by Steve Mizrach
October 2001
from DrStevenMizrach Website
from DrStevenMizrach Website
~ hehe folks THIS was posted/written in what yr ? & do ya "think" any of "it" has cum 2 ...pass ??? ...nawwww :)r ..just "E.T.'s" up ...there hehe yep ,yup um~hum ...yip~eeey
Now that the armies of the Earth have covered its land area and its navies have filled the sea, the only area left to be militarized is space, and the Pentagon is doing it with a vengeance.
Some of the
very persons involved in this effort may be ex-Nazi rocket
scientists brought over from the Peenemunde V2 factory to work on
our fledgling rocket program so we could beat the Soviets to the
Moon.
While space has already been used for
military purposes - mostly the use of reconnaissance satellites to
gain information on the enemy and carry communications for military
operations - there has never been deployment of actual weapons in
orbit. Concern over the deployment of ASAT (anti-satellite)
weapons led the UN to pass the treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space, forbidding such programs. Fortunately, the use of space
has mostly been limited to exploration and cooperation, as with the
Soyuz linkup of the 1970s, and the planned joint Mars mission of
1992.
But there are plans to change that.
The COPUOS treaty has not hindered the U.S. under Reagan and Bush from pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), more colloquially known as "Star Wars." The idea would be to deploy space-based X-ray laser satellites and projectile systems for 'shooting' down interballistic missiles before they can reach their target.
While Reagan characterized such a
defense as a 'shield,' most physicists see it as having so many
problems in both the technological and strategic area that they call
it a 'sieve.' At best, it might be able, according to some computer
models, to take out 20 to 40% of incoming warheads. But, as with any
system, there are countermeasures, and multiple warhead systems
(MIRVs), decoy missiles, and enemy ASATs might reduce even
that level of effectiveness.
Most scientists were afraid, especially
during the Cold War, of "Star Wars" destabilizing effect as a
concept. An enemy which even thought that a country was on the verge
of creating such a shield might feel they were prepared to launch a
'first strike,' and they might feel pressured to launch an
'anticipatory' strike to prevent it!
Many scientists are afraid that militarization of space also represents a territorialization.
Many scientists are afraid that militarization of space also represents a territorialization.
While there are UN treaties to restrain
the nations of the world from taking what is in the seas or in
Antarctica for their own, there is no real set of agreements that
declares space to be the common heritage of mankind.
So,
Could nations then declare the sovereignty of the space above their countries, even as they do over their 'airspace'? Would they then declare the right to control all space launches or orbital paths that enter that zone? If wealth is located in space - say in the asteroid belt - will nations also go to war in space over who owns it? When nations begin settling in space - either in permanently manned stations or in lunar colonies - will there be conflict over docking rights?
The militarization of space is a bad
trend, away from where mankind should be going - declaring space to
be the place where our lines on Earthly maps should not matter.
"Smart" Weapons - The automatization and mechanization of warfare
Human soldiers make mistakes. They can be sloppy and very inefficient and undisciplined. They are subject to fatigue, terror, and other problems of the human condition. And occasionally they are restrained by other things like 'conscience' or 'morals' which prevent them from carrying out orders.
Robots represent the Pentagon's wet
dream: a soldier that can deliver its 'payload' with no foul-ups and
no guilt.
"Smart" bombs may be more accurate,
since they are guided by complex terrain-mapping programs, but they
do not distinguish between civilians and military targets. And they
serve to further separate the act of killing from its completion,
because the person who programs the guided missile can claim that he
bore no malice toward the people that it hits.
They may make war more 'surgical,' in
that certain targets and sites can be carefully and precisely
excised, but if their programmers are in error, these "smart"
systems can make very stupid errors, because they don't "know" the
difference between a bunker and a milk factory, or between a jet
fighter and a 747.
The Pentagon also wants to computerize the chain of command at higher levels than delivery - specifically, in the coordination of C3I - communications, control, and intelligence - which are so important in fighting a war. Afraid that nuclear war could claim the lives of the commander-in-chief and most of their own war-planners, and paralyze computer networks and other electronic systems through an EMP surge, the Pentagon has spent a lot of change developing MILSTAR.
MILSTAR is supposed to be a system
of satellites that are supposed to make nuclear war-fighting
strategies once most of the existing C3I has been wiped out; in
short the Pentagon is trying to develop the computer in 'War Games,'
which will fight WW IV. With computers giving the orders, the chain
of command in a complex situation like a 'limited' nuclear strike -
which may require hundreds of decisions in a few minutes - is
supposed to be 'simplified.'
