Wars And Rumors Of War: The Land Of Magog Prepares For War

The headlines tell the story:

Russia Launches 'Black Hole' Stealth Submarine

[This development is a 'game-changer' in terms of warfare]

Did you know that Russia is building submarines that are so quiet that the U.S. military cannot detect them?  These “black hole” submarines can freely approach the coastlines of the United States without fear of being detected whenever they want.  In fact, a “nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles” sailed around in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks without being detected back in 2012.  And now Russia is launching a new class of subs that have “advanced stealth technology”.  The U.S. Navy openly acknowledges that they cannot track these subs when they are submerged.  That means that the Russians are able to sail right up to our coastlines and launch nukes whenever they want.  But instead of trying to find a way to counteract this potential threat, the Obama administration has been working very hard to dismantle the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal.  In the end, we could potentially pay a great price for this utter foolishness.

A recent RT article discussed these new super silent “black hole” submarines.  To say that they are impressive would be a massive understatement…

Russia has launched its new state-of-the-art Novorossiysk submarine, which set sail from a St Petersburg shipyard to become the first of six diesel-electric stealth subs delivered to the Russian Black Sea fleet in the next two years.

The Novorossiysk belongs to the Varshavyanka-class (Project 636), which is characterized by advanced stealth technology, making it virtually undetectablewhen submerged.

“Our potential opponents call it the ‘Black Hole’ due to the very low noise emission and visibility of the submarine,” Konstantin Tabachny, captain of the Novorossiysk, told Channel One TV. “To be undetectable is the main quality for a submarine. And this whole project really fits its purpose.”

Of course Russia has been building “near silent” submarines for quite some time.  In fact, their nuclear submarines are already far quieter than anything the U.S. currently has…

Russia recently launched its near silent nuclear submarine following several years of development.

The Borey Class submarine, dubbed Vladimir Monomakh, has a next generation nuclear reactor, can dive deeper than 1,200 feet, and carries up to 20 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

Each of these “Bulava” ICBM’s can carry ten detachable MIRV warheads, what they call “re-entry vehicles,” capable of delivering 150 kiloton yields per warhead

And as I mentioned above, these submarines have the ability to approach the coastlines of the United States without the U.S. military ever even knowing that they were there.

In addition, Russia has been working feverishly to upgrade other elements of their strategic arsenal as well.  For example, it was recently announced that Russia will soon begin work on a new strategic bomber…

Russia will begin the full-scale R&D work on its future strategic bomber in 2014, a senior aircraft-manufacturing industry official said Thursday.

The project, known as PAK-DA (an acronym meaning “future long-range aircraft”), has been in the works for several years but was given the formal go-ahead by the Russian leadership last year.

Russia is developing several new missiles, including a weapon U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed as a covert intermediate-range nuclear missile called the RS-26 that is being developed and tested in apparent violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The Russian government has denied the RS-26 violates the INF treaty and claims it is a new ICBM, which some arms compliance experts say is a violation of the 2010 New START treaty.

Putin: Russia Needs Arctic Presence To Guard Against U.S. Threat

 President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Russia had vital defense and economic interests in the Arctic, citing a potential U.S. military threat from submarine-based missiles there.

Russia detained 30 Greenpeace activists protesting against Arctic drilling at Russian Prirazlomnaya offshore platform in September and they now face charges carrying seven-year jail sentences, underlining Moscow's strong interest in the Arctic.

Putin has ordered a Soviet-era military base reopened in the Arctic as part of a drive to make the northern coast a global shipping route and secure the region's vast energy resources.

"Not only are there major economic interests for our country there...it is also an important part of our defense capability," Putin told a meeting of university students in Moscow.

"There are (U.S.) submarines there and they carry missiles," the Russian leader said. "It only takes 15-16 minutes for U.S. missiles to reach Moscow from the Barents Sea. So should we give away the Arctic? We should on the contrary explore it."

Moscow claims a whole swathe of the Arctic seabed, arguing that it is an extension of the Siberian continental shelf.

Answering questions from students, Putin stressed the need for patriotism - a common theme in his third presidential term in which he faces growing dissent and economic problems.

Beware Of Russia's Power Play In Ukraine

Also see this interesting development:

Hezbollah Accuses Israel Of Killing Top Operative

Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah on Wednesday accused Israel of assassinating a top operative outside his home overnight.

A statement released by Hezbollah said Hassan al-Laqis was killed near his house in Beirut as he was coming home from work.

Laqis was at one point one of the main commanders of Hezbollah’s rocket division, which fired hundreds of missiles at Israel. According to reports in the Lebanese media, Israel tried to assassinate him during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and failed.

