#USS Jamestown | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brookstonalmanac · 2 years

Text

Events 7.30

762 – Baghdad is founded. 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council. 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage. 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies. 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time. 1627 – An earthquake kills about 5,000 people in Gargano, Italy. 1635 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army. 1645 – English Civil War: Scottish Covenanter forces under the Earl of Leven launch the Siege of Hereford, a remaining Royalist stronghold. 1656 – The Battle of Warsaw ends with a Swedish-Brandenburger victory over a larger Polish-Lithuanian force. 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. 1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland. 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts. 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers. 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico. 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps. 1863 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches. 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time. 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100. 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people. 1912 – Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō. 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup. 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short. 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors. 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto. 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the then longest national highway in the world, is officially opened. 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. 1966 – England defeats West Germany to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium after extra time. 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders. 1971 – Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover. 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan killing 162. 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States. 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again. 1978 – The 730: Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence. 1980 – Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law. 1981 – As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland. 1990 – Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by IRA terrorists in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them. 2003 – In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line. 2006 – The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years. 2011 – Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall. 2012 – A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India. 2012 – A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India. 2014 – Twenty killed and 150 are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India. 2020 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

#Events

1 note · View note

marcellusbitsandpieces · 3 years

Text

Bits and Pieces - 25 Historic Places to See Before I Die 7/18/21

The other day I was having lunch with a niece and her two girlfriends visiting Saugatuck. In the course of the conversation, I mentioned that I was putting some of my things in order. Young people are rarely ever keen on hearing something like that.

Then today in my inbox, I got an email about the 25 Classic American Landmarks To See Before You Die. It hit my curiosity button to see how many of them I had seen. How about you?

1. The Grand Canyon, Arizona – CHECK Actually I have seen it more than once and have loved it each time. I have even seen the approach to the Canyon from the Colorado River on a whitewater rafting trip – great view either way.

2. Mount Rushmore, South Dakota – CHECK I have also seen this one more than once, including the long time ago before the big update when it was even more pristine. No matter, it is a thriller every time.

3. The Delicate Arch, Utah – NOPE Been to Utah many times, but never to the Arches National Park. It is a great movie shot, so added to my bucket list.

4. The Golden Gate Bridge – CHECK Curt and I saw it, and I drove across it (twice) on our honeymoon. It was a clear day, thank goodness. Not sure I’d like to drive it in the fog with my fear of bridges.

5. Old Faithful, Wyoming – CHECK The eastern route was closed, so (rerouted) we made it with just minutes to spare. Curt said, “How long until it erupts again?” Someone in the crowd said, “Only two minutes, but who’s taking care of the birds at Rolling Hills?” I can’t take him anywhere he isn’t known to somebody!!

6. Hoover Dam, Nevada – CHECK The day after locking ourselves out of a running parked car in Death Valley, Laura Dunn and I went to see Hoover Dam. Along the route, we also stopped at the candy store of the famous Lucy Riccardo-Ethel Mertz candy packing scene.

7. Half Dome, California – NOPE We went through Yosemite National Park on our honeymoon, too, but didn’t see the Half Dome. A good reason to return there.

8. Chimney Rock, Nebraska – CHECK On a trip to Durango, Colorado to take the cool train ride, I saw this other important historic site.

9. Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana – NOPE I have not seen this particular plantation, but I have seen many also with beautiful interlocking trees lining the approach and the grounds having an intense story of plantation life.

10. Statue of Liberty, New York – CHECK&NOPE Though I have seen the statue from the air as I was flying into Newark airport, I have yet to visit it in person. This is definitely a bucket list item.

11. Devils Tower, Wyoming – CHECK This was another stop on our trip to Yellowstone and The Tetons. It was impressive, but I thought The Badlands was overwhelmingly impressive. How did early pioneers traverse The Badlands in a wagon? (Wagon ruts still visible)

12. Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. – CHECK I cannot count the number of times I have visited this site, along with the rest of the awe-inspiring monuments and memorials in D.C. Every year in which I took my 8th graders on the D.C. trip, I was as excited as they were. Seeing these places of honor at night was the most breathtaking way to remember them.

13. Fort Sumter, South Carolina – CHECK What a gorgeous city! I even went through the USS Yorktown with my sister, Chris, and her family. Just across the street from the Historic Charleston City Market is a delightful restaurant that makes THE best coconut (7-layer) cake – right, Laura?!!

14. Antelope Canyon, Arizona – NOPE I never even heard of this one. It appears to be more of a cavern than an open canyon. I’ve been to Mammoth Caves, and that will do it for me. I’m not fond of caves – too claustrophobic.

15. Monticello, Virginia – CHECK This site, Mount Vernon (Washington’s home), Jamestown and Williamsburg were all usually part of the D.C. trip for the students. I still get thrilled just thinking about the times I was there.

16. Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho – CHECK Not only have I been there, but Curt has fished the Salmon River. He had a friend from bird convention days (BP = Before Paula), who invited him to come fishing at his place on the Salmon River. That was also the trip when I got to see the place Sacajawea met her brother on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

17. The Breakers, Rhode Island – CHECK When I moved to Michigan, my first job was Program Manager for JA in Kalamazoo. The Executive Director and I went to an annual conference in Boston. I saw the fireworks over the Charles River on July 4th, visited Harvard, Cheers bar and the JFK Library and Museum. We followed up the conference with a trip throughout New England. The Breakers was a stop with a photo op on the back patio(!) posing as Betty Grable.

