New Pentagon report names Russia, China as threats to US space capabilities

 

A new space report by the Pentagon has named Russia and China as key threats to US space capabilities, according to a document released on Thursday.

“The United States faces rapidly growing threats to our space capabilities. China and Russia, our strategic competitors, are explicitly pursuing space warfighting capabilities to neutralize US space capabilities during a time of conflict,” the report said. “Other potential adversaries are also pursuing counter-space capabilities such as jamming, dazzling, and cyber-attacks.”

FBI Director Warns China is America’s Most Significant Intelligence Threat

FBI Director Christopher Wray / Getty Images

 

Beijing engaged in ‘pervasive’ targeting of US secrets, Wray says

China is engaged in aggressive intelligence operations in the United States, ranging from the recruitment of academics to stealing agricultural secrets from farmers, FBI Director Christopher Wray says.

“I think China, from a counterintelligence perspective represents the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country,” Wray said during a security conference in Colorado.

The FBI director said the Chinese utilize a “whole of state” spying effort.

The Dangerous Rise of Scientism

Image credit: Barbara Kelley

 

In antiquity, the followers of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras trumped any doctrinal dispute by saying “Ipse dixit”––“He himself has said it.” Rather than demonstrating the strength of his argument, a Pythagorean would simply invoke the great master in order to end the debate. Today we call this logical fallacy the “appeal to authority,” yet we continue to indulge it. Only now, our master is science or, more often, what appears to be science.

National Geographic gets paid to promote Chinese culture

China’s State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US National Geographic Society (NGS) and venture capital organization International Data Group (IDG) to promote Chinese culture and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

‘Terminator’ Polymer: Self-Healing Polymer That Spontaneously and Independently Repairs Itself

Scientists report the first self-healing thermoset elastomer that requires no intervention to induce its repair.

Self-healing polymers mend themselves by reforming broken cross-linking bonds. However, the cross-linking healing mechanism usually requires an external stimulus.

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An industrially familiar, permanently cross-linked poly(urea-urethane) elastomeric network was demonstrated to completely mend itself after being cut in two by a razor blade. It is the metathesis reaction of aromatic disulphides, which naturally exchange at room temperature, that causes regeneration.

All Around The US, Risks Of A Water Crisis Are Much Bigger Than People Realize

With about half of the country still suffering from extreme drought, farmers and businesses in the Western United States are looking at another hot, dry summer.

And the country’s water risk is a lot worse than most assessments suggest, according to a recent study from the Columbia University Water Center.

The “Fracking” Revolution Comes to China

With some predicting China will import 79% of its oil by 2030, could domestic shale gas extraction help China meet its energy needs?

As shale gas fever sweeps through Beijing, analysts are looking at the costs and benefits of extracting what is increasingly a controversial source of energy. But for China, with its growing middle class, the immediate and long-term demand for energy has the potential to spark a revolution in shale gas before sufficient and safe technological know-how and regulations are developed.

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The emergence of shale gas is a game changer. Countries that have traditionally relied on hydrocarbon exports for political clout (the Persian Gulf, Russia, Venezuela) will inevitably lose some of their petro power. Europe could become less energy dependent on Russian supply by importing liquid natural gas (LNG) from North America and by exploiting the potentially significant shale gas deposits in Poland and other countries. Australia, which has significant deposits and much of the pre-existing infrastructure to begin extraction, could see its clout in the energy politics of the region increase– forcing a significant redraft of Canberra’s “Australia in the Asian Century” White Paper.

Michael Savage: Don’t trust feds on flu shot

Asking listeners to put aside his political orientation for a moment, talk-radio host Michael Savage questioned the federal government’s recommendation that citizens get a flu shot.

“Did Harry Reid take a flu shot? Did Barack Obama take a flu shot? Did Barack Obama’s lovely family take a flu shot? Did Joe Biden take a flu shot?” Savage asked.

Report: Nazis plotted radioactive attack on NY

Coming from a country that has a rich history in technological know-how, breakthroughs and advanced concepts, such as the jet engine and hypersonic bombers, this comes as no surprise. Terrorism via sabotage was also planned during this time.  Had the Nazis not been stopped, a Fourth Reich would not be underway.

The Nazis secretly planned to drop a radioactive bomb on New York City from supersonic space rocket, a plot that never panned out but may have paved the way for modern space travel, the Daily Mail reported, citing historians.

According to the report, the head of the German air force during World War II, Hermann Goering, set up a lab and a team of leading scientists to look into the possibility of mounting a radioactive attack on America’s most populous city.

