Issue 339 Missile Troops May 20, 2014

Missile troops are a concept that comes from the Chinese Military.  These troops as part of the military would play a completely new and defensive role in protecting our boarders and our interests abroad.  So let's discuss what they are and how it works.

Goals:   Missile troops have a few primary goals.  The first is active defense for both air, land and sea (plus space in the not so distant future).  So their targets will be enemy satellites, aircraft, ships, missile and stationary or moving land based targets.  In being able to strike these targets, they in their second goal must be able to do so as far away as possible (as distance equals safety for them and those they protect). Finally, as these troops are primarily defensive with some offensive capability, their final goal is to control access to certain areas thus corralling enemy action to specific areas and denying access to others.

How it works:  This new arm, or additional capability to a branch of service will integrate capabilities from all the branches of the armed forces and their infrastructure optimized primarily for stationary long term deployments.  In this way the primary medium for action will be forward deployed land bases insulated from attack by being underground.  Control stations will connect to missile silos via fiber-optic cables (which prevents the enemy jamming the communication signals) which are equipped with rotating magazines to shoot various types of missiles to allow variety in meeting the various threats they may have to defeat.  These troops may also be equipped with energy weapons to allow for unlimited ammo against their targets that are within line of sight.  

In addition, mobile land based systems may be created to further defense and allow for the protection of military bases abroad.  Naval versions of this system will be given to Cruisers or Destroyers to act as the defenders of the fleet with the only disadvantages to these more mobile systems being limited ammunition and power consumption.  

Obstacles: The main obstacle is the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty between the United States and Russia which limits the range of short range to medium range missiles by prohibiting missiles with any range between 500 and 5500 kilometers. This treaty would have to be abolished to accommodate this system to make it effective.  Another obstacle is the Army's organization.  It consists of three primary groups, maneuver, strike and supply.  This new organization takes capabilities from maneuver and a lot from the strike (artillery) portions of the Army which will cause resistance by these groups.  Other branches like the Air-force and Navy may also protest as portions of their capabilities are taken to support the creation and successful deployment of this new form of soldier.  Outside of these institutional blockages, this must all be budgeted for by Congress.

Solutions to the Problems:  I hypothesis that the treaty can be easily revoked by Russia if the United States asked.  They have their own strategic interests in revoking the treaty and it can be altered to simply restrict nuclear warheads of that range rather than all missiles in general. 

As to the institutional blockages by the other members of the military.  Most of the commands will be integrated into the new structure, but rather than create a brand new group (in my opinion), the Army's strike portion which governs the use of artillery can integrate these new capabilities into themselves.  By doing so, the overarching members of the Army will overrule the maneuver portion, and thus lessen the blockage by one of the most important groups in the defense of our nation.  In effect, all defensive and offensive land based systems will be integrated into the strike component of the army which will include specialized infantry equipped with specialized indirect munitions all the way through intercontinental ballistic missiles.  

To take care of the Navy and Air-Force, (I believe) they each should get their own role in this new system.  The Navy will act as sea going versions of this system to defend bases and fleet operations (though they already have this capability there is a chance it will expand further to include newer more powerful systems).  In the case of the Air-Force, they (if developed) will have satellite based versions of this system and also if feasible air based versions of this defensive system as well.  As this entire concept is supposed to work with area denial technologies like mine-warfare, fighters to intercept enemy air craft and missiles, subs and cyber warfare the Navy and Air-Force will gain or reorganize existing capabilities to use these functions as part of their support of this new group of soldiers.

Conclusion:  This new form of defensive system which obviously integrates many forms of new missile technology, newer energy weapons and (if my opinion holds) older and proven classic artillery with technological enhancements will streamline offensive and defensive options for the military.  It will streamline costs and logistics as a whole while improving the defense of the nation.  China has already created, adapted and deployed this new form of soldier.  So I ask, if this truly is a good idea with respect to national defense and cost savings, why are we not doing this too?

Issue 338 3D printers and the military May 19, 2014

It has recently been talked about using 3D printers on Navy ships to create remote/pre-programmed drones (robots).  But this may expand even further as the technology progresses.  So let us extrapolate on the future potential of 3D printers in combat (in this case for the Navy). 