18. Crater Lake, Oregon – NOPE

19. Space Needle, Washington – CHECK Another convention opportunity with my friend, Anne.

20. Portland Head Light, Maine – NOPE Though this is the oldest working lighthouse in Maine, I have seen Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and many other important lighthouses along the shores of Michigan.

21. Denali, Alaska – CHECK The day we saw this beautiful site, it was still named Mount McKinley. It was a clear day, and we were told how special it was to be able to see it. We went to the Visitors’ Center and saw a group of Amish emerging from a van with an Indiana plate. They turned out to be from Centerville, Michigan and one guy had Brad Hemenway’s pigs on his farm.

22. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico – CHECK This was a stunning visit. My sister, Chris, took me there on my last visit to New Mexico. Apartment complexes today couldn’t withstand the time or weather that these structures have endured.

23. The Alamo, Texas – CHECK Again, this is an historic site that I have seen often. Like Mount Rushmore, I was able to see this landmark before updating for tourists began. It wasn’t on the edge of town – I am not quite that old, but entering was primitive and exciting. The last visit was too commercialized.

24. Southernmost Point Buoy, Florida – CHECK The colorful buoy rests at the point of Key West only 90 miles from Cuba. Now, there is another bucket list item for me – Havana, Cuba.

25. Jenny Lake, Wyoming – CHECK Part of The Tetons, it was another special place in this national park.

I don’t need James Stewart to tell me that I’ve had a “wonderful life,” and I’m not done yet. Curt and I have “places to go (Seuss),” things to see and do yet. Hope you found that you have seen some of these and have more to go. See you on the road.

0 notes

vamonumentlandscape · 3 years

Text

Fort Monroe

Fort Monroe is an area rich in history. Before the settlement of British colonists in 1607 at Jamestown, Cape Comfort was occupied by Native American groups for hundreds of years. The first Africans that were brought to North America arrived in the Hampton Roads region in 1619. John Rolfe wrote a letter to Sir Edwin Sandys of the Virginia Company about the arrival of “Twenty and odd Negroes.” Race-based enslavement would eventually become normalized in the decades to come. Though the original colonists attempted to fortify what is now known as Old Point Comfort repeatedly, destruction always ensued leaving the area vulnerable to competing entities. It was not until after the War of 1812 that the young United States Army constructed Fort Monroe as a part of a defense strategy against future attacks. Construction began in 1819 and was not fully completed until much later in 1836. A young Robert E. Lee directed the final phase of construction between 1831-1834. Ironically, Lee had constructed a Union stronghold essential during the Civil War when much of Virginia was in the hands of the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln visited the fort briefly for four nights during the war and saw the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fighting in the nearby waters. Though a Virginia slave owner demanded the return of escaped enslaved persons at Fort Monroe in 1861, General Benjamin Butler refused as they were a “contraband of war.” This action led to the United States Congress adopting the First Confiscation Act, which meant that escaped enslaved persons from an active state in rebellion would be kept out of the hands of Southern slave owners. Just a few years later in 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation made it clear that the North was intent on ending slavery for good. Since former President Barack Obama designated Fort Monroe as a national monument in 2011 after its formal decommission by the Army, the National Park Service can fully interpret all components of the site. This includes the two-year confinement of Jefferson Davis at the fort, as well as its strategic importance during World War I and World War II. It is a site that shows the benefits of historic preservation and redevelopment, and we felt a unique sense of fulfillment incorporating the fort into our last journey of this project.

Once we had driven around the large fort for about fifteen minutes, we finally found a map that helped us find all the important landmarks we wanted to see. As we were pulling away, we came across our first stop. There was a historic marker at the top of the Casemate Museum that caught all of our attention. “Confinement of Jefferson Davis” is what the marker was titled. At Fort Monroe, in what is now the Casemate Museum, Davis spent the first four and a half months of his short two year prison sentence. The 1932 marker only detailed facts about his imprisonment, but right below this sign was a plaque installed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy that was riddled with the Lost Cause narrative. The plaque honors Dr. John J. Craven, U.S. Army doctor, who took care of Davis as he was imprisoned. He, according to the UDC, “lightened the monotony, loneliness, and the physical suffering of Jefferson Davis.” The sign did not stop there with the odd language of calling Davis a “prisoner of war.” He was not a prisoner of war. The war was over, Davis was imprisoned because of his crimes of treason. He was never tried and was released after two years. It is an example of one of the largest injustices in our country’s history that added fuel to the fire of the Lost Cause.

Just down the road we came across an arch above a large hill, overlooking the ocean across the way. It was formerly an entrance to a small memorial park to Jefferson Davis. The UDC installed the overwhelming metal arch in 1956 with the approval of the US Army to “commemorate the imprisonment of Confederate President Jefferson Davis at Fort Monroe.” It was shocking, but also quite expected for the times, to us that the US Army would approve the arch dedicated to a traitor. It was also unsettling because of what was happening in our country at the time. In the 1950s and 1960s the rise of the modern Civil Rights Movement was taking place. Organizations, like the UDC, were making sure their presence was known and making racist statements across the country. In August 2019 the name of the park was removed and the area was reinterpreted. We were all impressed with the signage from the National Park Service that told the full truth about what the memorial park was and meant for those who installed it. The signage was blatantly honest about why the arch was put up, along with the many other types of Confederate memorials across the South. The signage states that these memorials “ … highlight(s) the intent to exclude African Americans from public life and civil liberties.” The signage even speaks to how “ … Davis stood as the most vocal proponent of the claim the war had been a constitutional struggle, not a fight over the future of slavery in the United States, His claim was part of the Lost Cause crusade….” It was a proud moment to see how well the NPS is interpreting the history of the past mistakes at Fort Monroe. Lastly, as we stood under the arch, overlooking the ocean, we could see the signage for where the proposed First Africans memorial will go. We couldn’t tell if this was a coincidence or just a powerful twist of fate for the two sites to coincide in such a way. We are thankful for the correct interpretation of history here at Fort Monroe.

