Geoffrey Grinder – April 25, 2017
AN UNARMED INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE WILL BE LAUNCHED WEDNESDAY FROM VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE TO TEST THE WEAPON’S EFFECTIVENESS, ACCURACY AND READINESS, ACCORDING TO THE AIR FORCE GLOBAL STRIKE COMMAND.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you are not paying attention, they you are likely not aware that President Trump has authorized a military strike on the rogue nation of North Korea, and tomorrow will be a very busy day. For starters, shortly after midnight tonight, the U.S. Air Force will test fire a Minuteman III ICBM off the California coast. Then, President Trump will have a closed door meeting with the entire United States Senate to discuss military options to be exercised against North Korea.
The Minuteman III missile test launch will occur between 12:01 and 6:01 a.m. from the north end of the base near Lompoc, according to Vandenberg’s 30th Space Wing. The 576th Flight Test Squadron, which will help oversee the operational test launch, is responsible for telemetry, tracking and command destruct systems on the missile.
In a statement, Col. Chris Moss, Vandenberg’s 30th Space Wing commander, said missile launches are “essential to verify the status of our national nuclear force and to demonstrate our national nuclear capabilities.”
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, criticized the timing of the launch, citing heightened tension between the U.S. and North Korea. In recent weeks, North Korea has stepped up its testing of ballistic missiles.
REPORT: NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES MASSIVE MILITARY DRILL
“When it comes to missile testing, the U.S. is operating with a clear double standard: It views its own tests as justified and useful, while it views the tests of North Korea as threatening and destabilizing,” foundation president David Krieger said in a statement. “What is needed is diplomacy rather than military provocations. Threats, whether in the form of tweets, nuclear-capable aircraft carrier groups, or nuclear-capable missile launches, only increase the dangers to us all.”
ON TUESDAY, THE U.S. 7 TH FLEET SAID IT WAS CONDUCTING MARITIME EXERCISES WITH NAVAL SHIPS FROM SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN.
“Both exercises demonstrate a shared commitment to security and stability in Northeast Asia as well as the U.S. Navy’s inherent flexibility to combine with allied naval forces in response to a broad range of situations,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement.
The Vandenberg test would be the second missile launched from the base this year.
The other launch was conducted by the strike command’s team from the 91st Missile wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota in February. The missile was equipped with a nonexplosive payload that recorded flight data, according the strike command. The missile was launched at the base just north of Lompoc and traveled 4,200 miles to a test range in Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Three Minuteman III missiles were launched in 2016, according to Lt. Col. Jason Turner, 2nd Range Operations Squadron commander.
North Korea readies for war? Kim Jong-un orders evacuation of Pyongyang
As reported two weeks ago – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered 25 percent of Pyongyang residents to leave the city immediately .
In accordance with the order, 600,000 people should be urgently evacuated. Experts note that the evacuation will most likely be conducted due to extremely strained tensions in relations with the United States of America.
Reportedly, Pyongyang’s bomb shelters will not be able to accommodate the entire population of the North Korean capital. Therefore, 600,000 people – mostly individuals with criminal records – will have to leave Pyongyang to let others use bomb shelters.
It was also said that one modified Ohio type rocket carrier carrying 154 Tomahawk type missiles on board joined the US Navy deployed near the coast of the Korean Peninsula. The missile carrier is expected to arrive at the port of registration on April 18.
Meanwhile, according to South Korean media, residents of the DPRK say goodbye to each other, to their homes, to their places of work, to forests and fields, to the sky, rivers, etc as if the nation prepares for a large-scale war. At the same time, it is forbidden to say goodbye to officers of law enforcement agencies. It is also strictly forbidden to mention the names of national leaders in words of farewell.
Chinese social media said a couple of days ago that auxiliary troops and doctors were heading to the border of North Korea. One of the photos showed a chain of military trains moving around Shenyang – a city about 200 miles from the North Korean border.
About 150,000 Chinese soldiers were mobilised in an anticipation of North Korean refugees who may flee the country in the event of an American air strike.
Lieutenant-General H. R. McMaster, in turn, said that his commander-in-chief ordered to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group of the United States in the region. McMaster believes that the decision to deploy US Navy ships in the Sea of Japan was “reasonable,” taking into consideration the North Korean “model of provocative behaviour.”
Noteworthy, China refuted the news about the deployment of 150,000 troops to the border of the DPRK.
Experts believe that tensions may aggravate further after April 15, when the DPRK may conduct another test of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
At the same time, Russia’s well-known Orientalist, Professor Andrei Lankov, who has been living and working in Seoul for many years, said that if the United States attacked North Korea, Pyongyang’s retaliatory strike would pose an immediate threat to the lives of 25 million residents of Seoul as the city sits very close to the border between the Northand the South. Another Korean war would be inevitable, the expert believes.
It has been reported that Japan prepares to evacuate its citizens from South Korea as well in connection with growing tensions around North Korea, NHK reports with reference to Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Coercion Code - "Dark Times are upon us" 