I’ve been looking at hypersonic missiles lately. Could somebody please explain the “plasma shield” issue?
From what I understand, communications is impossible to and from a vehicle/missile that is traveling at hypersonic speeds because of the ionization of the gas at the object’s surface. But there is no such thing as a perfect black box–some frequencies must be able to escape. Is the problem just that you need very high or very low frequencies to be able to do so, or is there some other problem here?
Because if you just want to control a missile, you don’t need a lot of bandwidth, so even low frequencies should be able to work.
Does anybody understand this issue or know of a good site or even technical paper that explains it?
Thanks

Posted by: Typing Monkey | Oct 19 2023 14:46 utc | 3

The electoral college shows 241 Democrats, 235 Republicans. 5 states are in toss up. About 62 votes. I know it’s too early to see what will occur. Funny that Democrats are color blue and Republicans are red. I remember very well, growing up, that Republicans were blue and Democrats red. Democrats were Liberal and socialistic, and should wave a red flag, like other left wing parties in other countries. I feel that it was changed by certain networks to show the Republicans as angry and evil of some kind. And Democrats as cool and easy going. That’s how I see it. I even looked up the election maps of past elections, in YouTube and archived newspaper articles, and all show Republicans as blue and Democrats red. And nobody made a stink. It shows me how all keep attention on all of our election processes, as minuscule and frivolous as that. But that’s how problems start. From a tiny little leak that over time becomes a storm surge. Just inquiring thoughts.

Posted by: Jose Garcia | Oct 19 2023 14:48 utc | 5

Embargo against Venezuela is eased and now Shell will be the mediator between buyers and sellers of Venezuelan oil.
<“>https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/19/oil-falls-as-israel-embargo-concerns-fade-venezuela-sanctions-to-ease.html>

Posted by: Mathaus | Oct 19 2023 14:58 utc | 7

indian punchline from yesterday..
Ouster of the populist-nationalist government in Poland is highly consequential

Posted by: james | Oct 19 2023 15:02 utc | 9

Just inquiring thoughts.
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Oct 19 2023 14:48 utc | 4
—
We Don’t Know What the Future Holds: Norman Finkelstein on Cornel West & US Election ==> https://youtu.be/p_WjZWgLNPw

Posted by: too scents | Oct 19 2023 15:04 utc | 11

It’s an ill wind that blows no good! The Israel vs Gaza nonsense is distracting Joe the Conqueror from his destruction of Taiwan, war with PRChina, etc.
Maybe Taibei will accept all the US’ over-priced military trash, then pass it on to Beijing! After elections put the KMT (ur-fascist organized crime party) in power, of course.

Posted by: lester | Oct 19 2023 15:18 utc | 13

Interestingly, it appears that even though the BRI forum finished this year, it appears Orban is sticking around to tour China for a bit to discuss further Hungarian-Chinese business development
https://twitter.com/zoltanspox/status/1714883419899928990

Posted by: leaf | Oct 19 2023 15:26 utc | 15

Reiner Fuellmich, the lawyer who has been organising a lawsuit against the international government covid scam, has been arrested by the German embassy in Mexico upon some false charges of financial fraud.

In Mexico, Reiner had to consult with the German embassy for passport issues and, to his shocking surprise, was immediately arrested and flown to Germany – accompanied by two guards, no personal belongings, no clothing, not even a toothbrush.

Let me guess, no one gets to see him, the next step is drugging him with fake psychiatric medication, and magically he dies from cancer in a few months.
Looks like the only safe places in the world for any kind of visible opposition figure are Russia and China.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 19 2023 15:47 utc | 17

Michael A | Oct 19 2023 15:47 utc | 9
Themanwhofelltoearth | Oct 19 2023 16:04 utc | 10
Yes, I saw that one, too.
Not a good sign.

Posted by: john | Oct 19 2023 16:11 utc | 19

Reiner Fuellmich
Did a quick search – the accusation is he misused 700.000€ of the funds he collected for the Corona Ausschuss Foundation he founded,.
Note – apparently he was instrumental in revealing the VW diesel scandal years ago. Hmmmm

Posted by: Exile | Oct 19 2023 16:15 utc | 21

If the West’s “Defence Ministers” were actually doing the job of defending their Countries, instead of fomenting distant wars, they would have weighed in on the drive for Central Bank Digital Currencies with a dire warning.
In the event of a Solar storm of the magnitude of the Carrington event, an emp burst from a hostile nation, or a successful cyber attack from a hostile Nation, what are the consequences of the failure of all digital transactions?
What will happen if there are no legal mechanisms to transact the purchase of essentials, especially food and fuel.?
I would give it 2 days before the affected Country ceases to exist as a Civilisational State.
Physical currency has to continue to exist and be maintained in order to ensure resilience against enemy attack or a repeat of a massive solar storm.

