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Satellite Photos of Secret Military Objects in Murmansk, Russia

englishrussia.com — "Imagine we are foreign intelligence service agents and we spy for Russian military bases. Just a few years ago it was impossible, not to mention how it was impossible during the iron curtain era. But now thanks to Google Earth we can see all the top secret Russian objects clearly on those shots. Russia still stays very militarized country."

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  • fancypantscz, on 10/12/2007, -25/+27The current (2005) United States military budget is larger than the military budgets of the next fourteen biggest spenders combined, and nearly seven times larger than China's. The United States and its close allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of all military spending on Earth (of which, in turn, the US is responsible for the majority), and spend 57 times more than the six front-defying nations combined (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria). Military spending accounts for more than half of the United States' federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. government's money not spoken for by pre-existing obligations.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
    • mtwoar, on 10/12/2007, -10/+71/ Comment removed by KGB /
    • ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14uhhhh ... what does Google Earth have to do with this? foreign intelligence agencies have always had their own satellites peaking in, the only difference is that the info is now much more public ... ? though not nearly as up to date as a defense agency's ...
    • mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17But the United States has a smaller military still. Spending does not necessarily equate size. For instance, say each defense contractor in Russia pays its employees 10k/year while in the US those people are making 70k/year. If each contractor had 10,000 employees - that is a 600 Million dollar difference on just payroll. Also, in the US they would use higher quality materials whereas in country's with smaller economy's they would use lesser materials. You must look at the spending as a ratio - not pure dollar amounts.

      According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Military_expenditure_percent_of_GDP.PNG

      The spending is ~4% of GDP. Put your comment into prospective.
    • valkyries, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4its 1/5 of our total budget...
    • Konrad9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Would it have seen so difficult to have links to the google map pages?
    • Danjak, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2"In Soviet Russia, secret military objects photograph you."

      AWESOME. Yakoff Smirnoff, ftw.
    • ThunderIT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10The reason the US's spending is so high, is that the US government doesn't design and build its own hardware, it is all outsourced to defense contractors. The US could do alot more, with alot less money, if they still build everything them selves, and if they still owned the technology. DARPA spends tonnes of money developing technologies, then the people who developed them, patent them, and get hired by the defense contractors and make millions of dollars, and the contractors charge the US government billions for the technology.

      But, because of bad political decisions in Canada (Joining NORAD, BOMARC Arctic Missile Defense), we ended up buying all of our military technology from the US, UK and Israel, instead of doing it our selves like we used to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_arrow
    • r00ts, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21I was hoping to see a Tesla Coil or an Iron-Curtain Machine. How disappointing.

      Russia should really put up some GAP Generators though =/.
    • mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Operations and maintenance $124.3 Bil.
      Military Personnel $108.8 Bil.


      Imagine if the US was to drastically cut military spending, considering the top two places the money goes are to pay workers and Operations/maint are the workers jobs. Think of all the people the 109B ( Which is more than Russia + China combined) supports and the jobs it keeps in the economy.
    • datsclark, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3"In Soviet Russia, secret military objects photograph you."

      Just like in London. http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/pods/watchful_eyes.jpg
    • SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2thats nice. hows that relevant again?
    • wuxia, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If you like that you will like this even more:

      http://eyeball-series.org/

      Sample of what is shown:

      dni-vp-birdseye.htm + National Intelligence Directorate Veep Birdseyes December 13, 2006
      dcnavy-eyeball.htm + US Navy Secret DC Tunneling Project Eyeball November 27, 2006
      nwsa-eyeball.htm + Nuclear Weapon Storage Areas Eyeball Update November 27, 2006
      swift-eyeball.htm + SWIFT North American Data Center Eyeball November 25, 2006
      veep3-eyeball.htm + Vice President Residence Eyeball Update November 25, 2006
    • fifaigor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Its amazing how quickly some images of abandoned ships arise controversy about the military size in Russia vs. United States. Considering that these images are on google earth, they are not intended to be secret and since most of the ships are abandoned, they should simply be appreciated as historical artifacts.
    • jkdrum, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"The United States and its close allies are responsible for approximately two-thirds of all military spending on Earth "

      And that is the way it should be!
    • Gdoubleod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Am I the only one to find these images truly disturbing? Look at the amount of wasted resources, abandoned ships and other military vehicles. These images made me realize just how bad Russia lost in the cold world. There are boats just literally rusting away. Think of the missiles and nuclear reactors are they under the same care? This was a major concern brought up a few years back but no one seems to have paid any attention.
    • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1oops
  • eurofooty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Apart from the cold and possible radiation levels, it looks like an interesting place to visit. I heard four hour tours were available from Kirkenes in Norway.
    • ABadInAlbany, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5hrmmm, anything that's a three hour tour or longer, I'm suspicious of -- I'm worried I might end up stuck on an island somewhere with a grumpy skipper and his cabin boy.
  • blindot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I guess they weren't so secret after all.
  • steven401, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They aren't secret if they're on Google Earth...
  • playerslight, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Any particular reason so many of those "abandoned ships" are keeled over on their side? Are they naturally unstable like a stealth fighter or something, where the slightest ripple in the water sends them over?

