Articles by ReadyMom

[quote="Mollypup"]North Korea Says War May Break Out at Any MomentI heard that, this morning. Again, I’m preoccupied with my own homefront as well as trying to still keep an eye on this. I *REALLY* need to order #10 cans of freeze dried me…

North Korea revives Guam threat ahead of US-South Korea drillshttp://wreg.com/2017/10/13/north-korea- … ea-drills/October 13, 2017WASHINGTON — North Korean state media on Friday renewed a threat to launch missiles toward the US territory of Guam, wa…

North Korea may have destabilized nuclear testing grounds, experts sayhttp://expressnewsline.com/2017/10/14/n … ounds.htmlOctober 14, 2017 in Congress was warned Thursday that North Korea is capable of attacking the USA today with a nuclear EMP bomb…

Single EMP Attack by North Korea Will Destroy US, Experts Tell Congress https://www.courthousenews.com/emp-atta … -congress/October 12, 2017WASHINGTON (CN) – Amid an escalating war of words between North Korea and President Donald Trump, an expert t…

Congress warned North Korean EMP attack would kill ‘90% of all Americans’http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/congr … le/2637349by Paul Bedard | Oct 12, 2017, 4:25 PMCongress was warned Thursday that North Korea is capable of attacking the U.S. today w…

Thursday hearing with the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency regarding the EMP threat. Testimony below by 2 EMP Commission members. (One of the members is Dr. Pry, who I met several years ago. He’s a good man.)http:/…

Cast Iron wrote:A recent House Hearing on EMPs.Provides some additional data.http://docs.house.gov/meetings/HM/HM09/ … 171012.pdfWas just coming over to post this. Also some headlines to go with that release: (I’ll cross post the headlines over in …

Jim Mattis urges US Army to ‘be ready’ with military options for tackling North Koreahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10 … ing-north/Rob Crilly, New York 9 October 2017 • 11:33pm Jim Mattis, the US defence secretary, on Monday urged senio…

Jim Mattis urges US Army to ‘be ready’ with military options for tackling North Koreahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10 … ing-north/Rob Crilly, New York 9 October 2017 • 11:33pm Jim Mattis, the US defence secretary, on Monday urged senio…

North Korea says Trump ‘lit the wick of war,’ vows ‘a hail of fire’http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/11 … -fire.htmlNorth Korea swore on Wednesday to bring “a hail of fire” after President Trump “lit the wick of war” with the Hermit Kingdom, the …

North Korea says Trump ‘lit the wick of war,’ vows ‘a hail of fire’http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/11 … -fire.htmlNorth Korea swore on Wednesday to bring “a hail of fire” after President Trump “lit the wick of war” with the Hermit Kingdom, the …

Experts: North Korea Targeted U.S. Electric Power Companieshttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-kore … es-n808996Oct 10 2017, 6:05 pm ET by Andrea Mitchell and Ken DilanianWASHINGTON — The cybersecurity company FireEye says in a new report to private …

Another month … another thread. North Korean hackers may have stolen secret US-South Korean war plans to kill Kim Jong Unhttp://www.businessinsider.com/north-ko … =buffer-bi South Korean lawmaker Lee Cheol-hee said that North Korean hackers have…

anita wrote:
How about an ice pack, the type you crumple and it gets cold? That was one of the things I had in my car kit. I can’t tell you how many of those I went through at soccer games!

I want this kit for in case of attacks like in Vegas vs player injuries.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:52 pm

✚ Emergency First Aid for Purse & Bags ✚ — Those who know me, know I like to be ‘prepared’. I was always the mom with a first aid kit in the car, when we went somewhere. Pulled it out more than once or twice.

Ever since the shooting at the airport baggage claim, last year, I carry additional first aid items in my carry on, when we fly. After today, since we go to a lot of concerts & sporting events, I think now I am going to make sure that when we go to any of those ‘soft target’ events, I’m going to carry similar items. You are limited with bag size that can be carried in. I usually use a clear bag we bought at the Nashville Country Music Festival. I use the same bag, when going to any sporting events.

This is what I currently carry in my carry-on, for flying:
• Typical First aid: bandaids, triple antibiotic, cotton balls, gauze pads & tape, nitrile gloves.
• Feminine pads: Heavy Flow size, medium Flow size, day pad size (for large-bleed wounds)

I’m going to add:
• Some type of light weight tourniquet
• Clean white t-shirt material or old-fashioned handkerchiefs (yes! You can still find these)
• A couple of tampons (Multiple uses either pulled apart or used intact) •Stretch gauze
• Antiseptic toweletts
• Quik Clot Pads are going on my ‘wish’ list too. They are kind of expensive.

The kit Needs to be compact, light-weight, but useful for unusual casualty injury situation or car/playground injuries! Probably will have to vac seal/pack this kit to shrink it down for size!

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:13 pm

Gunman’s ‘psychopathic’ dad was bank robber, FBI most wanted
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/02/la … ption.html

Las Vegas shooter’s father, ‘Bingo Bruce,’ lived colorful life of crime and deception

The father of the gunman behind the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history robbed a string of banks in Arizona, escaped prison in Texas and tried to start a new life as the manager of a bingo parlor in Oregon, according to historical newspaper articles.

Eric, the brother of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, who killed at least 50 people from his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino late Sunday, told the Orlando Sentinel that their father was Benjamin Hoskins Paddock.

The elder Paddock, born in Wisconsin in 1926, had a host of other fake names and nicknames, including “Big Daddy” and “Old Baldy,” and was on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list from 1969 to 1977.

Paddock was indicted in 1960 on three counts of robbing Phoenix branches of Valley National Bank, the Arizona Republic reported on Oct. 6 that year. He was accused of stealing close to $25,000 and was caught in the summer of 1960 by FBI agents in Las Vegas.

“The FBI said Paddock tried to resist arrest and attempted to run down an agent with his car,” read a July 28, 1960, report from the Tuscon Daily Citizen.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Paddock was convicted and slapped with a 20-year prison sentence, but the lengthy jail term was cut short when he busted out of a federal prison in Texas in 1969, the Eugene Register-Guard reported.

An escaped federal prisoner poster issued by the FBI at the time said Paddock was “diagnosed as psychopathic” and “reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and dangerous.”

About six months after the escape, Paddock was involved in an armed robbery at a bank in San Francisco and in September 1978, he was awaiting trial related to charges from that incident, according to the Oregon newspaper.

Paddock, described by the FBI as being an “avid bridge player,” had managed to live a secret life centered on another game –bingo — as a parlor manager in Springfield, Ore.

The FBI said Paddock lived for years in the Eugene-Springfield area under the alias of Bruce Werner Ericksen and managed to stay one step ahead of law enforcement by constantly changing his appearance and avoiding contact with police, which may have resulted in fingerprinting, the Eugene Register-Guard reported.

The man dubbed by the newspaper as “Bingo Bruce” appeared to have run out of luck in 1978 when he was arrested, but the feds paroled him and he was back in the number-calling game just a year later.

“He was a nice guy, and helped a lot of people financially and did one hell of a lot for the kids,” former Junction City Mayor Chuck Ivey, who was on the parole board, told the newspaper.

“All that stuff is old news,” Ivey said when he asked about Paddock’s past.

In 1987, the gig finally ended when the Oregon Attorney General’s Office filed seven racketeering charges against Paddock related to his bingo operation. On top of that, he was charged with rolling back car odometers.

Paddock settled the racketeering charges for $623,000 and pleaded no contest to the odometer case, while simultaneously claiming he had cancer.

