Thursday, August 16, 2012

THE RUSSIANS


General George Patten once said “you cannot trust the Russians”.  OK, I omitted the foul language so it’s a paraphrase rather than a quote. 

A US news outlet reported that a Russian Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks.  The stealth underwater incursion in the Gulf took place at the same time Russian strategic bombers made incursions into restricted U.S. airspace near Alaska and California in June and July.  Its presence was confirmed only after it left the region.

The US Navy thus far has made no comment on the story.  There is nothing to be gained by providing any information to the Russians that corroborates or refutes the news item. The information cannot be corroborated in open source materials.

Akula-class submarines are quiet, by reputation.  The Russians have flown strategic bomber missions against the US this summer.  This is the first news item to suggest the bomber flights occurred during a submarine operation in the Gulf of Mexico.  It is plausible that it was just a coincidence, but I doubt it.  I bet General Patten would also doubt it.

In Seoul on March 26, Obama was caught on tape assuring then–Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s "right hand man", that he would have “more flexibility” after the U.S. presidential election.  He stressed that this would be “my last election” — implying that once that chore was out of the way he would no longer need to worry about voters and what they think.


What was Obama promising to be more flexible about? The microphone picked up the phrase “these issues — but particularly missile defense.”  Putin, of course, has long insisted that the U.S. leave itself permanently vulnerable to a Russian missile attack, that the U.S. not utilize its cutting-edge technology to protect people and property from offensive missiles that might be fired by Russians. 
 

The Liberal media persistently get this wrong. They talk about Putin’s “fears” that American missile defenses would be “aimed” at Russia.  But American missile defenses can be aimed at only one thing: missiles targeting America or America’s allies.  You aim a spear; you don’t aim a shield. 


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