The 80's Are Calling But The Lines Are Down

One  more for the "We re-elected a demagogic knucklehead" file:

Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort

By DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT  OCT. 25, 2015

WASHINGTON — Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.

The issue goes beyond old worries during the Cold War that the Russians would tap into the cables — a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: The ultimate Russian hack on the United States could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.

Well, it will be an attack but it will be staged as an accident of some sort in order to compound implausible deniability. 

While there is no evidence yet of any cable cutting, the concern is part of a growing wariness among senior American and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by Russian armed forces around the globe. At the same time, the internal debate in Washington illustrates how the United States is increasingly viewing every Russian move through a lens of deep distrust, reminiscent of relations during the Cold War.

...

“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander of the Navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific, who would not answer questions about possible Russian plans for cutting the undersea cables.

And...

“The level of activity,” a senior European diplomat said, “is comparable to what we saw in the Cold War.”

Yeah, yeah - so said Mitt Romney, to Obama's mockery. And if you are still having trouble getting nervous:

Russia is also building an undersea unmanned drone capable of carrying a small, tactical nuclear weapon to use against harbors or coastal areas, American military and intelligence analysts said.  

Admiral Ferguson said that as part of Russia’s emerging doctrine of so-called hybrid warfare, it is increasingly using a mix of conventional force, Special Operations mission and new weapons in the 21st-century battlefield.

“This involves the use of space, cyber, information warfare and hybrid warfare designed to cripple the decision-making cycle of the alliance,” Admiral Ferguson said, referring to NATO. “At sea, their focus is disrupting decision cycles.”

One might think an undersea unmanned drone would be within the technological grasp of a number of countries with commercial ships at sea.

Comments

[henry]

Well, tapping cables is one way to catch up with NSA spying on Americans.

[narciso]

The stone link doesn't work.

[narciso]

And Sanger ripped off the free beacon, who has this story at least a week ago.

[Extraneus]

12 Times the GOP Establishment Kicked the Conservative Base in the Teeth

Don't read if you have high blood pressure or anger issues.

[James D]

Ext, I saw that list linked from insty, too.

About the only thing I can say is that Murkowski shouls have been a bullet point all her own on that list.

[Jack is Back! (In Southampton)]

Mitt Romney for Secretary of DoD. Or head of CIA. How about special geo-political science tutor to Bozo?

[narciso]

He was ablithering fool in the sundial, and hasn't learned anything in 30+ years.

[matt]

President Merkin Muffley says there's nothing to worry about.

The Russians still have a limited capability but Putin is doubling down because our CiC in chief is such a punk.

It's not about party. It's about a common vision of the core values to which we adhere, which no longer exists. Welcome to the United States of Belgium.

[DebinNC]

Romney seems to be as big a narcissist as BOzo imo.

[Stephanie]

A song for Hillary’s birthday - October 26, 2015

Happy birthday to you,
You dried up old shrew,
May the ghosts of Benghazi
forever haunt you.

FB post that made my day!

[maryrose]

Steph
Love the song
Made my day too
I woke up today determined to have faith in our American system and all the Americans that have had enough
O care is in its death throes and Obam has somehow misplaced a billion dollars of Bammycare money
People will not re up if their premiums skyrocket

[narciso]

And baba yaga, shows the appropriate sensitivity to veterans

[narciso]

But Bill Daley crawls out from his cave, and tells is who the real enemy is.

[Miss Marple 2]

You know, I saw that comment my Romney last night on Twitter but thought it must be some sort of error.

Nope.

When we ALL had the same sort of "FACTS", we all sort of came to the same conclusion.

This is how I thought we had lost the Tet Offensive until about 10 years ago.

[Jack is Back! (In Southampton)]

Celebrate HIllary's birthday with a complilation of some of her most famous lies. Not all of them, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbnKGopT0Uc

[Miss Marple 2]

Should be BY Romney instead of "my."

I have been sitting in the orthodontists waiting room and am about half asleep. Granddaughter had an appointment.

[DebinNC]

Thank goodness John McCain (R-AZ) chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, so at least AZ vets are now getting the care they've earned ... not.

[rse]

matt-have you heard that all US special forces are being cut by 25%?

Hubby ran into some retired rangers last night and ended up talking to them after a gun manufacturer he had done consulting work had invited him to last week's Intl Sniper Comp at Benning. Apparently the discussion was going back and forth from admiration for current skills to horror at cutbacks given these clearly dangerous times.

[Craps, not dominoes.]

Won Tet in Nam, lost Tet at home, foundered by our press.

I've said before that one thing I've been grateful to John Kerry for is his bringing Nam back up again. That has allowed many to understand that we were in the right after all, not neo-colonialists, but anti-stalinists.

[Algonquin]

There's also this:
Russia has sent sophisticated jamming equipment to Syria that could blind NATO pilots in a further escalation of the stand-off in the Middle East.