Posted by: CitizenSmith | Oct 19 2023 16:55 utc | 23

@Typing Monkey | Oct 19 2023 14:46 utc | 2
The plasma shield/plasma stealth concept is (as far as I am aware) both old and entirely theoretical extending from a continuation of orbital re-entry mechanics and radio astronomy when considered in terms of tested weapons systems.
The common observed example is a space capsule re-entering the atmosphere from LEO.
When the capsule is at a particular velocity given the atmospheric density it appears to “burn”. (big fireball right?) You’ve seen it in every space movie..
That’s not the capsule burning. It’s the atmosphere around it being reduced to plasma. As it does so the capsule/ship whatever goes radio dark and the ground crew fails to re-establish communications until that awkward pause where it’s supposed to have exploded and then everyone cheers and pats themselves on the back.
That’s what it is. That window where the heroes are moving too fast ionising the atmosphere that normal radio frequencies can’t see it.
In science terms it’s that a free electron/ion plasma will absorb the energy of any incoming photon within a defined range determined by the frequency of oscillations of the free electrons within that plasma and be either converted to another lower frequency photon (emitted) or added to the temp of the plasma by adding the photons energy to the momentum of the electrons. (making it hotter)
Basically..
Fucked if i know if anyone has ever got it to work with a missile though.

Posted by: S.O. | Oct 19 2023 17:15 utc | 25

@Typing Monkey | Oct 19 2023 14:46 utc | 2
The atmosphere around a missile travelling at very high speed heats up to the point that it turns into a plasma. Normal air does not conduct electrical current, but once it turns into a plasma, it becomes a very good conductor. The conducting plasma acts like a Faraday cage. Electric fields and electromagnetic waves cannot pass through a Faraday cage.

Posted by: Lurk | Oct 19 2023 17:41 utc | 27

Typing Monkey | Oct 19 2023 14:46 utc | 2
S.O. | Oct 19 2023 17:15 utc | 15
There’s also another thing. Missiles like kinzhal don’t spend their entire time moving at Mach 10. Instead, after launch they accelerate and hit Mach 10 at the end of their acceleration, as they are running out of fuel. Afterwards they just fly based on the momentum. PRESUMABLY – I’m not an expert – the missile is blind and deaf during that high speed dash. Presumably it can do some maneuvres that were pre-programmed into it during the dash. But after it slows down the plasma will dissipate and it’ll be able to turn on it’s radar and figure out where it is and where it’s targets are.
Another option is that it has a REALLY POWERFUL radar that is able to shine through the plasma.
I’m not an expert on these things so double-check everything.

Posted by: rert | Oct 19 2023 17:43 utc | 29

On the topic of plasma, could it be that the missile is fast and aerodynamic enough that the plasma sheath around the missile is so thin as to not act as a Faraday cage? You can’t block a cellphone’s connection by wrapping it in aluminum foil, the cage needs to be something more substantial. Not to mention that the missile itself is likely a Faraday cage, and still lets communications through.
It would make sense that the plasma blooms and forms a big messy fog only slightly later, behind the missile.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 19 2023 18:12 utc | 31

ZH has a posting up with the title
Jordan Nixes 3rd Speaker Vote, Will Support McHenry As Interim Until January
The corrupt Congress critters are giving the interim Speaker more power but the joke question is whether a speaker pro tem would be in the presidential line of succession.
The US has the best government money has bought.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 19 2023 18:19 utc | 33

I remember very well, growing up, that Republicans were blue and Democrats red.
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Oct 19 2023 14:48 utc | 3
hmmm, Do you remember purple elephants and donkeys? Red Labour and blue Tory MPs? LOL My personal cross-dressing episode is the Tea Party spin cycle, from which emerged the invisible ink No Labels (epitomized by Joe Lieberman. Remember him?) and press corpse suspicions of uncounted and hard-to-count “independents,” or “non-affiliated” voters.
in re: It shows me how all keep attention on all of our election processes, as minuscule and frivolous as that.
The Electoral College (US Constitution, Art. 2, §1) is a difficult test of US American democracy to master. By design. This “college” of paid surrogates was the first of many schemes invented by British American colonial “liberals” to thwart majoritarian arithmetic (the “popular vote”) by vesting sole authority to settle disputed federal ballots in the US Congress.
The first backroom procedural drama vaguely recalled the Compromise of 1877 selected Hayes (R) over Tilden (D) to bury Reconstruction Acts in Dixie, yanno, that bastion of socialist fervor. Ten years later, Congress produced a rat’s nest of procedural decorum, Electoral Count Act of 1887 (Cleveland (R), Congress (R)), to holster any future, frivolous POTUS ransom notes from the “socialists”. Lemme give you a taste:

