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April's missiles
April's missilesInternational Network - Apr 16, 2024
Scott Ritter: Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel will go down in history as one of the greatest victories of this century.
I have been writing about Iran for over twenty years. In 2005, I took a trip to Iran to verify the "ground truth" about that country, a truth that I later incorporated into a book, "Target Iran," exposing U.S.-Israeli collaboration to develop a rationale of a military attack on Iran intended to bring down its theocratic government. I followed this book with another, “Dealbreaker,” in 2018, which updates this U.S.-Israeli effort.
In November 2006, in a speech at Columbia University's School of International Relations, I emphasized that the United States would never abandon my "good friend" Israel, until, of course, , we do it. What could precipitate such action, I asked? I pointed out that Israel was a country drunk on pride and power, and that unless the United States found a way to remove the keys from the ignition of the bus that Israel was driving to abyss, we would not join Israel on its lemming-like suicidal journey.
The following year, in 2007, in a speech to the American Jewish Committee, I pointed out that my criticisms of Israel (which many in the audience took great offense to) came from a concern for the future of Israel. I highlighted the fact that I had spent the better part of a decade trying to protect Israel from Iraqi missiles, both during my service in Desert Storm, where I played a role in the campaign to counter against SCUD missiles, and as a United Nations weapons inspector, where I worked with Israeli intelligence to ensure that Iraqi SCUD missiles were eliminated.
“The last thing I want to see,” I told the crowd, “is a scenario in which Iranian missiles hit Israeli soil. But unless Israel changes course, this is the inevitable result of a policy dictated more by arrogance than common sense.”
On the night of April 13 to 14, 2024, my fears came true live in front of an international audience: Iranian missiles fell on Israel and the latter could do nothing to stop them. As had been the case just over 33 years earlier, when Iraqi SCUD missiles overcame American and Israeli Patriot missile defenses to strike Israel dozens of times in the space of a month and a half, Iranian missiles, part of an attack plan designed to overwhelm Israeli missile defense systems, struck designated targets inside Israel with impunity.
Despite the use of a large integrated missile defense system consisting of the so-called "Iron Dome" system, US-made Patriot missile batteries and Arrow and David's Sling missile interceptors, as well as US aircraft , British and Israeli and American and French on-board missile defenses, more than a dozen Iranian missiles struck heavily protected Israeli airfields and air defense installations.
The Iranian missile attack on Israel was not launched out of the blue, so to speak, but rather in retaliation for the April 1 Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed several senior Iranian military commanders. Although Israel has previously carried out attacks against Iranian personnel inside Syria, the April 1 attack was notable not only for the deaths of top Iranian officials, but also for the fact that it struck what was legally speaking sovereign Iranian territory – the Iranian consulate.
From the Iranian point of view, the attack on the consulate constituted a red line which, in the absence of retaliation, would erase any notion of deterrence, opening the way to even bolder Israeli military action, possibly going as far as direct attacks against Iran. The retaliation, however, is balanced by a complex set of interlocking policy objectives that would likely be challenged by the type of large-scale conflict between Israel and Iran that could be precipitated by a significant Iranian retaliatory attack on Israel.
First, Iran has engaged in a strategic policy based on a pivot away from Europe and the United States and toward Russia, China, and the Eurasian landmass. This change is due to Iran's frustration with the economic sanctions policy led by the United States and the inability and/or lack of will on the part of the collective West to find a path that would allow to lift these sanctions. The failure of the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) to produce the type of economic opportunities that were promised when it was signed has been a major driver of this Iranian pivot toward 'East. Instead, Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the BRICS forum and devoted its diplomatic energy to the full and productive integration of Iran into these two groups.
A general war with Israel would undermine these efforts.
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Satan 2 in use
Satan 2 in useEquality and Reconciliation - September 04, 2023
"Satan 2": Russia announces the commissioning of the intercontinental ballistic missile "Sarmat"
Russia has put into service the new intercontinental ballistic missile RS-28 Sarmat, announced Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, quoted by Russian news agencies. President Vladimir Putin announced in June that the nuclear-powered missile would soon be commissioned.
The powerful missile, whose NATO code name is SS-X-30 Satan 2, can carry up to 15 individually controllable warheads, according to Russian sources. American military circles, for their part, lean more towards a maximum of ten warheads. This 208 ton missile has a range of approximately 18 kilometers.
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Russia knocked out another top NATO general in Ukraine
International Network - 01 Sep 2023
The list is growing!
Journalists and experts have noticed a very strange trend. Every time Russia launches missile strikes on Ukraine, the Pentagon and NATO start reporting the deaths of their officers and soldiers in car and plane crashes all over the world.
Representatives of the Pentagon and NATO attribute the deaths of high-ranking Western generals and officers of NATO member countries to various reasons. However, independent experts and journalists continue to claim that NATO generals continue to die due to targeted missile attacks carried out by the Russian military. According to them, the Russian military department organized a real hunt for soldiers and officers of the United States and NATO countries in Ukraine.