Before Fort Monroe was a military installation, Old Point Comfort was where the White Lion brought African captives to be sold into indentured servitude. The arrival of the 20-30 Bantu Angolans was the catalyst for slavery in America. We were able to park near a fishing pier and easily found the sign. The sign explains the arrival briefly and also introduces a couple, Antony and Isabella, who were two captives on the White Lion. They had a child named William, who is believed to be the first child born in Virginia with African ancestry. The sign concludes with a statement confirming the facts of Virginia creating a system of hereditary slavery, which would last until 1865 with the ratification of the 13th amendment. Each of us had an emotional reaction to seeing this historical sign as the sun went down for the day. We looked out towards the ocean, closed our eyes, and heard the crashing waters below. This place is where one of the greatest travesties of United States history began to form as an institution. After shedding a few tears, we walked down to the future site of the African Landing Memorial. Sculpted by Brian Owens, the memorial will allow further reflection upon America’s greatest violation of human rights and dignity. To move forward, one must look to errors of the past. If all Americans can do this, maybe we will be able to realize the true potential of a free nation.

Our last stops at the fort were two signs detailing the former locations of the Contraband Hospital and Contraband Quarters. In the beginning of the Civil War, General Benjamin Butler took in hundreds of enslaved people who had run away from the hands of those who owned them. He called them “Contrabands of War” as they were property of those who they were fighting against and General Butler confiscated such “useful property.” There was no mention of emancipation, but ultimately this policy led to thousands of formerly enslaved workers to be freed. The resilience the enslaved had to make such a journey from all over the South is a momentous accomplishment. Freedom was never easy to achieve and the hard fight never came without hardship. After travelling the long roads to freedom, most of the men, women, and children had been injured or faced illness along the way. The Contraband Hospital was set up exclusively for the freed people who were facing these struggles. Harriet Tubman worked as a nurse at the Fort Monroe hospital for a short period of time. Fort Monroe holds some of our earliest histories, darkest moments, and many highlights that are important for all Americans to see and remember.

Our final stop in the Hampton area was the small town of Phoebus. A small, rundown town in the middle of a revitalization, stood out to us as we were on the way back from Fort Monroe. Only about a mile away from Phoebus is a national cemetery for servicemen and women. But, the most interesting piece of history we discovered was a small historic marker that was titled “Slabtown.” Slabtowns were the pop up neighborhoods of the hundreds of freed people making homes for themselves out of slabs, which are leftover cuts of bark from the local sawmill. Many of those freed people’s descendants still live in Phoebus and surrounding areas today. We found this stop to be inspiring as not only does their story live on, but their familial legacy too.

#history #virginia #monument #civilrights #civil war #important #Jefferson Davis #fort Monroe #Hampton va

0 notes

stairnaheireann · 2 years

Text

#OTD in 1847 – The American relief ship, USS Jamestown, landed supplies in Cork for An Gorta Mór victims.

More than a century ago, James Coleman published a short article, ‘Voyage of the “Jamestown”’, in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, in which he recounted the arrival of the US warship Jamestown in Cork Harbour on Monday 12 April 1847. The vessel had departed from the Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts, two weeks earlier, on 28 March, with a capacity cargo of some…

View On WordPress

#An Gorta Mor #Boston #Co. Cork #Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society #Massachusetts #The Great Hunger #USS Jamestown

4 notes · View notes

lonestarbattleship · 2 years

Text

USS CANONICUS in during the Jamestown Exhibit at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Date: June 12, 1907

source

#USS Canonicus (1863)#USS Canonicus #Canonicus Class #Monitor #June #1907 #Hampton Roads #Virginia #united states navy #us navy #navy #usn #u.s. navy #Jamestown Exposition #my post

57 notes · View notes

libraryofva · 5 years

Photo

Recent Acquisition - Ephemera Collection

1607 - Jamestown Exposition - 1907. Dinner to the Crew of H.M.S. Argyll. U.S.S. Virginia, Thursday, May the Second, Nineteen Hundred and Seven.

#Jamestown Exposition #1907 #Norfolk #Virginia #VA #Battleship #USS Virginia #dinner #menu #exposition #fair #hms argyll #navy #coca cola

6 notes · View notes

weirdestarrow · 3 years

Text

Some photos from the Freedom Trail that didn’t involve the American Revolution.

These are pictures of the Irish Famine Memorial. It’s not the most popular memorial in Boston. The starving people are meant to represent the people in Ireland, while the better looking people are meant to represent the new life they found in Boston. I took pictures of the signs at the memorial.

The Great Hunger, or An Gorta Mór in Irish was a famine that occurred due to a potato blight for the potato crops in Ireland. Many poor Irish families lost their homes, unable to pay rent to their landlords. The British then allowed grain to be exported from Ireland to pay the missing rent.

Ome million people died, half a million were evicted from their homes, and two million immigrated, looking for a new home outside of their starving home.

This famine prompted America to send its first humanitarian mission to another country. As hundreds of ships carrying Irish immigrants came to the US, the United States sent to USS Jamestown, a warship that had been stripped of its guns, placed in civilian hands, and send to Ireland with food to help them.

I was a bit teary eyed at this memorial. I am an Irish-American, and my family was in Ireland during this famine. My family were some of the people who suffered in this famine.

#boston #boston irish famine memorial #the great hunger #irish famine #photography

5 notes · View notes

brookstonalmanac · 3 years

Text

Events 7.30

762 – Baghdad is founded. 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council. 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage. 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies. 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time. 1627 – An earthquake kills about 5,000 people in Gargano, Italy. 1635 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army. 1656 – The Battle of Warsaw ends with a Swedish-Brandenburger victory over a larger Polish-Lithuanian force. 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. 1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland. 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts. 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers. 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico. 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps. 1863 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches. 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time. 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100. 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people. 1912 – Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō. 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup. 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short. 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors. 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto. 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the then longest national highway in the world, is officially opened. 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. 1966 – England defeats West Germany to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium after extra time. 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders. 1971 – Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover. 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan killing 162. 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States. 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again. 1978 – The 730: Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side. 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence. 1980 – Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law. 1981 – As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland. 1990 – Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by IRA terrorists in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them. 2003 – In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line. 2006 – The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years. 2011 – Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall. 2012 – A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India. 2012 – A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India. 2014 – Twenty killed and 150 are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India. 2020 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

#Events

0 notes

rauthschild · 3 years

Photo

“Decision Has Been Made” By Russia About War—West “Now Requires A Psychoanalyst” To Understand It

By: Sorcha Faal,

A grimly worded new Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today first noting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower nuclear armed aircraft carrier strike group having initiated flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean as a million barrels of Iranian crude oil is approaching the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, that is part of a larger flotilla of tankers bound for Baniyas-Syria, says most gravely concerning about this latest American war move is it coming at the same time more proof was shockingly revealed about US support for the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, that came this week when top US diplomat, James Jeffrey, admitted that Syria's rebranded al-Qaeda affiliate, HTS, is “an asset” in the US strategy in Syria's Idlib province.

Along with this actually demented and dangerous strategy of the US using al-Qaeda to further its deranged war goals in Syria, further to be noted, Supreme Socialist Leader Joe Biden continues to push his nation towards a World War III nuclear holocaust, too—as in just 48-hours after Russia warned of “extra measures” if NATO increases its presence near Ukraine, it saw Biden pledging his “unwavering support” for Ukraine, that he followed by ordering NATO forces directly into Ukraine—immediately after which the Ukrainian military put on full display their battle bravery by using an unmanned drone to drop a bomb on a defensless 5-year-old Russiam boy child to kill him and wound his grandmother.

An innocent Russian child’s needless war death not cared about by Biden or his godless socialist warmongers—though most certainly the same can’t be said about President Putin and the Russian people, who value the lives of children above all others—and who also know the truth about such articles like “Five Weapons That Russia Could Use to Devastate Ukraine in a War”, wherein it factually notes: “Given Russia’s overwhelming air supremacy and sophisticated missile defenses, Ukrainian forces will struggle to effectively contain the threat from these systems...Not only do Russia’s Ground Forces operate the world’s largest tank army at 13,000 units, but its latest MBTs offer a slew of modern upgrades that make them a force to be reckoned with”.

With war panic now gripping Europe as the United Kingdom has put itself on alert, and Germany and France issue “calls for restraint”, no evidence exists that the American people, or those living in the nations of its NATO allies are willing to allow their sons, daughters, mothers and fathers to be sacrificed by the thousands to defend a Ukraine that’s been branded as “the most corrupt nation in Europe”—a Ukraine where as much as 64% of the country’s combined demand for diesel and gasoline was secured through imports from Belarus and the Russian Federation—saw Russia cutting off its liquefied petroleum gas supplies to Ukraine on 1 April—and today sees highly trained elite combat forces from both Belarus and the Russian Federation massed on the borders of Ukraine.

In an insightful analysis of what’s going to happen, Dr. Pavel E. Felgenhauer of the Washington D.C. based global research and analysis organization The Jamestown Foundation most correctly observes that in Moscow “a decision has been made already” about a war with Ukraine—though for the West he says they “now require a psychoanalyst” to determine Russia's intentions in Ukraine, but warns events could see “war in a month”—sees Dr. Felgenhauer further warning: “The crisis has the potential to escalate into a pan-European war, if not even a world one”—and has him observing that: “Russia could seek to extend its control devouring Ukraine as far as Transnistria”—which agrees with the warning issued by Russia that a new conflict will destroy Ukraine. [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]

Russian Federation and Belarus elite combat forces prepare for lightning invasion to destroy the most corrupt nation in Europe—that’s otherwise known as the Biden Crime Family piggy bank.

