The Rise of the Second Soviet Empire

[American Patriot]

Hmmm... Wait a minute.

"The Americans are number one and everyone else had BETTER respect that..."

There, fixed it.

[American Patriot]

Look over here at my other hand!


Vladimir Putin accuses U.S. of acting like imperialist Soviet Union

10:48 a.m. ET






Getty Pool

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned of the dangers of imperialism while saying his nation had no ambition to "restore the empire" of the post-World War II Soviet Union.
Fielding questions during his annual call-in event with Russian citizens, Putin said Moscow's attempt to foist its economic model on neighboring states "ended in nothing good, this wasn't good, and we've got to admit it." And pivoting from there, Putin then dinged the U.S. for not realizing the same danger as it pursued a strikingly similar foreign policy.
"By the way, this is what the United States is doing across the entire world now," he said. Jon Terbush

[Ryan Ruck]

Europe Faces A 'Real Threat' From Russia, Warns US Army Commander

The commander of the US army in Europe, Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges, says that NATO must remain united "as insurance" against Russia

April 18, 2015

The commander of the US army in Europe has warned that NATO must remain united in the face of a "real threat" from Russia.

"It's not an assumption. There is a Russian threat," Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges said.

"You've got the Russian ambassador threatening that Denmark will be a nuclear target if it participates in any missile defence programme. And when you look at the unsafe way Russian aircraft are flying without transponders in proximity to civilian aircraft, that's not professional conduct."

Gen Hodges spoke to the Telegraph on the sidelines of a military debriefing after an exercise to move live Patriot missiles 750 miles across Europe by road and deploy them on the outskirts of Warsaw.



The sight of a US military convoy crossing the German-Polish border more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War made international headlines and brought traffic to a standstill as people posed for selfies beside the troops.

The intention of such a highly visible deployment was to send a signal, Gen Hodges said.

"That's exactly what it was about, reassuring our allies," he said.

Gen Hodges pointed to recent Russian decisions to move Iskandar ballistic missiles to its Kaliningrad enclave, between Lithuania and Poland, and long-range nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea.

"I don't think a military confrontation is inevitable. But you have to be militarily ready in order to enable effective diplomacy," he said.

"The best insurance we have against a showdown is that NATO stands together."

Since taking over command of the US army in Europe last year, Gen Hodges has found himself on the front line of an increasingly nervous stand-off with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Eastern European countries are looking to NATO, and the US in particular, for reassurance that they will not be left to face Russian aggression alone.

A year after it pulled its last tank out of Europe, the US is sending hundreds of tanks and heavy fighting vehicles back to the continent, and Gen Hodges is in the middle of talks over where to position them.

But he has also assumed command at a time when many Western European countries are cutting their military budgets, and relying ever more on the US for their defence.

"I think the question for each country to ask is: are they security consumers or security providers?" Gen Hodges said. "Do they bring capabilities the alliance needs?"

He declined to be drawn on the UK's defence budget, and the major parties' failure to commit to NATO's spending targetof 2 per cent of GDP.

"My experience of the UK is principally of the British army, and they are one of the best armies in the world," he said. "They have extremely capable officers and NCOs.

"The relationship between the US and the UK is as strong as ever and we are always looking for ways to strengthen it. We need the capability that the British bring. They've been by our side in everything we've done.

"We've got our own challenges in the US army. Globally countries are facing pressure on defence spending, including the US.

"I'm confident the UK will live up to its responsibilities."

In recent years, while Western countries have been cutting their defence budgets, Russia has been spending heavily on modernising its military.

"We're not interested in a fair fight with anyone," Gen Hodges said. "We want to have overmatch in all systems. I don't think that we've fallen behind but Russia has closed the gap in certain capabilities. We don't want them to close that gap."

The recent involvement of Russian forces in fighting in eastern Ukraine has shown that they have made huge advances, particularly in electronic warfare, Gen Hodges said.

But he doesn't think this is the start of a new Cold War.

