Russia needs bombers in Cuba due to NATO expansion

[Boubear]

Russia needs bombers in Cuba due to NATO expansion - ex-commander
14:53 | 21/ 07/ 2008

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MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - The possible deployment of Russian strategic bombers in Cuba may be an effective response to the placement of NATO bases near Russia's borders, a former Air Force commander said on Monday.

Russian daily Izvestia earlier on Monday cited a senior Russian military source as saying that Russian strategic bombers could be stationed again in Cuba, only 90 miles from the U.S. coast, in response to the U.S. missile shield in Europe.

"If these plans are being considered, it would be a good response to the attempts to place NATO bases near the Russian borders," Gen. of the Army Pyotr Deinekin told RIA Novosti.

"I do not see anything wrong with it because nobody listens to our objections when they place airbases and listening posts near our borders," the general said.

However, Deinekin said the possibility of Russian bombers being stationed in Cuba is largely hypothetical, because Russia's Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers are both capable of reaching the U.S. coast, patrolling the area for about 1.5 hours, and returning to airbases in Russia with mid-air refueling.

Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by former president Vladimir Putin. Russian bombers have since carried out over 80 strategic patrol flights and have often been escorted by NATO planes.

Deinekin suggested that Cuba could be used as a refueling stopover for Russian aircraft rather than as a permanent base, because the Russian political and military leadership would be unlikely to take such a drastic step under current global political conditions.

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to the brink of nuclear war when Soviet missiles were stationed in Cuba.

The crisis was resolved after 12 days when the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, backed down and ordered the missiles removed.

Moscow had a military presence on Cuba for almost four decades after that, maintaining an electronic listening post at Lourdes, about 20 km (12.5 miles) from Havana, to monitor U.S. military moves and communications.

Russia was paying $200 million a year to lease the base, which it closed down in January 2002.

Link

[Optimus]

Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba
Move Would Be Response to U.S. Missile Defense System, Newspaper Izvestia Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/22/ST2008072200062.html
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 22, 2008; Page 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.

[TruthHunter]

1962 anyone?

[scary]

Here I go again on my own...

Here we go again

[bigron]

THEY MIGHT MAKE A DEAL WITH VENEZUELA !!!!


Chavez seeks alliance with Moscow 
 
 
Chavez said Russia and Venezuela must become strategic allies in the oil sphere .

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/07/2008722121720488481.html
 
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect his country from the United States.

"That way we can guarantee Venezuela's sovereignty, which is now threatened by the US," Chavez said shortly after his arrival in Moscow on Tuesday.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of plotting an invasion of Venezuela to destabilise his government, despite US denials.

The president is in Russia to broker a number of deals involving weapons purchases, oil exploration and possibly the creation of a joint financial institution.

It is his first meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, who took office in May.

Welcoming Chavez at his castle resort near Moscow, the capital, Medvedev said Russian-Venezuelan relations "are one of the key factors of security in the (South American) region".

However, Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said Russia is determined to keep the visit low-profile.

"Russia's leadership has changed since Chavez's last visit. But the Kremlin remains keen to keep things low key … For Moscow, Chavez is a valued weapons buyer, but also something of a loaded weapon where his virulent anti-US rhetoric is concerned."

Arms shopping

Russian media have reported that Chavez is expected to reach a number of agreements for purchasing Russian military hardware while in Moscow, with one
paper reporting the deals could be worth up to $2bn.

Tomas Ramirez, Chavez’s spokesman, said the president was also scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, as well as several military and business leaders.

Kommersant, a Russian daily newspaper, reported on Tuesday that Chavez is looking to order Ilyushin jets, diesel-powered submarines, TOR-M1 air defense systems and possibly tanks.

"We want peace, but we are forced to strengthen our defence," Chavez said upon his arrival.

Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms trader, declined to comment on any potential deals.

Venezuela, which spent $4bn on international arms purchases between 2005 and 2007, mostly from Russia and China, has a defence budget of $2.6bn, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The US stopped supplying arms to Venezuela in 2006.

Commenting on Chavez's visit, Gonzalo R Gallegos, a spokesman from the US state department, said: "We're not here to tell them what they should or shouldn't do, but I think it's clear that Hugo Chavez has his government to lead, he'll make the decisions he needs to make.

"However, he has other situations at home that he may want to pay more close attention to."

Joint bank

Alexis Navarro, Venezuela's ambassador to Moscow, said Chavez also wants to discuss the possibility of creating a joint bank with Russia.

The two sides are also expected to discuss three energy deals involving Russian companies Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Venezuela's state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Lukoil is currently helping Venezuela quantify heavy crude oil deposits in its Orinoco River basin, one of the world's largest petroleum deposits.

Gazprom has two natural gas exploration and production licenses in Venezuela.

Commercial trade between Venezuela and Russia reached $1.1bn last year, almost double the $517m in trade during 2006, according to statistics cited by Venezuela's state-run news agency.
 
 

[xTruthSeekerx]

WOLVERINES!
damn this is a red dawn scenario

[scary]

WOLVERINES!
damn this is a red dawn scenario

Lol yep

[Wanted]

Chavez seeks alliance with Moscow

Now this is intriguing, would piss off the NWO bad.

