March 5, 2014—In the Blink of an Eye . . .

Amb. Henry F. Cooper, Chairman . . . Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, Founder

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives

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In the Blink of an Eye . . .

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

March 5, 2014

Everyone should be aware of the instabilities created by Russia’s interference in Ukraine—and it could rapidly go quite badly. Some have recalled the implausible events and misjudgments that led to World War I and wondered about a recurrence. Furthermore, if Iran or anyone else launches a nuclear weapon to high altitude over the U.S. and detonates it to create an electromagnetic pulse, also in the “blink of an eye” that could lead to the death of several hundred million Americans.

So much is happening so quickly, it is difficult to contemplate the meaning of it all. And it could end quite badly for us all—in the “blink of an eye.” This message will highlight a few ways with suggested links to read more.

Ukraine Fallout.

In the wake of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s time in the sun with his $60 billion Sochi Olympics, he is now leading Russian hostilities in Ukraine. Sunday’s talk shows were full of the views of pundits and informed lawmakers.

For informed conservative views, click here a summary of the views of several senior Republicans Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on Fox News Sunday, among other things, provided a memorable summary quote: “Putin is playing chess — I think we’re playing marbles.” The ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), issued a statement saying: “Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine.”
For a usually liberal view, you might click here to read Sunday’s Washington Post Editorial, which introduces its lament by noting: “It took Vladimir Putin less than a day to trample on President Obama’s warning against a Russian military intervention in Ukraine. On Saturday, the Russian president orchestrated a unanimous vote by his rubber-stamp upper house of parliament authorizing invasion not just of the Crimean peninsula — where thousands of Russian troops are already deployed — but of all of Ukraine.” Just the title of Monday’s editorial speaks volumes: “President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy.”
Notably, both call for specific actions rather than more bumbling diplomacy that invites aggression by those who oppose our interests and fears from those who depend on our security umbrella. The “reset” hasn’t worked and “leading from behind” won’t do. Seven members of the G-8 are reported to have withdrawn from preparing for the June Sochi G-8 Summit . . . and Secretary of State John Kerry flew to the Ukraine to discuss with them Russia’s takeover of Crimea — which he said on Sunday talks shows is shaping into the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War — an “incredible act of aggression.”
So . . . does anyone imagine that Putin is surprised by any of this???? Wonder about the details of the President’s 90-minute telephone call with him????

Whatever, Russia’s state-run news agency Interfax reported Monday evening that Russia issued an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces in Crimea to clear out by 5 a.m. Tuesday (Ukrainian time which corresponds to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard on Monday) or a “military storm will commence against units and divisions of the armed forces across Crimea.” Click here for additional information.
Monday evening’s article by Bill Gertz summarized the state of play at that time, and things calmed down sufficiently for the stock market yesterday to make up its large losses on Monday. Try to follow the yo-yo and stay tuned for the results from Secretary of State John Kerry’s trip to Kiev . . . Don’t blink, you might miss something important.

Bad News for the Middle East.

In dealing with our only true friend in the Middle East, Israel, President Obama is providing anything but friendly input. And he is doing so in a very public way—not very diplomatic.

Click here to read about the Presisdent’s Bloomberg Press interview in which he provided no sign of understanding Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s point of view—a public declaration the day before hosting him in the Oval Office. The article includes a transcript of the interview. The problems stem from Obama’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process.”
David Horowitz, editor of the Times of Israel, observed at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference that the bombshell Bloomberg battering “could not have been any more deliberate — an assault on the prime minister’s policies delivered precisely as Netanyahu was flying in to meet with him. . . while AIPAC’s annual tour de force conference was going on across town. “At the very least, that might be considered bad manners, poor diplomatic protocol, a resounding preemptive slap in the face: ‘I’ve just told the world you’re leading your country to wrack and ruin, Mr. Prime Minister. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?’”
President Obama did not address the annual AIPAC convention—allegedly because AIPAC opposes American-led nuclear negotiations with Iran. The President, while broadly saying he supports Israel and a close U.S.-Israel relationship, made statements in his Bloomberg interview that the AIPAC convention would have met with cold silence.
And the President’s stated views on Iran puts him at odds with Netanyahu’s understanding of Iran. He stated in an interview after he won the premiership, that the Iranian leadership was “a messianic apocalyptic cult.” That Oval Office meeting behind closed doors no doubt was interesting . . . I don’t envy Netanyahu, as he tries to put a happy face on Israel’s very difficult situation.

Our equities in the Middle East are evaporating, not least as they apply to Iran’s deliberate pace toward gaining a nuclear capability—to threaten the “Little Satan,” Israel and the “Great Satan,” America.

Nothing New on Iran—Just More Bad News.

Reza Kahleli reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently told participants at the 27th annual Kharazmi Festival, named after a famed Persian mathematician, that “Iran has used its missiles [in the past] and will use them in the future to defend itself.” Rouhani boasted that Iranian scientific progress will move faster than before. (Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and author of the award-winning book “A Time to Betray” (Simon & Schuster, 2010). He writes regularly for World Net Daily and the Daily Caller and serves on the Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran.) More derived from his recent article:

The dithering continues among Iran and the 5+1 world powers (the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany) on last November’s interim “six-month” agreement with Iran that somehow is supposed to eliminate the threat. Allegedly Iran agreed that in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief and agreement to keep much of its nuclear infrastructure, it will limit its uranium enrichment to the 5 percent level for six months, convert its highly enriched uranium of 20 percent to harmless oxide, and allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency (which will be limited to searching only agreed-on facilities).
On the other hand, Iranian officials have continuously announced that in the final agreement, the country will not agree to dismantle even one centrifuge or close any of its nuclear facilities, including the heavy-water reactor in Arak, which once operational could produce plutonium, giving the Islamic regime a second path to nuclear weapons. The officials have also stated that the country’s missile system is not up for negotiations. The chief commander of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, told his forces two weeks ago that if nuclear facilities were attacked, “The enemy knows that we will not leave them alone and we will attack them from within.” Jafari had previously stated that Iranian forces are ready for a war with America. Kahili reported that Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, in a televised interview a month ago, said that “America, with its strategic ignorance, does not have a full understanding of the power of the Islamic Republic. We have recognized America’s military strategy and have arranged our abilities, and have identified centers in America [for attack] that will create a shock.”
While engaging the West in more than a decade of negotiations, Iran, working with North Korea, has expanded its work on its nuclear and missile programs. Kahili, based on sources within the country’s armed forces, reported almost a year ago efforts to develop nuclear warheads and ballistic missile delivery systems in a secret site code-named Quds (for Jerusalem). The site has depots and silos for more than 380 missiles along with deep tunnels in the mountain for work on nuclear warheads.
Reza quotes knowledgeable U.S. officials: “The site is similar to a common approach by several other nuclear-capable countries which have used advanced design in hardening these types of tunnels or garages for a quick, deployable system … I understand exactly what Iran has at the site … [including] a very important part of the structures… the apparent hardened underground stub tunnels for secure storage of mobile systems which can be quickly moved to launching sites … and it is very scary because its defeat may not be as easy as attacking it with a couple bombers, even if they have nuke weapons. This layout is very scary because it is … ready for the operational weapon systems to be installed, and then they are ready to take on the world.”

It should be understood from our previous reports that once Iran gets its hands on nuclear weapons and can mate them to ballistic missiles, we will face an existential threat from an attack that could subject all Americans to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from a high altitude nuclear explosion, whether delivered by a long range ballistic missile launched from Iran (over either the North or South pole) or a short range missile launched from a vessel off our coast.

If we were attacked this way, there would be no immediate effect, except “in the blink of an eye” most Americans would lose electricity—and would soon surmise that without a viable electric power grid, there would be essentially no immediate way to turn the electricity back on. Our “just-in-time” economy would come to a standstill for an unknown period of time. And the available food and water would soon be expended—by credible estimates, the resulting chaos would within a year lead to the death of several hundred million Americans.

Other Bad News.

And beyond Iran there are other related problems as we have discussed previously. Other Middle East states are seeking to balance instabilities they perceive as they lose confidence in U.S. leadership.

At the AIPAC conference, former Senator Joe Lieberman noted that there used to be 2 stable democracies in Mideast: Israel & Turkey; now just Israel—and Turkey is going wrong way. There are rumors that our erstwhile NATO ally may seek nuclear weapons as Iran marches toward its capability. And Saudi Arabia may buy or build its own as well.

Then there’s Syria—where our “post-red-line” strategy, if it can be called strategy, has been to rely on Putin to press the Assad regime to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons—now way behind schedule. How do you think that will go in view of Putin’s focus on Ukraine? And I could go on re. Egypt and other states of the Middle East . . . but, enough . . .

Meanwhile, the President’s budget went to the Hill with major cuts to U.S. capabilities. And there are little to no funds directed at dealing with the EMP existential threats mentioned above and discussed in numerous previous reports.

Congress has directed the Secretary of Defense to study and report back on needed improvements to our Homeland Missile Defense Systems. Money to study, but none to provide in the near-term defenses against ballistic missiles from off our coasts—especially from the Gulf of Mexico or to defend against nuclear weapons that could be delivered on satellites that approach the U.S. from over the South Pole.

So much for a much needed “Peace through Strength” strategy.

As we wrote last week, we are in a very dangerous period when our friends don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us.

Inform Yourself and Engage the Powers that Be.

In his article Family Security Matters article yesterday, Peter Pry discussed how both Republicans and Democrats have contributed to this sad state of affairs and called attention to a March 6^th “Summit” of those who wish to better understand these issues and reverse course. He noted that the world is holding its breath over the crisis in Ukraine, while Washington stumbles toward the centenary of the First World War, and that Americans who are mindful that “Peace Through Strength” is the best way to avoid war are meeting tomorrow in a National Security Action Summit in Washington, D.C. at the Westin Hotel.

We are concerned that the powers that be have lost their way and are insufficiently focused on national security. I will be joining many of the foremost experts in national security in candid discussions of these issues. Hear from Vice President Dick Cheney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Ambassador John Bolton, former Attorney General John Mukasey and many, many more.

It will be streaming live on www.HomelandThreats.com —watch experts analyze critical aspects of our national security and the lack of leadership being provided by our elected officials in mitigating threats to our nation. This event will be brought to you FREE by EMPact America and co-sponsored by Breitbart. For more information, visit www.HomelandThreats.com .

Make your plans to attend—or listen in by Clicking here for webcast.

Near Term High Frontier Plans.

We will continue working with South Carolina folks to build a coalition to engage constructively with private citizens and their local and state representatives and other authorities to work with the SC National Guard in understanding and responding to this serious threat. We will expand this effort to neighboring and other states.

We are informing SC state legislators and senators about the threat and what can be done to deal with it—and hopefully they will follow Maine, Virginia and Oklahoma in seeking to harden the electric power grid. We also expect support from Cong. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) whose district includes my SC farm—who is a member of the Congressional EMP Caucus seeking passage of the Shield Act and the Infrastructure Protection Act, as well as other SC representatives.

We will be working with members of the EMP Coalition and others who are seeking to take our message across the country—especially with Bob Newman, a former Adjutant General of Virginia to help us link our SC plans more broadly and especially into the National Capital region.

And we will continue to support Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves to help with his initiative where we can—it unanimously passed both the Senate and the House Science and Technology Committee and is headed for the floor of the House of Delegates.

What can you do?

Join us in praying for our nation, and for a rebirth of the freedom sought, achieved and passed to us by those who came before us.

Get involved— in particular, let your electric power company know of your concern and urge them to harden the electric power grid.

Help us to spread our message to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.

Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage, www.highfrontier.org for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter!

And support us with your tax deductible gifts to help enable our continuing efforts.