Among his other life claims: being an auto crew racing chief, Chicago Bears football player and survivor of a World War II mine sweeper sinking, according to the Eugene Register-Guard.

When the final verdict in Paddock’s legal saga came in, and Circuit Judge George Woodrich decided to let him off with a $100,000 fine and no jail time.

“He could be conning everybody, but this is an economic crime and he’s an old man,” the newspaper quoted Woodrich as saying. “My view is let him go… and good riddance.”

Paddock then went back to the Lone Star state and lived there until his death in 1998. Laurel Paulson, a woman he met while living in Oregon, told the Eugene Register-Guard that he got by on a VA pension and helped her run a machine shop.

“He was a man that people either loved or hated,” she said. “He always said he was a dinosaur.”

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:11 pm

South Korean banks brace for electromagnetic pulse attack from the North
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09 … ack-north/

29 September 2017

South Korean banks are drawing up plans to protect critical electronic data from a potential electromagnetic pulse attack by North Korea.

The South’s banks and other infrastructure, including nuclear power stations and government ministries, have been the target of successful North Korean hacking attacks in the past and there are growing concerns that the nation’s financial institutions could be crippled by an EMP weapon, either in the form of a nuclear blast or a conventional electromagnetic pulse device.

Banks are looking into establishing data centres overseas, The Korea Herald reported, or the construction of reinforced repositories designed to withstand the blast of an EMP weapon. Electronic equipment exposed to an electromagnetic pulse can experience damaging current and voltage surges, while data stored electronically can be corrupted.

“Current regulations prohibit the transfer of client information overseas, so we are discussing ways to revise those rules so we can set up data back-up centres abroad”, a financial official told the newspaper.

The banks are acting after the government warned Thursday that North Korea is “highly likely” to carry out additional military provocations in the coming weeks.

After a series of nuclear tests and missiles launches, Pyongyang has been subjected to increasingly stringent sanctions imposed by the international community. The regime of Kim Jong-un continues to defy the rest of the world, however, and insists that it will continue to develop and deploy weapons capable of reaching targets anywhere in the continental United States.

Kang Kyung-wha, the South Korean foreign minister, said intelligence agencies are anticipating some sort of action by Pyongyang on or around October 10, the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Another date that is being monitored is October 18, when the Communist Party of China is scheduled to open its 19th National Congress.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:33 pm

Could war of words with North Korea balloon out of control?
https://www.videokron.com/could-war-of- … ebb07.html

VIDEO at LINK

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:59 am

North Korean Defector Warns US to Take Kim Jong Un’s Threats Seriously
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/09/22/n … -seriously

Sep 22 2017

VIDEO at LINK

Greg Palkot got a rare interview with a North Korean defector who warned the U.S. to take dictator Kim Jong Un’s threats seriously.

Following North Korean threats to test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the rogue regime’s leader would be “tested like never before.”

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
6:28 AM – Sep 22, 2017

Kim Yeomyong, who says he defected from North Korea two years ago via the South Korean embassy in Beijing during a business trip, said he grew disillusioned with Kim Jong Un and the U.S. should be careful too.

“He’s very dangerous,” Kim Yeomyong said. “He is smarter and stronger than you think.”

He said that Kim Jong Un wants to live long with power and authority.

As for Trump’s new executive order that cracks down on individuals, companies and financial institutions that do business with North Korea, Kim Yeomyong seemed to think that’s the right strategy.

“If the international community wants to stop watching North Korea’s provocations of nuclear weapons and missiles, they need to completely stop foreign money going into North Korea,” he said in his native Korean language. “If they can’t do that, North Korea will be there forever.”

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:52 am

As North Korea threatens electromagnetic pulse attack, questions over lapses in US grid security rise
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/25 … -rise.html

For more than 15 years, security and intelligence officials — including former CIA Director James Woolsey — have been raising the alarm bells about the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. Only now as tensions with North Korea quickly escalate — with the rogue nation refusing to back down from its nuclear testing and threats of such an onslaught — is the matter really generating attention.

But according to U.S. defense and security officials, while there are players purporting to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure given millions of American lives on the line, the reality is that no one really knows what will happen and what can be done.

“We recognize that an EMP event would have extremely dire consequences for the entire country, but where the challenge comes is in attempting to quantify those impacts,” one high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official, who requested anonymity, told Fox News. “This is not something we have had a lot of real world experience with.”

Earlier this month, state news agencies in the Kim Jong Un-dictated country explicitly cautioned that it could hit the U.S. with an EMP offensive. A hydrogen bomb detonated at a high altitude would create an EMP that potentially could abolish prominent parts of the electrical grid. The higher the bomb’s detonation, the wider the scope of destruction. And given that high-altitude nuclear tests were prohibited as per a 1963 treaty, from the U.S. side, there is little scientific data to understand the devastation of a detonation on modern infrastructure.

But the potential fallout from such an event is monstrous. In 2001, Congress enacted the since-disbanded Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. with regards to an EMP event, with commissioners testifying that up to 90 percent of Americans could die within a year of such an attack. All the functions communities rely upon — hospitals, water, waste, transport, telecommunications, air control, medical care — could potentially be decimated for not days or weeks, but months or year

“Our ability to know what would happen in the aftermath is highly uncertain. That being said, we are doing several things to deepen our understanding. There is a lot of information sharing,” noted the official. “We are looking at mitigation strategies and developing planning tools. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is involved too as there have been exercises and workshops related to catastrophic planning and EMP events. But DHS does not have authority to compel power operators to do anything, we do not have regulatory authority over grid operators.”

The U.S. electrical grid, which is deemed one of the most vital pieces of infrastructure in the country and serves more than 300 million, does not have one singular oversight body responsible for its safeguarding — hence authorities have cautioned that the magnitude of threat has fallen between the cracks.

“The military doesn’t think it is their job to make the grid resilient, even though 99 percent of their missions in continental United States rely on the civilian grid. The utilities don’t think it is their job because it is a national security problem. Besides, they don’t want to come up with the money, face more regulatory burdens or fool with making over parts of the grid with uncertain technical consequences,” lamented Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy President and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy under President Reagan, who has long warned of EMP’s efficiency to bring down America. “And because of the sweetheart regulatory arrangement they have at the federal level, they have been able to avoid it.”

Rather, individual utilities are ultimately responsible for grid security but there is no standard mandate in place. The private nonprofit North American Energy Reliability Company (NERC) makes voluntary “best practices” recommendations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) counterpart on security and preparedness efforts.

According to the DHS, financing grid security — given that it doesn’t fall under the responsibility of one particular office — could have been done through slight rate increases, but efforts are typically bound by red tape.

“If utilities want to increase their customer rates by one cent a kilowatt hour to help invest in a new effort for counter-terrorism or EMP they have to go to a public utility commission and convince them that these rate increases are beneficial and meet certain cost/benefit conditions,” said the official. “Frankly, public utility commissions are there to protect consumers and they tend to be skeptical and tend to really push utilities to think very hard about the times they come in and push for rate increases to help support these kinds of efforts. Unlike some other industries where they can immediately pass off costs to consumers, this is not the case with power companies. They are slower to move due to the regulatory environment they have to deal with.”

Risk analyst and policy expert Dennis Santiago observed that any effort to harden the U.S. power grid — including the oldest and most interconnected portions of it in the eastern United States, which are especially exposed to disruption due to their age and design — have fallen short at the public utilities level because of “more pressing threats like physical attack security and cybersecurity.”

“In the end, this process has left the U.S. with antiquated and vulnerable infrastructure,” he said. “There is no unified or specified commander charged with specifically marshalling America’s resources from the government and private sector into an active defense of the power grid. There are civil services and regulatory bodies mostly focused on energy as utilities but nothing looks like an energy version of a military defense command.”

However, DHS authorities, in conjunction with the Department of Energy, claim that even before North Korea’s provocations they started ramping up efforts — around a year ago — to make grid vulnerability higher on the priority list. The issue was always secondary to threats considered to be more acute by the intelligence community such as counter-terrorism post 9/11 and later cybersecurity and “more destructive type natural hazards.”

“If something happens in two weeks, we wouldn’t be able to close all the gaps of vulnerability,” pointed out the official. “But having looked at this issue for a number of years, we are taking appropriate action given our set of responsibilities and authorities.”

A spokesperson for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) additionally told Fox News that they are “constantly working with federal partners to identify threats and vulnerabilities that could impact the power grid” and, in coordination with the federal partners, are working to “mitigate threats and where appropriate work with the private sector.”

But beyond the North Korea threat, experts also bemoan that Iran, Russia and China too have assimilated EMP attack into their military creeds, posing a significant peril to the United States.

“The very existence of the nation is at stake,” Gaffney added. “We are facing explicit threats to use EMP against us from the North Koreans — and there is a lot of capability to execute such an attack in the hands of other enemies.”

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:47 am

Mollypup wrote:
What has me wondering is that both Hawaii & California are preparing for war. Saw an article on each & can maybe find links later in the morning. I’m just home from work & too tired to bother. That they’re preparing wasn’t much of a surprise. Unless you’re blathering idiots, you’ve got to know by now we’re just a breath away from the next global war. That they went public about it, though, surprised me a little.

Here you go:

Hawaii reportedly prepares for nuclear attack amid North Korea rhetoric
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/22/ha … toric.html

California Is Already Preparing for a North Korean Nuclear Attack
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/25/cal … ar-attack/

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Tue Sep 26, 2017 8:34 am

This is frightening:

Here’s What Could Happen if North Korea Sets Off a Nuclear Explosion in The Pacific
http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what … he-pacific

24 SEP 2017

North Korea may be planning one of the most powerful nuclear explosions in history.

Ring Yong Ho, the foreign minister of the isolated nation, reportedly told journalists that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is considering such a test blast.

“It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific,” Ri told reporters at the United Nations in New York on Thursday, according to a story by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

“We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un.”

The suggestion came in response to bellicose rhetoric exchanged between US President Donald Trump and Jong Un.

In a speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump called Jong Un a suicidal “rocket man” and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if the US is “forced to defend itself or its allies”.

Jong Un allegedly responded with a written statement, in which he called Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard” and said that “a frightened dog barks louder”.

Many experts have denounced Trump’s speech, suggesting his words could provoke Jong Un to take dramatic action.

“Trump is basically creating audience costs for Kim to back down,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told Vox.

“If you dare Kim, it creates pressure for him to respond with his own provocation.”

North Korea has set off several powerful nuclear test blasts in recent years, but they all occurred deep inside a mountain. A nuclear explosion in the air, on the ground, underwater, or in space has not happened in decades.

If the nation sets off an above-ground nuclear explosion – and the most powerful ever detonated in the Pacific – the Cold War’s rich history of test blasts suggests what might happen.

Why atmospheric nuclear tests are dangerous

The US, Russia, China, and other countries have set off more than 2,000 nuclear test blasts since 1945.

More than 500 of these explosions occurred on soil, in space, on barges, or underwater. But most of these happened early in the Cold War – before the risks to innocent people and the environment were well-understood. (Nearly all countries now ban nuclear testing.)

The problem with nuclear test explosions is that they create radioactive fallout. Space detonations come with their own risks, including a more widespread electromagnetic pulse.

Only a fraction of a nuclear weapon’s core is turned into energy during an explosion; the rest is irradiated, melted, and turned into fine particles. This creates a small amount of fallout that can be lofted into the atmosphere and spread around.

But the risk of fallout vastly increases close to the ground or water.

There, a nuclear explosion can suck up dirt, debris, water, and other materials, creating many tons of radioactive fallout – and this material rises high into the atmosphere, where it drifts for hundreds of miles.

This kind of Cold War-era fallout killed scores of innocent people in the Pacific, including Japanese fishermen, and is still causing cancer and health problems around the world today.

Where and how big?

Ri did not specify where or how high its hypothetical Pacific “H-bomb” test might occur. However, the foreign minister did reportedly suggest it could be the most powerful ever detonated in the Pacific.

If this is not a matter of imprecise wording, it would mean the hypothetical blast would exceed the US’ strongest nuclear test ever.

On March 1, 1954, the US military set off the “Shrimp” thermonuclear device on a platform in the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands (about 2,300 miles (3,700 km) southeast of Japan and 2,700 miles (4,350 km) southwest of Hawaii).

This was part of the US military’s Castle Bravo test series, and the blast was equivalent to exploding 15 million tons of TNT, or roughly 1,000 times as powerful the US attack on Hiroshima that inflicted some 150,000 casualties.

While the military considered Shrimp and Bravo a success, its repercussions were disastrous.

Researchers underestimated the device’s explosive power by nearly three-fold – and many were nearly killed when an artificial earthquake shook their concrete observation bunker 20 miles away.

Author and film producer Eric Schlosser, writing in his book Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, captures the raw power of the blast through the perspective of scientist Bernard O’Keefe:

“About ten seconds after Shrimp exploded, the underground bunker seemed to be moving. But that didn’t make any sense. The concrete bunker was anchored to the island, and the walls were three feet thick.

“‘Is this building moving or am I getting dizzy?’ another scientist asked. ‘My God, it is,’ O’Keefe said. ‘It’s moving!’

“O’Keefe began to feel nauseated, as though he were seasick, and held on to a workbench as objects slid around the room. The bunker was rolling and shaking, he later recalled, ‘like it was resting on a bowl of jelly.’ The shock wave from the explosion, travelling through the ground, had reached them faster than the blast wave passing through the air.”

The scientists ultimately escaped alive, but Marshall Islanders located 100 miles from the blast were not so lucky.

Shrimp’s four-mile-wide fireball vaporised about 200 billion tons of Bikini Atoll coral reef, turning much of it into radioactive fallout that spread all over the world. The worst of it sprinkled over atolls to the east, killing many people from radiation sickness.

Today, the 250-foot-deep (76 metre deep), 1-mile-wide (1.6 km wide) crater left by the blast is visible from space.

If North Korea decides to blow up a hydrogen or thermonuclear device – and the most powerful in the Pacific – we could only hope it is not close to the ground.

Missile or no missile?

All of these scenarios assume North Korea sets off a thermonuclear device in a controlled way – via aeroplane, barge, balloon, or some kind of stationary platform.

But the risk to people also largely depends on whether or not North Korea launches a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile or a shorter-range rocket, such as one launched from a submarine.

If successful, such a missile test would show North Korea has miniaturised its weapons. And if the blast appears to be caused by a hydrogen bomb, it would show North Korea could pull off a devastating thermonuclear strike on US soil.

But missiles are prone to failure in multiple ways, especially those in early development. A North Korean ICBM tipped with a nuclear warhead might miss its target by a significant distance, or explode en route.

This could lead to detonation in an unintended place and altitude.

This is especially true if the missile has no self-destruct capability – ICBMs maintained by the US don’t. In that case, only hacking the missile’s software in mid-air, or destroying it with another weapon, could stop the launch.

