Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba

[American Patriot]

Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba
Rian.ru ^ | July 21, 2008

Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba

21/07/2008 11:13 MOSCOW, July 21, 2008

(RIA Novosti) - Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba in a bid to counter U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Central Europe, a Russian daily reported on Monday.

Moscow has strongly opposed the possible deployment by the U.S. of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and an accompanying radar in the Czech Republic as a threat to its national security. Washington says the defenses are needed to deter a possible strike from Iran, or other "rogue" states.

"While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba," a high-placed military aviation source told the Izvestia newspaper.

Russia's Tu-160 (Blackjack) and Tu-95 (Bear) strategic bombers are both capable of reaching Cuba.

However, while the source admitted that the possibility of Russian bombers being stationed in Cuba was for now just a hypothetical possibility, he also noted that the rumors had not appeared from out of thin air.

At the same time, Leonid Ivashov, the former head of the Russian Defense Ministry's department for international cooperation, and currently president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, told Izvestia that Cuba could be used as a refueling stopover for Russian aircraft rather than as a permanent base.

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis saw a tense standoff between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. when Soviet missiles were stationed in Cuba. As the world held its breath, President John F. Kennedy opted to launch a blockade of Cuba rather than invade, as some American military commanders wanted. The crisis was resolved after 12 days when the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, backed down and ordered the missiles removed.

[American Patriot]

US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080722...7RtOSp9kOsOrgF

by Jim Mannion 25 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday.

"If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff.

He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis.

It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.

In his confirmation hearing to become the air force's chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

"I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," he said.

The newspaper Iszvestia on Monday cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official in Moscow as saying that Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to install a missile defense system in eastern Europe.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Russian report because there had been no "official response from the Russian government."

Conducting long-range bomber patrol to Cuba would signal a reawakening of military cooperation by former Cold War allies Moscow and Havana, and recall the 1962 missile crisis that brought Washington and Moscow to the brink of war.

Over the past year, Russia already has revived long-range strategic bomber patrols in the Pacific and north Atlantic.

The Russian moves come amid rising tensions over the US missile defense plans, and warnings by Moscow that it will be forced them to counter them militarily.

Until now, US officials have shrugged off the stepped up Russian military activity, while insisting that a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors it plans to install in Poland pose no threat to Russia.

White House press secretary Dana Perino recalled assurances US President George W. Bush offered Russian President Dmitry Medvedev two weeks ago at a G8 summit.

"The president repeated that our missile defense system should not be seen as a threat to Russia, we want to actually work with the Russians to design a system that Russia, and Europe and the United States could work on together as equal partners and we'll continue to do that," she said.

"We seek strategic cooperation with the Russians. We want to work with them on preventing missiles from rogue nations like Iran from threatening our friends and allies," said Perino.

But Medvedev has warned that the missile defense project worsens regional security and will force Moscow to consider counter-measures.

[Ryan Ruck]

And yet Fox News is dominated by a court hearing on a missing little girl (though I hope she is okay!) instead of a possible major upping of the nuclear ante.

[American Patriot]

I think the mom killed that little girl. Sad.

I think the Grandma is a sociopath or psychotic as well...

And yet... this thread is about protecting that little girl, and her creepy mom and grandma

[Ryan Ruck]

And yet... this thread is about protecting that little girl, and her creepy mom and grandma

Exactly... I just don't think today's society grasps the seriousness of the great global chess game that is playing out right before us and what the consequences are if we lose. Especially if this same society causes us to lose due to their ignorance because they want to make our elections into American Idol by voting for a candidate that is promising them the world or the candidate with the best smile.

[Ryan Ruck]

Cuban Bomber Crisis?

In 1962 the Soviets tested a young American president by putting nuclear missiles 90 miles from Florida. Barack Obama fancies himself the next JFK. He may get to find out.

In June 1961, a young and ambitious President Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria, to discuss Cold War issues, particularly the situation in Berlin. Khrushchev came away unimpressed, convinced the young Kennedy could be had. Two months later the Berlin Wall was going up. By the following spring the Soviet leader was making plans for installing nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Kennedy quickly found out that "aggressive personal diplomacy" and the willingness to meet without preconditions with the world's tyrants were not enough. After appearing naive and weak in Vienna, for two weeks in October 1962 the world stood on the brink of nuclear war as Kennedy responded with a naval blockade of Cuba.

