Programmable logic controllers and digital control systems. These units are most commonly found in industrial settings and in particular are extensively used in power plants. They are subject to upset and damage at moderate levels of EMP assault (see figure 2-6). The circuit board pictured is from a typical PLC unit and is exhibiting a damaging short-circuit flashover during EMP Commission-sponsored testing.
General-purpose desktop computers and SCADA remote and master terminal units. These were the most susceptible to damage or upset of all the test articles. Unlike the other kinds of devices tested, several different models and vintages were examined. The RS-232 ports were found to be particularly susceptible, even at very low levels of EMP stress.
With the exception of the RS-232 connections, all of the electronic devices that were tested performed up to the manufacturer’s claimed levels for electromagnetic compatibility. Thus, the international standards to which the manufacturers subscribe are being met. Unfortunately the induced E1 stress is higher than the standards for normal operation.
The net result of this testing provides evidence that the power grid is also vulnerable to collapse due to the E1 component of an EMP assault, primarily through the upset and damage of the soft computer systems that are in common use. This however suggests that operational performance can be considerably enhanced at modest cost by attending to installation and configuration issues....
In an EMP event, it is not one or a few SCADA systems that are malfunctioning (the typical historical scenario) but very large numbers, hundreds or even thousands over a huge geographic area with a significant fraction of those rendered permanently inoperable until replaced or physically repaired. Critically, the systems that would identify what components are damaged and where they are located are also unavailable in many instances.
CNC machines rely on computers.
I'm pretty sure that modern microelectronics aren't made with blast furnaces, molds, and pig iron.
You must have misread the sections about motor vehicles. It isn't just a few with "blinking lights" that clear with a reboot as you stated even if the effects are less severe than I stated.
Also, nobody should overlook the magnifying affect of the widespread damage occurring simultaneously across the country. Not only will there be huge damage, but the problems will multiply due to the disruption of supply chains for everything from fuel to food to repair parts.
We're not ready for a massive EMP... or a 500 mile high Tsunami... or Giant radioactive lizards that breath fire.
Unlike the other two, an EMP event that could damage or destroy most electronic equipment within 1,000 mils of it can be created by most any nuclear power on the planet. A growing number of those nuclear powers are either unstable, hostile, or both, towards the US and the West. Iran is probably next on the list to have that capability.
that scenario isn't even remotely plausible outside total nuclear annihilation.
You've just stated you completely fail to understand the nature of EMP. The most dangerous EMP event is a large nuclear warhead exploded high above the ground, too high to do any meaningful damage on the ground. The damage is caused by the electromagnetic radiation released from the blast as EMP. It only takes one explosion. That isn't a nuclear Armageddon. It is returning a major post-industrial computer based society to a horse and wagon based economy in seconds, without having the horses and wagons to do the work not to mention the computers, computer controlled vehicles (engines), and other electronics.
Further, Hurrican Katrina showed that even an EMP hitting a major city is really nothing more than a power outage.
Hurricane Katrina was a hurricane, not EMP. EMP would have resulted in a power outage and fried electronics in cars, computers, and just about anywhere else they are used. Imagine that happening across a 2,000 mile stretch of the US at the same time.
Frankly, I could care less about an EMP.
Just about the only correct thing you wrote.
Any number of computer viruses could disable more machines than an EMP.
No, not even close. And you can reload a PC from CD/DVD if it gets hit by a virus. Try that after EMP has fried the microprocessor.
You're strongly opinionated and pretty much completely wrong on the facts and policy.
I assume you're intelligent enough to read and interpret a broadcast schedule?
Have you been observant enough to see the problems at MSNBC and CNN?
In its State of the News Media: An Annual Report on American Journalism, Pew details, among other interesting tidbits the percentages of news reporting and opinion on the three biggest cable news channels. According to the study, the breakdown of MSNBC shows that a whopping 85 percent of its airtime is taken up with opinion, compared to 55 percent of the time on Fox and 45 percent of CNN’s air. -- Why Liberals Still Detest Fox News
So Snowden was actually a Russian spy all along? Is that why he went to Hong Kong first, then applied and waited for assylum in Russia? Sorry, that doesn't make any fucking sense. (IAA Intelligence Analyst)
Snowden was in contact with the Russian embassy while in Hong Kong. He had a birthday party there. It wasn't a surprise when he showed up in Russia.
