China will raise most of the world to a developed level or go bust trying

China will raise most of the world to a developed level or go bust trying

China's One Belt One Road project will equal nine Marshall plans. China will spend 9% of GDP each year for 30 to 40 years

The long term plan will build rail, ports, airports, roads, energy production, factories and massive urban developments from China to Europe and in Asia, Africa and Europe. It will continue the development of China. It should have every area near a global middle class or at a fully developed level.

If successful it would be similar to the Roman Empire but without the political union.

The population impacted would be about the level of nine times Europe's population. 

20 to 30 years after the main 30 to 40 year effort the entire region could be lifted to current European levels or higher because of more advanced technology and infrastructure. 

The Marshall Plan engendered goodwill for the USA for decades and this effort will likely garner similar soft power benefits.

If Europe and America and the other developed countries get fully on board then nearly the entire world could be at a developed or near developed level in the 2070 timeframe.

For all of those who would wish for large fractions of GDP to not be spent on the military but on world economic development and raising the poor then this is what will be the vehicle for that wish.

Iran Is Ready To Attack Israel

The tension between Israel and Iran appears to be heightening. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), recently said: “Hezbollah has 100,000 missiles that are ready to hit Israel to liberate the occupied Palestinian territories if the Zionist regime repeats its past mistakes.”

He added: “Today, the grounds for the annihilation and collapse of the Zionist regime are [present] more than ever.” Salami warned that if Israel made the “wrong move,” it would come under attack.

Russian drone entered Israeli territory but IDF could not shoot down UAV

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah earlier claimed its fighters had sent the drone.

A Russian drone is thought to have entered Israeli territory in what is considered a human error. It was initially believed that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) belonged to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The aircraft entered the Israeli airspace on 17 July from Syria and went as far as 4kms into Israel. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) tried to shoot down the vehicle at least three times but were unsuccessful. The IDF acknowledged the incident but said they were not aware who sent it.

Two surface-to-air Patriot missiles and another air-to-air missile from a fighter jet were fired at the drone but missed their target. The UAV went back to Syria after the brief aerial encounter.

Though Hezbollah had initially claimed responsibility for the drone, it has now emerged that the UAV belonged to Russian forces, reports the Israeli daily Haaretz. The newspaper said Russian officials have admitted that the breach was caused by "human error". However, Israeli media outlets have also speculated that it is possible the Moscow's forces are checking Israel's defence capabilities by sending a drone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have held a phone call over the matter in which the Russian leader clarified it was an accident, added the report.

United States to Produce First New Nukes in Decades

The United States is about to rebuild its arsenal of B61 nuclear bombs to a new standard, ensuring they stay reliable while adding new capabilities including a "dial-a-yield" capability. The process is so extensive some critics charge that the modified bombs are essentially a new weapon, a development that could restart the nuclear arms race.

The Pentagon has many types of nuclear weapons, but currently the only true "bomb"—dropped from an aircraft and delivered to target by free fall flight—is the B61. First produced in the late 1960s, the B61 series of bombs can be carried carried by a number of combat aircraft, including the B-52 Stratofortress, B-2A Spirit, F-15E Strike Eagle, and F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-35A Joint Strike Fighter will also be cleared to carry the new version of the bomb.

Now the National Nuclear Security Agency, or NNSA, has cleared the B61-12 to enter its last phase of development before production. Production will involve taking older versions of the bomb and updating them to the B61-12 standard. Washington insists that the update is critical to ensure the bombs remain reliable into the future.

In addition to the reliability update, the B61-12 has several new features. It has a new set of bolt-on tail fins that increase the range at which the bomb can be released and still hit its target. This increases aircraft survivability while allowing the pilot to avoid close-in air defenses. The bomb also has a new inertial navigation system accurate to 30 meters, without using the constellation of GPS navigation satellites that might be shot down in wartime.

Finally and perhaps most importantly it has a "dial-a-yield" mechanism that allows the operator to choose the explosive power of the bomb. The bomb can be set to the equivalent of a mere 300 tons of TNT, 1.5 kilotons of TNT, 10 kilotons, or 50 kilotons. The Hiroshima bomb, for comparison, was about 16 kilotons.

The B61-12 program is estimated to run approximately $10 billion dollars, to produce between 400 and 500 bombs. That breaks down to approximately $28 million per bomb, which will make it the most expensive U.S. nuclear bomb project ever. At one point, with gold at $1,619 an ounce, observers of the program noted the 700 pound bomb cost "1.5 Times its Weight in Solid Gold."

Critics of the B61 modernization believe that introducing a new bomb into the military arsenal at this point could restart a nuclear arms race with Russia and even China. They also charge that the "dial-a-yield" capability and and low yields could encourage the Commander-in-Chief to use them instead of conventional weapons.

Supporters of the weapon believe that modernizing the U.S.'s nuclear bomb stockpile will put bad actors on notice that Washington is serious about its nuclear policy. The upgrade will also give the U.S. expanded options for using the weapons, trading explosive yield for accuracy. Using smaller bombs in a conflict could prevent escalation to using larger ones. But let's hope it doesn't come to that.