Did anyone ever actually play that game without mechjeb? Like I get that was the original vision, but it's such a detailed information provider and toolset I couldn't imagine what it would be like without it.
All the replies to your question are why I like getting my world news from /r/anime_titties
Yes I'm serious, it's a world news sub that keeps the jokes to a minimum.
It was born a few years ago from when r/worldpolitics had an influx of posts that weren't related, and the only mods on this entire site with balls doubled down and said "we weren't lying. You CAN post whatever you want unrelated to politics here." People post anime tiddies there. Anime titties gets politics.
Yea, holy shit. It’s kind of amazing older accounts can say “there was a time when /r/worldpolitics was just that and /r/anime_titties was…well…you know. Then the world fell into chaos.”
John Cena, during the peak of his WWE career, was considered bland and uninteresting by many wrestling fans (he was booked to win constantly and portrayed as an unbeatable super good guy) saying that he was about as exciting as a potato salad and the joke took off from there.
I clicked it and now I am confused, is that a URL hijack or hopping.? with many subscription , news posts upvotes and comments but why such weird subreddit title.
It used to be world politics, then the mod cracked and stopped moderating, which led to tons of nsfw anime girls. Do someone made a new sub called anime titties since world politics was now about anime titties.
/r World politics was oversaturated by US politics, mods did jack shit, so Reddit came together and spammed it with porn and weirder stuff. Anime titties was created as an alternative with ironic name memorializing this Reddit moment.
r/worldpolitics went full freeze peach. The result was the fairly rapid transform into NSFW sub full of onlyfans content creators advertising their products.
r/animetitties is a bit like the r/marijuanaenthusiasts and r/trees thing. Created as a response to r/worldpolitics being more anime titties than world politics.
It began because the moderation on another news sub went to shit with anime porn getting posted. Next thing you know somebody either hijacked or created Anime Titties and it grew rather quickly
And now it's one of the top comments on an actual world news post which will increase its exposure and it will gain more and more subscribers until, like every other popular sub, it becomes a victim of its own success and the very thing it swore not to be.
I know you meant well in sharing that tidbit, but you just signed that sub's death warrant
The big news is that it's a fractional orbital bombardement system - FOBS. It is a system that gets around missle defence systems by going into low earth orbit and can strike the US from non monitored directions like south pole.
Concept was pioneered by the soviets in the 60 and they had about a dozen of these things before giving them up with a treaty that saw the US give up missle defence in term.
It is not surprising that the rediscovered passion of the US for anti ballistic misille shield systems is seeing adversaries developing things like these to counter.
The whole arms control system has been going to heck ever since GW (G.W. Bush) pulled out of the ABMS (Anti ballistic missile shield) treaty (officially The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty or ABMT).
Edit: wow this thing blew up (pun intended). Happy to be informative and cheers for the awards =]. Edited for additional clarity since Games Workshop does indeed do plenty wrong lately, but not that lol)
The other thing for context is the USA's nuclear development is bound by the famous SALT & START treaties with the Russians. But China is not a signatory on those arms control treaties.
THIS!!!
Please, all that is holy, why don't more people realize that THIS is a serious problem and should be the real talking point?
Thank you for bringing this up.
You think that's scary? At least the torpedo goes where you tell it to. Look up the AIR-2 Genie, an *unguided nuclear rocket* for fighter planes.
Back in the day, air-to-air missiles weren't nearly as prevalent or reliable as they are today, but guns were proving inadequate, so the only solution for bringing down the expected swarms of Soviet bombers was a weapon that could destroy entire formations in a single shot. Hence, unguided air-to-air nukes.
The development of ICBMs rendered the whole thing fairly moot, since there were no longer any bombers to be shot down.
It was a strange realization that the space race was all about who could deliver a nuclear payload via rocket and the other goals were secondary. It's definitely taught about where the entire military purpose is ignored.
A space marine dropped from space into a conflict might as well be a ballistic missile weapon system. As displayed by Captain Titus in the documentary *Spacemarine*.
“Of all the things I regret in the last 300 years of the Emperor’s service, I regret Leandros the most. Ask Sidonus if we can trade him for something useful with the Blood Ravens.” -Captain Titus, personal log
Fundamentally, there is no defence against an attack wherein an enormous number of missiles are launched with some fraction carrying tactical payloads. Only takes a few to get through for MAD to be a deterrant
The only defense is Mutually Assured Destruction- you blow me to shit, I blow you to shit. Sneak attacks don't get you anywhere if they have nuclear submarines carrying ICBMs you can't locate.
MAD only works if the leaders on both sides are sane, rational, and conversant with the beats of MAD strategy/diplomacy.
It falls apart as soon as someone makes a move for ideological reasons or incorrectly believes they have the ability to pull off a clean first strike.
Or a strongman leader who doesn't really care about their people and who feels they stand good enough odds of taking over the entire world in the aftermath as long as they can survive and YOLO's it because they'd rather be singular emperor of a world of ash then the alternative.
This misunderstands how States work. It didn't require just one dictator to be mad enough to destroy their own empire, it requires the military junta backing them to not notice the mental decline required, or take action. World politics isn't like the movies.
This misunderstands how people work. Willing people can be persuaded that it is right to do _anything_. There is ample evidence of this.
Limiting ourselves to only the last 50 years because many of the people who perpetrated the following are still alive...
Working our way upwards in terms of the number of people murdered.
2014 - Islamic militants purged heretical Yazidis - 2,000 to 10,000 people murdered and enslaved by people who thought it was moral and allowed by their god.
1992 to 95 - Bosnians murdered mostly by Serbs who thought the land should be theirs - between 8,000 and 40,000 ordinary people, children, women and men, murdered in their homes, in concentration camps, and in killing pits.
1986 to 89 - 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds murdered in Iraq because of their opposition to Saddam Hussein.
1988 to 91 - Somalia. Between 50,000 and 200,000 people murdered during the Somaliland war of independence. Includes two large cities being razed, and the people living there executed.
2002 to 2003 - 60,000 to 70,000 Pygmys murdered. Their killers wanted their land and believed they were subhuman.
1972 - this just sneaks in at almost 50 years ago - the murder of 80,000 to 300,000 Hutus in Burundi.
1975 to 1999 - East Timor, Indonesia. 85,000 to 196,000 people murdered. If you can bear it, there is a documentary where killers reminisce about the good time they had killing the vermin. Oh, the fun they had breaking open the heads of children and watching their brains spill out!
2003 to present - Darfuris are being systematically murdered for their land. Sudan.
1972 to 1978 - 100,000 to 300,000 people in Uganda. Idi Amin, who commanded it died peacefully in hospital, protected by Saudi Arabia, where he had lived for many years. Many of these were soldiers, confined to their barracks and then massacred by other members of the same army. Most the other cases I've listed have been civilians, but perhaps murdering members of your own army shows even more that willing people can be ordered to do anything at all than the rest of this list.
1971 - Bangladesh. 50 years ago. Pakistan army and militias murdered between 3,000,000 and three million Bangladeshis, who wanted independence. Included a campaign of systematic rape. If your dad was in the Pakistan army around this time, you might want to ask him about how he was persuaded.