It all makes sense if they are trying to mask Snowden's involvement with Russia, especially if they are leveraging events to conduct Soviet style political warfare.
If you think that a technical discussion on EMP is necessary to be newsworthy I think you're really looking for the wrong thing. This is really a policy question, just like many other things that get discussed with considerable vigor on Slashdot. The technical issues are pretty well understood, as are the means to address them.
President Obama certainly has responsibility for the decisions he makes while in power. But if you were thinking that Obama was going to be blamed for the existence of a problem that has been around since 1945 you might have a distorted view of Fox News, and are confusing their opinion segments with the news segments.
Oh, right becasue idiots think an EMP would stop most vehicles from running.
Only those with modern computer controlled engines and sophisticated antipollution technology. And unfortunately it will take computer run equipment to fix them.
So, basically, we would be in 1910 for about a month, then 1920, within a year everyone would have power again.
Unfortunately it isn't 1910 any more. Nearly all of the available equipment that would be needed to build or repair infrastructure relies on either computers or electricity. Steam power has pretty much gone out of style. It might take longer than you think, and 1910 might be one of the better case scenarios for a starting point to rebuild. By the way, how many horses, wagons, and buggies are there around these days? I'm sure the Amish will do fine, but the rest of us?
Would civilization collapse? no.
It would be badly damaged at best, and there would be large numbers of people dying. Think "New Orleans" after Katrina on a country-wide scale.
EMP will likely take out most computer controlled engines, which is most modern engines. Supermarkets generally only have a few days of food on hand. Few people keep more than a few days of food on hand. A big part of that will start to go bad within a day or two when the electricity goes out and the refrigerator and freezer don't work. Cooking? Few houses and apartments are set up for cooking without electricity. In the dark, with limited food, difficulty cooking, coming problems with the water supply, there will be medical emergencies that will go unanswered because telephones won't work, ambulances won't run, the electronic health records rely on fried computers. Feel free to continue the exercise.
The internet would be running at some capacity through the whole thing.
Not if the EMP damaged the electronics, no. It certainly wouldn't have the major enabling role that it does today. And the "just in time" style of logistics that has become so common means there is far less slack in the supply chain than there used to be.
The biggest risk is that all these ignorant survivalist cause people to panic becasue of all the FUD that have been spreading.
You mean that the people that have stores of food, medicine, and essentials that operate without electricity will cause panic in the people without food, water, medicine, transportation? You might have that backwards.
Reading summary: this seems pretty stupid and a little fear-mongery for slashdot.
Click link: Fox news, figures. Usual shit reporting and lack of detail. Obamacare not mentioned anywhere in article.
Click link in article to watchdog.org: not much more detail, more zomg fear crap, still no mention of obamacare.
Read comments on watchdog.org: ok, I’m out
Not saying there isn’t something to talk about here, but linking to fox news for this kind of topic is like linking to a local news report on heartbleed. We aren’t the audience for this level of reporting.
So you repeatedly looked for "Obamacare" information in a story about the dangers to infrastructure posed by EMP? (And that is modded "informative"?!?!) Yes, I'll agree with your assessment that you "...aren’t the audience for this level of reporting." You don't seem to be up to that level. On top of that your post isn't really anything other than an anti-Fox News troll.
There is plenty of fodder in those stories for good discussion by anyone that is interested. You apparently aren't.
On multiple occasions during the past 155 years, large enough CME’s have disrupted electrical systems on Earth. One of the largest recorded solar flares happened in 1859. The CME, called the Carrington Event, disrupted telegraph systems in Europe and North America, and lit up the evening sky.
A solar flare in 1989 caused a blackout in Quebec that lasted more than nine hours, and systems as far away as New Jersey were also damaged. In 2013, Space.com ranked the solar storm that caused the blackout as the fourth worst in history.
Space.com ranked a solar storm in December 2006 as the worst, and U.S. government officials reported that the event disrupted satellite communications and GPS signals for about 10 minutes and damaged the satellite that took the picture of the storm.
