Raptor has first encounter with Russians

By Erik Holmes - Staff writer

Posted : Thursday Dec 27, 2007 20:46:10 EST
The F-22 Raptor, the Air Force’s newest operational fighter jet, had its first encounter with Russian bombers off the coast of Alaska on Thanksgiving Day.

Two Raptors from the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, scrambled to identify and escort two Russian Bear-H bombers as they approached Alaskan airspace Nov. 22, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.

It marked the first time a Raptor has intercepted unknown aircraft or launched in support of a NORAD mission, Herritage said.

NORAD also launched tanker and command-and-control aircraft for the mission, according to a NORAD press release.

The Raptors performed the mission because F-15s at Elmendorf are grounded due to safety concerns raised by a Nov. 2 crash. Canadian CF-18 fighters filled in for two weeks in November before the Raptors took over, Herritage said. The Canadian jets performed several such intercepts.

Encounters between American and Canadian fighter jets and Russian bombers over the Pacific are common because the countries’ airspaces are in close proximity. Russia has also increased its bomber training and patrol flights in the region in recent months.

The 90th Fighter Squadron has 14 F-22s, Herritage said.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone!

(H/T Wordsmith for the cartoon.)

CIR Radio Tonight 12/22/07

UPDATED TIME!!!

2200hrs Saturday. Broadcasting from DC Area.

Catch Doug on Political Pistachio Radio first, Followed by Loki, then CIR RADIO.

Father of the new "Mother Russia."

C.I.R. Press Editorial

UNDISCLOSED – So for some time I have been talking about the resurgence of the Soviet Union. Some have laughed, others say I am nut, people with their head screwed on right recognize how much of a problem the Soviet Union is being, such as in the UN, and what it will do in the future.

A missile defense shield of 10 interceptors (note that word, intercept mean defensive) to block any rogue missiles from the Mid-East is some reason for the Soviet Union to be worried. We couldn’t use these missiles to attack anyone, for they are defensive. And there is such a large number of missiles in the USSR’s arsenal that if they want to attack these 10 interceptors are not enough in number and in addition would be located in a place where they would be useless against the USSR due to the trajectory. For some time they have been against this system…

Their new case against them is very interesting, they feel that should they ever be used it might trigger a “retaliatory strike” which I don’t know how Yury Baluyevsky can classify something as “retaliatory” when there was no initial attack. Now is what worries me was the talk about how it will trigger the “automatic defence system for ballistic missiles.”

“Who is going to take responsibility for an automatic triggering of the system if an interceptor missile is launched from Polish territory through Russia to strike down an Iranian missile?"

Retaliatory strike would mean offensive. So is he saying that USSR ICBM’s can automatically be launched at the US should some sort of violation of airspace occur? What is it like the Berlin wall with machine guns that trigger automatically to kill people trying to escape? It would seem al Qaeda could launch a missile of sorts in to the air over Russia and the ICBMs would automatically start liftoff, towards the USA.

But that is not the only issue. A while back it was Russia that sold advanced surface to air defense systems to Iran. Quite interesting, as they continue to make it hard for sanctions and any real changes. As for the Iranian nuke program, most of us believe they are still pushing forward … that is an entire other post. However they say that they are enriching uranium for civilian power only. One of the ideas a while back was that they have nuclear power but get the fuel from Russia. (That way it could far more closely be monitored.) So they continue to enrich, yet Russia is ready to make its first delivery of fuel. So please explain why Russia continues to help? And if they are getting fuel from Russia why does Iran feel the need to continue to enrich nuclear material?

“Although Russia has resisted drives to impose sanctions on Iran, it also repeatedly has urged Tehran to cooperate with the Vienna, Austria-based IAEA to resolve concerns over the nuclear program.”

So Basically they expect this regime to play nice?!


That brings us to the “Person of the Year” garbage. Go Time mag, help that Soviet Union make its come back!!!

“When this intense and brooding KGB agent took over as President of Russia in 2000, he found a country on the verge of becoming a failed state. With dauntless persistence, a sharp vision of what Russia should become and a sense that he embodied the spirit of Mother Russia, Putin has put his country back on the map. And he intends to redraw it himself. Though he will step down as Russia's President in March, he will continue to lead his country as its Prime Minister and attempt to transform it into a new kind of nation, beholden to neither East nor West.”

The Soviet Union is back folks just face it and Time wants to help. Heck, I will even say that Al Gore should have received the “award” over him. General Petraeus is my nominee. By the way, this “person of the year” is moving Russia away from democracy and back to the good ol’ Soviet Days. You think I am making too much of it?

