A pair of unsettling events conjuring Cold War memories will unfold this week on back-to-back days beginning Tuesday.
According to the U.K.’s Metro, Russian President Vladimir Putin will conduct a nuclear attack exercise on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, FEMA announced in August that it would conduct a test of the nation’s Emergency Alert System on Wednesday.
Putin’s exercise will simulate a nuclear attack from the West, so at least neither side has overt offensive designs.
On the other hand, according to Metro, some Russian officials have called for Putin to resume nuclear weapons testing.
For instance, Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute, a Soviet-era nuclear research and development institution formed in 1943, has called for a test similar to the 1961 Tsar Bomba, the most powerful thermonuclear detonation in history.
Today on X, formerly Twitter, FEMA posted a seemingly innocuous reminder of the upcoming EAS test.
“IMPORTANT: On Wednesday, Oct. 4th at 2:20 p.m. ET, there will be a nationwide emergency alert test on cell phones, wireless devices, radios, and TVs. This is a standard test that occurs at least once every three years. No action is needed,” FEMA wrote.
IMPORTANT: On Wednesday, Oct. 4th at 2:20 p.m. ET, there will be a nationwide emergency alert test on cell phones, wireless devices, radios, and TVs.
This is a standard test that occurs at least once every three years. No action is needed.
Info & FAQs: https://t.co/KKyrIr4e03 pic.twitter.com/xDW92DwcAy
— FEMA (@fema) October 2, 2023
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In the tense current climate, not even this EAS test will go off without skepticism and controversy.
On Sunday, for instance, USA Today published a reminder of the upcoming test and what to expect. It began with six words sure to calm everyone’s nerves: “Get ready not to freak out.”
USA Today also assured readers that the test is “not a national conspiracy to infect people with nanoparticles.”
According to the Associated Press, multiple videos have circulated on social media warning people that the test will harm them. Specifically, several videos have claimed that the wireless message will activate nanoparticles inserted through COVID vaccines.
May you live in interesting times.
Conspiracy theories aside, Americans have good reason to feel anxious.
Under President Joe Biden, billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars fill the coffers of corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs and U.S. defense contractors. The West teeters on the brink of World War III.
Now, Russians want to test a new Tsar Bomba. For those of a certain age, had someone told you that five years ago, would you have believed it?
Even if the EAS only rattles nerves, those nerves have been frayed for a reason.
Likewise, the establishment scribes at USA Today and elsewhere mock conspiracy theories, but those theories also exist for a reason.
For one thing, neither the establishment media nor the U.S. government it serves has a sterling record of reporting truth.
Tens of millions of Americans love their country and their neighbors but do not trust the establishment.
Thus, we find ourselves in a situation where Russians might resume thermonuclear weapons testing and millions of Americans might switch off their phones for fear of an emergency message.
In both cases, blame the U.S. political establishment.
