USSR Watch

The USSR (ok, Russia) is rearing its head (that above photo was not decades ago, it was just last year). I have done a lot of work on this subject matter on CIR. They are pushing forward...to go backwards to the "good old days" of the Soviet ways. And if the children are the future, there was another piece I did:

HALF OF RUSSIAN YOUTHS FEEL STALIN WAS A WISE LEADER...

Remember that? Well sure enough we have Russia working hard to push the US out of a base used for the support in the Global War on Terrorism, in Afghanistan. Was not one of President Obama's campaign points to "win" in Afghanistan? But now he IS being tested and instead of standing up to Putin... he seems to not be worried about SUPPORTING the efforts in Afghanisatan over standing up to Putin!

Meanwhile, these political maneuverings place Washington in a bind regarding strategic supplies to Afghanistan, Paul Goble emphasizes. “It’s always better to have more than one route – for pipelines or for air supply,” he observes. According to Goble, “If you put yourself in a position where everyone can see that you desperately need X, then the price of X goes up and the willingness of people to prevent you from getting X in order to create problems for you in hopes of getting a trade-off somewhere else goes up, too.” And he adds, “We now have a Russian government that is willing to use force across military borders and that is willing to bribe countries to support it against the United States.”

Last week Washington reached a tentative agreement with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to allow the passage of non-military cargo bound for Afghanistan. Russia and Kazakhstan have also agreed to allow U.S. non-military supplies to be transported to troops in Afghanistan by rail.

Well they have "buzzed" our aircraft carriers and battle groups. Last February:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A pair of Russian TU-95 Bear bombers overflew a US aircraft carrier in the western Pacific at an altitude of 2,000 feet (660 meters) over the weekend, prompting US fighter jets to scramble, a US defence official said Monday. Four F-18 fighters jets intercepted the Russian bombers Saturday morning, but not before they had overflown the USS Nimitz, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Japanese F-15 fighters had earlier scrambled to intercept another pair of Bear bombers, and escorted them out of the area, said a US military official who asked not to be identified. The Japanese government issued a strong protest with Moscow, but Russian officials denied their aircraft had crossed into Japanese airspace.

The second pair of bombers were flying south of Japan when they "essentially turned inbound toward the USS Nimitz, and USS Nimitz aircraft launched and intercepted the bombers," said the defense official. The US F-18s escorted the bombers until they departed the area, the official said. "There were no verbal communications between the Nimitz aircraft or the Russian aircraft," the official said. The official said one of the Russian bombers flew directly over the US carrier at an altitude of 2,000 feet, while the second bomber flew at its side at the same altitude.

The incident comes at a time when Russia is reviving the long-range air patrols that were once a standard feature of the Cold War. It was the second time since July 2004 that a Russian Bear bomber has overflown a US aircraft carrier. That incident involved the USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan. The Nimitz, which was on a routine patrol in the western Pacific at the time of the incident, was back Monday in port in Sasebo, Japan, the official said.

Now while this is not the first time the USSR has either come close or violated NORAD airspace, it is interesting, recently, for the following reason:

As security officials worked to secure Ottawa on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit, Canadian fighter jets were scrambling to intercept a Russian bomber plane in the Arctic skies.

At a press conference Friday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the incident happened on Feb. 16th.

"At no time did Russian airplanes enter Canadian airspace but within 24 hours of the president's visit here to Canada last week we did scramble two F-18 fighter planes from Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and Canada command," MacKay said.

Sure this could be coincidence but I fail to buy that. Were they trying to "bomb" the President? Of course not, But why not push in every way? Maybe they will get a 1962 results like Kennedy removing Jupiter missiles in Turkey President Obama will end installation of missile defense in Europe, maybe even get rid of that entire pesky program all together.