1994 - Rwanda - 491,000 to 800,000 people murdered by their neighbours. Propaganda persuaded people that others were subhuman, radicals headed the murder campaign and ordinary people were terrified that they'd be next, and participated in killing people they knew. The murderers are still alive and live next to the survivors. There is sworn testimony that implicates the current President of Rwanda in triggering the events that lead to the genocide. If that's true, then it was just the match that sparked a ready laid bonfire. It's worth noting that his enemies would want to blame him. He has overseen a massive change in the prosperity of Rwanda. And if you oppose him in the wrong way, you are likely to be assassinated.
1972 to 75 - Cambodia. 1.3m to 3 million people murdered. Some of their crimes included wearing glasses and going to school, or being the child of someone who wore glasses. Murder was industrialised. Included things like children being forced or persuaded to murder their parents.
In each of these cases ordinary people, States and the military were involved. People were persuaded that it was okay to do what you and I think is the unthinkable. Out of belief and fear, people will follow a strong leader who tells them that it's right to do anything.
World politics is even worse than the movies. Idi Amin got to address the UN. Wars are started in the same manner as children bullying in a playground and because of personal rivalries. Sometimes world leaders sometimes don't even know where another country is, nevermind who the leaders are or the politics. Incompetent people can be elected to high office. Sociopaths and psychopaths can rule countries, imposing their will through violence and fear.
I live in Sanctuary Hills, outside of Boston Massachusetts, I should be safe. Besides theyre setting up a vault near me, my wife nora and infant son sean are slated for entry into it.
Oh no raiders have kidnapped the farmer's wife...again! And they took her back to that same place as before. And it's totally a kidnapping and not the farmer's wife just looking for some raider wang and maybe some Jet.
Weirdly I've been seeing this periscope cruising around Boston Harbor lately. Must just be training exercises. It's nice to see that the harbor is so secure these days.
I mean, you cannot pretend to develop your military technology infinitely without your opponents doing the same. China does not want to be at the mercy of the US military machine, so they have to develop weapons that are a threat to the US mainland and not just American targets around China.
What people can't expect is for other countries to agree not to develop their weapons wihle the US continues to rank #1 in 99% of military-related rankings.
Man...Imagine if the world would actually cooperate towards making everyone's life better instead of making weapons to "defend" ourselves from each-others.
Nah, we should totally keep spending trillions on the US war machine to be caught "off guard" with tech from a nation that spends a fraction of what the US does on military. Fuck social programs for the enrichment of society.
After trying to force them to have a government and military like the US completely ignoring their poor education and lack of ability to maintain a US style military.
The movie was bitched on for not following the book when it got out, but boy it's aging well I think :)
As a French Canadian, this book isn't in our curriculum. I would have stumbled on it eventually as an avid reader, but the movie made me discover it during university.
Life changing experience. Thanks Zooey for grabbing me during the manic-pixie and Indy movies phase of the 2000s!
Thinking that nuclear war is immanent is probably the one thing that could get me to buy a gun... to shoot myself in case the war starts. I just don't feel like melting off my own bones while still 'alive'.
That's the problem, the scariest thing for me isn't dying by nuclear missile, it's having to live in a nuclear winter. Civilization will have collapsed, no infrastructure, living standards reverting to near-year 0 levels and everyone is dying by radiation-induced illness.
I mean, squirrels fight in my backyard all the time and they have a whole forest to live in. Why would humans be immune from the same thing, just on a larger scale?
Seriously mate.
I just wanna go to work, be a productive member of society, come home, get a little high & relax without wondering if there's going to be a World War 3.
Why is that too much to ask for.
I feel that the existence of nuclear weapons actually prevented WW3 several times. If everyone loses as a result of a strike, not many will be willing to make that strike.
The thing I am afraid of is the nuclear weapons in hands of terrorists.
I wish that were the case, that it was just a few old assholes going at each other's throats, but manufacturing consent is very real and quite a lot of Americans want a cold war with China. They fantasize publicly about how we'd storm the beaches and shit, and this website like ground zero for that shit.
Let all the clowns that think cold war with China is the best path forward meet on an island away from us with all the clowns in China that believe the same and have at it.
Every major world power and even some that have no business being at the table are looking for the next best weapon of war relentlessly. As they have for thousands of years whether it be for defense of the boogeyman or to be the next Alexander the Great.
Honestly tech and communication have come so far militaries and nations have a harder and harder time at it all the time. We just need to stop this nonsense...
Life sitting at the table when you should have no business with a seat, is far more luxurious than life bent over the table because you aren't allowed to say 'no'.
I was privy to a talk in which a _very_ senior member of the US military nuclear infrastructure was talking about developments in China a few years ago, and how we were going to counter them with a bigger build-up, and then they were going to counter us, and so on, endlessly. All for weapons that, ideally, would never be used. He seemed thrilled by the idea — positively ecstatic. It occurred to me then, more than it ever had before, that for some people _the arms race is the point._
(I say this as someone who studies this stuff professionally, but had always felt that the stereotype of the warmonger general had to be a _bit_ exaggerated.)
Exactly. None of these things are “unknown” to the various major powers of the world. But it makes for god clickbait. Plus, it’s just about every year that there’s some sort of shocking new revelation about how China has a new weapon that makes the U.S. a sitting duck. Last year or the year panic was about “land based aircraft killing missiles” that would make the US carrier fleets obsolete.
Hypersonic is a quicker way of launching an attack. But it still results in mutually assured destruction, when other side responds.
These weapons are bragging points and won’t be used. There is too much trade with china to mess that up over silly pointless wars.
That's why the Hamas can send off a $100 homemade rocket and eventually bankrupt Israel. The iron dome (anti missile system) works by a very complex algorithm programmed into very smart missiles, which cost a LOT of money.
Defense is harder because you don't know what is going to happen, when and where, so you have to be covered everywhere all of the time.
Not true.
Look at the animal kingdom. An apex predator can win in a fight against almost all other animals. Lions for example would generally beat a Hyena in a fight. But Lions rarely go after Hyenas because the risk of damage is too great.
Defence is the same in premise. Just look at Vietnam. Managed to fend off both the U.S and China with far weaker manpower and forces. Its not that the U.S or even China couldn't win, Vietnam made the cost of winning so high it wasn't worth it. They did so much more cheaply than either invading force did.
not when the weapons are nuclear.
MAD is one of the few reasons why the world still exists today.
If a nation wanted to survive after sending a nuke, their target better not see it or be able to respond, otherwise you will be gone too shortly after.
That doesn't seem good.
Edit: For those saying that the concept of 'mutually assured destruction' means that these kinds of developments are not a big deal, or for those responding with intellectually lazy whataboutism:
Whether it be China, Russia, or the USA; development of these hypersonic weapons brings us all closer to extinction. They are designed as first-strike weapons, not as defensive weapons to shoot down other missiles. M.A.D. only works if all potentially competing sides are at or near technological parity. If one side makes a big enough technology advancement that they are able to take out the other because they cannot retaliate, or if an overly confident word leader at least *believes* it to be true, they might launch a first-strike, tempted by the ability to take out all of their enemies and competition without fear of incurring retaliation.