…Sec. 4….Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section three of thi act from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified. If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a Shate shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the electors who are shown by the determination mentioned in section two of this act to have been appointed, if the determination in said section provided for shall have been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of vacancy in the board of electors so ascertained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by the laws of the State; but in case there shall arise the question of which two or more of such State authorities determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section two of this act, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its laws; and…

Now, that state of affairs was all well (fixed number) and good (party slates) until recently—that is since H.R. Clinton “won” the 2016 popular vote but lost the Electors and when so-called “rebels” storming the Capitol momentarily interrupted congresscritter validation of Electors’ appointments, actually, rather than “stolen” votes at the polls. DOJ swung Sedition hither and yon. Heads rolled. And then what happened? Too little, too late for public defenders appointed to The Don’s alleged co-conspirators to “overthrow” Pres-elect, Joe Tzu Congress Takes Historic Action to Update the Electoral Count Act, 23 Dec 2022. Summary of this bill, Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, as amended and engrossed by the Consolidated Appropriation of 2023 is here, signifying nothing new

The bill specifies that the choice of electors must occur in accordance with the laws of the state enacted prior to election day.

except “tran$ition resource$ under certain circumstance$”.

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 19 2023 18:28 utc | 35

An informal glimpse inside the Bridge&Road Forum:
President of Chile plays the guqin! Vucic “escapes”! Putin’s appearance caused a sensation/Belt&Road

Posted by: Jun | Oct 19 2023 18:29 utc | 37

“USSR’s betrayal of the Armenians”? A historian’s response to the “ignorant demagoguery” of Yakov Kedmi (EADaily, October 2, 2023 — in Russian)

