Thursday, September 1, 2011
China Developing 'Star Wars' Missile Defense Shield
China is developing a missile defense system in the highest layer of the atmosphere and outer space using high-end technologies like laser beams and kinetic energy intercept.
In 2007, China successfully tested a direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon against a weather satellite, demonstrating its ability to attack satellites in low-Earth orbit. It has also been developing other kinetic and directed-energy technologies for ASAT missions like lasers, high-powered microwave, and particle beam weapons, according to a report released by the U.S. Defense Department last week.
With its manned and lunar space programs, "China is improving its ability to track and identify satellites -- a prerequisite for effective, precise counterspace operations," the report said.
The Defense Department speculates that China already has the technology to counter low-flying cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles. It is believed to be using Russian-made SA-20 ground-to-air missiles or its own homegrown HQ-9 long-range SAM missiles.
"China is proceeding with the research and development of a missile defense 'umbrella' consisting of kinetic energy intercept at exo-atmospheric altitudes (>80 km), as well as intercepts of ballistic missiles and other aerospace vehicles within the upper atmosphere," the report says.
In January 2007, China joined the space war by launching an interceptor missile against a superannuated weather satellite floating 859 km above the earth. In January last year, it also successfully tested a ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system, demonstrating its ability to intercept midcourse ballistic missiles at an altitude of 20 km.
Meanwhile, the U.S. obtained information at least two days before China's GMD test in January last year and notified allies like Australia, the U.K., New Zealand, and Canada of this, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported Monday.
"A classified cable from the U.S. secretary of state to diplomats in allied countries on Jan. 9 last year indicated that Washington knew details of the sensitive missile test days before the launch," the daily said. "Xu Guangyu, a retired PLA general and a researcher with the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the cable, if authentic, indicated the possibility that U.S. intelligence had reached into the heart of the Chinese government or military, or both."
The Chosun
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Is China Planning a Surprise Missile Attack?
A retired Chinese general recently revealed that his country might be planning a surprise missile attack on the United States. The public comment of Xu Guangyu came in response to WikiLeaks revelations that last year Washington had warned its allies beforehand of China’s test of a missile interceptor.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a classified cable sent last January 9th, instructed American embassies in Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand to notify those countries of upcoming Chinese launches two days later. The cable included details of the launch sites for the interceptor and the target, the models of the missiles, the purpose of the test, and the test date.
Yesterday, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post carried comments from Xu, now at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, to the effect that American satellites would have detected activity at the launch sites but that some of the information in the cables—specifically the types of missiles and the day of the test—must have come from a source on the ground. WikiLeaks’s release of this cable, revealing one or more American spies in China’s strategic missile corps, is perhaps the website’s most significant compromise of US security to date.
The Hong Kong paper noted that Xu said that “if China could no longer keep secret its missile launches, it would not be able to launch a surprise attack on the US.”
Is China really in the process of planning to destroy the American homeland with a preemptive barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles? Xu’s comment, of course, is not proof, but it does reveal that Chinese flag officers are thinking about doing so.
Unfortunately, Xu’s hostile sentiment fits within a worrisome trend. Especially since the beginning of last year, there has been a series of belligerent comments from China’s generals, admirals, and colonels, some talking about war with the US in the near future. Last February, for instance, Colonel Meng Xianging said the People’s Liberation Army would “qualitatively upgrade” its capabilities to force a showdown on US policy toward Taiwan within the decade “when we’re strong enough for a hand-to-hand fight with the US.”
Given the belicose statements coming from some of China’s military brass—along with China’s well-documented aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and other peripheral waters—it is difficult to imagine how Western observers can deny China’s intentions and the clashes that lie ahead. Thank you, General Xu.
World Affairs
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Greek debt 'out of control' - parliamentary committee
The dynamics of Greece's huge foreign debt has run "out of control," and government efforts to repair the country's crippled economy have proved unsuccessful, the Greek parliamentary budget committee said in its report issued on Wednesday.
"The steep debt rise, high primary deficit ... have exacerbated to the maximum the dynamics of debt, which is out of control," the report said.
"It is clear that the country's problem is not just the size of the public debt but the inability to consolidate the current fiscal management," it said. "Despite gigantic effort for fiscal adjustment, no primary surplus has been achieved, on the contrary the primary deficit widens."
The rising debt, which is currently estimated at more than 350 billion euros ($503 billion), coupled with ineffective anti-crisis measures are likely to neutralize benefits from a new EU bailout, the report said.
The EU approved in late July the allocation of a $109-billion loan to Greece in addition to the initial aid package of $110 billion approved in May 2010. Greece has promised to implement massive budget cuts in exchange.
However, according to the Greek Finance Ministry, the country's budget deficit increased to 15.5 billion euros (more than $22 billion) in January-July 2011 from 12.42 billion euros ($17.8 billion) in the same period on 2010. Budget incomes decreased by 6.4 percent, while expenditures rose by 7.1 percent in the first seven month of 2011.
Sarkozy warns against preventive strike on Iran
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that a preventive strike on Iran could lead to a crisis in the region and called on world powers to toughen their sanctions on Tehran instead.
"Iran's military, nuclear and ballistic [missile] ambitions pose a growing threat that could lead to a preventive strike on Iranian facilities and provoke a serious crisis, which France wants to avoid by all means," Sarkozy told French diplomats at an annual ambassador conference.
The West suspects Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the Islamic republic, which is already under four sets of international sanctions over its nuclear activities, insists it needs nuclear power solely for civilian purposes.
Talks between Iran and six world powers, including France, Russia and the United States, broke down in December last year.
"The international community can respond effectively [to Iranian nuclear threat] if it demonstrates unity, resoluteness and imposes even tougher sanctions," the French president said.
Israel has repeatedly signaled its readiness to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to dissuade Iran from moving forward with its uranium enrichment and ballistic missile development programs.
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Economist Calls Entitlements A Massive Ponzi Scheme And Says US Is Actually $211 Trillion In Debt
In an interview with NPR, former Reagan economic adviser Laurence Kotlikoff said the U.S.'s "true indebtedness" amounts to $211 trillion.
That's more than 15 times the $14 trillion official figure.
"We're focused just on the official debt, so we're trying to balance the wrong books," Kotlikoff said, naming Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for the skyrocketing unofficial figure.
If you add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and you subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect, the difference is $211 trillion. That's the fiscal gap...
Why are these guys thinking about balancing the budget?...They should try and think about our long-term fiscal problems.
His comments were reminiscent of a Bloomberg editorial he wrote last year, where he called entitlements "a massive Ponzi scheme."
From the interview:
We've got 78 million baby boomers who are poised to collect, in about 15 to 20 years, about $40,000 per person. Multiply 78 million by $40,000 — you're talking about more than $3 trillion a year just to give to a portion of the population...That's an enormous bill that's overhanging our heads, and Congress isn't focused on it.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/economist-says-us-is-actually-211-million-in-debt-2011-8?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheMoneyGame+%28The+Money+Game%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz1WimqGqmF
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