Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba
Jack Linthicum
Man, the nostalgia! National Guard will get to put a bullet in one of
their guns, old radar installations will light up again. I wonder if
anyone has asked Raul what he thinks about this?
Might try for a longer flight, Hugo Chavez is looking for Russian
help.
Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba
Move Would Be Response to U.S. Missile Defense System, Newspaper
Izvestia Says
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 22, 2008; A10
MOSCOW, July 21 -- Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons
could be deployed to Cuba in response to U.S. plans to install a
missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a Russian newspaper reported
Monday, citing an unnamed senior Russian air force official.
The report in Izvestia, which could not be confirmed, prompted
memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the United States and
the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war after Nikita
Khrushchev put nuclear missiles on the Caribbean island. The weapons
were eventually withdrawn in an apparent Soviet climb-down, but
President John F. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles
from Turkey.
A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry declined to comment on
the report Monday, but did not deny it. Izvestia is often a forum for
strategic leaks by Kremlin and other officials.
"While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech
Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba,"
Izvestia quoted the source as saying.
It was unclear if the source was suggesting that Russia would reopen a
base in Cuba or merely use an airfield there for stopovers by the
bombers, Tu-160s and Tu-95s, which are already capable of reaching the
United States from bases in Russia.
Russian strategic bombers, long mothballed, resumed worldwide patrols
last year under orders from then-President Vladimir Putin. The flights
have continued under his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.
Aircraft from the NATO alliance have repeatedly scrambled as the
bombers approached but did not enter the airspace of alliance
countries. The Russian bombers also buzzed low over the USS Nimitz, an
American aircraft carrier, in the Pacific Ocean this year.
Some Russian experts dismissed the possibility of a new Cuban crisis.
"It's very silly psychological warfare," said Alexander Golts, an
independent military analyst, in a telephone interview. "Putin and
Medvedev are very militant in words but very cautious in practical
issues. They have not taken any step that can be seen as a real threat
to the West, and I cannot see any reason to raise this threat against
the U.S."
But "if it's true, it looks like a repetition of the Caribbean crisis"
he said, using the common Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.
Cuba was a client state of Moscow's for decades during the Soviet era.
However, those ties have largely ended since the early 1990s. Russia
closed its last base on the island, a radar facility, in 2002, and it
is unclear whether the Cuban government would grant landing rights to
Russian bombers.
The United States says it wants to deploy tracking radar in the Czech
Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland as a defensive measure
against missiles that might be fired from countries such as Iran. U.S.
officials insist that the system presents no threat to Russia, which,
they say, could easily overwhelm it by launching multiple missiles at
the same time.
But Russia views it as a means to peer into Russian airspace.
Officials here argue it could be easily expanded to undermine their
country's strategic defenses and that Iran is many years away from
developing missiles that could reach the United States or its allies
in Western Europe.
Putin has in the past invoked the Cuban missile crisis to register
opposition to the missile defense project, saying it could touch off
brinksmanship as dangerous as in 1962.
Putin also said last year that Russia could target the sites in Poland
and the Czech Republic with missiles and deploy missiles in
Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave that borders Poland, if the United
States pushes ahead with its plans.
Medvedev has also registered opposition. And this month, the Russian
Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "we will be forced to react
not with diplomatic but with military-technical methods."
The United States has reached agreement with the Czech Republic, but
negotiations with Poland have proved difficult, continuing in Warsaw
on Monday. The Polish government wants the United States to upgrade
its air defenses in return for the use of its soil for the missile
defense system.
"The two sides have said they are drawing closer," said Piotr
Paszkowski, a spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry, after Polish
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski held talks with U.S. Assistant
Undersecretary of State Dan Fried on Monday.
mike
wrote:
> Man, the nostalgia! National Guard will get to put a bullet in one of
> their guns, old radar installations will light up again. I wonder if
> anyone has asked Raul what he thinks about this?
I'd say, not yet.. With a goahead, I'd bet one month after Bears visit
Cuba, Start the flashbacks.
SAC heavies go back on the old Chromedome pattern, and
Looking Glass is reactivated.
And for S-N-G, reactivate all the old Hawk and
Nike Batteries in Florida with PAC3 and SM3, and Oh, and
give the Poles a dual-key IRBM like we did with the W.Germans
in the bad old days.
Then ask the puppet Medvedev if his boss feels safer yet.
**
mike
**
Raymond O'Hara
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:c3658971-f04c-48fc...@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Man, the nostalgia! National Guard will get to put a bullet in one of
> their guns, old radar installations will light up again. I wonder if
> anyone has asked Raul what he thinks about this?