"That was a different situation, with gigantic forces and large numbers of nuclear weapons," he said. "The only thing that is similar now is that Russia and NATO have different views about what the security environment in Europe should be.

"I don't think it's the same as the Cold War. We did very specific things then that are no longer relevant. We don't need 300,000 soldiers in Europe. Nobody can afford that any more.

"We want to see Russia back in the international community and cooperating against Islamic terrorism and on Iran's nuclear ambitions. That's different from the Cold War."

Gen Hodges has an easy manner with the men under his command, making jokes and asking the opinions of the most junior privates, as well as senior officers.

He has combat experience as a brigade commander in Iraq, but in his current role he has to deal with different challenges.

"I'm sure they're not going to line up Russian tanks and go rolling into another country," he said. "They don't want a military confrontation with NATO. Our alliance is the most successful alliance in history and it has a lot of capability."

Russia will not risk an open attack on a NATO member, he believes, for fear the alliance will invoke Article V of its treaty, under which an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Instead, the danger is that Russia will seek to put pressure on NATO members on its borders through other means.

"Russia doesn't want to let the temperature reach 100C, they want to keep the temperature at 90C, 95C, but they try to keep it under 100C," he said.

"There's information, economic pressure, border violations. There are different ways of keeping the pressure up. They don't want a clear attack, they want a situation where all 28 [NATO member countries] won't say there's a clear attack."

He pointed to the large Russian-speaking populations in the Baltic countries, and the economic power Russia has as a major consumer of eastern European agricultural produce, as possible avenues Mr Putin may try to exploit.

But he said that NATO remains united in the face of Russian aggression.

"If President Putin's objective is to fracture the alliance, then he's going about it the wrong way," Gen Hodges said. "At the Wales summit there was a unity of the alliance I have not seen before, and it came about because of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and its use of force to change the borders of a sovereign country, Ukraine. It was a direct response to Russia's behaviour in Crimea."

He points to recent moves by traditionally neutral Sweden and Finland to cooperate more closely on defence with NATO members Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

"Nobody's trying to join Russia. There's no country scurrying to get under Russia's protective umbrella," he said.

"Why do so many countries want to join the EU or NATO? It's about values. They want security and prosperity.

"Russia wants to make it difficult for countries that were affiliated with the USSR or the Warsaw Pact to join the West. The way they see it they're entitled to a role, to a sphere of influence.

"I think the position of the West is that this idea of a sphere of influence is not applicable in the 21st century. In the 21st century countries have the right to decide for themselves what is right for them and what kind of country they want to be. They've made the European choice. That's what this is all about."

Since taking up his command, Gen Hodges has been outspoken over the Russian threat in a way that is rare for a serving general.

"I think I understand my role. I don't make policy for the US or the alliance. I carry out policy," he said.

He has chosen to speak out because he fears the Russia is going unchallenged in the information war, he said.

"We talk about DIME: diplomacy, information, military and economy. An important aspect of how Russia operates is how they use information.

"They use information the way they use infantry and missiles. They're not burdened by the truth. Most of the independent media has left Russia and a large percentage is government-owned or -dominated. They don't have to worry about congressional or parliamentary oversight. There's a constant bombardment of information."

In his last interview before his death on Monday, Günter Grass, the Nobel-winning German author, said he feared that humanity was "sleepwalking" towards another World War.

Gen Hodges disagreed. "I think we were sleepwalking a few years ago when we thought Russia wanted to be a part of the international community," he said. "They were with us in Bosnia. We actually have a mechanism for them to cooperate with NATO.

"But I think we're wide-awake now."

Then General hits on some great points but I think he is dead wrong on the new Cold War and us being "wide-awake".

[American Patriot]

"It's not an assumption. There is a Russian threat," Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges said.

Nonsense.

The Russians are our friends. Everyone tells us this, so it MUST be true.

[vector7]

Russia claims it's in the early stages of developing an aircraft carrier that can hold 100 planes

• Jeremy Bender

• Feb. 10, 2015, 5:02 PM
• 29,857
• 21

Screenshot/www.youtube.comAnother angle on the mockup.

