Fallout shelters were the rage in the ’50s and ’60s | Hudson Star-Observer

Posted by Matt in December 3rd, 2009 | no comment

Published in Shelters, 1950s, 1960s, 50s, 60s, Aftermath, Buzz Word, Casualties, Civil Defense, Defense Initiative, Fallout Shelters, fallout-shelter, Hudson Star Observer, Hudson Wisconsin, Nuclear Blast, Nuclear War, Occupants, Radiation, Radioactive Fallout, Radioactivity, Rage

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the buzz word in American homes was “fallout shelter.”
A fallout shelter was a civil defense initiative intended to reduce casualties in a nuclear war. It was designed to allow occupants to avoid exposure to harmful radioactive fallout from a nuclear blast and its likely aftermath of radiation until radioactivity [...]

The coming war for water | GlobalPost.Com

Posted by Matt in September 21st, 2009 | no comment

Published in Conflict, India, War, Water, 1950s, climate change, Coming War, Cubic Meters, Economic Development, Flash Point, Glaciers, Himalayas, Human Health, Impediment, India Pakistan, Kashmir, Populations, Rivers, Strife, Subcontinent, Threshold, United Nations, Water Shortage, Water Supply

Kashmir’s mighty rivers are a source of strife on the subcontinent.
Battles over water are already mounting in number around the world, according to Peter Gleick, an expert at the Pacific Institute. But Kashmir could be the most dangerous flash point. According to a recent United Nations report, Pakistan’s water supply has dropped from about 5,000 [...]

The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall symbolises the Cold War – Times Online

Posted by Matt in August 13th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Europe, 1950s, America West, Cold-War, Communists, Continent Of Europe, Economic Growth, Enclave, Fall Of The Berlin Wall, Gap, Iron Curtain, Rise And Fall, Rise And Fall Of The Berlin Wall, Second World War, Soviet Union West, Superpowers, Union Berlin, Victors, War Times, West Berlin, West Sections

The Berlin Wall was the defining symbol of the Cold War that divided Europe for almost 50 years.
Berlin, carved up by the victors of the Second World War between East and West sections, was to become the centre of the stand-off between the postwar superpowers, America and the Soviet Union.
West Berlin was a capitalist enclave [...]

Iran’s Nuclear Misdirection

Posted by Matt in May 14th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Iran, Nuclear, 1950s, Adversary, ahmadinejad, Capabilities, Colleagues, Dimona Reactor, Fledgling Nation, Goodness Sake, India, Iran Nuclear, Israel, Misdirection, Negev, North-Korea, Nuclear Club, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, plutonium, Sun-Tzu, Uranium

“All warfare is based on deception” – Sun Tzu.
It has long bothered me, as well as some of my colleagues, that geoglobally most of the players are almost uniquely focused on Iran’s uranium capabilities, to the near exclusion of their plutonium potential. Yet the facility at Arak or the issue of plutonium are either ignored [...]

Iran’s Nuclear Program

Posted by Matt in July 18th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Iran, Nuclear, 1950s, Allegations, Ambitions, Bush Administration Officials, Dwight D Eisenhower, Dwight Eisenhower, Fuel Enrichment, International Concern, Islamic Revolution, Launch, Nuclear Energy Technology, Nuclear Program, Nuclear Programs, Nuclear Weapons Program, Peace Program, President Dwight D Eisenhower, Revelations, Steady Progress, Upheaval, Uranium

Iran’s leaders have worked to pursue nuclear energy technology since the 1950s, spurred by the launch of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program. It made steady progress, with Western help, through the early 1970s. But concern over Iranian intentions followed by the upheaval of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 effectively ended outside [...]

ANALYSIS: More `near-nuclear’ states may loom

Posted by Matt in June 28th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Nuclear, 1950s, 1960s, Bomb, bombs, Building Bombs, Gulf War, infrastructure, iraq, Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons Capabilities, Nuclear Weapons Programs, Pakistan India, Rollback, Russia, Saddam Hussein, Scientists, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, War Weapons

Those are the 40-plus countries with the scientists, engineers and infrastructure for building bombs — and in at least one other case, that of South Africa, a history of having done so.
About a dozen are nuclear “rollback” states, ranging from Sweden and Switzerland, which seriously researched the weapon option in the 1950s and 1960s and [...]

China’s weapons — Part 1

Posted by Matt in June 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in China, Military, 1950s, Air Force, Airlift Force, Armed Forces, Army Air, Artillery, China Air, Combat Aircraft, Decades, Military Aircraft, Military Hardware, Military Spending, Military Transport Aircraft, Modern China, Soviet War, Successes, War Planes, weapons

Despite successes in the last few decades, China’s armed forces are still rather backward, which is another incentive for increasing military spending. Its ground forces are relatively numerous, but it does not have enough modern military hardware; its army air defense system is weak, and its artillery is insufficiently mobile. The same is true of [...]

China’s Disturbing Desert Creep

Posted by Matt in June 20th, 2008 | no comment

Published in China, 1950s, Array, China Beijing, China Meteorological Administration, Desert Storm, Desertification, Deserts, Economic Impact, Farmland, Fragile Ecosystem, Giant Stretch, Goats, Jaran, Manchurians, Meteorology, National Battlefield, Outpost, Precarious Balance, Sandstorms, Subsistence Crops, Tengger, Three Decades, Top Producer, Yellow Earth

Forest clearing to create more farmland has destroyed the precarious balance of a fragile ecosystem.
In the 1950s, the government built the Hongyashan reservoir on the Shiyang River and in the three decades that followed, residents dug more than 10,000 wells. The positive economic impact was immediate: Minqin County became the top producer of wheat and [...]

The List: The Worst Places to Be a Terrorist

Posted by Matt in May 20th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Uncategorized, 1950s, Algerian War, Array, Civil Rights, counterterrorism, French Law, Investigations, Law Enforcement, Laws In France, Magistrates, Mandate, Middle Eastern Terrorism, Muslim Clerics, Prosecutors, Regimes, Softies, Terrorist Mayhem, terrorists, Transnational Terrorism, Unprecedented Powers, War On Terror

Fighting transnational terrorism often involves making unsavory choices between protecting civil rights and providing security. The following regimes have opted for the latter and are definitely not the kind of places you want to get caught if you’re plotting some terrorist mayhem.
France
Key tactics: Though many Americans view them as softies when it comes to the [...]