Munitions:  The Navy has a need to resupply often at sea and of course they have a lot of rockets, bombs and other items that go boom.  So instead of storing those munitions on ship where they risk possible explosion or having to be transported to a safe port to be loaded on ship, the chemicals to make the explosives can be made on ship instead using a 3D printer.  Keep in mind that warheads for these munitions are attached right before takeoff if loaded on an aircraft, but this is not so for munitions stored in missile silos on Cruisers, Destroyers and similar water based craft.  So by manufacturing what is needed aboard ship, they may be able to reduce this vulnerability as the warheads can be attached right before combat.  The other components of the missiles and other ordnance can be stored and assembled on ship as well by a 3D printer.  Fuel and materials can even be harvested at sea to minimize need for resupply ships which are vulnerable, and it will also reduce need for recycling and refuse disposal on ship as these materials can then be recycled to make more weapons of war.

Tools and equipment: Just like munitions tools and equipment can be made in the same way with 3D printers.  Need a specialized tool, then it can be designed and manufactured right on ship using harvested materials from trash on ship and from the sea water itself.  Some equipment is so simple that they can be made with 3D printers.  As technology progresses, 3D printers can even print an entire computer or alternative materials can be used to make that same equipment.  Literally, as time goes on, the limit on what can be made will be based on the size of the 3D printer and how fast and reliably materials can be supplied to it.  

Conclusion:  To be honest, the limits on 3D printers are very small.  They will eventually usurp much of the traditional manufacturing processes already existing.  On top of this, materials that traditionally would be incapable of being used to make a computer may finally be able to be used as such based upon how well 3D printers convert the material into its new form.  For the Navy, a powerful and fully capable 3D printer may eliminate the need for resupply ships save food and fuel (fuel is questionable as well though based on how well the development of technology to get fuel from sea water progresses).  The main focus of the Navy or the military in general is to reduce the need for a supply chain that is vulnerable to attack and limits range and maneuverability.  So just by having this technology aboard a ship and using it to make replacement parts, tools and whatever other needs the ship has by using some stored materials, trash (or even human waste) and materials retrieved from the ocean waters, the Navy (and taxpayers) can save massive amounts of money, and improve the safety of our servicemen and women at sea.

Issue 337 Control (information) May 16, 2014

Information control is essential for any dictatorship or tyrannical government to control the hearts and minds of a people.  But what are the ways they do so?

White Propaganda: White Propaganda is propaganda that makes a country, a group or organization look positive or beneficial.  It can be used to make a losing side look like it is winning by manipulating perceptions.  This also affects the enemy (or dissidents) as it makes them feel as if their efforts seem useless.  So when a government spins information to make things look better than they really are it is white propaganda.

Black Propaganda:  The opposite of the white version, Black Propaganda is about demeaning the enemy.  It makes them less human and viler than they may actually be. So when the Japanese portrayed Americans as beasts and us Americans the same way it was a form of Black Propaganda.  This form of propaganda was used by the Nazi's to demean the Jews, the Gays, and the disabled as well.  Obviously this is all about portraying countries, groups or people in a negative light.

Censorship:  Censorship is where certain information is purposely withheld from public knowledge.  This can be done by the government, or even groups or people.  Here it is about preventing information that may counter the narrative being put forth by a government.  So any information that may display a negative light on the government, or make them look like hypocrites will be withheld.  Other forms of this may be used to ensure that particular morals are upheld.  Similar to how in the Cold War a censorship office in the United States prevented displays or information that was either "obscene" or purported the ideology of the Communists.  In this way, they could prevent the "corruption" of the people.

Disinformation:  The most powerful form of information control, it combines propaganda, censorship and an element of storytelling to control information.  So basically it is the creation of a believable story line and supported by the three aforementioned forms of information control (sometimes with planted evidence or information) in order to either make things look positive or negative, or to steer the population in a certain direction and away from what the group controlling the narrative deems undesirable.  For instance in WWII the Pope hid Jewish families in the Vatican, to hide them from the Germans.  But a disinformation campaign by Joseph Stalin's intelligence agencies portrayed the Pope as complicit to Hitler’s extermination of the Jews.  Truth was that the Vatican had so many Jews being sheltered that they were living on the Vatican steps and in the hallways.  But until recently with information slowly being declassified everyone believed the disinformation that Stalin had put out to turn people away from the church and lean toward atheism which the communist government espoused.    

Conclusion:  As you can see, information control is powerful.  It can mean the rise and fall of nations and reputations.  Any government, group and organization can pull this off.  Think of how little we knew about the stock market crash in 2007/2008.  They withheld information and used propaganda until they could no longer withhold the information.  Mudslinging during election campaigns is propaganda as well with a small dose of disinformation depending on how creative the opponent can be.  So all I can tell you is trust but verify for you are not getting the full story in school or from the media in the first place, but spinets of information that they can cram in.  So who knows how much more there is to a story or to history that we are not being told.  Always remember, to do your own research and break out of the box that these con artists want you to stay in. 