Russia's government-owned Krylov State Research Center is on its way towards developing Russia's latest aircraft carrier, according to Russian media.

The aircraft carrier is in a very rudimentary stage of its development. It's still under conceptual testing in Krylov's laboratory.
But if the tests prove successful and the carrier's design is deemed plausible, the research center will follow through with a 1:1 scale metal mock-up of the carrier (China may have just constructed its own mock-up of a new carrier).
According to Russia's TV Vezda, the carrier would be able to stow 100 aircraft onboard. The body of the carrier is also being designed to minimize drag by 20% compared to past Russian carriers. If built, the vessel would be Russia's first carrier to debut since the Admiral Kuznetsov, which launched in 1985. The Kuznetsov is Russia's only functioning carrier.
TV Vezda also stated that the ship would feature catapults on the ship's top to launch aircraft during storms. However, this claim is countered by the fact that the carrier's models feature a ski-ramp style aircraft in the front aircraft takeoff like older Soviet models, which did not have catapults.
The Russian carrier, if constructed, would be slightly larger than the US's current Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which can carry around 90 aircraft.

Screenshot/www.youtube.comKrylov's small scale mockup of its future carrier.

However, any indication of Russian plans should be taken with skepticism. The carrier is still in a conceptual phase and only a scaled mockup has been built so far. Any plans for Russia's construction of the carrier could also be seriously hampered as Moscow is expected to enter a recession due to current economic sanctions and the falling value of the Russian ruble. It might not have the money for this ambitious of a military project, especially with so many other needs.


Russia's drive to modernize its navy comes as its force is deteriorating rapidly. The vast majority of Russia's Navy is a holdover from the country's Soviet fleet. These ships are older than Moscow would like and suffer from frequent mechanical failures.

Of Russia's 270 strong navy, only about 125 vessels are functional. Only approximately 45 of those 125 ships and submarines are functional and deployable, according to War Is Boring.

Russia was meant to have received two Mistral-class assault ships from France in 2014 as part of its fleet modernization, but the deal was put on hold over the crisis in Ukraine.

In Oct. 2014, China's Xinhua reported that Russia would seek to acquire an advanced aircraft carrier by the 2030s. The vessel would be capable of operating in diverse environments and could accommodate both manned and unmanned systems.


Russia completed project nuclear powered supercarrier

02:32 05/21/2015.
13 comments
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Was named "Storm" A MODEL OF ITS BEING EXPOSED TO MARITIME FAIR IN S. Petersburg



You will be able to autonomously navigating 120 days. It has a crew of 4,000-5,000 people, and will be able to perform tasks at the height of waves up to nine meters. He will carry 80-90 combat aircraft and helicopters of various purposes, plus jet aircraft radar reconnaissance and helicopters Ka-27

DESIGNING new multipurpose heavy aircraft supercarrier "Storm" has been completed in the State Scientific Centre "Krilov," the agency TASS.

According to the director of this scientific center Valeria Polyakova, the new ship will be able to perform various tasks away from the naval base because it will be capable of destroying land and sea targets opponents using their own weapons and aircraft from an air group, as well as achieving self-defense.

Main constructive "surprise" of an aircraft carrier is a possibility of replacing the conventional engine, which is equipped with atomic.

Dimensions and characteristics of the ship are: displacement: 90-100 thousand tons, length 330 m, width 40 m, draft: 11 m, maximum speed: 30 knots, the speed of navigation: 20 knots, autonomy: 120 days. Impressive is the number of crew - 4,000-5,000 people.

An aircraft carrier will be able to perform tasks at the height of waves up to nine meters. Air group consists of 80-90 combat aircraft (airplanes and helicopters) for different purposes, plus jet aircraft radar reconnaissance and helicopters Ka-27 countries.

The planes will ascend not only by the two kickers, but the two electromagnetic catapult.

Air defense system will protect four with vertical zenith rocket launch and the ship will be able to equip and antitorpedskim system.

According to the Poles, the characteristics of the ship can be modified during construction at each stage works, when a potential client is asked to modify weapons systems and equipment.

The sphere of application of atomic engine in a war fleet still is - top Russian designers' thoughts. Russia in this area holds advantages inherited from the USSR.

At the international naval show in St. Petersburg in 2015, as promising designers will be shown a model "Storm" of large dimensions.

According to experts, the new aircraft carrier opens the most incredible opportunities for the application of nuclear aircraft carriers.

[vector7]

Russian Defense Ministry signed a new contract to deliver 30 Yak-130s by 2018

• 

Within the framework of the state defense order SDO 2016-2018 the Ministry of Defence and the PJSC "Corporation" Irkut ", part of the United Aircraft Corporation, signed a contract for the supply of air and space forces of Russia trainer aircraft Yak-130.

State contract for the supply signed by Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov and President of PJSC "Corporation" Irkut "Oleg Demchenko.

In accordance with the terms of the contract before the end of 2018 30 Yak-130 will be transferred to video conferencing.

[vector7]

Preparing your boys to openly serve...

Biden: More Women And Gays In Military Only Makes It Stronger

Jonah Bennett
12:18 PM 05/22/2016



In a speech to West Point’s class of 2016, Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday that more women and openly gay soldiers will only serve to make the U.S. military stronger.

“Having men and women together in the battlefield is an incredible asset, particularly when they’re asked to lead teams in parts of the world with fundamentally different expectations and norms,” Biden said in his graduation speech at West Point, according to The Associated Press.

Biden heaped praise on Eugene Coleman, the class president, for coming out as gay.

“E.J. would have been discharged from the Army, and we would have lost an incredible talent,” Biden said, referring to standard practice before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2010. “Thanks for your courage, E.J., and I expect we’re going to hear big things from you, pal.”

Pushing diversity has been a central objective of the Obama administration.

Earlier this week, the Senate finally confirmed Eric Fanning, President Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of the Army. He was initially nominated in September, but GOP Sen. Pat Roberts placed a hold on the nomination, saying he wanted assurances that the Pentagon would not move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Kansas. Roberts insisted that his hold had nothing to do with Fanning’s sexual orientation. This hold infuriated White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who blasted Roberts for trying to grab public attention.

In December, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened all combat roles up to women, a move which has kicked off additional efforts to facilitate integration. The Navy and Marine Corps are conducting a review to make sure job titles don’t unfairly exclude women by having the word “man” in them.

In Marines' New Fitness Plan, Pullups For Women Won't Be Mandatory

Army Approves First Female Officers For Ground Combat Roles


Via Free Beacon:

The U.S. Army has approved the first 22 women the service will commission as infantry and armor officers in the coming weeks.

USA Today reported that the nearly two dozen women are close to completing their officer training either at West Point or in ROTC or Officer Candidate School. The service will commission them as second lieutenants upon their graduation.

In order to completely qualify for the roles, the women need to successfully finish the specialty schools and meet all physical requirements. Thirteen of the women will become armor officers, while nine others will commissioned as infantry officers.

The announcement is a telling development in the military’s effort to integrate women into the force’s combat roles. It comes in the wake of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s order that the military open up all combat roles to women this year.

In issuing the order, Carter rejected a request from the Marine commandant that some ground combat jobs remain closed to women. A Marine Corps study released last year found that female Marines were injured twice as often as their male counterparts, less accurate with infantry weapons, and less effective at removing injured troops from the battlefield.

Carter has defended his decision as an effort to select from the “ largest pool of people” to fill combat roles.

The military has anticipated small numbers of women to put themselves up for combat roles at first.

In February, Carter encouraged women to “step forward” into the newly opened combat positions.

Russian schools push to begin Army Training students at 10 years old

20 May 2016

Photo AFP

School children in Russia will soon be taught a variety of military skills such as maintaining firearms as part of a new drive by the country's defence ministry.

