Russia To Conduct War Games In Caribbean, Hints At Missiles For Cuba
Posted by Bill Dupray
on Nov 25 2008 Filed under Politics, Russia.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
For the first time since the Cold War ended, the Russians, who didn’t have the cojones to try this until Obama was elected, have announced plans to conduct naval war games with Venezuela in the Caribbean.
From the U.K. Times.
A Russian navy task force will sail into Venezuela tomorrow as President Medvedev undertakes a tour of Latin America to challenge the dominance of the United States.
The nuclear-powered Peter the Great, one of Russia’s largest warships, and the submarine destroyer Admiral Chabenenko are due to dock at La Guaira port before wargames in the Caribbean with the Venezuelan Navy. It is the first Russian naval mission to Latin America since the end of the Cold War. . . .
Two Russian long-range strategic nuclear bombers landed in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, for the first time in September. Mr Chavez described their visit as a “warning” to the United States.
Igor Dygalo, the Russian Navy spokesman, said that the joint manoeuvres would begin on December 1. The Peter the Great carries 20 nuclear cruise missiles and up to 500 surface-to-air missiles.
And it looks like they are just getting warmed up. Medvedev and Putin seem to be longing for the good old days of proxy wars and nuclear brinksmanship in the Western Hemisphere.
Mr Medvedev harked back to the Cold War to explain Moscow’s efforts to revive its influence in Latin America. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Peru, he said: “With many of those states in the Soviet period we had rather powerful, serious relations. The time has now come to restore those relations.”
Mr Medvedev is due to arrive in Venezuela from Brazil and will travel on to Cuba, scene of the 1962 nuclear missile crisis. Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, said in August that Russia should “restore its position in Cuba” amid speculation that it may seek to open a military base on the island as a response to the US missile defence shield in eastern Europe.
Mr Putin renewed his attack on the missile shield yesterday, telling a human rights conference in St Petersburg: “This project is aimed against the strategic potential of Russia. And we can only give it an adequate response.”
An adequate response to missile defenses in Europe is to put missiles in Cuba? Because we might attack . . . Cuba? This looks a lot like they want offensive, first strike capability 90 miles off the coast of Florida. And giving Chavez nuclear technology in return for a Russian naval base in Venezuela sounds like part of the plan.
Related Posts
- Russia Threatens To Arm Fighters, Cruisers, and Subs With Nukes
- Obama Style: U.S. to stop counting new missiles in Russia
- Russia to deploy new missiles by 2020
- Russia threatens to send air defense system to protect Iranian nukes
- NATO goes to Russia with hat in hand over Afghanistan; Russia says “nyet”
Short URL: http://libertypundits.net/?p=1239
Leave a Reply