But what happens when computers make
mistakes, as when the
NORAD radar confused a gaggle of
geese for incoming missiles?
People who have seen the movies "Short Circuit" or "Terminator 2" may laugh at the idea that the Pentagon is developing 'robot warriors' that will 'carry a bomb into the heart of Moscow'. But the Pentagon is funding university studies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and also cognitive science (CS) research projects seeking to find computer algorithms that will duplicate human vision and motion-response, precisely for that reason.
People who have seen the movies "Short Circuit" or "Terminator 2" may laugh at the idea that the Pentagon is developing 'robot warriors' that will 'carry a bomb into the heart of Moscow'. But the Pentagon is funding university studies of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and also cognitive science (CS) research projects seeking to find computer algorithms that will duplicate human vision and motion-response, precisely for that reason.
Realizing that as the lethality and
scale of warfare has grown exponentially in the 20th century, the
Pentagon war-planners may also feel that soldiers have become less
and less able to execute it. Better to have robots that do not
question orders and can withstand much more damage than humans. It
is very possible that one such project in the future may be to
develop androids which are perfect human simulacra, for covert
warfare purposes. In that sense, perhaps Terminator 2 may be very
prescient.
Will we surrender our authority to some
omniscient 'Skynet' to fight all our wars, only to have it turn
against us?
Once again anticipating (or responding to) science fiction, the Pentagon has seriously looked into the development of 'bionic' additions to its soldiers. There are already exoskeleton prototypes out there that may magnify the strength of their operators tenfold. It is not unreasonable to find in the future that prostheses might be developed with greater tensile strength than human limbs, or artificial eyes that see in other EM spectra or have greater magnificatory power. (a la "Six Million Dollar Man"?)
Once again anticipating (or responding to) science fiction, the Pentagon has seriously looked into the development of 'bionic' additions to its soldiers. There are already exoskeleton prototypes out there that may magnify the strength of their operators tenfold. It is not unreasonable to find in the future that prostheses might be developed with greater tensile strength than human limbs, or artificial eyes that see in other EM spectra or have greater magnificatory power. (a la "Six Million Dollar Man"?)
Perhaps the next step for creating the
perfect soldier are cyborgs, who may be outfitted with electronic
implants for receiving and carrying out orders. Fantastic, but not
impossible.
Eco-Terrorism - the use of Nature against the enemy
In the recent Persian Gulf War, we saw something new: eco-terrorism on a massive scale.
Saddam Hussein tried to destroy the
ecological balance and natural resources of Kuwait by dumping crude
petroleum into the ocean and setting the Kuwaiti oil fields ablaze.
Wars have always had disastrous environmental consequences, with
unexploded ammunition and minefields making many areas
uninhabitable, and used armaments destroying the landscape and biota
of others.
Wars consume vast amounts of fuel,
energy, and resources; create massive amounts of air and water
pollution; and pose massive hazards to other forms of life besides
people, especially fragile 'key' species in precarious ecosystems -
such as the bactrians of the sandy dunes of Iraq. What made Hussein
unique was his decision to deliberately undertake actions which
would destroy the environment of his enemy and render it unlivable.
He is not the first person to consider the use of such techniques, however. The Pentagon used the defoliant Agent Orange to erode the jungles of Vietnam, ostensibly to expose the guerillas underneath their cover. In practice, Agent Orange and other defoliants are used for more deliberate, and savage reasons - to destroy food crops or defoliate other plants upon which communities depend.
The military has also explored the use
of climate control in conflict - searching for ways to create
drought, hurricanes, or tidal waves which might be directed toward
the enemy so as to cause destruction. Subtle methods of decreasing
rainfall, raising temperature, or changing soil composition might
also damage agriculture and paralyze economic production.
The use of "weather
warfare" has obvious advantages: how can you prove that a
tornado which devastated your country was 'sent' by an enemy to
cause that destruction?
The military, as one of the world's largest polluters, is quite aware of the problem of toxins in the environment. It has commissioned many studies of toxicology, but not necessarily for the reason of cleaning up its mess. Imagine the effectiveness of introducing small amounts of a toxic substance into key species in an enemy's ecosystem, then allowing it to build up in the food chain until the whole ecosystem is ruined.
