The HAARP that sounds bad

By PAUL RANDY GUMANAO

I fear that the captivity of physicist Kim Gargar that magnifies the threat to the lives and liberty of other people’s scientists would also cripple the efforts to investigate the dynamics of the recent disasters like typhoons Pablo and Yolanda.

Last year, after Pablo brought unanticipated havoc in many areas that do not normally stand in the path of storms, a few curious groups raised suspicion that the typhoon could have been engineered, in other words, man-made.

Since 1993, there has been an inconspicuously ongoing scientific research in the United States called the HAARP or High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program. The HAARP officials said in their website that it is just a radio science research facility using electromagnetic radiation “aimed at studying the properties and behavior of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes”.

But the said research program has a lot of essential details that remain undisclosed until today. In 2010, the European Union called HAARP a global threat because of its ambiguity considering its legal, ecological and ethical implications. The EU demanded for more information and pertinent explanation that seem purposively concealed by the HAARP officials.

There are three key points that we need to clarify to understand HAARP’s possible link with typhoons Pablo and Yolanda. First, we need to understand what electromagnetic radiation is capable of doing. Second, we need to establish strong grounds that beyond its use in communications, HAARP could probably have a more covert task in the imperialist goals of the US. Third, we need to assess our domestic capacity to withstand the impact of calamities to understand why our country could be an ideal target of “weather warfare”.

What is electromagnetic radiation?

Electromagnetic radiation is defined as a form of energy that consists of electric and magnetic fields that vary repetitively. Hence, it has both the electric and magnetic power combined.

The beam of sunlight from the window, the sound from the transistor radio, the energy that heats the food in the microwave oven, the x-rays in the hospital, these are all examples of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). EMR travels in space in the form of wave. But of course, we don’t see it that way with our naked eyes. The distance from the peak of one wave to another is called the wavelength, and the number of waves that passes through a particular point in one second is called the frequency. An EMR with shorter wavelength will have more waves that will pass a particular point in one second than an EMR with longer wavelength. Hence, the shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency, and vice versa.

Radiations produced by HAARP equipment, just like X-rays and gamma rays, have shorter wavelength and therefore, have higher frequency.

If X-ray could penetrate fabric and human flesh to have a view of the bones, and gamma rays could penetrate a thick concrete wall, why wouldn’t the radiations from the HAARP penetrate several layers of the atmosphere to cause weather changes that could be used to the advantage of the HAARP’s funders? After all, to create and develop a tropical cyclone, there are only six main requirements: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low pressure center, a pre-existing low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear.

Weather Warfare: An effective tool in achieving US-hegemony

As direct military invasion gained massive disapproval, venturing into an equally destructive yet more covert attack is an interesting endeavor for imperialist countries like the US.  It is not totally absurd for the US to resort to “weather warfare” as a key military stratagem. It already has the leverage of having dominion over space researches that at some extent, with their large satellites and space stations, are capable of stirring electromagnetic radiations around the globe.

This is no science fiction. Remember that the then-impossible internet was originally invented in the 1970s to serve the US defense department. Also, with the invention of silver iodide, artificial rain or cloud seeding became useful in modifying weather conditions by causing continuous downpour of rain that altered the terrain of the Vietcong territories during the Vietnam War.

Warfare is truly inseparable with imperialism.  Powerful countries like the US need to stir war, and sometimes wage war themselves, not just for selling weapons but also for territorial expansion. They need territories that will serve as sources of raw materials for their industries and at the same time as markets of their surplus products.

The reason why Compostela Valley was able to seduce Pablo last year is as brilliant as gold! No further explanations needed. But how about Samar and Leyte that suffered most of Yolanda’s wrath? There is not much mineral deposit in those places and these are usually storm-prone areas. What would be the gain of the US if indeed weather warfare were used there?

Surely, there is another reason apart from natural resources. And this is to reduce to inconsequentiality the growing people’s resistance against development aggression and imperialist plunder. Like Compostela Valley, Samar and Leyte are provinces with strong people’s movements. As what actually happened, the US maximized the opportunity to legitimize the disposition of its forces in the guise of humanitarian missions.

Whether there is truth with HAARP being linked to the recent typhoons, the US is still not saved from its accountability for being the world’s largest contributor to climate change and the suppression of human flourishing.

Calamity is not equals disaster

While natural calamities are inevitable, it is however possible to prevent calamities from becoming disasters. That is if we have a competent government that pays serious attention to disaster preparedness as well as to efficient and just relief and rehabilitation mechanisms.

In this effort, the government has to empower the Department of Science and Technology and encourage more scientists as researchers and development workers instead of being peddled to big multinational companies doing routine processes somewhere in the production line.

Sadly, the government seems more interested in incarcerating people’s scientists like physicist Kim Gargar. (davaotoday.com)

Paul Randy Gumanao is a licensed chemist. He used to teach college chemistry. He also writes literary pieces in his free time.