Satellite Wars: China unveils ‘cheaper’ answer to GPS

While the US satellite systems become outdated, Russia, China and Europe are all getting a leg-up in technology advances. Given the decades-long Chinese history of spying and electronic espionage, one can also surely bet that all information contained or transferred by the civilian population will be passed on to the regime. There really is no difference between civilian or military technology (… or you name it, big business-wise) in China. The only difference is state-run Capitalism in the hands of those already belonging in the ruling party.

From the Soviet, state-run (FSB) Russia Today:

China’s rapidly-expanding rival to GPS, called BeiDou, has become available to customers across Asia-Pacific for the first time. It aims to claim a fifth of the satellite services market in the region in just three years.

Previously, the satellite constellation was only used by the country’s military and government services. Now, it is being commercialized.

“The services now available include positioning, navigation, timing and short messages for China and surrounding areas. We hope BeiDou conquers 15 to 20 percent of the satellite services market in the Asia Pacific by 2015,”BeiDou spokesman Ran Chengqi announced at a press conference in Beijing, reported by Xinhua news agency.

Iran claims it decoded all data from captured CIA drone

Revolutionary Guard suggests encrpyted information was recovered from an RQ-170 Sentinel that went down near Afghanistan border

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Monday said it has decoded all of the data from an advanced CIA spy drone captured last year.

Can Environmental Rules be Secret Weapons? (Part 2)

While there should be concern for the environment, politicians and regulators have preyed on the good will of the people with malevolent intent. Who doesn’t want to protect the environment? That’s precisely why it’s easy for naive people to fall into this trap of supporting these measures and the politicians/lawmakers that propose/implement them. Well intended people are unwittingly creating the rope they are hanging themselves with, yet are confused about part of the economy’s root problem. What’s more, the bigger picture is economic warfare leading to a crippled nation.

In mid-August, we raised the question as to whether or not environmental rules could be used as economic weapons. In actuality, the question is rhetorical and provocative. While most Americans have never thought in these terms, the answer is really quite obvious. Of course environmental rules are weapons of economic warfare, especially in a free society where the loudest voice often sets policy. In this context, money determines the loudest voice. No one doubts that polluters will use the political process to allow them the opportunity to continue to profit from their pollution. For some reason, however, few are willing to question whether or not there might be a profit motive somewhere behind the environmental movement.

Full article: Can Environmental Rules be Secret Weapons? (Part 2) (Kevin D. Freeman | Global Economic Warfare)

See also: Can Environmental Rules be Secret Weapons? (Kevin D. Freeman | Global Economic Warfare)

Is India About to Alter the World’s Energy Future?

Should India successfully pull this off, more power to them.

Since 1951, the Indian government has somehow managed to fail in every single attempt to reach its annual target of increasing the nation’s electricity production capacity. But while the nation continues to struggle with crippling blackouts and power shortages till today, an energy plan, conceived during the 1950s, may fundamentally alter the nation’s, and quite possibly the world’s, energy future.

Thorium, like its Norse god and Marvel superhero namesake, is expected to change the world.

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Thorium-Fuelled Dreams

Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive chemical element that is named after the Norse god of thunder, Thor. Discovered in 1828 by Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius, the 90th element on the periodic table has been described by Forbes as possibly “the biggest energy breakthrough since fire.”

According to Greentech Media, Thorium the potential to replace uranium as a ultra-cheap and ultra-safe nuclear energy source. Not only is the metal approximately three times as abundant as uranium in the earth’s crust, but it also contains up to 200 times the energy density.

“So why on earth are we using uranium?” asked Marin Katusa of Forbes. “As you may recall, research into the mechanization of nuclear reactions was initially driven not by the desire to make energy, but by the desire to make bombs.”

“The $2 billion Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb sparked a worldwide surge in nuclear research, most of it funded by governments embroiled in the Cold War. And here we come to it: Thorium reactors do not produce plutonium, which is what you need to make a nuke.”

After decades of relative obscurity however, Thorium is finally attracting increasing interest as an energy source from around the world. Apart from India, China has also announced its intentions to develop a thorium nuclear reactor, while Canada, Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States have all experimented with using thorium as a substitute nuclear fuel in existing nuclear reactors.

India’s thorium plans though are possibly the most well known and most promising of them all.

Full article: Is India About to Alter the World’s Energy Future? (Oil Price)

What Ails the U.S. Economy?

