False Flag (2 page)

Governments and military operations have used false flag events throughout history. They have been used to persecute a political enemy, or to enact laws in the name of security. Some governments unabashedly admit their use of the false flag concept.

Originally, the term had its origins in naval warfare as a ruse de guerre, literally translated as a ruse of war. This can be considered a military deception against one’s opponent, as well as other more creative, sometimes unorthodox means, involving clever and misleading propaganda.

False flags have occurred for thousands of years. In ancient times, there is the mythical use of the Trojan Horse that the Greeks used to enter the city of Troy. The legends of false flags date back to days of Hannibal and Alexander the Great.

Then there is the most famous use of a false flag in the case of the British ocean liner, the RMS Lusitania.

For eight years, the Lusitania was the largest passenger ship in the world. When the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool, England on May 1, 1915, she was making her final voyage.

After World War One broke out in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson maintained America’s neutrality which was favored by a majority of the American people. At the time, Britain was one of our largest trading partners. During this timeframe, tensions arose between the U.S. and Germany over Berlin’s attempted quarantine of the British Isles. As American ships traveled to Britain, they became imperiled by the throes of war. Eventually, several U.S. flagged vessels were either damaged, or sunk, by German mines. Ultimately, by the spring of 1915, Germany openly announced unrestricted submarine warfare in the region.

The American media published warnings issued by the German government that Americans traveling on British or Allied ships in war zones did so at their own risk. One such announcement was placed on the same page of the New York Times that contained an advertisement for the Lusitania’s voyage from New York back to Liverpool.

As the Lusitania departed New York’s port, Germany had not formally declared the area around the British Isles a war zone. That did not occur until several days later. The Lusitania sailed without knowledge of the dangers ahead.

The Lusitania also traveled with an interesting passenger and unusual cargo. Woodrow Wilson’s trusted advisor, Colonel Edward Mandell House, was aboard. He was dispatched on a secret mission to investigate the prospects of an American-brokered peace before the casualties in the War became too high. The ship was also stockpiled with one hundred and seventy-three tons of American-made war munitions destined for England in violation of several international treaties.

Crossing the Atlantic had been rough, but as the Lusitania approached Ireland, Captain Daniel Dow raised the American flag atop the otherwise British-commissioned ship. The night before, the Captain was concerned about being torpedoed. He hoped for safe passage through the German occupied waters off the coast. Out of an abundance of caution, he lowered the Union Jack and raised the Stars and Stripes.

On May 7, as the Lusitania approached England, the thirty-two thousand ton ship was hit by an exploding torpedo on its starboard side. The torpedo blast was followed by a second, larger explosion, which included the ship’s boilers. Chaos ensued. The ship listed so badly that the lifeboats crashed into the passengers on deck. Reportedly, within eighteen minutes, the Lusitania quickly sank off the southern coast of Ireland. The death toll was nearly two thousand passengers, including over one hundred Americans.

The sinking of the Lusitania by the German U–boat played a pivotal role in geopolitical affairs. The sinking enraged Americans. The political fallout was immediate as President Wilson protested the attack. Months later, Germany gave assurances that passenger ships would be sunk only with prior warnings and appropriate safeguards for passengers. However, the seeds of discontent had been sown, and within two years, America entered World War One.

Throughout history, these types of events have played a pivotal role in influencing public opinion. I encourage you to review the Appendix, found by clicking the link below. In the Appendix, you will find a list of fifty false flag events carried out by civilian organizations as well as covert, governmental agencies. After you’ve read the list, you will be returned to Chapter One of False Flag, as The Boston Brahmin series continues.

GO TO APPENDIX B

PART ONE
September 2016

Chapter 1

Thursday, September 8, 2016

4:05 a.m.

265 First Street

Cambridge, Massachusetts

COGAS, combined gas and steam, permeated the nearly thirty-mile labyrinth of steel pipeline under the streets of Boston’s government facilities, hospitals, businesses, and residential neighborhoods. The Kendall Cogeneration Station, located on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, was billed as a sustainable and energy-efficient alternative following the closure announcement of the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station.

Cogeneration is the process of combining steam heat with power by recycling waste heat and converting it into stored thermal energy. It was hailed as an environmentally friendly method of energy production that improved air quality and reduced carbon emissions. One official, who praised the project as being consistent with the President’s desire to protect the environment, also proclaimed Kendall Station as the
beating heart and arteries
of the city’s power generating system.

The nearly sixty-year-old Kendall Station was retrofitted with industrial jet engines, which utilized more than one million gallons of fuel oil stored at their facility across the Charles River from Massachusetts General Hospital. The French company that designed the system proudly proclaimed that the Kendall Station was positioned to jump-start the electrical grid following a blackout.

City officials pressured the company to bring the plant back online. After all, the plant was designed to function following a blackout just like this one. In the early morning hours of day five, after much of America was thrust into darkness, the Boston-based electrical engineering team at Kendall Station believed they had a solution that would refire the jet engines, immediately allowing the plant to produce two hundred fifty-six megawatts of electricity and one million two hundred thousand pounds per hour of steam. Relying upon satellite phone guidance from the expert troubleshooting team based in France, they initiated the necessary steps to return power to Cambridge and much of Boston.

As with all appliances, incidents with gas-fueled engines and turbines typically occurred during start sequences. The newer cogeneration plants in Europe—France and Denmark in particular—contained sophisticated auxiliary equipment, sensors, and control systems for the purposes of purging pressurized air within the network of piping. The latest technology incorporated into the European plants had large exhaust systems capable of handling significant volumes of stored COGAS during the restart sequence. It was recommended that forced ventilation should continue during idling of the jet engines throughout the start-up process, as high concentrations of unburnt gas could accumulate within the exhaust system and throughout the pipeline distribution network.