Issue 336 Control (military) May 15, 2014

Keeping with history but also keeping with modern forms of control, the military has always played a role in controlling populaces.  Let's go over how they have been used.

Genocide:  One that typically comes to mind is genocide.  Used by the Romans, the Nazi's and even today by various African tribes, the military have been used to wipe out resistance or target populations throughout history.  During the Rwandan Genocide the Hutu's wiped out a large portion of the Tutsi population partly in support by the militia consisting of the Hutu majority.  In Russia, a protocol of extermination was used during the Cold War to wipe out undesirables in the Ukrainian region and the population replaced by ethnic Russians.  All done with the support of the military.

Fear:  The military has also been used as a replacement or as part of the police force.  They become instruments of intimidation and fear as the military is used to suppress dissidents like in China, in Tiananmen Square. In other cases they use them as blunt instruments of oppression by brutalizing members of the local populace by destroying their homes or just ransacking them.

Suppression:  Other times the targets of the military are simply assassinated of dissidents, suppression of demonstrations and even propaganda campaigns.  A leader can use them like tools to kill anyone they desire.  Think of Kim Jung Un and his regime in North Korea as he keeps the population under his direct control where if they smile wrong they can be shot.  The military even runs the prisons where dissidents are kept.

Conclusion: A military in the hands of a mad man, or if out of control can force a population suitably unarmed to do whatever it pleases. This is the nightmare that countries around the world face from secret police, or showy military dictatorships.  If not controlled and constrained in a similar manner to how the United States has with its civilian control apparatus, then we may just face a serious threat from those who would use the military to force people from their land, or to make them silent to the abuses they suffer.  

Issue 335 Historical Control May 14, 2014

I went over two forms of control this week so far, but have not touched upon one of history’s most sinister forms of control.  This form happened during the age when colonies were used as cash cows by the British and other Empires around the globe.  So here is how they manipulated an islands populace.

Step 1, replace the subsistence farming:  Subsistence farming is farming for food.  But when the British and the Dutch came to these island nations they had all the food crops replaced by cash crops like cotton, tobacco and the like. Basically whatever crops they needed for industrial use were grown on these islands instead of food. But how would this make the people there dependent?

Step 2, provide food:  As the local populace no longer produces their own food they must be provided for.  The British and the Dutch would have ships come in and deliver food and supplies to the locals to keep them alive and working.  In exchange they would load up the cargo of cash crops like the tobacco and cotton and make their way back to port. This is thus how they made the populations dependent and a little more as well.

Step 3, Suppress resistance:  If the local population would rebel, then the British and the Dutch simply stopped supplying food to the populace.  As the soil generally got depleted of nutrients by the cash crops and that it would take months for food to grow in general, starvation would take hold and weaken the populace of the colony.  Then when suitably weakened, the British and the Dutch would send in troops to suppress the populace and reassert their control. 

Step 4, continue back at step 2:  Basically, after a rebellion was suppressed the Colonial powers would again push the population to farm the industrial crops that they wanted.  The locals would be forced to submit or be replaced by locals from other communities to keep up production.  Of course the locals had no say in the matter as they would be starved to death if they did not comply.

Conclusion:  This is the most blatant and traditional form of control.  In fact it can still occur in the world today, but on different scales.  So it can happen in the home in the case of child/sex slavery, or on a national scale like Russia denying oil to other countries that are dependent on them.  Land locked regions can suffer the same fate as these island nations of the past.  Basically, it happened before and it can happen again.  This is my warning to you all, don't let it happen to you.

Issue 334 Control (water) May 13, 2014

Did you know that water is also a finite resource?  Water is required by the human body to survive every three days.  We use water to grow crops, to wash ourselves and our dishes, and to just survive in general.  So controlling the water is a very big deal.

Water as an element of control:  You usually do not hear of water being used in a fashion to control people, and yet it is feasible to do so.  Say there is a region of the country that has scarce water resources and you cut the pipeline off that supplied their water.  Would they be able to survive?  The answer is no.  It is impossible for any civilization to survive without a water source.  If you look at where people settled in the early days of mankind you will see they all settled by a water source that supplied fresh water.  As such they could grow their crops and drink to their hearts content.  With aqueduct and pipeline technology we as human beings were able to settle further and further away from rivers and lakes.  But an enemy can kill off an entire civilization simply by cutting off their water supply.  One similar situation is in California where a valley had its water cut off due to an endangered fish species.  The result is that they could no longer farm as they required that water to irrigate their crops.  This cutting off of their water may result in not only a loss in business, but the loss of their homes and higher food prices in the country.  As you can probably see now, water is a highly valuable resource.

