larry johnson describes the latest moves by the putin as 'going billy jack';

People born after 1970 probably have never heard of Billy Jack. I likened Vladimir Putin to Billy Jack during a couple of interviews today and figured I better ensure the younger audience [those under 50] know what I mean. Billy Jack, a movie starring Tom Laughlin, was a surprise hit in 1973. Laughlin’s character, Billy Jack, was a half-Indian seeking justice for the native Americans of South Dakota. It is a modern David vs. Goliath theme (I can’t believe this is now a 50-year-old movie). Here is the iconic scene I referenced:

What does Putin have to do with Billy Jack? It is a metaphor for the Oreshnik missile. Putin’s speech on Thursday, following the unveiling of the Oreshnik with the multiple, almost simultaneous, strikes on the Yuzhmash plant in Dnipropetrovsk, laid down this marker — i.e., if the West continues to launch ATACMs, Storm Shadows or SCALP missiles into Russia, Russia will hit back with the Oreshnik and there is not a damn thing you can do to stop it. Sort of like Billy Jack’s right foot. Wham!

I think the Oreshnik is a game changer in every sense of the word. It is precise. It packs the punch of a tactical nuclear warhead without requiring any radioactive material to initiate a chain reaction. It does not create a massive fireball or a toxic cloud that could block out the Sun. It is a genuinely new type of strategic weapon.

Oreshnik can inflict mass destruction on a fairly large geographical area (e.g., one-square mile in the case of Yuzhmash) without causing mass civilian casualties — provided the civilians, having been forewarned, have evacuated the target. In other words, the destructive power of a tactical nuke with the precision of a sniper’s bullet. As Professor Ted Postol remarked during an interview with Danny Davis last Friday, “I have never seen something like this.” Best of all, there is not a single air-defense system in the West that can stop it. That is what I mean by describing it as a, game changer.........more......