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    Hate to BANG ON about this but.. Archived Message

    Posted by Gerard on January 14, 2020, 9:09 pm, in reply to "Nail on the head ..."

    politics is so often about leverage. One cannot ignore the now nearly 5 years of silence about the Israel ibn Saud/Egypt alliance's possible use of an (at least one), American manufactured B-61 bunker busting nuclear weapon on the Yemen...when one is not in possession of all the facts profiling can often help illuminate the path to truth...Socially scientific "reverse engineering" convinces me that the reason why so many "easy truths" continue to have credibility for the mass of the electorates in both the US and Europe is because vital pieces have been kept hidden and are not available to construct a narrative....much of the propagandising simply relies on the believable "big lie"..but the elephant must be fed and watered even if it is invisible....the proof of Israel's use of nuclear weapons would damage this carefully constructed (but necessarily fragile), narrative and suggest that there is much else that "we" have not been told....my sources are good, the information on the spread and dispersement of the upgraded B-61 sound...the historical validity of the nature of US support for an independent Israeli nuclear strike capacity surely beyond question...

    "Quote; "The $8 billion upgrade to the US B61 nuclear bomb has been widely condemned as an awful lot of money to spend on an obsolete weapon. As an old fashioned ‘dumb’ bomb it has no role in US or NATO nuclear doctrine, but the upgrade has gone ahead anyway, in large part as a result of lobbying by the nuclear weapons laboratories.
    In non-proliferation terms however the only thing worse than a useless bomb is a ‘usable’ bomb*. Apart from the stratospheric price, the most controversial element of the B61 upgrade is the replacement of the existing rigid tail with one that has moving fins that will make the bomb smarter and allow it to be guided more accurately to a target. Furthermore, the yield can be adjusted before launch, according to the target.
    The modifications are at the centre of a row between anti-proliferation advocates and the government over whether the new improved B61-12 bomb is in fact a new weapon, and therefore a violation of President Obama’s undertaking not to make new nuclear weapons. His administration’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review said life extension upgrades to the US arsenal would “not support new military missions or provide for new military capabilities.”
    The issue has a particular significance for Europe where a stockpile of 180 B61’s is held in six bases in five countries. If there is no change in that deployment by the time the upgraded B61-12’s enter the stockpile in 2024, many of them will be flown out to the bases in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Turkey.
    The row has had a semantic tone, revolving on what the definition of ‘new’ is, but arguably the only definition that counts is whether the generals and officials responsible for dropping bombs, view its role in a different light as a result of its refurbishment." Go to: https://www.theguardian.com/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2015/nov/10/americas-new-more-usable-nuclear-bomb-in-europe
    for full article.

    *Italics mine."

    Link: https://www.arafel.co.uk/2018/03/update-on-unofficial-nuclear.html

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