The military, as one of the world's largest polluters, is quite aware of the problem of toxins in the environment. It has commissioned many studies of toxicology, but not necessarily for the reason of cleaning up its mess. Imagine the effectiveness of introducing small amounts of a toxic substance into key species in an enemy's ecosystem, then allowing it to build up in the food chain until the whole ecosystem is ruined.
Or subtly allowing radiation to build up
in the environment by
spreading low-level radioactive waste over a
battlefield. Such radiation would be invisible (except to
a Geiger counter) and be very effective. I would not be surprised if
the Pentagon is working on it right now. It is also now widely
believed that underground nuclear detonations may be able to trigger
earthquakes elsewhere on the planet.
Might this be the reason that
underground nuclear testing was continued up until very recently?
Battle for the Mind - Behavioral and Psychological Warfare
At the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, Army doctors tested a wide variety of psycho-chemicals on unsuspecting soldiers.
Two of
those substances were the hallucinogen LSD and the
mood-altering BZ. While the CIA has been interested in
LSD as a 'spook drug' or truth serum, the Army saw it as a means for
disorienting and confusing the enemy. It could be delivered through
their water supply (which was tried) or through aerosol sprays
(which didn't work very well since it dissipated very quickly.)
They found BZ interesting because they
felt it could increase human aggressiveness; when tested on rats, it
set them to fighting savagely against each other. It might, they
thought, cause the enemy to get paranoid and turn against its own
forces. Other psycho-chemicals were tested in the hope that they
might cause enemy pacification reactions (reducing the will to fight
or resist), increase allied performance (by stimulating adrenalin
and alertness, etc.), or outright delusions (for distraction
purposes.)
Many of the drugs that leaked into the
hands of the counterculture were being tested by the military and
the intelligence community long before, as early as the early 1950s.
Drugs have always been an instrument of conquest; opium was the
principal means that Britain extended its imperial ambitions into
China and kept the populace from resisting.
But psycho-chemicals were by no means the only means of behavioral warfare being explored by the military. Fascinated by the behaviorist idea of conditioning, the military tried to explore the 'programming' of the human brain, and examined ways in which - through deprivation, sensory isolation, or punishment-and-reward - it might be made a "blank slate" for receiving new programs.
The military was fascinated by the
possibility of developing a
Manchurian Candidate - an assassin
from the enemy who could be 'brainwashed' into killing its enemies.
To that end, the Army also explored hypnosis, the effect of ELF
waves on human brain frequencies, and the use of sounds as signals
to 'trigger' specific behavioral responses.
Other low-tech methods of exercising
power, such as entrapment, intimidation, and coercion, continue to
be explored. There was also a great deal of research into
"psychoacoustic" technology, involving the use of induced audible
hallucinations and disorientation created by infrasonic or microwave
technology. Such "directed-energy" weapons may well be
battlefield-tested someday for behavioral warfare ops.
Other forms of non-behavioral psychological warfare revolve around what might be called 'disinformation' or propaganda. An important part of fighting an enemy is feeding them false knowledge and misdirecting them with false facts. But even in peacetime propaganda can serve to demoralize, destabilize, and divide internally a hostile enemy.
Other forms of non-behavioral psychological warfare revolve around what might be called 'disinformation' or propaganda. An important part of fighting an enemy is feeding them false knowledge and misdirecting them with false facts. But even in peacetime propaganda can serve to demoralize, destabilize, and divide internally a hostile enemy.
Various techniques have been explored -
the use of false rumors, doctored photographs and images, and
"planted" news stories - fall into this category. The U.S. military
in Nicaragua was accused of distributing a handbook which described
vividly the arts of industrial sabotage.
In Panama, they used rock music to drive
Noriega out of a church where he had taken refuge, which may be the
ultimate form of psychological warfare.
Weapons of Mass Destruction - chemical, nuclear, and biological agents
Despite an ostensible ban on chemical weapons after the horrors of using mustard gas in WW I were revealed, the U.S. continued to attempt to develop them.
Most efforts focused on developing 'binary'
weapons which involved inert chemicals which became deadly upon
mixing. Unfortunately, up until 1972 much of the chemical weapons in
the country were 'unitary,' and we are stuck with stockpiles of
nerve gas which we don't know what to do with.