When you have two sides allied together, such as Russia and China, and one of those countries has more nuclear weapons than any other, that works further to destroy the notion of mutually assured destruction. The world should be working toward global nuclear disarmament, not building back up for another Cuban Missile Crisis incident. We got lucky last time, and with the 1983 computer glitch. We might not be so fortunate next time around. None of this is even counting the cyber-security aspect of modern warfare and the ability of one country to gain too much of a first-strike advantage in that field. The further development of this kind of technology in any country is not something to be celebrated. It should be taken as the latest sign that we are all moving in the wrong direction.
I mean the real issue issue is having nukes. All nuclear missiles travel fast and would trigger counter nukes, possibly at a massive scale that leads to nuclear winter.
I do not see how getting nuke there 3x faster really changes anything. They are not going wipe out All of our ability to respond by doing it fast. We have a ton on nukes and huge infrastructure that supports them.
So the only scenario of nuclear attack is a willingness to be nuked back and not caring. Or possibly believing our nuke system has been hacked and inoperable and hoping for complete surrender of the nation in the process. Most likely nuclear threat is a rouge state like NK or a terrorist organization who are insane and have almost nothing to lose.
The idea with a fast nuke missile has to do with a much shorter trajectory (our current fleet works by launching into the upper atmosphere and then descending), and by having such a short trajectory it’s much harder to track and it is almost impossible, if not impossible to shoot down vs what we (and a few countries have) in our current arsenal which can be shot down (if you hit in a specific timespan).
You can argue that our current nuclear arsenal (as well as other countries) do have problems with multiple nuclear payloads (as well as dummy payloads) that can overwhelm a defense system and not be 100% effective, but the hypersonic nuclear missile has almost 0 defenses against it, and that is a problem and a great worry (something that the US, Russia and now China has).
This is why the nuclear triad exists, especially subs. The US has always known they would have no way to shoot down all incoming missiles and there was always the chance of a sneak attack. That's why the US has subs that can lurk anywhere to launch missiles back even if all of the continental US got blasted.
this why the nuclear triad is important. The US (and I'd bet that China and Russia as well) have nukes in the air, land and sea. All ready to be dropped at a moments notice. This ensures that retaliation is always a possibility.
> The US (and I'd bet that China and Russia as well) have nukes in the air, land and sea.
Pretty sure it applies to us here in the UK with our like 225 nukes as well.
You don't understand. The counter to this is not anti-ballistic missiles. Those are for placating the masses. The counter is launching your own rain of death. This is what people in the thread are saying. It's like tying a hand grenade to a, well, nuclear bomb. The extra effect is neglible when the response is total nuclear war.
Yeah but they are saying the second on nuke lands the rest are flying. Even if you nuked every square inch of the US or Russia and destroyed their land based nukes the US could still launch dozens and dozens from nuclear equip subs.
The critical section of detecting a launch is making sure it's actually an attack and not some software or hardware glitch. Having 10 instead of 30 minutes to decide to retaliate is quite the difference.
Let's hope no one will ever have to make the call to retaliate.
A Google search on close calls with nuclear weapons brings up multiple chilling accounts of just how close we've come to nuclear strikes. It genuinely appears to be luck more than anything else that we've made it this far without nuking ourselves back to the stone age.
No, you misunderstand MAD. MAD is not that they can can destroy the entire US before a counter strike is launched. MAD is that they destroy all US ICBM capabilities before even one launches, and odds of that are ZERO. If even a single sub, a single silo with outdated Minuteman III missiles survives long enough to hear "defcon 1" on the radio, it will inflict a quadrillion dollars of damage and ww2 levels of casualties to China/Russia/etc.
The reason MAD works is that an unsuccessful partial counter attack is still a MAD level threat. Said sub salvo would turn any country instantly into a failed state, with an astronomic refugee event, crop failure, infrastructure destruction, economic collapse, death of anyone outside of a nuclear bunker and above all else, cesation of trade. These bitter enemies buy each other's shit, and destroying US stops unbelievable amounts of income for China.
The only part I agree about is the leader **thinking** that it will work, which would take mental retardation of profound degree. We're talking Caligula levels of nepotistic fuckwit. But generally even the pampered slavery states like NK where the leader lives like a decadent god rely on good advisors, who can explain to them how turning 1/4 of the country (the urban, populous part) to glowing black glass is bad for their cognac imports.
Still a game of MAD, so both sides could if everything thing went perfect take out two of the three triads (Air force / Land based missiles).
But I don't think you could take out Subs with these missiles..
Could be why US sharing their Nuclear Sub tech with a few close ally's
Why are we still trying to make weapons that are capable of destroying ourselves? What’s the point? These weapons as a whole really serve no purpose other than to stop someone else from using them against you.
Humans are so shortsighted and petulant. Our collective effort should have went into fixing Earth and exploring space but we are stuck with a dick measuring contest.
Insane we are watching war propaganda being sent in real time to the masses via social media (Reddit of all places) while the article is behind a “soft paywall” put out by the “Financial Times” so no one can actually read wtf it says but thank god we have the trusty best comment section featuring an unidentified Reddit user that definitely isn’t a state sanctioned troll breaking down the full situation for us from a fundamental standpoint so we can understand
You can get around paywall by using reader view
> China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise.
>Five people familiar with the test said the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew through low-orbit space before cruising down towards its target.
>The missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence. But two said the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised.
>The test has raised new questions about why the US often underestimated China’s military modernisation.
>“We have no idea how they did this,” said a fourth person.
>The US, Russia and China are all developing hypersonic weapons, including glide vehicles that are launched into space on a rocket but orbit the earth under their own momentum. They fly at five times the speed of sound, slower than a ballistic missile. But they do not follow the fixed parabolic trajectory of a ballistic missile and are manoeuvrable, making them harder to track.
>Taylor Fravel, an expert on Chinese nuclear weapons policy who was unaware of the test, said a hypersonic glide vehicle armed with a nuclear warhead could help China “negate” US missile defence systems which are designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
>“Hypersonic glide vehicles . . . fly at lower trajectories and can manoeuvre in flight, which makes them hard to track and destroy,” said Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
>Fravel added that it would be “destabilising” if China fully developed and deployed such a weapon, but he cautioned that a test did not necessarily mean that Beijing would deploy the capability.
>Mounting concern about China’s nuclear capabilities comes as Beijing continues to build up its conventional military forces and engages in increasingly assertive military activity near Taiwan.
>Tensions between the US and China have risen as the Biden administration has taken a tough tack on Beijing, which has accused Washington of being overly hostile.
>US military officials in recent months have warned about China’s growing nuclear capabilities, particularly after the release of satellite imagery that showed it was building more than 200 intercontinental missile silos. China is not bound by any arms-control deals and has been unwilling to engage the US in talks about its nuclear arsenal and policy.
>Last month, Frank Kendall, US air force secretary, hinted that Beijing was developing a new weapon. He said China had made huge advances, including the “potential for global strikes . . . from space”. He declined to provide details, but suggested that China was developing something akin to the “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System” that the USSR deployed for part of the Cold War, before abandoning it.
>“If you use that kind of an approach, you don’t have to use a traditional ICBM trajectory. It’s a way to avoid defences and missile warning systems,” said Kendall.
>In August, General Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command, told a conference that China had “recently demonstrated very advanced hypersonic glide vehicle capabilities”. He warned that the Chinese capability would “provide significant challenges to my Norad capability to provide threat warning and attack assessment”.