A joint study published in 2013 by researchers at Lloyd’s of London and Atmospheric and Environmental Research found that a similar event today would cost the world economy $2.3 trillion.
Risk of another Carrington-class solar flare is expected to peak by early 2015. In the summer of 2012, Earth narrowly missed one estimated to have been more powerful than the Carrington Event and 35 times the size of Earth.
Lets expand on that. Why can't ordinary citizens of the many nations (US, UK, AU, NZ, CA) that Snowden took documents from and leaked have a grievance against him? Do they all work for the intelligence services of their government? Or can ordinary citizens be against it and express an opinion? If not, are you working on the side of the FSB and Chinese intelligence in the conduct of political warfare against the US by advocating in favor of Snowden? If not, why can't someone have a contrary view, that Snowden's actions were bad, without working for the NSA? Does the fact that he arranges for a few of the documents that he stole to be published make it all OK? Does that give Snowden a pass to do whatever he wants without criticism?
If he really wanted to ask questions about freedoms, he should have asked about the LGBT rights in Russia or Chechens' right for self-determination. In the US, asking about surveillance violations is the right question to ask because, by and large, it is one of the most pressing issues. In Russia, that ain't.
The proper question to ask when it comes to freedom is always the one concerning the greatest, most infamous violations.
Not really. Both subjects, and plenty more, would be appropriate to ask in Russia. There is no shortage of problematic areas of human rights issues there, not to mention a growing list of incidents of aggression against its neighbors. Russia is choosing to revert to its Soviet past.
I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.
Nobody said that 3D printing was going to be a sustainable technology.
CNC machines do a lot of it these days, but if you are looking for customization, repair of something old, rare, or otherwise out of production, a skilled machinist / gunsmith could very easily be involved.
The Russian armies continuing to mass on Ukraine's borders? Russian special forces and intelligence agents infiltrating Ukraine and instigating insurrection and incidents? The Russians violating the Open Skies treaty to deny Western and US compliance inspection over-flights of Russia to hide their activity? The UN finding that the Crimean election wasn't quite as free as claimed? Putin admitting that the "little green men" in Crimea were, "surprise! surprise!," Russian soldiers after all? Jews being told they must "register" in an area of Ukraine controlled by Russian separatists? which echoes the problems Russia has with National Socialists? Russia taking up the "anti-fascist" fight after "defeating fascism" in Poland in 1939 (splitting it with the Germans), "defeating fascism" in Finland in 1940 (annexing Finnish territory), "defeating fascism" in Georgia in 2008 (taking territory from it), and now volunteering to "defeat fascism" in Ukraine despite the fact that Russia seems to be unable to defeat fascism at home? That momentum is building in Ukraine's legislature for rearming with nuclear weapons which will ironically be accepting Putin's advice offered on Syria?
Ironically, the notion of reacquiring nuclear weapons as a security guarantee is a position publicly advocated by Putin himself: "If you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security.... This is logical: If you have the bomb, no one will touch you." -- Is Ukraine about to go nuclear again?
Putin has promoted the notion that ethnic Russians were in danger. There has never been evidence for this unless you count as brutal repression a failed attempt to revive an old law making Ukrainian the sole language for court hearings and government forms. Putin calls for greater autonomy for the south and east of Ukraine, and more rights for Russian-speakers, while doing all he can to obstruct elections that would bring them back into the political process.
No doubt there is more. Do you have an inside scoop? Is it, as I fear, that the US is at fault?
Beans and frozen vegetables are your friends. Get a crock pot. Make a crock of beans, divide them into servings and freeze them to use as needed. Beans are good nutrition. Meat and bean dishes go much further than just meat. A crock pot is also great for turning less expensive cuts of meat into a feast.
I find that frozen vegetables are much handier than canned, they keep nicely, and don't have all the added salt or other ingredients. Having them in the freezer makes adding vegetables to a dish, or making a side dish, very easy. You can easily have several different types or mixes to use as desired. Spinach in the omelet, mixed veggies in the stew, and so on. Getting those vegetables into your diet is better than just going for a burger and fries all the time.
Eggs are a great source of cheap protein, and sometimes they even go on sale. You can hard boil them to keep them longer.
