain confidence that the weapon and air frame are going to work together during flight,” a source explained to CNBC, adding that the next testing milestone will occur in 2019.

The Russians are expected to conduct weapon releases tests next year, when the mock system is to be launched from the belly of the aircraft. What’s more, sources with direct knowledge of the U.S. intelligence report expect the weapon to join the Kremlin’s arsenal by 2022.

watch now

VIDEO01:53
‘It’s like a backup Pentagon’: Inside the E-4B ‘doomsday plane’

“My take is, as I understand it, it is possible that this is an anti-satellite system,” said Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project. He said Moscow has previously worked on such systems. “It seems like a capability that would be sort of nice for them to have,” he said, noting that China and the U.S. have developed similar weapons.

“The concept of air-launched kinetic anti-satellite weapons has been around for a very long time and has been demonstrated over the years by the Chinese, Russians, and by us,” Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC while looking at images of the missile.

“Having said that, the Russians have of course lots and lots of sensational press releases about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s new toys, so a little bit of skepticism is in order,” Karako added.

While anti-satellite missiles are by no means new, the latest revelation comes less than eight months after Putin touted his nation’s growing military arsenal.

“I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country’s development: You have failed to contain Russia,” Putin said during a national address in March.

[vector7]

‘US would be history if Russia nukes Yellowstone volcano with mega-bombs’ – Konstantin Sivkov

Published time: 24 Oct, 2018 14:50Edited time: 24 Oct, 2018 20:49


FILE PHOTO: A nuclear explosion in Mururoa atoll. © AFP



Konstantin Sivkov

Russia must develop the capability to destroy the US in a single swift blow if it wants to persuade the Americans to end the nuclear arms race and return to the negotiating table, military expert Konstantin Sivkov said.

In order to curb the aggression from the West, Moscow shouldn’t compete with Washington in number of nukes, Sivkov wrote in a new article. The president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems believes that an “asymmetrical response” would work much better for Russia, as it is able to produce nuclear weapons with a yield of more than 100 megatons.
via GIPHY

via GIPHY


If “areas with critically dangerous geophysical conditions in the US (like the Yellowstone Supervolcano or the San Andreas Fault)” are targeted by those warheads, “such an attack guarantees the destruction of the US as a state and the entire transnational elite,” he said.

The production of around 40 or 50 such mega-warheads for ICBMs or extra-long-range torpedoes would make sure that at least a few of them reach their target no matter how a nuclear conflict between the US and Russia develops, the expert said.

Such scenario “again makes a large-scale nuclear war irrational and reduces the chances of its breakout to zero,” Sivkov said.

via GIPHY

The possession of such weapons by Russia is what would finally make Washington start talking to Moscow and give up on its sanctions policy towards Russia, the expert said.


Trump threatens to build up US nuclear arsenal until Russia, China 'come to their senses'

On Monday, US President Donald Trump warned Russia and China that Washington intends to build up its nuclear arsenal until “people come to their senses.”

via GIPHY


Trump reiterated his commitment to unilaterally abandon the landmark Intermediate Nuclear Forces in Europe (INF) treaty, saying that “Russia has not adhered to the agreement,” neither in form or in spirit.

Moscow decried the US plans, saying that an American withdrawal from the INF would “make the world more dangerous.”

The Russian presidential press-secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that Trump’s words were “a de facto declaration of intent to launch an arms race,” adding that Russia would act to protect its national interests in view of statements like this.

In recent years, Moscow and Washington have repeatedly accused each other of violating the 1988 INF deal. While the US has alleged that Russia has developed missiles prohibited by the treaty, Russia insists that the American anti-missile systems deployed in Eastern Europe can actually be used to launch intermediate-range cruise missiles.




Russian military expert Konstantin Sivkov on "a guaranteed way of destroying a multinational elite (United States and Global Western Trade)"

Moscow, October 29, 2018 (HSP / Photo: Facebook)


Attacks by atomic weapons of hypercalibra on dangerous geophysical areas in the United States will cause the destruction of the United States, the Military expert, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Questions, Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov writes in the article "Military Political Courier"

Pictured by Konstantin Sivkov

The expert argues that in order to avert aggression from the West, Russia should not walk in the footsteps of the USSR and quantitatively compete with the USA in atomic races. Instead, he proposes an "asymmetric response" in the technology aspect. Sivkov noted that Moscow has technologies for the construction of atomic guns with a caliber of more than 100 MT in TNT equivalence (about 5000 hiroshima bombs - srspol.sk).

"The construction of 40-50 such heads for heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles or super-torpedo torpedoes will ensure that the areas in the US (such as Yellowstone Surrey, the tectonic area on the US Pacific coastline) are deployed to a critical level (geophysical) units in any situation development.

Such attacks are guaranteed to destroy the US as a state and all transnational elite. This again makes a major atomic war irrational and removes the chances of it being turned to zero, "Sivkov said.

A Russian expert believes that such a weapon will force Western nations to sit down behind a negotiating table and abandon restrictive measures against and pressure on Russia.

