Obama May Face First International Crisis as Taliban Inches Closer to Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
“Pakistan is the world’s only Muslim country which has a nuclear bomb, an Islamic nuclear bomb.”
On October 20, 2008, Joe Biden, as Barack Obama’s running mate, may have given a rather prescient warning, that within the first sixth months of Obama’s presidency, he’d face an international crisis which would “test” his “mettle”.
A little over three months into Obama’s presidency, Biden’s warning about an international crisis may be coming true, as Pakistan, with its arsenal of nuclear weapons, could be poised for a coup by Islamic extremists, including the Taliban.
From ABC News:
“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
April 19, just shy of three months Obama’s inauguration the Times of India reported that unnamed “U.S. Intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there’s little hope” regarding the situation in Pakistan:
“A growing number of US intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there’s little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing the a greater threat to US than Afghanistan’s terrorist haven did before 9/11.
“It’s a disaster in the making on the scale of the Iranian revolution,” said a US intelligence official who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
Pakistan’s fragmentation into warlord-run fiefdoms that host al-Qaida and other terrorist groups would have grave implications for the security of its nuclear arsenal; for the US-led effort to pacify Afghanistan; and for the security of India, the nearby oil-rich Persian Gulf and Central Asia, US and its allies.
Pakistan has 173 million people and 100 nuclear weapons, an army which is bigger than the American army, and the headquarters of al-Qaida sitting in two-thirds of the country which the government does not control,” said David Kilcullen , a retired Australian army officer, a former State Department adviser and a counterinsurgency consultant to the Obama administration.
“Pakistan isn’t Afghanistan, a backward, isolated, landlocked place that outsiders get interested in about once a century,” said US intelligence official. “It’s a developed state . . . (with) a major Indian Ocean port and ties to the outside world, especially the Gulf, that Afghanistan and the Taliban never had.”
April 22, Reuters reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a warning to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the situation in Pakistan as a “mortal threat to the to the security and safety of our country and the world.”
Swat Valley
One of 191 schools destroyed by Taliban in Swat Valley
Clinton spoke before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the situation in Pakistan, of the Pakistan government signing a regulation which imposed Islamic, or Sharia law, in the Swat Valley after Islamic militants moved in and instigated a reign of terror.
From the Telegraph:
“The area is now mostly under the control of a Taliban commander, Mullah Fazlullah, who rules via dozens of Sharia courts and who issues ordinances which are announced by FM radio broadcasts.
Whippings, executions and the bombing and closure of schools are now commonplace.
Jaffar Khan, a member of the North West Frontier Province’s ruling Awami National Party (ANP) in Swat, said: “The situation is worse with every day. People are facing great problems. The militants have started a new wave of target killings and slaughter.
“The call themselves the Taliban, but we don’t know who they are. Everybody believes that national and international intelligence agencies are playing a game there. But we don’t know what it is and when it will end.”
Zubair Torwali, a social activist, said that the main square of Swat’s capital, Mingora, has been dubbed Khooni Chowk, or Bloody Square, because every day bodies of the militants’ executed victims are dumped there or some strung up poles.”
Since the Swat Valley fell to the Taliban, they’ve “swept” across the Pakistan countryside to Buner, 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, with a mountain range and the river Indus separating the two. Not only have they taken over the Swat Valley, they’ve offered Bin Laden “safe shelter”.
In 2008, the threat of the Taliban gaining control of Pakistan’s estimated 40-100 nuclear weapons was written about in the BBC News:
Continue reading: Obama May Face First International Crisis as Taliban Inches Closer to Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons – PAGE 2
oh man… so much material here!
The bottom line seems to be that Obama has to figure out a way to fight the enemy without appearing to be a fighter. The world wants to see America shackled and unable to enact meaningful change outside North America. Obama may be giving them what they want.
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Rides A Pale Horse Reply:
April 23rd, 2009 at 18:48
Well, for starters, the POSPOTUS isn’t a fighter nor can he appear to be one. The world doesn’t necessarily want to see America shackled but the POSPOTUS sure seems to. Considering all the apologies and bowing and consorting with despots we have seen so far I’d say he’s got a good head start. All is not lost however. He is a “community organizer” so maybe he can organize the Taliban in a more peaceful, productive way. It worked in Chicago didn’t it? I’m sure that his efforts coupled with Sec. Clintons suggestion that the people of Pakistan write letters to their leaders will bring peace raining down on the region in mere days.
Rainbows and Unicorns
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[...] Obama's May Face First International Crisis as Taliban Inches … [...]
Okay, using my 1962 circular slide rule from the back of “The effects of nuclear weapons” developed by the Lovelace Foundation ( I used to have Barry goldwaters copy but somebody stole the book but left the circular slide rule), a 25 Kiloton device at 2 mile range with surface burst yeilds the following:
1) 1.1 Max overpressure PSI (standard atmospheric pressure is 14.7 PSI)
incident overpressure PSI = 3.75
2) 0.16 Dynamic overpressure PSI
3) 42 MPH Max wind
4) 80% of the total thermal energy possible released in 1.5 sec
5) 0.17 mile radius fireball diameter
6) window glass velocity at 2 miles approx 98 ft/sec
7) reflected overpressure PSI = 8.5
9) man velocity at 2 miles out in the open = 8 ft/sec you’d go flying back at about 4 – 6 MPH caught out in the open
at 2 miles that air pulse wouldnt hit for about 11 seconds ( there would also be a second reflected pulse possibly
stronger than the first coming back as air rushed back in to replace the rising fireball air like a giant vacuum column)
10) depth of crater in soil =0.018 mile (0.015 in rock)
11) approx dia of crater = 0.14 mile in soil ( 0.11 mile in rock)
12) accumulated radiation dose on non sheilded person in rems at 2 miles after 1 hour = 2600 rems
13) calories of heat on exposed skin at detonation moment 10 cal/cm*2 (looks like only 2nd degree burns)
14) initial radiation absorbed by exposed person at initial detonation = about 200 rems (couple chest x rays)
The Maximum my rule goes up to is 20 MT lets go there..shall we:) LOL So a 20 MT ground burst at 2 miles in 1) thru 14 above yeilds: 1)= 95 PSI. 2)= 72 PSI, 3) =1300 MPH, 4) = 40 seconds, 5) =2.5 mile radius of fireball ..(wow 5 miles in diameter, you are standing in the fireball at 2 miles LOLOLOLOL) 6) N/A window melted 7) N/A at 2 miles within fireball
N/A at 2 miles within the fireball 9) N/A at 2 miles within the fireball (you wouldnt go flying back, you would just be plasma)
10) .17 in soil (.15 in rock) 11) 1.2 miles in soil (1.0 miles in rock) again 12) 13) AND 14) WOULDNT APPLY SINCE YOU WOULD BE PART OF THE FIREBALL AT 2 MILES
Enjoy:) LOL
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LBG1 Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 12:42
lol!
I enjoyed it, especially the fact that you used a 1962 circular slide rule!
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Number 10) for 20 Megaton crater diameter is 1.7 miles not 0.17 my bad and 1.5 in rock
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[...] Pakistan’s military has allowed just “400 to 500 insurgents,” to seize control of the area. Obama May Face First International Crisis as Taliban Inches Closer to Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons “Pakistan is the world’s only Muslim country which has a nuclear bomb, an Islamic nuclear [...]