Keep an eye out for sales on various fruits and vegetables, such as apples, sweet potatoes, or potatoes, and buy a bunch.
Frozen bread dough can be quite a bit cheaper than already baked loaves. Having some in the freezer during bad weather means you can have bread in case there is a run on the store (as sometimes happens) and the shelves are bare.
Raman can be tasty, filing, and tempting, but you might want to leave it as an occasional treat with all the fat and salt in the standard cheap stuff. Nutritionally you're probably better off with a potato.
You'll know you're developing the right mindset if you look at the price of a standard fast food "meal deal" and think to yourself: "I could buy a pound/half kilo of hamburger, a loaf of bread, and add a few pennies of potatoes and eat for 3-4 days for that! If I made a meat and bean stew it would be all week!"
Plan ahead. If you are going out, bring a container of water and a snack, such as an apple. That way you can avoid the temptation of soda and a candy bar. It's cheaper and better for you.
If you do it right, eating fairly cheaply can be healthy too.
I'm pretty sure Europeans are more worried about the US starting the next war.
I'm pretty sure that Russia has fixed that problem for the Europeans able to make a reasoned judgment that might have actually believed that. The ones that still believe that tend more towards viewing the world with a constant filter applied and it will take an actual occupation or perhaps bombing to adjust it.
Slashdot Mirror
I have to wonder if you read your own link?
Programmable logic controllers and digital control systems.
These units are most commonly found in industrial settings and in particular are extensively used in power plants. They are subject to upset and damage at moderate levels of EMP assault (see figure 2-6). The circuit board pictured is from a typical PLC unit and is exhibiting a damaging short-circuit flashover during EMP Commission-sponsored testing.
General-purpose desktop computers and SCADA remote and master terminal units.
These were the most susceptible to damage or upset of all the test articles. Unlike the other kinds of devices tested, several different models and vintages were examined. The RS-232 ports were found to be particularly susceptible, even at very low levels of EMP stress.
With the exception of the RS-232 connections, all of the electronic devices that were tested performed up to the manufacturer’s claimed levels for electromagnetic compatibility. Thus, the international standards to which the manufacturers subscribe are being met. Unfortunately the induced E1 stress is higher than the standards for normal operation.
The net result of this testing provides evidence that the power grid is also vulnerable to collapse due to the E1 component of an EMP assault, primarily through the upset and damage of the soft computer systems that are in common use. This however suggests that operational performance can be considerably enhanced at modest cost by attending to installation and configuration issues. ...
In an EMP event, it is not one or a few SCADA systems that are malfunctioning (the typical historical scenario) but very large numbers, hundreds or even thousands over a huge geographic area with a significant fraction of those rendered permanently inoperable until replaced or physically repaired. Critically, the systems that would identify what components are damaged and where they are located are also unavailable in many instances.
CNC machines rely on computers.
I'm pretty sure that modern microelectronics aren't made with blast furnaces, molds, and pig iron.
You must have misread the sections about motor vehicles. It isn't just a few with "blinking lights" that clear with a reboot as you stated even if the effects are less severe than I stated.
Also, nobody should overlook the magnifying affect of the widespread damage occurring simultaneously across the country. Not only will there be huge damage, but the problems will multiply due to the disruption of supply chains for everything from fuel to food to repair parts.
We're not ready for a massive EMP... or a 500 mile high Tsunami... or Giant radioactive lizards that breath fire.
Unlike the other two, an EMP event that could damage or destroy most electronic equipment within 1,000 mils of it can be created by most any nuclear power on the planet. A growing number of those nuclear powers are either unstable, hostile, or both, towards the US and the West. Iran is probably next on the list to have that capability.
that scenario isn't even remotely plausible outside total nuclear annihilation.
You've just stated you completely fail to understand the nature of EMP. The most dangerous EMP event is a large nuclear warhead exploded high above the ground, too high to do any meaningful damage on the ground. The damage is caused by the electromagnetic radiation released from the blast as EMP. It only takes one explosion. That isn't a nuclear Armageddon. It is returning a major post-industrial computer based society to a horse and wagon based economy in seconds, without having the horses and wagons to do the work not to mention the computers, computer controlled vehicles (engines), and other electronics.
