Russia Simulates Nuclear Attack on Poland

The armed forces are said to have carried out “war games” in which nuclear missiles were fired and troops practised an amphibious landing on the country’s coast.

Documents obtained by Wprost, one of Poland’s leading news magazines, said the exercise was carried out in conjunction with soldiers from Belarus.

The manoeuvrings are thought to have been held in September and involved about 13,000 Russian and Belarusian troops.

Poland, which has strained relations with both countries, was cast as the “potential aggressor”.

The documents state the exercises, code-named “West”, were officially classified as “defensive” but many of the operations appeared to have an offensive nature.

The Russian air force practised using weapons from its nuclear arsenal, while in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which neighbours Poland, Red Army forces stormed a “Polish” beach and attacked a gas pipeline.

The operation also involved the simulated suppression of an uprising by a national minority in Belarus – the country has a significant Polish population which has a strained relationship with authoritarian government of Belarus.

Karol Karski, an MP from Poland’s Law and Justice, is to table parliamentary questions on Russia’s war games and has protested to the European Commission.

via Russia ’simulates’ nuclear attack on Poland – Telegraph.

Study May Have Found Fountain of Youth

Scientists may have discovered the fountain of youth, a study reveals. Researchers found they could prolong the lives of mice by genetic manipulation, which mimics the health benefits of a low-calorie diet, Agence France-Presse reported.

The study suggested that age-related diseases can be easily treated.

Researchers from Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London were able to genetically manipulate mice so that they blocked the production of the S6 Kinease 1 protein, otherwise known as S6K1. This reduced the number of age-related diseases affecting mice and extended their lives by a fifth.

S6K1 is involved in the body’s response to changes in food intake, so by blocking the protein, the mice did not actually have to reduce the amount of food they ate, according to the study that is published in the journal “Science.”

The scientists said the mice had stronger bones, were leaner and were protected from Type 2 diabetes. They also performed better at motor tasks, and had better cognition.

via Study May Have Found Fountain of Youth – Longevity | Prevention | Aging – FOXNews.com.

Earthquake Expert Says Quake Activity Building Up

More than 1,100 people have died because of a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook Indonesia 24 hours ago. On Tuesday, a giant earthquake near the American Samoan Islands caused death and destruction and the western United States has seen two sizable earthquakes since 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday earthquakes have shaken parts of California and Nevada. The biggest quake was just 140 miles west of Las Vegas in Keeler, California it certainly has experts on earthquakes in Las Vegas taking notice.

There are several major faults running through Southern Nevada including one less than a mile from the Las Vegas Strip.

Those have earthquake expert Burt Slemmons watching closely. “It could be building up here and in California,” he said. Slemmons has been chasing fault lines for 55 years. He is a retired professor from UNR.

Slemmons helped route and design the Alaskan pipeline so it could survive a magnitude seven earthquake. He says Las Vegas could have one anytime and he predicts it will be a 6.0 or larger.

“I have earthquake tape and putty under potentially toppling articles. I have anchored my bookcases which is one of the major kinds of damage.”

via Earthquake Expert Says Quake Activity Building Up – Las Vegas Now.

Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Nuclear Doomsday Machine

Valery Yarynich glances nervously over his shoulder. Clad in a brown leather jacket, the 72-year-old former Soviet colonel is hunkered in the back of the dimly lit Iron Gate restaurant in Washington, DC. It’s March 2009—the Berlin Wall came down two decades ago—but the lean and fit Yarynich is as jumpy as an informant dodging the KGB. He begins to whisper, quietly but firmly.

“The Perimeter system is very, very nice,” he says. “We remove unique responsibility from high politicians and the military.” He looks around again.

Yarynich is talking about Russia’s doomsday machine. That’s right, an actual doomsday device—a real, functioning version of the ultimate weapon, always presumed to exist only as a fantasy of apocalypse-obsessed science fiction writers and paranoid über-hawks. The thing that historian Lewis Mumford called “the central symbol of this scientifically organized nightmare of mass extermination.” Turns out Yarynich, a 30-year veteran of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces and Soviet General Staff, helped build one.

Chart source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council

The point of the system, he explains, was to guarantee an automatic Soviet response to an American nuclear strike. Even if the US crippled the USSR with a surprise attack, the Soviets could still hit back. It wouldn’t matter if the US blew up the Kremlin, took out the defense ministry, severed the communications network, and killed everyone with stars on their shoulders. Ground-based sensors would detect that a devastating blow had been struck and a counterattack would be launched.

via Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine.