Aby The Liberal

Dmitri October 4th, 2007

If someone made a suggestion that Americans are violent by nature, they would of course be met with strong moral outrage, mostly from Americans. It might not considered politically correct in the Anglo-Saxon world to suggest that Americans are violent, yet political correctness can hardly cover the fact that the United States  is one of the most violent nations on earth, both by crime rates and by ideological glorification of violent pursuits. In this short piece, we will discuss in brief, the various social and political factors that are characteristic of violence in the United States, along with a brief overview of the facts and figures of violent crimes in United States. If you have any objection, agreement or argument against this article, feel free to use the comment form below.

A sarcastic cartoon by joyoftech.com on how Americans are more comfortable with violence than sexuality.

The United States has by far the largest number of people behind bars for violent crimes and one of the highest homicide rates in the world. According to the America’s FBI Crime in the United States 2005 data, violent crime rate in US was 469.2 per 100000 population as of the year 2005, the highest among industrialised countries. It must be noted that the American definition of violent crimes consitutes a smaller spectrum of crimes than European and Asian countries. The overall homicide and violent crime of US is comparable to that of disturbed East European and South-East Asian regions. Contrary to popular American arguments, 45.9% of the crimes between 1974 and 2004 are committed by whites, blacks make up a 52.1% and other races about 2%. The extent of crime in US can be best understood when it stands in a comparison with the rest of the world. The United States has less than 5% of world’s population and over 25% of the world’s population with criminal records.

There are several social and political factors which cause this crimes. One of them as explained above, is the inherent inclination of Americans towards violence. As is shown the the sarcastic cartoon above, most Americans would rather have their children watch a scene containing blood-lust and gore rather than a scene of intimacy or nudity. A human being with a slit throat or blood pouring out of its body is more acceptable than a human, hale and hearty but naked. Glorification of violence and war, are all covered by religious fundamentalist goups and very popular in the media. It is then no surprise that violence finds more social acceptability than love in United States. A point of note is that most American swearwords have a sexual theme, while a word ‘fucker’ is an insult, if one calls someone a ‘killer’ in America, it is a matter of pride.

Another cause of violence in America could be the large ownership of guns in America. Coupled with impusive behaviour and social acceptability of walking around with firearms, it is not surprise the a large proportion of violent crimes in America is because of guns. Guns in America is more acceptable and normal on kids than cellphones, many US states have laws that allow school kids to carry concealed handguns. There is also in incident where US authorities issued a gun on a 10 month old infant in Illonis state, admittedly the state with the strictest gun controls. If it were the 1700s and early 1800s, it would have been acceptable for an American to carry a gun to protect himself/herself from wild animals and predators, in today’s America it hardly makes sense. Issuing guns on 10-month old infants and untrained schoolkids is insanity, it is no surprise then that incidents in the likes of Columbine High School massacre and Virginia Tech massacre are exclusive to United States. The issue of gun control and gun related violence is so wide that it deserves an entire post on it for adequate justice.

The love of guns, social acceptability of violence and degradation of compassionate emotions, all point to the trait of Americans - they are inherently attracted to violence. Although there are people among Americans who are compassionate and kind-hearted, yet they have little voice in politics and society - one of the primary reasons for endless wars, genocides and mass violence in the annals of American history. One might ask - what has the issue of violent nature of Americans got to do with international politics? Well, one has to look at the way Americans attempt to push their way of life down the throat of third world denizens, with violent force and by portraying it as the only way of life worth living.

• Crimes , America , Sarcasm
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Aby August 20th, 2007

Origin and History of the US vs Soviet (now Russia) ICBM Race
The first steps to develop long range strategic missiles were taken by the National Socialist (Nazi) Germany during the World War 2. Known as Project Amerika, the rockets were developed with the intention to target and strike continental United States. The missiles were tested a few times during 1945, however the World War 2 ended and Germany was captured before they could be successfully deployed. Following the Operation Paperclip, the US administration secretly transferred prominent Nazi scientists like Erich W. Neubert and Wernher von Braun to America with assurances of immunity from persecution if they cooperated with the US in developing nuclear ballistic missiles.

A video of the first ICBM - the R-7, launched from Soviet base Tyuratam

Following the end of the World War 2 and the beginning of the US vs USSR Cold War, America began to deploy its forces in the bases of its NATO allies near Soviet Union (USSR). To counter the threat resulting from deployment of US bombers in NATO countries, Soviet scientists under Stalin’s regime started to research on long range missiles which could strike US mainland. The team was headed by aviation engineer Sergei Korolev and after a series of disappointing failures, they tasted success on August 1957 when the first ICBM, designated as R-7 Semyorka managed to cover 7000 km to strike a target in Kamchatka peninsula. The missile was capable of carrying a 2.9 MT nuclear warhead weighing 5.4 tons, up to a maximum range of 8600 km. A modified version of the R-7 ICBM was later used to launch the first satellite to space – the Sputnik 1 on October 1957. The US attempts to build an ICBM met with several spectacular failures till November 1958 when an Atlas missile logged a successful flight of 6350 miles, making it the first ICBM of the United States.