[Optimus]

US general warns Russia on nuclear bombers in Cuba
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5is3MrbGao74Hw9bC9axPZ4bEbJiw
46 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday.

"If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff.

He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis.

It was unclear from the report whether that would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.

In his confirmation hearing to become the air force's chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba.

"I would certainly offer the best military advice that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach," he said.

The newspaper Iszvestia on Monday cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official in Moscow as saying that Russia may start regular flights by long-range bombers to Cuba in response to US plans to install a missile defense system in eastern Europe.

A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Russian report because there had been no "official response from the Russian government."

Conducting long-range bomber patrol to Cuba would signal a reawakening of military cooperation by former Cold War allies Moscow and Havana, and recall the 1962 missile crisis that brought Washington and Moscow to the brink of war.

Over the past year, Russia already has revived long-range strategic bomber patrols in the Pacific and north Atlantic.

The Russian moves come amid rising tensions over the US missile defense plans, and warnings by Moscow that it will be forced them to counter them militarily.

Until now, US officials have shrugged off the stepped up Russian military activity, while insisting that a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors it plans to install in Poland pose no threat to Russia.

White House press secretary Dana Perino recalled assurances US President George W. Bush offered Russian President Dmitry Medvedev two weeks ago at a G8 summit.

"The president repeated that our missile defense system should not be seen as a threat to Russia, we want to actually work with the Russians to design a system that Russia, and Europe and the United States could work on together as equal partners and we'll continue to do that," she said.

"We seek strategic cooperation with the Russians. We want to work with them on preventing missiles from rogue nations like Iran from threatening our friends and allies," said Perino.

But Medvedev has warned that the missile defense project worsens regional security and will force Moscow to consider counter-measures.

[TruthHunter]

THEY MIGHT MAKE A DEAL WITH VENEZUELA !!!!


Chavez seeks alliance with Moscow 
 
 
Chavez said Russia and Venezuela must become strategic allies in the oil sphere .

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/07/2008722121720488481.html
 
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect his country from the United States.

"That way we can guarantee Venezuela's sovereignty, which is now threatened by the US," Chavez said shortly after his arrival in Moscow on Tuesday.

Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of plotting an invasion of Venezuela to destabilise his government, despite US denials.

The president is in Russia to broker a number of deals involving weapons purchases, oil exploration and possibly the creation of a joint financial institution.

It is his first meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, who took office in May.

Welcoming Chavez at his castle resort near Moscow, the capital, Medvedev said Russian-Venezuelan relations "are one of the key factors of security in the (South American) region".

However, Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said Russia is determined to keep the visit low-profile.

"Russia's leadership has changed since Chavez's last visit. But the Kremlin remains keen to keep things low key … For Moscow, Chavez is a valued weapons buyer, but also something of a loaded weapon where his virulent anti-US rhetoric is concerned."

Arms shopping

Russian media have reported that Chavez is expected to reach a number of agreements for purchasing Russian military hardware while in Moscow, with one
paper reporting the deals could be worth up to $2bn.

Tomas Ramirez, Chavez’s spokesman, said the president was also scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, as well as several military and business leaders.

Kommersant, a Russian daily newspaper, reported on Tuesday that Chavez is looking to order Ilyushin jets, diesel-powered submarines, TOR-M1 air defense systems and possibly tanks.

"We want peace, but we are forced to strengthen our defence," Chavez said upon his arrival.

Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms trader, declined to comment on any potential deals.

Venezuela, which spent $4bn on international arms purchases between 2005 and 2007, mostly from Russia and China, has a defence budget of $2.6bn, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The US stopped supplying arms to Venezuela in 2006.

Commenting on Chavez's visit, Gonzalo R Gallegos, a spokesman from the US state department, said: "We're not here to tell them what they should or shouldn't do, but I think it's clear that Hugo Chavez has his government to lead, he'll make the decisions he needs to make.

"However, he has other situations at home that he may want to pay more close attention to."

Joint bank

Alexis Navarro, Venezuela's ambassador to Moscow, said Chavez also wants to discuss the possibility of creating a joint bank with Russia.

The two sides are also expected to discuss three energy deals involving Russian companies Gazprom, Lukoil, TNK-BP and Venezuela's state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Lukoil is currently helping Venezuela quantify heavy crude oil deposits in its Orinoco River basin, one of the world's largest petroleum deposits.

Gazprom has two natural gas exploration and production licenses in Venezuela.

Commercial trade between Venezuela and Russia reached $1.1bn last year, almost double the $517m in trade during 2006, according to statistics cited by Venezuela's state-run news agency.
 
 

Venezuela would load up on Onyx and Sunburn missiles that can take out any carrier group the US might send to attack them. They would also probably buy lots of MiG 29's and 35's because they can take off and land on packed dirt runways which are easier to build than asphalt. Russia basing a bunch of Tu-160 supersonic bombers there and in Cuba would cause a definite crisis because they move so quickly they can get in and drop their bombs before being intercepted.