Monitor The Strategic Trends

Introduction:

      Modern Technology has made it possible for countries all over the world to possess the means for controlling their own populations and to threaten other nations with mass destruction.  It no longer matters whether a nation is rich or poor, large or small, first world or third world.  Almost anyone can make or purchase weapons that 50 years ago could not even be imagined.

      These new weapons include not only military-style weaponry like nuclear missiles, tanks, aircraft, naval vessels, and the like; but also inexpensive and readily available biological and chemical weapons.  In addition, high-tech weapons like night vision goggles, tracking devices, surveillance cameras, communication innovations, and computerized data bases are relatively easy to obtain for so-called peaceful applications and then transferred for use in military or police operations.

      The days of the Cold War seem tame by comparison as one no longer knows who is on what side.  The bipolar world of post-World War II basically pitted two power centers against each other and only a few nations failed to align with one side or the other.   Today we see many intertwining alliances where even allies threatening war with each other on occasion.  Nations which were only bit players in the Cold War struggle are now posing a major threat to once invincible giants like the United States and Russia.

      As technology becomes more and more sophisticated, it is not hard to picture how the prophesied "man of lawlessness" could become  a global dictator, capable of controlling individuals anywhere in the world.  The chilling thought of what might have happened during World War II had Hitler possessed today's technology should bring to mind the power that this coming world leader will possess.

Israel and Iran's Nuke Sites February 07, 2012

US Destroys Largest Chemical Weapons Stockpile January 17, 2012

Nuclear Smuggling Suspects Plead Guilty December 20, 2011

Taking Out The Enemy's Weapons October 18, 2011

Russia's Nuclear Gamble by Steve Elwart

Cyber Warfare: Today's Nukes by Steve Elwart, Senior Analyst Koinonia Institute

Losing Our Freedom, Bit by Bit: The Unseen War by Steve Elwart, IDB Folio Specialist

Middle East Update: Irans Nuclear Ambitions by Chuck Missler

Epistemology, Part 6: Y2K Again? by Chuck Missler

Our Nation at Risk: The Threat of EMP by Chuck Missler

World Affairs Update: Nuclear Iran by Chuck Missler

Wars and Rumors of Wars: Behold a Red Horse by Chuck Missler

News Sources

NEW! Iran Nuclear Talks Start In Baghdad - World powers and Iran began negotiations in Baghdad on Wednesday, aiming to make progress towards resolving a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, diplomats said. Iran wants to win reprieve from economic sanctions as a result of the talks, while the six global powers - United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - hope to win concessions over its uranium enrichment efforts they suspect are meant to produce weapons. "They have just gone into the first plenary," said one Western official. Diplomats have said the Baghdad round of talks, only the second since diplomacy resumed in April after more than a year, may yield initial concessions from all sides. But a breakthrough could still be far off.

Iran May Have Tested Nuke In North Korea - A senior German defense figure said in a report this week that Iran may be significantly further ahead in its nuclear weapons program than public intelligence assessments have so far suggested. Hans Ruhle, who directed the planning department of the German Defense Ministry from 1982 to 1988, argued that Iran may have been involved in the detonation of an experimental uranium nuclear bomb in North Korea in 2010. The article, which appeared on the website of the German daily Die Welt, said that many intelligence agencies believe that at least one of the two nuclear tests that occurred in North Korea in 2010 was an Iranian atomic weapon.

Israel Samsung Tablet Ad Jokes About Striking Iran - An Israeli cable television company has removed an ad from its YouTube channel making light of a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities by Israel. The ad, for the cable provider Hot, imagines characters from an Israeli sitcom bungling a covert operation and destroying the Iranian nuclear facility near the city of Isfahan by pressing the wrong button on a Mossad agent's Samsung Galaxy tablet computer. After the facility goes up in smoke, the culpable Israeli character dismisses it with a shrug as just "another mysterious explosion in Iran," a clear reference to a string of deadly attacks on Iranian scientists and installations that have been attributed to Israel. One outraged Iranian official demanded an apology from South Korea and even suggested that a ban on Samsung products might be in order. The company quickly issued a statement stressing that the ad had been produced in Israel "without Samsung's knowledge or participation."

Tehran Residents React To Obama's SOTU - At a time of heightened tension between the West and Iran with the US more determined than ever to prevent the Islamic state from becoming nuclear-armed Iranians are uncertain about the future they face. Local residents in Tehran's northern district are divided over the comments of US president Barack Obama, who, in a State of the Union address, warned Iran the United States would keep up pressure on its disputed nuclear program with "no options off the table" but said the door remained open to talks for a peaceful resolution. Obama said on Tuesday (January 24) Tehran was isolated and facing "crippling" sanctions that he said would continue so long as the Islamic Republic keeps its back turned to the international community.

