Iran May Have Acquired S-300 Missile Defense Systems

According to unconfirmed reports Iran has purchased 4 S-300 (NATO designation, SA-10 Grumble) surface to air missile platforms, possibly in an effort to prevent a U.S. or Israeli air strike.

Though currently denying the allegations, Belarus is said to have supplied two of missile platforms and the other two come from an another as yet unknown source.

The report could be a ploy by the Iranians to delay or avoid an air strike, but if they do have the missile systems an air strike will be more difficult. Those difficulties aside the U.S. is still said to have a viable attack plan for Iran.

Though Belarus is denying the sale, Janes Defence Weekly reported as far back as January 2008 that they were in negotiations to purchase the S-300's from them.

Coronal Mass Ejection May Cause Disruptions, Being Called Solar Tsunami by Some

Source SDO

Are you prepared to deal with communications disruptions, power outages and other effects from solar storms? If you haven't yet considered the possibility that your business could be disrupted by such an event, read on.

Four large Coronal Mass Ejection's or CME's occurred on the 1st of August (see August 1, 2010 CME) causing an intense light show when they arrived here on August 2nd. NOAA forecasters are expecting the second cloud to arrive either tonight or tomorrow on August 5th.

While the Sun has been quiet for some time now, two of the four CME's that I am aware of, are being called Solar Tsunami's by the media, were Earth facing and classified as a C-3 and a C-2 in the solar flare classification scale.

Why is this an important event? Because scientists are concerned that the electrical impulses may damage certain parts of our infrastructure such as the power grids, telephone lines and several satellites may also be damaged by the event.

Since I am always looking at emerging events that can disrupt your business, I'd like to point out that I  wrote about this topic last July in the following post: Sun Spots, Solar Flares, and Geomagnetic Induced Currents Can Disrupt Your Business.

Truthfully, these current CMS's shouldn't do anything more than provide a spectacular light show, but disruptions can still occur. The one to watch will be the predicted soalr storm of 2013 if it happenes. We will provide updates to this event as it unfolds if anything important surrounding it occurs.

The estimated time of arrival of the event is list as follows: 

• Wednesday, August 4 – 07:00 UTC
• Wednesday, August 4 – 17:00 UTC
• Thursday, August 5 – 00:00 UTC
• Thursday, August 5 – 06:00 UTC

Mexican Drug Cartel Uses VBIED To Take Out First Responders

As most of you know by now, a Mexican drug cartel has for the first time, used a car bomb detonated by remote cell phone as a weapon. The weapons used in the Mexico have been growing exponentially in their destructive caliber over the last year. From small arms, to automatic weapons, to grenade's and RPG's and now Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's).

Not only did they create and use an IED, detonated with a cellular phone, but they targeted and lured first responders by dressing an injured civilian in police clothing and calling it in as an injured police officer.

It is reported that some of the Mexican drug cartels have been working with former Colombian drug lords who have also used such tactics. 

The violence in Mexico has had a marked increased again lately, and though many reports are comparing the attack as reminiscent of past attacks in Colombia, the Chicago Times made some interesting references to terrorist organizations (the Chicago Times article is below in the references).

Reports have been made that Mexican drug cartels are working with international terror organizations before, and I wrote about it once last year here: Connection Between Mexican Drug Cartels and Terrorists Clear in which General Craig McKinley, the head of the United States National Guard said the link between terrorism and drug cartels along the United States border with Mexico is increasingly clear.

Other interesting tactics are being used as well, such as heads being cut off, bodies hung from bridges, and the comparison is made in the Chicago Times article to certain area becoming like "Iraq."

As I write this the White House has officially announced that ICE is increasing the number of National Guard Troops on the U.S. Mexican border.

Happy Fourth of July

I'd like to wish you all a Safe and Happy Fourth of July.

Thank you for all your support during the past year.

Keith

Disaster Tip of The Week: Don't Tell Others About Your Emergency Supplies

One very important rule of thumb about keeping supplies and having disaster or emergency plans and kits is to not tell others about it, especially if you don't want them showing up on your doorstep or even worse they could make taking your supplies part of their plan.

You may even want to have some extra supplies built in to give to some people so they will leave if the do show up. But you must be careful with this strategy as well since they may return with more people to try and take what you have.

These are of course worst case planning scenarios, but that is exactly when you want to keep what you are doing a secret.

This also goes for other locations you plan on heading to. If others know, all your stuff may be gone when you get there, or someone may have taken over your place. Keep everything a secret and tell your family to do so too.