The former head of one of Israel’s intelligence services, speaking on Russian television in the program Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, said that “the Soviet Union betrayed the Armenians in the Turkish war.” According to him, “it (the USSR) sided with Turkey in the First World War and saved Atatürk.” “And the Armenians were betrayed. Why? The highest national interests,” Kedmi said.
An EADaily correspondent turned to professional historian Oleg Ayrapetov for clarification.
EADaily: Oleg Rudolfovich, explain, why the Soviet Union betrayed the Armenians? Is this interpretation of history by Mr. Kedmi correct?
Ayrapetov: It is deeply ignorant demagoguery. First of all, I would like to note that the Soviet Union did not exist at the time. There was Soviet Russia or the RSFSR. I will note that the same Soviet Russia, even under the conditions of the signing of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, when Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan declared their independence from it (Russia), protested in 1918 to the Turkish government over its actions against the Armenian population of Western Armenia and Baku. On September 20, 1918, the Head of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs Georgiy Chicherin sent a note of protest to Constantinople against the violence carried out by the Turkish army in the territories of Batumi Oblast, Kars Oblast and Ardahan Okrug, which precluded the possibility of free expression of their inhabitants. In addition, Chicherin protested against the conduct of military operations in Transcaucasia after the conclusion of peace and against the massacre in Baku.
In addition, it was definitely not the Soviet government that made Erivan [old spelling of Yerevan — S] focus on the Entente countries, hoping that they would assist the Republic of Armenia in its confrontation with Turkish nationalists, who at that time were also fighting against Western countries.
That’s why I’d like to say that the war with the Ankara government of Atatürk in the name of obtaining purely speculative borders defined near Paris, in Sèvres—this war was started by Armenia. It’s a fact. It hoped to obtain these borders. And it’s clear why it hoped so! The borders were very attractive. But the thing is, these borders still had to be conquered, and there were no resources for that.
On August 10, 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed near Paris. On September 24, 1920, Armenian troops launched an offensive, which was stopped within a few days. The enemy counter-offensive began. On September 29, the Turks were already in Sarıkamış, and on October 30, in Kars. It wasn’t defended. No evacuation was organized. People who had to abandon their homeland were burning houses so that they would not fall to the enemy. At the railway station, people were storming the trains. The great Armenian writer Yeghishe Charents described what was happening in his novel: “A panicked crowd of thousands filled the platform. There was such a turmoil that the Pandemonium of Babel, if there ever really was one, would have seemed like a play. People trampled each other and moved forward, crawling over each other to be closer to the approaching train.”
EADaily: But at the time Armenia was actively sending delegations to Great Britain, France, and was expecting help from America, whose president Woodrow Wilson had confirmed these wonderful, advantageous borders with his arbitration decision. Why didn’t the West help Armenia?
Ayrapetov: Because nobody cared about them. They were dragged into the conflict, and when it started, they were simply forgotten. France, the U.S., Great Britain, if we talk about the national interests that Kedmi is talking about, had no time for the Armenians.
On October 30, Erivan turned to the Entente for help, and on November 5, to the U.S. On November 6, the Turks took Alexandropol [modern-day Gyumri, Armenia — S]. Help never came. On November 12, the Turks entered the Ararat Plain, and there was a threat that Erivan would be taken. On November 15, the Armenian government proposed a truce to the Kemalists to conclude peace. On November 20, 1920, the Dashnak newspaper Haratch stated the need for dialogue with Turkey: “if the Armenian people want to live and ensure their national and physical existence for a long time, they must have a Turkish, not a Russian orientation.” It all ended with the Dashnaks signing the Peace Treaty of Alexandropol on December 4, 1920.
On the same day, the Dashnaks, who formally still controlled the capital, signed peace in Alexandropol. This was the first international treaty concluded by the Ankara government, and it was a complete victory. Armenia de facto capitulated. Atatürk recalled: “It transferred to us, that is, to the national government, the territory that the ‘Ottoman’ government lost in 1876–1877.”
As a result, the Republic of Armenia gained nothing and lost a lot. And, I repeat, as a result of this, the Peace Treaty of Alexandropol with Atatürk was signed not by Soviet Russia, and not by the Soviet Union, which did not exist yet, but by the Dashnak government of Vratsian and Nzhdeh. And the intervention of Soviet Russia, on the contrary, contributed to the fact that Armenia gained some territories relative to the Treaty of Alexandropol.
As for retired General Kedmi, I think that he could quite professionally explain how the Jewish community of the United States and the State of Israel were fighting against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 at the UN and in the U.S. Congress. And why they were doing that. In addition, I think that he, as a high-ranking Israeli intelligence officer, could quite competently talk about the military assistance provided by Israel to the Republic of Azerbaijan during the preparation and progress of the 44-day war in 2020. About how the highest national interests of Israel prevailed over everything else. By the way, all this continues today. As Aleksandr Galich says in a song: “…blood is not more expensive than oil, and oil is desperately needed.” Of course, not only oil.
EADaily: I’d like to clarify something. There is a lot of talk about how Soviet Russia supported Atatürk with weapons and gold. Does this have anything to do with the Armenian Question?
Ayrapetov: It’s a fact that Russia provided assistance to Atatürk’s government. There was a de facto allied relationship, but it developed after Soviet power was established in Armenia, after the Armenian question in Turkey had already been resolved. …
…

Posted by: S | Oct 19 2023 18:50 utc | 39

@19, pschohistorian, I consider the lack of a Speaker a good thing. When CONgress is in session, no one is safe.

Posted by: Immaculate deception | Oct 19 2023 18:54 utc | 41

Elections do not matter in the USA anymore, voting only encourages them. Withhold your vote, withhold your consent

Posted by: Exile | Oct 19 2023 19:16 utc | 43

Withhold your vote, withhold your consent
Posted by: Exile | Oct 19 2023 19:16 utc | 24
Voted once when I was 18 I am now nearly 60. Saw the sham that it was as if I was under the sorting hat at Hogwarts or picking a religion or race. All meant to divide you whilst the one party nation state does what it wants anyway.
Voted in the Brexit referendum because I foolishly thought it actually meant something. The one party nation state has tried to reverse the result ever since.
Here is no such thing as democracy it is a class war. Always has been. A sham, a mirage for those with little brain.
They just wait you out until your generation dies off within 80 years. They have already prepped and brainwashed the next generation in GROUPTHINK in their education camps as they take your children from the age of 5 and fill their heads full of bullshit encased in division.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Oct 19 2023 20:17 utc | 45

Withhold your vote, withhold your consent
Posted by: Exile | Oct 19 2023 19:16 utc | 24
Where’s the fun in that?

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 19 2023 20:19 utc | 47

re above sln2002 – I think it’s fun to be right

Posted by: persiflo | Oct 19 2023 20:27 utc | 49

osted by: Echo Chamber | Oct 19 2023 20:17 utc | 25
They just wait you out until your generation dies off within 80 years. They have already prepped and brainwashed the next generation in GROUPTHINK in their education camps as they take your children from the age of 5 and fill their heads full of bullshit encased in division.
Well said. It echos my longtime thought that history will repeat once there is no 1st person remembrance. Same thing only different. For instance. The manpower socialy engineered by the 20’s 30’s and available as a chohort of dissafected and hopeless young men w no oppourtunity except joining ww2.
This possibly repeats itself in the west by another manufactured depression coupled with military service as a path to citizenship.
Appreciate the thoughts your post provoked

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Oct 19 2023 21:06 utc | 51

Looks like nominal and real interest rates on al end of the curves keep rising across the west. Restarting the QE program is simply unviable, and a lot of sectors that were propped up through QE for last 15 years will melt down.
Interesting to note the reaction of gold and silver, which are also going up regardless of real interest rates. It seems to indicate a rising risk of financial collapse, or more specifically, a collapse of western banks or perhaps states and debt crisis.

Posted by: unimperator | Oct 19 2023 21:19 utc | 53

@2
i posted in palestinian thread earlier… sorry b. can you erase that post…..
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/733027
https://thedebrief.org/china-hypersonic-metamaterial-wifi/
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/china-6g-technology-hypersonic-missile-b2002535.html

Posted by: jason | Oct 19 2023 21:33 utc | 55

Re Hypersonics and ‘Plasma Stealth’
Very few (if any) land attack missiles of any appreciable range require any guidance from the launch platform. Only ‘semi-active’ surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles use something similar, in that the targeting radar on the launcher illuminates the target while the missile’s radar seeker uses the reflected pulses to guide itself to the target.
Early ballistic missiles used a radio link to correct their inertial guidance systems in the first minutes of flight while their engines were firing, but this approach was quickly abandoned in favour of all-inertial internal guidance due to the fear that the radio systems could be jammed or spoofed via electronic warfare.
Ballistic missiles are only controlled by their guidance system during their ‘boost’ phase while their engines are firing, and in the case of quasi-ballistic missiles again during reentry into the atmosphere when aerodynamic surfaces can maneuver the missile or warhead to correct its trajectory or avoid antimissile systems. All of this occurs using inertial guidance by the missile’s internal ‘brain’, or in the case of missiles with terminal guidance an internal electro-optical or radar seeker.
Cruise missiles work in a similar manner except that their engines fire for most of the missile’s trajectory and the inertial guidance system constantly adjusts the missiles flight path, while in many cases using GPS/GLONASS updates for increased accuracy. In the case of the hypersonic Zircon cruise missile it could be difficult for these GLONASS signals to penetrate the plasma around the missile, but in the case of reentering spacecraft it has proved easier for a signal coming from a satellite above to penetrate the plasma than a signal from the ground. When NASA introduced its TDRS communication satellites the period of communications blackout during Shuttle reentry was dramatically reduced.
GLONASS updates may not even be necessary if the missile possesses a seeker that can provide terminal guidance. This is probably the most challenging aspect as many seekers may be blinded by the plasma. If the missile slows below hypersonic speeds in the terminal phase (like the Kinzhal quasi-ballistic missile) this would make designing the seeker much easier.
As almost all missile guidance is internal ‘plasma stealth’ is mostly a problem for the defender as the plasma would absorb most of the radar waves that most antimissile systems rely on for guidance. Using infrared guidance instead would turn plasma stealth into a liability as the missile or warhead would ‘glow’ intensely in the visible and infrared spectrum.

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Oct 19 2023 21:50 utc | 57

– Is this credible ? Has this been reported before here on M of A ? Or is this a distraction from other devious plans from israel ?
“CIA leak reveals that Netanyahu wants to execute a pre-emptive strike on Iran ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKV7SXwnA0k
That could explain why the US is sending troops to the east of the Mediterrian Sea ?

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 19 2023 23:24 utc | 59

@ Mr. Market | Oct 19 2023 23:24 utc | 31
Bibi has lusted for a preemptive strike on Iran for decades. It’s just always been a question of timing, and whether he can get the USA to do it for him.

Posted by: malenkov | Oct 20 2023 0:01 utc | 61

Hudson on Simes’s “New Rules” podcast, and another installment of the “Geopolitical Economy Hour” with Escobar again.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 20 2023 1:35 utc | 63

Hudson’s on the New Rules podcast and Escobar joins him on the Geopolitical Economy Hour that I can’t link to as my comment gets rejected.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 20 2023 1:40 utc | 65

The global war ends when the War Party can longer pay for the wars using cheap low interest debt. De-dollarization matters .
The entire yield curve is now over 5%.
Washington is insolvent. They just don‘t know it yet.

Posted by: Exile | Oct 20 2023 2:26 utc | 67

@ karlof1 | Oct 20 2023 1:40 utc | 33 with I think the reference to the latest Radhika Desai, Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar podcast at the link below if works
https://soundcloud.com/geopoliticaleconomy/multipolarity-china-russia-new-world
I would have much rather read the words spoken but glad to spend the time…..lots going on.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 20 2023 3:49 utc | 69

You couldn;t make it up:
“After leading a failed military coup, a failed mercenary invasion of his country, and a non-existent presidency, Juan Guaidó gets his golden parachute at an intelligence-adjacent US university.
This article was originally published by Jeremy Kuzmarov in Covert Action Magazine.
“Florida International University has appointed Juan Guaidó, a Venezuelan coup leader created in the U.S. regime-change laboratory, as a visiting professor.
“An engineer by training, Guaidó’s appointment is at the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom, which FIU describes as a “world-class, independent, non-partisan think tank” with a mission “to advance economic and individual freedom and human prosperity.”
“During the fall semester, Guaidó will conduct eight study group sessions, in addition to mentoring students, conducting research and being part of public conferences and seminars.
“He will be paid $40,000, FIU said.
“This compensation is more than FIU adjunct professors get who are far more qualified to teach FIU students than Guaidó, as they often hold Master’s and in most cases Ph.D. degrees in their field…
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/10/18/venezuelan-coup-leader-juan-guaido-florida-international/

Posted by: bevin | Oct 20 2023 4:06 utc | 71

It pays to join the teflon club !
jap dumping radio active water into Pacific Ocean…
Garden

jp transparency is commendable
China shouldnt politicise this matter

India accused of killing Canuck citizen in Canada
garden

Deafeniung silence

.
Pentagon

Even if true India is too important to offend

Gaza carnage,
garden

Today we’r all Israelis.

Imagine the hue and cry,
Had it been China doing it……..

Posted by: denk | Oct 20 2023 4:12 utc | 73

@25 Echo Chamber
Yes, the 30+ trillion in debt and the coming point of not being able to meet even the interest payments will be interesting to see.
The Chinese curse of interesting times are at least interesting like watching a train crash as the system contorts itself into an absolutely grotesque embodiment. It can either go one step further into complete communism grotesqueness means Christians will be scapegoated/slaughtered or it will, the west, fall apart and balkanize completely laying the ground for another Dark Age, which is in truth just what the Dr. ordered: isolationism, inwardness, introspection.
Fyi, am reading Rene Girard’s ‘I See Satan Fall Like Lightning,’ as I believe you were the one who recommended Girard’s thought. It’s a magnificent book with untold implications for reorienting the western gaze away from Freudian interpretations of myth which are festooned everywhere in our Talmudic era. The implications of Gerard’s thought are manifold and does seem to imply that a tipping point is approaching which is ominous for Christians.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Oct 20 2023 4:13 utc | 75

Whenever you listen to a Canadian talking about the Holodomor (a myth which is taught in Canada’s schools) pay attention. Canada knows about such matters.
For example there was The Clearing of The Plains- the subject of James Daschuk’s book. And then as this book by Tom Swanky documents there was the smallpox epidemic in the Haida Gwai.
“…Haida knowledge keepers often introduce their history of British Columbia with “The Story of Bones Bay.” This “Story” teaches that Governor James Douglas executed an intentional mass killing during 1862 using smallpox as a tool for displacing native authority. This book explores the written record as it touches the Haida experience leading to the Crown’s assumption of authority over the Haida and over Haida Gwaii from 1863. Beginning in 1860, Douglas answered the Haida’s prior refusal to submit unconditionally for rule by the Crown with a program of increasing violence that culminated in spreading smallpox as a political tool. After colonists knowingly imported smallpox in 1862, the Douglas administration violated British law to pervert standard disease control measures while reducing the population underpinning native authority in numerous autonomous territories. Officials concealed their true intentions at each stage by supplying the public with misdirection. This book also documents the role of Francis Poole, a foot soldier employed to advance Douglas’ smallpox program from Victoria to the Nuxalk, Tsilhqot’in and Haida territories. MLA Robert Burnaby coached Poole in the administration’s preferred means of obscuring the public record concerning what Poole’s memoir refers to as “a sorrowful trail of blood.”
So don’t discount Canadian tales of starving whole nations to death.. they know whereof they speak.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 20 2023 4:19 utc | 77