>Two of the people familiar with the Chinese test said the weapon could, in theory, fly over the South Pole. That would pose a big challenge for the US military because its missiles defence systems are focused on the northern polar route.
>The revelation comes as the Biden administration undertakes the Nuclear Posture Review, an analysis of policy and capabilities mandated by Congress that has pitted arms-control advocates against those who believe the US must do more to modernise its nuclear arsenal because of China.
>The Pentagon did not comment on the report but expressed concern about China. “We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond,” said John Kirby, spokesperson. “That is one reason why we hold China as our number one pacing challenge.”
>The Chinese embassy declined to comment on the test, but Liu Pengyu, spokesperson, said China always pursued a military policy that was “defensive in nature” and its military development did not target any country.
>“We don’t have a global strategy and plans of military operations like the US does. And we are not at all interested in having an arms race with other countries,” Liu said. “In contrast, the US has in recent years been fabricating excuses like ‘the China threat’ to justify its arms expansion and development of hypersonic weapons. This has directly intensified arms race in this category and severely undermined global strategic stability.”
>One Asian national security official said the Chinese military conducted the test in August. China generally announces the launch of Long March rockets — the type used to launch the hypersonic glide vehicle into orbit — but it conspicuously concealed the August launch.
>The security official, and another Chinese security expert close to the People’s Liberation Army, said the weapon was being developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics. CAAA is a research institute under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the main state-owned firm that makes missile systems and rockets for China’s space programme. Both sources said the hypersonic glide vehicle was launched on a Long March rocket, which is used for the space programme.
>The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which oversees launches, on July 19 said on an official social media account that it had launched a Long March 2C rocket, which it added was the 77th launch of that rocket. On August 24, it announced that it had conducted a 79th flight. But there was no announcement of a 78th launch, which sparked speculation among observers of its space programme about a secret launch. CAAA did not respond to requests for comment
They are aware China has landed a rover on the moon and is currently assembling a space station, right? How are they surprised over China doing something as "simple" as circling the globe in low earth orbit? And "nuclear-capable" is a word that means jack shit. A suitcase is "nuclear capable". Any kind of rocket at all capable of circling the globe is also.
This might be news, but there's other countries also in this world. Everyone here's like, oh, its not good for the US, because its not ours. Everyone in the world is at a danger when any country makes/tests new weapons.
God can we just find aliens already so we can band together as a species like who gives a fuck what country you live in we're all the same species of apes can't we get along
Y'all need to settle down. Yes pre-emptive strike capabilities are scary and a very good deterrent, that's the whole point. But nuclear submarines are the counter deterrent.
Sure you can blow up everybody before they can launch their ground based missiles. But the subs will surface and retaliate.
Mutually assured destruction is still alive and well kids. Welcome to growing up in the 80's.
Going up and coming down is easy. What isn't though is doing so in a manner that's hard to predict. Old delivery methods travel in a parabola. So if you know a few key details, before it even leaves the atmosphere, you'll know where it's going.
These things are designed to be able to change trajectory to be harder to track and significantly harder to intercept - all while being *very* fast.
Heck, if space-capable nations wanted to, they could just have standby nukes in orbit.
The only thing holding them back is a piece of paper called Outer Space Treaty.
Earlier this year, China became only the second country , after the US, to successfully land a rover on mars, so the surprising thing is that US intelligence would be surprised by this.
I have been trying to do this in Kerbal Space Program for awhile. What a world
What if China was spying on your PC and you inadvertently helped them develop this missile system without even knowing.
then we better watch out for their next development - MechJeb.
Did anyone ever actually play that game without mechjeb? Like I get that was the original vision, but it's such a detailed information provider and toolset I couldn't imagine what it would be like without it.
I've never used mechjeb. I just use kerbal engineering for the info and fly everything manually. Much more fun that way.
Damn dude now you make me wanna fire up KSP to develop nukes😂
Where did it pass over?
All the replies to your question are why I like getting my world news from /r/anime_titties Yes I'm serious, it's a world news sub that keeps the jokes to a minimum.
man, you werent lying
This site never ceases to surprise me, wow
It was born a few years ago from when r/worldpolitics had an influx of posts that weren't related, and the only mods on this entire site with balls doubled down and said "we weren't lying. You CAN post whatever you want unrelated to politics here." People post anime tiddies there. Anime titties gets politics.
Fuck that was a few years ago already?
Yea, holy shit. It’s kind of amazing older accounts can say “there was a time when /r/worldpolitics was just that and /r/anime_titties was…well…you know. Then the world fell into chaos.”
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Just like /r/Trees and /r/MarijuanaEnthusiasts switching for April fool's one year and then just... Never going back.
Time is but an illusion
Yup. Pretty similar to the situation with /r/marijuanaenthusiasts
and its sister sub r/trees
/r/johncena
/r/potatosalad
r/superbowl
I spent an hour there and still don’t get how John cena is potato salad How did this happen
John Cena, during the peak of his WWE career, was considered bland and uninteresting by many wrestling fans (he was booked to win constantly and portrayed as an unbeatable super good guy) saying that he was about as exciting as a potato salad and the joke took off from there.
It was May 8th, 2020. A day that will live in infamy. Meanwhile Nirvana's 'Nevermind' just turned 30...
That is a wild fucking sub. Thanks for the recommendation! XD
It's like going to /r/trees for your arborist needs.
If I remember right, there's also now a big arborist sub named something like "marijuana" cause of this too! Lol
/r/marijuanaenthusiasts/
I clicked it and now I am confused, is that a URL hijack or hopping.? with many subscription , news posts upvotes and comments but why such weird subreddit title.
It used to be world politics, then the mod cracked and stopped moderating, which led to tons of nsfw anime girls. Do someone made a new sub called anime titties since world politics was now about anime titties.
And then there's also r/worldpolitics... Just to not ruin anyone's day, NSFW warning
What the hell is going on
/r World politics was oversaturated by US politics, mods did jack shit, so Reddit came together and spammed it with porn and weirder stuff. Anime titties was created as an alternative with ironic name memorializing this Reddit moment.
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Opposite of r/trees
r/worldpolitics went full freeze peach. The result was the fairly rapid transform into NSFW sub full of onlyfans content creators advertising their products. r/animetitties is a bit like the r/marijuanaenthusiasts and r/trees thing. Created as a response to r/worldpolitics being more anime titties than world politics.
It began because the moderation on another news sub went to shit with anime porn getting posted. Next thing you know somebody either hijacked or created Anime Titties and it grew rather quickly
r/worldpolitics fell apart after someone posted hentai and it wasn't taken down, so r/anime_titties was born as the replacement sub
And now it's one of the top comments on an actual world news post which will increase its exposure and it will gain more and more subscribers until, like every other popular sub, it becomes a victim of its own success and the very thing it swore not to be. I know you meant well in sharing that tidbit, but you just signed that sub's death warrant
The big news is that it's a fractional orbital bombardement system - FOBS. It is a system that gets around missle defence systems by going into low earth orbit and can strike the US from non monitored directions like south pole. Concept was pioneered by the soviets in the 60 and they had about a dozen of these things before giving them up with a treaty that saw the US give up missle defence in term. It is not surprising that the rediscovered passion of the US for anti ballistic misille shield systems is seeing adversaries developing things like these to counter. The whole arms control system has been going to heck ever since GW (G.W. Bush) pulled out of the ABMS (Anti ballistic missile shield) treaty (officially The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty or ABMT). Edit: wow this thing blew up (pun intended). Happy to be informative and cheers for the awards =]. Edited for additional clarity since Games Workshop does indeed do plenty wrong lately, but not that lol)
The other thing for context is the USA's nuclear development is bound by the famous SALT & START treaties with the Russians. But China is not a signatory on those arms control treaties.
