June 14, 2015

To Break the News

I did not realize until this weekend that the aforementioned phrase could mean someone was literally breaking the news.


But now I know, because this weekend a certain individual has actually broken the news....into little bitty pieces.



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I didn't say a word for a while because I thought that this HAD to be a hoax. Alas, no, and the crazy, it keeps piling up.

If you have stock in The Onion, sell now because their business model is no longer valid. 

It's sad really. If she hadn't broken the news, the following stories might be getting more play. 



Chinese Admirals are saying that they are authorized to ram japanese ships in the South China Sea. (I suspect that their authorization comes from the legal theory known as "General Principals") 


ISIS is making inroads into...Afganistan

Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, has been wracked by intense jihadist activity for a month and is deteriorating further. 

A reliable source says Taliban leaders are living quite freely in Karachi, but because they have nothing to do with the government they are left alone. To date, neither intelligence reports nor the media have been able to confirm the suspect presence. Yet the TTP has managed a number of attacks in the city, targeting polio workers, politicians, and top police officer Chaudhry Aslam.

 (Note: Pakistan has an unknown number of nuclear weapons, the security of which is, no doubt, as leading source of insomnia amongst world security officials.)

In other Pakistan news: Their relations with India (who you may remember is a nuclear power with a comparable arsenal and is being poked by China ) are deteriorating over the issue of sectarian terrorists, Pakistan's releasing a fellow who planned the Mumbai terrorist attack (and border disputes)

With regards to Saudi Arabia's quest for nukes, there is this:
More importantly, Saudi Arabia is investing in a civil nuclear industry. "Where would Saudi Arabia train the scientists to work on its secret program?” Zakaria wonders. Oh, I don’t know, how about the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy? Somehow Zakaria never mentions that Saudi Arabia is building a dedicated city for training nuclear scientists. I can’t predict whether this investment will pay off, but then again neither can Zakaria — if he even knows it exists.


Iran launched a satellite back in February, from a military base, that carried a 110 pound payload. While it did not stay in orbit as long as planned (indicating that  they have quite a bit of work to do), they are making a fair amount of progress. A  very rough rule of thumb is that a rockets payload to low orbit plus 50% what the rocket can put on the other side of the world so keep an eye on the estimates of their satellites mass.

If you are confused about the Sunni/ Shia divide this is a decent primer

Having read that, note that the power vacuum left by American fecklessness has Middle East leaders concerned about a Sunni/Shia "Big War" (more on that here).

The U.S. is looking at sending heavy weapons to Eastern Europe.

Russia is testing a new ABM system



U.S.A. Today has a article on the  Cheyenne Mountain Nuclear resistant bunker complex which as we mentioned earlier, is being reactivated and hastily filled with personnel and communications gear in anticipation of {REDACTED}. The title of the article indicates that this will keep the data snoops out....

This is huge. Ace has multiple links, some analysis as well as a flaming skulls, which still may not adequately convey the gravity of the situation. 
The  US is now in a similar position to what Germany and Japan were in WW2 in that Russia and China have everything...EVERYTHING. The solution is harder than simply changing the codebooks, because we can't get rid of ALL THE PERSONNEL.
For a professional perspective on this, John Schindler has thoughts on just how bad this is here, here and here. (It's REALLY bad). I urge you to read them all. There is a NPR interview with him here

This is the biggest national security story in decades, and it is on the level of Pearl Harbor. Given that it has been going on for a year or more the friskieness of the Russians and Chinese over the last several months comes into perspective. The damage will take years to fix. 

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:33 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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June 10, 2015

Well THIS Slipped Under The Radar

I just noted a story that seems to me to be rather significant, but is getting very little play. Indeed it is several days old already. 
It's almost as if the powers that be are offended by the story and do not wish it to see the light of day. Certainly this development is frankly, likely to cause much upsetedness in some circles, as there is a certain, aroma of scandal attached to it. 

We here at Brickmuppet Blog find ourselves struggling to find the proper words to describe this turn of events. 



Yeah. That works!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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