Marielena Stuart is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the state of Florida. She has an interesting message about the economy and what ails it. I had an opportunity to speak with Marielena at length about today’s economic crisis. “When [people] speak about the economy and jobs,” Stuart told me, “they don’t understand … that what is killing our economy is the fact our manufacturing base has been decimated by sustainable development rules and regulations imposed through agencies like the EPA. And yet these regulations and sustainable development have never been approved by the United States Congress. They have been imposed on Americans through Executive Orders.”

If you visit the White House website, you will find all Executive Orders of the current administration. Orders on regulatory matters usually refer to the environment as a key rationale for regulation. As many businessmen have discovered to their dismay, property rights are now trumped by environmental policy. According to Stuart, “The environmental movement has now become a monster.”

How did this happen? Stuart makes an interesting argument: “Essentially, when the Soviet Union fell communism did not disappear. It simply went underground, and it resurfaced as the environmental movement. It gained strength and filled its coffers.” According to Stuart, “The United Nations Agenda for the Twenty-First century presents human beings as enemies of the environment.” As such, Americans must be regulated in everything from procreation to eating habits. Stuart explained further, “If you think about it, however, it has nothing to do with the environment. It has to do with control … and everything to do with attacking property rights.”

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Agenda 21 and the idea of sustainable development first appeared in the pages of a 1987 UN report written by Gro Harlem Brundtland, a first Vice-President of the World Socialist Party who attended the Congress of the Socialist International in New York (1996). Brundtland’s World Socialist Party advocates revolution in order to bring about a moneyless society based on common ownership of the means of production. Like other Marxists, Brundtland believes that the state is the “executive committee” of the capitalists. Therefore, the working class must wrestle the state away from the capitalists. In that event, the free market would come to an abrupt end. Agenda 21 was written by Brundtland to advance the revolution. This revolution is not merely economic, Stuart explains, “At the core of Agenda 21 is the Marxist idea that the traditional family must be destroyed, because … without the traditional family you cannot have a sound economy.”

And why would anyone want to undermine America’s economy? According to Stuart, “They are trying to create a world crisis so they can then step in with a one world government to solve the crisis. The Rio + 20 summit that just took place in Brazil is a huge message to the world … that sustainable development is going to … advance aggressively.” She further stated, “As they advance aggressively, they will continue to promote that we must not be good American citizens, but good global citizens … Look at the attacks on our fisheries, on our farm lands. This is all part of the Agenda for the Twenty-First Century. Control … of society at every level – cultural control, economic control, and constant conditioning….”

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For someone who understands communism, who knows how to read subversive movements, the damage to America’s economy is already apparent. “For me, having survived communism, it is very clear,” said Stuart. “Communism is active in America today. What Americans need to realize is that socialism is simply phase one of communism; and this has been working through our system for a long time.”

Stuart further explained, “We have people in government who are betraying America…. This did not happen overnight,” she added. “The communists have gotten themselves entrenched and have been working with tremendous dedication for their Marxist ideology. What we are about to face is truly a socialist abyss. And once we continue to descend further into this abyss it will be very difficult to turn the nation around….”

I fear that Marielena Stuart is right.

Full article: What Ails the U.S. Economy? (JR Nyquist)

Military Secrets Leak From U.S. Universities With Rules Flouted

For 15 days in late 2009, Internet users in 36 countries, including China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, viewed sensitive information about U.S. weapons technology that was supposed to be for American eyes only.

The disclosure, which prompted a rebuke from a U.S. State Department official, came from a Georgia Institute of Technology course for federal employees and contractors on infrared technology used in weapons-aiming systems for aircraft, ships and tanks. Asked by instructor David Schmieder to copy the course onto a DVD, Georgia Tech’s media staff instead uploaded it to servers.

The lapse by Atlanta-based Georgia Tech illustrates how colleges and federal arms-control regulators are often lax in enforcing Americans-only limits intended to prevent theft of military technology from U.S. campuses. Even as they enroll more graduate students from countries such as China and Iran, universities are conducting more research that is restricted to American citizens and permanent residents because of its national-security implications. Foreign governments are targeting universities to “obtain restricted information or products,” the FBI said in a 2011 report.

Culture of Openness

Eager to preserve their culture of openness and global collaboration, campuses are skirting — and even flouting — export-control laws that require foreigners to hold government licenses to work on sensitive projects.

Using unlicensed foreign students on export-controlled projects “happens all the time,” said Michael Deal, an international trade lawyer in Arlington, Virginia, and a former official at the U.S. Commerce Department, which regulates technology that has both civilian and military applications. “The academic world is completely undisciplined about it. Its casual approach has undoubtedly led to the erosion of the U.S. competitive advantage.”

Full article: Military Secrets Leak From U.S. Universities With Rules Flouted (Bloomberg Businessweek)