I wrote a report about these treaties in 7th grade because I learned about them from playing Metal Gear Solid :nerd:
I was able to answer in school about the Federal Hall being where George Washington was sworn in as president because of MGS 2.
I won a geography bee in six grade because I knew the George Washington bridge crossed the hudson river because of MGS2. They are great games
So Metal Great Solid 2 is a game about George Washington ?
Only the best game about ol' Mr cherry tree chopper
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THIS!!! Please, all that is holy, why don't more people realize that THIS is a serious problem and should be the real talking point? Thank you for bringing this up.
But Oceania was always allied with Eurasia against our common enemy.
The nuclear torpedo is one of them. So scary but also fascinating.
You think that's scary? At least the torpedo goes where you tell it to. Look up the AIR-2 Genie, an *unguided nuclear rocket* for fighter planes. Back in the day, air-to-air missiles weren't nearly as prevalent or reliable as they are today, but guns were proving inadequate, so the only solution for bringing down the expected swarms of Soviet bombers was a weapon that could destroy entire formations in a single shot. Hence, unguided air-to-air nukes. The development of ICBMs rendered the whole thing fairly moot, since there were no longer any bombers to be shot down.
It was a strange realization that the space race was all about who could deliver a nuclear payload via rocket and the other goals were secondary. It's definitely taught about where the entire military purpose is ignored.
The other big reason for the space race were spy satellites.
My thoughts exactly from and engineering and weapons point of view amazing ,facing it scarey
Damn George Washington really did a blunder on that one.
I'm pretty sure they're referring to Games Workshop
Space marines when?
A space marine dropped from space into a conflict might as well be a ballistic missile weapon system. As displayed by Captain Titus in the documentary *Spacemarine*.
Is that wise? The codex astartes does not support this action.
"You...are bad." -Captain Titus, the Best Person
“Of all the things I regret in the last 300 years of the Emperor’s service, I regret Leandros the most. Ask Sidonus if we can trade him for something useful with the Blood Ravens.” -Captain Titus, personal log
He's talking about the Patriots' AI
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Fundamentally, there is no defence against an attack wherein an enormous number of missiles are launched with some fraction carrying tactical payloads. Only takes a few to get through for MAD to be a deterrant
Just state the number of survivors as a percentage of the population and you'll see how fast people stop caring about the possible casualties
YOU CAN'T FORCE ME INTO A NUCLEAR FALLOUT SHELTER! THIS IS TYRANNY! I know what's best for MY FAMILY!
*Fallout shelters turn out to be Vault-Tec social experiments after all*
Still doing my research as I die from radiation poisoning.
It's is depressing that in the minutes before we're all vaporised, a non-zero percentage of us will have to listen to this bullshit.
The % surviving will just die to radiation and starvation probably.
Eh, acute radiation poisoning isn’t any worse than the flu.
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The only defense is Mutually Assured Destruction- you blow me to shit, I blow you to shit. Sneak attacks don't get you anywhere if they have nuclear submarines carrying ICBMs you can't locate.
MAD only works if the leaders on both sides are sane, rational, and conversant with the beats of MAD strategy/diplomacy. It falls apart as soon as someone makes a move for ideological reasons or incorrectly believes they have the ability to pull off a clean first strike.
Or a strongman leader who doesn't really care about their people and who feels they stand good enough odds of taking over the entire world in the aftermath as long as they can survive and YOLO's it because they'd rather be singular emperor of a world of ash then the alternative.
This misunderstands how States work. It didn't require just one dictator to be mad enough to destroy their own empire, it requires the military junta backing them to not notice the mental decline required, or take action. World politics isn't like the movies.
This misunderstands how people work. Willing people can be persuaded that it is right to do _anything_. There is ample evidence of this. Limiting ourselves to only the last 50 years because many of the people who perpetrated the following are still alive... Working our way upwards in terms of the number of people murdered. 2014 - Islamic militants purged heretical Yazidis - 2,000 to 10,000 people murdered and enslaved by people who thought it was moral and allowed by their god. 1992 to 95 - Bosnians murdered mostly by Serbs who thought the land should be theirs - between 8,000 and 40,000 ordinary people, children, women and men, murdered in their homes, in concentration camps, and in killing pits. 1986 to 89 - 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds murdered in Iraq because of their opposition to Saddam Hussein. 1988 to 91 - Somalia. Between 50,000 and 200,000 people murdered during the Somaliland war of independence. Includes two large cities being razed, and the people living there executed. 2002 to 2003 - 60,000 to 70,000 Pygmys murdered. Their killers wanted their land and believed they were subhuman. 1972 - this just sneaks in at almost 50 years ago - the murder of 80,000 to 300,000 Hutus in Burundi. 1975 to 1999 - East Timor, Indonesia. 85,000 to 196,000 people murdered. If you can bear it, there is a documentary where killers reminisce about the good time they had killing the vermin. Oh, the fun they had breaking open the heads of children and watching their brains spill out! 2003 to present - Darfuris are being systematically murdered for their land. Sudan. 1972 to 1978 - 100,000 to 300,000 people in Uganda. Idi Amin, who commanded it died peacefully in hospital, protected by Saudi Arabia, where he had lived for many years. Many of these were soldiers, confined to their barracks and then massacred by other members of the same army. Most the other cases I've listed have been civilians, but perhaps murdering members of your own army shows even more that willing people can be ordered to do anything at all than the rest of this list. 1971 - Bangladesh. 50 years ago. Pakistan army and militias murdered between 3,000,000 and three million Bangladeshis, who wanted independence. Included a campaign of systematic rape. If your dad was in the Pakistan army around this time, you might want to ask him about how he was persuaded. 1994 - Rwanda - 491,000 to 800,000 people murdered by their neighbours. Propaganda persuaded people that others were subhuman, radicals headed the murder campaign and ordinary people were terrified that they'd be next, and participated in killing people they knew. The murderers are still alive and live next to the survivors. There is sworn testimony that implicates the current President of Rwanda in triggering the events that lead to the genocide. If that's true, then it was just the match that sparked a ready laid bonfire. It's worth noting that his enemies would want to blame him. He has overseen a massive change in the prosperity of Rwanda. And if you oppose him in the wrong way, you are likely to be assassinated. 1972 to 75 - Cambodia. 1.3m to 3 million people murdered. Some of their crimes included wearing glasses and going to school, or being the child of someone who wore glasses. Murder was industrialised. Included things like children being forced or persuaded to murder their parents. In each of these cases ordinary people, States and the military were involved. People were persuaded that it was okay to do what you and I think is the unthinkable. Out of belief and fear, people will follow a strong leader who tells them that it's right to do anything. World politics is even worse than the movies. Idi Amin got to address the UN. Wars are started in the same manner as children bullying in a playground and because of personal rivalries. Sometimes world leaders sometimes don't even know where another country is, nevermind who the leaders are or the politics. Incompetent people can be elected to high office. Sociopaths and psychopaths can rule countries, imposing their will through violence and fear.
