Lord Stirling

are you a member of the House of Lords? If yes,  make a speech there on what you have written here. That would be your great contribution. Everyone contributes on his  place. Yours is there.

by Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3358 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 9:59:43 AM
 

I hold American not British citizenship

Sorry Mark, I hold American citizenship not UK citizenship. Only 92 hereditary peers may sit and vote (and make speeches) in the House of Lords. I have sat in the Peers Gallery on the floor of the House of Lords as the Earl of Stirling but that does not give me voting/speaking privileges. Actually, I sought a "resettlement by Letters Patent" to eliminate the sexist male only rules of succession to my titles and under the rules of the Scots Peerage ("resettlements have the effect of a new grant") and the rules applying to "new" hereditary peers (they shall also have a life barony with rights to sit and vote) I might have had the right to sit/vote/speak (with dual citizenship) but I would not pay a large "donation" to Tony Blair's party. This is all covered in my book, CASH FOR PEERAGES: THE SMOKING GUN.

The Earls of Stirling have always had strong North American historic connections. The first Earl was the founder of English-speaking Canada in the early 1600s and we actually had ownership of almost all of Canada (except Quebec and Newfoundland) and several Northwest American states along with Long Island and other lands in New England. The last person to claim the titles (before me) was Maj. General Lord Stirling of the American Revolutionary Army, he was a close friend to Gen. Washington and Washington's chief financier of the revolution; and a close friend to Maj. General the Marquis de Lafayette (one of my oldest friends is a descendant of Lafayette).

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 11:43:53 AM
 

Well

you certainly come from a great Heritage. But if you  yourself cannot speak, someone else you know can? I am but an immigrant, first generation and already  I can claim to know Lord Stirling:) You should have known many more people, I suppose and one of them at least  should be able to speak.   In any case I sincerely admire your Heritage knowing  as much as I know about great Scotsmen. Do you know that one of  the victors over Napoleon in 1812 in Russia was  general- fieldmarshal Barcley - De - Tolly, the Scottish general on the Russian service.  The Russian great poet Lermontov was of Scottism descent too- original name Lerman. It is also known that a very prominent Russian family the Homutovs come actually from Hamiltons.

by Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3358 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 1:32:35 PM
 

Wars are started from fear.

The only real fear that Republicans have ever had is that they might miss out on stealing the oil.  The rest of us have been conned way too easily and too willingly.  An attack on Iran will be completely for Israel and to serve its desire to continue to be a unilateral nucelar power in the region.  How stupid.  People always defend themselves with a gun when it is too late.

by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1047 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 1:36:10 PM
 

This lead up to war with Iran

does feel similar to the blood lust and confusion before WWI (based on what I've read, of course I wasn't there). 

It's reasonable to fear a regional or even world war as a possible result. Our era has led people to feel we control the world.  Of course we don't and our growing complexity makes that ever less likely.

But I do have a problem with all these "knowing" scenarios of bio-terror etc. We don't know what horrors would result from continued destabilization and violence. We just know it will be horrible.

by Laudyms (0 articles, 756 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 371 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 2:30:37 PM
 

Look For The Destruction Of The Fifth Fleet To Trigger WMDs

As a former naval weapons systems expert, I have been trying to inform everyone of the Iranian tactical anti-ship arsenal as well. Iran has hundreds of Exocet, Sunburn and Yakhonts missles and Shkval 200 mph supercavitating torpedos. The Sunburn and Yakhonts missles have no known tactical defense. This means Iran has the capability to close the Hormuz straits indefinitely and sink every US naval vessel inside the Persian Gulf. Do we seriously think Bush will shrink from escalating to nuclear weapons if three carrier battle groups(the minimum needed for air operations ove Iran) are sitting in Davey Jones' Locker all in an afternoon with 30,000 sailors entombed within them?

by Ishmael1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 23 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 3:02:27 PM
 

Thanks

Thanks for your post.  I agree to an extent with what you say.  The US Navy has run many war games and is/should be fully aware of the dangers, and would normally be expected to stay out of effective range.  However, they answer to the White House as George Bush is the Commander-in-chief.  The Exocet is an old but good quality French anti-shipping missile that caused a lot of trouble for the British Royal Navy in the Falkland Islands War. The SS-N-22 Sunburn (which the Russians call the 3M82 Moskit) is one very nasty piece of work; the SS-N-26 Onyx (also called the Yakhonts and P-800 Oniks by the Russians) is much naster.  The VA-111 Squall (Shkval) is fired from a standard 533mm torpedo tube and reaches 360kph/230mph underwater, that is trurly very nasty.  You should not forget the S-300 PMU-2 (NATO code name SA-10 Gumble) and the S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) air defense systems; there are conflicting reports as to wither or not Russia has/will sell/deploy these to/in Iran.  The AT-14 Kornet, a cheap but very nasty solid fuel anti-tank missile defeated the powerful Israeli Army in the Second Lebanon War.