Thank you all for the answers re: hysersonics and plasma shields–I think I know enough now to find formal publications and read more in-depth.
I love this board 🙂

Posted by: Typing Monkey | Oct 20 2023 4:59 utc | 79

Elections do not matter in the USA anymore, voting only encourages them. Withhold your vote, withhold your consent
Posted by: Exile | Oct 19 2023 19:16 utc | 24

Your vote will be voted regardless.
IIRC, John McCain’s last public statement about his imminent demise (paraphrase) : “Now I’ll find out if I really will vote Democrat when I’m dead.”
re: those mail-in ballots that no one requests. The Democrats supposedly have analysts cross-correlating who is registered to vote, vs. who is (un)likely to vote. This usually gives them 20-40% of eligible voter NAMES that they can absentee-ballot vote on behalf of, with reduced chance of folks noticing… the method is not fool-proof, and the last 2 federal elections were replete with reports of folks being turned away at the polling stations because “they had already voted.”
(“um. no i didn’t!”)

Posted by: retroflects | Oct 20 2023 5:19 utc | 81

https://twitter.com/TONYxTWO/status/1714808266901823499

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 20 2023 5:29 utc | 83

Below is a short but powerful posting from Xinhuanet

BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — The Chinese government announced on Friday that it will impose export controls on certain graphite materials and related products.
In an announcement jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, the export of artificial graphite materials and related products with high purity (purity>99.9%), high strength (flexural strength>30Mpa) and high density (density>1.73g/cubic centimeter) will be banned, unless permission is granted.
Meanwhile, natural flake graphite and its products, including spheroidized graphite and expanded graphite, will also be banned from export unless there is permission, according to the announcement.
The control measures take effect on Dec. 1, 2023, according to the announcement.

China dominates the world’s production and processing of graphite, which is the largest component by weight in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, and one of the most pure forms of carbon.
As I recall, Turkey and Brazil are the next two sources globally and so they may get more market share over time but graphite is in lots of things and I expect increased howling over this.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 20 2023 6:26 utc | 85

Typing Monkey | Oct 19 2023 14:46 utc | 2
Short wave radio operates over such long distance because it bounces off the ionosphere.
Plasma is ionized gases in this case the gases that make up the atmosphere. not the same of course as there are coms to spacecraft and whatever outside the ionosphere.
Ionized air is electrically conductive. Lightning – the air is ionized in advance of the electrical discharge according to my understanding. A plasma cutter, something I have used. That requires and initial spark, either scratch start or high frequency start to create the plasma…
Though in noting the last makes me think about the first a little more. Had to look up the definition of plasma in case it refereed only to heated ionized gas.
The definition – “Plasma is called the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas. It is a state of matter in which an ionized substance becomes highly electrically conductive to the point that long-range electric and magnetic fields dominate its behavior.”
Combine the everyday thing like short wave radio, lightning, plasma cutting torch, combine it with – “fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas” and “long-range electric and magnetic fields dominate its behavior”
Plenty of food for thought. Electro magnetic. That covers all the frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, radio radar, xray ect, the light frequencies, all electromagnetic frequencies.
I have never seen it explained adequately in layman’s terms. Perhaps something that first requires a new concept in thinking to fully understand.
The most interesting part though is Russia say it has had a breakthrough in new physical principles.
That followed by the much later announcement that Russian weapons R&D is now going to concentrate on directed energy weapons (electro magnetic).
The biggest problem I see in understanding what Russia is doing is that we can research this sort of thing to the extent it is known in the west yet Russia has gone beyond that known.
Similar occurred with Soviet Union building the closed cycle rocket engine which was theoretical possible but technically impossible in the west.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 20 2023 6:30 utc | 87

@25 Echo Chamber
Yes, the 30+ trillion in debt and the coming point of not being able to meet even the interest payments will be interesting to see.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Oct 20 2023 4:13 utc | 38
They’ll always be able to meet the interest payments. They are neither a household or a business, they issue the $. They are the issuer of the currency not a user of the currency.
As I’ve said many times no need to issue treasuries as it is a political choice to do so. To give the top end of town free money ( welfare) every time the government spends.
These 2 links will help
A debate from 2009
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=3921
The Only Bonds We ever Need Are Granny Bonds
https://new-wayland.com/blog/the-only-bonds-we-need-are-granny-bonds/