This comes to mind as Russia's Izvestia newspaper this week quoted an unnamed senior Russian air force official as saying his country is considering flying its TU-160 supersonic bombers to Cuba on a regular basis in response to our deployment of missile defense radars and interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic.

This announcement came during the confirmation hearings of Gen. Norton Schwartz, nominated by President Bush to be Air Force chief of staff. When asked about the report, Schwartz told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach."

If the Russians were to proceed anyway with such a plan, Schwartz said, "I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something which crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America." Would a President Barack Obama?

Russian strategic bombers came out of mothballs to resume worldwide combat air patrols last year under orders from then-President Vladimir Putin and have continued under his hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

"I have made a decision to resume regular flights of Russian strategic aviation," said Putin. He claimed that after Moscow suspended such flights in 1992, "other nations haven't followed our example. This has created certain problems for Russia's security."

Twenty Russian bombers plus refueling tankers and airborne warning aircraft participated in last year's Peace Mission, a military exercise involving forces from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia, China and a handful of former Muslim Soviet Republics.

Last August, Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov, commander of long-range aviation for the Russian air force, boasted at a press conference that two turboprop TU-95M bombers had made a 13-hour round trip flight to the vicinity of Guam where they "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots sent up to intercept them.

As in the heady days of the Cold War, Russia resents and fears U.S. missile defense and plans to create security problems for America and its allies. Last February, two Russian Tupolev-95 bombers buzzed the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Nimitz and its guided missile cruiser Princeton at an altitude of 2,000 feet.

As part of that exercise, another TU-95 flew over the rocky Japanese island of Sofugan for three minutes. The Japanese are full participants in U.S. missile defense plans, having acquired American Aegis destroyers as well as the latest Patriot anti-missile batteries.

This year a fleet of Russian warships, supported by jet fighters and long-range bombers, held the largest naval exercise in the North Atlantic since the end of the Cold War. The exercise in the Bay of Biscay, off the French and Spanish Atlantic coasts, included two long-range supersonic Tu-160 Blackjack bombers that test-fired nuclear capable cruise missiles.

Would a President Obama call the Russians' bluff or trade U.S. missile defense in Europe for a promise to not fly Russian bombers out of Cuba? It's 3 a.m., Barack, and the phone is ringing.

Interestingly, nary a peep out of The Obamessiah regarding this VERY important series of events.

[Ryan Ruck]

Cuba Silent On Russian Bomber Report: Fidel Castro

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday said Cuba does not have to explain or "ask forgiveness" about a report out of Russia this week that Russia might use its Cold War ally Cuba as a refueling base for nuclear-capable bombers.

He did not address whether the report was true or false, and Cuban officials have made no comment.

"Raul did very well keeping a dignified silence," Castro wrote, referring to his brother, President Raul Castro, in a column published online at www.cubadebate.cu.

"One doesn't have to give explanations nor ask excuses or forgiveness," the ailing 81-year-old said in one of his increasingly frequent opinion pieces.

Russia's Izvestia newspaper this week quoted a "highly placed source" as saying Russia could land Tu-160 supersonic bombers nicknamed "White Swans" in Cuba in response to a planned U.S. missile defense shield in Europe that Moscow opposes.

On Tuesday, U.S. Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee that if the Russians did refuel the bombers in Cuba "we should stand strong and indicate that that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America."

Russian officials have denied the Izvestia report, but the dust-up has stirred memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when the United States and Russia faced each other down after the discovery of Soviet missiles on the island 90 miles (144 km) south of Florida.

The two-week crisis brought the Cold War foes close to a full-blown war until the Soviets agreed to take down the missile sites in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Castro said the comments by Schwartz, who has been nominated to become the Air Force's top military officer, were an example of the "Machiavellian strategy that the empire (U.S.) applies to Cuba."

"If you say yes, I kill you. If you say no, it's the same, I'll kill you anyway," he wrote.

Castro led Cuba after taking power in a 1959 revolution until he provisionally put Raul Castro in charge two years ago following intestinal surgery. The younger Castro, who is 77, formally replaced him in a February vote by the National Assembly.

The elder Castro has not been seen in public since his surgery, but of late has been writing lots of opinion pieces and occasionally appears in videos and photos.