The training will be provided by a revived Soviet-era organisation called Yunarmiya - or Young Army - and will be launched on 22 May as a pilot scheme in the city of Yaroslavl, before going nationwide in September, according to the state news agency RIA-Novosti. It will include things like assembling assault rifles, shooting and parachute jumping, but also theoretical subjects such as military history and tactics, the Gazeta.ru news website reports, quoting defence ministry officials.

Students will wear uniform, and units will have their own "headquarters" and banner. The age group is likely to be 14 to 18, but could start as soon as 10. Officials stress that attendance will not be compulsory, and will be in addition to normal existing lessons.

The aim appears to be to expand the military education already offered by schools. Russia has seen a surge in nationalism since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the ministry says it seeks to make the country's "growing number of patriotic military movements" more structured.

Views on these developments appear to be mixed. "Attempts to militarise children are a violation of their rights," Valentina Melnikova - who heads a soldiers' rights group - tells Gazeta. But the head of a rival, government-funded organisation, Andrei Kurochkin, says there is a need to "strengthen discipline, raise the prestige of the army and develop patriotic education". One parent who spoke to Gazeta is less than impressed: "I wonder if there will be any normal schools left," he says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-f...where-36345029

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Meanwhile here in America's public schools 10 year old children...

Chicago schools to teach 5th graders how to ‘increase sexual pleasure’

planned parenthood , sex ed

CAUTION: The following article includes some graphic descriptions of sexuality in explaining the contents of a sex ed program intended for ten-year-olds.

Last year, Chicago’s public school district outraged local parents and made national headlines when it announced its new sex education program would include kindergarteners. Now, the program is again stirring controversy, as parents at one elementary school reacted with shock and dismay upon learning that their 5^th grade students – ages 10 and 11 – would be taught how to use female condoms and lube for both vaginal and anal sex, with an emphasis on longer-lasting intercourse and enhanced sexual pleasure.

Parents at Andrew Jackson Language Academy were invited to attend a seminar on the school’s sex-ed program in a letter from school principal Mathew Ditto. The letter promised that during the seminar, school faculty and a Chicago Public Schools representative would “share the lessons and information that will be taught to your child.”

According to the letter, topics to be covered in the sex-ed program beginning in kindergarten include personal safety, human reproduction and childbirth, puberty, abstinence and healthy relationships. Starting in 4^th grade, information about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases is introduced. By 5^th grade, students are taught how to obtain and use contraception, including a condom demonstration...

As Obama Weakens America, The Russians And Chinese Prepare

Jeremiah Johnson
November 16th, 2015

SHTFplan.com
Comments (109)
Read by 7,216 people

Jeremiah Johnson is a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne) and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape).



We have seen some very heinous events over the past years of the Obama administration’s rule. We have seen the hollowing out of our military command structure (everyone is familiar with the list of field-grade and general staff-level commanders purged by Obama). We witnessed the “mothballing” of TARS (the balloon system complementing NORAD). We watch, as this administration shuts down production of the Tomahawk cruise missile, gets rid of the A-10 “Warthog” fleet that destroys tanks, and retires a dozen cruisers of the U.S. Navy, along with the aircraft carrier George Washington.

We watched one of the greatest examples of complicit treason and traitorous behavior as Obama sat on a well-lit stage in the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Summit, leaned over toward Dmitri Medvedev, and said, “Tell Vladimir, I will have more flexibility after the next election.” This statement concerned the stationing of U.S. missile defenses in eastern Europe and the reduction of ICBM’s (the United States’ missiles).

We watch as Obama has used his cabinet and the power-base he enjoyed when he had control of the U.S. Senate to lower the standards of the U.S. military, weakening it and turning it into an institution where his fundamental transformation agenda takes precedence over battle readiness and effectiveness. Unit cohesion is being undermined and destroyed, and the strength of our armed forces is on the wane.

We watched on as Obama handed the Chinese and Russians our response matrices and battle plans under the auspices of “Partnership Readiness and Joint Training Exercises.”