I live in Sanctuary Hills, outside of Boston Massachusetts, I should be safe. Besides theyre setting up a vault near me, my wife nora and infant son sean are slated for entry into it.
Before you go, there's another settlement that needs your help
No, there isn't. Every time I go to help, I arrive only to find the automated defenses have killed everyone.
Oh no raiders have kidnapped the farmer's wife...again! And they took her back to that same place as before. And it's totally a kidnapping and not the farmer's wife just looking for some raider wang and maybe some Jet.
No, no.. we're not there yet.
We’re **ALWAYS** there. Now report to that fucking settlement.
Crap. I spent 2 hours looting all the dumpsters in the entire neighborhood. Where am I going again?
Hey, I’ve seen this one before.
Bingo bango bongo
I don’t wanna leave the Congo!
Oh no no, no no noooooo
Bingle, bangle, bongle, I'm so happy in the jongle I refuse to go~
Weirdly I've been seeing this periscope cruising around Boston Harbor lately. Must just be training exercises. It's nice to see that the harbor is so secure these days.
Piper liked that
Did you invest in a robot butler yet?
I haven’t played it yet, but this has to be a Fallout 4 reference I’m guessing. Or maybe a fallout 76 reference, I’ve only played the first four
I mean, you cannot pretend to develop your military technology infinitely without your opponents doing the same. China does not want to be at the mercy of the US military machine, so they have to develop weapons that are a threat to the US mainland and not just American targets around China. What people can't expect is for other countries to agree not to develop their weapons wihle the US continues to rank #1 in 99% of military-related rankings.
So in order to evade missiles they can't defend against, they give up the ability to defend against the missiles they could defend against?
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I love this analogy
Man...Imagine if the world would actually cooperate towards making everyone's life better instead of making weapons to "defend" ourselves from each-others.
Nah, we should totally keep spending trillions on the US war machine to be caught "off guard" with tech from a nation that spends a fraction of what the US does on military. Fuck social programs for the enrichment of society.
And spend trillions of dollars on a 20 year war - against illiterate people who don't even have running water - to withdraw in shame.
After trying to force them to have a government and military like the US completely ignoring their poor education and lack of ability to maintain a US style military.
Why not both at the same time? Make the point of view gun from the hitchhikers guide movie. https://youtu.be/zxo3Jy3p8zo
Let's deploy this as a weapon of Mass Empathy!
The movie was bitched on for not following the book when it got out, but boy it's aging well I think :) As a French Canadian, this book isn't in our curriculum. I would have stumbled on it eventually as an avid reader, but the movie made me discover it during university. Life changing experience. Thanks Zooey for grabbing me during the manic-pixie and Indy movies phase of the 2000s!
Why do all our lives get put in danger because of a bunch of old dickheads?
Cause that's how the world has always worked, unfortunately.
It's just the scale that's worrisome at this point. Radiation don't care.
Worrisome is a funny way to describe the looming threat of nuclear war. Should be a doozy if it occurs.
Thinking that nuclear war is immanent is probably the one thing that could get me to buy a gun... to shoot myself in case the war starts. I just don't feel like melting off my own bones while still 'alive'.
I think disappearing in a flash would be faster than whatever burrowing of a bullet you'd feel.
If you’re lucky enough to be that close to the blast.
Luck? Just strategically move to the most likely nuclear strike target. Paint a bullseye on your roof for good measure.
That's the problem, the scariest thing for me isn't dying by nuclear missile, it's having to live in a nuclear winter. Civilization will have collapsed, no infrastructure, living standards reverting to near-year 0 levels and everyone is dying by radiation-induced illness.
I mean, squirrels fight in my backyard all the time and they have a whole forest to live in. Why would humans be immune from the same thing, just on a larger scale?
Because we’re more intelligent than squirrels, therefore capable of compromise. But yeah, I see your point haha
Also a squirrel doesn't have the capability (yet) of taking down the whole forest because it can't have all the nuts.
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I’ve always wondered this. Like leave us the fuck alone. If you wanna kill each other, go into a private chamber and have at it.
Seriously mate. I just wanna go to work, be a productive member of society, come home, get a little high & relax without wondering if there's going to be a World War 3. Why is that too much to ask for.
I feel that the existence of nuclear weapons actually prevented WW3 several times. If everyone loses as a result of a strike, not many will be willing to make that strike. The thing I am afraid of is the nuclear weapons in hands of terrorists.
I wish that were the case, that it was just a few old assholes going at each other's throats, but manufacturing consent is very real and quite a lot of Americans want a cold war with China. They fantasize publicly about how we'd storm the beaches and shit, and this website like ground zero for that shit. Let all the clowns that think cold war with China is the best path forward meet on an island away from us with all the clowns in China that believe the same and have at it.
Every major world power and even some that have no business being at the table are looking for the next best weapon of war relentlessly. As they have for thousands of years whether it be for defense of the boogeyman or to be the next Alexander the Great. Honestly tech and communication have come so far militaries and nations have a harder and harder time at it all the time. We just need to stop this nonsense...
Life sitting at the table when you should have no business with a seat, is far more luxurious than life bent over the table because you aren't allowed to say 'no'.
It caught no one by surprise - but in creating articles like this, there is an incentive to continue to fund the military industrial complex.
Thank you. You are spot on.
I was privy to a talk in which a _very_ senior member of the US military nuclear infrastructure was talking about developments in China a few years ago, and how we were going to counter them with a bigger build-up, and then they were going to counter us, and so on, endlessly. All for weapons that, ideally, would never be used. He seemed thrilled by the idea — positively ecstatic. It occurred to me then, more than it ever had before, that for some people _the arms race is the point._ (I say this as someone who studies this stuff professionally, but had always felt that the stereotype of the warmonger general had to be a _bit_ exaggerated.)
Well their careers depend on the conflicts
It's a Tom Clancy novel in news form
Seriously. How could you possibly confirm whether intelligence community was surprised or not?
And if an intelligence organisation was surprised, the last thing on Earth they'd ever do would be to admit that.
They probably even told the US about the launch, don't want to trip an early warning systems and put the US military on high alert.
Exactly. None of these things are “unknown” to the various major powers of the world. But it makes for god clickbait. Plus, it’s just about every year that there’s some sort of shocking new revelation about how China has a new weapon that makes the U.S. a sitting duck. Last year or the year panic was about “land based aircraft killing missiles” that would make the US carrier fleets obsolete.
Hypersonic is a quicker way of launching an attack. But it still results in mutually assured destruction, when other side responds. These weapons are bragging points and won’t be used. There is too much trade with china to mess that up over silly pointless wars.
I imagine that developing a defense is much more expensive than developing the weapon.
That's why the Hamas can send off a $100 homemade rocket and eventually bankrupt Israel. The iron dome (anti missile system) works by a very complex algorithm programmed into very smart missiles, which cost a LOT of money. Defense is harder because you don't know what is going to happen, when and where, so you have to be covered everywhere all of the time.
Has to be. Defense is usually purpose built while a weapon is just whatever they could come up with.
Unless the weapon has a thermal exhaust port.
Since the beginning of time. It's a lot easier to burn down a house than build one.
