Category: 08 Wild Cards

Posted on

Koko: China Rules Africa — and Ghost Towns…. + China Meta-RECAP

02 China, 08 Wild Cards
Koko
Koko

2013-04-03  Applause for China-Africa cooperation (Zambia)

2012-09-18  In Africa’s warm heart, a cold welcome for Chinese (Malawi)

2012-09-03  China in Africa, a Sierra Leonean viewpoint

2012-07-04  Why has China built a ghost town in Africa? Eerie footage shows brand new Angolan city designed for 500,000 lying empty

2011-07-19  Cameron warns Africans over the ‘Chinese invasion' as they pour billions into continent

2008-09-28  PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

2008-07-18  How China's taking over Africa, and why the West should be VERY worried

2007-08-31  Why China is trying to colonise Africa

See Also:

Continue reading “Koko: China Rules Africa — and Ghost Towns…. + China Meta-RECAP”

Posted on

NIGHTWATCH: North Korea: Tension has notched up again.

08 Wild Cards
Distance 2,132.62 miles. Flight time 1-3 hours.
Distance 2,132.62 miles. Missile light time <15 Minutes.

North Korea: Tension has notched up again.

The Russian and British Foreign Ministries and the US State Department reported that on 5 April the North Korean Foreign Ministry distributed a diplomatic circular to all resident embassies in Pyongyang and non-governmental organizations that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the event of conflict from 10 April. The North Korean government asked foreign embassies whether they were considering evacuating staff.

This week South Korean workers employed in factories in the North were also told to leave by April 10, according to South Korean press.

British reaction. The British Foreign Office said it “has no immediate plans to withdraw our embassy in Pyongyang. We are considering next steps, including a change to our travel advice.”

Earlier, a spokesperson said: “The DPRK (The Democratic People's Republic of Korea) has responsibilities under the Vienna convention to protect diplomatic missions, and we believe they have taken this step as part of their continuing rhetoric that the US poses a threat to them.”

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: North Korea: Tension has notched up again.”

Posted on

Gold Transformer: US Secretly Deploys B-1 Strategic Bombers, E-6 “Doomsday” Planes Near North Korea

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call
Gold Transformer
Gold Transformer

US Secretly Deploys B-1 Strategic Bombers, E-6 “Doomsday” Planes Near North Korea

First the US fanfared the placement of two F-22 Raptors in the Osan airbase of South Korea. Then it demonstratively launched a B-2 stealth bomber on a training mission over a South Korean gunnery range. Then it deployed an anti-ballistic missile defense system to Guam and positioned two guided-missile destroyers in the waters near Korea. And now, courtesy of the Aviationist, we learn that the Pentagon has escalated once more in an ongoing cat and mouse game with North Korea, of who blinks first, and dispatched several B-1 (“Bone”) Lancer strategic long-range bombers to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. What is different this time, however, is that unlike the previous very public and widely trumpeted reciprocal escalation steps, this particular deployment has been kept secret from the public (at least the broader public), “a fact that could be the sign that the U.S. is not only making symbolic moves (as the above mentioned ones), but it is preparing for the worst scenario: an attack on North Korea.”

. . . . . .

Click on Image to Enlarge
Click on Image to Enlarge

Finally, and most disturbing, is that another aircraft also in the process of deployment is none other than the E-6 Mercury “Doomsday” plane, which are among the pinnacle in US Airforce nuclear war preparedness, tasked with “providing command and control of U.S. nuclear forces should ground-based control become inoperable” and whose core functions include conveying instructions from the National Command Authority to fleet ballistic missile submarines and also to further command post capabilities and control of land-based missiles and nuclear-armed bombers.

You can read more about the military air activity recently monitored by Steve Douglass in an extremely interesting article he posted on his blog that not only summarize the contents of the messages he sent to The Aviationist, but provides some more details about the alleged overseas deployment of E-6 Mercury “doomsday” planes from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.

