Apocalypse now? "Dozens of Russia's nuclear weapons are missing"

Times/U.K. ^ | Tuesday, October 23, 2001 | GILES WHITTELL

[Sabertooth]

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[patriciaruth]

It is unclear from what I have read whether the nukes are actually missing or their inventory system is just so antiquated that it can't locate them. So, it may not be apocalyptic, it may just be an abacus glitch.

[R_Kangel]

Maybe this is why Osama is so cocky in his speaches. Perhaps his plans include the unthinkable. After all, he does not think but only reacts to a situation. He has already comitted an unthinkable nightmarish act without hesitation! I shudder to think what might be next!!

......and the devil shall be loosed for a short season.

[Cold Heat]

RUMORS! I think?

[Vicki]

It's ALL for sale in Russia.

[sourcery]

What's different here is that this war, unlike any for several centuries in the western world, is one between societies and civilizations, and not between governments or nations. That's why the other side makes no demands, and deliberately targets non-combatants. Our enemies despise our civilization to its core, and will accept nothing less than our total capitulation to their model of civilization.

[garyhope]

Nothing can top or equal 9-11-01 except a nuclear device detonated in the US by the rag heads. It will be the last thing the Muslims ever do.

[readyourhistory]

They made no demands? They've been screaming them. Again, not siding with the enemy, which they are, but merely pointing out your ignorance.

[Movemout]

The world has changed. We are getting used to it.

[Sabertooth]

As I understand it, we're the Great Satan, and the "peaceful moslems" demand that we die.

[Sabertooth]

'nother bump

[Zorobabel]

Those switches mentioned in the article are kryton switches. High speed detonators for the high explosive needed to compress the core of a nuclear bomb and produce fission.

[readyourhistory]

action/reaction. you missed the first part obviously. i hear your point though, we have to deal with the current situation.

[vox1138]

Yes, it will be the last thing they would ever do. How can we be sure? Well, they care so much about American lives in general, they would never think of inflicting mass casualties here. That would be barbaric.

[Fulbright]

Al Qaeda's operations against the US, which have closed its Congress, stock market and central mail handling facility in its capital city, appear to have cost less than one million dollars.

It is possible that the terror network's major expenditures have been to equip it with nuclear weapons. This may explain why, in a situation in which the use of tactical nuclear weapons is indicated, they have not been used yet.

[wretchard]

Once you accept the assumption that nuclear weapons are in private hands, and that the knowledge of how to develop a genetically modified doomsday bug will shortly follow, then it follows that we are in a mathematically chaotic situation. The object of national defense must be to restore a modicum of linearity.

The most destablizing variables in the current crisis are the proliferation of formerly esoteric knowledge and the uncertainty of human motivation. For example, any concern over the Pakistani nuclear weapons is totally misplaced: it is the Pakistani scientists, the knowledge in their heads and the motives in their hearts that we should be worried about. The Rangers can grab every islamic bomb in existence, but it will be pointless. They will simply make more.

If we are to return to a linear situation where outcomes are predictable, it will be necessary either to simplify the present or plan for a recovery after the inevitable crash. Trying to simplify the present implies reducing the population, lessening cultural diversity and strictly limiting technology. This is impossible to achieve.

Planning to recover from a crash means implementing a Noah's Ark strategy in which key items are preserved for the post-crash world (or post apocalyptic world, if you will) which will return to a form of stability in a manner that no one can predict.

[Dan Day]

Once I had to memorize the periodic table. What the heck is caesium? Cesium? Calcium?

It's the British spelling of Cesium.

Radiactive Cesium couldn't be used to make a nuclear bomb, but it could be used to make a "dirty bomb" -- pack it around conventional explosives, and when you set it off, it scatters radiactive particles far and wide and contaminates an area.

Kind of like a reverse neutron bomb -- it won't kill anyone (unless you're standing right next to it), but it will destroy property values. The contaminated area could be unusable for years.

[CBF]

Hey, John, thanks for posting this article. You're bringing facts to light and helping others see the big picture. I've been travelling to Russia since 1994, and I can attest to the free-for-all.

The Russian mafia is ruthless, blood-thirsty and without morals. Plus, there are two kinds of mofia that most people overlook. One is the business mafia, those are the guys you run into while doing business in Moscow and such that suggest and assist with the bribs that are necessary to conduct normal business. They are also involved heavily in bank fraud both in Russia and abroad, as well as a peice of the car theft ring, vodka sales, etc...They'll kill, but only when they have too.

Then you have their mortal enemies, the Chechin mafia -- MUSLIMS of the worst kind. They are just as connected but have their central activities in illegal arms trade, drugs, prostitution, extortion, etc...Both mafia groups are connected to the military in one way or another, and have the local police wired for sound and on the payroll. Both groups are extrememly wealthy, the former more so and better organized with slightly higher morals. The MUSLIM Chechin mafia is segmented and disorganized with fringe groups acting in cells all over central and eastern Europe.

Given my experience with these groups, I'd have no problem believing that the MUSLIM Chechin mafia has indeed sold and exported nuclear weapons out of Russia, and materials needed for their construction. Draw what conclusions you'd like, but I consider it as fact that our enemies are so armed. Additionally, I have no doubt that those weapons are south of our border, if not already in our county. Imagine the amount of cocaine that is transferred from S.America to Europe and the amount of heroine that is transported from Europe to S. AMerica only to end up in our country. Hundreds of thousands of tons. If someone actually planned on taking in one of potentially several nuclear devices, can anyone confidently say they haven't already arrived on US soil, or will at some point in the future?

Complete and total extermination of the terroristically inclined is the only answer. That and a hard-line crackdown on our borders, and illegals in this country.