Posted on 11/30/2017 8:37:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
This is why North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile is so important. North Korea had test fired a total of 22 missiles so far this year, but this latest one showed that nobody on the globe is out of their reach. In fact, General Mattis is now admitting that “North Korea can basically threaten everywhere in the world”, and that includes the entire continental United States. In addition to hitting individual cities with nukes, there is also the possibility that someday North Korea could try to take down the entire country with an EMP attack. If the North Koreans detonated a single nuclear warhead several hundred miles above the center of the country, it would destroy the power grid and fry electronics from coast to coast.
I would like you to think about what that would mean for a few moments. Suddenly there would be no power at home, at work or at school. Since nearly all of our vehicles rely on computerized systems, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere and nobody would be able to get to you. And you wouldn’t be able to contact anyone because all phones would be dead. Basically, pretty much everything electronic would be dead. I am talking about computers, televisions, GPS devices, ATMs, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, credit card readers, gas pumps, cash registers, hospital equipment, traffic lights, etc.
For the first couple of days life would continue somewhat normally, but then people would soon start to realize that the power isn’t coming back on and panic would begin to erupt.
The intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea just launched traveled almost 1,000 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of 4,500 kilometers. We have been told for decades that this would never be allowed to happen, but now it has happened…
This is concerning for one big reason: according to General Mattis, the North Korean ICBM “went higher, frankly, than any previous” and “North Korea can basically threaten everywhere in the world.” This was confirmed by North Korea missile analyst, Shea Cotton, who cited Allthingsnuclear author David Wright, and who told the BBC that the initial estimates of the ICBM test mean that North Korea can now reach New York and Washington DC.
If we had been working hard to develop our anti-missile technology all these years, this wouldn’t be a problem.
But at this point we are way behind the Russians in this regard, and there is a very real possibility that a missile launched by the North Koreans could make it through the very limited anti-missile defenses that we do have.
Once upon a time, discussions about a North Korean EMP threat were mostly hypothetical, but now that has completely changed. North Korea has clearly demonstrated that they are able to deliver such an attack, and last September Kim Jong Un publicly admitted that North Korea intended to develop this capability…
But most reporters missed a key threat that appeared at the bottom of Kim’s public statement, when he bragged that North Korea had harnessed “a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals.”
So now we know. Launching an electromagnetic pulse attacks against its enemies is one of North Korea’s strategic goals. And for North Korea, the United States is the top enemy.
And like I said earlier, all it would take would be a single well placed nuclear detonation to fry electronics from coast to coast. The following comes from the Daily Mail…
Theoretically, a sufficiently powerful bomb detonated at an altitude of 249 miles would wipe out all electronics in the US, save the southernmost top of Florida and the easternmost states – as well as affecting Canada and Mexico.
Without power, nothing would get distributed. That means that very rapidly there would be no food, no water and no medicine available in your community. An article posted by Fox News this week used the term “post-apocalyptic” to describe what we would be facing…
It all starts to sound very post-apocalyptic when you realize this means no lights or other electric-powered devices in homes and businesses, no water filtration, no regional food hubs, no transportation grid – none of the things we take for granted in modern civilization.
Like I stated earlier, things would be relatively fine for a few days, but then once everyone realizes that the power isn’t coming back on there would be chaos on a scale unlike anything we have ever seen before. The following comes from an article by Mac Slavo…
The first 24 – 48 hours after such an occurrence will lead to confusion among the general population as traditional news acquisition sources like television, radio and cell phone networks will be non-functional.
Within a matter of days, once people realize the power might not be coming back on and grocery store shelves start emptying, the entire system will begin to delve into chaos.
Within 30 days a mass die off will have begun as food supplies dwindle, looters and gangs turn to violent extremes, medicine can’t be restocked and water pump stations fail.
So what kind of a “mass die off” would we be talking about?
Well, some of the top experts in the field believe that “up to 90 percent of all Americans” could end up dead if the power outage lasted long enough…
William Graham, chairman of the former EMP commission and its former chief of staff, Peter Vincent Pry, warned the hearing that such an attack could “shut down the US electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans.“
Others believe that the figure would be lower, but pretty much everyone agrees that the death toll would be in the millions.
This is one of our greatest strategic vulnerabilities, and our power grid could be hardened against an EMP attack for just a few billion dollars. This is something that I am pushing very hard for, but right now it is just not a priority for our leaders in Washington.
In fact, they have actually pulled funding from the commission that was looking into the EMP threat…
On Sept. 30, the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat of Electromagnetic Pulse to the United States of America shut its doors after a failure to secure funding from Congress.
Sometimes I find it difficult to come up with the words to describe how incredibly foolish Congress is being.
An EMP attack is a greater threat than ever before, and yet Congress didn’t even want to come up with a little bit of funding for the commission that was working on a plan to protect us.
This is yet another example that shows that we need new leadership on Capitol Hill, because right now the people that we have “representing” us in Washington seem to be completely and utterly clueless about almost everything.
That's about half the distance to the moon. Should that be 200,000 m or 200 km?
Climbing up a rope on fire.
This is such a hoax....
This is a stupid hoax. Nothing would happen.
Yeah, we have a couple of Missileers here...one on MX, another on Minuteman IIIs. Freeper on the MX silos, forgot his name was purged with Giuliani purge. We need a nuke ping here similar to the treadhead and Military intel ping lists.
EMP is not a hoax, the belief that one or two atomic weapons could bring us to our knees IS a hoax. A lot of hyperbole with the book “One Second After” (an excellent FICTION book btw).
They did a study on cars with ECU’s(onboard computers). The only cars affected were the ones actually running at the time of the pulse. And those that quit only needed to be restarted. None had any permanent real damage as a result of the EMP.
Google EMP tests on vehicles. In 5 minutes you will educate yourself on this hoax
200,000 meters. That typo was just in one spot. I used meters thereafter!
I used to own a V12 BMW 850 CSi. EMP shielded to get German fat cats out of Germany cities in case of airburst. Yes, they marketed it as EMP proof (not why I bought it)
EMP is an overblown boogie man.
According to data from the EMP Commission, the conventional wisdom may be wrong, or at least not entirely correct. In a study released in 2004, the EMP Commission subjected 37 different cars and trucks to simulated EMP attacks and found that none of them suffered permanent, crippling damage, although the results were somewhat mixed.
.... Dumb freshman believed there were secret missile fields around Lawrence...
The launch sites around Carroll and Marshall Counties in Missouri weren’t so secret. They were fenced off areas in about a one acre surface area with the typical “US Property. Keep Out” signs. They had a small shed on it along with a concrete pad about 20’ or so square. That was the door/silo cover that would have rolled open before a launch. Everybody knew where they were and what they were.
Ping.
I wrote an article on FR about this, with respect to Avian Flu awhile back.
The point is that in order to save money, our business world has abandoned any trace of redundancy, duplicate function, or stockpiling; all in favor of "just in time" supply chains.
And this saves money: it's just not sustainable once supply chains get interrupted.
Under those conditions, it mimics the medical condition known as "shock" in the human body, wherein ALL the blood vessels open wide at the same time, and blood pressure (and therefore the amount of blood delivering food and oxygen to the tissues) plummets catastrophically.
It gets worse, though, due to panic: at the very moment deliveries are curtailed, panic-driven demand skyrockets.
Result: no food, no supplies, and increased panic.
Urban populations forage afield for sustenance: and presumably are strenuously resisted (up to and including deadly force) by the inhabitants of the first-ring suburbs, who were also caught by surprise but at least had the dubious saving grace of not outnumbering their supply chokepoints (grocery stories, C-stores, etc). quite so outrageously.
The other issue that feeds into this would be the number of vehicles either no longer serviceable, or out of fuel: limiting the ability of the hordes to reach the outskirts of town for rapine and plunder, in at timely fashion.
That’s great, but cars aren’t the only thing affected. Satellites, transformers, computers, all kinds of things we rely upon implicitly.
I say it for a few reasons. Folks out in the country typically prepare for emergencies. Usually have their own water sources, able to hunt, fish, grow veggies, forage, own poultry and or other livestock. Many around our parts own horses...more than one, typically have fuel sources such as farm diesel and or wood to burn.
Urban folks will be in a world of hurt. Country folks know one another and are more likely to ban together to protect swaths of territory against outsiders.
The lakes in our area for fishing, ferrule pigs, garden, chickens/eggs....folks in this area would be just fine, for a while anyhow.
Folks used to dig wells all the time. When times call for extreme measures...people will rise to the occasion.
Doubtful that little Kim is going to attack the USA unless China gives them the green light-that day is likely down the road. On the other hand, if the conspiracy theory that he is controlled by the CIA, is true, could happen any day.
Most Congress Critters don’t give a plugged nickel about the well being of citizens, as long as they have their bunkers all ready they are happy. Hence the demise of all the civil defense efforts of the cold war period.
I am skeptical that a mere lack of electricity would be unsurvivable for all us country folk. City folk will be more challenged. We’ve survived without electricity for several weeks here.
China has made it clear that they think this is their century to dominate world leadership, so that is a big concern - and they are using our dollars from buying there stuff to finance their military.
Thanks to the Toon, and preferred trade status.
I still do not believe the NORKs are crazy enough to do it. They are crazy (at least Fat Boy is), but c’mon: launching a nuke attack against the U.S. is signing your death warrant.
I think the danger is in the NORKs selling it to a terrorist organisation to let them do the dirty work and take all the blame while they stand by with a “not me” look on their faces....
Well, I watched video of reporter in NK—he had beeen there previously and went back in Sept. Sure he has an agenda, but it was interesting listening to the people he interviewed and watching their body language, etc.
After watching this, I do think they are crazy enough to do it...They have been indoctrinated with anti-American propaganda since the Korean war.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/sunday/nuclear-north-korea.html
From watching this video, I think they would likely take credit. However, if Kim gets worried, he might very well sell the technology to someone else to do the dirty deed.
There is no excuse for this vulnerability...So instead of working to actually protect the US citizens from real threats, congress is busy protecting their A$$es paying out hush money for their tawdry sexual exploits. It is just criminal :(
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