The Krasukha-4 system has been spotted at a Syrian airfield being used by Russian fighter jets and its presence has been confirmed by US officials. The mobile system can disrupt surveillance by drones, satellites or western early warning aircraft. (Source:The Australian)

****

That's a problem because our human intelligence for ISIS would be low, but Russian jamming systems and denial of airspace could severely hamper our ability to keep an "eye" on ISIS via other methods.

[Algonquin]

That's a problem and it's an immediate one.

[rse]

narciso-this link http://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/2014/11/12/unesco-job-ad-rapprochement-of-cultures/ says that the Rapprochement of Cultures DEcade is pursuant to an agreement between UNESCO and Saudi Arabia.

Given that the materials push a one culture, one religion, one belief system synthesis, where exactly does that leave Bible believers in the US?

[narciso]

Up the creek without a paddle.

[Thomas Collins]

Stephanie for sole debate moderator for both the Dem and GOP debates. Whichever Dem or GOPer best survives Stephanie's questions and follow-ups should automatically secure the nominations! And if none of them survives, we'll put new bodies in the Stephanie Chamber and see what happens!

[Extraneus]

Ted Cruz adds billionaire backer to presidential campaign

HOUSTON – Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has picked up the backing of a Texas billionaire and the state's lieutenant governor, his campaign said Monday.

Darwin Deason, a technology entrepreneur, and his son, Doug, had given millions of dollars to the 2016 efforts of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who ended his bid for the White House last month.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick -- a one-time foe of the Texas senator -- also will now serve as the Texas chairman of Cruz's presidential campaign.

[Extraneus]

Here's an interesting factoid (from the link I just posted):

While only about 4 percent of Bush's campaign haul has come from contributors giving $200 or less, 41 percent of Cruz's campaign money is coming from such small donors, fundraising records show.

[Ah, efficiency.]

Heh, rse, 'single prayer'?

[Extraneus]

The Deasons are marquee names for Cruz, but he has quietly consolidated the support of many former donors to Perry and another 2016 dropout, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The Cruz campaign added five other former Perry backers to its finance team, officials said on Monday.

Cruz gained a larger share of those candidates' donors than anyone else in the race, according to an analysis by crowdpac.com, a nonpartisan political analytics company.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

This morning I saw that 404 is calling for a drastic reduction in "standardized testing so that teachers can better do their jobs" which I guess means sit on their dead asses and create a standardized herd of dummies. Where are 404's scores in the standardized tests?

Regarding the list of GOPe perfidy, I'm not sure what to make of the Allen West one. Shockingly I was originally prone to blame the RINOs despite the usual Horde toadies and lickspittles stating that it was a bipartisan board that did the redistricting. I still don't know what to believe on that and that keeping West in office should have been a top priority, of which I've seen no evidence that anybody went beyond lip service in helping him out. But maybe nothing was possible. Any Florida insight from you guys?

[rse]

http://wpfdc.org/about-us/history What good can come from a Dialogue of Civilizations set up after the President of Iran Khatami called for it?

Porch-look where it met in may. Also listed formally as ne of the partners along with interestingly enough Moscow State and Harvard Law.

wpfdc.org/about-us/activities/events/19423-dialogue-and-cosmopolis-on-the-rapprochement-of-cultures I also listened to the Just World Order meeting in Vienna this summer. All these people are nuts, but influential anyway.

[Algonquin]

Russia Upgrades Jamming Technology
Aviation Week & Space Technology
Russian defense electronics conglomerate Kret (Concern Radio-Electronic Technology) introduced a range of new electronic warfare (EW) systems at the 2015 MAKS air show at Zhukovsky, near Moscow, including a new helicopter-borne jamming system and a high-power ground-based system designed to blind the widely used Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS) and other systems using the S-band (2-3 GHz). According to Kret, the Krasukha-2 AWACS jammer can act as a high-power ...

*******

Russia is heavily investing in this type of technology, --The Australian article--which I can no longer access--made the argument that in some areas of jamming technology Russia could be ahead of us.

[rse]

CH-there is a link on my blog to the actual language of the Testing Action Plan. I also put it up yesterday here.

Fascinatingly it was embargoed by fed ED for release Saturday at noon. That means it was timed to make it into the Sunday NYT, which happens to be all the news many people ever read.

Basically as the above links may indicate the WH and agencies are determined to impose all the UN and OECD's transformative agendas and lie to us about it. Both parties are involved at all levels and wioa is part of it.

A UNESCO youth summit commenced in Paris this morning and there was a mention of it briefly in a Connected Education month blurb. When I searched it out I was able to download the entire agenda.

There is more to it than what was in the book but it all just corroborated what I laid out. Woohoo.

[Beasts of England]

Welp, the tour is free, but my liter of Frank Sinatra Select just set me back $164.20. Hope it's good...

[Frau Edith Steingehirn]

Screw top, Beasts?
Just asking...

