Just when you think you've heard all the possible far-out theories behind the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska, leave it to the Russians to come up with one better. Forget mind control, the Russians think HAARP is a "geophysical weapon" that's gonna capsize the planet. HAARP, just by way of a reminder for those who don't obssessively follow its progress, is a military project that's supposed to study the ionosphere and "use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes." In more recent years, the Pentagon has also expressed interest in using HAARP to mitigate the effects of high-altitude nuclear explosions. However, HAARP's use of an antenna array operating in the High Frequency (HF) range has also prompted tons and tons of other theories about its uses, ranging from weather control to altering human behavior.

According to this article published in a Russian military journal (and helpfully translated by the CIA-funded Open Source Center), HAARP is the ultimate superweapon:
Some Russian and foreign analysts argue that the US program is in effect a disguised idea of creation of an immensely powerful ray, a geophysical weapon, whose principle of operation is based on the use of means of influencing the processes which take place in the solid, liquid and gaseous layers of the Earth for military purposes.

It is possible to control the artificially created plasmoid (localized areas of highly ionized gas - E.L.) or a globular lightning in ionosphere by using lasers to shift the focal point of the aerials. In other words, using enormous installations, Americans plan to bombard the sky with energy beams which, when they are reflected from ionosphere, can return back to Earth in the form of low-frequency electromagnetic waves.

The opponents of the program have quite weighty reasons not to trust the soothing statements by Americans.

"The layer of ionosphere which is excited by HAARP influences the radio and electronic equipment which is installed in the military hardware: Fire control and guidance systems, fire adjustment equipment, navigation systems, etc. As a result, an aircraft or a missile will be damaged if they fly through the beam," Col Plaksin said.

And this is by far not the only consequence of implementation of the HAARP program. Compared to, say, nuclear weapons, geophysical weapons are much more powerful. And if, say, the beam is sent to Britain, it can make the country dysfunctional in a matter of seconds.

So, some scientists say that a group of the military who use the geophysical weapon might bring the economy of an entire country on its knees in a few years' time - and no one will understand anything.

The most dangerous thing is that even developers cannot say with certainty what will happen to the planet and how ionosphere will react to the attack with these rays if the system is switched to the maximum power. As is known, ionosphere and the ozone layer protect the Earth from the deadly cosmic radiation. The electromagnetic cannon of the HAARP system will damage ionosphere, and the cosmic radiation will be able to reach the surface of the planet.

Moreover, the effects of this know-how (as published) cannot be controlled, some researchers say. Even a single use of this weapon may result in so-called trigger effect which no one will be able to stop: Earthquakes, sudden cooling on the global scale, etc. In the opinion of Canadian scientist Rosalie Bertel, who is studying the effects of wars on the environment, intense disturbance of ionosphere may result in a release of huge masses of free electrons - so-called electron showers. For its part, this might result in the change of electric potential of the poles and ensuing shift of the magnetic pole of the Earth. Simply speaking, the planet will "capsize." So the location of the north pole will become uncertain.
The full English version is not online, but the Russian-language original is available here.

[Thanks to Steve Aftergood of Secrecy News]