"In many cities and communities, air raid alerts practically do not stop because of the threat of Russian jet-powered drone attacks."
"The Russians have found a new way to escalate, and they have no intention of slowing down."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
"Countermeasures against jet drones are ongoing."
"New drones have passed field tests The task is to scale production as quickly as possible."
Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara
"There are no suburban trains, no metro."
"But it is much worse for patients, for whom medical care will become less accessible due to the inability to get to a doctor."
Kostyantyn Kuts, 39, neurologist, Boryspil
Smoke rises in Kyiv, Ukraine, during a Russian drone strike on Aug. 31, 2026. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
The Kremlin's bombing strategy has been altered. Where at one time Moscow focused on night-time attacks, its decision to swarm Kyiv with relentless barrages of drones throughout the day has resulted in no relief for residents of the capital at all. No longer are they able to go about normal daytime activities; school, work, shopping. The around-the-clock barrages has hampered 'normal' life for the three million people who reside in Kyiv.
Public services have been interrupted, even as the risk of civilian casualties rises. Public morale is plummeting in anticipation of oncoming winter and the thought turns to Russia once again targeting the public energy grids making for an impossibly long winter of freezing interiors, dark rooms and crude cooking conditions. Moscow claims it is interested only in striking military facilities, and weapons depots while continuing to target apartment buildings and civil infrastructure.
Ukrainian authorities are fully expectant that Russia will increase the use of jet-powered drones. "We will certainly need to adapt. This will take time", admitted Pavlo Palisa, deputy chief of President Zelenskyy's office, acknowledging the fact that Ukraine has not yet reached the point of competence in countering those deadly drones. Entering its fifth year of conflict, Ukrainians can be forgiven for succumbing to war-mandated deprivation fatigue.
The situation has stagnated, with neither side making any progress on the battlefield, turning instead to striking deeper into the other's territory, for citizen demoralization and exacting a war toll of scarcity, in hopes of forcing the other side into negotiations. Businesses and warehouses on both sides have become targets in the latest air war tactics. The aim is to cripple the economy, fuel public discord and cause panic buying.
While Ukraine has targeted Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries facilities and that of its competitor Ozon, following air strikes on oil refineries causing gasoline shortages, Russia has returned the compliment with attacks on the largest retailers in Ukraine where shortages of some products have resulted. Now, Russia has turned to jet-powered Shahed drones, faster than propeller-drive versions.
The growing use of daytime drone waves has created a different kind of disruption for Kyiv residents, Times Union
The routine that had developed in Ukraine's cities during the times of nighttime attacks where the population emerged during the day to resume their lives has been completely upended. People are now forced to adapt to their new reality, living from one alert to the other, second-guessing walks and spending nights in subway stations deep underground, recalling the early days of the war. Even as regular attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure continue when water and electricity are cut off.
Additional concerns have arisen over Russia's new tactic of hoarding ballistic missiles, switching over to jet-powered drones. That Moscow now stockpiles ballistic missiles to be unleashed in the winter months to destroy energy and heating infrastructure to make for fewer critical amenities available to residents once again this coming winter, is everyone's nightmare. Particularly in the face of Ukraine's interceptors shortage to stop ballistic missiles hitting their targets.
A man carries his bicycle as he past firefighters pushing out a fire following Russian missiles strikes in Kyiv early on September 8, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (AFP)
"Every day now resembles the movie 'Groundhog Day', due to the number of alarms, explosions and descents into the basement."
"I, my mother and sister are fourth- and fifth-generation Kyiv residents."
Trump
speaks with the CIA chief, John Ratcliffe, left, alongside the White
House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago on
Saturday.Photograph: The White House/Reuters
"[Grand Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History is dead."
"[Khamenei]
was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking
Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or
the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."
"This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country."
U.S. President Donald J. Trump
Months
in the planning stages, the joint American/Israeli operation began on
Saturday during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- following nuclear
program negotiations that went nowhere on a circuitous route of
circumvention, protestations of innocence of intent alongside
declarations of entitlement and stall tactics that the Islamic Republic
is known for. Despite the tension building up to the moment, it is
doubtful that anyone believed military action would indeed be taken
against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Yet
the action, in a seeming repeat of June's combined Israeli-U.S. attacks
on Iran's nuclear installations, its military headquarters and
weapons-storage units as well as the regime's missile-launch sites,
seemed inevitable given its theocratic rulers' frequently repeated
intentions to attack Israel to wipe it from the face of the Middle East,
and its ongoing characterization of the United States as 'Satan'
needing to be confronted. The ever-increasing lethality and reach of
Iran's ballistic missiles threatening to reach the U.S. seaboard, as
well as its history of fomenting schemes with its terrorist proxies to
attack U.S. forces signed its death warrant.
The
final impetus to carry out a final attack to exterminate the ruling
theocracy, its military and policing units came courtesy of the Iranian
people themselves whose eruption of mass protests in January against
stringent economic conditions resulting from the regime's focus on
funding its sponsored, trained and armed terror groups in Yemen,
Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories while Western sanctions
imposed high inflation and medical and food shortages at spiralling
prices, drove ordinary Iranians to massive protests. Protests the regime
responded to with expected brutality, where thousands among the protest
movement were killed, tens of thousands wounded and imprisoned.
"Hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks"
responded in retaliation from Iran to targets in Israel and toward U.S.
military bases in Gulf States. Targets in Iran included Revolutionary
Guard command facilities, air defence systems, missile and drone launch
sites and military airfields. The commander of the Revolutionary Guard
Corps and the Iranian defence minister, along with the secretary of the
Iranian Security Council had been targeted by Israel and were
extinguished.
