Economics

The Golden Dome: We Have The Tools To Build It Right Now

Authored by Tory Bruno via RealClearWire,

Recently during President Trump’s State of the Union, he declared: “As commander in chief, my focus is on building the most powerful military of the future. As a first step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland, all made in the USA.”

Also referred to as an “Iron Dome,” a Golden Dome is a pretty awesome rebranding of the current Israeli missile defense system and a new initiative to protect the US from missile and hypersonic attack. President Trump is right—we absolutely want one, and it is finally possible.

Ballistic missiles are the weapons of choice for our adversaries to strike the U.S. homeland from far away. Our most sophisticated adversaries are also developing the dreaded maneuvering hypersonic weapon which is capable of defeating today’s missile defenses.

A ballistic missile would arrive in minutes, be hard to see, and come in blisteringly fast. That’s because they are launched with rockets, the fasted delivery systems on earth, making this threat really tough to counter. Enter the missile defense interceptor.

If you want to stop a rocket, you use another rocket. An interceptor flies out at high velocity into the path of the incoming warhead, destroying it in midair. Its radar detects an incoming warhead and alerts your Battle Management System that aims and fires. All this only takes a few minutes. It’s like shooting clay pigeons. The interceptor is wicked fast, but so is the warhead, so we aim at a point in front of the target, so they arrive at that spot together.

The marquis example is THAAD, which I developed a few years ago. It utilizes a powerful radar and an interceptor that flies at twice the speed of a rifle bullet. The radar can also be tipped off by a SBIRS satellite, allowing it to focus and pick up the warhead earlier. THAAD is ideal for short range to medium range threats, but it can also handle ICBMs within a smaller area. It can operate above the atmosphere or closer in, where decoys will be stripped away. It’s a great underlay for systems designed to defend large swaths of the country from ICBMs and works well with its own underlay of systems like Patriot that defend against cruise missiles. Layering is vital.

Israel’s Iron Dome system is quite good, but there’s one big challenge when we look at the United States: geography. Israel is only 85 miles wide vs. America’s 2,600 miles. But don’t worry, it turns out that we already have the most capable missile defense technology in the world. We just need more of them… Plus one extra for the dreaded hypersonic.

The United States requires a three-layered defense: 

An ICBM killer that takes a first shot and efficiently covers the entire country, 

a sea-based system off our coasts, and 

a regional defender providing an underlay for population centers.

Today, we have Ground-Based Midcourse Defense in Alaska. 

It’s there for North Korean ICBMs. It also…

Scambodia: Insiders Reveals How Major Money Laundering Network Gets Away With It

Every few weeks, fireworks explode across the night sky in Cambodia. These displays, however, are not festive celebrations or cultural ceremonies. Rather, they are the bold salutes of online scammers marking their most lucrative swindles – each colorful burst signaling the a successful operation on an unsuspecting target.

Victims worldwide lose tens of billions of dollars annually to scams involving romance fraud, fake cryptocurrency platforms, and investment hoaxes. Once stolen, the money disappears quickly, funnelled into a complex international money-laundering network designed to swiftly erase any trace of its illegal origins. Authorities across the globe—including the FBI, China’s Ministry of Public Security, and Interpol—have tried repeatedly to curb this phenomenon. Telecom companies block suspicious numbers, banks issue urgent warnings, and law enforcement agencies execute raids. Yet the scams continue, resilient as ever, according to some actual journalism by the NY Times.
Some Huione Pay branches advertise money-exchange services, including converting between Tether cryptocurrency and U.S. dollars. (NY Times)

Transactions within this network are predominantly denominated in Tether, which allows scammers to swiftly move money across borders and through a web of intermediaries known as “money mules,” obscuring its illicit origins.

The Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, and coastal city Sihanoukville serve as global hubs for these sophisticated money-laundering operations. In Phnom Penh, a sprawling financial conglomerate called Huione Group presents itself as a reputable enterprise with legitimate commercial activities across Southeast Asia. Huione’s recognizable QR codes are everywhere in Cambodia, facilitating transactions at hotels, supermarkets, and restaurants. Its advertisements line highways, highlighting services ranging from banking to insurance.

Integral to the money laundering operations are individuals called “matchmakers,” trusted intermediaries who connect scammers to money mules. These mules manage the bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets that swiftly funnel the stolen funds. Transactions are strategically divided into amounts below reporting thresholds such as $10,000, and moved quickly, often converted into Tether within hours or days, greatly complicating law enforcement’s ability to trace the money’s path.

The network profits at every step. Huione affiliates earn fees for escrow services and charge for advertisements and transactions conducted on their platforms. Remarkably, this marketplace has even launched its own cryptocurrency, further facilitating illicit financial flows.

Documents reviewed in the investigation detail a highly organized system operated by a Huione affiliate known as Huione International Pay. Based at the conglomerate’s Phnom Penh headquarters, departments within this affiliate meticulously track mule accounts in numerous countries, manage customer relations with scammers, and actively monitor relevant online platforms like Telegram.
Huione International Pay operates out of the conglomerate’s headquarters in Phnom Penh, according to two people familiar with the operation. (NY Times)

The scale of this criminal enterprise is staggering. Analytics firms Elliptic and Chainalysis have traced approximately $26.8 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since 2021 back to the illicit marketplace run by Huione affiliates. One Telegram channel alone, aptly named “Demand and Supply,” had over 400,000 active users exchanging hundreds of daily messages about money-laundering services before being shut down briefly by Telegram after an inquiry….