“The stakes and heat in this conflict have not been this high since the Korean War,” Tristan Webb, a senior analyst for NK News, said in a story published by the outlet on Friday.

“Kim Jong Un said in July that the … showdown was entering its final phase. He appears psychologically prepared for conflict.”

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:29 pm

North Korea crisis in 300 words
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40871848

The North Korean stand-off is a crisis that, at worst, threatens nuclear war, but it’s complicated. Let’s take a step back.
Why does North Korea want nuclear weapons?

The Korean peninsula was divided after World War Two and the communist North developed into a Stalinesque dictatorship.

Almost entirely isolated on the global stage, its leaders say nuclear capabilities are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it.

How close are they?

North Korea claims it has successfully tested a hydrogen bomb – many times more powerful than an atomic bomb – that can be miniaturised and loaded on a long-range missile.

State media called the test “a perfect success”, and although analysts said the claims should be treated with caution, leaked information suggests US intelligence officials do believe North Korea is capable of miniaturisation.

Pyongyang views the US as its main adversary but also has rockets aimed at South Korea and Japan, where thousands of US troops are based.

What has been done to stop them?

Attempts to negotiate aid-for-disarmament deals have repeatedly failed.

The UN has implemented increasingly tough sanctions – to little effect. China, the North’s only real ally, has also put economic and diplomatic pressure on the North.

The US has now threatened military force.

Is it for real this time?

The crisis has been brewing for years, but is at a new level now.

The US is within reach of a strike now, which coupled with the miniaturisation is a game changer. And over the summer, North Korea has grown increasingly provocative, threatening the US Pacific territory of Guam and Japan.

The US responded to the latest test by saying its patience is “not unlimited” and it was ready to respond militarily.

Never has the rhetoric exchanged been more incendiary and personal, and experts are increasingly alarmed.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:27 am

North Korea-US tensions: How worried should you be?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40882877

24 September 2017

The US president has threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea if his country is forced to defend itself or its allies.

North Korea, meanwhile, has conducted its sixth nuclear test, threatened to fire off missiles towards the US island territory of Guam and said it might test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean.

And all this comes amid reports that Pyongyang may have finally succeeded in miniaturising a nuclear weapon that could fit on an inter-continental missile – a prospect long-dreaded by the US and its Asian allies.

Is this a precursor to military conflict?

Experts say you should not panic – just yet. This is why:

1. Nobody wants war

This is one of the most important things to keep in mind. A war on the Korean peninsula serves no-one’s interests.

The North Korean government’s main goal is survival – and direct conflict with the US would seriously jeopardise it. As BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus notes, any North Korean attack against the US or its allies in the current context could quickly spiral into a wider war – and we have to assume the Kim Jong-un government is not suicidal.

In fact, this is why North Korea has been trying so hard to become a nuclear-armed power. Having this capability, it reasons, would protect the government by raising the costs of toppling it. Kim Jong-un does not want to go the way of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul told the UK’s Guardian newspaper there was “very little probability of conflict” but North Koreans were equally “not interested in diplomacy” at this point.

“They want to get the ability to wipe out Chicago from the map first, and then they will be interested in diplomatic solutions,” Mr Lankov said.

What about a pre-emptive US strike?

The US knows that a strike on North Korea would force the government there to retaliate against US allies South Korea and Japan.

This would result in a massive loss of life, including the deaths of thousands of Americans – troops and civilians.

Additionally, Washington does not want to risk any nuclear-tipped missiles being fired off towards the US mainland.

Finally, China – Pyongyang’s only ally – has helped to prop up the North Korean government precisely because its collapse is deemed to be a strategically worse outcome. US and South Korean troops just across the Chinese border is a prospect that Beijing does not want to have to face – and that is what war would bring.
2. What you are seeing are words, not actions

President Trump might have threatened North Korea with language uncommon for a US president but this does not mean the US is actively moving on to a war footing.

As one anonymous US military official told Reuters news agency back in August: “Just because the rhetoric goes up, doesn’t mean our posture changes.”

New York Times columnist Max Fisher agrees: “These are the sorts of signals, not a leader’s offhand comments, that matter most in international relations.”

What is more, after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test in early September and missile tests over Japan, the US has reverted to a tried and true tactic: squeezing Pyongyang through UN Security Council and unilateral sanctions.

And its diplomats are still speaking hopefully of returning to the negotiating table – pointing to support from China and Russia.

These send conflicting signals to Pyongyang but also moderate the tough rhetoric coming from President Trump.

Still, some analysts say a misinterpreted move in the current tense environment could lead to an accidental war. And it is worth noting that US bombers have recently flown close to North Korea in a show of force.

“There could be a power outage in North Korea that they mistake as a part of a pre-emptive attack. The United States might make a mistake on the [Demilitarised Zone],” Daryl Kimball, of US think tank Arms Control Association, told the BBC. “So there are various ways in which each side can miscalculate and the situation escalates out of control”.

3. We have been here before

As former US Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley points out, the US and North Korea came close to armed conflict in 1994, when Pyongyang refused to allow international inspectors into its nuclear facilities. Diplomacy won out.

Over the years, North Korea has regularly made incendiary threats against the US, Japan and South Korea, several times threatening to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire”.

And Mr Trump’s rhetoric – in content, if not style – is also not exactly unprecedented from a US president.

“In many different forms, albeit not as colourful, the US has always said that if North Korea ever attacks, the regime will cease to exist,” Mr Crowley writes.

The difference this time, he adds, is the US president has appeared to suggest he might take pre-emptive action (though Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has played this down.)

This kind of unpredictable, bellicose rhetoric coming from the White House is unusual and does have people worried, analysts say.

South Korea – the US ally with the most to lose from a confrontation with the North – has called for a cooling of rhetoric from both Pyongyang and the White House.

No one wants Kim Jong-un to think an attack might be imminent.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:26 am

North Korea accuses US of declaring war
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41391978

North Korea’s foreign minister has accused US President Donald Trump of declaring war on his country.

Ri Yong-ho told reporters in New York that North Korea reserved the right to shoot down US bombers.

This applied even when they were not in North Korean airspace, the minister added. The world “should clearly remember” it was the US that first declared war, Mr Ri said.

The two sides have been engaged in an increasingly angry war of words.

Despite weeks of tension, experts have played down the risk of direct conflict between the two.

After Mr Ri addressed the United Nations on Saturday, the US president responded by tweeting that Mr Ri and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “won’t be around much longer” if they continued their rhetoric.

Mr Ri’s response came as he was leaving New York, following the UN General Assembly.

“In light of the declaration of war by Trump, all options will be on the operations table of the supreme leadership of the DPRK [North Korea],” he added.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!
11:08 PM – Sep 23, 2017

North Korea has continued to carry out nuclear and ballistic missile tests in recent weeks, in defiance of successive rounds of UN sanctions.

The country’s leaders say nuclear capabilities are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it.

After the North’s latest and most powerful nuclear test earlier this month, the UN Security Council approved new sanctions on the country.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:23 am

Trump Will Not Strike North Korea Because Pyongyang Can Hit Back, Unlike Iraq, Says Russia
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-not- … sia-670364

9/25/17

The U.S. won’t take on North Korea by force, Russia’s top diplomat has said, because Pyongyang has weapons that would posed a credible retaliatory threat.

Pointing to the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state-run NTV channel the U.S. only invaded Iraq after being totally sure that the country could not hit back, and the knowledge that North Korea can do so will prevent action from Washington.

Speaking about the budding crisis around the Korean peninsula, where the North has demonstrated numerous times this summer that it is both expanding the range of its missiles and the intensity of its nuclear detonation abilities, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov harked back to 2003 invasion.