Among
the first strikes on Iran, the compound of the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei
was shown by satellite photography to have been utterly crushed.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife, and several of their offspring were
killed in the strikes that levelled his offices and all the associated
buildings in the compound. Although this wasn't entirely predictable,
there was an expectation built on the obvious conclusion that the
buildup of the largest force of U.S. warships and aircraft in decades in
the Middle East presaged just this.
Satellite image showing damage to the compound of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran Airbus DS 2026
In
the earlier June of 2025 aerial assaults carried out jointly by Israel
and the U.S. meant to defuse Iran's nuclear capabilities, and to destroy
its armouries and ballistic missile launching sites to put an end to
the regional threats posed by the regime, it had been generally felt
that the mission had accomplished its goal. Since then, however, it
became clear that Iran's nuclear program had not after all been
obliterated and that the regime was busy rebuilding destroyed
infrastructure. Moreover its centrifuges were producing highly enriched
weapons-grade uranium.
"The hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside."
"Bombs will be dropping everywhere."
"When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take."
"This will be probably your only chance for generations."
U.S. President Donald Trump ... message to the people of Iran
Smoke rises up after a strike in Tehran on March 1, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)
"You
will have heard a debate in Germany -- and that's one of the issues the
next government will address -- of reintroducing conscription. And all
of that is because we see what's happening on the Russian side, how the
Russians are re-arming, doubling their military forces and clearly
preparing for a possible confrontation beyond Ukraine."
"European
leaders and German leaders take [this] very seriously. And this is why,
if we want to underpin the defence plans we have with capability -- and
that's really what it's all about -- and you make the calculation of
what that will cost you will end up significantly higher than two
percent [NATO goal] and this is what the discussion should be about."
"The
German government has said time and again that any settlement regarding
Ukraine, first and foremost, has to be in the hands of the Ukrainians."
"We
will never accept any dictated arrangement. European leaders and the
Ukrainian president have been very clear that we need a settlement that
really ends this war and not something that is just a prelude to the
next aggression."
German Ambassador to Canada Tjorven Bellmann
Russia may be using bots on the Telegram messaging app to
enhance the lethality of Geran-2 drones, which have been attacking
Ukraine in increasing numbers, according to a report by The Economist.
In
the midst of desperately attempting to successfully counter Moscow's
'Special Military Operation', and pursuing the diplomatic circuit in
Europe and North America, Ukraine also faces increasing concern over how
it can secure badly neeeded U.S.-produced Patriot air defence systems.
Stockpiles provided to Ukraine during the previous U.S. Biden
administration are shrinking badly. That the new Trump government is
disinterested in providing Ukraine with fresh arms has become
increasingly obvious, with U.S. President Donald Trump's belligerence
toward Ukraine, and friendly relations with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Bombarding
Ukraine with drones and cruise missiles, Ukraine fears the ballistic
missiles Russia has been sending across the border. Patriot missiles are
the sole formula for countering Russian ballistic missiles which travel
several miles each second. In power plant strikes by Moscow in 2023 and
2024, ballistic missiles obliterated fifty percent of Ukraine's power
capacity. Speed and size and difficulty in inerception make ballistic
missiles extremely effective weapons in Russia's arsenal, aiming at
pulverizing infrastructure.
Over
the Memorial Day weekend Ukraine's air defence forces were unable to
intercept any of the nine ballistic missiles Russia launched from
Saturday night to early Sunday. According to Ukraine's air defence
forces, two of the Russian missiles were directed at Kyiv, where two
Patriot units are stationed. The launch sites are in place, but the
Patriot missiles are missing in action. Along with the ballistic
missiles, Russia fired over 900 drones and 65 cruise missiles,
representing some of the largest strikes of the war as Russia ramps up
its attacks.
Despite the fact that Russian ballistic
missiles can now deviate from their trajectory, Patriot systems are
successfully intercepting them. One of the latest indicators is 6 out of
9 missiles intercepted Espreso
Withholding
any promises of additional military aid to Ukraine, U.S. President
Trump condemned Russia for the attacks launched aganst Ukraine on
Sunday. When President Trump wrote that Russian President Putin "has gone absolutely CRAZY!", Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, spoke of the comment as "connected to an emotional overload of everyone involved". If Ukraine desperately wants anything from the United States at this juncture, it is more Patriot missiles and launchers.
"Which, frankly, we don't have",
responded Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a Senate Foreign Relations
Committee hearing. Instead, according to Mr. Rubio, the United States is
"encouraging" its allies in NATO to donate Patriot missiles and systems from their own stockpiles, adding that "not one of these countries want to give up their Patriot systems, either." The U.S. needs to keep a certain amount for its own defence, "in case of an attack from Iran or another adversary", confided an unidentified diplomat.
In
strictly practical terms under the new U.S. administration it is well
understood by Ukrainian officials that the Trump administration would be
prepared to sell them more Patriots, not as aid, but representing
military sales. Washington, acording to a senior Ukrainian official is
not expected to block the sale of future air defence systems, but the
White House "will
not give it away for free. They think like business people. If I give
you something, you have to give me something in return. We have to adapt
to this."
Russia,
on the other hand, is not lacking support from its own allies, with
North Korea supplying the Kremlin with some 250 ballistic missiles since
last fall, acording to Ukraine's military intelligence. Russia used
North Korean KN-23 missiles in six of nine ballistic attacks in May,
including the massive Sunday attack on Ukraine. Germany was given
permission by the Trump administration to re-export Patriot materials to
Kyiv following the signing by Ukraine of a minerals deal with
Washington.
German
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius informed reporters recently that his
country would give Patriot missiles to Ukraine along with four IRIS-T
systems, short-to-medium-range weapons, effective against cruise, but
not ballistic missiles. Additionally, Berlin plans to send Ukraine its
older PAC-2 Pariot missiles, not as effective as intercepting ballistic
missiles, but useful, withal. Russian Iskander missiles were involved in
dozens of civilians having beeen killed in attacks.
Ukraine cannot replace the Patriots for defending civilians against Russian ballistic attacks. Getty Images
"And
this concerns questions like territorial integrity, security
guarantees, the size and might of future armed forces in Ukraine,
political sovereignty and choice of alliances."
"Putin
could end this war today, if he wanted to, but we don't see any serious
readiness on the Russian side to even engage in serious talks."
"All
of what we see and the answers that the Russian president has given
these past days and weeks is only more aggression and bloodshed and
continuing the war."
"All
of us want this war to end -- nobody more than the Ukrainians -- but it
has to end in a way that brings true peace and not the next
aggression."
"One
of the prominent characteristics of this missile is its ability to
evade radar detection and penetrate enemy air defence systems, thanks to
its low radar signature."
"This missile has the capability to utilize various warheads for different missions."
Iranian Defence Minister General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani
Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani speaks
in a press conference during the unveiling of a new surface-to-surface
4th generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile called Khaibar in Tehran,
Iran, May 25, 2023. (credit: WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS
"During a follow-up statement by Iran’s deputy defense minister for
Logistics Mahdi Farhi, the official appeared to indicate this is a
multi-stage missile, such that the warhead has its own guidance system
and can reach high speeds and achieve greater accuracy. The official
elaborated on claims that it is immune to electronic warfare, since it
is not guided by satellites. He also elaborated on claims the warhead,
that separates, has a low radar cross-section and that the missile can
change direction during later stages of flight."
"Iran’s new test of a missile joins a long lineage of testing and
claims about new missiles. It frequently gives these missiles new names,
even if they are very similar to previously known missiles, with some
updates. Iran claims new abilities for these missiles, such as “pinpoint
accuracy” and the ability to defeat air defenses."
"Overall
then, the new test of a missile should be seen in the context of Iran
often claiming to test missiles with new capabilities during historic
anniversaries and continuing to boast about them."
"Considering
that Iran has exported missile technology to the Houthis in Yemen and
Hezbollah; as well as sending actual missiles to Syria, Lebanon and
Iraq; the missile threats must be taken seriously. The overall threat to
countries like Israel is that these missiles have large warheads and
may be part of the larger Iranian drive for weaponizing its nuclear
program."
Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post
So
much for the nuclear talks that have taken years to negotiate off and
on and which have accomplished precisely nothing. At no time during
these negotiations between the US, EU and Tehran negotiators was there
mention or allusion to rocketry meant to carry nuclear warheads. In the
prolongation of the negotiations, Tehran essentially accomplished what
it set out to do -- appear to take the concerns of the US and EU
seriously, while earnestly negotiating in 'good faith', endlessly
extending the talks and using the extended time to get on with its
ballistic missile program.
At
the very same time that it continued to enrich uranium much beyond its
agreed-to limit, even while its experiments in the creation of nuclear
fissile material and the production of nuclear heads to fit on the
missiles commenced apace. Taking steps all the while to create deep
underground bunkers to house its production laboratories at a depth that
would be immune to surface bombing. Pre-emptive bombing that might
conceivably be carried out by the very Middle East country that Tehran
has stated time and again it has plans to annihilate with the use of
nuclear bombs.
The
latest iteration of its liquid-fuelled Khorramshahr ballistic missile
at a time of ongoing, deep tensions with the West and certainly with
Israel, and to a lesser degree the Sunni-Islamic countries it plans to
dominate into submission with the threat of its attainment of the means
to destroy them as well as Israel, is telling enough. The
technologically advanced boasts themselves are a form of terrorism it
employs to ensure its adversaries in the region are kept in check.
Iran's recent detente with Saudi Arabia, its closest adversary next to
Israel is no guarantee that the Saudi oilfields will not be attacked
again by Iran's proxy Houthis in Yemen.
The
Khorramshahr-4 was placed on proud display in Tehran, the missile on a
truck-mounted launcher. A missile that Iran's defence minister assured
those present, including journalists, that launch could be prepared
within a short period. Poised and ready-to-go. The missile described
with a 2,000-kilometre range, and a 1,500 kilogram warhead. Undated
video footage was released which purportedly showed the missile during a
successful launch.
Of
Iran's ballistic missile fleet, the Khorramshahr possesses the heaviest
payload which may have been designed to keep the weapon under a 2,000km
range limit, some analysts feel. Placing most of the Mideast in its
range, and falling just short of Western Europe. Named after an Iranian
city where heavy fighting took place between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s,
there is much symbolism in naming the missile Khorramshahr. Just as the
missile, called Kheibar is heavily symbolically named in reference to
the 7th century Jewish fortress that fell to Islamic conquest within an
area where Saudi Arabia now sits.
In
staging that is a continuum of symbolism, so heavily employed by
Tehran, a miniature of Jerusalem's golden Dome of the Rock sitting on
the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound which squats on a much earlier Judaic sacred
site of the two iterations of the Temple of Solomon, the Temple Mount,
was placed next to the mobile missile launcher.
Viewing
Israel as its arch-enemy, Tehran has been actively and visibly inciting
to violence the terrorist groups that are its proxies; Hezbollah in
Lebanon, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, along with the
Gaza-governing Hamas, all of whom were created for the express purpose
of destroying the presence of a Jewish state on a geography that Islam
conquered and where land sacrosanct to Islam theologically considers the
presence of another religion forbidden.
That
the geography in question is historically linked to Judaism, and Israel
is located on part of its ancestral homeland, is entirely irrelevant to
fundamentalist Islamic states who regard the presence of a Jewish state
to represent an assault on Islam itself. The inexhaustible supply of
weaponry emanating from Iran to supply terrorist groups in Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq and Gaza is an assurance that peace will not come easily to
the region.
It
is a region, moreover, that has always been and likely always will be
at war with itself. Without the presence of Israel in their midst, the
tribal and sectarian violence that destroyed Lebanon and led to the
deaths of a half-million Syrians would still fester and carry on. Groups
like the Islamic State will always surface to create deadly chaos,
creating bloodbaths between Muslims and victimizing minority religious
and ethnic groups deprived of their human rights.
The
new Khorramshahr with its updated technology would be capable of
reaching Israel from Iran. But then, when Iraq was invaded by a Western
alliance after its sweep into and claim of Kuwait as Iraqi territory,
missiles were sent by Saddam Hussein into Israel at that time, too. The
uneasy tensions between Iran and Israel have mounted steadily of late,
with Iran's threats of destroying Israel, giving the Jewish State good
reason to destroy Iran's nuclear program before it has a chance to
deploy.
A new surface-to-surface 4th generation Khorramshahr
ballistic missile called Khaibar with a range of 2,000 km is launched at
an undisclosed location in Iran, in this picture obtained on May 25,
2023.
"[Pyongyang
would destroy major targets in Seoul should South Korea take any]
dangerous military action [such as a pre-emptive strike]."
"Pyongyang
opposes war], But if South Korea, for any reason -- whether or not it
is blinded by misjudgement -- opts for such military actions as
'pre-emptive strike' touted by [Suh Wook], the situation will change."
"In that case, South Korea itself will become a target."
"In case South Korea opts for military confrontation with us, our
nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty."
Kim Yo-jong, senior official in North Korea's government
"Yoon's
'pre-emptive strike' comment made the headlines a few months ago, and
Pyongyang is seizing Suh's remarks to make a point to the incoming South
Korean administration."
"North
Korea has thus far refrained from criticizing Yoon at any authoritative
level, but it certainly seems to be laying the groundwork for it."
Rachel Min-young Lee, analyst, 38 North project, United States
On
Friday, South Korean Defence Minister Suh Wook had stated that his
country's military possessed a variety of missiles whose range had been
significantly updated, with greater accuracy and power and "the ability to accurately and quickly hit any target in North Korea".
A surprisingly candid and extremely provocative statement, not one to
be casually remarked upon with the expectation that there would be no
response amounting to a none-too-casual threat from North Korea.
Ms Kim is often believed to be the “number two” of the North Korean leadership. Getty Images
That
response came courtesy of the sister of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong
Un who possesses a good degree of authority within the regime of the
irascible leader. Analysts read Ms.Kim's response as a veiled message
whose recipient-target would most likely be the incoming conservative
president of South Korea. Displays of military strength on the part of
both Koreas have increased following the test-firing by North Korea of a
range of increasingly powerful missiles in 2022 alone.
Incoming
South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has called for a more
muscular defence against threats issued by North Korea. In return the
statements issued by Kim may indicate that Pyongyang is in the process
of preparing the country's population for a planned shift in direction
of inter-Korean relations, with the near prospect of Yoon taking office
in May.
Meeting
with American officials in Washington this week, a delegation from
Yoon's team was welcomed, with American officials reiterating assurance
of the U.S. commitment to the defence of South Korea, outlined in a
statement by the U.S. State Department. How reassuring that might be to
South Korea with Beijing comfortably taking authority in the area and
North Korea being seen as a protege of Beijing, is anyone's guess.
All the more so as Washington's pledges to its allies have not quite matched its actions of late.
North Korea claimed it had fired multiple missiles in March, which the US said was a test for parts of an ICBM system Getty Images
"What we have seen in recent days ... only underscores our belief that if we are going to make progress, that we will need to engage in that dialogue [to attempt once again to conduct a nation-to-nation conversation with North Korea]."
Ned Price, spokesman, U.S.State Department
"[North Korea's latest launches were] further evidence that it continues to advance prohibited programs despite the international community's calls for diplomacy and de-nuclearization."
"[The State Department designated sanctions on North Korean individuals and Russian entities for] activities or transactions that have materially contributed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery."
U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson
Kim Jong-un speaks to
officials at the Defence Development Exhibition, in Pyongyang, North
Korea, in this undated photo released on October 12, 2021 Photo by KCNA via Reuters
"Pyongyang's goading seems to have struck a chord among some officials in Seoul. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in his pull-aside talks
October 5 with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need for
an end-of-war declaration as a “confidence-building measure” to engage
the Kim regime. Chung on a separate occasion said that the time is ripe
to consider easing sanctions on North Korea for the sake of
engagement—despite the regime's ongoing nuclear development and missile
testing. In a similar vein, Seoul's Unification Minister Lee In-young
vowed to push for inter-Korean talks before the end of this year."
Soo Kim, policy analyst, RAND Corporation, adjunct instructor, American University. October 14, 2021
Japan Times North Korea accuses Biden of 'provocation' and warns of 'consequences'
Sanctions were imposed on Wednesday by the United States on six North Koreans, a Russian and a Russian company said to be responsible for obtaining materiel from Russia and China to enable it to build its weapons programs. The sanctions come on the heels of a series of missile launches by North Korea; two alone in the past week.