  • suman78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Do we know how old are these?
  • warmonger48, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11"...and Ryan, some things in here don't react too well to bullets."
  • thebenchase, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0high five for google technology owning russian counter-surveillence.
  • spencenaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Abandoned ships and old Bear bombers are hardly military secrets. If they have anything that secret anymore they are going to treat it like we do Area 51. When you look at Area 51 in Google Earth you don't see any Aurora Spy planes or supersonic bombers, or whatever just parked all over the place. They hide things in hangars where the satellites can't see.
  • dadrew1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nifty little write up I found about the US nuclear power ships

    http://www.uic.com.au/nip32.htm
  • mortigon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Oh no! The Russians are gonna get us with rusty oil tankers and tipped over ships!
  • JesusIsSatan, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5Our CIA told us Iraqi water trucks were mobile biological weapons manufacturing labs by using satellite photos. How wrong they were. So we should trust your eyes that these are military weapons of some sort? What if we drop a smart bomb on it and then find out it was just a McDonald's?
    • SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12then we should celebrate a strike against the enemy in the war against terrible food.
  • repins, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Can you imagine the environmental impact from all those abandoned ships? Someone should tell Green Peace.
  • digtastic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3don't worry, I've been training on Command and Conquer.
  • JesusIsSatan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Can someone tell me if they find something strange-looking, about 20-feet across, elliptical, and silver in color over Area 51? I seem to have lost my vehicle in that area about 50 years ago. I need it to get back home. Thanks.
  • ophilye, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2OK.. IF Russia decided to get it's act together.. wouldn't NOW be a good time, with most of our military lost in an unwinnable war?

    I for one welcome our Russian overlords. :D
  • Aharoni, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2http://www.duggmirror.com
  • echimu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Just in case...
    http://duggmirror.com//world_news/Satellite_Photos_of_Secret_Military_Objects_in_Murmansk_Russia/plain.html
  • Erkan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Englishrussia is a very funny blog, I visit it lots of times a week!
  • eddieo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is supernova17 getting paid again?
  • bioskope, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2omg those are WMDs right there, Ask Kevin Rose to put in a call to the White House right away. I hear they're itching for a new target ever since Bush had to apologize for his romp in the park in Iraq
  • Bols2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think the author of this story want to receive free Polonium-210 samples.
  • funkychikensays, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@bioskope

    are you serious?
    its not like we dont already know they have WMD's..plus wer not gonan start a war with russia
    they have contingency plans..if we sent a missile theyl send one right back, and if a nuclear war started between us both countries would be reduced to rubble, not to mention more than 1/2 a billion people would die. your an idiot
    • pahoehoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"are you serious?"

      I don't think bioskope was being serious, but I've certainly been wrong about that kind of thing before.

      "your an idiot"

      Perhaps English isn't your first language, but writing "you're an idiot" instead would help out your argument.

      Cheers.
  • w1n78, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0400+ diggs! not a secret anymore
  • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1saw this on command n podcast (in Diggpodcasts)
    http://www.geogreeting.com/view.html?zb0KdLj9+f3CFiLR+c0lY!C
    send a geogreeting
  • morpo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ supernova "Russia still stays very militarized country."

    Check the pictures again. The majority of these things look like they are rusting and about ready to be mothballed. Relics of an age past, in a country which can no longer afford upkeep on these mighty military toys.
  • opieum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Disclaimer: If you lack of sense of humor skip this as it is not entirely factual. Those anal retentive people will know exactly what facts are wrong here and will comment on it being wrong even tho they read this disclaimer.

    Google earth....the citizens intelligence tool. Want pictures of Area 51? Google it on Google Earth. Want pictures of secret Russian military bases? Google earth. Want a picture of what Apple headquarters looks like now? Use Microsoft Virtual Earth. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-07-26-apple_x.htm
  • aserer511, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sounds like the plot for a new james bond
  • aragami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2these "secret" military objects appear to be almost all semi sunken ships, abandoned bases or blurry things that can't be made out

    i especially like the shot of the hidden mountain,

    *thinks thats a oxymoron if ever he saw one*
  • misterpurple, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"One of these hills is shallow inside. All the rock is taken out and there is an underground submarine base."

    Oh come on, my 13 year old brother could have made that up.
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Are Russian ships so pathetic that they tip over the moment the crew abandons them? How hard is it to keep a rusted hulk bobbing upright?
    • S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Have you heard of these things called rust holes?
  • mookieXL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Piratebay should buy them.
  • joshuakuhn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No clue why, but I got the creeps looking at these pics...
  • omninode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm probably wrong, but this one looks kind of photoshoppy to me: http://englishrussia.com/images/murmansk_military_base/11.jpg
  •  

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