Israel Concerned About Syria's Weapons Stockpiles - Israel has serious concerns about what will happen to "huge stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons in Syria when the Assad regime collapses, a senior military official said on Tuesday. Major-General Amir Eshel, head of the Israeli military's planning division, said the working assumption was the regime of President Bashar Assad would eventually fall. "That's a major concern because I don't know who is going to own those the day after. Up till now, what has been transferred to Hezbollah? What will be transferred to Hezbollah? What will be divided between those factions inside Syria? What is that going to create?" asked Eshel.

70 Years After Pearl Harbor - On Dec. 7, 1941 the United States suffered the worst intelligence failure in its history - before or since - when Japanese planes destroyed much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Seventy years after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. finds itself in much the same situation that it was in prior to World War II. There is a great effort to cut military spending, bring troops home from abroad, and scale back our international exposure. The country's critical financial situation is one reason. Yet a nuclear-obsessed Iran, an emerging China and Russia, along with smaller rogue actors are enough of a threat to justify a vigilant and even aggressive guard.

North Korea Passing Iran, Syria Nuke Technology - North Korea has supplied Syria and Iran with a special kind of steel used to upgrading missiles and building centrifuges for uranium enrichment, the German newspaper Die Welt reported over the weekend. The material, called maraging steel, appears on the monitoring list of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime, and its export is prohibited to countries under sanctions such as Iran.

Israel Warns West - Short Time To Stop Iran - Israeli ambassadors in Western countries have been instructed to inform high-ranking politicians that the window of opportunity for imposing effective sanctions on Iran is closing, as part of a renewed diplomatic offensive aimed at using new sanctions to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb. The ambassadors were asked to tell the equivalent of the foreign ministries and prime minister's offices in the countries where they are serving that there isn't much time left to stop the nuclear program through diplomatic means.

EMP Nukes Machines Not Humans - Bullets and bombs are so 20th-century. A band of military technologists see electromagnetic ray guns as the future of warfare; they are building weapons that work by zapping the enemy's electronics, rather than blowing him to bits. The result could be conflict that is less bloody, yet more effective, than what is now seen as conventional battle. Electromagnetic weapons are inspired by the cold-war idea of using the radio-frequency energy released by an atom bomb exploded high in the atmosphere to burn out an enemy's electrical grid, telephone network and possibly even the wiring of his motor vehicles, by inducing a sudden surge of electricity in the cables that run these things. The nuclear part is no longer needed, and the enemy could be conquered without the massive loss of human life.

Hunting For Russian Nuke Smuggler - Authorities in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova are hunting the alleged Russian mastermind of a failed plan to sell weapons- grade uranium on the black market, a new US Senate report said Tuesday. AFP reported in June that Moldova police had arrested six suspects and seized a sample of Uranium-235 in a sting that thwarted a potential customer, described by a top official as "a citizen of a Muslim country in Africa." But the report for the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee includes the alarming charge that the group also claimed to possess plutonium, far less of which is needed to make a bomb.

Iran Has Underground Missile Silos - Iran unveiled underground ballistic missile silos for the first time on Monday in a warning to the world of its ability to protect its missiles and secretly store them in hidden locations throughout the country. State TV broadcast footage of several military officers touring an underground silo that was holding a Shahab 3 ballistic missile. The missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers, putting Israel within its reach.

Tiny Bug Drones To War! - Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects and birds. The base's indoor flight lab is called the "microaviary," and for good reason. The drones in development here are designed to replicate the flight mechanics of moths, hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world.

Russia Will Build Iran Satellites - Iranian officials requested Russia to boost space cooperation with Tehran and cooperate with Iran in building new generations of satellites and sending astronauts into space. The two sides also agreed to set up a joint working group to discuss the details of the protocol in biennial meetings. The Russian official said that Moscow is ready to cooperate with Iran in the area of communications, promising his country will help Iran to manufacture small satellites.

BioTech: The Sorcerer's New Apprentice - Audio CD - Chuck Missler Updated April 2006! Chuck Missler surveys some of the most promising prospects and reviews the types of ventures emerging. He also reveals some of the concerns emerging among the informed, and includes some of the provocative Biblical implications. Click for more information - Audio CD with MP3