Further, Hurrican Katrina showed that even an EMP hitting a major city is really nothing more than a power outage.
Hurricane Katrina was a hurricane, not EMP. EMP would have resulted in a power outage and fried electronics in cars, computers, and just about anywhere else they are used. Imagine that happening across a 2,000 mile stretch of the US at the same time.
Frankly, I could care less about an EMP.
Just about the only correct thing you wrote.
Any number of computer viruses could disable more machines than an EMP.
No, not even close. And you can reload a PC from CD/DVD if it gets hit by a virus. Try that after EMP has fried the microprocessor.
You're strongly opinionated and pretty much completely wrong on the facts and policy.
Would people stop using /. and start using soylentnews.org, please!?!? I can't take this anymore!
Then why are you here commenting instead of there basking in the delights of "soylentnews.org"?? Trolling for members?
I assume you're intelligent enough to read and interpret a broadcast schedule?
Have you been observant enough to see the problems at MSNBC and CNN?
In its State of the News Media: An Annual Report on American Journalism, Pew details, among other interesting tidbits the percentages of news reporting and opinion on the three biggest cable news channels. According to the study, the breakdown of MSNBC shows that a whopping 85 percent of its airtime is taken up with opinion, compared to 55 percent of the time on Fox and 45 percent of CNN’s air. -- Why Liberals Still Detest Fox News
So Snowden was actually a Russian spy all along? Is that why he went to Hong Kong first, then applied and waited for assylum in Russia? Sorry, that doesn't make any fucking sense. (IAA Intelligence Analyst)
Snowden was in contact with the Russian embassy while in Hong Kong. He had a birthday party there. It wasn't a surprise when he showed up in Russia.
It all makes sense if they are trying to mask Snowden's involvement with Russia, especially if they are leveraging events to conduct Soviet style political warfare.
If you think that a technical discussion on EMP is necessary to be newsworthy I think you're really looking for the wrong thing. This is really a policy question, just like many other things that get discussed with considerable vigor on Slashdot. The technical issues are pretty well understood, as are the means to address them.
President Obama certainly has responsibility for the decisions he makes while in power. But if you were thinking that Obama was going to be blamed for the existence of a problem that has been around since 1945 you might have a distorted view of Fox News, and are confusing their opinion segments with the news segments.
Oh, right becasue idiots think an EMP would stop most vehicles from running.
Only those with modern computer controlled engines and sophisticated antipollution technology. And unfortunately it will take computer run equipment to fix them.
So, basically, we would be in 1910 for about a month, then 1920, within a year everyone would have power again.
Unfortunately it isn't 1910 any more. Nearly all of the available equipment that would be needed to build or repair infrastructure relies on either computers or electricity. Steam power has pretty much gone out of style. It might take longer than you think, and 1910 might be one of the better case scenarios for a starting point to rebuild. By the way, how many horses, wagons, and buggies are there around these days? I'm sure the Amish will do fine, but the rest of us?
Would civilization collapse? no.
It would be badly damaged at best, and there would be large numbers of people dying. Think "New Orleans" after Katrina on a country-wide scale.
EMP will likely take out most computer controlled engines, which is most modern engines. Supermarkets generally only have a few days of food on hand. Few people keep more than a few days of food on hand. A big part of that will start to go bad within a day or two when the electricity goes out and the refrigerator and freezer don't work. Cooking? Few houses and apartments are set up for cooking without electricity. In the dark, with limited food, difficulty cooking, coming problems with the water supply, there will be medical emergencies that will go unanswered because telephones won't work, ambulances won't run, the electronic health records rely on fried computers. Feel free to continue the exercise.
The internet would be running at some capacity through the whole thing.
Not if the EMP damaged the electronics, no. It certainly wouldn't have the major enabling role that it does today. And the "just in time" style of logistics that has become so common means there is far less slack in the supply chain than there used to be.
The biggest risk is that all these ignorant survivalist cause people to panic becasue of all the FUD that have been spreading.
You mean that the people that have stores of food, medicine, and essentials that operate without electricity will cause panic in the people without food, water, medicine, transportation? You might have that backwards.