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Oct 20 2023 7:47 utc | 89

October 19, 2023, 5:38 p.m. ET
Authorities in China have banned a book about the last Ming dynasty emperor Chongzhen after online comments said its analysis could apply to current Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
“Chongzhen: The hard-working emperor who brought down a dynasty” by late Ming dynasty expert Chen Wutong recently disappeared from online bookstores, including the website of state-run Xinhua Books, with multiple searches for the book yielding no results on major book-selling platforms this week. Meanwhile, keyword searches for the book and its author on the social media platform Weibo yielded no results on Thursday.
Current affairs commentators said the book has likely been removed from public view after online comments drew parallels between its analysis of the fall of the 1368-1644 Ming dynasty and China’s current situation under ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Many online comments picked up on a particular line in Chen’s book: “With one bad move following another, the harder he worked, the faster he brought the country to ruin.”
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/book-10192023132736.html

Posted by: Antonym | Oct 20 2023 12:48 utc | 91

Exile @ 34
Washington does know it is insolvent. They are in full panic. There is nothing they can do about their insolvency beyond pretending and lying and bluffing.
Also they delegate their traders to keep the ten year below the magic 5 (barely) even when longer bonds are above. Last magic trick they’ve got.

Posted by: oldhippie | Oct 20 2023 13:04 utc | 93

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/20/us-declares-war/
Excellent (and lengthy) piece by Michael Brenner on Consortium News. Is the West (aka, the Garden) even capable of producing top notch diplomats anymore, consumed as we are in our own fantasy world. Here’s a taste:
The upshot is that Putin and Xi seem puzzled by feckless Western counterparts who disregard the elementary precepts of diplomacy. That should be a concern as well — except by those who intend to conduct the U.S. “war” in a linear manner that pays little attention to the thinking of other parties.
The vitriol that is thrown at Putin with such vehemence by his Western counterparts is something of a puzzle. It is manifestly disproportionate to anything that he has done or said by any reasonable measure — even if one distorts the underlying story of Ukraine.
Obama’s condescension suggests an answer. At its core, their attitude reflects envy. Envy in the sense that he is subconsciously recognized as clearly superior in attributes of intelligence, knowledge of contemporary issues and history, articulateness, political savvy and – most certainly – diplomatic skill.
Try to imagine any U.S. leader emulating Putin’s performance in holding three-hour open Q & A sessions with citizens of all stripes — responding directly, in detail, coherently and with good grace. Biden? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau? German Chancellor Olaf Scholz? British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak? French President Emmanual Macron? Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission? Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallis?
Even Obama, from whom we’d get canned sermons cast in high-minded language that distills into very little. That’s why the West’s political class assiduously avoids paying attention to Putin’s speeches and press conferences — out of sight, out of mind.
Act in reference to the make-believe cartoon instead of the real man.

Posted by: KMR | Oct 20 2023 13:34 utc | 95

Ought to be a daily occurrence.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/69400

#Syria
🧨🇺🇸
Two US bases in Syria were attacked yesterday morning: the Conico Field base in Deir al-Zor and the al-Tanf base in Homs province.
The former was hit by a missile strike and the latter was attacked by three UAVs, two of which were shot down and the third hit its target.
The Iraqi Resistance group (linked to Iran) claimed responsibility for the attack.
As a result of the attack, there are wounded among the US Army personnel.
In the evening of the same day, unknown people (reportedly pro-Iranian locals) blew up a gas pipe at the Koniko field. Two explosions are also reported at a U.S. base near the Omar oil field.
Someone is persistently trying to show the Americans that they are not very welcome in Syria….

Posted by: anon2020 | Oct 20 2023 13:57 utc | 97

bevin@39…..maybe they’ll apologize after they pardon Louis Riel. We have a day named in his honour, Louis Riel Day…..and he’s still on the books as a criminal. Fucking Latchicos those Brits.
Working in a school, I find it amusing, children get a one day prepper on Riel, and at least six weeks of Holocaustic insanity. And you know what makes it more fucking egregious, the Grand Assembly sent delegates to Occupied Palestine to investigate how the Palestinians surrounded the Colonialists and where making their life a living hell, like the Brits did to the descendants of Turtle Island.
Cheers M
A Canadian friend, in the last few years, is just learning about Canada’s evil past. And I honestly believe if it were not for Gordie and his exposure of Residential School deaths, Canada would still be hiding it under the rug……coincidence, Gord got inoperable brain cancer after the books release, lucky Brits dodged a bullet there.

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Oct 20 2023 14:02 utc | 99