The team initiated the start-up sequence, but the turbines did not rotate. The engineers tried again, but nothing happened as the system misfired. They waited, heeding the warning to limit the number of start attempts. The team, and their French counterpart, was concentrating entirely on the firing of the jet engines. They did not focus on the requisite purging of combustible gases contained within the exhaust system and the pipeline network.

The team tried again and again. With each attempt, high concentrations of unburnt hydrocarbons backed up throughout the system. When the powerful jet engines finally fired for a moment, the team cheered and shared high fives. But after the engines groaned to a halt, dejection was the mood.

During the brief operation of the turbines, combustible gases were forced through the pipelines from Cambridge to the west, throughout Boston across the river. The steel pipes swelled, and the gases looked for a place to release—
to purge
.

Within minutes, the
beating heart and arteries
of the Boston power grid had an aneurysm.

Chapter 2

Thursday, September 8, 2016

5:51 a.m.

100 Beacon

Boston, Massachusetts

Sarge stood alone on the rooftop of 100 Beacon, staring across Cambridge in wonder of the darkness and the deafening silence that had overtaken his hometown, as Beantown was devoid of vehicle traffic. Ordinarily, Storrow Drive would be awake with commuters making their way downtown. The never-ending low hum of the vehicular traffic on the Mass Turnpike to his south would be evidence of Americans going about their lives, scurrying from one important destination to another.

Was this the new normal?

It had only been a few days since the cyber attack took away power and water from two hundred and ninety million Americans. America went from a nation enjoying Saturday night dinner dates or sporting events, to a country struggling to survive—under the specter of martial law.

Sarge was incredulous as he watched the arrogance of the President’s press conference the night before. He was too wound up to sleep and took Julia’s shift patrolling the rooftop and the rest of the top three floors of 100 Beacon.

Although information was limited, Sarge was privy to communications via the expansive network set up by Julia. Within a day of the grid collapse, they were fully informed. For other Americans, information was scarce.
Not knowing
consumed them initially. Then the realities that America was a
powerless
nation set in—as did the panic. On this sixth day, survival was all that mattered to most.

I knew this would happen!

Sarge’s lectures at Harvard Kennedy covered a variety of subjects, including national defense, global governance, and the subject of world economics. He tried to be impartial in his discussions, but it was impossible to avoid inserting his world view when exploring these concepts. He warned his class about the fragility of society and the dangerous threats that one nation could pose to another. He talked about advanced weaponry like electromagnetic pulse weapons, bioterror, and, of course, cyber warfare.
Did his students prepare?
Doubtful. Sarge knew that most Americans who were interested enough to advanced their level of knowledge on these subjects still had enough doubt in their minds regarding the realities of these threats. Sarge had no doubt, and he prepared accordingly.

He ambled along the building’s rooftop, periodically looking over the edge for signs of activity along the street. He kicked a pebble into one of the roof’s scuppers and listened as it found its way down the drainpipe to the ground eleven stories below. He stopped and stared out across Boston Common to the southeast. It was completely deserted.

So this is what TEOTWAWKI looks like
.

Sarge thought about this for a moment—the end of the world as we know it.
It doesn’t have to mean it’s the end of the world.
The situation was bad for most, but it could be worse. Sarge was exceedingly concerned about the events surrounding the cyber attack. He’d observed the increased Russian military activity along the U.S. coastal waters. Putin had amassed an army in the Arctic. All signs pointed toward a potential incursion onto American soil. It was the Russians modus operandi to use cyber attacks as a precursor to war. Estonia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Turkey had all experienced Russia’s use of cyber warfare to collapse their financial institutions and critical infrastructure in advance of military action. With Americans losing hope every day, the country was weakened. Sarge hoped that the military was prepared for every contingency.

If the Russians are preparing for World War III, why is the President using American soldiers to clamp down on our constitutional rights by declaring martial law?

Sarge watched the sun begin to peek through the skyscrapers of Boston, bearing names like John Hancock, Prudential, and the Federal Reserve. Sarge doubted that John Hancock would find anything prudent about the Federal Reserve.

The situation throughout the country was dire. In the large urban centers, the impact was felt immediately. Opportunists seized the night, taking advantage of a shocked populace and an outgunned law enforcement community. As despair spread across the nation, even midsized cities felt the impact. Julia was able to confirm that although rural areas experienced the collapse of the grid, thus far they had been spared from the collapse of society.

Where do we go from here?

With the arrival of Steven and Katie yesterday, Sarge was able to lift that concern out of his mind. They had been out of communication for days, and despite Steven’s extraordinary capabilities, Sarge was worried about his brother. His
making an entrance
was both theatrical and typical for Steven.
My brother is a magnet for excitement
. After a brief conversation, and some dinner, Steven started on the rest he needed to heal his gunshot wound. At some point, the four of them would have to discuss their future. There were so many issues to address.

Should they stay at 100 Beacon or travel to the rural safety of Prescott Peninsula?

If they remained in Boston, did they hunker down and react to events, or did they become active in any rebuilding effort?

But a troubling question hung over his head like a dark cloud.
Who caused this, and how long will it last?

“Do we just try to survive?” asked Sarge aloud. He glanced down at the front entrance and then up and down Beacon Street, which was free from activity. The sun was getting brighter and he looked toward Cambridge. He wondered whether he would ever teach again. He thought about the students he had taught over the last ten years. Then, his thoughts were interrupted.