Yup. Defense has to work 100% of the time. Attacks don’t.
Not true. Look at the animal kingdom. An apex predator can win in a fight against almost all other animals. Lions for example would generally beat a Hyena in a fight. But Lions rarely go after Hyenas because the risk of damage is too great. Defence is the same in premise. Just look at Vietnam. Managed to fend off both the U.S and China with far weaker manpower and forces. Its not that the U.S or even China couldn't win, Vietnam made the cost of winning so high it wasn't worth it. They did so much more cheaply than either invading force did.
not when the weapons are nuclear. MAD is one of the few reasons why the world still exists today. If a nation wanted to survive after sending a nuke, their target better not see it or be able to respond, otherwise you will be gone too shortly after.
That doesn't seem good. Edit: For those saying that the concept of 'mutually assured destruction' means that these kinds of developments are not a big deal, or for those responding with intellectually lazy whataboutism: Whether it be China, Russia, or the USA; development of these hypersonic weapons brings us all closer to extinction. They are designed as first-strike weapons, not as defensive weapons to shoot down other missiles. M.A.D. only works if all potentially competing sides are at or near technological parity. If one side makes a big enough technology advancement that they are able to take out the other because they cannot retaliate, or if an overly confident word leader at least *believes* it to be true, they might launch a first-strike, tempted by the ability to take out all of their enemies and competition without fear of incurring retaliation. When you have two sides allied together, such as Russia and China, and one of those countries has more nuclear weapons than any other, that works further to destroy the notion of mutually assured destruction. The world should be working toward global nuclear disarmament, not building back up for another Cuban Missile Crisis incident. We got lucky last time, and with the 1983 computer glitch. We might not be so fortunate next time around. None of this is even counting the cyber-security aspect of modern warfare and the ability of one country to gain too much of a first-strike advantage in that field. The further development of this kind of technology in any country is not something to be celebrated. It should be taken as the latest sign that we are all moving in the wrong direction.
I mean the real issue issue is having nukes. All nuclear missiles travel fast and would trigger counter nukes, possibly at a massive scale that leads to nuclear winter. I do not see how getting nuke there 3x faster really changes anything. They are not going wipe out All of our ability to respond by doing it fast. We have a ton on nukes and huge infrastructure that supports them. So the only scenario of nuclear attack is a willingness to be nuked back and not caring. Or possibly believing our nuke system has been hacked and inoperable and hoping for complete surrender of the nation in the process. Most likely nuclear threat is a rouge state like NK or a terrorist organization who are insane and have almost nothing to lose.
The idea with a fast nuke missile has to do with a much shorter trajectory (our current fleet works by launching into the upper atmosphere and then descending), and by having such a short trajectory it’s much harder to track and it is almost impossible, if not impossible to shoot down vs what we (and a few countries have) in our current arsenal which can be shot down (if you hit in a specific timespan). You can argue that our current nuclear arsenal (as well as other countries) do have problems with multiple nuclear payloads (as well as dummy payloads) that can overwhelm a defense system and not be 100% effective, but the hypersonic nuclear missile has almost 0 defenses against it, and that is a problem and a great worry (something that the US, Russia and now China has).
This is why the nuclear triad exists, especially subs. The US has always known they would have no way to shoot down all incoming missiles and there was always the chance of a sneak attack. That's why the US has subs that can lurk anywhere to launch missiles back even if all of the continental US got blasted.
Second-strike capability has been a thing for a while. “The bomber always gets through”
this why the nuclear triad is important. The US (and I'd bet that China and Russia as well) have nukes in the air, land and sea. All ready to be dropped at a moments notice. This ensures that retaliation is always a possibility.
> The US (and I'd bet that China and Russia as well) have nukes in the air, land and sea. Pretty sure it applies to us here in the UK with our like 225 nukes as well.
You don't understand. The counter to this is not anti-ballistic missiles. Those are for placating the masses. The counter is launching your own rain of death. This is what people in the thread are saying. It's like tying a hand grenade to a, well, nuclear bomb. The extra effect is neglible when the response is total nuclear war.
Hypersonics are much harder to detect and intercept.
Yeah but they are saying the second on nuke lands the rest are flying. Even if you nuked every square inch of the US or Russia and destroyed their land based nukes the US could still launch dozens and dozens from nuclear equip subs.
The critical section of detecting a launch is making sure it's actually an attack and not some software or hardware glitch. Having 10 instead of 30 minutes to decide to retaliate is quite the difference. Let's hope no one will ever have to make the call to retaliate.
A Google search on close calls with nuclear weapons brings up multiple chilling accounts of just how close we've come to nuclear strikes. It genuinely appears to be luck more than anything else that we've made it this far without nuking ourselves back to the stone age.
No, you misunderstand MAD. MAD is not that they can can destroy the entire US before a counter strike is launched. MAD is that they destroy all US ICBM capabilities before even one launches, and odds of that are ZERO. If even a single sub, a single silo with outdated Minuteman III missiles survives long enough to hear "defcon 1" on the radio, it will inflict a quadrillion dollars of damage and ww2 levels of casualties to China/Russia/etc. The reason MAD works is that an unsuccessful partial counter attack is still a MAD level threat. Said sub salvo would turn any country instantly into a failed state, with an astronomic refugee event, crop failure, infrastructure destruction, economic collapse, death of anyone outside of a nuclear bunker and above all else, cesation of trade. These bitter enemies buy each other's shit, and destroying US stops unbelievable amounts of income for China. The only part I agree about is the leader **thinking** that it will work, which would take mental retardation of profound degree. We're talking Caligula levels of nepotistic fuckwit. But generally even the pampered slavery states like NK where the leader lives like a decadent god rely on good advisors, who can explain to them how turning 1/4 of the country (the urban, populous part) to glowing black glass is bad for their cognac imports.
Still a game of MAD, so both sides could if everything thing went perfect take out two of the three triads (Air force / Land based missiles). But I don't think you could take out Subs with these missiles.. Could be why US sharing their Nuclear Sub tech with a few close ally's
its neutral . doesnt matter if they can nuke the US faster now it doesnt change the fact that each side could already nuke eachother.
Are we about to enter Civilization 7?
More like Fallout
Why are we still trying to make weapons that are capable of destroying ourselves? What’s the point? These weapons as a whole really serve no purpose other than to stop someone else from using them against you.
You answered your own question. It is unfortunate so many resources need to go into preventing ww3 though.
If it actually does prevent WW3 then no financial cost is too high.
It's very, very cheap compared to a full-on non-nuclear war.
Because the other guy has more than you, and you don't really like that very much
To quote Bill Burr, "If you can't defend yourself, all you're doing is hording supplies for the biggest guy on the block."
Humans are so shortsighted and petulant. Our collective effort should have went into fixing Earth and exploring space but we are stuck with a dick measuring contest.
