Earlier quoted context omitted.
The end of the cold war didn't also end the threat of nuclear war. Russia has threatened to use nukes if aid to Ukraine continues, while they haven't followed through on those threats it's not impossible that they will eventually.
> it's not impossible that they will eventually. Please stop believing the ridiculous Russian propaganda. Using even a single tactical nuclear weapon would be game-over for Putin's Russia.
What you need to know about EMP weapons
51–60 of 213 posts
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#52The book Nuclear War: A Scenario Hardcover by Annie Jacobsen should be essential reading for all politicians and those profiteering from the Military Industrial Complex https://www.amazon.com/Nuclear-War-Scenario-Annie-Jacobsen/d...
I read it and was not impressed.
It starts with North Korea launching two ICBMs against DC and a nuclear plant in California. Interceptors fail and the warheads hit their targets. This is unlikely, but possible. The launch is explicitly irrational, the act of a mad dictator.
In response, the US counterstrikes with Minuteman, despite having perfectly serviceable air deliverable nukes. Russia detects the launch, and the imprecision of their own early warning systems along with North Korea being next to Russia, they conclude that the US is attacking them. They do a massive launch, the US does a massive launch, worst possible assumptions for a 10C nuclear winter, four billion dead.
The only thing I learned from the book is that if you roll 1 over and over and over again, the worst can happen. But we already knew that?
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#53> wrap that in aluminium foil, making sure that the ends are folded over and pressed down hard to provide good inter-layer contact I've tried this many times, it's impossible to prevent gaps without welding it shut. Obviously I wasn't testing with an EMP or nuke, but trying to block 2.4GHz WiFi... But that is well within the E1 range the author states. I think the problem with folding is it's too uniform, it's still…
Let me tell you something from first hand field experience with faraday cages... They attenuate signals, they do not block them. The common verbiage is to say "faraday cages block EM radiation", so people naturally assume that it blocks EM radiation. But I learned the hard way while doing compliance testing that no, they do not block EM radiation, they just weaken it (and it's highly frequency dependent on top of tha…
That seems intuitive, though. EM radiation is either reflected or absorbed, and optimizing for that requires both a pretty complex understanding of RF behavior and generally knowing that materials are generally radiopaque and radiolucent at different frequencies and wattages.
Sometimes we're trying to keep things (eg- information) outside from getting in, and other times we want to prevent things inside from getting out. There are practices to optimize for both that don't rely on "blocking".
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Somehow I don't see those as related. Any use of nukes will not be an act of rationality. That's the utter stupidity behind this belief in MAD keeping us safe.
> Any use of nukes will not be an act of rationality Does that mean past usage also wasn't rational? Or it was rational in that case, but impossibly can be rational in the future?
I'm not the person you're responding to, but most of the irrationality of nuclear weapons use is when it's nuclear weapons use against an entity which also has nuclear weapons.
Any use is going to lead to at a minimum an equally harmful response.
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#55> As we sit, possible poised on the verge of a nuclear conflict in the Northern Hemisphere, maybe it's time to look at the damaging effects of the electromagnetic pulse that follows a nuclear detonation. I guess that's what I get for not doomscrolling like I used to, but I wasn't aware we were on the brink of nuclear annihilation. Can someone explain that for me?
We aren’t really. But people bring it up every time Russia sees a setback or embarrassment in the war with Ukraine. Look up operation spider web if you want to know the latest. It was quite an impressive strike by Ukraine on the strategic bombers Russia has been using to launch cruise missiles at Ukraine (some parked very deep in Siberia). They are also part of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad, so some people are concerned this could lead to nuclear war.
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the idea is that Ukraine’s attack on Russian nuclear capable bombers weakens Russia’s nuclear triad (plane, sub, and ICBM nukes) and makes the situation less stable. Can’t say I blame Ukraine though.
It's kind of like WWI. Where some minor player commits some act and the entire Western-Russo world spirals out into war. Only this time we use nuclear weapons instead of trenches and cannons. Would be an interesting case study for Brazilian historians in the future.
The killing of Franz Ferdinand was just the starter shot. Everybody was already waiting in the blocks to rush.
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#571) Don't worry about it. If one goes off over a NATO country or Russia/China, you'll soon have much, much bigger problems to worry about. 2) There is no 2)
I agree about not worrying about it, but one should be aware -- awareness about something is not equal to worrying about something.
Awareness of something is the first step in adapting. One can adapt beforehand, or, one can adapt afterwards; with more limited resources, necessitated by circumstances, under more time pressure, with more suboptimal tools, and so on.
It is unquestionable that an EMP would have an extreme impact in all aspects of society and the lives of people. Preparations on macro and micro level can mitigate some of the problems that would follow. And preparations require awareness.
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's not impossible that they will eventually. Please stop believing the ridiculous Russian propaganda. Using even a single tactical nuclear weapon would be game-over for Putin's Russia.
At some point it could be game over for Putin’s Russia anyway, then what is to stop them. Israel has a policy of the Samson option that they define as destroying the enemy but they also imply they will destroy the world. Russia has made similar statements.
I despair at such naivety.
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read it and it's completely biased to a worst imaginable scenario. Not likely to reflect any real world at all.
The book says that that's exactly what it's supposed to be, to inspire people to talk about it. But (also from the book) the war games the USA runs around these situations always end in a massive nuclear exchange. Sure, some specific situations, like the Devil's Scenario, I would imagine might not reflect a real war, but the case the book is making is that reality is far more likely to be closer to the worst case tha…
I had assumed that if there was a full nuclear exchange that of course both sides would target nuclear power stations in enemy territory - like anyone would be sticking to "rules" in that scenario?
Re: What you need to know about EMP weapons
#60Can't I just chuck it in the microwave and hope no one presses start?
chuck what? your desktop pc already is inside of metal enclosure designed to minimize EM emissions, per UL/CE requirements for electronic devices.
also Voltage is difference between two levels, "potential". so that means 5Volt dc device will work if "GND"/minus pole is 3000volts "above real earth" and positive pole is 3005Volt "above real earth"
difference between + and - is voltage, so 3000 V - 3005 V is 5 V.
youtubers can film experiment showing this.