[vector7]

UK jets intercept suspected Russian fighter jets, report says

Sukhoi-35 Russian Aircraft

November 01, 2018 Laura Widener

Russian fighter jets reportedly flew close to foreign territory again – this time in the United Kingdom.

The suspected Russian aircraft were spotted near U.K. airspace, prompting Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets to deploy and intercept them, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing a British Ministry of Defense statement.

“Typhoon fighters … were scrambled today as a precautionary measure against a potential incursion into UK area of interest by one or more unidentified aircraft,” the Ministry of Defense (MOD) said.

https://t.co/xbk5L70UgN
— MSN UK (@msnuk) November 1, 2018

The MOD determined that the incident did not pose a threat to the U.K. or its airspace.

The incident is not out of the ordinary, as Russian aircraft frequently pass near U.K. territory. The RAF constantly monitors the presence of foreign aircraft near their airspace and have intercepted Russian aircraft in the past – even recently.

In September, Russian Blackjack long-range nuclear bombers were intercepted by two RAF jets near the coast of Newcastle as they traveled through international airspace while ignoring radio calls, Fox News reported at the time.

“The Russian Blackjacks… were not talking to air traffic control, making them a hazard to all other aviation,” the RAF said in a statement.

UK fighter jets intercept Russian bombers over North Sea https://t.co/fnJcZUMyXw
— CNN International (@cnni_headlines) September 22, 2018

The incident was the third intercept of Russian bombers in a month.

Near the coast of Alaska, the U.S. Air Force intercepted Russian TU-95 Bear bombers on two occasions in September. They were intercepted west of Alaska and escorted by two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jets.

The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace, but their proximity to U.S. territory alerted U.S. forces, who continuously monitor the airspace.

“NORAD employs a layered defense network of radars, satellites, as well as fighters to identify aircraft and determine the appropriate response,” NORAD Commander Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said at the time.

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said, “Russian bombers probing U.K. airspace is another reminder of the very serious military challenge that Russia poses us today.”

“We will not hesitate to continually defend our skies from acts of aggression. Once again the rapid reactions of our RAF have demonstrated how vital our Armed Forces are in protecting Britain,” he added.

The increase of Russia’s presence near U.K. and U.S. territories has been perceived as increasingly aggressive acts.

Britain’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, said the RAF intercepted Russian aircraft more than 80 times across the last decade in what demonstrated “an ever more assertive Russia.”

[vector7]

Russian-Nato's "hot episode": Russian Tu-142 surprise the flagship of the 6th Fleet in Norway

Two Russian anti-submarine warfare Tu-142 flew at USS Mount Whitney in a further episode of tense US-Russia relations at a minimum distance from the 6th Fleet flagship.

The flight of Russian aircraft took place during the participation of the US vessel in the large Trident Juncture 18 NATO exercise in Norway, with the participation of 250 aircraft, 50 surface vessels and at least 50,000 personnel, being the largest exercises since the beginning of the decade 80 ..

The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that two Tu-142 anti-submarine warplanes made a scheduled flight over international waters in the Norwegian Sea on Friday.

As it was clarified, the aircraft flew a total of 12 hours and then returned to their base in the Vologda area.







Russian Navy Tu-142 Flies “Over” USS Mount Whitney involved in Ex. Trident Juncture in the Norwegian Sea

Nov 03 2018 - 0 Comments



By David Cenciotti

A Russian Navy Tu-142 Bear-F long-range maritime patrol reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft made a “surprise visit” to the USS Mount Whitney, off the Norwegian coast.

Sailors aboard the Blue Ridge-class command ship of the U.S. Navy USS Mount Whitney had gathered for a group photo on deck, when a Tupolev TU-142, RF-34063 / 56 RED based on AFP photographs, flying in international airspace, soared more or less overhead, on Nov. 2, 2018.

USS Mount Whitney is involved in Exercise Trident Juncture, NATO’s largest such drills in 20 years which runs through Nov. 7 and simulate an Art. 5 response to an armed attack against one ally. Needless to say, Russia has already made public its displeasure over the exercise that is considers an anti-Russian show of force. Consequently, Moscow announced plans to perform rocket test firings in the basin of the Norwegian Sea, from Nov. 1-3.

#NOTAM – Norwegian Sea:
Russian Navy ‘ROCKET TEST FIRINGS’
“RECEIVED FROM MAIN AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER OF RUSSIA
THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT The RUSSIAN NAVY PLAN TO ROCKET TEST FIRINGS IN THE BASIN OF THE NORWEGIAN SEA: 01, 02, 03 NOV 2018.
DAILY 0700-1400.” pic.twitter.com/hfENipSxDZ
— CivMilAir (@CivMilAir) October 30, 2018

Along with the missile tests in an area close to TJ exercise, on Oct. 31, Russia said two of its Tu-160 strategic bombers carried out a 10-hour routine mission over the Barents and Norwegian seas. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO drills would continue as planned. “I don’t expect that that will cause any serious problems, but as I said we will follow the movement of the Russian maritime capabilities closely, and they are informed about our exercise, so we do whatever we can to avoid any dangerous situation.”