[henry]

Tip from Chicago:

You can remind Beasts that at a distillery, it's still bad form to ask for a straw.

[matt]

The only thing I care about is age and whether it is a single malt/cask etc.

With Johnnie Walker Pink, Rainbow, Fuschia, etc. I realized that it's all a scam. Just as some evil marketing genius comes up with the world's most inevitable vodka or whatever. The working man demands an honest dram.

[Rocco]

Trouble in paradise! I was really hoping the Pats would embarrass the Colts. As it turns out, they embarrassed themselves. That's even better!

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25353674/report-colts-owner-gm-involved-in-heated-conversation-after-loss

[Beasts of England]

Doesn't appear to be a screw top, but I already hid it in my trunk. Along with my Ducks Unlimited bottle with a band. Marketing, indeed.

Our tour group has folks from Rhode Island, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Iowa. They all talk funny... ;)

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

So we'll soon have a generation where the best we can expect is to be a glib bullshitter like 404 or Slick? No wonder the Rooskis are ahead of us on jamming technology.

[Buckeye]

Beasts

I think I need to come down and offer my services as a bourbon taster. It is just for your protection. One of those damn yankees on the tour might have slipped rat poison in your bottle.

[Algonquin]

Looks like they also are moving forward on jamming and masking of radio communications for ground troops, it's at the WSJ.

[lyle]

Check this out if you haven't already:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1018-ferguson-kissinger-obama-20151018-story.html

Short version: Kissinger is responsible for civilian deaths. (Still.) O-Precious and his drones? Nevermind.

[Algonquin]

What really worries me about the arrogance of Liberal policy....

could one of their goals be to control and divy out nuclear arms in the Middle East so that some policy of mutually assured destruction would be the containment policy in the Middle East--so to speak?

Did they forget that the policy of MAD rested heavily on the idea of --rational actors?

The Clintonistas couldn't be that criminally incompetent could they?

They aren't that stupid are they?

Clintons email servers everywhere--and the Russian Reset Button Theory--suggests they could be--that. Inept. And that. Arrogant.

[Jack is Back! (In Southampton)]

An interesting book review in today's WSJ that adds to all the talk about "citizenship" in our early days as a nation.

"Your Papers, Please"

The story of Citizen Sailors.

"Who is an American? How does one prove one’s citizenship, or that of a stranger? Today, answers to questions of that sort are sought in government-issued paperwork: naturalization forms or passports. But this was not always so. In early modern times, nation-states did not typically issue identification papers. That was not a problem for most Europeans, who did not venture far, but it could be a big problem for seafarers.

In the 18th century, ships from Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain carried thousands of merchant sailors across the world’s connected waterways. It was an age of expanding empires and frequent naval warfare that included sanctioned privateering and unsanctioned piracy. The stakes of nationality at sea were high—a wrong answer might lead to imprisonment, slavery, even execution. In 1781, two Irish-born sailors were captured by the British aboard a French-flagged ship. These British subjects, hoping to avoid punishment, claimed to be Americans. Both were quickly presumed to be guilty of treason and were executed."

Behind the paywall but you all know the google trick.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/your-papers-please-1445804774

[Jack is Back! (In Southampton)]

CH,

Short answer to your question about Florida re-districting is GOPe in DC have fingerprints on it. Still in court. Weatherford, the house speaker, had his hands tied. Florida constitution bans favoring incumbents in redistricturing. Any citizen can submit their preferred maps. Lots of judgement calls on saving certain districts - it was a grand compromise but don't underplay the GOPe card out of DC.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

JiB, I figured as much. As much as I hear about how bipartisan committees prevent any individual candidate protection, it never seems to happen to a donk star. With the constant caterwauling of the RNC about the poor polling with blacks, you'd think they might invest a few chips in working with somebody like West.

[henry]

CH, West winning outside a minority-majority jerrymander upsets too many narratives. Must be stopped.

[Beasts of England]

Stop on your way down to 'LA', Buckeye!!

Our secret lurker made sure that I'm having lunch at Miss Bobo's. Vicarious veggie review to follow the supper bell. :)

[Rick Ballard]

I don't understand how in the world the Eurasian Co-Prosperity Sphere can imagine themselves capable of withstanding opponents who demonstrate their strength by imposing taxes upon air in order to defend against the SkyDragon. Putin and Xi are operating in an alternate reality, refusing to recognize the awesome power of the models arrayed against them.

Just wait until they see the fantastic economic strength unleashed when Yellen and Draghi (under IMF supervision, of course) fire their fearsome QEZIRPs in tandem, lifting western economies to unimaginable heights, according to projections by the world's foremost economists.

[Jim]

I hope obama doesn't threaten a red line(s).

[Beasts of England]

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, lima beans, pintos, chow-chow (relish), and cornbread muffins. Dang it was good. I need a quick nap and then a few fingers of Sinatra Select. :)