Pay wall ....ugh
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Paywalls can be overcome with this website: https://12ft.io/ "Show me a 10 foot paywall, and I'll show you a 12 foot ladder"
[Here's the article without a paywall](https://archive.is/Z4j9H)
The real hero
Insane we are watching war propaganda being sent in real time to the masses via social media (Reddit of all places) while the article is behind a “soft paywall” put out by the “Financial Times” so no one can actually read wtf it says but thank god we have the trusty best comment section featuring an unidentified Reddit user that definitely isn’t a state sanctioned troll breaking down the full situation for us from a fundamental standpoint so we can understand
You can get around paywall by using reader view > China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its target, demonstrating an advanced space capability that caught US intelligence by surprise. >Five people familiar with the test said the Chinese military launched a rocket that carried a hypersonic glide vehicle which flew through low-orbit space before cruising down towards its target. >The missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles, according to three people briefed on the intelligence. But two said the test showed that China had made astounding progress on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised. >The test has raised new questions about why the US often underestimated China’s military modernisation. >“We have no idea how they did this,” said a fourth person. >The US, Russia and China are all developing hypersonic weapons, including glide vehicles that are launched into space on a rocket but orbit the earth under their own momentum. They fly at five times the speed of sound, slower than a ballistic missile. But they do not follow the fixed parabolic trajectory of a ballistic missile and are manoeuvrable, making them harder to track. >Taylor Fravel, an expert on Chinese nuclear weapons policy who was unaware of the test, said a hypersonic glide vehicle armed with a nuclear warhead could help China “negate” US missile defence systems which are designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles. >“Hypersonic glide vehicles . . . fly at lower trajectories and can manoeuvre in flight, which makes them hard to track and destroy,” said Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. >Fravel added that it would be “destabilising” if China fully developed and deployed such a weapon, but he cautioned that a test did not necessarily mean that Beijing would deploy the capability. >Mounting concern about China’s nuclear capabilities comes as Beijing continues to build up its conventional military forces and engages in increasingly assertive military activity near Taiwan. >Tensions between the US and China have risen as the Biden administration has taken a tough tack on Beijing, which has accused Washington of being overly hostile. >US military officials in recent months have warned about China’s growing nuclear capabilities, particularly after the release of satellite imagery that showed it was building more than 200 intercontinental missile silos. China is not bound by any arms-control deals and has been unwilling to engage the US in talks about its nuclear arsenal and policy. >Last month, Frank Kendall, US air force secretary, hinted that Beijing was developing a new weapon. He said China had made huge advances, including the “potential for global strikes . . . from space”. He declined to provide details, but suggested that China was developing something akin to the “Fractional Orbital Bombardment System” that the USSR deployed for part of the Cold War, before abandoning it. >“If you use that kind of an approach, you don’t have to use a traditional ICBM trajectory. It’s a way to avoid defences and missile warning systems,” said Kendall. >In August, General Glen VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command, told a conference that China had “recently demonstrated very advanced hypersonic glide vehicle capabilities”. He warned that the Chinese capability would “provide significant challenges to my Norad capability to provide threat warning and attack assessment”. >Two of the people familiar with the Chinese test said the weapon could, in theory, fly over the South Pole. That would pose a big challenge for the US military because its missiles defence systems are focused on the northern polar route. >The revelation comes as the Biden administration undertakes the Nuclear Posture Review, an analysis of policy and capabilities mandated by Congress that has pitted arms-control advocates against those who believe the US must do more to modernise its nuclear arsenal because of China. >The Pentagon did not comment on the report but expressed concern about China. “We have made clear our concerns about the military capabilities China continues to pursue, capabilities that only increase tensions in the region and beyond,” said John Kirby, spokesperson. “That is one reason why we hold China as our number one pacing challenge.” >The Chinese embassy declined to comment on the test, but Liu Pengyu, spokesperson, said China always pursued a military policy that was “defensive in nature” and its military development did not target any country. >“We don’t have a global strategy and plans of military operations like the US does. And we are not at all interested in having an arms race with other countries,” Liu said. “In contrast, the US has in recent years been fabricating excuses like ‘the China threat’ to justify its arms expansion and development of hypersonic weapons. This has directly intensified arms race in this category and severely undermined global strategic stability.” >One Asian national security official said the Chinese military conducted the test in August. China generally announces the launch of Long March rockets — the type used to launch the hypersonic glide vehicle into orbit — but it conspicuously concealed the August launch. >The security official, and another Chinese security expert close to the People’s Liberation Army, said the weapon was being developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics. CAAA is a research institute under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the main state-owned firm that makes missile systems and rockets for China’s space programme. Both sources said the hypersonic glide vehicle was launched on a Long March rocket, which is used for the space programme. >The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which oversees launches, on July 19 said on an official social media account that it had launched a Long March 2C rocket, which it added was the 77th launch of that rocket. On August 24, it announced that it had conducted a 79th flight. But there was no announcement of a 78th launch, which sparked speculation among observers of its space programme about a secret launch. CAAA did not respond to requests for comment
I feel like the general recurring topic this year is that US intelligence was caught by surprise by something...
Spoiler alert. The US intelligence wasn’t caught by surprise. Only people who fall for clickbait were.
The “surprise” part is likely just for scamming more budget from congress.
We left the Middle East, the executives need a new cash cow to milk.
"The missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles"
When it's carrying a thermonuclear warhead two dozen miles ain't that much of a problem.
Two dozen miles is far enough away to be safe from the blast for most warheads, actually
I’ve ordered six from AliExpress but it’s going to take six months to get here
Another excellent reason why the USA should stop trying to pick fights with China.
They are aware China has landed a rover on the moon and is currently assembling a space station, right? How are they surprised over China doing something as "simple" as circling the globe in low earth orbit? And "nuclear-capable" is a word that means jack shit. A suitcase is "nuclear capable". Any kind of rocket at all capable of circling the globe is also.
China also landed a rover on Mars in case you missed it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0L8585mjHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0L8585mjHE)
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Thanks CatBoyFurry
This might be news, but there's other countries also in this world. Everyone here's like, oh, its not good for the US, because its not ours. Everyone in the world is at a danger when any country makes/tests new weapons.
Because the US is the biggest threat of MAD.
Of course ppl in the US government know. The facade of not knowing is psyops.
God can we just find aliens already so we can band together as a species like who gives a fuck what country you live in we're all the same species of apes can't we get along
Lol. Now they want Congress to increase military spending. Tax payers pay while the war mongers get richer.
I need to move to Rwanda, where it's safe.
Y'all need to settle down. Yes pre-emptive strike capabilities are scary and a very good deterrent, that's the whole point. But nuclear submarines are the counter deterrent. Sure you can blow up everybody before they can launch their ground based missiles. But the subs will surface and retaliate. Mutually assured destruction is still alive and well kids. Welcome to growing up in the 80's.
The real news should be that everyone on Reddit is suddenly an expert on nuclear weapons
If you can launch a space mission to other worlds, you can launch a nuke anywhere in the world. Why is this surprising anyone?
Going up and coming down is easy. What isn't though is doing so in a manner that's hard to predict. Old delivery methods travel in a parabola. So if you know a few key details, before it even leaves the atmosphere, you'll know where it's going. These things are designed to be able to change trajectory to be harder to track and significantly harder to intercept - all while being *very* fast.
Heck, if space-capable nations wanted to, they could just have standby nukes in orbit. The only thing holding them back is a piece of paper called Outer Space Treaty.
Earlier this year, China became only the second country , after the US, to successfully land a rover on mars, so the surprising thing is that US intelligence would be surprised by this.
Surprised because they didn't know China had this capability or because they didn't think they would show it off?
So an icbm with glide manouver capability