Part of the justification for the operation in Iraq was the allegation by the U.S. and U.K. that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. However, Lavrov suggested the U.S. knew there were no such weapons, that the U.S. “struck entirely because they had 100 percent information that there were no weapons of mass destruction there.”

The U.S. deployed troops to Iraq and did not hit use any weapons of mass destruction of its own.

“The Americans will not hit North Korea because they not only suspect but they know that [North Korea] has a nuclear bomb,” Lavrov told his interviewer. “I am not defending North Korea right now, I am only saying that practically everyone agrees with this analysis.”

Should the tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalate into conflict with targeted strikes, Lavrov said “tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands” of innocent civilians in North and South Korea, as well as possibly Japan and elsewhere would suffer.

Lavrov spoke in response to the mounting war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s state media, with a particular highlight of the feud coming during Trump’s first address to the U.N. General Assembly. In his address Trump doubled down on his nuclear warnings to Pyongyang, telling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that he is “rocket man on a suicide mission.”

Although Russia and China supported the last U.S. drafted batch of sanctions on Pyongyang, earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing oppose further action against the regime that does not involve diplomatic talks.

In principle both countries object to North Korea’s nuclear proliferation goals, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to move toward acceptance that Pyongyang achieving nuclear capabilities was inevitable earlier this month.

He told reporters that no amount of sanctions would curb Pyongyang’s program as North Koreans would “eat grass” before they gave up on their militarization.

Russia and China finished the second stage of their joint naval drill in Pacific waters near the Korean peninsula on Monday, drafting over a dozen ships in it.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:21 am

Trump: North Korean leaders ‘won’t be around much longer’ if they strike US
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/24 … ke-us.html

September 24 2017

If North Korea’s foreign minister hoped to draw a response from U.S. President Donald Trump with his Saturday speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he succeeded.

“Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N.,” the president tweeted late Saturday. “If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!
11:08 PM – Sep 23, 2017

The president was referring to Ri Yong Ho, who on Saturday called Trump “a mentally deranged person full of megalomania,” and promised that a strike on the U.S. mainland was “inevitable.”

“Little Rocket Man” was Trump’s now-infamous label for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

With his tweet, Trump seemed to reiterate a previous asserton that any strike by North Korea against the U.S. or its allies would be met with an overwhelming response.

The address by Ri in New York City began as the Pentagon announced it had flown bombers and fighter escorts to the farthest point north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone by any such American aircraft this century.

“This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat,” Defense Department spokesman Dana White said in a statement.

“North Korea’s weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies,” White said.

The Pentagon said B-1B bombers from Guam, along with F-15C Eagle fighter escorts from Okinawa, Japan, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea on Saturday. Unlike on previous so-called “show of force” missions, the U.S. aircraft were not accompanied by South Korean or Japanese planes.

“While conducted unilaterally, this mission was coordinated with regional allies – namely the Republic of Korea and Japan – and was a strong testament to our ironclad alliance,” U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Cmdr. Dave Benham told Fox News, using the official name for South Korea.

B-1 bombers are no longer part of the U.S. nuclear force, but they are capable of dropping large numbers of conventional bombs.

U.S. Pacific Command would not be more specific about many years it had been since U.S. bombers and fighters had flown that far north of the DMZ, but Benham noted that this century “encompasses the period North Korea has been testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.”

At the United Nations, Ri said that his country’s nuclear force is “to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion, and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S.”

He also said that Trump’s depiction of Kim as “Rocket Man” makes “our rocket’s visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.”

Trump on Friday had renewed his rhetorical offensive against Kim.

“Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!” the president tweeted.

On Thursday, Trump announced more economic sanctions against the impoverished and isolated country, targeting foreign companies that deal with the North.

“North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime,” Trump said as he joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a meeting in New York.

Hours later, Kim responded by saying Trump was “deranged” and vowed the president would “pay dearly” for threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies against an attack.

In a speech last week at the United Nations, Trump had issued the warning of potential obliteration and mocked the North’s young autocrat as a “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission.”

Trump’s executive order expanded the Treasury Department’s ability to target anyone conducting significant trade in goods, services or technology with North Korea, and to ban them from interacting with the U.S. financial system.

Trump also said China was imposing major banking sanctions, too, but there was no immediate confirmation from the North’s most important trading partner.

If enforced, the Chinese action Trump described could severely impede the isolated North’s ability to raise money for its missile and nuclear development. China, responsible for about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade, serves as the country’s conduit to the international banking system.

North Korea has said it intends to build a missile capable of striking all parts of the United States with a nuclear bomb. Trump has said he won’t allow it, although the U.S. so far has not used military force to impede the North’s progress.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:51 am

U.S.-North Korea dispute will end in war if China doesn’t intervene: Ralph Peters
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/u-north … 16662.html

September 22, 2017

Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters discusses the most recent threat from North Korea, which on Friday said it might test a nuclear bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

VIDEO at this link …..

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:48 am

North Korea’s latest threat to the US was unlike any other from the country
http://www.businessinsider.com/north-ko … omb-2017-9

Sep. 21, 2017

North Korea’s warning to President Donald Trump and the US on Thursday certainly included the country’s usual fiery rhetoric, but underneath its superfluous metaphors it may have been signaling a more personal message.

The statement, which called Trump “a frightened dog” and a “dotard,” was delivered by Kim Jong Un himself, and it even included a picture of the North Korean leader sitting behind a desk, apparently reading from the statement.

Though official communications from North Korea are normally filled with bellicose remarks and often met with skepticism, the country’s latest one appeared to take on a more overt personal tone, according to North Korea experts. Such a move is not typical of the country.

Kim’s statement took a jab at Trump in part by echoing critics who have rebuked Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks in the early months of his presidency.

Describing Trump’s Tuesday appearance before the UN General Assembly, Kim said: “I expected he would make stereotyped, prepared remarks a little different from what he used to utter in his office on the spur of the moment as he had to speak on the world’s biggest official diplomatic stage.

“But, far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be helpful to defusing tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors.”

Meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, Trump doubled down and moved to impose further sanctions against North Korea on top of the UN Security Council’s recent sanctions.

During his UN speech, Trump decried North Korea’s continued provocations and said if it threatened the US, the US would “have no choice but to totally destroy” the country.

North Korea already appeared to be following through with its latest threat. Shortly after Kim made his statement, North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong Ho said his country may consider testing a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

“It could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific,” Ri said. “We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un.”

It was not immediately clear whether North Korea was planning such an action. The country successfully tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb earlier this month, and it conducted another missile test days later.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:46 am

Hawaii reportedly prepares for nuclear attack amid North Korea rhetoric
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/22/ha … toric.html

Sept 23 2017

Hawaii officials have reportedly been urging residents to prepare for a nuclear attack, the stunning plea coming amid increasingly unnerving rhetoric — and actions — from North Korea.

Aloha State authorities were working to educate and prepare residents for a possible atomic attack by telling them to consider preparing in the same way they’d prep for a tsunami, the Washington Post reported.

“Now it’s time to take it seriously,” Hawaii state Rep. Gene Ward, a Republican, said, “not to be an alarmist, but to be informing people.”

North Korea’s foreign minister has said the Communist nation may test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean after dictator Kim Jong Un vowed he would take the “highest-level” action against the United States, South Korean media reported Thursday.

Ri Yong Ho made the comments on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Yonhap news agency reported.

“We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un,” Yonhap quoted Ri as saying.