According to this report, as World War III looms ever closer on the horizon, demented socialist leader Biden chose this past week to create what’s now being called “The Biden Baseball League”—a Biden creation based entirely on the socialist propaganda lies he told about the new election laws enacted in the Free State of Georgia—socialist lies told by Biden immediately acted upon the Major League Baseball organization pulling its All Star Game from Atlanta, whose most accurate response says: “By moving the Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Atlanta, where it was scheduled to be played this summer, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has declared the league an arm of the Democratic Party and baseball itself to be a blue sport, with values opposed to the Constitution and representative government”—sees articles about this vile move now appearing like “So MLB Is Fine With Games In Cuba & Training In China, But Georgia Has A Human-Rights Problem?”, that says: “The hypocrisies pile up on top of the hypocrisies and the only people who suffer here are the little black-owned Atlanta businesses who otherwise would get an increased payday from all the knock-on traffic from the All-Star game”—sees other articles appearing like “Woke to Broke: Moving All-Star Game Costs Atlanta Tens of Millions in Revenue”, that points out: “The move will cost the City of Atlanta and predominantly black Atlanta businesses $100,000,000 because rich white leftists complained about Georgia’s voter integrity law”—sees NBA legend Charles Barkley raging against this move telling all of his fellow black citizens: “We’re so stupid following our politicians”—a sentiment joined by famed and fearless investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, who explained how socialist propaganda has destroyed journalism—and in a just posted message to all normal and sane Americans, sees President Donald Trump telling them:

Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections.

Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections.

Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!

https://www.brighteon.com/1a3c136f-e905-4579-90f5-866770d8184b

Also being shockingly revealed about socialist leader Biden, this report details, was top Republican Party lawmaker US Senator Ron Johnson exposing this past week how the FBI tried to cover up his son Hunter Biden’s gun crimes—that was followed by the FBI going full-Nazi on the American people with their vow to hunt down anyone who lies about taking the COVID vaccine—which strongly suggests the FBI has spare time on their hands, but who may better spend their time rounding up and arresting the armed black protesters who surrounded the Georgia State Capitol building last week—though one knows the FBI won’t even touch armed black protesters, because they’re sending their heavily armed forces by the hundreds to arrest in early morning raids those like the young white Christian mother who dared walk through the US Capitol with her boyfriend in January.

With Biden and his FBI forces viciously prosecuting those who dared walk into the US Capitol in January, this report notes, it bears noticing that the two black teenage girls who murdered a Pakistani immigrant last week in Washington D.C. are being given a plea deal without jail time—an outrage of justice equaled in insanity by the Biden prosecutors who last week dismissed the criminal charges against the Antifa terrorists that tried to derail a train.

As to the truth of what Biden has turned the FBI into, this report continues, is best evidenced in the article “An FBI So Corrupt It Lets Mass Shooters Rampage Needs To Go”, wherein it truthfully reveals: “While the FBI has been failing to stop terrorist attacks by known threats, it has conducted numerous political operations on behalf of Democrats…It's time to clean house”—a clean house sweep of the FBI supported by the US Federal Judge that last week threw out the junk terrorism charges against three defendants in the Whitmer Plot whose ring leader was an FBI informant—and is a cleaning out of the FBI more than justified based on the truthful facts being exposed in such articles like: “The Capitol 'Insurrection' Charges Are Falling Apart, and It Shows How Dumb Our Government Is”—“Report: Many ‘Unlikely’ to Face Jail Time for Capitol Riot, ‘Could Embarrass Biden Administration’”—and—“Democrats' "Terrorist Insurrection" Narrative Collapses As Most Capitol Rioters Likely Won't Face Jail Time”—and in exampling how free peoples deal with socialist police state thugs like the FBI has become, saw a Canadian pastor throwing them out of his Christian Church on Good Friday while correctly calling them “Nazi Gestapo Psychopaths”.

https://rumble.com/vfc7o9-pastor-sends-mask-police-away-with-shame.html

With Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning of the anti-white aggression socialist leader Biden and leftist elites are fomenting in America, this report continues, he further accused the United States of “seeking to spread a cultural revolution around the world”, and stated: “You see this is absurd…Political correctness taken to the point of absurdity will not end well”—and in confirmation of how truthful this warning is, saw it being followed with the beyond shocking news that a young white pregnant Christian mother was thrown out of her Texas church during Holy Week by police because she didn’t wear a mask while praying—a shocking crime against Christians the leftist Washington Post totally ignored, as they saw it more fit to publish their article “Her Pet Chickens Were A Source Of Emotional Support During The pandemic. Then, The Predators Came.”, wherein these insane leftist idiots didn’t have the slightest clue that chickens left in unprotected environments are otherwise known in the animal world as food.

As new polls show that fully 64% of Americans see “cancel culture” as a threat to freedom, this report further notes, this is being met by a socialist backlash that this week alone saw leftist social messaging service Twitter canceling world renowned epidemiologist Harvard professor of medicine Martin Kulldorff because he dared tell the truth about COVID—saw leftist tech giant Google ordering YouTube to cancel the hugely popular conservative host Steven Crowder because he dared tell the truth about the 2020 election—then saw leftist social media giant Facebook cancelling Lara Trump because she did an interview with her father-in-law President Trump, because Facebook says it “Does not allow the voice of President Trump to be heard by ANYONE”—all of which occurred at the exact same time YouTube deleted millions of “dislikes” on Biden videos—and at the exact same time all of these leftist tech giants freely allowed Biden to spread lies about his so-called infrastructure program to keep Americans from knowing it contains the largest middle class tax increases seen since 1968—nor are they allowed to know such true facts like Biden’s $2.5-trillion infrastructure spending spree will include $20 billion earmarked for actually destroying highways because they have been deemed to be racist.