Nothing dramatic then, if it wasn’t for the type of the Russian aircraft involved in the latest close encounter: a Tu-142MZ (based on the presence of the chin fairings) the last production variant of the “Bear F”, with new NK-12MP engines and a new avionics suite, a variant dubbed Bear-F Mod. 4 rarely spotted in that area. Last year we posted a video of a Tu-142MK filmed by a Royal Danish Air Force F-16. According to the RDAF the Russian Navy aircraft had only been seen in the area a few times earlier. In fact, the majority of the missions flown by the Russians over the Baltic Sea or around northern Europe involve long-range strategic bombers, such as the Tu-95 Bear and the Tu-22M Backfire.

According to “Russia’s Warplanes, Volume 2” by Piotr Butowski published by Harpia Publishing, one of the most authoritative sources on Russian-made military aircraft and helicopters today, the Russia’s Naval Aviation has two Tu-142 squadrons, one with Tu-142MK (NATO reporting name Bear-F Mod. 3) aircraft at Kipelovo-Fedotovo and one with Tu-142MZ (Bear-F Mod. 4) at Mongoktho.

The Tu-142MK and MZ are both able to carry a maximum of 9,000 kg (19,842lb) weapons load inside two fuselage weapons bays, with options including three torpedoes (the rocket-propelled APR-2/APR-3, or the electric AT-2M or UMGT-1) or depth charges (such as the Zagon/Zagon-2 guided charges and nuclear depth charges), mines and sonobuoys.

The typical loadout of a Tu-142MK comprises 3x torpedoes and 66x RGB-75, 44x RGB-15, 10x RGB-25 and 15 RGB-55 sonobuoys.

By the way, the presence of the Russian Navy aircraft off Norway was the reason for the scramble of Royal Air Force QRA Typhoons from RAF Lossiemouth as well as Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s from Bodo:

1755z: Y0H64 returning to Brize Norton pic.twitter.com/PFyHnS4EXX
— Mil Radar (@MIL_Radar) November 2, 2018

Top image: AFP photo/Jonathan Nackstrand

[vector7]

A Senior Russian Diplomat Confirms: "Russia Is Preparing for War" - Is Anybody Listening?

The Saker • November 2, 2018 • 2,000 Words • 62 Comments • Reply

Andrei Belousov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control, has recently made an important statement which I shall quote in full and then provide a translation.

Original Russian text: “Тут недавно на заседании Соединенные Штаты заявили, что Россия готовится к войне. Да, Россия готовится к войне, я это подтверждаю. Да, мы готовимся защищать нашу родину, нашу территориальную целостность, наши принципы, наших людей. Мы готовимся к такой войне. Но у нас есть серьезные отличия от Соединенных Штатов Америки. И в лингвистическом плане это отличие заключается всего в одном слове, что в русском языке, что в английском языке: Российская Федерация готовится к войне, а Соединенные Штаты Америки готовят войну”

Translation: “Recently at a meeting the United States stated that Russia is preparing for war. Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I can confirm it. Yes, we are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people. We are preparing for such a war. But there is a major difference between us and the United States. Linguistically, this difference is just in one word, in both Russian and English: Russia is preparing for war while the United States is preparing a war” (emphasis added).

We are so used to western diplomats and politicians saying more or less anything and everything (as the joke goes: when do you know that a politician is lying? When his lips move) that many of us stopped paying attention to what is being said. If tomorrow Trump or some “Congressperson” goes on national TV and declares “read my lips – up is down, dry is wet and yes means no” – most of us will just ignore it. The truth is that being exposed to that constant stream of empty, bombastic and always dishonest statements makes most of us immune to verbal warnings, even when they come from non-western political figures.

It is, therefore, crucial to fully realize that Russian official and diplomats carefully measure every word they say and that when they repeat over and over again that Russia is ready for war, they actually and truly mean it!

Of course, there have been those in the West who fully saw this danger and have been warning about it for years, I especially think of Prof. Stephen Cohen and Paul Craig Roberts here. And I have been warning about this for four years now, beginning with the article “Obama just made things much, much worse in the Ukraine – now Russia is ready for war” posted on March 1st, 2014, followed by many more articles with the same warning since (see “The Russian response to a double declaration of war” on September 27th, 2014; “Did Russia just “gently” threaten the USA?” on November 12th, 2015; “Debunking popular clichés about modern warfare” on May 19th, 2016; “How Russia is preparing for WWIII” on May 26, 2016; “A Russian warning” on June 1st 2016; “Assessing the Russian Military as an Instrument of Power” on August 25th, 2016; “Progress report on the US-Russian war” on December 1st, 2017; “What price will mankind have to pay for the collapse of the Empire?” on April 13th, 2018; “Each “click” brings us one step closer to the “bang!” on April 20th, 2018). But for all our efforts, we have been “voices crying in the wilderness” which is hardly surprising since even Putin’s blunt warning during his March 1st speech to the Russian Federal Assembly was quickly dismissed as “posturing” and quickly forgotten. This is why two weeks following that historical speech I compared Russia to a peaceful rattlesnake (yes, they are peaceful creatures!) desperately trying to warn a drunk idiot to back-off but to no avail: the drunk idiot just boastfully declares “hold my beer and watch this” and tries to grab the snake. I concluded by saying that:

May, Trump, Macron and Merkel, of course, but also their sycophantic presstitutes and the herds of zombified followers all believe in their invulnerability and superiority. The terrifying truth is that these folks have NO IDEA whom they are dealing with nor do they understand the consequences of pushing Russia too hard. Oh, in theory they do (yeah, yeah, Napoleon, Hitler, we know!). But in their guts, they feel safe, superior and just can’t conceive that they can die, and their entire society can just disappear.

Sadly, since then things have only gotten worse. This is why a clearly disgusted and frustrated Putin recently declared that

“Any aggressor should know that retribution will be inevitable and he will be destroyed. And since we will be the victims of his aggression, we will be going to heaven as martyrs. They will simply croak and won’t even have time to repent,”

Needless to say, the western ziomedia interpreted this warning as a sign of “Russian aggression,” not as a desperate attempt to wake up a delusional and infinitely arrogant Empire.

By the way – something very similar has been happening between the US and China with an increasing number of Chinese officials publicly declaring that the Chinese armed forces need to prepare for war (here is just the latest such warning).

Sadly, the Chinese warnings are as ignored and as dismissed as the Russian ones. And that is truly frightening.

At least during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the entire world press was reporting about the confrontation minute by minute, and everybody knew that the danger of war was very real. In contrast today, hardly anybody gives the possibility of war much thought. In fact, the leaders of the AngloZionist Empire seem to be dead set on multiplying their provocations against Russia ranging from holding major military exercises right at the Russian border to giving the most prestigious EU human right prize to a convicted terrorist (the Poles, always so helpful, even suggested that Sentsov ought to be given the Nobel!). The EU also failed to notice the Ukronazi acts of piracy in the Sea of Azov but instead, condemned Russia for strictly enforcing her legal right to retaliate for the Ukronazi actions.

Such a level of hypocrisy is disgusting, of course. But it is also very, very dangerous.

Frankly, considering the fantastic and genuinely heroic efforts of Putin and Xi to avoid a major (nuclear) war with the Empire, I would suggest that they, not convicted terrorists, be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (but I am not holding my breath here…)!

In sharp contrast to the western corporate media, the Russian media has been discussing the possibility of war with the US/NATO on a daily basis, and the discussion always revolves around the question “are they really crazy enough to actually attack us even though that would mean their certain destruction?!“. In fairness to the Russians, seeing folks like Nikki Haley or John Bolton, the question of “are they crazy?” is a logical one. But I think that it is also possibly misleading. Here is why:

While clearly some Neocons are truly batshit crazy, most are not. Stupid, ignorant, arrogant, hateful and evil – yes. But not necessarily insane. And for that reason, I don’t think that the AngloZionist leaders will stumble into a war against Russia as a result of their insanity. Besides, while US politicians are, indeed, amazingly stupid and ignorant, there are enough men in the US armed forces who remember the warning of Field Marshal and Viscount of Alamein Bernard Montgomery who famously declared to the House of Lords: “Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war, is: “Do not march on Moscow”. Various people have tried it, Napoleon and Hitler, and it is no good. That is the first rule. I do not know whether your Lordships will know Rule 2 of war. It is: “Do not go fighting with your land armies in China.” It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives“. Most senior US military commanders must realize that war against Russia and/or China is a suicidal proposition.

But while the insanity of western leaders is unlikely to cause a war, I am afraid that their despair might.

Think of it: right now the US is engaged in two parallel processes: on the one hand the US is involved in sanctions and economic wars against most of the planet while on the other hand, the US is withdrawing from one major international treaty after another (including arms control treaties). Ask yourself a simple question: is this the behavior of a country which is weak or strong? What does this “full-spectrum” policy of confrontation and self-isolation (because that is what withdrawing from so many agreements and treaties does: isolate the US) mean? Does it signal the actions of a confident and strong power or one which is desperate and lashes out on all levels?

As this short post by Larchmonter445 reminds us, the current batch of US leaders are first and foremost losers and while they are still doing a pretty good job of window-dressing and flag-waving, it is becoming increasingly impossible to hide the magnitude of the multi-level slow-motion collapse of the AngloZionist Empire. I suppose that the band playing on the deck of the Titanic also played louder and louder, but the outcome of the show was never in doubt. The same is happening here and therein lies an enormous danger: the harder it becomes to conceal the magnitude of the unfolding disaster, the more the Empire lashes out, making the situation even worse which then makes it even harder to conceal the magnitude of the disaster. The Empire in general, and the US specifically, is literally cracking on all levels and there is absolutely no reasonable and halfway viable way to reverse this trend because the one and only solution for the US to survive is to give up the Empire and become a “normal” country – something US leaders are not even willing to contemplate. The Neocons, especially, seem to have a quasi-religious belief (or maybe it is just an uncontrolled knee-jerk reaction) that when one of their putative “clever” plans fail, the correct solution is to double-down. They seem to have fully internalized the German aphorism “wenn es mit Gewalt nicht geht, dann geht es mit mehr Gewalt!” (if violence can’t fix it, then even more violence will), forgetting that this belief did Germany no good against Russia. As for the general western public, it has been successfully turned into what I call “ideological drones“: brainwashed automatons who will wave their (Chinese made) flags to cope with any residual cognitive dissonance. When their certitudes finally come crashing down, they will also lash out at everything and everybody in abject despair and impotent rage.

Right now the US and the “global West” (aka the AngloZionist Empire) are on a direct collision course with Russia (and probably China too). Right now, I see very few signs that anybody in the western elites is able (or willing) to admit that at the end of that road there is war and the destruction of the US (and possibly much of Europe). Right now, the leaders of the Empire appear to be firmly locked into what the French call the “fuite en avant” (which can roughly be translated as “flight forward”, or “headlong rush”, “panic-induced compulsion to further exacerbate a crisis or calamity” or even “unconscious mechanism that causes a person to throw himself/herself into a dreaded danger”). I suppose that there is a sad and tragic irony in the fact that the result of the US elites constantly conjuring up some completely imaginary Russian “interventions” (in the US and elsewhere) might eventually result in a very real Russia intervention, in the form of devastating missile strikes, but this is hardly a consolation.

How likely is that to change in the foreseeable future?

Not very likely, I am afraid.

Will Putin and Xi be able to avert the looming war with the West?

Maybe. But with each passing day bringing only further escalations and provocations from the “global West” their task is becoming harder and harder.

So far all the Russian and Chinese warnings have fallen on deaf ears and, frankly, I don’t believe that more warnings will do any good.

This might be the time for Russia and China to begin pushing back seriously. Everything else has failed, at least so far.

[vector7]

VIDEO: Russian jet intercepts US Navy aircraft in ‘unsafe’ encounter, uses afterburners over Black Sea

U.S. Navy Lockheed EP 3E Aries II. (U.S. Navy/Released)
November 05, 2018 Laura Widener

A close encounter took place between a U.S. Navy aircraft and a Russian aircraft over the Black Sea on Monday morning, when the Russian jet intercepted the U.S. Navy aircraft in international airspace for about 25 minutes and also used its afterburners.

Amid flying through international airspace, the U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries aircraft encountered a Russian SU-27, which performed a dangerously close maneuver in intercepting the U.S. aircraft and then using its afterburners, according to a statement by U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa.

Watch the encounter below:


“This interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the SU-27 conducting a high speed pass directly in front of the mission aircraft, which put our pilots and crew at risk,” the Navy statement said.

The encounter lasted about 25 minutes.

Nov. 5, 2018, U.S. EP-3 Aries aircraft in international airspace #BlackSea intercepted by Russian SU-27. Unsafe due to SU-27 conducting a high speed pass directly in front of the mission aircraft, putting pilots and crew at risk. READ: https://t.co/MVpDPUvKq2 pic.twitter.com/qvXulzQWPu
— U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet (@USNavyEurope) November 5, 2018

“The intercepting SU-27 made an additional pass, closing with the EP-3 and applying its afterburner while conducting a banking turn-away. The crew of the EP-3 reported turbulence following the first interaction, and vibrations from the second,” the Navy statement added.

It’s not yet clear how close a distance the two aircraft were.

“While the Russian military is within its right to exercise within international airspace, this interaction was irresponsible,” the Navy stated. “We expect them to behave within international standards set to ensure safety and to prevent incidents, including the 1972 Agreement for the Prevention of Incidents On and Over the High Seas (INCSEA). Unsafe actions‎ increase the risk of miscalculation and potential for midair collisions.”

. @barbarastarrcnn reports a Russian fighter jet intercepted a US Navy aircraft in a 25-minute encounter over the Black Sea, US says it was “unsafe”https://t.co/QNPeoZam16
— CNN NationalSecurity (@NatSecCNN) November 5, 2018

The Navy also noted that “The U.S. aircraft was operating in accordance with international law and did not provoke this Russian activity.”

It isn’t the first time Russia has had an unsafe encounter with a U.S. Navy aircraft.

In January, a SU-27 also performed a dangerous intercept maneuver on another U.S. Navy EP-3 surveillance plane above the Black Sea. The SU-27 flew within five feet of the EP-3, in a lengthy encounter that lasted over two and a half hours, CNN reported at the time.

“This interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the SU-27 closing to within five feet and crossing directly through the EP-3’s flight path, causing the EP-3 to fly through the SU-27’s jet wash,” US Naval Forces Europe spokesman, Capt. Pamela Kunze told CNN.

“Unsafe actions‎ increase the risk of miscalculation and midair collisions,” Kunze added. “The US aircraft was operating in accordance with international law and did not provoke this Russian activity.”