A few days ago, a very strange incident happened in the Polish city of Rzeszow. Local authorities said an outbreak of a dangerous infectious disease called "legionellosis" had been recorded in the town. At the same time, it should be clarified that this city is located 90 km from the Ukrainian border and is the place of permanent deployment of American soldiers, Patriot air defense systems and all NATO equipment intended for the transfer to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It is reported that 30 American soldiers have already died from this infection. At the same time, it should be noted that these figures were announced in the aftermath of the Russian missile attack on Ukrainian territory. Experts say that officers and soldiers from NATO countries have been on Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the conflict and are directly involved in the confrontation with the Russian army. However, this fact is not announced and is kept secret. Even the families of soldiers and officers do not know that their relatives are on Ukrainian territory. This is done in order not to cause discontent in the countries of these soldiers, since Western leaders carefully hide the fact that American soldiers, as well as soldiers and officers of NATO member countries, are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine.
So, journalists noted that since the fall of last year, the leaders of the American airbase Tinker in Oklahoma began to regularly report the deaths of their military pilots as a result of accidents. In six months, the deaths of 30 American pilots were reported. These numbers are truly appalling, especially for a country that is supposed to be taking no part in the hostilities. At the same time, it is worth noting the mysterious death of another high-ranking NATO general. This is the French general Jean-Louis Georgelain, who is said to have died following a fall from a cliff in the Pyrenees. Interestingly, on the same day, other senior French army officers, Baptiste Gaucho and Nicolas Latour, also died. A Paris spokesman said they died in a car accident in Iraq. At the same time, it should be noted that two days before the death of the French officers, the Russian army launched a missile attack on the dramatic theater in the city of Chernihiv, where, according to Russian intelligence, a military meeting of NATO stood with the officers.
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The Russian hypersonic strike that terrified NATO
The Russian hypersonic strike that terrified NATOJacob's Ladder - March 18, 2023
Ukraine, night of March 8-9: Russian hypersonic strike on a Ukrainian/NATO command center.
The Russian hypersonic strike of the night of March 8-9, which targeted a Ukrainian command center – where there were undoubtedly Western officers – was seen in all its magnitude by the Ukrainians and NATO. A year after the first uses of hypersonic missiles by the Russian army, is the Western alliance emerging from denial of reality? Not yet if we are to believe the shared belief in a plan for a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the spring, which has been developed without any reality on the ground and without taking account of the war until now. At a time when a banking crisis is looming, the current situation has all the appearance of a stall in the West. Grandiose declarations will not be able to compensate for the depletion in manpower of the Ukrainian army. And the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran under Chinese mediation, which became official on March 10, 2023, sounds the death knell for American power in the world.
This Russian hypersonic strike which terrified the Western staffs.
It is an episode that has gone largely unnoticed by the media. Except for the fact that Vladimir Zelensky conceded that the Russian precision strikes of the night of March 8 to 9 had been particularly trying for the country's infrastructure.
In fact, the reason why Zelensky and Ukrainian Chief of Staff Zaluzhni found it difficult to hide their dismay was because of the use of the notorious hypersonic "dagger" missiles, the Khinzal: according to a later Ukrainian statement, there reportedly had six hypersonic missiles fired at targets.
Above all, despite the secrecy to which military sources are bound, we learned immediately from a Ukrainian source that one of the hypersonic strikes hit a Ukrainian command center. The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed the target. The insistent rumor on Ukrainian social networks speaks of Western officers hit by the hypermissile strike.
What is interesting are the statements, from the Ukrainian side, insisting on a “first”. Whereas, in the Courrier des Stratèges, we drew your attention to the use of hypersonic weapons by Russia as early as March 2022.
We have told you that this is decisive technology, possessed by Russia, and to a lesser extent by China, but not yet mastered by the United States. It is this control which explains, to a large extent, the very gradual rise in power of Russia in the intensity of the battle. The Russian military command considers that it has its time and that it possesses, for several years, an absolute strategic superiority over the United States. And the possibility of an annihilation of the adversary without radioactivity – since hypersonic weapons are already frighteningly destructive with conventional charges.
What is new is the end of the denial of reality on the Ukrainian and Western side. With this surprising declaration on the fact that the Russians are therefore quite capable of manufacturing hypersonic missiles in series! But who doubted it, if not those who did not want to see?
NATO hit in the head?
In reality, the blow seems to have also affected NATO officers who were clandestinely in Ukraine. According to Greek media Pronews:
A Russian Kinzhal supersonic missile, whose impact speed on the target was 12 Mach (twelve times the speed of sound), managed to hit the joint command, control and communication center of Ukraine and the NATO, installed at a depth of 130 meters!
The underground headquarters (built 400 feet underground) was occupied by a number of NATO officials and would have housed over 300 people.
The Russians are talking about recovering 40 dead from the rubble of the underground headquarters, but most of them will never be found because they were buried under the rubble.
It is unclear how many Westerners and Ukrainians were killed in the attack, but this is the first time the West has had so many dead, including officers and non-commissioned officers.
Most of them are British and Polish, but there are also Americans and members of private companies who deal with communications and data transmission.
In the days and weeks to come, the evolution of operations will show how it will affect the conduct of Ukrainian and Western operations and the attempt to stop the final Russian attack on Bakhmut/Artyomovsk
However, this is the first massive attack on NATO personnel and it is unclear how Western capitals will react, but if they do, it will be as if they are admitting the active participation of their personnel in the war against Russia! »
In reality, this is not the first time that Western personnel have been hit by a hypersonic weapon. A year ago (March 19, 2022), Russia sent a hypersonic weapon to a barracks of foreign volunteers. Apparently, the denial of reality took a year – and another devastating strike – to dissipate.
Already a year ago...
