The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! — Again

‘Everyone needs to calm down’: experts assess Russian nuclear space threat | Russia | The Guardian

Rumours that Russia is planning to deploy nuclear weapons in space have been dampened down by experts who say that while such technology is possible, there is no need to push the panic button.

The furore kicked off on Wednesday when the head of the US House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, Mike Turner, called for the Biden administration to declassify information on what he called a “serious national security threat”.

While Turner gave no further details, it was later reported by news outlets, citing unnamed sources, to involve Russia’s potential deployment of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as a “malicious fabrication”.

Dr Bleddyn Bowen, an associate professor at the University of Leicester who specialises in outer space international relations and warfare, said the the lack of detail was no reason to panic. “It’s so vague and cryptic, it could be a number of different things. [But] no matter what they are, none of them are a big deal, to be honest. Everyone needs to calm down about this.”

[continues]

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75 thoughts on “The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! — Again”

  1. ‘tooning in on other points of view

    Image result for cartoon russia space nuke

    chapatte.com 

    and

    Attribution: Trump Russian Threat by Rick McKee, CagleCartoons.com

     

  2. continuing with the rest of that Guardian article:

    Russia is bound by several legal restrictions regarding the use or presence of nuclear weapons in space. Article 4 of the Outer Space treaty (1967) bans nuclear weapons from being put into orbit, installed on celestial bodies or otherwise stationed in outer space, while the New Start treaty aims to reduce the number of deployable nuclear arms. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban treaty (1963) bans nuclear explosions in space.
    Even if Russia ignores these agreements, there are other considerations. Bowen said the rumoured threat may relate to nuclear-tipped anti-satellite weapons but that such a threat was nothing new.
    “These are the first and the most crude kind of anti-satellite weapons ever built: the Americans had them in 1959.” He said any state with nuclear weapons already had the technology to use them in space, broadly speaking.
    Another possibility, Bowen said, was that the threat related to space-based nuclear weapons that could be used to knock out satellites. Again, the idea is not entirely new: Russia has previously explored the stationing of nuclear weapons in space, albeit to attack ground targets.
    “They did this in the 1960s and in the 1970s and found out it’s not actually very useful, and it’s very expensive.” He said the country stopped short of attempting to put nuclear bombs in space.
    Bowen said a nuclear bomb detonation in low-Earth orbit would create a flash in the sky, visible to those in the vicinity below, while it is likely there would also be a false aurora similar to the northern lights – as occurred during the high-altitude nuclear test known as Starfish Prime in the 1960s.
    Such a detonation would be certain to destroy the desired satellite, with less of a need for accuracy – and Russia does have nuclear weapons to spare.
    Yet there are drawbacks. Space-based nuclear weapons are vulnerable to attack from other nations, while the damage from such weapons would be indiscriminate.
    “When you detonate a nuclear weapon in space you generate the fireball … but what you [also] generate is the electromagnetic pulse which fries the electrical circuits of anything that’s unshielded within a few thousand kilometres’ radius,” he said. The pulse may also knock out power grids on Earth if the bomb is detonated above or near populated areas.
    “After that, you have the radiation that the bomb would generate,” Bowen said. Over time it would fry the electrical circuits of satellites in the wider part of Earth’s orbit.
    The loss of satellite services could affect myriad systems on Earth, from telecoms to satellite navigation services. “That can have knock-on effects to the economy, to critical infrastructure, to the financial system, which relies on these satellites.”
    In other words, while nuclear bombs could take out a desired satellites, they could also damage Russia’s technology and interests.
    “You’ve got to be in a very desperate situation to want to do something like that,” he said. “So I am not losing any sleep over this.”
    Russia also has other technology to hand. In 2021 Russia tested a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile, successfully knocking out one of its own defunct satellites.
    But James Green, a professor of public international law at the University of the West of England, said he was also dubious that that system would be deployed. “I think Russia likes to project its space power [to appear] greater than it probably is,” he said.

    okay, so worry or not to worry???

  4. Stephen Colbert urges Americans not to become numb to Donald Trump’s crimes, and offers a reminder that no other presidential candidate has ever had to pause his campaign to defend himself in multiple trials, for example, his election fraud case in Georgia where the district attorney is being scrutinized for a potentially inappropriate relationship that has no bearing on the facts of the case against the former president. #Colbert #Comedy #Monologue

  6. Well that’s way cool. Good for Sir Paul and good on the guy who returned it without apparently demanding a king’s ransom for it. 
    Well, consensus among the MSNBC legal minds seems to be that the Fani Willis challenge looks like a nothing burger. There’s Dumbass’ next trial I’m guessing. 