Perhaps to Kim Jong-un the military escalation to nuclear war is only one big joke, but to the US it is increasingly appearing very serious. And perhaps this is precisely what the Pentagon wanted all along?

Posted on

NIGHTWATCH: US Exercise Ends, NK FIres Missile Into Ocean, Everyone Sits Back

04 Inter-State Conflict, 08 Wild Cards, Government, Military, Officers Call

The missile. News services have published no additional reports about the missile detected on the east coast. As a rule, when the North Koreans allow a missile to be detected, other than in a parade, they launch it. Readers should expect a launch.

Apparently South Korean National Defense Minister Kim expects a launch as a demonstration and for training. Another reason to launch is to test US missile defense capabilities, reaction times and crisis management discipline.

A missile that splashed into the ocean without starting a general war is a way for the North Koreans to back down.

Comment: Many mainstream media commentaries have disparaged the North Koreans. An excellent article in The Economist reinforces the judgment that North Korean leaders do not intend to start a general war.

NightWatch judges it is a mistake to judge Kim Jong Un by the behavior of his risk-averse father. Jong Un has taken action that not even his grandfather dared take in ending the Armistice.

He also has reversed his father's work by ordering a resumption of construction on nuclear power plants. He surpassed his father in institutionalizing the nuclear industry, including nuclear weapons. One open-source imagery readout reported work started last month on construction of a new cooling tower at Yongbyon.

Flip comments that the leadership is irrational are belied by the care with which North Korea has managed its side of the confrontation, beyond the rhetoric.

NIGHTWATCH KGS HOME

Posted on

Marcus Aurelius: Broader Role for Special Operations Forces in Peace and War — Reading Between the Lines — And White SOF/NATO Future?

08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Advanced Cyber/IO, Officers Call
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Military Sees Broader Role For Special Operations Forces, In Peace And War

By Thom Shanker

New York Times, 3 April 2013

EXTRACT

When assigned to their home bases, regional experts within Army Special Operations force would continue to support overseas operations by assisting in mission planning, organizing information campaigns and sifting through intelligence — but from the rear.

A challenge is to more effectively combine the tactical expertise of Special Operations forces in carrying out specific missions into the wider United States government effort to stabilize nations at risk and prevent crisis or war — a task that is far more complicated than simply targeting a terrorist leader or training an allied platoon.

“You need to have guys who understand not just the tactical level but also how to write campaign plans and put together multiple lines of effort over extended periods of time to achieve a strategic result,” General Cleveland said. “Who writes the campaign plan for Yemen? Where do you train that guy?”

His headquarters has picked up that challenge. Maj. Gen. Edward M. Reeder Jr., commander of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, which trains soldiers for Special Forces, civil affairs and military information support, together with the Army’s central school at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., is developing a new program to teach “special operations campaign arts.”

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Broader Role for Special Operations Forces in Peace and War — Reading Between the Lines — And White SOF/NATO Future?”

Posted on

Marcus Aurelius: UK Enabler for US

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 11 Society, DoD, Officers Call
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius

Camp Nama: British personnel reveal horrors of secret US base in Baghdad

Detainees captured by SAS and SBS squads subjected to human-rights abuses at detention centre, say British witnesses

EXTRACT

However, one peculiarity of the way in which UK forces operated when bringing prisoners to Camp Nama suggests that ministers and senior MoD officials may have had reason to know those detainees were at risk of mistreatment. British soldiers were almost always accompanied by a lone American soldier, who was then recorded as having captured the prisoner. Members of the SAS and SBS were repeatedly briefed on the importance of this measure.

It was an arrangement that enabled the British government to side-step a Geneva convention clause that would have obliged it to demand the return of any prisoner transferred to the US once it became apparent that they were not being treated in accordance with the convention. And it consigned the prisoners to what some lawyers have described as a legal black hole.

Read full article (long  with photos and links).

See Also:

Camp Nama Overhead Imagery Close-Ups

Cruel Britannia by Ian Cobain – A history of Britain's involvement with torture is essential reading. By Clive Stafford Smith