Lebanese security officials said assailants opened fire on Laqis with an assault rifle while he was in his car, around midnight. He was in the parking lot of the residential building where he lived, in the Hadath neighborhood, some two miles (three kilometers) southwest of Beirut, they said.

According to Lebanese media, three assailants were involved in the attack.

The Hezbollah statement accused Israel of being responsible for the killing.

“Israel is automatically held completely responsible for this heinous crime,” the statement said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied Israeli involvement.

“Israel has nothing to do with this incident,” Palmor said. “These automatic accusations are an innate reflex with Hezbollah. They don’t need evidence, they don’t need facts; they just blame anything on Israel.”

Hezbollah said Laqis, a senior official in the organization, had been an Israeli target and that Israel had made several attempts on his life in the past.

The statement warned that Israel would “bear full responsibility and all consequences” for the hit.

The Murder And The Mystery

It took just eight hours after the assassination of senior Hezbollah operative Hassan al-Laqis Tuesday night in Beirut for the organization to publish a detailed statement in which it blamed Israel for the deed.

At this stage, Hezbollah does not possess unequivocal proof of the assassins’ identity or of any ties they may have had to Israel. And shortly after the assassination, a previously unknown group, the “Free Sunni Brigades in Baalbek,” claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter message.

According to various Lebanese reports, Laqis was one of the heads of Hezbollah’s rocket and ammunition procurement division — a post that combines research and development for Hezbollah with work that is technologically oriented, particularly where missiles are concerned.

Therefore, Israel clearly stood to gain by harming him.

However, Lebanon’s complicated security situation makes it difficult to discern what motive was behind the assassination: Sunni-Shiite fighting, foreign intelligence agencies acting against Hezbollah, or backlash in Beirut over the organization’s involvement in Syria.

Of course, we should also add the various armed Sunni groups that have carried out attacks against Shiite targets in Beirut’s Dahiya suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, and shot rockets at Shiite neighborhoods and towns.

And yet, the assassination method, along with Laqis’s personal history, raises significant doubts as to the possibility that Sunni radicals were involved. To begin with, Israel has already tried to assassinate the man, more than once, “in more than one place,” as Hezbollah declared Wednesday.

Last month, Nasrallah spoke at a large religious gathering marking the Shiite day of mourning Ashura, where he explained that Hezbollah is capable of doing “many things” to combat Israeli espionage in Lebanon.

“At the moment, we haven’t done anything to warrant the accusation that we are acting instead of the state,” Nasrallah said. “The government must take responsibility, and if our help is needed — we are ready.”

A few weeks later came the assassination of Laqis, followed by Hezbollah’s accusation. If the organization’s claims are indeed correct, it would mean that Israeli intelligence forces have a much deeper foothold in the ranks of Hezbollah than Nasrallah is willing to admit.

And this [another piece of information to be filed under 'wars and rumors of war']:

U.S. Vows To Help Japan Defend Status Quo As China Air Defense Row Escalates

The US and Japan will work together to prevent any attempt by China to change the status quo in the Asia-Pacific region, the US vice-president,Joe Biden, has said, on a visit to north-east Asia.

The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, described the Chinese announcement of the zone nine days ago as "a provocative attempt to unilaterally change the status quo" that increased the risk of inadvertent confrontation.

While many countries – including the US and Japan – have similar zones, China's is controversial because it includes airspace over the disputed islands.

But on Tuesday the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters: "It is not China that has escalated the regional tensions. It is that some countries keep playing on the issue for their selfish gains, and China is firmly opposed to them doing that." 

Hong urged other countries to respect China's actions, which he described as "justifiable and lawful". He added: "China established it [the zone] to safeguard sovereignty and the freedom and order of flight in the related airspace."

Concerns have grown of an accidental confrontation that could escalate. China said last week it had scrambled jets to monitor flights in the airspace by the US and Japan.

Japan and the US believe the zone is an attempt by China to assert control over the islands.

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he and Biden had "confirmed we should not tolerate any attempt by China to change the status quo unilaterally by force".

Biden flew into Tokyo late on Monday faced with the delicate task of avoiding provoking China while demonstrating support for Japan, its main ally in a region already nervous about Chinese naval aggression and North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Behind US pleas for Japan and China to reduce tensions lie fears that an accident or miscalculation could quickly escalate into armed conflict.

"China's declaration of an air defence identification zone is an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo, which can invite unexpected situations and is an extremely dangerous act," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters before Biden's meeting with Abe.

"Japan and the United States share the position that China's Adiz is unacceptable … I think [Biden] will head to China to discuss various issues, including this, with his understanding of Japan's position."