Well, to be fair, at this point a link to the onion would enhance the credibility of the article.
The story is fine. Most of the comments seem to be from the Onion.
Reading summary: this seems pretty stupid and a little fear-mongery for slashdot.
Click link: Fox news, figures. Usual shit reporting and lack of detail. Obamacare not mentioned anywhere in article.
Click link in article to watchdog.org: not much more detail, more zomg fear crap, still no mention of obamacare.
Read comments on watchdog.org: ok, I’m out
Not saying there isn’t something to talk about here, but linking to fox news for this kind of topic is like linking to a local news report on heartbleed. We aren’t the audience for this level of reporting.
So you repeatedly looked for "Obamacare" information in a story about the dangers to infrastructure posed by EMP? (And that is modded "informative"?!?!) Yes, I'll agree with your assessment that you "...aren’t the audience for this level of reporting." You don't seem to be up to that level. On top of that your post isn't really anything other than an anti-Fox News troll.
There is plenty of fodder in those stories for good discussion by anyone that is interested. You apparently aren't.
Experts: Civilians not ready for EMP-caused blackout
On multiple occasions during the past 155 years, large enough CME’s have disrupted electrical systems on Earth. One of the largest recorded solar flares happened in 1859. The CME, called the Carrington Event, disrupted telegraph systems in Europe and North America, and lit up the evening sky.
A solar flare in 1989 caused a blackout in Quebec that lasted more than nine hours, and systems as far away as New Jersey were also damaged. In 2013, Space.com ranked the solar storm that caused the blackout as the fourth worst in history.
Space.com ranked a solar storm in December 2006 as the worst, and U.S. government officials reported that the event disrupted satellite communications and GPS signals for about 10 minutes and damaged the satellite that took the picture of the storm.
A joint study published in 2013 by researchers at Lloyd’s of London and Atmospheric and Environmental Research found that a similar event today would cost the world economy $2.3 trillion.
Risk of another Carrington-class solar flare is expected to peak by early 2015. In the summer of 2012, Earth narrowly missed one estimated to have been more powerful than the Carrington Event and 35 times the size of Earth.
From Eli Lake at The Daily Beast: Sorry, Snowden: Putin Lied to You About His Surveillance State—And Made You a Pawn of It
Lets expand on that. Why can't ordinary citizens of the many nations (US, UK, AU, NZ, CA) that Snowden took documents from and leaked have a grievance against him? Do they all work for the intelligence services of their government? Or can ordinary citizens be against it and express an opinion? If not, are you working on the side of the FSB and Chinese intelligence in the conduct of political warfare against the US by advocating in favor of Snowden? If not, why can't someone have a contrary view, that Snowden's actions were bad, without working for the NSA? Does the fact that he arranges for a few of the documents that he stole to be published make it all OK? Does that give Snowden a pass to do whatever he wants without criticism?
If he really wanted to ask questions about freedoms, he should have asked about the LGBT rights in Russia or Chechens' right for self-determination. In the US, asking about surveillance violations is the right question to ask because, by and large, it is one of the most pressing issues. In Russia, that ain't.
The proper question to ask when it comes to freedom is always the one concerning the greatest, most infamous violations.
Not really. Both subjects, and plenty more, would be appropriate to ask in Russia. There is no shortage of problematic areas of human rights issues there, not to mention a growing list of incidents of aggression against its neighbors. Russia is choosing to revert to its Soviet past.
That kind of crappy comment gets old. Can you engage on this topic without personal smears?
I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.
Nobody said that 3D printing was going to be a sustainable technology.
CNC machines do a lot of it these days, but if you are looking for customization, repair of something old, rare, or otherwise out of production, a skilled machinist / gunsmith could very easily be involved.
There are old systems out there so perverse, they poison almost every part of your code
There are people out there deeply attached to their 6, 9, or 12 bit bytes and 36 or 60 bit words, you insensitive clod! ;)
Both hats off and donations to OpenBSD are in order.
That would have been insightful if the law hadn't eliminated insurance coverage for many Americans.
The Russian armies continuing to mass on Ukraine's borders?
Russian special forces and intelligence agents infiltrating Ukraine and instigating insurrection and incidents?
