Thoughts on ``Unfought Victory``
Recently I argued at the American Thinker that the Chinese were using Kim Jong-Il and his rogue fiefdom as surrogates against the United States, and that I feared one strategy which could be employed would be an Electromagnetic Pulse attack. I received some criticizm (anytime you write ANYTHING you will) claiming that 1.you will not get an EMP from a fission bomb 2.there is unclear evidence that an EMP would have as powerful an effect as I described and 3.there are strong political forces operating against such a rash act. Let me answer these in order:
To the first point I would make the case that we have learned a great deal about a great many things of which we were unaware during the fission bomb era, and that it is allegedly possible to get an EMP without even detonating a nuclear device, so it may well be possible (especially with computer technology and foreign assistance) to vastly increase the EMP of a fission device. Also, given enough assistance, it may be possible for North Korea to obtain an old Soviet Nuke, or perhaps even develope thermonuclear capabilities of their own at some point (bear in mind that the United States detonated it`s first h-bomb in 1952-a scant 7 years after Fat Man; also, remember that the backward Chinese developed them also). Couple this with a delivery system, and you have a very dangeous surrogate, and an EMP is, from a tactical standpoint, the perfect crime.
As to point number two, the principle argument is that the experiments conducted in 1962 merely blew out some lightbulbs and caused some minor damage in Hawaii-at the very least the results were unclear. I would argue that the damage was probably greater than we have been told (the United States government suppressed the existence of EMP for a long time) and I would further point out that there is a vast difference between 1962 and today; in 1962 a computer was something which filled a room and used punch cards for memory storage (my own obsolete pc has more computing power than the entire United States had at that point), many radios and televisions still used the old vacuum tubes, we did not have digital transmissions, fiber optics, etc. Today we use computers and highly sensitive electronics for EVERYTHING, and what may have had minor consequences in 1962 could be devastating today.
The last point is the most interesting, and there are those who would argue that the Chinese and other foreign powers have no interest in promoting a North Korean attack. I offer exhibit A; China is blocking any action against North Korea in the United Nations. I further offer exhibit B (curtesy of our good friend Aussiegirl at Ultima Thule); the Russians have been duplicitous with the North Koreans. North Korea is receiving an awful lot of assistance with it`s nuclear program, it`s missiles, and (perhaps most importantly) hiding it`s illegal weapons program.
I stand by what I have written; this would still be the perfect crime.
To the first point I would make the case that we have learned a great deal about a great many things of which we were unaware during the fission bomb era, and that it is allegedly possible to get an EMP without even detonating a nuclear device, so it may well be possible (especially with computer technology and foreign assistance) to vastly increase the EMP of a fission device. Also, given enough assistance, it may be possible for North Korea to obtain an old Soviet Nuke, or perhaps even develope thermonuclear capabilities of their own at some point (bear in mind that the United States detonated it`s first h-bomb in 1952-a scant 7 years after Fat Man; also, remember that the backward Chinese developed them also). Couple this with a delivery system, and you have a very dangeous surrogate, and an EMP is, from a tactical standpoint, the perfect crime.
As to point number two, the principle argument is that the experiments conducted in 1962 merely blew out some lightbulbs and caused some minor damage in Hawaii-at the very least the results were unclear. I would argue that the damage was probably greater than we have been told (the United States government suppressed the existence of EMP for a long time) and I would further point out that there is a vast difference between 1962 and today; in 1962 a computer was something which filled a room and used punch cards for memory storage (my own obsolete pc has more computing power than the entire United States had at that point), many radios and televisions still used the old vacuum tubes, we did not have digital transmissions, fiber optics, etc. Today we use computers and highly sensitive electronics for EVERYTHING, and what may have had minor consequences in 1962 could be devastating today.
The last point is the most interesting, and there are those who would argue that the Chinese and other foreign powers have no interest in promoting a North Korean attack. I offer exhibit A; China is blocking any action against North Korea in the United Nations. I further offer exhibit B (curtesy of our good friend Aussiegirl at Ultima Thule); the Russians have been duplicitous with the North Koreans. North Korea is receiving an awful lot of assistance with it`s nuclear program, it`s missiles, and (perhaps most importantly) hiding it`s illegal weapons program.
I stand by what I have written; this would still be the perfect crime.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 5:14 AM
2 Comments:
As far as an EMP bomb is concerned, I don't even think you need a bomb to propagate the electromagnetic pulse. Every radio station's antenna transmits EMP's. Radio waves are EMP's.
Think about this: When you're driving down the road (especially in the country where electrified fencing is common) listening to AM radio and you hear that distinct pop, pop, pop coming from your speakers, that's an EMP. A simple spark generator can create an EMP.
The size and destructive force of the EMP is determined by how much power you put behind it. The bigger the spark, the bigger the EMP. Eventually, the EMP will be so large, that as it cuts across wires, antennas, and circuit boards it will induce a destructive voltage.
CB uses know this first hand if they've ever messed with signal boosters. As soon as you key the mic, you're "walking" on every CB radio in your vicinity. Imagine amplifying that several thousand times. Electronic radios as well as other electronics would be destroyed from the amount of energy crossing their antennas.
It is stunning how many nuclear physicists there are in the world! What concerns me is why anyone would WANT to take a chance with N. Korea having a device and a method of delivery.
Maybe we should ask Bill Clinton?
A country like N. Korea has nothing to lose by taking a shot at the US. And amazingly, there are so many Americans who don’t understand that or maybe don’t care. But what is more disturbing is the fact that there are some Americans who hope for something like that to occur! The US being bad and all . . . .
On the lighter side:
My AT, from 20 years ago, could’ve run the entire Apollo Program, and I still would’ve been able to play Red Storm Rising at the same time!
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