This refers specifically to operations with the participation and direction of FEMA with joint drills between U.S. and Chinese forces in Hawaii November 12-14, 2013. These drills were conducted for “disaster management,” specifically for “humanitarian purposes,” and on U.S. soil. One of the administration’s “Yes-men,” American Admiral Sam Locklear stated:

“These types of exercises give us a good place to start and to get into the kind of rhythm of understanding and trusting each other.”

This came from the mouth of a U.S. Admiral, the commander of US Pacific Command. It is a shame that he isn’t being quoted right now with the standoff that is currently taking place between China and the U.S. just outside of Chinese territorial waters. What would his opinion be of the new hypersonic missile that China has developed to take out an entire carrier group with just ¼ megaton warhead?

Just this past weekend we witnessed more weakness and obfuscation regarding the missile launched off of the coast of California in the evening of 11/7/15, witnessed by thousands of people. Dave Hodges posted a comment from a gentleman who worked on Trident missiles who believed the launch (by the U.S. Navy) was to gauge response time and effectiveness in dealing with an SLBM (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile). Remember, the THAD system has proven itself several times under rigidly controlled conditions in Hawaii to be an abysmal failure regarding missile intercepts.

Matching the level of the (purposeful, administration-designed) U.S. complacency, the Russian military has been matchless in terms of tactical acumen and performance.

Vladimir Putin’s brilliance is visible in the Russian offer in the form of a request for the U.S. to join it in the fight against ISIL/ISIS… a war against the very entity created and sponsored by the Obama administration. By not accepting the Russian offer, the U.S. appears not to be helping its “fellow partner and actor” on the world-stage of affairs. If it does accept, then the U.S. fights against its own creation.

The Russians are quietly and patiently on the move. We witnessed the annexation (the conquest) of Ukraine. Now a bitter semi-stalemate exists between ethnic Russian separatists with Ukrainian citizenship and the Ukrainian military, the former also “augmented” with Spetsnaz units. Those selfsame units have rotated into the Syrian theater of operations. We are watching the ongoing actions in Syria with the continuous Russian bombing of ISIS and the gradual movement of ground troops into the country.

Russia has been on the move, now, incrementally and patiently. In December 2013, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia would respond with nuclear weapons. The Yars (SS-29) ICBM has been developed that can penetrate all current U.S. missile defenses. For those who may think this piece to be “slanted” towards current U.S. policy, please think again:

The U.S. has been in the process (for decades) of destabilizing former Soviet-bloc, eastern European nations with the infusion of capital from the IMF and with the insertion of American bases, military personnel, and war materials.

The Varshavyanka-class submarines (diesel, improved Kilo-class subs), also known as Project 636, with stealth technology and improved range in combat, are capable of striking targets on the land, under water, and on the surface. A 45-day range without refueling, and an arsenal of 18 torpedoes and 8 SAM’s (surface to air missiles) make these subs very formidable. They also can be fitted with cruise missiles capable of delivering a 250 kiloton warhead. They have been labeled the “black holes” of the ocean by the U.S. navy. One of these bad boys cruising up the Chesapeake Bay and into the Potomac…could pop out a cruise missile and fry DC in under three minutes.

A federal police officer reported on Steve Quayle’s website that Russia has been moving her subs into the Pacific, prepositioning its assets to conduct an attack on the West Coast of the U.S. and/or an EMP-device attack. The U.S. has been pushing things in Syria. Remember on March 24, 2014, that Andrei Kozyrev, former Russian Foreign Minister said that the Ukraine crisis was “in the 11^th hour” to avoid a nuclear war. The U.S. was pushing things then in Europe, and this was the reason for the declaration of willingness to use nukes. On March 22, just two days earlier, the U.S. had sent 12 F-16 fighter planes and 300 troops to Poland.