In the recent Persian Gulf War, Saddam
Hussein threatened to use Scud missiles with chemical warheads, but
he did not make good on his threat. Unfortunately, many of the
chemical agents used in this warfare are extremely lethal, and some
do not even need to be breathed (they penetrate the skin) rendering
the use of gas masks for protection worthless. Since such agents are
often odorless and colorless, detection is a high priority.
In the biological warfare realm, Army technicians worked with genetically-altered microbes - disease bacteria and viruses - in the hopes of creating infectious diseases which were even more pathogenic and virulent than normal. Some even feel they experimented with 'ethnic warfare' - biological agents that may be more effective on certain racial groups due to their blood type, genetic makeup, etc... - and that AIDs may have come out of this research.
One project in this vein may have been
the Tuskegee Experiment, during
which black men were exposed to a particularly potent strain of
syphilis, without their knowledge. The attempts may have been to
create a disease strain - such as a mutant form of anthrax - which
would not respond to the standard medical treatment because of its
genetic modification. The possibilities in this realm are truly
frightening.
Having long since faced up to the fact that the hydrogen bomb makes a nuclear war un-winnable and a 'limited exchange' nearly impossible, the Pentagon has tried to develop a 'flexible response' which might allow us to initiate a nuclear war and win it. Components of this strategy include 'first-strike' hard-penetrating weapons like the Trident missile, mobile-launched missiles such as the MX or submarine-fired IBCM, multiple-target MIRVs, zero-tech damage Neutron Bombs, and antiballistic missile (ABM) systems.
Having long since faced up to the fact that the hydrogen bomb makes a nuclear war un-winnable and a 'limited exchange' nearly impossible, the Pentagon has tried to develop a 'flexible response' which might allow us to initiate a nuclear war and win it. Components of this strategy include 'first-strike' hard-penetrating weapons like the Trident missile, mobile-launched missiles such as the MX or submarine-fired IBCM, multiple-target MIRVs, zero-tech damage Neutron Bombs, and antiballistic missile (ABM) systems.
The idea would be to launch a nuclear
attack which would be rapid and undetected, would take out the
enemy's ability to respond, and create a unilateral victory. While
neither side claims they would initiate a first strike, during the
Cold War the U.S. tried to develop ways that it could, and so did
the Soviets. Perhaps neither side knew how dangerous that was, or
how likely it was to provoke the enemy toward more rapid and
irresponsible judgments because they would feel they had to respond
immediately.
Many so-called 'tactical' nuclear weapons - for battlefield or "theater" use - have been deployed in crisis situations. Their use was certainly contemplated in Iraq. But many of the ordinary munitions used in the air war carried explosive potentials close to that of nuclear weapons: a greater amount of explosives were dropped on Baghdad than were used in all of WW II.
Many so-called 'tactical' nuclear weapons - for battlefield or "theater" use - have been deployed in crisis situations. Their use was certainly contemplated in Iraq. But many of the ordinary munitions used in the air war carried explosive potentials close to that of nuclear weapons: a greater amount of explosives were dropped on Baghdad than were used in all of WW II.
Particularly deadly were Fuel-Air
Explosives which would create firestorms that would suck all the
oxygen out of bunkers, and Cluster Bombs which would spread around
'incendiary' bomblets over large areas.
These munitions are so destructive that
they may obtain some of the secondary effects associated with the
use of nuclear weapons - the psychological demoralization of the
enemy.
The Pursuit of Stealth
The Stealth bomber is the culmination of the Pentagon's search for an invisible bomber.
Of course, it is only radar-invisible, and even
that is only partially true, since it only deflects some radar
frequencies. However, there is some reason to believe that the Navy
may have made attempts to render ships 'invisible' to radar or
magnetic mines during WW II, and that this may have been the basis
of the 'Philadelphia
Experiment' of 1943 made famous by Moore and Berlitz.
"Stealth" technology facilitates covert
operations because it allows the Pentagon to send in a fighter to
strike undetected and escape unscathed.
Of course, any one with good
eyes can spot the plane, and if it has American insignias, they will
know who has bombed them... plus, it turns out, the effort to make
the B2 stealthy has also made it very unstable (it requires six
computer systems to fly) and very vulnerable to attack (there is no
armor or armaments aboard) but who's counting?
The Navy has been very interested in propulsion systems that might allow a submarine to move silently (perhaps by countering wave turbulence, etc.) and shielding techniques that might deflect sonar waves. A "stealth" submarine may be in the works, able to sneak up on other subs undetected. It is not unfeasible to imagine that one might be able to "stealthize" a land vehicle, though this has not been attempted, mainly because once over the horizon any land vehicle is quite visible, and cannot strike as fast as a plane or a submarine.
