Mystery Missile Off California Coast

Yesterday’s big discussion on Memeorandum was the mystery missile off the California coast.  Both the Pentagon and Norad were baffled about where it came from. The latest guess seems to be that this is a plane’s contrail, but given the line of sight it looks like a missile.

Was it an accidental launch and everyone is playing “cover your ass”? Was it an amateur rocket launch? Whatever the case maybe, the fact that we don’t have a solid answer is troubling to say the least.  We all know our government is suffering from a bad case of “the dysfunctionals”, but come on.

I think we will be hearing more about this in the near future and we probably won’t like the official answer.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: CBS News

Via: Contrail Science Overflow 

Happy July 4th Hawaii, Love Kim Jong Il

North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii on American Independence Day, according to Japanese intelligence officials.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles, would be launched in early July from the Dongchang-ni site on the north-western coast of the secretive country.

Intelligence analysts do not believe the device would be capable of hitting Hawaii's main islands, which are 4,500 miles from North Korea.

Details of the launch came from the Japan's best-selling newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun.

Both Japanese intelligence and U.S. reconnaissance satellites have collated information pointing to the launch, according to the report.

Wow, Little Kim is cutting up something fierce! Perhaps he is just ticked off that Obama did not invite him to the Fourth of July celebrations being rolled out for Iran. It is said that Robert Gates has ordered missile interceptors to the region. I wonder if anyone at the White House is second-guessing the decision to nickel and dime on missile defense.

Maybe it is time for Obama to show North Korea his fly killing skills, that ought to get them to chill out.

Fantasy vs. Reality.

Barak Obama , Sunday April 5, 2009, Prague:

“…So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can."…”

I have one thing to say to Obama about that statement, “actions speak louder than words“! If this is Obama’s dream, one would imagine that some serious diplomacy is going to be needed to influence those nations that are rapidly trying to get or spread nuclear technology.

To date, the Obama Administration has not shown a very strong hand with diplomacy. Just this week, North Korea tested a long range missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload and hitting Alaska or Hawaii. What was the Obama Administration’s response? Obama’s official statement was; "Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something," and then he promptly ran to the UN, like the teacher's pet snitching on the bad kids. To make matters worse the very next day Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announces that we are cutting spending on missile defense.

The one big stick we could possibly use against North Korea’s ambitions for long range missiles, has now been broken in half by Obama’s insane military spending cuts. Beefed up missile defense for our western most states or our allies (South Korea and Japan) who could be threatened by North Korea, has now been scaled back by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as per Obama’s requested cuts.

Some argue that North Korea using long range nuclear weapons against us is highly unlikely. While this argument has some merit, it doesn’t answer another likely scenario. The scenario of North Korea selling it long range missile technology to a nation that would use it against us. Iran immediately comes to mind. Iran which is run by Islamic extremist, are racing toward getting nuclear technology. Their tactic of buying time by entering and exiting diplomatic talks have proven very successful for them.

The real threat comes from the fact that Islamic extremists are not deterred by the notion of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). This is because for the Islamic extremist, the survival of Islam takes precedence over the survival of their nation. Therefore losing Tehran in a nuclear exchange is acceptable so long as it advanced the causes of Islam as they see it. So to deter a nation with this kind of belief, the passive role of having a large nuclear stockpile will not do. Instead a more proactive approach is required (I.e. missile defense, aggressive diplomacy and stopping their plans early). Currently the Obama Administration is doing none of these.

So while Obama claims not to be naïve and dreams that “yes we can have a nuclear free world”, reality is taking a very different and dangerous tract.