Such a test would be considered a major provocation by the U.S., South Korea and Japan. Ri was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, a day later than previously scheduled.

Ri’s comments followed Kim’s extraordinary statement lashing out at President Trump, calling the American leader “deranged” and vowing that Trump would “pay dearly” for his threat to destroy North Korea.

Kim’s first-person statement was published by North Korea’s state propaganda arm in response to Trump’s fiery speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. South Korean media called it the first such direct address to the world by Kim.

Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said Kim’s statement indicated that North Korea would respond to Trump with its most aggressive missile test yet. That might include firing a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan to a range of around 4,349 miles, to display a capability to reach Hawaii or Alaska.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:45 am

Several videos at this link:

Electromagnetic pulse threat from North Korea
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/09/1 … orth-korea

VIDEO: Retired Navy SEAL breaks down threat of EMP attack

While the world has been fixated on North Korea’s growing nuclear missile arsenal, the rogue state’s threats against the West now include a weapon that can take down a country’s electricity grid.

In a rare reference this month, North Korea’s state news agency touched on its ability to carry out an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack.

The weapon, Pyongyang said, “is a multifunctional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP attack”.

Sydney-based security expert Euan Graham, of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, told Nine.com.au an EMP strike would be triggered by the detonation of a nuclear weapon tens or hundreds of kilometres above the earth.

“Electromagnetic waves from the nuclear explosion would generate pulses to swamp the electric grid and electronic devices over the target area,” he explained.

VIDEO

Dr Graham explained its potential was realised in the 1950s and 1960s by American hydrogen bomb testing.

In one Pacific test, in 1962, the lights went out in Honolulu, almost 2000 kilometres from the blast site.

To that end, an EMP is more a weapon of mass disruption than one of mass destruction: such a weapon would not directly kill people or turn buildings to rubble.

But its effect on a heavily technology-dependent society such as the US or Japan would be potentially devastating.

Outages would likely last for months, crippling electricity supply and leaving hospitals and other critical infrastructure with power.

VIDEO

Emergency workers couldn’t function normally, and people could run short of food and water supplies.

Alarm bells about an EMP’s threat were raised in a 2008 report by the US Congress.

It warned an attack “can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences”.

Just as alarming is the apparent low-tech delivery of an EMP weapon.

“Even a balloon-lofted warhead detonated at 30 kilometres altitude could blackout the [US] Eastern Grid that supports most of the population and generates 75 percent of US electricity,” William Graham, chairman of the US congressional commission, wrote in an article published by 38 North website.

But Dr Graham strikes a note of caution.

VIDEO

He told Nine.com.au an EMP is not the priority weapon for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

“It’s not their first priority. They are more concerned about building a belts and braces nuclear strike force to deter the US.”

But Dr Graham says the biggest hurdle to North Korea deploying an EMP is the retaliation it would attract.

The US would regard any EMP detonation above it as a nuclear strike.

“Nuclear use is nuclear use,” he explained.

And the consequences for North Korea could be catastrophic.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:43 am

Are We Really Capable of Shooting Down North Korean Missiles?
http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/north-k … s-09202017

September 20, 2017

According to some analysts, Americans may be overly confident in our military’s ability to shoot down North Korean missiles if the country were to attempt to strike. Maybe the reason we haven’t shot down North Korea’s test missiles is that we can’t. While we all certainly hope that our military would be able to successfully defend the country against incoming missiles, we need to be prepared for any possibility.

According to an article by Joe Cirincione of Defense One, the reason we don’t shoot down North Korea’s missiles when they fire them over Japan is because…

We don’t have the capability.

Joe Cirincione is the president of Ploughshares Fund and the author of several books about nuclear weapons, including Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late.

According to Cirincione, when Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, “We didn’t intercept it because no damage to Japanese territory was expected,” this was only partially true. It wasn’t a threat, but they didn’t have the capability to shoot it down due to the altitude.

Neither Japan nor the United States could have intercepted the missile. None of the theater ballistic missile defense weapons in existence can reach that high. It is hundreds of kilometers too high for the Aegis interceptors deployed on Navy ships off Japan. Even higher for the THAAD systems in South Korea and Guam. Way too high for the Patriot systems in Japan, which engage largely within the atmosphere.

All of these are basically designed to hit a missile in the post-mid-course or terminal phase, when it is on its way down, coming more or less straight at the defending system. Patriot is meant to protect relatively small areas such as ports or air bases; THAADdefends a larger area; the advanced Aegis system theoretically could defend thousands of square kilometers. (source)

Well, that’s unsettling. So, what if we engaged the missile before it reached that high?

Cirincione says that too is unlikely to be successful.

There is almost no chance of hitting a North Korean missile on its way up unless an Aegis ship was deployed very close to the launch point, perhaps in North Korean waters. Even then, it would have to chase the missile, a race it is unlikely to win. In the only one or two minutes of warning time any system would have, the probability of a successful engagement drops close to zero. (source)

But don’t take Cirincione’s word for it. In his article, he cited other experts who echo his sentiments. Jonathon McDowell. an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, tweeted in response to someone questioning why we didn’t shoot down NK’s missiles: Screen Shot 2017-09-25 at 11.40.52 AM.png

As well, he quoted Jerry Doyle, deputy business editor for Asia at The New York Times:

“It’s actually virtually impossible to shoot down a missile on the way up. Midcourse or terminal are the only places you have a shot.” (source)

While I’m not sure how a business editor has special knowledge of our nuclear defense system, all of these sentiments certainly raise the question:

IF WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO SHOOT DOWN NORTH KOREAN MISSILES, WHY HAVEN’T WE DONE SO?

If we attempted to shoot down a North Korean missile and missed, it would be a major propaganda coup for Kim Jong Un.

When our military practiced this, they managed to shoot down 2 out of 3 missiles.

A lot of people are putting a great deal of hope in American missile defense systems, but it’s important to note that a couple of weeks ago in a test over the Pacific, our defense system failed. This was subsequent to a previous success.

A medium-range ballistic missile was launched from a test range in Hawaii at 7:20 pm local time, but the interceptor missile fired at sea from USS John Paul Jones, a guided-missile destroyer, missed the target.

“A planned intercept was not achieved,” the statement said. (source)

That’s disconcerting. After the failed test, there was a third test which was successful, but it’s very important to realize that our military isn’t infallible. If our rate is 2 out of 3 missiles shot down, that means that 1 out of 3 still gets through and wreaks destruction.

So, could we actually shoot down a missile “gift package” as Kim Jong Un creepily calls it?

The unsettling answer is, maybe.

Maybe, if we were expecting it, if the conditions were right, if we were close enough, if it was low enough, if we were in a perfect position.

There are way too many “ifs” in there for me to feel fully confident in our ability to shoot down North Korean missiles before they strike the mainland, which experts now believe they have the ability to reach. We also know that North Korea also possesses the ability to create hydrogen bombs. And as I’ve written before, if you believe this is all a big set up for a false flag event, that would hardly matter to those nearby if such a thing were to happen.

If you aren’t prepped for the potential of a nuclear strike, it’s time to start learning what you need to do. (This article and this class can help you.) It’s essential to remember that in the event of a nuclear strike, if you aren’t at Ground Zero, there is an excellent chance you will survive if you are prepared with information and the right supplies. And if you know what to do, you can survive without the aftereffects of radiation.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Mon Sep 25, 2017 10:39 am

Gen. Mattis is know for his hard-line talk on NOKO. If this gets ‘kicked’ to him, will the SHTF with this? I know some of you have said you don’t think anything will be done against NOKO. Even with Gen Mattis?