Why not just get fresh water from the ocean?:  Ideas have been placed on desalinization of sea water and other salt water bodies to supply fresh water to communities.  The technology exists and is used in many countries around the world including the United States and many Arab countries.  But there is a catch.  In the process to desalinize water, it costs lots of energy.  As such paying for the fuel, and the facilities and even the filters are cost prohibitive. Unfortunately, the methods of desalination are still being researched to make it even more cost efficient, but results are moving at a snail’s pace. So this technology is used when the access to water is so scarce that there is no other choice.  To top it off these facilities may require special parts, which again must be supplied by certain manufactures.  So these facilities are also subject to control as if a part breaks or the filter expires, you will need a replacement from the person, company or country that makes it.  So they can say no to replacements and thus bring an entire country to its knees.  This is how precious water is, a country may be forced to beg so as to save its people from starvation.

Conclusion:  Water can and most likely will be used as an element to control people and even countries.  Like fuel, fresh water is limited based on supply, demand and the resulting cost.  Unless we somehow find other methods of supplying water or preserving it, we find ourselves with a shortage.  That shortage could mean another OPEC, but this time controlling the world’s water supply.  

Issue 333 Control (fuel) May 12, 2014

Fuels like oil and its derivatives are very important to industrialized countries around the world.  It allows us to heat our homes, generates electricity, and of course fuels our vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, planes etc.).  But what happens if that fuel was to be cut off.  This is the threat the United States and Europe face and I'll explain why.

Russian Control:  Russia controls much of the fuel in Europe.  In fact the closer a country is to Russia the more dependent they are on Russian oil.  This is because many of these countries either lack the resources for an alternative source of energy or do not have industries built to access their natural resources.  Therefor Russia becomes very powerful in deciding what they can and cannot do in the region.  Still scratching your head?  I will make it simple, Russia can force any country that relies on its oil to do what it wants by threatening to cut the oil off.  This is how oil is used as an element of control in Europe.  Russia has sway over the entire region due to their monopoly on oil there.  

OPEC:  Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is a menace to the United States.  Unlike Russia who holds sway over Europe, OPEC has sway over the United States in a different way.  OPEC can artificially raise the price of oil to influence United States policy.  While the United States gets most of its oil from Mexico and Canada, OPEC holds sway over the stock market when it comes to oil.  So if they hold back on production they can disrupt the market and cause prices to rise to whatever level they see fit.  As such they can make a nice profit or suppress policies in a country like the United States that would disrupt their profits.

Why fuel is important:  Oil is very important to commerce in general.  No train, or plane could run without it in our current energy environment.  We need it to fuel our cars and heat our homes.  So what would happen if the fuel ran out?  Nuclear power is limited due to the number of reactors, solar and wind are nowhere near energy efficient enough, and dams have a limited amount of power they can supply too. In short coal and oil fired plants produce most of the electricity per market share.  If fuel prices go higher it can causes businesses to fail, prices of goods will rise pricing people out of being able to afford food and medicine. Hospitals may be forced to close as they too will not have enough money or power to stay open.  Think of it, if you are diabetic, or are dependent on some form of technology for survival, how are you going to survive if the power goes out for an extended period of time.  The answer is that you won’t.  The elderly and the sickly will die first.  People who need blood transfusions or other treatments will also die because how can we store blood without power.  We will not be able to diagnose cancer patients due to the inability to use the machines we relied upon to diagnose.  Riots over food and other goods will create more havoc as all goods will become so scarce that bread alone may well be worth $100 or more.  It is a nightmare scenario that all nations fear.  If you were alive during the 70's you may remember the long lines for gas and the rationing that went on in the United States.  Well that will be the tip of the iceberg of trouble we all will have to face if fuel becomes too costly or inaccessible.

Conclusion:  Fuel is a tool that helps us get around, get to our jobs, to get things where we want them to go.  It is essential to commerce and our survival.  So far there is no replacement to fuels like oil and so we are currently dependent on oil for most of our needs like plastics and other products which are a byproduct.  So we have to account for this in all future needs of the County and the world. There is a reason why I like green technology.  One is that we reduce waste and our impact on the environment.  The other is that we no longer have to pay the power company money to keep our homes and businesses warm and cozy for we can hopefully begin to make solar, wind or even nuclear viable in the home itself.  In short, be reliant upon no one but yourself.