The main point is that the U.S. and the NATO countries are now facing nations that are not backing down and if anything are taking a superior position regarding a potential attack posture. With the U.S. economy in a shambles and our military capabilities seriously compromised, the fall is visible on the horizon and steadily approaching. The situation changes on a daily basis, but one can see the two sides are on a collision course, one way or another.

---

Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne). Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape). He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com or contact him here.
This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian MoD Pondering Re-Launch Of Military Bases In Cuba And Vietnam – Deputy Defense Minister

October 7, 2016

Moscow is considering plans to return to Cuba and Vietnam where it had military bases in the past, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said on Friday, according to RIA news agency.

“We are working on this,” Pankov said, while declining to elaborate. The Russian Defense Ministry is re-assessing the decisions made in the past to shut down the bases in those countries, according to the defense official.

Previously the deputy head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament, Aleksey Chepa said that Russia “should re-assess the issue of our presence in other regions of the world. I believe that it would correspond with Russian interests to restore the bases in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa that were closed,” as quoted by TASS.

There were Soviet and Russian military bases in Cuba and Vietnam until 2002. The Russian navy was deployed in Cam Rahn, Vietnam, and Russia had a radio-electronic intelligence center in Lourdes, Cuba.

While functioning, the Lourdes SIGINT facility was the largest of its kind operated by the USSR (and later Russia) outside of the country. The facility occupied 73 square kilometers and hosted some 1,500 employees at the peak of its activity.

The Soviet Union leased the Cam Rahn base rent-free from 1979 until 2004. In June 2001, the Vietnamese government announced that following the expiry of Russia's lease, Hanoi would “not sign an agreement with any country to use Cam Ranh Bay for military purposes.”

However, at the end of 2014, a deal was signed between Russian and Vietnam, setting up standards of use of Russian warships in the port of Cam Ranh. According to the simplified procedure, Russian ships would only have to give prior notice to the Vietnamese authorities before entering Cam Ranh Bay, while other foreign navies would be limited to only one ship visit a year to Vietnamese ports.

Back in May, Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Nguyen Thanh Sean told RIA Novosti that Vietnam isn’t against the return of Russia to the military base in Cam Ranh Bay, but this cooperation shouldn’t be directed against third countries.

[vector7]

We are ready to continue building the Union State of Russia and Belarus, including establishing a joint issuing centre, single customs service, court and accounts chamber. In this case, we will also have a joint pricing and tariff policy
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) December 13, 2018

[vector7]

The chill in US-Russia relations has some worried about stumbling into a military conflict

By: Robert Burns, The Associated Press   April 14

An Air Force maintenance unit crew chief inspects the wings of a B-52 Stratofortress at RAF Fairford, England, on March 28, 2019. There are more than 400 airmen and six aircraft deployed to RAF Fairford in support of U.S. Strategic Command’s Bomber Task Force in Europe and the base acts as the United States Air Forces' forward operating location for bombers in Europe. (Staff Sgt. Philip Bryant/Air Force)

WASHINGTON — It has the makings of a new Cold War, or worse.

The deep chill in U.S.-Russian relations is stirring concern in some quarters that Washington and Moscow are in danger of stumbling into an armed confrontation that, by mistake or miscalculation, could lead to nuclear war.

American and European analysts and current and former U.S. military officers say the nuclear superpowers need to talk more. A foundational arms control agreement is being abandoned and the last major limitation on strategic nuclear weapons could go away in less than two years. Unlike during the Cold War, when generations lived under threat of a nuclear Armageddon, the two militaries are barely on speaking terms.

"During the Cold War, we understood each other's signals. We talked," says the top NATO commander in Europe, U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, who is about to retire. "I'm concerned that we don't know them as well today."

Russian aggression on the rise in the Balkans, Army four-star says

U.S. military units and allies at their highest readiness rate in years, the U.S. commander in Europe says.
By: Todd South

Scaparrotti, in his role as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has met only twice with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian general staff, but has spoken to him by phone a number of other times.