>
> Might try for a longer flight, Hugo Chavez is looking for Russian
> help.
our continued refusal to deal with cuba keeps them in the "enemy" camp.
we should re-establish relations just to strip russia of an ally.
but how stupid is russia to think bears are any kind of a threat.
David E. Powell
wrote:
> "Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
More for patrol and show....
The Tu-160s on the other hand....
One must also remember that both will have the US in cruise missile
range right after takeoff....
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
And at least three escorts as soon as they clear Cuban airspace,
perhaps with a group making a return visit to their base after launch.
William Black
Why?
Russia is a friendly country now, or didn't you notice...
They're just another capitalist nation trying to make a buck, everyone says
so...
--
William Black
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
> "Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
practice, practice, practice; if you dig those Bears out of their
caves we will light up our Little Goldilocks, one size fits all.
hcobb
mission.
Much more interesting would be to offload mobile launchers in Cuba.
The answer is an ABM system that is purely naval and so can be moved
in a matter of weeks to cover any threat to the USA.
-HJC
Fred J. McCall
:
:"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
:news:516341db-56bb-41b7...@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
:> On Jul 22, 12:32 pm, "David E. Powell" <David_Powell3...@msn.com>
:> wrote:
:>> On Jul 22, 10:02 am, "Raymond O'Hara" <raymond-oh...@hotmail.com>
:>> wrote:
:
:>> > but how stupid is russia to think bears are any kind of a threat.
:>>
:>> More for patrol and show....
:>>
:>> The Tu-160s on the other hand....
:>>
:>> One must also remember that both will have the US in cruise missile
:>> range right after takeoff....
:>
:> And at least three escorts as soon as they clear Cuban airspace,
:> perhaps with a group making a return visit to their base after launch.
:
:Why?
:
:Russia is a friendly country now, or didn't you notice...
:
:They're just another capitalist nation trying to make a buck, everyone says
:so...
:
For some really small value of 'everybody'...
--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn
Tiger
> we should re-establish relations just to strip russia of an ally.
>
> but how stupid is russia to think bears are any kind of a threat.
>
>
What do we need relations with them for? They need US, we can live
without them.
William Black
"Fred J. McCall" <fmc...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:h16d84thuctkh1rlk...@4ax.com...
You mean they're still the 'Red Menace' or something?
Fred J. McCall
:
:"Fred J. McCall" <fmc...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
:> "William Black" <willia...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
:>
:> :
:> :"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
:> :news:516341db-56bb-41b7...@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
:> :> On Jul 22, 12:32 pm, "David E. Powell" <David_Powell3...@msn.com>
:> :> wrote:
:> :>> On Jul 22, 10:02 am, "Raymond O'Hara" <raymond-oh...@hotmail.com>
:> :>> wrote:
:> :
:> :>> > but how stupid is russia to think bears are any kind of a threat.
:> :>>
:> :>> More for patrol and show....
:> :>>
:> :>> The Tu-160s on the other hand....
:> :>>
:> :>> One must also remember that both will have the US in cruise missile
:> :>> range right after takeoff....
:> :>
:> :> And at least three escorts as soon as they clear Cuban airspace,
:> :> perhaps with a group making a return visit to their base after launch.
:> :
:> :Why?
:> :
:> :Russia is a friendly country now, or didn't you notice...
:> :
:> :They're just another capitalist nation trying to make a buck, everyone says
:> :so...
:> :
:>
:> For some really small value of 'everybody'...
:
:You mean they're still the 'Red Menace' or something?
I mean those are hardly the only two choices.
William Black
Expand please.
Raymond O'Hara
"Tiger" <Lana_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4886F131...@hotmail.com...
so that ourenemies don't have bases their.
Fred J. McCall
:
:"Fred J. McCall" <fmc...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
:news:9iee845vauvgmlrsk...@4ax.com...
:> "William Black" <willia...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
:> :
:> :"Fred J. McCall" <fmc...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
:> :news:h16d84thuctkh1rlk...@4ax.com...
:> :> "William Black" <willia...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
:> :> :
:> :> :Russia is a friendly country now, or didn't you notice...
:> :> :
:> :> :They're just another capitalist nation trying to make a buck, everyone says
:> :> :so...
:> :> :
:> :>
:> :> For some really small value of 'everybody'...
:> :
:> :You mean they're still the 'Red Menace' or something?
:> :
:>
:> I mean those are hardly the only two choices.