While these leftist tech giants and their leftist propaganda media allies protect socialist leader Biden, this report observes, it is no wonder why articles are now appearing like “Ruh roh? Cheerleading Coverage Of Biden Shows Both Media And US Have Gone To The Dogs”, that says: “When the legacy media take breaks from carrying water for the White House by reporting on wacky hijinks of presidential pups, it ought to be blatantly obvious to everyone they’ve irrevocably transformed from watchdogs to lapdogs”—articles joined by others like “It’s Important To Be Honest About What Today’s Media Actually Are”, that points out the truth: “They are Democrat propagandists and should be treated as such”—though to best understand what these Americans are facing from their insidious leftist-socialist overlords, it’s being explained by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald in his just published article “Journalists Attack the Powerless, Then Self-Victimize to Bar Criticisms of Themselves”, that says:

Powerful media figures now invoke sexist and racist tropes to cast themselves as so fragile and marginalized that critiques of their work constitute bullying and assault.

This new journalistic tactic of weaponizing and misappropriating the language of marginalization, abuse, harassment and oppression and applying it to themselves — all to render any criticism of their work a form of assault and abuse.

What these journalists are doing is as transparent as it is tawdry.

They insist that you not treat them as what they are: people who wield extreme power and influence to shape political discourse, widely disseminate disinformation, wreck people’s reputations, expose the identity of private citizens, and propagandize the public.

Now, increasingly they are demanding that you treat them as exactly the opposite: the most marginalized, vulnerable, endangered and fragile members of society whose standing is so tenuous that publicly criticizing them should be barred as an act of violence, and those expressing critiques of their work must be consequently shunned as harassers and abusers.

Most importantly to be noticed about this past week, though, this report concludes, was President Trump announcing that he’s thinking about holding a rally soon “To Let Everybody Know There’s Hope in the Future”—an announcement quickly followed by the new site appearing “The Office of Donald J. Trump 45th President of the United States”—that was followed by articles appearing like “Absurd Hypocrisy Over Trump's New Website Provides Latest Evidence That Mainstream Media Is Irreparably Broken By Bad Orange Man” and “Donald Trump Was Right, Cable News Needs Him”—articles joined by a new poll showing that among Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP, 37% say Trump was a great president and 36% rated him as good—which makes him the undisputed most popular leader of the Republican Party and its “King-Maker”—with this being exampled this past week when Alaska’s Commissioner of Administration Kelly Tshibaka joined “God and Trump” to take down never-Trumper US Senator Lisa Murkowski, who with her father tyrannically ruled over Alaska for the past near 50-years—sees this devout Christian candidate being able to access President Trump’s massive over $80-million war chest to elect American First candidates---all of which is occurring at the same time MyPillow CEO and vocal President Trump supporter Mike Lindell has just launched a new 2020 election lawsuit towards the Supreme Court, and about which he boldly proclaims: “All the evidence I have, everything is going to go before the Supreme Court...and the election of 2020 is going bye-bye...Donald Trump will be back in office in August”.

0 notes

hudsonespie · 4 years

Text

Breaking Down the US Navy’s Blueprint for a Blue Arctic

With climate change and an increasingly unstable international order, the U.S. Navy is releasing new Arctic strategies at an accelerated pace.

Five years after it published the 2009 Navy Arctic Roadmap, it came out with the Arctic Roadmap: 2014-2030, in step with the Quadrennial Defense Review published that year. Although the updated roadmap’s title made it seem as if the document were supposed to stick around, five years later, it was replaced by the February 2019 Strategic Outlook for the Arctic.When asked by reporters why the Navy was already revising its strategy document just four years after its publication and 12 years before its supposed expiry date, then-U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson retorted, “The Arctic triggered it. The damn thing melted.”

Less than two years later, the Navy evidently feels that the situation has changed again enough to warrant yet another update. Last week, it released its Strategic Blueprint for the Arctic, which replaces the 2019 outlook. The new blueprint does three main things, which I break down below:

It represents the Arctic as an American homeland rather than frontier, encompassing three oceans stretching from Maine to Alaska

It marks Russia and China as enemies

It portrays the Arctic as a navigable blue ocean rather than an inaccessible frozen periphery

A three-ocean Arctic homeland

The 2019 outlook described America’s Arctic following the definition codified by the 1984 Arctic Research and Policy Act, which encompasses the lands and waters in Alaska north of the Arctic Circle, along the Bering Strait, and in the Aleutians. The 2019 outlook also used the US Arctic Research Commission’s very basic map of the region, seen below.

The map included in the U.S. Navy’s 2019 Strategic Outlook for the Arctic.

In contrast, the 2021 Strategic Blueprint for the Arctic takes a more expansive view crossing three oceans, from the Atlantic to the Arctic to the Pacific. The document opens by describing the area encompassing the United States’ Arctic interests: a huge swatch of land and sea “stretching from Maine in the North Atlantic across the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait and Alaska in the North Pacific to the southern tip of the Aleutian Island chain.”

It may come as a surprise to see Maine mentioned before Alaska. For the northeast state, which only began leaning into its Arctic connections a few years ago (once Icelandic shipping company Eimskip began regularly calling at the port of Portland), this is a pretty big coup. The blueprint also directly references Maine’s participation at the annual Arctic Circle conference, which testifies to the Icelandic gathering’s importance for track two Arctic diplomacy.

Despite this geographically more expansive stage-setting, the Navy still acknowledges the same definition of the term “Arctic,” following the 1984 legislation. However, it now uses a map borrowed from the State Department with a widened scope that captures and labels three oceans – the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific – along with the capitals of Russia and Scandinavia. The eight Arctic Council member states are labeled, too. So is Maine, representing a small but important edit to the original State Department map. Finally, while the borders of various Asian countries, including China, remain visible in the 2021 map just like in the ARCUS map included in the 2019 blueprint, the actual countries remain unlabeled.

The map included in the 2021 U.S. Navy Strategic Arctic Blueprint.

