Category: Emerging Threats

Oh, Henry! Worried About TEOTWAWKI?

A recent news headline in the English newspaper The Independent caught my eye: Paulson reveals US concerns of breakdown in law and order. I only rarely post entire newspaper articles. But this article is particularly significant to the SurvivalBlog readership, and since it is brief, I’m posting it in full: The Bush administration and Congress discussed the possibility of a breakdown in law and order and the logistics of feeding US citizens if commerce and banking collapsed as a result of last autumn’s financial panic, it was disclosed yesterday. Making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving office, the …


Three Rules for Living Through the Second Depression, by Chaz Valenza

I believe we are on the precipice of the Second Depression. Though President Obama is working valiantly to turn the country’s financial ship, it appears to me that the lack of a genuine economic engine to create sufficient, sustaining, value-adding jobs will come too late. What should the common man do? Much of the advice on how to live through such hard times is often too specific, not specific enough or draconian. How many of us are ready or should even consider survivalist methods? Who among us can afford to completely restructure their finances on a moment’s notice? Which of …


H1N1 Influenza: A Cytokine Storm Conclusion, But Still More Questions Than Answers

The good news on H1N1 (commonly called Swine Flu) is that in current strains the death rate appears to be as low as 1 in 2,000 infections, at least in First World countries with modern hospital facilities. The bad news is that at least 60% of world’s population is expect to contract the bug, and that further mutations are probable. The Mutation Question Mutations to less virulent strains are the historic norm for viruses but there is the risk of one that is very deadly. (To explain: in the grand scheme of things, a mutation with high lethality is is …


Ug-99 and The Ugly Times Ahead–There’ll Be Fungus Among Us

My consulting clients often ask me me for predictions. “What’s your timeframe, Mister Rawles?” I hear that in almost every consulting call. My clients ask: “When will the US economy crater?” I tell them that is impossible to predict, because there are so many variables and interdependencies, and because the markets are so heavily manipulated. They also ask me: Is the H1N1 Flu sure to mutate in to a more virulent strain, and if so, when?” I answer: “That is impossible to predict.” I’m also often quizzed about the Ug-99 wheat fungus (aka “Durable Wheat Rust”, or simply “the stem …


Letter Re: An Upcoming Retreat Purchase — Sell Gold or Take a Mortgage?

Jim, We love your site. It is part of our daily must reads. While driving to view possible retreat locations today, we printed out your advice on retreat locations and read it again as we drove to the determined area. After looking most of the day, we literally stumble upon (because it was not visible from the road – only a for sale sign) a nearly perfect location, several springs, trees, hillside with level areas, in the top three in all categories of your retreat lists, etc. In looking to make an offer we wanted your advice regarding financing the …


Security at Places of Worship: More Than a Matter of Faith, by Scott Stewart and Fred Burton

In recent months, several high-profile incidents have raised awareness of the threat posed by individuals and small groups operating under the principles of leaderless resistance. These incidents have included lone wolf attacks against a doctor who performed abortions in Kansas, an armed forces recruitment center in Arkansas and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Additionally, a grassroots jihadist cell was arrested for attempting to bomb Jewish targets in the Bronx and planning to shoot down a military aircraft at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. In addition to pointing out the threat posed by grassroots cells …


Letter Re: Keeping Cash On Hand–A Lesson Learned

Dear Jim, I didn’t need a major nationwide SHTF moment to learn a lesson this week. (Why didn’t I listen to your advice before this happened!) On the 15th, someone intercepted my new debit card before it reached my mailbox and cleaned out my checking account at a gas station in another state at 3:00 AM. I didn’t have much in there, as it went into overdraft, but it was all I had and I needed it to get to the end of the month. When the bank called at 10:00 AM, I assured them it wasn’t me who overdrew …