"I personally think communication is a very important part of deterrence," Scaparrotti said, referring to the idea that adversaries who know each other's capabilities and intentions are less likely to fall into conflict. "So, I think we should have more communication with Russia. It would ensure that we understand each other and why we are doing what we're doing."

He added: "It doesn't have to be a lot."

U.S. European Command Commander Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti hosts a command "all hands" at Patch Barracks, Germany, Sept. 10, 2018. (Visual Information Specialist Rey Ramon/Army)

The United States and Russia, which together control more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, say that in August they will leave the 1987 treaty that banned an entire class of nuclear weapons. And there appears to be little prospect of extending the 2010 New Start treaty that limits each side's strategic nuclear weapons.

After a period of post-Cold War cooperation on nuclear security and other defense issues, the relationship between Washington and Moscow took a nosedive, particularly after Russian forces entered the former Soviet republic of Georgia in 2008. Tensions spiked with Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014 and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine. In response, Congress in 2016 severely limited military cooperation with Russia.

The law prohibits "military-to-military cooperation" until the secretary of defense certifies that Russia "has ceased its occupation of Ukrainian territory" and "aggressive activities." The law was amended last year to state that it does not limit military talks aimed at "reducing the risk of conflict."

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Relations frayed even further amid U.S. allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, although President Donald Trump has doubted Russian complicity in what U.S. intelligence agencies assert was an effort by Moscow to boost Trump’s chances of winning the White House. After a Helsinki summit with Putin in July, Trump publicly accepted the Kremlin leader’s denial of interference.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview Friday that Russian behavior is to blame for the strained relationship.

"It's very difficult for us to have normal relationships with a country that has not behaved normally over the last few years," Dunford said. "There are major issues that affect our bilateral relationship that have to be addressed, to include where Russia has violated international laws, norms and standards."

Dunford said he speaks regularly with Gerasimov, his Russian counterpart, and the two sides talk on other levels.

"I'm satisfied right now with our military-to-military communication to maintain a degree of transparency that mitigates the risk of miscalculation," he said. "I think we have a framework within to manage a crisis, should one occur, at the senior military-to-military level."

James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral who was the top NATO commander in Europe from 2009 to 2013, says the West must confront Russia where necessary, including on its interventions in Ukraine and Syria. But he believes there room for cooperation on multiple fronts, including the Arctic and arms control.

"We are in danger of stumbling backward into a Cold War that is to no one's advantage," he said in an email exchange. "Without steady, political-level engagement between the defense establishments, the risk of a true new Cold War rises steadily."

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No one is predicting a deliberate Russian act of war in Europe, but the decline in regular talks is a worry to many.

Moscow says it is ready to talk.

"Russia remains open for interaction aimed at de-escalating tension, restoring mutual trust, preventing any misinterpretations of one another's intentions, and reducing the risk of dangerous incidents," the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last week in response to NATO's 70th anniversary celebration.

Sam Nunn, who served in the Senate as a Democrat from Georgia from 1972 to 1997, argues that dialogue with Russia is too important to set aside, even if it carries domestic political risk.

"You can't call time out," he said in an interview. "The nuclear issues go on, and they're getting more dangerous."

Nunn co-wrote an opinion piece with former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Defense Secretary William Perry arguing that the U.S. and its allies and Russia are caught in a "policy paralysis" that could lead to a military confrontation and potentially the first use of nuclear weapons since the U.S. bombed Japan in August 1945.

"A bold policy shift is needed," they wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, "to support a strategic re-engagement with Russia and walk back from this perilous precipice. Otherwise, our nations may soon be entrenched in a nuclear standoff more precarious, disorienting and economically costly than the Cold War."

A group of U.S., Canadian, European and Russian security experts and former officials in February issued a call for talks with Russia on crisis management.

"The risks of mutual misunderstanding and unintended signals that stem from an absence of dialogue relating to crisis management ... are real," the Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group said in a statement.

It said this could lead to conventional war with Russia or, in a worst case scenario, “the potential for nuclear threats, or even nuclear use, where millions could be killed in minutes.”