World Affairs Brief, August 18, 2023 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World. Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

THE MAUI FIRESTORM

I have received tens of emails buying into the claims that the Maui fires were started by Direct Energy Weapons (DEW), based on stories circulating on the internet purportedly showing lasers focused on these areas. But even though such weapons do exist, the ones powerful enough to start fires are invisible to the naked eye, being in the infrared spectrum. And, there is a tremendous amount of attenuation over long distances through the atmosphere which prohibits their use from space on earth targets. Iain Boyd, director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, Boulder said, “Modern lasers with power that is high enough to start any kind of fire operate in the infrared and so cannot be seen by the naked eye.”

So, all the photos used as “proof” have either been photo-shopped or taken from some other time and place. Some are the result of a camera phenomenon called “lens flare.” The NY Post, which is not hostile to legitimate conspiracies, was able to explain away all the photos that are circulating as “proof” of DEW—including the dramatic photo of a red shaft of light coming down into a cloud of smoke (which was photo shopped from a rocket launch in California).

Another video sent to me showing bright flashes of light within the smoke and fire, is actually a known phenomenon in raging fires combined within high humidity conditions where the smoke columns produce internal lightning strikes.

As for taller trees surviving the fire without their foliage being burned, that is a known phenomenon of fires driven by high winds where the flames stay lower to the ground. That was also observed in the wind driven California fires, leading to a lot of erroneous DEW conspiracies as well.

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