[vector7]

Finnish PM: Russia Suspected Of Massive GPS Blackout In Finland During War Games

by Tyler Durden
Tue, 11/13/2018 - 02:45

On Sunday, Prime Minister Juha Sipila told Yleisradio Oy (Yle), Finland's national public broadcasting company, that large-scale GPS blackouts over northern Finland during Nato war exercises over the past few weeks were intentional and the culprit could be Russia.

Air Navigation Services Finland (ANS Finland) issued a warning last week for all air traffic due to massive GPS interruption in the northern region of the country. Norway also posted a similar notice about GPS disruption for air traffic during the NATO exercise.

Here is the announcement on Eurocontrol's website:



Ivalo airport in Finland’s northernmost region issued a warning of unstable GPS signals last week. The warning was posted as Notice to Airman.



Lapland in Finland and Finnmark in Norway were some of the most affected regions.



“It is possible that Russia has been the disrupting party in this. Russia is known to possess such capabilities,” Sipila told Yle.

The war exercise was mainly conducted in Norway but field training exercises extended into the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, as well as in Finland, Sweden, and Iceland. About 29 NATO members and partner countries Finland and Sweden participated in the most significant phase of the exercise, the LIVEX, which was held between October 25 and November 07.

Finland's participation in Nato's Trident Juncture has been seen as a move that pushes Helsinki, the capital of Finland, towards Washington, a move that has infuriated Russia.

"Technology-wise it’s relatively easy to disturb a radio signal, and it’s possible that Russia was behind it,” Sipila said, adding that Russia has the capabilities to do it.

”It’s a message to all parties participating in the military exercise,” he warned.

Sipila said GPS jamming poses a severe risk to the commercial aviation industry, it increases the chance of civilian air traffic accidents, and that Finland has prepared to deal with these types of disturbances.

Then on Monday afternoon, Moscow dismissed Sipila's claims, according to Reuters. Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a call he had zero information that Russia could have been responsible and said his country was regularly accused of all kinds of crimes, most of which were baseless.

While there is no confirmation on who exactly launched the GPS blackout over Finland and Norway during the war exercises, one can certainly get the picture that governments are not telling the public that an electronic warfare battle could be underway (between Russia and NATO), or if that is not the case, then maybe a false flag. No matter who caused the incident, the war drums are beating.

[Ryan Ruck]

Interesting... I had seen this last year.

Russia May Be Testing Its GPS Spoofing Capabilities Around The Black Sea

Preparing for a world where GPS connectivity isn't guaranteed sure isn't convenient but it may be entirely necessary

August 16, 2017

A consensus is building that Russia has been experimenting with the ability to override Global Positioning System signals with fake ones that can severely disrupt and confuse the geolocation abilities of GPS users. For now this phenomenon has mainly affected ships traversing the Black Sea, but during a time of conflict it could impact a wide spectrum of combat systems including drones, missiles, smart bombs, as well as surface combatants and land warfare units. Even manned aircraft may not be immune to such electronic warfare tactics.

This all started on June 22nd when a ship near the Russian port of Novorossiysk reported a major miscalculation with their high-end GPS installation. New Scientist states:

"On 22 June, the US Maritime Administration filed a seemingly bland incident report. The master of a ship off the Russian port of Novorossiysk had discovered his GPS put him in the wrong spot – more than 32 kilometers inland, at Gelendzhik Airport.

After checking the navigation equipment was working properly, the captain contacted other nearby ships. Their AIS traces – signals from the automatic identification system used to track vessels – placed them all at the same airport. At least 20 ships were affected.

While the incident is not yet confirmed, experts think this is the first documented use of GPS misdirection – a spoofing attack that has long been warned of but never been seen in the wild."

Maritime-executive.com has a more thorough account of the incident you can read here. The commander of the ship that reported the strange occurrence documented it thoroughly.

As New Scientist points out, GPS spoofing seems to be something Russia has been playing with in a major way before this anomaly occurred in the northern Black Sea region. Reports that GPS users around Moscow, and especially near the Kremlin, have had similar issues, with the peculiar GPS behavior being discovered in a most unusual way:

"Over the past year, GPS spoofing has been causing chaos for the receivers on phone apps in central Moscow to misbehave. The scale of the problem did not become apparent until people began trying to play Pokemon Go. The fake signal, which seems to centre on the Kremlin, relocates anyone nearby to Vnukovo Airport, 32 km away. This is probably for defensive reasons; many NATO guided bombs, missiles and drones rely on GPS navigation, and successful spoofing would make it impossible for them to hit their targets."

Insidegnss.com elaborates further on Russia's affinity for GPS denial tactics:

"With more than 250,000 cell towers in Russia equipped with GPS jamming devices as a defense against attack by U.S. missiles, the country has advanced capabilities to disrupt GPS. There have been press reports of Russian GPS jamming in both Moscow and the Ukraine. In fact Russia has boasted that its capabilities “make aircraft carriers useless,” and the U.S. Director of National Intelligence recently issued a report that stated that Russia and others were focusing on improving their capability to jam U.S. satellite systems, according to the RNT Foundation."