Nikki Haley to North Korea: ‘No problem’ letting Mattis deal with you
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09 … -with.html

September 15, 2017

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned North Korea on Friday that she is more than willing to let Defense Secretary Jim Mattis deal with the nuclear threat from Pyongyang if sanctions do not work.

Haley said recent sanctions have “strangled” North Korea’s “economic situation,” calling the impact “dramatic.”

But she said there’s only so much the U.N. Security Council can do “when you cut 90 percent of the trade and 30 percent of the oil.”

“So having said that, I have no problem kicking it to General Mattis because I think he has plenty of options,” Haley said at the White House briefing, where she and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster previewed U.S. efforts at the U.N. General Assembly next week.

North Korea conducted its longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile Friday, sending an intermediate-range weapon hurtling over U.S. ally Japan into the northern Pacific Ocean in a launch that signals both defiance of its rivals and a big technological advance.

McMaster stressed Friday that the U.S. is still trying to resolve the conflict diplomatically. Joining Haley at the briefing, he said it’s important to employ “rigorous enforcement of those sanctions” in pursuit of that route but acknowledged the United States is willing to use force.

“There is a military option,” he said. “Now, it’s not what we prefer to do. So what we have to do is call on all nations, call on everyone to do everything we can to address this global problem short of war.”

He said “denuclearization” is the only acceptable outcome.

“We’re out of time,” McMaster said. “As Ambassador Haley said before, we’ve been kicking the can down the road and we’re out of road.”

Since President Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” in August, the North has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to send missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles of increasing range over Japan.

The Security Council scheduled an emergency closed-door meeting Friday afternoon in New York. On Monday, it unanimously approved its toughest sanctions yet on North Korea over its nuclear test.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:40 pm

South Korean Preppers: Government Instructs Citizens How to Get Ready for War
http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/south-k … r-09152017

September 15, 2017

The government of South Korea is making every effort to turn its citizens into a country of survivalists. With the ever-increasing threats from the North, South Korean preppers are becoming mainstream, instead of a quirky fringe element.

Just last night, Kim Jong Un fired yet another ballistic missile over Japan, spitting in the face of international pressure. It seems difficult to imagine that he’s going to just eat a Snickers and chill out. So wisely, his closest neighbors are preparing for the worst.

The South Korean President isn’t taking this lying down. “In case North Korea undertakes provocations against us or our ally, we have the power to destroy (the North) beyond recovery.” (source)This threat most likely will not please the Dear Leader of North Korea, so it’s probably safe to predict even greater hostilities on the horizon.

South Koreans have been warned to get ready.

The South Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security has issued guidelines for a variety of attacks to their citizens due to the ever-increasing risk of an attack by North Korea. Here are some brief quotes from the Ministry. Go here to read the whole thing.

1. The basics

Despite living under constant threat of war, South Koreans rarely possess emergency supply kits at home or know how to assemble one. This may be an opportunity to put one together, since it is helpful not just in war, but in other emergencies, such as an earthquake or flood.

According to the Security Ministry, the kit should at least include these items: necessary medications, a battery-powered radio with extra batteries, a flashlight, candles, gas masks, as well as food and water for at least three days…

2. In case of North Korean artillery barrage

North Korea often threatens to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.” South Koreans, so used to the regime’s fiery rhetoric, don’t even blink at such threats. To be sure, though, Pyongyang has thousands of conventional artillery lined up toward Seoul, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

In such an attack, the first step is to relocate to fallout shelters. Make sure you know where to head when at home, work, school or places where you regularly spend time.

There are around 24,000 shelters nationwide in public buildings, subway stations and underground parking spaces…

3. If it involves chemical weapons?

When a chemical weapons attack occurs, a person must immediately cover his or her face with a gas mask or other cloth, and seek safety in higher places.

Animal corpses are one of the first signs of such attacks. Usually corpses of birds and fish will be spotted on ground and in the water.

High ground nearby such as a rooftop is the most convenient place to seek refuge when a deadly chemical agent is unleashed. Most chemical gases, such as sarin, are denser than air, which means they will sink to the ground.

The wind will carry toxic materials, so an escapee must head toward the opposite direction of the blowing wind…

4. To survive a nuclear blast?

A nuclear bomb can only delivered by a missile and South Korean and US militaries here will be able to detect any preparation for a launch. So there will be a loud alarm going on to alert people on the imminent missile attack, whether it is a nuclear attack or not.

Even in a nuclear attack, there is a chance to survive if you manage to go at least 15 meters below ground. Find subway stations. If there is no underground facility nearby, hide inside lead or concrete structures. (source)

Citizens are taking the advice seriously.

An article published in the South Korean Times states, “The number of doomsday pessimists is rapidly growing here, as is shown from the number of relevant YouTube videos and their views.”

The article goes on to describe a video by a popular female comedian that teaches watchers how to create a bug-out bag. But that’s not all. South Korean preppers are becoming mainstream.

When typing “survival bag” in Korean on the video-streaming platform, more than 21,000 relevant videos, mostly uploaded in recent months, are found. This shows that the series of military provocations by Pyongyang in recent months has scared more and more people in South Korea.

“Sales of combat rations, self-powered radios and gas masks surge for a few days after a North Korean provocation,” said Kim Hyun-tak, CEO of the outdoor and prepper goods store Hangangsa.

“The three are considered basic items in the case of war,” he said. “While combat rations have steady popularity for the whole year, gas masks are rarely sold unless the North launches a missile or conducts a nuclear test. The pattern has been almost the same for many years.”

…Other basic items used by preppers include Polar-shield sleeping bags, portable lanterns and emergency medical kits…

The ministry states each household should obtain processed food provisions for 15 to 30 days to prepare for possible war. It also urges households to pile up enough water, and blankets and clothes that can keep people warm. Other recommended accessories in time of war include a portable battery, gloves and personal hygiene products such as toothbrushes and towels, according to the ministry.(source)

It’s nice to see that South Koreans are heeding the warnings. Of course, any person living that close to the DMZ would be insane not to be taking action to prepare themselves.
When the warnings start, it’s often too late.

Generally speaking, the more dependent a citizenry is, the easier they are to control. In my book, The Pantry Primer, I wrote about the history of using food as a weapon of manipulation by governments throughout history. Whenever the government gives up the Nanny stance and tells people that they need to put on their big kid pants and take care of themselves, there’s reason for concern.

We’ve seen this before.

If you’ve been following collapses around the world for the past few years, you know that right before all heck breaks loose, the government issues a half-hearted warning along the lines of, “You’re on your own now.” But by then, it’s already too late. People who try to prepare after the government tells them to will be dealing with limited supplies as everyone else tries to get prepped too.

The lesson that we can take from this is that being prepared far in advance of a collapse is the wisest course of action. If you stock up on emergency food, water, and other vital supplies before the crowd, you’ll do so at better prices with better options.

Hopefully, South Korean preppers will be able to access the supplies they need at prices they can afford before North Korea speeds up the timeline. Once the attacks are incoming, it will be too late.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:21 pm

A war with North Korea — the American people aren’t ready
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/09/ … ready.html

September 14, 2017

When it comes to North Korea, much digital ink as has been spilled by yours truly on these very pages concerning the dangers and challenges ahead—demonstrated by North Korea’s latest missile launch—when it comes to dealing with and deterring the so-called “hermit kingdom.”

So, let me spare you hours of reading countless articles, op-eds, and tweets.

To be honest, there is only one thing you really need to know: A war with North Korea—meaning a full-blown, all out conflict where nuclear, chemical, biological and large amounts of conventional weapons are used—would be a war like no other.