If the American Arctic is really going to become a home, however, it will need a lot more investment in infrastructure. In a press conference on January 5, US Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite recounted a recent trip to Adak, Alaska, where he had been stationed as a young pilot. He remarked, “Unfortunately, it looks like the set from a zombie apocalypse, to be very honest with you. That’s a very harsh environment, it’s been very harsh on the infrastructure there. It would cost an inordinate amount of money to reopen it.”

The Navy thus recognizes that more ports and facilities are needed but doesn’t specify plans for any investments in the blueprint. Instead, it seems like it will put its energy into improving its posturing, exercises, and fleet synchronization while fretting about the ports that countries like Russia and China are seeking to improve or control. Meanwhile, the Navy may have to keep relying on other friendly countries’ Arctic infrastructure, as Secretary Braithwaite stressed:

“There are other options that we have to be able to operate out of other airfields in that part of the world, in the Arctic. Of course we have our partnerships with our NATO allies: there’s a new air station opening up in Evenes, Norway, that can support both the P-8 and the Joint Strike Fighter.”

It wouldn’t be America without baseball in this icy field of dreams. In the photo of the first-ever baseball game at the North Pole played by members of USS Seadragon in August 1960, TM2 SS Thomas J. Miletich is up at bat while Lt JG Vincent Leahy playing catcher. Source: National Archives/Mariners Museum

From conquering to domesticating the Arctic

The Navy’s interest in sketching out a wider Arctic region—one that protrudes northward not only from Alaska but from the Lower 48, too—supports the force’s effort to transform the Arctic from a frontier into a homeland. The blueprint mentions the word “frontier” zero times, while it mentions “home” five times.

The apparent domestication of the Arctic was already underway in the Navy’s 2019 outlook, which clearly set out its three strategic objectives for the Arctic as follows:

2019 U.S. Navy Strategic Objectives in the Arctic

Defend U.S. sovereignty and the homeland from attack

Ensuring the Arctic remains a stable, conflict-free region

Preserving freedom of the seas

The Navy’s three strategic objectives in 2019 aligned with the country’s three national security interests expressed in the Department of Defense’s 2019 Arctic Strategy, which define the Arctic in three ways: “as the U.S. homeland, as a shared region, and as a potential corridor for strategic competition” (here directly mentioning the need to constrain China and Russia).

Now in 2021, the Navy’s three objectives have broadened. The need to have a presence is expressed in more general terms, while the aim of strengthening naval capabilities has replaced preserving freedom of navigation.

2021 U.S. Navy Objectives in the Arctic

Maintain enhanced presence

Strengthen cooperative partnerships

Build a more capable Arctic naval force

In trying to lay a claim to a wider slice of the Arctic and recast the region as American homeland, the blueprint emphasizes the navy’s historical presence in the region by referencing past expeditions by American explorers and military personnel. It also makes sure to namedrop not just the white men who led these missions, but their team members, too, whose knowledge was critical to their success.

For instance, the blueprint notes: “Just as [Robert] Peary, a Civil Engineer Corps Officer, led successful Arctic expeditions – together with Matthew Henson, Ootah, Egigingwah, Seegloo, and Ooqueah – this regional blueprint recognizes the long-term challenges and opportunities of a Blue Arctic – and the role of American naval power in. (No mention is made of the doubt that many historians, including Dennis Rawlins writing in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings in 1970, cast on Peary’s claims to being the first at the North Pole in 1909.)

A photo of the Robert Peary sledge party posing with flags, allegedly at the North Pole, on April 7, 1909 from the National Archives. The official caption reads, “Ooqueh, holding the Navy League flag; Ootah, holding the D.K.E. fraternity flag; Matthew Henson, holding the polar flag; Egingwah, holding the D.A.R. peace flag; and Seeglo, holding the Red Cross flag.”

References to a historical American presence in the Arctic – one that is diverse and inclusive, no less – bolster the narrative that the U.S. has successfully tamed the region and lend confidence to the belief that the U.S. can maintain an enhanced presence today. A parallel can be drawn with the conquering and settling of the Western frontier in the nineteenth century, which U.S. historian Frederick Jackson Turner (in)famously declared “closed” in 1890. By becoming a part of the American homeland, the Arctic no longer represents the enemy to be conquered. Instead, the country’s northern home has to be defended from new enemies at the doorstep.

Russia: From friend to enemy

In the introduction, immediately after describing America’s Arctic homeland as a region stretching from Maine to Alaska, the blueprint names America’s enemies in the north: Russia and China. The document posits, “Without sustained American naval presence and partnerships in the Arctic Region, peace and prosperity will be increasingly challenged by Russia and China, whose interests and values differ dramatically from ours.”

The casting of Russia as the enemy is striking given that just a little over a decade ago, the 2009 Navy Arctic Roadmap repeatedly pointed to American naval cooperation with the Russian Navy, Russian Border Guard, the Russian-America Long Term Census of the Arctic Ocean, and the Tiksi Arctic Observatory, located on the Arctic shores of the Russian Far East.

Happier days in 2010 onboard the Russian research vessel Professor Khromov during a joint US-Russia expedition to the Bering Strait. Photo: Aleksey Ostrovskiy/RUSALCA (NOAA).