“A Russian opposition activist has been sent to a psychiatric hospital by authorities a day before a planned demonstration. Artem Basyrov's detention is the latest in a series of incidents suggesting a punitive Soviet-era practice is being revived under president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Basyrov, 20, was ordered to be held at a hospital in the central region of Mari El on November 23, a day before planned demonstrations, said Alexander Averin of the opposition National Bolshevik Party.

The party is part of the Other Russia coalition which organised the so-called Dissenters' Marches across the country this year.”

Now, yes when protestors cross the line in the US they may spend a night in jail, but the next morning…or that night they are let out. But I am making too big of a deal right? I mean what is the difference between a night and months right?

“Earlier this year Larisa Arap, an Other Russia activist and journalist, spent six weeks in a psychiatric clinic. Supporters said this was punishment for her critical reporting.
The Global Initiative on Psychiatry, a Dutch watchdog, says psychiatry continues to be used for punitive, political purposes in Russia.”

But who am I to judge right? Watch the USSR as the Hammer and Sickle rise again from the dust. And thanks to our cowardly ways, will the US stand up to them?

Russia Soviet Union USSR Putin MDA Iran nuclear Time

CIR Radio Tonight 12/14/07

CIR Radio tonight at 2100hrs eastern time.

Evil America?

Just look at the reaction...

Immediately after a bombing in Baghdad, June 2007, which killed at least 21 people and injured at least 66 there was a shooter, maybe targeting people in the crowd. Amid all the Iraqis who are running from the gunfire was a U.S. soldier, standing tall, perhaps looking in the direction of the gunshots, not apparently looking for cover. An Iraqi boy seeks shelter behind the soldier, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. The first picture shows it all. The kid's face shows he is scared to death, and he's running to the safest spot he can find: this soldier who stands between him and danger. It would be difficult to stage a picture that provides a more potent metaphor for the role played by United States in this wretched world. (Photos: AP)

December 7th, 2007

C.I.R. Press Memorial

God bless those who lost their lives then and who continue to do so in sacrifice for their country.

"Sixty-[six] years ago ... the United States endured an attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that for the next 60 years -- until Sept. 11, 2001 -- stood as the most devastating enemy attack on U.S. soil.

"Like the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor has been called a defining moment in U.S. history. It caught the country by surprise, rallied its people against their attackers and thrust the nation into a long, difficult war against tyranny.

"Within hours of the surprise attack in the early-morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941, more than 2,400 Americans were dead. Five of the eight battleships at the U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base were sunk or sinking, and the other battleships, as well as ships and Hawaii-based combat planes, were heavily damaged." (USAF Link)

Above:Courtesy of a Japanese fighter, photographing the attack on the harbor.

"In the 21st century, freedom is again under attack, and young Americans have stepped forward to serve in a global war on terror that will secure our liberty and determine the destiny of millions around the world," President Bush said. "Like generations before, we will answer history's call with confidence, confront threats to our way of life, and build a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren."

Technorati Tags: Pearl Harbor, Navy, December 7th

Father joins Navy to honor son who died in Iraq

After a lucky encounter with Bush, surgeon, 61, is granted an age waiver

By TED ROELOFS
Newhouse News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Bill Krissoff never figured to be in a position to look President Bush in the eye and ask a favor.

But there he was, sitting in a room in Reno, Nev., with Bush and several other families who had lost soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan.

His son, Marine Lt. Nathan Krissoff, 25, had been killed in a December 2006 roadside bomb explosion in Iraq.

Months later, Krissoff came to a carefully considered decision: He would honor his son by leaving a flourishing orthopedic practice, a comfortable life, to join the Navy as a combat surgeon.

But his application for an age waiver was mired in paperwork.

So, on that August day in Reno, when Bush went around the room and asked if there was anything he could do, Krissoff spoke up.

A request for help

"I said, 'Yeah, there is one thing. I want to join the Navy medical corps and I gotta get some help here,' " recalled Krissoff, 61, who lives in California, near Reno.

Three days after that meeting, the Navy called.

His waiver had been granted.

Krissoff was commissioned as a lieutenant commander Nov. 18, and he expects to attend officer development school in January. Attached to the 4th Medical Battalion, he plans to join a combat surgical team and hopes to serve in Iraq.

It is a story of loss and sacrifice being told on national media outlets. But Krissoff considers himself anything but a hero. He reserves words like that for people such as his son.

"The loss of a son puts a certain perspective on things.

"It's my turn to serve. I'm honored and privileged that the Navy will have me in the medical corps," Krissoff said. Continued...