Camouflage, radar jamming, chaff,
electronic countermeasures, and other techniques have long been used
by the military to hide its forces from the enemy. "Stealth"
technology is an attempt to take the quest for invisibility one step
further. As to whether the Army has developed a technique for visual
invisibility... they certainly aren't telling.
Nonetheless, there do appear to be more developments in the 'black programs' in the aerospace field. If and when "Aurora" makes its appearance, it is expected to be able to do upwards of Mach 5 or 6 - it is a hypersonic plane built, according to certain sources, on the 'wave-rider' principle, utilizing "pulsed wave detonation engines" that employ a unique means of external combustion.
Nonetheless, there do appear to be more developments in the 'black programs' in the aerospace field. If and when "Aurora" makes its appearance, it is expected to be able to do upwards of Mach 5 or 6 - it is a hypersonic plane built, according to certain sources, on the 'wave-rider' principle, utilizing "pulsed wave detonation engines" that employ a unique means of external combustion.
Such a hypersonic plane, even if not
radar-invisible, would have little trouble penetrating most air
defenses at such velocities, and probably could strike with complete
anonymity - who would be able to identify the markings on the plane
at that speed? Further, such a plane might have to be a "drone"
piloted by computers, since a human pilot might have a tough time
reacting quickly enough or surviving the inertial acceleration.
And it would once again put the act of
war out of the hands of human decision-making.
Low-Intensity Conflict
Ever since Vietnam, fears about 'escalation' and the erosion of public support have led the Pentagon to adopt caution toward involvement of American servicemen in foreign conflicts. While people seem to be able to suffer countless casualties on "their" side, watching "our" boys take losses quickly can erode support for the war.
Hence the Pentagon's doctrine of 'low-intensity
conflict,' (LIC) which generally involves the use of
proxies or surrogates, such as the contras in Nicaragua.
Such proxies are often CIA-trained
mercenaries, "counterterrorist" squads like the 'Delta Force,' and
infiltrators or saboteurs. One important LIC effort during
the
Vietnam war was the CIA's Project Phoenix, which identified and
assassinated over 60,000 members of the Vietcong cadres. LIC is yet
another effort by the Pentagon to wage war without the government
declaring it - because LIC can be maintained even while the pretense
of nonintervention is used and blamed on paramilitary "death squads"
which, of course, get no aid from us.
An important part of LIC is economic warfare, focusing on attempts to disrupt the economy of the enemy's country (and thereby hopefully destabilize his political regime.) While many countries often use forms of economic coercion prior to the use of war, such as tariffs, sanctions, freezing of foreign assets, expropriation of property, and blockades, these techniques can often be used in conjunction with others for devastating effect.
Some of the methods used in LIC include
flooding the enemy country with bogus currency to create inflation,
sabotage of factories and other production facilities, disruption of
trade routes and transportation networks (such as railroads),
resource depletion, and the use of 1980s-style "junk bonds" to
create false debt in the economy.
This strategy can often paralyze the
opponent's economy, creating vast amounts of misery, but equally
vast challenges to his authority.
The CIA, recognizing the economic battlefield as the next possible field of war, has begun to devote important amounts of intelligence to industrial sabotage and espionage. They know that the techniques employed by the U.S. to cripple foreign economies could be used against us. Most current LIC efforts involve a complex coordination of proxy fighting, economic warfare, and covert support to foreign political parties, trade unions, and "think tanks" supporting a pro-American policy for their government.
The CIA, recognizing the economic battlefield as the next possible field of war, has begun to devote important amounts of intelligence to industrial sabotage and espionage. They know that the techniques employed by the U.S. to cripple foreign economies could be used against us. Most current LIC efforts involve a complex coordination of proxy fighting, economic warfare, and covert support to foreign political parties, trade unions, and "think tanks" supporting a pro-American policy for their government.
This, combined with some vote-rigging,
electoral fraud, and outright poll-place coercion, can often produce
the desired result. Amazingly, Americans bark at the role foreign
lobbyists play in their deliberative process - but consider what a
hue and cry there would be if it was found out that Mexico gave the
Republicans thousands of dollars for their campaign and paid for
anti-Democrat advertisements in the U.S.!