Such a conflict would be nothing like the First Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, the Second Gulf War or Libya.

One way to achieve such a result would be a North Korean attack on South Korea’s vast civilian nuclear infrastructure. Remember Chernobyl or the nuclear tragedy in Japan a few years ago? Well Pyongyang could weaponize such a disaster with ease.

Oh no, this would be an epic conflict where millions of people on the Korean Peninsula, in Japan and even in the U.S. homeland could lose their lives in the most horrific of ways.

Some might call such talk fear-mongering. But I call it reality—and we need to face up to it. Now.

Imagine large cities like Seoul, Tokyo, and perhaps Los Angeles turned to atomic ash before it’s all over. Imagine the millions of internally and externally displaced refugees whose lives would be destroyed from the sheer carnage. Then, imagine the trillions of dollars needed to put back together the economics pieces, to say nothing of the hopes and dreams of countless millions of people that would be wiped out in a nuclear nightmare that seems almost unthinkable.

Accept this nightmare is all too real.

And thanks to administration after administration—Democrat and Republican—who decided taking on North Korea was just not worth the risk, who thought patience, appeasement or bribery were better choices, we now face a crisis with no easy solution.

While I have already gone into specific detail over just how horrific just a conflict would be thanks to war games I have conducted over the years, such a war would be waged on many different fronts and have many pathways towards a humanitarian disaster that this planet has not seen in decades.

For example, North Korea does not need to launch a full-out nuclear attack on America and its allies to kill scores of people—it just needs to get a little creative.

One way to achieve such a result would be a North Korean attack on South Korea’s vast civilian nuclear infrastructure. Remember Chernobyl or the nuclear tragedy in Japan a few years ago? Well Pyongyang could weaponize such a disaster with ease.

Seoul operates 24 nuclear power plants that could all come under North Korean attack. And while these plants are relatively far from the north, Kim Jong Un does not have to be a military mastermind to conceive of a way to destroy such nuclear reactors, spreading atomic materials across the Korean Peninsula and into Northeast Asia. With many of these facilities lumped together, Pyongyang could fire a salvo of missiles at these plants with devastating impact.

Or, Kim could utilize his special forces who could infiltrate the south from tunnels or who could already be in place, launching terror attacks against such facilities. If North Korea were to destroy just a few reactors, imagine multiple Chernobyl-style nuclear disasters while South Korean and U.S. forces are trying to fight North Korea’s other forces. With millions of people trying to flee the inevitable radioactive fallout, fear might just be Kim Jong Un’s best weapon.

Considering the dangers America and its allies face, the Trump Administration needs to do all it can to contain the North Korea threat. As I have said on a few occasions here, our best strategy is to eliminate any possible funds going into North Korea, driving up the costs for Kim to deploy his military assets and develop new even more dangerous weapons of mass destruction.

Team Trump should begin by asking for a new and much more robust sanctions package at the UN—something that makes Pyongyang finally pay for its risky actions. As an oil embargo is unlikely to pass and could destabilize the regime—something that could be even worse than a war—North Korea should be stopped from exporting its slave labor that it uses to make important hard currency, currency that of course goes into funding its military machine. Such a practice is nothing but revolting, and should have never been allowed in the first place.

President Trump should also announce that any entity that is caught helping the North Koreans evade sanctions, whether it’s Chinese banks or businesses or any private firm or entity from any nation, would be immediately banned from doing any business in the U.S.

In fact, President Trump should embrace a bipartisan bill crafted by Senators Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, called the North Korean Enablers Accountability Act. The bill, if passed, would “ban any entity that does business with North Korea or its enablers from using the United States financial system, and impose U.S. sanctions on all those participating in North Korean labor trafficking abuses.” The president should push for such legislation to be passed without delay, but include a 30-day grace period so such entities could be given a chance to halt their activities. But after that, it’s time these entities suffer for enabling a regime that has as many as 200,000 in prison camps and treats their citizens like prisoners.

But whatever the Trump Administration decides to do—they need to do it now. Letting North Korea slip off our collective national security radar once again for whatever the other challenge of the day is would be a big mistake. We could end up paying for such a mistake with countless innocent American lives—a tragedy we have the power to avoid.

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:33 am

North Korea launches ballistic missile over Japan – live updates
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ … ve-updates

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:05 pm

Blondie wrote:
News reports early this evening have NK launching what appears to be an ICBM over Japan.

North Korea launches missile from its capital after threat to send Japan ‘into the sea’
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/n … -1.3495728

September 14, 2017

North Korea fired another ballistic missile over Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea’s military said Friday.

The missile was launched from Sunan – the location of North Korea’s international airport in Pyongyang – around 6:57 a.m. and traveled about 2,300 miles, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Japan’s state broadcaster NHK said the recent missile was fired toward the northeast of Japan.

President Trump was briefed on the North’s missile launch Thursday, the White House said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called out China and Russia for not standing up to North Korea.

“China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor,” Tillerson said in a statement. “China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own.”

An emergency UN Security Council meeting on North Korea has been scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The latest launch comes as North Korea’s propaganda arm suggested the hermetic nation could send Japan “into the sea,” ruffling feathers in an already tense region.

“The four islands of the (Japanese) archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche,” the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried Thursday by the Korea Central News Agency. “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us.”

Juche is North Korea’s term for its ideology of self-reliance.

The North’s propaganda threat came after the UN Security Council passed its toughest sanctions yet against North Korea, which earlier this month conducted its sixth nuclear test.

The statement Thursday referred to the 15-member UN Security Council as a “tool of evil” comprised of “money-bribed” nations led by the U.S.

North Korea additionally threatened to “reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes and darkness.”

“Let’s vent our spite with mobilization of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now,” reads the statement from the Peace Committee, which is tied to the Workers’ Party that runs North Korea.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the remarks provocative and said this “escalates tensions in the region.”

“If North Korea stays the course that it is on, it will increasingly become isolated from the world,” Suga told reporters, according to Bloomberg.

Thursday’s tension flareup also came amid reports that its Sept. 3 weapon test diminished the peak of a mountain.

The test appeared to be done on an 85-acre side known as Punggye-ri, the Washington Post reported.

Synthetic Aperture Radar images captured via satellite on Aug. 26 and Sept. 6 showed changes to Mount Mantap before and after North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb.

“Prior to the test, Mount Mantap was 2,205 meters high; the mountain has since diminished in height,” Jeffrey Lewer of James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies wrote on the Arms Control Wonk blog.

North Korea likely tested the hydrogen bomb in an older tunnel complex below the mountain, he continued.

The isolated dictatorship’s mounting weapons program has spooked neighbor South Korea.

A Gallup Korea poll published last week found 60% of the nation’s citizens favor it developing its own nuclear weapons, while 35% opposed the idea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in threw cold water on that suggestion.

” “I do not agree that South Korea needs to develop our own nuclear weapons or relocate tactical nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea’s nuclear threat,” Moon told CNN on Thursday in his first interview since North Korea’s latest weapons test.

He did, however, say South Korea “needs to develop our military capabilities in the face of North Korea’s nuclear advancement.”

Tillerson arrived in London on Thursday to discuss North Korea — as well as Libya — with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

A day earlier, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned North Korea its nuclear weapons were no match for the U.S. arsenal.

“You can leave no doubt at all,” Mattis told reporters during a trip to a nuclear weapons base in North Dakota. “Don’t try it. It won’t work. You can’t take us out.”

Statistics: Posted by ReadyMom — Thu Sep 14, 2017 10:05 pm