  7. “You’re confused, you think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election.”

    -Fani Willis

  8. for more on navalny

    Russian activist and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison | Alexei Navalny | The Guardian

    The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in jail, the country’s prison service has said, in what is likely to be seen as a political assassination attributable to Vladimir Putin.
    Navalny, 47, one of Putin’s most visible and persistent critics, was being held in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”. In a video from the prison in January, he had appeared gaunt with his head shaved.
    In a statement, the federal penitentiary service for the region where Navalny was incarcerated said that he had “felt unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness”.

    “All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out but did not yield positive results,” the statement read. “The paramedics confirmed the death of the convict.”

    The cause of death had not been established, the penitentiary service said. Navalny had previously been treated in hospital after complaining of malnourishment and other ailments due to mistreatment in the prison.
    A lawyer for Navalny did not immediately confirm reports of his death, telling the Novaya Gazeta newspaper that Navalny’s family had requested him not to comment on the reports.
    “Alexei had a lawyer at his place on Wednesday,” Leonid Solovyev, his laywer, told Novaya Gazeta. “Everything was normal then.”
    A close aide also did not confirm the reports of Navalny’s death.
    The Kremlin said it had no information on the cause of death. Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death, his spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said.
    [continues]

  9. also from the guardian
    07.01 EST

    Navalny death ‘murder’, says Nobel winner

    Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov told Reuters today the death of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny was “murder”, and said that he believed prison conditions had led to his demise.

    Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a procedural probe into the death, the Investigative Committee said.

    Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief of staff, said that the statement from the prison service could be interpreted as a “confession” that they deliberately killed Navalny, although his team is yet to verify the information.

  10. Pay no attention to the dead, political prisoner.  Look at the train station in Moscow. It’s so clean and pretty! -Comrade Carlson 
     
    RIP – Navalny
     
    Now is the time for all pissed off Russians to rise up against Putin. 

    ps – This is the kind of thing tRUMPsky would do, were he to be given a chance.

  14. After cheering on Fani Willis yesterday, I woke this morning to the news of Navalny’s death.  Up one day way, way down the next.  Now to discover if the GOP just might come to its collective senses and provide the necessary funds for Ukraine.

     

  15. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/15/nikki-haley-republican-presidential-primary/
     

    “Haley stopped in Dallas as a part of a two-day fundraising swing through Texas with additional stops in Houston and San Antonio — hosted by some of the state’s most prominent and deep-pocketed GOP donors including Harlan Crow and Ross Perot Jr.”

    Nikki definitely has a chance in Dallas county, where there is a huge, multi-generational population of Indian decent.  They all seem to run as Republicans for local races, so I’m assuming not many out there would vote Dem.

  17. Nikki will be driving by my house tomorrow and talking down at the grocery store.  Do I care?   hahahaha

    But seriously yes—like I’d care if I found an alligator in my pond.

  19. guarantee tucker’s parents sent him to private school so he wouldn’t get his ass kicked, that’s the kind of supplicant little ——- you get from that

    at least they gave him the kind of name to warn us

    i wonder what musk makes him do monthly to prove his fealty, something sexual i’ll bet 🤔

    i’m “just asking questions “! 🤷‍♂️

  20. Sorry.  Navalny was a hero of mine, more so now, i suppose.
     
    Slava Ukraine, RIP Navalny, ——these bootlicking unAmerican weasels ✌️ 

  21. I look for a Desantis divorce soon now that the he and she must know each other so well after their brief foray into national politics.  

    I’m sorry about Navalny as well. He went back into Russia KNOWING what the outcome would be. That’s some pretty strong shit. I hope something comes of it Putinwise.

  22. Yulia Navalny: “If it’s the truth, I would like Putin, all his staff, everyone around him, his government, his friends, I want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family, and with my husband. They will be brought to justice.”

  23. BREAKING: Matt Gaetz
    Woman was paid to have sex with Gaetz at druggy orgies — and she has text messages and RECEIPTS All shared with House Ethics Committee investigators Committee likely to drop bombshell report on Gaetz — and then expect a move to expel him from House

  24. The only “not terrible” news is the knowledge that never again will Tucker Carlson get a job on television. As has been pointed out before, so far he’s been fired by everyone but Putin.
    You gotta be a real dickhead to pull that off.

    It’s so pleasing to see Nikki and Slump trying to slit each other’s throats and knowing that they are both going to lose.

  27. Mike Johnson campaign donor was Maria Butina’s handler. Who Is Konstantin Nikolaev? Putin Ally Behind Mike Johnson Campaign Donation

  28. Pull that thread to oust the Russians in Congress.  There are also some who are no longer there but probably still involved, like Devin Nuñez. 

    https://www.newsweek.com/who-konstantin-nikolaev-money-mike-johnson-1870600

    “In 2018, a group of Russians were able to donate to Johnson’s bid for the Louisiana seat he eventually won as the money was funneled through the Texas-based American Ethane company.”

    “…at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

    “Nikolaev and his two partners currently own a third of Globaltrans, Russia’s biggest private rail transport operator, and he previously worked in railroad freight and port businesses.”

    “He is also a part owner of Tula Cartridge Works, which has been supplying ammunition for Russian forces during its invasion of Ukraine.”

    What percentage of MAGAt Mike Johnson is owned by Vladimir Putin? What percentage of Congress?

  30. “Alexey Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, last saw her son in prison on Monday and he was “healthy and cheerful,” she is quoted as telling Russian independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta.”
     
     
    “Navalny was pretty much as far out of the way as you could put him,” he told CNN’s This Morning on Friday. “He was out, it seems, of the political arena. He never really got a foothold in the electoral process … yet still, Vladimir Putin felt a degree of threat.”
     
    https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/alexey-navalny-dead-russia-prison-02-16-24/index.html
     
    May there be a huge push from Russians to get rid of Putin and his regime in honor of Navalny. 
     

  31. https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-mocked-praising-russian-grocery-stores-1870396
     

    “Carlson was filmed gleefully picking out a cart full of groceries, which included wine from Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.”

    “I went from amused to legitimately angry,” Carlson said in the video. The weeks’ worth of groceries that Carlson bought cost $103.82.”

    “Carlson continued: “If you take people’s standard of living and you tank it through filth and crime and inflation. And they literally can’t buy the groceries they want. At that point, maybe it matters less what you say or whether you are a good person or a bad person.”

    Tanking it through “filth.” Hmmm, I wonder who means?

    Tanking it through crime. Hmmm, I wonder who he thinks commits all crimes?

    Tanking it through inflation. Hmmm, does he realize corporate greed is the core driver?

  32. https://www.newsweek.com/how-average-salary-russia-compares-us-1870740

    “…Carlson did not seem to consider U.S. wages and American purchasing power.”

    “According to the latest figures available from Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service, the average monthly wage in Russia was about $787 in November.”

    “By comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last quarter of 2023, the median weekly earnings of Americans was $1,142.”

    Tucker, the idiot traitor.

  34. NYTimes: Trump Privately Expresses Support for a 16-Week National Abortion Ban

    One thing Mr. Trump likes about a 16-week federal ban on abortions is that it’s a round number. “Know what I like about 16? It’s even. It’s four months.”

  35. Listening to testimony in the Fani Willis disqualification hearing.  God I hope what I do in questioning witnesses is not as terribly boring as what I’m hearing in that Georgia Court. Judge McAfee is doing a very good job I have to say.

  38. Niece Mary Trump: “Today is an emotional day. The end of my grandfather’s legacy. It has taken over half a century but Donald’s ability to commit fraud with impunity has come to an end—at least in New York—and trust me, that matters to him.”

  39. Hehehehehe – that fat old bag of horse apples must be absolutely red right now.  So now he must come up with almost five hundred million dollars for three penalites, two for raping and 85 for bad talking and a whole lot more for defrauding everybody he went near.    Maybe he can blow a gasket and avoid trial on the next few cases.  Yeah, my Friday is very nice now.

  40. Justice Engeron: The Trump family’s “complete lack of contrition and remorse” for their extensive fraud and egregious financial misconduct “borders on pathological.”

  41. And – the court appointed money master stays in place.  The number crunchers are going to have a blast totaling all the interest and whatevers to make the final number even bigger.  The orange blob and hell spawn cannot play hide and seek with any financials.  Oh this has to hurt.  I wonder if fatsos legal team is going to stay in place for the upcoming joy ride?

    edit: current NY Times estimates the number to be over four hundred million with the base number plus interest and other things. This keeps growing.

  42. Conspiracy theory from the mind of Sturgeone
    A. Navalney’s death was a complete surprise to Vlad, who is now sweating bullets. [and windows]. 
    B. The death was arranged either by a gang of underlings, or whoever might be anywhere close to 2nd in command.   
    They couldn’t get to Poot so they just settl for upsetting the apple cart.

  43. you apparently missed the Russia edition of “Lockdown” on msnbc 😬 
     
    Nothing happens in Russia that Dracula doesn’t get word of

  44. The upshot is……the magats are OVER. 
    Stick a pitchfork in ‘em.  Lots to do yet, but I believe the fever has broken.

  45. Vlad hasn’t been A-1 1oo% lately. I think he’s been slipping and they shanked him by murdering Navalny.

    Remember the way he cut and run when that army guy moved on Moskva?

    Why would Vlad do it now? What has precipitated the necessity of now?

  50. Yesterday, the world was talking about Russian  space nukes.

    Today, we’re talking about a dead, political prisoner who was fine on Monday, according to his mother. 

    Deflection?  Too extreme for that. Vlad getting more paranoid? Конечно да!

  51. Stuck pigs do squeal…

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    A Crooked New York State Judge, working with a totally Corrupt Attorney General who ran on the basis of “I will get Trump,” before knowing anything about me or my company, has just fined me $355 Million based on nothing other than having built a GREAT COMPANY. ELECTION INTERFERENCE. WITCH HUNT. This “decision” is a Complete and Total SHAM. There were No Victims, No Damages, No Complaints. Only satisfied Banks and Insurance Companies (which made a ton of money), GREAT Financial Statements, that didn’t even include the most valuable Asset – The TRUMP Brand, IRONCLAD Disclaimers (Buyer Beware, and Do your Own Due Diligence), and amazing Properties all over the World. All the other side had was a ridiculous $18 million valuation of magnificent Mar-a-Lago, an unConstitutional Gag Order, a Consumer Fraud Statute never before used for this purpose, No Jury allowed, and a refusal to send this disgusting charade to the Commercial Division, where it would have been put to a deserving end. The Justice System in New York State, and America as a whole, is under assault by partisan, deluded, biased Judges and Prosecutors. Racist, Corrupt A.G. Tish James has been obsessed with “Getting Trump” for years, and used Crooked New York State Judge Engoron to get an illegal, unAmerican judgment against me, my family, and my tremendous business. I helped New York City during its worst of times, and now, while it is overrun with Violent Biden Migrant Crime, the Radicals are doing all they can to kick me out.

    Feb 16, 2024, 4:35 PM

  52. Why is Fani Willis’ dad on the stand defending her?  My, god. This is insane!

    https://www.businessinsider.com/fulton-county-district-attorney-fani-willis-nathan-wade-2024-2

    “Willis’ dad, retired lawyer John Floyd III, said in his testimony that Willis was dating a DJ nicknamed “Deuce” in 2019 — which is the same year that an ex-pal of Willis’ testified a day earlier that she started dating Nathan Wade, the attorney Willis appointed in 2021 as special prosecutor in the high-profile criminal case.”

    “The motion alleged Willis had an “improper” romantic relationship with Wade that began while he was married and before she appointed him as special prosecutor. Defense attorneys for Trump and other co-defendants have joined in on the motion.”

    Would this nonsense be happening if she were a man? If she weren’t a POC?

    I hope to the heavens that this pivot stunt doesn’t work. RICO!

  53. Ha!  The “Trump brand,” isn’t worth sh/t to anyone but his MAGAt followers, and he’s already grifted them for all they are  worth.  
    This might be the night SFB strokes out.

  54. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/feb/16/georgias-ex-governor-roy-barnes-says-fani-willis-t/

    Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes testified Friday that he was District Attorney Fani Willis’ first choice to work on the investigation against former President Donald Trump, but he turned it down.

    “Mr. Barnes said he had “mouths to feed” at his law office and didn’t like the high-profile nature of prosecuting the former president.”

    “I’d lived with bodyguards for four years and I didn’t like it,” Mr. Barnes said, referring to his term as governor. “I wasn’t going to live with bodyguards for the rest of my life.”

  55. New detail: Judge awarded interest going all the way back to 2019, so that brings the actual award to more than $450 million.