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 9:35:04 PM
 

Iran escalating into WWIII

I have to disagree with the Editor.  There are in fact sleeper cells in countries with easier travel restrictions, from which sleeper agents will enter the U.S. when they are told to.  They will also enter the UK, France, Russia, etc. when they have been told that the time has come.  For example, a C.I.A. "asset," Roland Carnaby, died during a training accident in Houston, Texas, trying to guard against a WMD from being brought from an easier target into the US which is a hard target in the espionage and terrorist game.

Also, the only opinion by an expert that has been published in order to stir further debate is that of the American Admiral who stated that Iran blocking the Straights of Hormuz would bring almost the whole world into a war.

Lord Stirling just told it like it is, at this point in time.

by Eochaidh OghaChruithne (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 6:00:17 PM
 

Thanks for your nice comments.

Thanks for your nice comments.  In asymmetrical warfare you "get outside of the box".  The use of sleeper agents, as well as the sending in of agents in wartime, to spread advanced biowar viruses is a predictable scenario.  I have to disagree with the Editorial comments, biowar agents can be designed to be spread via human agents and in fact there has been a fair amount written on this.  When you think about it, when we have a headcold or the flu we act to aerosal the virus by sneezing (and also by touching our nose/mouth and then touching doornobs etc.).  Advanced biowar is the "poor man's nuke"; a global strategic weapon of mass destruction that kills one human at approximately $1 per kill compared to the nuclear global strategic weapon of mass destuction that kills one human at approximately $1 million per kill.  War is hell on Earth and we need to remember that there is now more than one type of global strategic WMD.  It is simply too late in human history for the neo-cons to be playing the games that they are playing.

Stirling 

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 9:51:06 PM
 

Over the top

I consider myself somewhat informed on the issue of Iran and the potential of either an American or Israeli strike on that nation, noting that the latter is far less likely, and the former is a possibility as long as Bush/Cheney remain in office. In addition, I have written a few articles on the topic myself.

In my opinion, Lord Stirling went a little over the top in terms of the devastation that would be wrought by the egregiously stupid attack upon Iran. Moreover, the good Lord did not have to attempt to scare us all out of our wits because those of us in the know already realize that such a foolish attack would be catastrophic. The dire possibility that people will suddenly start dying on the streets of L.A. and New York was really quite unnecessary.

Is it not sufficient that an attack on Iran will cause the Mideast to blow up. I am not at all sure that it would result in the total destruction of Israel, Iran, and Syria, probably not, but the conflagration  of the Mideast, the main source of oil for the industrialized West, would result in the collapse of the Western economies along with China, India, and Japan. That is a sufficient deterrent, don't you think.

There was also some concern about the writer who described our carriers being sunk by the Sunburn and other anti-ship missiles. He is correct, because of their enormous speeds, there really isn't any defense against them, not even the Phalanx. However, that is assuming our CBG's will be in the Gulf, within range of these capable missiles. In war time, no self-respecting admiral worth his salt would place his ships in the restricted waters of the Gulf. In war time, CBG's want the wide open spaces, the Arabian Sea comes to mind, even the Indian Ocean.

On the other hand, I don't wish to give Bush any ideas. 

by Sandy Shanks (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 7:23:55 PM
 

Only God knows

Thanks for your comments. Only God really knows what is to come in our future. However, my projections are a realistic worse case scenario. We simply cannot assume that we can inflict mass damage and death to a nation and that they will not hit back at us with everything that they have. We certainly would not sit back if the shoe were on the other foot. We know that Iran has invested in asymmetrical warfare; we know that Iran hired some of the top former Soviet advanced biowar experts. Far too much of the debate about a possible war on Iran has been two dimensional, what we will do/what we can do to them and not what can they do to us in return. This only serves the interests of the half-mad neo-cons who want a war with Iran and Syria. A good rule of thumb is never to underestimate your enemy and to remember the old saying "alls fair in love and war".
Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 9:09:42 PM
 

Over the top

by Sandy Shanks (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments) on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 8:48:18 PM
 

Thanks.

Thanks for your comments. There are indications that many in Israel, including some in powerful positions are having second thoughts. As their intelligence services read blogs like this, I am hopeful that more Israelis will begin to wake up before it is too late.