GPS jamming, or the loss of GPS altogether, has long been a major concern of the US military. One highly publicized yet at the same time shadowy drill led to warnings that GPS blackouts and disruptions would emanate from the Mojave Desert and reach hundreds of miles in every direction. Other elaborate testing and systems development programs have increased in frequency and scope regarding operating in GPS denied environments. This includes a cocktail of new technologies that can offer similar geolocation capabilities to GPS without the need for a constellation of satellites above.

Still, wide-area GPS jamming or outages are easy to detect, but spoofing GPS signals is a much more insidious threat, especially if spoofing effects are localized in nature. New Scientist states:

"...It can now be done with commercial hardware and software downloaded from the Internet. Nor does it require much power. Satellite signals are very weak – about 20 watts from 20,000 miles away – so a one-watt transmitter on a hilltop, plane or drone is enough to spoof everything out to the horizon."

Advanced guidance and navigation systems, like those found on aircraft and in most GPS-guided weapons, use inertial navigation with embedded GPS. System software loaded onto the INS/GPS guidance system uses algorithms to detect discrepancies among various steams of information. This way the system can place less priority on one stream of information, say from a malfunctioning ring-laser gyro or GPS receiver, than others. Or it can discount that steam entirely if it starts straying far from the consensus of the others. This way a navigation system that suddenly loses a component due to failure or has one of its data streams deviate for other reasons won't simply stop working.

For instance, if the GPS telemetry suddenly leaps miles away, the navigation system may "vote out" the GPS information entirely. The system will be less accurate overall because of it, but it will still function. As an example, take a Joint Direct Attack Munition, the most common guided bomb used by the USAF, which uses GPS and INS navigation. If the system suddenly loses GPS connectivity during its attack sequence, INS will take over, but the bomb will be substantially less accurate than it would have been with both GPS and INS working together as a team.

But spoofing isn't as simple as telling a GPS receiver it is somewhere totally different than where it really is. By broadcasting false GPS data that slowly changes over time, navigational systems with GPS and INS may not "throw out" the GPS data so soon, or at all for that matter. Over time this could result in vehicles going far off course or even running into shores, mountains or even other vehicles without warning. Some say this is how the Iranians brought down the RQ-170 Sentinel drone in a relatively intact state in late November 2011, although this remains highly debatable.

As for what emitter or platform that may have caused the disruption, we don't know for sure. But it is interesting to note that a Tu-214SR strategic communications relay aircraft was deployed to Crimea shortly before the incident took place, and has been flying regular circles over the northern Black Sea ever since. It's possible the aircraft is capable of rebroadcasting fake GPS signals aside from its primary duties, or at least is experimenting with the capability in region.

Tupolev Tu-214SR, Rossiya - Special Flight Squadron to #Crimea. RWZ702 on https://t.co/kDMAUOtgEO https://t.co/3TTBYpv2IC #flightradar24
— ☆MoD OSINT☆���� (@MoD_OSINT) June 20, 2017

Orbiting over the Black Sea...
���� Russian Special Flight Squadron
Tu214SR 'Doomsday Plane'
RA64528 RSD043 pic.twitter.com/kx1hDFrYfg
— CivMilAir ✈ (@CivMilAir) June 24, 2017

For days #Russia has kept a Tu-214SR communication aircraft over Crimea. Who are they providings comms to and why?@20committee @GorseFires https://t.co/U01CBd7Qjr
— Petri Mäkelä (@pmakela1) August 13, 2017

As you can see, this new form of electronic warfare is powerful and potentially quite deadly. The big question is how or when would Russia use it as a weapon? It seems that it fits well into Moscow's hybrid warfare playbook, as it could disrupt the navigation of unfriendly forces and even impact their ability to target Russian forces. It could also disrupt commerce and air travel all while the hostile emitter stays safely in Russian territory.

On a peer state warfare level, such as in a conflict against NATO, this technology could not only protect Russian forces from kinetic attacks by weapons that use GPS, but it could also disrupt any allied operations that relies heavily on GPS for navigation today. Even logistics to support such an operation could also be negatively affected.

Basically, the US military, and much of the world's transportation and commerce, runs on GPS. If anything else this incident in the Black Sea is a stark reminder of why the Pentagon needs to wean itself off this dependency as soon as possible. This possible event also doesn't take into account other avenues of attack a foreign power has to disrupt the GPS network, which includes cyber-intrusion or even attacking GPS satellites directly. Anti-satellite capabilities have become far more exotic, hard to detect, and more numerous than they once were. And even electronic warfare targeting GPS satellites doesn't have to be terrestrial in origin. Jamming tactics can be deployed in space between orbiting objects.

Among all this uncertainty, one thing is for sure—during a major conflict, GPS will be a prime strategic target. Considering the technology to disrupt or spoof its signals is becoming ever more accessible, non-state actors will likely take advantage of it too for nefarious purposes. For instance, just think of this tactic's implications when it comes to a concept like self-driving cars.