Yet we do this kind of thing in the
Third World all the time.
"Nonlethal" Warfare?
The idea of non-lethal warfare seems almost cheerful.
One almost starts to think of teams of
Shaolin monks going out to disarm their opponents and send them home
bruised but uninjured. But the Pentagon's interest in non-lethal
warfare is once again simply PR. Tired of being told that they are
in the killing industry, the Pentagon wants to brag that it can
deter America's enemies without harming them.
Some of the things being explored in
this field are:
chemical corrosives to break down the molecular structure of enemy tanks, artillery, and vehicles infrasonic, holographic projections, and hallucinogenic gasses to disorient and confuse opponents 'low-energy' lasers to blind soldiers and electro-optical systems carbon-wire "bombs" to short-circuit electrical generating plants "infrastructure targeting" such as EM bursts to wipe out electronics and communication or sabotage efforts against physical plant the use of "riot control agents" such as electrical 'stun-guns' (tasers), tear gas, smoke, or sleep or paralytic agents against enemy troops in battle
Yet the Pentagon's praises of the potential for 'non-lethal' hi-tech
warfare deserve several grains of salt.
There are many drawbacks to
so-called "non-lethal" weapons. There are, after all, "fates worse
than death." Is it truly preferable to be permanently blinded by
lasers, deafened by infrasonic, or maimed or disabled by some other
technology designed not to kill?
Further, the infrastructure that
maintains a nation's war machine also supports its people in
peacetime: "infrastructure targeting" can cause high additional
"collateral damage" from disease, hunger, and social breakdown, as
we can see from postwar Iraq. And weapons designed to disable can
accidentally kill - as when your paralyzed tank is slammed into by
the tank behind you. "Non-lethal" weapons might be quite lethal in
certain circumstances (which one might or might not categorize as
unavoidable.)
It is fairly obvious that any weapon with a "non-lethal" setting (just like Star Trek - 'set phasers on stun') could easily be augmented for a lethal one. (Low-intensity lasers could be amplified and refocused.)
It is fairly obvious that any weapon with a "non-lethal" setting (just like Star Trek - 'set phasers on stun') could easily be augmented for a lethal one. (Low-intensity lasers could be amplified and refocused.)
Distinguishing between lethal and
non-lethal weapons on the battlefield might not be so easy to do.
Such non-lethal technologies may backfire in numerous ways (such as
when chemical agents dropped on 'their' side are carried by
prevailing winds back over to 'ours') and exacerbate the problem of
"friendly fire."
And non-lethal weapons are quite simply
more likely to be used in a conflict situation, since their usage
might not attract the same international criticism as conventional
warfare. Possession of "non-lethal" weapons may encourage conflicts
rather than forestall them, and one might consider that opponents
may not be so generous as to retaliate to 'non-lethal' weapons with
similarly non-lethal "attacks."
"Non-lethal" weapons may end up making
life on this planet much more lethal.
What else is in store?
The "Buck Rogers" mindset in the military - its love for gadgets - means more developments in the future.
Who knows what we might see?
Mobile particle beams or laser cannons? Deployment of holographic illusions? Antimatter bombs? Virtual-reality (VR) sighting systems for weapons? Sonic weapons that can cause buildings to crumble like Joshua's horn or can even kill? Genetically-engineered attack animals that are more savage, poisonous, or razor-clawed than normal? Genetically altered 'super soldiers' which are tougher and stronger? Transporters straight out of Star Trek?
All I know to expect from the Pentagon
is the unexpected.
I imagine they will continue their efforts to
move postmodern warfare into the high-tech realm, moving it into a
distant, abstract, electronic realm, where only images and icons are
being killed, not people. As warfare becomes more and more lethal,
they will try to sell it as a 'video game.'
That is what it was called by the
fighter pilots in the war against Iraq, who also called it a 'turkey
shoot.'
Will the new high-tech battlefields of the 21st century be outer space? Will there be wars over possession of the moon, 'orbital rights', or the resources of the asteroid belt? Will nation-states carve up the heavens much as they have the seas and most of the surface of the earth?
"Star Wars" is a highly frightening reality,
very different from the movies. In space, there is almost no
friction to slow down the momentum of objects.
If a satellite were to be blown apart,
there would be a hail of fragments preceding outward at thousands of
miles an hour. Some of those fragments would continue to orbit
around the Earth at the same velocity as initial impact. If they
slammed into a civilian rocket ship (such as our Shuttle) the cabin
might depressurize and all the oxygen in the vessel would rush out
in a wave of explosive decompression. It would be a highly deadly
affair.
Our astronauts have enough to worry
about, with cosmic rays, micrometeorites, and tons of "space junk"
as existing space problems.
I suspect that in the future, increasingly corporatized universities will get more and more of their funds to do R&D (Research & Development) for the DOD (Department of Defense), all academic ethics and ethical problems aside. The university has been made a full partner in the military-industrial complex. Despite protests against university research on napalm in Vietnam, and continuing demonstrations against work on nuclear weapons, the 'marriage' between academia and the military seems to be proceeding apace.
I suspect that in the future, increasingly corporatized universities will get more and more of their funds to do R&D (Research & Development) for the DOD (Department of Defense), all academic ethics and ethical problems aside. The university has been made a full partner in the military-industrial complex. Despite protests against university research on napalm in Vietnam, and continuing demonstrations against work on nuclear weapons, the 'marriage' between academia and the military seems to be proceeding apace.
There will be more and more penetration
of the military into the fields of aerospace, electronics, and
materials research. As a result, more and more scientific research
will become classified material hidden in the "black budget." Sadly,
technology has been a handmaiden of war ever since Da Vinci.
Perhaps someday it can be the companion
of peace.
Black Projects Update
Recently, several new "black projects" have come to my attention from various alternative media sources, and I've decided to mention a few of them as an addendum to this essay.
These projects include:
HAARP the Pentagon's 'cyber-war' initiative Stargate
HAARP is supposedly a multimillion dollar civilian
project in the Arctic to study the Aurora Borealis, but close
observers note many elements of the project which suggest it is
actually a cover for military research into using the ionosphere for
long-range communications, and perhaps even such things as weather
manipulation, power transmission, or EM interference.
The HAARP project has been virtually
ignored by the mainstream media, which is why Project Censored
gave it one of its "Top Ten Most Censored Stories" awards...
Tesla enthusiasts note that it seems to be based on
many of the inventor's ideas regarding the use of the Earth's own
electromagnetic field - but for some perhaps very sinister purposes.
The Pentagon also announced it was going into the 'cyberwar' business.
They are going to try and develop viruses and worm
programs which are designed to directly attack an enemy's C3I
capability, knocking out critical systems. Further, they are going
to develop a coordinated strategy for monitoring security threats on
the Internet - mentioning several domestic groups, including UFO
enthusiasts, which would require more extreme electronic
surveillance.
Finally, part of their 'cyberwar'
program seems to involve the more stepped-up dissemination of
electronic disinformation - with the sinister purpose of destroying
the assets of enemy nations, through the reduction of trading
partner confidence.
A third "black" initiative appears to be Project Stargate, where the CIA, DIA, and other military agencies revealed that since the 1970s, they have been using psychics, primarily for "remote viewing" of enemy installations and even testing some experiments in precognition, psychokinesis (attempting to scramble enemy missile codes), and ESP.
A third "black" initiative appears to be Project Stargate, where the CIA, DIA, and other military agencies revealed that since the 1970s, they have been using psychics, primarily for "remote viewing" of enemy installations and even testing some experiments in precognition, psychokinesis (attempting to scramble enemy missile codes), and ESP.
The mainstream media played up the
Stargate story for its laugh factor, but they simply bought the
military's story that the program was discontinued due to a lack of
results. In point of fact, the program was simply reshuffled
bureaucratically, and while Stargate was ended, military use
of psychics continue. If such human talents exist, nothing will be
gained by using them in such restrictive, paranoid ways.
All three stories reveal the ongoing determination of the Pentagon to pursue dangerous projects which could backfire tremendously, outside the scope of public scrutiny. HAARP could have unguessable long-term consequences on planetary climate, or even knock out electronic systems and communications worldwide permanently.
All three stories reveal the ongoing determination of the Pentagon to pursue dangerous projects which could backfire tremendously, outside the scope of public scrutiny. HAARP could have unguessable long-term consequences on planetary climate, or even knock out electronic systems and communications worldwide permanently.
'Cyberwar' techniques could very easily
wind up in the hands of agencies determined to use them back against
the U.S.; such is the nature of everything on the global net. And
Stargate may have even involved some dangerous efforts to
biochemically 'boost' psychic functioning, according to some
reports.
The emperor marches on...
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