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 10:08:07 PM
 

Brief update.

Just a brief update. The Sunday Times (London, England) on 6th July 2008 has published an article titled "Germ Warfare Fear Over African Monkeys Taken To Iran". This can be read online at www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4276460.ece

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 11:13:17 PM
 

SOUNDS LIKE A BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK

SO WE ARE JUST GOING TO TALK THIS TO DEATH, AND DIE TALKING, THINK WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DID IN THE 60'S, HIT THE STREETS AND PROTEST, OR HAS THE FLUORIDE DONE ITS JOB.

by RICH SHA (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 106 comments) on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 1:15:15 AM
 

Wiser Words Were Never Written

"It is simply too late in human history for the neo-cons to be playing the games that they are playing."

Recently, a Tehran official promised to attack Israel if the US attacked him. This suggests a number of items.

1. Iran can not hit the USA. She has neglected to buy and to deploy WMD such as atomic suitcase bombs that could severely damage America.

2. Israelis will never launch a preemptive nuclear war, as each of us would suffer 1,000,000 in hell for the affront.

3. Our sages say all the nations will unite to make war on Israel and our Ally, God. They will destroy Israel, but God will end life on this planet through natural disasters.

4. The USA can not win a land war against Iran. The conquest of oilfields is not in the cards.

5. Disrupting China's oil supply would at least result in her calling in US debts.

6. If the foolish Americans nuke Iran, it could wipe out the ozone layer ending life on Earth. Three hundred millions Americans could holiday in hell 1,000,000 years. 

by Jason Paz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 72 comments) on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 4:50:49 AM
 

Something has done its job.

I was an antiwar activist during the Vietnam War (I know, so how did I end up consulting to aerospace firms on weapons and war ~ actually, I am very analytical by nature and during the Vietnam War one of the questions that I looked hard at was why was America not winning militarily and that took me into the field of theoretical warfare). I was actively involved in demonstrations in a number of cities and had a nice FBI file on myself. It is interesting that there is so little activist activity today. Part of it is that there is no draft; another part is that the news media is keeping the images of dead Americans from us. We have also been dumbed down by television to a large extent. The news media is controlled by a relatively small number of companies and they follow a corporatist line. Ten years ago, I was about to start a fourth national television evening newscast in America, to compete with ABC/CBS/NBC. I had $175 million in funding lined up but walked away when my 42 year old wife was diagnosed with advanced terminal ovarian cancer (I felt I had to take care of her full time ~ she died 11 months later). The process of setting up a national television news operation was most interesting but the one thing that kept me up at nights was the worry of just how far I could go in telling the truth and live. There are very powerful forces at work in the world that are very evil. For these dark forces, truth is the enemy. They work very hard to keep and raise most people like you raise mushrooms ~ "keep them in the dark and feed them manure". It appears that they have been successful with many people, however, sites like this are a great beacon of freedom for humanity. I wonder if the growing economic nightmare will light a fire under more and more people and we will begin to see people demonstrating, and in general waking up to the real dangers that humanity faces from the evil intentions of many in power.

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 10:58:04 AM
 

Thanks Sandy

Thanks for your comments Sandy. Actually there are worse worse case scenarios but I think that the one that I described is frighting enough. It took me over a week to write it, I was so upset at the scenario described. However, the scenario is a likely outcome of a massive USAF and/or IDF attack on Iran. I am always more than a little concerned about "surgical" strikes in a political and military environment like the Middle East. Among other things I am an historian by training and this environment reminds me of the eve of the First World War....when "the lights in the chanceries went out". In any event, most of what I read tells me that we are not just looking at a handful of limited air strikes but a thousand to several thousand air strikes.

One reason that I wrote this article was to point out a problem that I see with many peoples projections on a war with Iran. That is we can do anything but the Iranians will hold back. It does not always work like that in the real world. Once the killing starts, especially in a super charged environment like the Middle East, things can get out of control very easy and very quickly. That may not be an outcome we want to consider, or even can handle thinking about, but we had better consider less than our "reasonable and best" views of what will happen.

The rockets and missiles in Lebanon/etc. are meant as a checkmate to stop neo-con/Israeli attacks against Iran. If they fail to do their primary job they may well be used in a all out battle. That is a terrible but reasonable possibilty.

Stirling

by Lord Stirling (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 105 comments) on Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 9:59:57 PM
 

Thanks, Sandy

You are welcome, Mr. Stirling. I think we both would agree, you, I, and others have beaten this to death.

Excellent discussion. 

by Sandy Shanks (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments) on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 5:48:22 PM