With all this in mind, preparing for a world where GPS connectivity is not guaranteed may not be convent but it may be entirely necessary.

[vector7]

Russia Will Develop 'Unique' Weapons if US Exits INF Treaty - Senior Lawmaker

© Sputnik / Sergei Kazak

RUSSIA00:49 05.12.2018Get short URL

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow and Washington must hold talks on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), so that it could be adapted to the current situation and limited only to Europe, Chairman of Russia's upper house Defense and Security Committee Viktor Bondarev told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"Current misunderstanding on the INF Treaty could be resolved with the help of fully-fledged negotiations between Russia and the United States. Their result could be the adaptation of the Treaty," Bondarev said.


© AFP 2018 / MLADEN ANTONOV
Suspending INF Treaty Risks Triggering New Arms Race - US Congressman

"For example, we could limit the zone of its operation to the European theater, while permitting the deployment of intermediate- and short-range missiles in other regions where there is an objective necessity [to deploy them]," the lawmaker added.However, Russia will have to respond with the development of "unique types of weapons" if the United States withdraws from the INF Treaty, Bondarev stressed.

"We consider it necessary to comply with the INF Treaty and advocate for its preservation. This is the official position of the Russian leadership. However, if the United States terminates the treaty, we will have to respond with a set of measures, including accelerating the development and commission of the unique types of weapons," Bondarev said.

READ MORE: Russia in Full Compliance With INF Treaty, US Side Knows Well About It — Moscow
Washington uses "made-up" arguments when groundlessly accusing Moscow of breaching the treaty, the senior lawmaker noted.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference in Brussels earlier in the day that the United States will suspend its adherence to the INF Treaty in 60 days unless Russia returns to full compliance with the agreement.


© SPUTNIK / ALEKSEI VITVITSKY
NATO to Prepare for Termination of INF Treaty - Stoltenberg

In October, US President Donald Trump announced his country’s intention to withdraw from the INF Treaty over alleged Russian violations of the agreement. The Russian authorities, in turn, have many times stressed that their country strictly complied with the obligations outlined in the treaty.The INF Treaty was signed in 1987 by then leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and then US President Ronald Reagan. The leaders agreed to destroy all cruise or ground-launched ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 and 3,400 miles).

Meanwhile, the US withdrawal from the INF treaty will undermine stability in Europe, Yuri Shvytkin, the deputy chair of the Russian lower house's defense committee, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

READ MORE: US Withdrawal From INF Treaty Means Announcement of New Arms Race — Gorbachev
"Two months later, stability and tranquility will be undermined. This may result in escalation of tensions on the European continent. The European countries will be victims of the US ill-considered and irresponsible policy on the issue," Shvytkin said.

The lawmaker noted that Russia did not want to withdraw from the INF treaty but the US exit from the agreement would not be left without a proper response

Unique weapons such as tsunami bombs perhaps? https://t.co/ZdujjLJIwZ
— Alois Irlmaier (@AloisIrlmaier) December 6, 2018

[Ryan Ruck]

As though the INF treaty was stopping them!

[vector7]

Russian Stealth Jets To Be Armed With New Hypersonic Missiles

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 12/09/2018 - 22:30

The advanced Sukhoi Su-57 multipurpose jet, Russia’s first domestically produced fifth-generation stealth fighter, will be armed with new hypersonic missiles, according to a Russian military source.

"In accordance with Russia's State Armament Program for 2018-2027, Su-57 jet fighters will be equipped with hypersonic missiles," a Russian defense industry source toldTASS news agency on December 06.

"The jet fighters will receive missiles with characteristics similar to that of the Kinzhal missiles, but with inter-body placement and smaller size," the source added.

Moscow said the new Kinzhal ("Dagger"), a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile, can hit speeds of up to Mach 10 and can perform evasive maneuvers that can render NATO’s US-led missile defense system completely "useless."



The missile can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads with a range of about 1,200 miles.

The new hypersonic missile will be much smaller than the current Kinzhal; this is due to size constraints of fitting the weapon inside the stealth aircraft’s weapons bay. The alternative would be mounting the missile on the outside of the plane, but that would increase the jet's radar signature.

No details within the report explain about a timetable for the development or the planned specifications for the new missiles. The Defense Ministry would neither confirm nor deny the information.

The Kinzhal missile is currently being tested in field training exercises.

President Vladimir Putin's State of the Nation Address on March 01, made it clear that Russia had acquired advanced weaponry, including laser weapon systems, an underwater nuclear-powered drone, hypersonic weapons, and nuclear-powered cruise missiles.

The Russian military will receive about a dozen Su-57s in 2019, but there are some concerns that the plane is not yet a true fifth-generation jet, due to the need for an engine upgrade.

While many western analysts remain skeptical of the Su-57 and Kinzhal's capabilities, it seems that Moscow is quickly moving ahead and preparing for the next military conflict.

The global economy is nearing the tipping of a massive slowdown in 2019, which could be followed by a recession. During economic downturns, the risk of military conflict tends to increase. Russia is preparing for a fight, as so is China.