:
:Expand please.
:
Who's this 'everyone' you think is so silly?
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
>
Right hand, left hand
Russia denies reported Cuba base plans
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 24, 2008; 1:05 PM
MOSCOW -- The Russian Defense Ministry has denied a newspaper report
that Russia was considering basing nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba,
Russian news agencies reported Thursday.
The newspaper Izvestia this week cited an anonymous top air force
official as saying the bombers could be based in Cuba as a response to
U.S. plans to place elements of a missile-defense system in Eastern
European countries.
Defense Ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin dismissed the report
Thursday, according to the Interfax and RIA-Novosti news agencies.
"We see this sort of anonymous allegation as disinformation and
another media hoax," he was quoted as saying.
Yes Moscow is clearly angry about U.S. plans for missile-defense sites
in eastern Europe, a situation U.S. officials have been trying to
diffuse.
"We continue to continue to work with the Russians on this issue,"
State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said Tuesday in
Washington. "We have consistently made it clear to them that our
proposed deployment of a limited missile defense system in Europe
poses no threat to them or to their nuclear deterrent."
Despite Cuba's one-time alliance with the former Soviet Union, it
seems unlikely that Cuban leader Raul Castro would allow Russian
bombers on the island and risk the ire of the U.S. government.
Raul Castro has been president only since February, securing a
seamless transition from his brother Fidel, who ruled for nearly a
half-century. Raul has repeatedly said he is willing to discuss the
two countries' differences in talks held on equal terms with America's
next president.
Soviet nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba during the height of the
Cold War pushed the world to the brink of nuclear conflict on Oct. 22,
1962, after U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced their presence to
the world.
After a tense week of diplomacy, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev
removed the missiles.
tankfixer
willia...@hotmail.co.uk says...
>
> "Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:516341db-56bb-41b7...@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> > On Jul 22, 12:32 pm, "David E. Powell" <David_Powell3...@msn.com>
> > wrote:
> >> On Jul 22, 10:02 am, "Raymond O'Hara" <raymond-oh...@hotmail.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >> > but how stupid is russia to think bears are any kind of a threat.
> >>
> >> More for patrol and show....
> >>
> >> The Tu-160s on the other hand....
> >>
> >> One must also remember that both will have the US in cruise missile
> >> range right after takeoff....
> >
> > And at least three escorts as soon as they clear Cuban airspace,
> > perhaps with a group making a return visit to their base after launch.
>
> Why?
>
> Russia is a friendly country now, or didn't you notice...
>
> They're just another capitalist nation trying to make a buck, everyone says
> so...
So the RAF doesn't intercept unknown aircraft incoming over the North
Sea ?
--
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.
The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic
feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety,
is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless
made so and kept so by the exertions of much better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) English economist and philosopher.
Dennis
>
> Man, the nostalgia! National Guard will get to put a bullet in one of
> their guns, old radar installations will light up again. I wonder if
> anyone has asked Raul what he thinks about this?
>
> Might try for a longer flight, Hugo Chavez is looking for Russian
> help.
>
>
> Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba
> Move Would Be Response to U.S. Missile Defense System, Newspaper
> Izvestia Says
Ugh! This sounds like Cuban Missile Crisis II. The first one, as
you might recall, was started by possibly analogous conditions: the Jupiter
missiles in Turkey.
Dennis
dott.Piergiorgio
>
> What do we need relations with them for? They need US, we can live
> without them.
yea, without the best cigars in the world....
Best regards from Italy,
Dott. Piergiorgio.....
Raymond O'Hara
"dott.Piergiorgio" <dott.Pierg...@KAIGUN.fastwebnet.it> wrote in
message news:j9%ik.5702$0N....@tornado.fastwebnet.it...
smoking is dying out in America. American tobacco companies make their money
in europe and asia.
William Black
"Raymond O'Hara" <raymon...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f66dnZf0g8HPphPV...@rcn.net...
>
> "dott.Piergiorgio" <dott.Pierg...@KAIGUN.fastwebnet.it> wrote in
> message news:j9%ik.5702$0N....@tornado.fastwebnet.it...
>> Tiger ha scritto:
>>>
>>> What do we need relations with them for? They need US, we can live
>>> without them.
>>
>> yea, without the best cigars in the world....
>>
>
> money in europe and asia.
>
And yet the sale of smuggled Cuban cigars into the USA remains a very nig
business.
There's even someone in my little town doing it.
Of course he breaks no UK laws, but I doubt he'd be terribly welcome
there...