Early First and Second Generation ICBMs
Both the Soviet R-7 and US Atlas ICBMs used large launchers which were located in open space and vulnerable to an enemy attack. To make missile launch systems more secure against enemy first strikes, both the US and USSR started to develop underground Silo and sea based missile launch platforms. The period between 1960–70 was the second generation of nuclear missiles on which strategic missiles went from overground launchers to underground Silos and submarine SLBMs. The command and control centre were based separately from the launch locations for added protection. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the secret US nuclear missile deployments in Turkey created a situation of high tension and distrust between the superpowers USSR and USA resulting in the largest nuclear missile build-up in history.

The Third Generation ICBMs, MIRV and the Second Missile Gap
The third generation nuclear missiles (~ 1960-70) were marked by strategic missiles with multiple-warheaded MIRV capabilities. The LGM-30 Minuteman was the first ICBM to be deployed with MIRV warheads, in the late 1960s. The Soviets followed up in the early 1970s by modifying the heavy R-36M Voyevoda with MIRV warheads. The R-36M had a high throw weight of 8.8 tons, giving it a payload capacity of 10 MIRV warheads at 0.55 Megatons each or a single large warhead of 16-20 Megaton yield. The LGM-30 Minuteman, in comparison had a throw weight of less than 1200 kg which could carry up to 4 MIRV warheads of 0.17 kilotons each (or a single warhead of 2 Megaton yield). The US administrations of Reagan and Bush respected and feared the R-36RM (NATO name SS-18 Satan) to such an extent because of its speed, yield and survivability; that it became the focus of discussions with Soviet Union (now Russia). The START II treaty banned land based MIRVs partly because of the destabilising power of SS-18 Satan. However the treaty is yet to be ratified because of heavy opposition in Russian Duma (Parliament) against it. [Source]. The period was often known as “second missile gap“, as the lack of political will made the US strategic nuclear missile technology fell behind the Russian technology. To offset this disadvantage, the US started moving its strategic nuclear force to SLBMs and making long range nuclear capable ’stealth’ bombers.

The Fourth Generation ICBMs and the end of Cold War
The fourth generation nuclear missile age started somewhere around the 1980s with the introduction of mobile ICBMs, widespread submarine based SLBMs and hardened blast proof Silos. With the end of the Cold War and dissolution of USSR, the arms race between US and Russia (ex-USSR) decreased to a small extent. The US started to prioritise its conventional capabilities to spread its influence over the globe (often termed as ‘neo-imperialism’). Russia went into an economic crisis after 1991 which resulted in a severe cut-off in defence spendings, perhaps due to confidence on its huge military it inherited from Soviet Union. However Russia continued to research and develop its land based ICBMs and up to a little extent, the submarine launched SLBMs (perhaps to counter the US’ ICBMs’ accuracy advantage). The Soviet/Russian ICBMs of this generation were RT-2PM Topol (NATO desig. SS-25) and RT-23 Molodets (NATO SS-24 Scalpel) - both of them had mobile launch capabilities and heavy throw weights. The comparable US ICBMs were LGM-118A MX Peacekeeper and LGM-30 Minuteman III, both deployed in the 1980s - both of them known for high accuracy in targeting.

The Fifth Generation ICBMs and Present Scenario
The introduction of fifth generation ballistic missiles began with Russia’s RT-2PM2 Topol M and Iskander missiles after the re-emergence of Russia, owing to the recent economic boom. The fifth generation missiles are known for their high speed (scramjet rockets), manouverable warheads (MARV), high penetration decoys, cold launched mobile and fixed silos and a few other classified advantages. The Iskander tactical missile with a CEP of 10m is the most accurate ballistic missile till date. These missiles were deployed to preserve Russia’s nuclear deterrence in response to the US NMD (National Missile Defence) program which started to secure US mainland, on the lines of Moscow A-135 ABM defence of Russia. Russia has been opposing the US ABM system which would result in deployment of base-10 radars in Czechoslovakia and Poland, apparently compromising Russia’s national security. The Strategic Rocket Force (SRF) of Russia which overlooks the missile offence and defence system gained privileged status after the recent militarisation moves of Russian President Dr. Vladimir Putin. The latest missiles under development in Russian arsenal are RS-24 and RSM-56 Bulava, the latter a new generation SLBM.

Further Reads and Information -

• United States Nuclear Forces: ICBMs - Federation of American Scientists
• Long Range Ballistic Missiles of Russia - Anatoly Zak at Russian Space Web

• America , Military , Russia
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