The sanctions, according to the U.S. Treasury, are meant to prevent further advancement of North Korea's weapons programs, and to impede its efforts in proliferating weapons technologies. These sanctions represent the first imposed by the Biden administration to target North Korea's weapons programs. The administration has been unsuccessful in seeking engagement with Pyongyang meant to sway it away from producing nuclear bombs and missiles.
The administration remains firm in its intention to engage in diplomacy with the hermit kingdom. Six ballistic missiles were launched by North Korea's military since September, egregious violations of UN Security Council resolutions. Despite which, two key members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China, act in concert to protect China's protegee from UN-sponsored sanctions.
Choe Myong Hyon was singled out for sanctions for having worked to procure telecommunications-related equipment from Russia. She is based in Vladivostok as a representative of North Korea's Second Academy of Natural Sciences. Four North Korean representatives based in China of SANS-subordinate organizations were also hit by sanctions.
As has Sim Kwang Sok been, based in Dalian, working to procure steel alloys, as well as Kim Song Hun, based in Shenyang, accessing software and chemicals. As loyal North Koreans, based in friendly nations from whom materials critical to Pyongyang's plans for future technological development in nuclear and missile updates they pay the penalty for enablement when the true enablers go unpunished, seated on their UN thrones.
State media say the test, the eighth this year, was ‘successful’ as US urges Pyongyang to refrain from ‘provocations’.
"[Russia has been] cheating at its arms control obligations [under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]." "Our nations have a choice. We either bury our head in the sand or we take common sense action in response to Russia's flagrant disregard for the expressed terms of the INF Treaty." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, NATO talks
"Meng Wanzhou, Huewei's chief financial officer, is set to appear in court Friday in Vancouver for a bail hearing after being arrested at the city's airport on Saturday while changing planes. She faces extradition to the United States on unspecified charges.": "U.S. prosecutors have been investigating since 2016 whether Huawei violated U.S. export and sanctions laws by shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran [under U.S. sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missiles programs]." Anna Fifield, Beijing "Construction on the previously unidentified site has continued even after the Singapore summit." "Whatever Kim says about his desire for denuclearization, North Korea continues to produce and deploy nuclear armed missiles." "Satellite images show that the base remains active. Moreover, in the
past year North Korea has significantly expanded a nearby facility that
appears to be another missile base." "Those missiles are being deployed at bases throughout North Korea, many
of which have long been known to outside analysts. Any denuclearization
agreement would require North Korea to allow international inspectors
to determine that these units are no longer armed with nuclear weapons." "The Trump Administration has publicly promised to secure access to North Korea military facilities as part of any agreement."
"Up through the valley there are a pair
of hardened 'drive-through' shelters that were covered with soil and had
trees planted on them to disguise them. In front of the pair of drive
throughs, there is a concrete pad that was also covered in dirt."
"There
are five entrances to underground tunnels that may be used to store
missiles."
"Around 2010, North Korea constructed a
pair of large drive-throughs suitable for large ballistic missiles. These
shelters are similar to the ones seen at the older portion of the
Yeongjeo-dong base."
Jeffrey Lewis and David Schmerler , Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California
Satellite images reveal that North Korea has significantly expanded a key long-range missile base located in the mountainous interior of the country CNN
The United States is back in business big time as the world's sheriff keeping track of the covert actions and plans of the world's rogue states; Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. No end of incidents to roil the international community, no end of threats to be concerned about and keep tabs on requiring efforts at mediation and if that doesn't work and it rarely does, sanctions and shaming. Yet neither shaming nor sanctions appear to be truly effective since those against whom these methods are brought in the hope of bringing them into line with international covenants don't really care what they're thought of, so it appears evident that surveillance, vigilance and counter-threats are all that is left.
Ukraine is concerned that the Russian Federation is preparing to mount a ground invasion; it sacrificed three of its military vessels in an effort to test Moscow's resolve in restricting sea passage through the Crimean Peninsula and it now faces the prospect of a reduced military capability should the worst case scenario erupt. NATO, which has assured eastern Europe and Russia's closest neighbours that it has a vested interest as well as a moral imperative to come to their aid is stymied in response to Ukraine's need since it isn't a NATO country and the risk of initiating what would turn out to be a world-class conflict is attractive to no one.
Iran's ongoing testing of its own ballistic missiles program, along with the very real problem of its ongoing nuclear research despite the nuclear agreement it reached so beloved of the European Union that it is prepared to offset American sanctions against Iran for reasons that should be concerning to all of civil society in its incitement and support of terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi Shiites in Yemen are being breached by aid of the EU and through China; even temporarily for a six-month grace period by Japan and South Korea buying Iranian oil.
And here is North Korea once again covertly expanding a key long-range missile base in a remote mountainous area of the country, irrespective of its 'commitments' arising from talks with the United States including face-to-face sessions between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. Nuclear disarmament was the goal, just as it is with Iran. China runs interference on behalf of North Korea, just as the European Union is doing for Iran, and Iran and North Korea exchange between them technological advances, sharing data and training for their scientists.
Satellite images showing the placement of the underground bases have been published by CNN as evidence that the Yeongjeo-dong missile base is active, discussions and protestations of compliance between Trump and Kim aside. And alongside the existing base is another unreported, a site that is active and upgraded. Though U.S. intelligence has long been aware of the Yeongjeo-dong site, it took researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies to reveal the construction at a new facility 11 kilometres distance from the existing one and previously not identified.
Speculation has it that the function of the bases is as shelters for mobile missile launchers where the country's newest long-range missiles would be stored, including those with the capability of carrying nuclear warheads. This, despite the North having officially suspended its nuclear and missile tests ahead of the June summit between Kim and Trump as a 'goodwill' gesture. The theatrics of blowing up a nuclear installation within a mountain which had already collapsed was a quite transparent move at mollifying Trump in assuring him of North Korea's sincere desire to meet American demands.
North Korea's foreign minister travelled to Beijing to conduct talks there in the midst of standstill efforts persuading his government to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs. As North Korea's most vital economic and political backer China has ostensibly agreed to economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations to pressure Kim's abandonment of the drive to develop nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile delivery systems.
"One gets the impression that everything has been done on purpose to
make Kim Jong-un snap and carry out further inadvisable actions. [The Americans] should explain to us all what they're after." "If they want to find a pretext for destroying North Korea, as the U.S.
envoy said at the U.N. Security Council, then let them say it outright and
let the supreme American leadership confirm it." "We have already emphasized several times that the squeeze of
sanctions has essentially come to an end, and that those resolutions
which introduced the sanctions should have included a requirement to
renew the political process, a requirement to renew talks. But the Americans completely ignore this requirement and I consider this a big mistake." "It’s as if the recent actions of the United States are consciously
directed to provoke Pyongyang towards other radical actions." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, watched the launch on a TV screen EPA
Do any of these officials along with Kim Jong-un resemble anything but gleeful juveniles in this photograph meant to be seen across the globe? The silly triumphalism wrapping a gift to the world of sinister intent in the pathological focus on featuring an intercontinental ballistic missile with plans to twin it with a nuclear warhead to emphatically prove to the world at large that North Korea won't be pushed around is the stuff of schoolyard bullies on a grandly grave scale of global threats.
For Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to speak of outside international forces driving this North Korean lunatic and his pathetic generals to 'snap' through the understandable reaction of a powerful country that keeps receiving threats from Dear Leader Kim is beyond ridiculous. In the constant shuffling between cooperation and dissembling competition between world powers for influence and gravitas, Russia ends up behaving little better than North Korea.
Its defence of the North in fact encourages it to increase its dangerous commitments.
Kim launches these ever more threatening proofs of his rocket scientists' capabilities of improving advanced rocketry for the kind of effect he finds utterly delightful, knowing full well the utter consternation that South Korea, Japan and the United States undergo never knowing when next he will pull another rocket-rabbit out of his hat of threatening tricks.
As the heat accelerates between missile 'tests' meant to test the patience of the world while proving the misplaced resolve of a man who is emotionally developmentally delayed holding in thrall an entire nation to his megalomaniac episodes of psychotic displays of intent, the opportunities for misadventure grow apace.
The latest missile launched from North Korea landing in the Sea of Japan within 370 kilometres of the Japanese coastline effectively called a stop to any potential diplomatic assurances that reason could be instilled in a man for whom reason is a foreign, exotic and impossible concept of surrender. When one nation continually receives threats that its mainland and its cities are within destructive reach of a ominous power vested in an irresponsible regime, it must respond.
Declaring North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism also misses the point, that it is itself a terrorist state. There cannot be sufficient sanctions imposed on such a nation's upper echelon of leadership, from Kim to his unctuously enslaved generals. It is the responsibility of the state against whom threats are posed to respond in kind, albeit with calm purpose.
Foreign Minister Lavrov is himself, on behalf of the Kremlin, and the inscrutable but equally irresponsible President Vladimir Putin playing a dangerous game of aligning Russia with outliers like Iran, Syria and North Korea; the implications seeming that any rogue regime threatening world stability represents a strategy close to Russia's own interests.
"We're being told in Colorado Springs [NORAD headquarters] that the extant U.S. policy is not to defend Canada." "[In the] heat of the moment [the U.S. command could go contrary to the policy, but] it would be entirely a U.S. discussion and a U.S. decision." Lt.-Gen. Pierre St-Amand, deputy commander, North American Aerospace Defence Command
"The U.S. isn't going to take the chance of radioactive drift coming across from Vancouver or Toronto." "Any missile coming towards North America would be targeted by the Americans. We don't need to be part of U.S. missile defence for that to happen." Michael Byers, political science professor, University of British Columbia
"We trained children in schools to get under their desks and cover the backs of their necks to protect themselves from shattered glass, which does absolutely nothing to protect them from radiation." "[Once a nuclear detonation has gone off] all electronic communications would be out. A public education campaign should be going on now." Dennis Mileti, former director, National Hazards Center, University of Colorado
"Part of the problem is that the emergency planners themselves, personally, are overwhelmed psychologically by the thought of nuclear catastrophe. They are paralyzed." "You say 'nuclear' to them, and they're thinking, 'Oh my God, we're all gone. What's the point? It's futile. And we're trying to tell them 'It's not futile. We can change the survival rates by doing some commonsensical things." "You want as much distance and as much shielding as possible between you and the detonation, and you stay in this shelter environment [either underground or on the middle floors of a tall building, away from windows] for somewhere between 24 and 72 hours." "We would have essentially permanent loss of real estate that will not be habitable for people's lifetimes and more. [There would be economic reverberations] not just locally in the communities affected, but regionally, nationally and internationally." "I hope we're never in that position where we have to choose between not responding to an actual nuclear attack or wiping out another country, which consists of 99.9999% of people who just want to get up in the morning and have some semblance of normalcy." Irwin Redlener, public health professor, Columbia University
"Just imagining this kind of incident is already impacting the general public [by causing anxiety]." "The closer you are, the more connection you have with the country, the higher the impact is." "You should not expect government emergency responders to reach you, even before two weeks. They would be exposed to radiation that might affect them. It is better even for emergency responders to wait for a few days sometimes so that radiation level goes down and they can go to help." Ali Asgary, Associate professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Toronto
The British Government is reportedly working on a new nuclear alert blast system. Alamy
Should a nuclear-tipped missile hit an area, it is the resulting size of the blast that speaks to the extent of the fallout. Wind speed affects fallout spread, sandlike grains. Even while potentially fatal radiation sees a rapid drop, hundreds of kilometres off from the target of a bomb to mitigate the effects of fallout, protective measures should be planned for. In 2010 the American government produced a response guide reflective of a 10-kiloton nuclear detonation. In that scenario it was pointed out that fallout could "have a low-level continental impact".
Should Asia, as an example, be the venue, which is to say under current political circumstances, should a preemptive strike hit North Korea, radiation would be certain to drift onward to North America; no region would be exempt from long-term health effects. In addition to the physical impacts, the psychological damage from nuclear radiation fallout would be far-ranging, the wholesale traumatization that would result could incapacitate a nation.
And the reality just happens to be should a North Korean nuclear warhead manage to thread its way through missile defences to strike a city in North America, disaster preparedness experts are quick to point out that there is no preparedness for a response. There have been no appreciable actions taken by authorities to educate people what they should do, how they should ideally react to help themselves in the wake of a nuclear detonation. Dr. Redlener of Columbia University has been foiled time and again in attempting to alert the public.
Not a single city in the United States has formulated plans that might be even marginally effective in dealing with a nuclear detonation, and the disaster it would plant on the continent. And nor is Canada any more responsible in alerting its citizens to self-defence in reaction to such potentially unimaginable events. Within the blast zone no human life would be expected to survive, but beyond that zone the greatest risk to survival would be represented by the resulting radioactive dust and debris falling to ground in the explosion's wake, with no time to outrun its return to ground level.
The blast wave and thermal pulse created by a nuclear explosion would result in immediate deaths within seconds; for a 150-kiloton warhead, within a radius of several kilometres a dead zone would prevail. Canadians work with Americans in the vital task of detecting missiles, at NORAD headquarters. They are not the decision-makers though we are the risk-takers. "Look at Canada, we can unleash a demonstration on Canada, a light-and-fire spectacular as ample proof of what we can achieve in levelling the imperialist majesty of the United States", a not-unlikely thought process flickering through Kim Jong-un's febrile mind.
"What China has done is create an unholy proliferation cooperation network. The Chinese have helped Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea to different degrees." "The Chinese only need to make discreet material contributions, but all three will eventually benefit from it." "North Korea and Pakistan are cooperating. North Korea and Iran have been cooperating on missiles. China also remains a principal potential source of such funding." "But it is just monumentally bizarre that a country as rock-bottom poor as North Korea has such a sophisticated and broad strategic weapons program." "China has turned Pakistan into a nuclear missile state in order to assist its neutralization of India, and China turns Iran into a nuclear missile state to benefit from that instability as well." "China has managed to become a major arms supplier in the Middle East because other nations want to defend themselves against Iran, which was made powerful by China." Richard Fisher, senior fellow, International Assessment and Strategy Center, U.S.
Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images Iran's President Hassan Rouhani meets with North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam in 2013
"[Analysts have] frequently underestimated North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. [North Korea's] lengthy collaborative nuclear and missile relationship with Pakistan [which has nuclear warheads and missiles] is to its advantage. [North Korean scientists have] provided critical assistance to Islamabad's missile programs [while Pakistan has given North Korea] uranium based nuclear weapons expertise, technology, and components." "A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, provided a nuclear package deal to Pyongyang including warhead designs, centrifuges, and nuclear fuel." "[North Korea will not hesitate to share with Syria] nuclear and chemical weapon technologies." Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow, The Heritage Foundation
"You cannot fly an airplane from Pyongyang to Tehran without stopping in a military airport in China." "Whatever it was, somebody had to pay them for it, [rocket engines sold to North Korea] and it got from Point A to point B." "All that stuff is expensive. Somebody is paying for it. All roads [lead to the CCP [Communist Party of China]." William Triplett, U.S. intelligence community, former Reagan White House
There are the questions and there are the complementary responses. The exclusive club of nuclear and missile enterprise under the radar of conventional universal covenants represents a crew the world has learned to recognize as a current and direct threat to world peace; China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Pakistan. Russia and China, both communist countries and next-door-neighbours, both members of the United Nations Security Council, usually vote in unison on Security Council sanctions and resolutions; against most.
North Korea is of course a country ruled by an ideology that fits right in with Russia's and China's. And Pakistan, Iran and Syria reflect an Islamist ideology more akin to fascism, but the gap between the fanatic left and the fanatic right is narrow enough to bask in shadows, not conducive to letting in sunlight. Russia provided helpful aids to the development of nuclear weapons to the aforementioned rogue states, with the kind assistance of the Chinese Communist Party. It's a sturdy club, to be sure.
To be fair, it was really the previous Chinese government that did all this heavy lifting. The current government of Xi Jinping is not entirely enthralled with Kim Jong Un and his aspirations, theirs is a tense relationship, with Xi appearing to side with the Trump administration on harsh sanctions imposed on North Korea resulting from Pyongyang's latest showcasing of both nuclear weapons tests and medium-range ballistic missiles. But China remains fixated on maintaining a wall between it and the U.S. presence in the area with North Korea the buffer.
According to a leaked U.S. State Department cable from 2010, North Korea had shipped 19 ballistic missiles to Iran in 2005, giving Iran the capacity to strike Western Europe capitals with the Hwasong-10, or Musudan missile, tested in 2015. The medium-range ballistic missile, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, has an estimated range of 2,500 to 4,000 kilometres, its design based on the Soviet SS-N-6 submarine-launched missile.
These suspect states tend to work intimately together on their programs meant to build nuclear weapons. Their agenda is similar and their intention to benefit by working closely together brings them mutual satisfaction in sharing progress, cutting wasted time by replicating what each has succeeded in perfecting. That the North Korean regime is poor represents no roadblock to advancing its nuclear aspirations. Because of its alliance with others, valuing it for the technical data it shares, there is always some contact willing to help it pay for foreign weapons or new technology advances.
Airplanes that were sold by the United States as freight transport to Iran and Pakistan in the 1970s, have been seen in North Korean airfields. In August there were reports that Ukraine or Russia had sold rocket engines to North Korea. The North is not the least disturbed that many of its people live on the brink of starvation and that each time a rocket is launched into the ocean, $30-million in costs are drowned in the effort, never to be recovered.
"This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the president has many military options to defeat any threat." "North Korea's weapons program is a grave threat to the Asia-Pacific region and the entire international community. We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the United States homeland and our allies." Dana White, spokesperson, U.S. Defence Department
"[North Korea's nuclear force is] to all intents and purposes, a war deterrent for putting an end to nuclear threat of the U.S. and for preventing its military invasion and our ultimate goal is to establish the balance of power with the U.S." "[Trump's description of Kim as] Rocket Man [ensures] our rocket's visit to the entire United States mainland inevitable all the more." "[The American president is] a mentally deranged person full of megalomania and complacency], his finger on the] nuclear button." "[Trump's] reckless and violent words [have insulted] the supreme dignity [of North Korea]." "[Trump has transformed the White House] into a noisy marketing place [and attempts to turn the United Nations] into a gangsters' nest where money is respected and bloodshed is the order of the day." "[Trump would] pay dearly [for his threat to] totally destroy [North Korea]. [The North's response] could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific." North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho
"Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!" "North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development is a grave threat to peace and security in our world and it is unacceptable that others financially support this criminal, rogue regime." U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald J. TrumpVerified account@realDonaldTrump
Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel.They are also working with North Korea.Not much of an agreement we have!
4:59 PM - 23 Sep 2017
President Trump's United Nations address of last week was notable for his coherent and justified statements of regret and disgust at the actions of regimes that have destroyed the stability of their very own nations' trusts (Syria and Venezuela) as well as those whose clear support for terrorists, supplying them with weaponry and opportunities to wreak havoc and destroy hopes (Iran and North Korea) and the position of the United States in working alongside other nations to bring them to account (China) may result in measures to limit the damage they wreak.
Verbal commitment was made to remedial and protective action by the United States against those plotting to upend the global community's security. It was a good speech, particularly emanating from the mouth of a man not normally given to concise and practical utterances, but it was, for all that, only a speech. Bolstered, since Iran's response was to test another ballistic missile, and North Korea's stepped-up threats, by a show of American military force in joint exercises with South Korea.
It is still show-and-tell, with no direct action to quell the unease being felt in the Korean Peninsula, nor in the Middle East, with Israel clearly in the range of Iran's new and improved rocketry. American B-1 bombers alongside fighter jets flew international waters close to the North Korean flight zones and beyond the Demilitarized Zone, furthest than such warplanes have ever flown north in a hundred years; its purpose clear enough, as a direct warning.
It's doubtful that either Tehran or its close ally Pyongyang blinked. They know bluster when they see it and hear it since both are masters at it. It is when those bombers, equipped with conventional but powerful explosives are used to destroy both countries' arms and research sites as Israel has done in the past, that those threats will be taken seriously enough to persuade each of those belligerent nations that it is time to back down and back off.
Kim Jong Un has been clear enough in his cheerful pronouncements of his intentions. To build a missile powerful enough to strike anywhere in the United States with nuclear tipped missiles. As a crude way to project threat and power to nudge the United States over on the world stage to make way for another super power vested in the persona of a megalomaniac tyrant of a country struggling with a national pathology of power and prestige belying its state of endemic poverty depriving its population of a normal existence, it would be a comic performance if it were not so bleakly sinister.
A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base,
South Dakota, prepares to take off from Andersen AFB, Guam, Sept. 23,
2017. CNN
Farce aside in its delusional use of language and turning meaning and reality inside out, the threats are all too real, and casting counter-threats and schoolyard demonstrations of hoped-for intimidation in a situation calling for immediate and direct action to cut North Korea's ambition down to the size more approximating its place in world affairs, and this time with the reluctant assistance of its mentor-state China, is long overdue.
If China does undertake to yank its 90% of the North's income through trade to impose reality on a delusional juvenile delinquent with the means to kill hundreds of thousands near at hand in the close future, well and good. Should that reluctantly imposed effort fail, other, more persuasive measures must be undertaken where mass casualties will be assured, but far less so than should North Korea proceed unregulated to its goal.
That conclusion will guide the Islamic Republic of Iran to a wake-up understanding that its goals are next to be addressed.
A TV grab taken on September 23
from state broadcaster IRIB shows a Khorramshahr missile being launched
from an undisclosed location, a day after the missile was first
displayed at a high-profile military parade.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
