Bloom reveals that Pakistan possesses two French-built super-stealth submarines, each carrying 16 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with an 11,000-mile range. He explains that the submarines, built by DCN using technology transferred to Pakistan's Karachi naval shipyard, are virtually undetectable by current American sonar. Bloom warns that factions within Pakistan's military feel more loyal to militant Islam than to their own government, making the seizure of these weapons a realistic possibility.
The conversation shifts to an emerging democratic movement across the Middle East, with street protests in Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia surprising Bloom, who admits he was wrong to doubt such change was possible. He notes that militant Islam has spent the past week using a false Newsweek story about Quran desecration to drive these pro-democracy headlines from Islamic media, highlighting the ongoing battle for the soul of the Muslim world.
Key Moments
WHO: H5N1 changes are a step up in concern: Art reads the new WHO report saying disturbing molecular and disease-pattern changes in H5N1 in Asia, including possible drug resistance, indicate the virus is getting better at infecting people.
9/11 truthers vs. the real enemy: Bloom reads his statement that arguing over which Americans 'caused' 9/11 is like arguing with a shoplifter while a killer is behind you with a knife, and accuses the truther community of refusing to believe other civilizations have agency.
Are we the new Byzantines?: Building on his Byzantines-as-Blues-and-Greens analogy, Bloom warns that America's partisan division mirrors the civilization-fatal infighting that left Constantinople defenseless before Islam.
Reading the rhetoric of the enemy: Bloom, a self-identified lifelong Democrat, says he has read 20-30 years of militant Islamic rhetoric that revels in beheadings and victims' begging, and warns that ignoring it is suicidal.
Pakistan's super-stealth nuclear-tipped subs: Bloom claims Pakistan operates two super-stealth submarines, each carrying 16 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with 11,000-mile range, and warns Pakistan is the country most likely to fall to Osama-style militants.