    AG Letitia James statement: “Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and his former executives must pay over $450 million in disgorgement and interest.”

  57. Judge Engoron knocks Ivanka Trump: “She consistently denied recalling the contents of documentary evidence that confirmed that she actively participated in events, even after she was confronted with the evidence.”

    “The Court found her inconsistent recall, depending on whether she was questioned by OAG or the defense, suspect. In any event, what Ms. Trump cannot recall is memorialized in contemporaneous emails and documents; in the absence of her memory, the documents speak for themselves.”

  59. Next hurdle will be to convince maga base their darling Plumpty isn’t being railroaded, he did this to himself. 

  64. Really sad that the local ABC affiliate characterized today’s out come as surprising, stating bank executives saw no harm and everyone made money.  No, they did no say Trump said that, they said it.  It seems like they are reporting based on the pending appeal? 
     
    https://www.reuters.com/legal/trumps-civil-fraud-verdict-appeal-may-hinge-no-victims-defense-2024-02-16/
     
    “Trump’s civil fraud verdict appeal may hinge on ‘no victims’ defense”
     

    “Here, we’re dealing with very sophisticated lenders who are fully capable of protecting themselves and haven’t asked the attorney general for help.”

    Mmm, “very sophisticated lenders” were given falsified documents. They extended credit and terms of credit based on those figures. They lost money.

    I’m curious about the disparity in property values. What, if anything, gets reported on property taxes? He probably avoids them somehow, but does he undervalue the appraisal for tax purposes?

  65. https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-election-opposition-navalny-d46962589bef449b8bbf498132f97047
     

    “Allies of Russian opposition leader Navalny post billboards asking citizens to vote against Putin”

    “Opposition activists in Russia came up with a way to get around Kremlin censorship while urging citizens to vote against President Vladimir Putin in an election next year: billboards disguised as a New Year’s greeting.”

    “…billboards in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities which said “Russia” and “Happy New Year.” But a website address and QR code printed on the signs led to a site titled “Russia without Putin.”

    “There, voters were encouraged to oppose the longtime Russian leader on March 17, the day that Russian lawmakers set Thursday for the presidential election. The website says the election is important for Putin as a referendum on whether Russians approve of his war in Ukraine, rather than a real contest for the presidency.”

    A Navalny write-in campaign.

  67. It’s so obvious that it reeks of desperation. I’m thinking sweaty palms 

    All while Schmucker is in Russia?

    Special agent Gibbs always says that there’s no such thing as coincidence.

  70. https://www.commondreams.org/news/corporate-profits
    “greedflation:  a rise in prices, rents, or the like, that is not due to market pressure or any other factor organic to the economy, but is caused by corporate executives or boards of directors, property owners, etc., solely to increase profits that are already healthy or excessive.” 
     
    “…corporate profits were what drove 53% of price increases in the second and third quarters of 2023. Business costs rose just 1% in 2023—and went down in some sectors due to drops in transportation, warehousing, and fuel costs—but consumers saw the price of goods go up by 3.4% in the same time period.”
     
     
    And there’s shrinkflation. Prices went up while at the same time, there was less in the package. 

    End stage capitalism. Ain’t it grand?

  71. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/02/us/georgia-guidestones-mystery-cec-cnnphotos/

    “Mr. Lake, an act of God took those cursed Guidestones down, and if you cared more about actual journalism rather than harassing me, you would be out there investigating the maniac who erected that genocidal monument overnight in the first place.”

    “It was obviously unpleasant to imagine that the Granite Capital’s most famous granite monument was commissioned by someone who bragged about his friend the eugenicist and wrote favorably about a Klansman and neo-Nazi.”
     

  72. https://people.com/kansas-city-chiefs-nfl-united-way-fund-for-shooting-victims-8584401
    “Kansas City Chiefs Pair with NFL to Donate $200,000 to New United Way Emergency Fund for Shooting Victims”
     
     
    If someone is shot, they are responsible for their  medical bills.   Now, they not only have to deal with physical and mental trauma, but medical debt.  
    It’s often left to crowdfunding to help out victims of gun violence.  This is absolute BS and you’ll never see the NRA and gun manufacturers and gun sellers pony up the way others will yo help out.
     
    They, the NRA and manufacturers and sellers of guns, should be forced to cover medical and funeral expenses for victims of gun violence, as well as lost wages and and remodeling or rehousing that needs to be done for them to get around. Also, gun owners should be required to take a class. 

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