The Meme of Crushroom: A Key Retreat Architecture Element

One bit of retreat architecture that I’ve often recommended to my consulting clients who are designing (or retrofitting) retreats is the inclusion of a protruding entryway foyer, that I call a crushroom. Passing this advice along to you gives me the chance to employ one of my horrible puns: The Meme of Crushroom. A crushroom is a controllable confined space, typically an entry foyer, that can be covered with small arms fire or subjected to irritant or obscurant smoke or sprays. The outer door (or barred gate) to the crushroom is normally left open, but has a spring loaded self …


Letter Re: Societal Collapse: The Albanian Experience (Circa 1997)

Mr. Rawles, I’m a new SurvivalBlog reader, and your blog goes along a lot with many of my own thoughts and precautions; things many people these days consider ridiculous, but that an old instructor of mine (from a gov’t agency that shall go unnamed) would probably call “maintaining a healthy level of paranoia”. In browsing your blog and its archives, I have been surprised to find no mention of the Albanian crisis in 1997. I believe that it offers a strong example of how quickly and unexpectedly a (relatively) advanced society can descend into chaos, and how drastic the consequences …


Letter Re: Feedback on The American Empire is Bankrupt

JWR: I was puzzled by the piece by Chris Hedges (The American Empire is Bankrupt, from truthdig.com) that you linked to in Friday’s SurvivalBlog. There are two huge, crucial, inestimable, incredibly fundamental flaws in Hedges’ article: * One is his assessment of the primary cause of the American national bankruptcy, * The second is his conclusions as to who will be causing the greatest social disruption in our nation as that bankruptcy starts impacting our daily lives. First, the fundamental causes of the American bankruptcy. Hedges quotes heavily from an article from & interview by The Financial Times’ Michael Hudson. …


Letter Re: Three Abstracts on Public Health in Ghettos During the WWII Holocaust

James, In light of the recent shooting by a Nazi whacko in Washington at the Holocaust Museum, I think it is important that we remember the victims and impact of a totalitarian government deliberately starving, looting, and otherwise dehumanizing its citizens. (The articles were published in Hebrew but the following abstracts are in English) – Yorrie in Pennsylvania (a retired physician) Clinical Manifestations of "Hunger Disease" Among Children in the Ghettos During the Holocaust Hercshlag-Elkayam O, Even L, Shasha SM. Western Galilee Hospital, Nahariya, Israel. The harsh life in the ghettos were characterized by overcrowding, shortage of supplies (e.g. money, …


Welcome to the Savage World of the Year 2009

“Welcome to the savage world of the year 2009”. That was the tag line of the 1992 sci-fi film Freejack , starring Emilio Estevez. Do you remember it? The movie that featured Cadillac Gage V100 wheeled APCs painted in bright colors? My old friend All-Grace-No-Slack-Really-Reformed Kris just reminded me about this movie. Kris noted: “It was a bit corny but it had some good scenes and characters such as Amanda Plummer as the gun-toting nun.” This film provides an insight on what futurists then thought 2009 would be like, as well as a retrospective on life in 1992. Let’s look …


Two Letters Re: Protection from EMP Effects for Photovoltaic Panels and Communication Gear

Jim, I’m not very certain Solar Panels or photovoltaic (PV) Modules if you prefer) are up to surviving electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Solar Panel manufacture is akin to basically creating large scale photosensitive semiconductors and few manufacturers will quote even static electricity resistance, much less EMP resistance. Additionally, most PV modules have bypass diodes to protect cells. Some designs put these diodes in the junction boxes, while others incorporate them more integrally in the PV assembly. Obviously the controllers are at great risk, but the modules themselves are not free from risk. About the only references to PV and EMP you …



Letter Re: A Ship’s Belated Flu Quarantine as an Object Lesson

Hi Jim, Here is a bit about the progress of Swine Flu in Australia with this article about a quarantined luxury cruise ship. We now have a cruise ship, the P & O Pacific Dawn, being quarantined at Willis Island on the Great Barrier Reef – with 2000 people on board. Yesterday the ship was photographed flying the yellow quarantine flag! Our “brilliant” state health departments let 20 infected people disembark at Sydney and they [then] flew throughout Australia . [Some background:] 13 of these people turned up at the Robina Hospital at the Gold Coast and the staff at …