The Russians violating the Open Skies treaty to deny Western and US compliance inspection over-flights of Russia to hide their activity?
The UN finding that the Crimean election wasn't quite as free as claimed?
Putin admitting that the "little green men" in Crimea were, "surprise! surprise!," Russian soldiers after all?
Jews being told they must "register" in an area of Ukraine controlled by Russian separatists? which echoes the problems Russia has with National Socialists?
Russia taking up the "anti-fascist" fight after "defeating fascism" in Poland in 1939 (splitting it with the Germans), "defeating fascism" in Finland in 1940 (annexing Finnish territory), "defeating fascism" in Georgia in 2008 (taking territory from it), and now volunteering to "defeat fascism" in Ukraine despite the fact that Russia seems to be unable to defeat fascism at home?
That momentum is building in Ukraine's legislature for rearming with nuclear weapons which will ironically be accepting Putin's advice offered on Syria?
Ironically, the notion of reacquiring nuclear weapons as a security guarantee is a position publicly advocated by Putin himself: "If you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. ... This is logical: If you have the bomb, no one will touch you." -- Is Ukraine about to go nuclear again?
Most Ukrainians are neither loyal Russians nor fascists
Putin has promoted the notion that ethnic Russians were in danger. There has never been evidence for this unless you count as brutal repression a failed attempt to revive an old law making Ukrainian the sole language for court hearings and government forms. Putin calls for greater autonomy for the south and east of Ukraine, and more rights for Russian-speakers, while doing all he can to obstruct elections that would bring them back into the political process.
No doubt there is more. Do you have an inside scoop? Is it, as I fear, that the US is at fault?
Great Cesar's ghost! You're against a government regulatory effort!?!?* Surely that must be a sign of the apocalypse! And during a blood moon to boot.
*And when did usefulness or futility become a concern?
And grains, don't forget whole grains. Oats, barley, wheat, etc. Filling and nutritious.
I will add this:
Beans and frozen vegetables are your friends. Get a crock pot. Make a crock of beans, divide them into servings and freeze them to use as needed. Beans are good nutrition. Meat and bean dishes go much further than just meat. A crock pot is also great for turning less expensive cuts of meat into a feast.
I find that frozen vegetables are much handier than canned, they keep nicely, and don't have all the added salt or other ingredients. Having them in the freezer makes adding vegetables to a dish, or making a side dish, very easy. You can easily have several different types or mixes to use as desired. Spinach in the omelet, mixed veggies in the stew, and so on. Getting those vegetables into your diet is better than just going for a burger and fries all the time.
Eggs are a great source of cheap protein, and sometimes they even go on sale. You can hard boil them to keep them longer.
Keep an eye out for sales on various fruits and vegetables, such as apples, sweet potatoes, or potatoes, and buy a bunch.
Frozen bread dough can be quite a bit cheaper than already baked loaves. Having some in the freezer during bad weather means you can have bread in case there is a run on the store (as sometimes happens) and the shelves are bare.
Raman can be tasty, filing, and tempting, but you might want to leave it as an occasional treat with all the fat and salt in the standard cheap stuff. Nutritionally you're probably better off with a potato.
You'll know you're developing the right mindset if you look at the price of a standard fast food "meal deal" and think to yourself: "I could buy a pound/half kilo of hamburger, a loaf of bread, and add a few pennies of potatoes and eat for 3-4 days for that! If I made a meat and bean stew it would be all week!"
Plan ahead. If you are going out, bring a container of water and a snack, such as an apple. That way you can avoid the temptation of soda and a candy bar. It's cheaper and better for you.
If you do it right, eating fairly cheaply can be healthy too.
I'm pretty sure Europeans are more worried about the US starting the next war.
I'm pretty sure that Russia has fixed that problem for the Europeans able to make a reasoned judgment that might have actually believed that. The ones that still believe that tend more towards viewing the world with a constant filter applied and it will take an actual occupation or perhaps bombing to adjust it.
Better living through regulation strikes again. It is part of a well oiled machine.
Obama: My Plan Makes Electricity Rates Skyrocket
And you appear to have just lied. Ardis is an independent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...
Might you be a Democrat?