There were peaceful times in the past, too, even if the blueprint overlooks these in favor of a focus on Cold War-era enmity. The document notes, “Over 150 years ago, USS Jamestown stood our northern watch as the U.S. flag was raised over Alaska.” Left out of the story is the fact that this historical moment marked the peaceful passing of control over the territory from Russia to the U.S. in Sitka, the former seat of the Russian American Company in Alaska (even if we acknowledge that both empires’ reigns destroyed livelihoods and lifeways for Alaska Natives). Rather than pay homage to these more cordial times, the blueprint evinces a deep suspicion of Russia’s Arctic activities, which it interprets as a “multilayered militarization of its northern flank.”

This cold and combative description contrasts with depictions of the American Arctic, which use cozier turns of phrase like “our local Alaskan and indigenous communities.” No such language is used to characterize Russia, despite the fact that the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic ties connecting people across the Bering Strait run deep.

China: A near- non-Arctic state

If Russia is the friend that’s been uninvited to America’s Arctic housewarming, China is the new kid on the block that the U.S. seeks to keep out in the cold.

China – or rather “The People’s Republic of China,” as the blueprint names it, underscoring the bogeyman’s communist status, is described in even harsher terms than Russia. China is not just undermining global interests and degrading security in the region, as the blueprint claims of Russia. In fact, China’s growing “economic, scientific, and military reach…presents a threat to people and nations, including those who call the Arctic Region home.” I’m left scratching my head as to whether this means the Navy thinks that China would present a threat to Russia, since the latter calls a greater territorial extent of the Arctic home than any other northern nation.

The blueprint’s fixation with China, which it mentions six times (versus Russia’s nine times), is striking – especially seeing as the country was totally absent from the Navy’s 2009 Arctic blueprint. Consider the international governments and militaries listed then as having an interest in the region:

Japan is the only Asian country listed, and China is nowhere to be found.

While the Navy’s 2021 blueprint doesn’t make any mention of China’s claims to “near-Arctic” statehood (unlike the 2019 Department of Defense’s Arctic Strategy, which actively contested it), the department slipped up in its press release by announcing, “The blueprint places focus on the rising maritime activity spurring from Arctic states, like Russia and China.”

Klaus Dodds, professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, was among the first to catch this mistake. Puzzled, he wondered, “Did they mean to say this???”

The Navy has since corrected what must have been a typo (but at the same time, perhaps a subconscious acknowledgement of the fact that China cannot be overlooked in Arctic relations). The press release now states, “The blueprint places focus on the rising maritime activity spurring from Arctic and non-Arctic states, like Russia and China, which posture their navies to protect sovereignty and national interests while enabling their ability to project power.”

To nobody’s surprise, the U.S. Navy did not issue an erratum.

Wild blue yonder, tame blue Arctic

Representing the third notable development with regard to the Navy’s shifting perceptions of the Arctic, the blueprint repeatedly uses the phrase “Blue Arctic.” The evolution from white to blue mirrors predictions that over the next two decades, the Arctic region will become increasingly navigable and ice-free. As a result, the Navy asserts, “Our defense posture must be regularly and rigorously assessed to adapt to a Blue Arctic.”

To adapt, the Navy will seek to grow its presence in the Arctic not only underwater, where its submarines have accumulated over 70 years of experience, but on the increasingly open and accessible surface of the ocean, too. The Navy aims to achieve this by “regionally posturing our forces, conducting exercises and operations, integrating Navy-Marine Corps-Coast Guard capabilities, and synchronizing our Fleets.”

Massive joint military exercises like ICEX, the U.S. Navy’s biennial “submarine force tactical development and torpedo exercise,” have helped evaluate and enhance American naval preparedness for operations in the Arctic. Whether the navy can keep up with other countries like Russia and China remains to be seen.

Acknowledging the Transpolar Sea Route

Pointing to another central dimension of the blue Arctic, the 2021 blueprint elaborates upon the 2019 strategy’s mentioning of the Transpolar Sea Route, the shipping route via the North Pole that could emerge once sea ice melts sufficiently in summertime in the next two decades. The blueprint indicates, “The projected opening of a deep-draft trans-polar route in the next 20-30 years has the potential to transform the global transport system.”

As I’ve written about previously on Cryopolitics and in a 2020 paper in Marine Policy, the Transpolar Sea Route would represent the most direct maritime link between Europe and Asia. It could also facilitate access to new fishing grounds in the Central Arctic Ocean should the 2018 moratorium not be renewed when it expires around 2034.

Defending the virtual homeland with C5ISR

It’s not just the physical environment that the Navy deems important to protect: the virtual one is, too. The blueprint states that the Navy will “assess and prioritize C5ISR capabilities in the Arctic.” That’s shorthand for “command, control, communications, computers, cyber, information, surveillance, and reconnaissance” – a mouthful confirming that the world has come a long way from C2, or “command and control.”

The military’s domain awareness in the Arctic is limited by a lack of satellite and terrestrial communications, as a report by the Department of Defense in 2016 warned. Making investments in remote sensing, ice prediction, and weather forecasting are crucial to closing this gap. At the same time, the U.S. will likely keep its eye on China, which recently announced that it will launch a new satellite to monitor Arctic shipping routes next year.

Yet enhancing C5ISR involves more than just being better able to determine whether the next day will bring snow or sleet. The U.S. Army rather chillingly describes the term as “technologies that enable information dominance and decisive lethality for the networked Soldier.”

But, not to fret. The Arctic is America’s homeland, and, as the blueprint reminds, “The United States will always seek peace in the Arctic.”

This article appears courtesy of Cryopolitics and is reproduced here in an abbreviated form. The original may be found here.

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/breaking-down-the-us-navy-s-blueprint-for-a-blue-arctic via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes