Two-Faced — Russia building up missile defenses while seeking to limit U.S. defenses

Another Gertz article with the same subject as a previous post:

Russia is engaged in a major buildup of both nuclear and conventional missile defense systems at the same time Moscow is seeking legal limits on U.S. missile defenses, according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military is developing and deploying an array of new and modernized anti-missile interceptors that are part of a strategic doctrine that calls for defending against what Moscow believes to be an increasing threat posed by offensive ballistic missiles, said U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports.

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Additionally, the Russians are upgrading the SH-08 nuclear-tipped anti-missile interceptors that have been deployed around Moscow for more than two decades.

‘Father’ of Pakistan’s Nukes Says N.Korea Is Ready to Attack

The colourful “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has claimed North Korea may have perfected a nuclear weapon and long-range missile warheads, according to Al Jazeera English.

Khan, a gifted scientist but shady individual, is believed to have sold nuclear technology to North Korea.

Considering Containment — Report coauthored by former Obama aide suggests containment must be considered

When a country goes nuclear, there is almost no way to contain it. The solution is prevention, and during the last five years weak foreign policy towards Iran hasn’t worked. To see what ‘containment’ of Iran would be like, take a look at how contained North Korea is.

Unlike Kim Jong Un, Ahmadinejad likely wouldn’t hesitate pulling the trigger on Israel, either. They don’t care about losing lives, let alone the entire country from repercussusions, so long as the Mahdi’s return can be quickened.

In hindsight, the Obama administration is, by design, intentionally giving them a free pass under the guise of ignorance — as you don’t make 1000 mistakes in a row and get to be called ignorant. Regardless of what Kahl says, this is an act of counsel and endorsement of containment.

One of the Obama administration’s most senior former Middle East officials says in a report released Monday that the United States needs to develop a plan to contain Iran should it develop a nuclear weapon.

Colin Kahl, who served as Obama’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East until December 2011 when he transitioned to the president’s reelection campaign, writes in a new report that “if all else fails” the administration could be forced to “shift toward containment [of Iran] regardless of current preferences.”

Open Secrets — Pentagon plans to share missile secrets with Russia opposed by Republicans

The Pentagon held internal talks on declassifying sensitive missile defense technology that it plans to share with Russia as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to assuage Moscow’s opposition to European defenses.

Republicans in both the House and Senate plan to block any technology declassification for missile defense technology in the current defense authorization bill and other legislation. Legislative mark up on the authorization bill begins this week.

Japanese Defense — Going Nuclear?

Recent reports about the imminence of the opening of a massive reprocessing facility in Rokkasho, northern Honshu, have analysts wondering about the Japanese government’s intent for its use. The real concern is that the plant could produce weapons-grade plutonium for manufacturing nuclear weapons.

AP Exclusive: Air Force sidelines 17 nuke officers

One has to sometimes wonder if this is part of a broader ‘change’ of the US military, as literally dozens of high ranking officials have been replaced by the Obama administration over the last few years for unclear reasons.

WASHINGTON     (AP) — The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control – and, if necessary, launch – nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit’s launch skills. The group’s deputy commander said it is suffering “rot” within its ranks.

“We are, in fact, in a crisis right now,” the commander, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email obtained by The Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force.

China’s military buildup shows “no signs of slowing,” says Pentagon

It’s déjà vu all over again for the Pentagon’s latest annual “China power report” released on Monday, in which Defense Department policy bosses have determined that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is continuing to expand, modernize, and buy more and weaponry and capabilities mostly designed to keep outside powers like the United States out of its immediate territory. 

“China’s military buildup shows no signs of slowing,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Helvey, at the Pentagon. 

What worries Helvey most is that despite increased transparency from China, the United States feels that Beijing continues to keep its plans and intentions for the PLA far too close to the vest and “many uncertainties remain” about the PLA budget.

First Strike — China omission of no-first-use nuclear doctrine in defense white paper signals policy shift

China omitted a reference to its no-first-use strategic nuclear weapons doctrine in a recently published government white paper, indicating Beijing shifted the policy as part of its large-scale nuclear arms buildup.

The omission, along with recent comments by a senior Chinese military officer, is raising new concerns among Pentagon officials about China’s nearly opaque strategic arms buildup.

Chinese Maj. Gen. Yao Yunzhu, a senior researcher at China’s Academy of Military Science, revealed earlier this month that China is considering expanding its growing nuclear arsenal in response to U.S. missile defense deployments and upgrades.

Off to a Bad Start — Why is the president letting America’s nukes rust?

It’s been said, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”… The United States in this case has no will, and therefore will in the future have no way to effectively stop other militarily advanced countries from attacking should they attain first-strike capability (or in Iran’s case, it likely wouldn’t matter) – something Moscow has wanted since before the Cold War.

In his April 8 article on FP, “Time to Face Facts,” Secretary of State John Kerry observed how “in the Senate, we clawed our way to ratification [of the New START Treaty] with 71 votes, a big bipartisan statement that the arms control and nonproliferation consensus could hold together even in a polarized political culture.”

The secretary fails to mention, however, that the reason he, as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, was able to “claw” together enough votes to secure ratification is that President Obama and the Senate agreed to a 10-year effort to modernize our aging nuclear weapons complex and our nuclear delivery systems. It was this consensus on the link between nuclear modernization and nuclear force reductions that made New START ratification possible — not a consensus on arms control, as Secretary Kerry suggests.

Russia Simulated A Large-Scale Aerial Night Attack On Sweden

Almost everyone is unprepared when it comes to fending off the Russian bear. So long as everyone continues to believe Russia is a backwards country, coupled with country leaders that continue to make concessions (i.e. Obama administration), this will continue to happen. Eventually, they will have first strike capability — if they don’t already. Every so often, and more often during the last few years, the ‘intelligence community’ is caught by ‘surprise’ about a new capability from countries such as Russia, China, Iran, etc…

According to the Svenska Dagbladet, after midnight on Mar. 29 (Good Friday),  the Swedish radars detected six fast planes  coming from the east, originating from the St. Petersburg area and overflying  the Gulf of Finland.

In reality, the route the aircraft were flying wasn’t suspect: Russian bombers periodically fly across the Baltic Sea to reach the Russian  exclave of Kaliningrad, located between Lithuania and Poland.

However, on Mar. 29, the two Tu-22M3  Backfire heavy bombers, capable of carrying cruise missiles and nuclear  weapons, and their four Su-27 Flanker fighter jets escort got dangerously close to the Swedish airspace and, at 2 AM local time, they skirted Gotland island,  some 30-40 kilometers off the Swedish territorial waters.

Troops in Motion — Chinese troops continue mobilization along N. Korean border

China’s military is continuing to mobilize military forces along the North Korean border despite official denials as Pyongyang appears set for a missile test launch this week, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. intelligence agencies continued to collect reports of Chinese military movements in border provinces that have been underway since last month.

China’s Anti-Carrier Missile Now Opposite Taiwan, Flynn Says

The Chinese military has deployed its new anti-ship ballistic missile along its southern coast facing Taiwan, the Pentagon’s top military intelligence officer said today.

The missile, designated the DF-21D, is one of a “growing number of conventionally armed” new weapons China is deploying to the region, adding to more than 1,200 short-range missiles opposite the island democracy, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, said in a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Flynn’s reference to the DF-21D follows one made by U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, in congressional testimony on April 9. He highlighted the “initial deployment of a new anti-ship missile that we believe is designed to target U.S. aircraft carriers.”

Flynn’s brief reference to the DF-21D today is significant because it advances the DIA’s assessment last year, when U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess, then the agency’s director, said China’s military is “probably preparing to deploy” the weapon.