Russia takes the Biden Challenge
posted at 10:02 am on March 14, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Joe Biden warned us that Barack Obama would get tested by unfriendly nations in the first six months of his administration because of his inexperience. That prediction now looks like sunny optimism. Just days after China aggressively challenged the US Navy in international waters in the South China Sea, Russia now says they may start basing bombers in Venezuela — and Cuba:
A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered an island as a temporary base for strategic Russian bombers, the Interfax news agency reported.
The chief of staff of Russia’s long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, also said Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, Interfax reported. …
Zhikharev said Chavez had offered “a whole island with an airdrome, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers,” the agency reported. “If there is a corresponding political decision, then the use of the island … by the Russian Air Force is possible.”
Interfax reported he said earlier that Cuba has air bases with four or five runways long enough for the huge bombers and could be used to host the long-range planes.
It took John Kennedy more than a year to precipitate a military standoff with the Soviet Union over Cuba in the 1962 missile crisis. It’s taken the Obama Amateur Hour less than two months.
Recall that Barack Obama ran in part on a campaign to “restore diplomacy” in foreign relations. Hillary Clinton made a big show of bringing a “reset button” to her first meeting with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, in which the button was labeled incorrectly and not spelled in Cyrillic. This followed her bumbling show at the EU, making it clear to the Russians that our foreign service was in complete disarray, run by imcompetents.
Can you imagine Russia trying this with George Bush? For that matter, can you imagine Bush losing Kyrgyzstan — and a vital military route — to Putin? Russia is doing this now because Putin and Medvedev understand that they can get away with it.
The Kremlin later said that Zhikarev spoke “hypothetically”. We’ll see. I’d guess that it won’t take long for Moscow to start landing bombers 90 miles off our coast if the Obama administration continues the feckless performance we’ve seen thus far.
Update: Daniel Larison attempts to tell us that there’s nothing to see here and we should just move on:
There is a non-story making the rounds that the Russian military might base bombers in Venezuela and Cuba, provided that the Kremlin wanted to do this. In the same story that is being circulated, the Kremlin ruled out the idea as hypothetical speculation. Naturally, this had no effect whatever on wild accusations of Obama’s foreign policy failure.
When a Russian general tells the press that his country might start basing its bombers in Cuba, it’s not just some wild speculation on my part. Bruce McQuain at QandO points this out to Larison:
However it seems Larison’s research into the story must have omitted this CNN version. The lede:
Russia expressed interest in using Cuban airfields during patrol missions of its strategic bombers, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
I put them in bold so they might catch Larison’s eye. You see, when most people see the words “Russia expressed interest” they interpret them to mean the state of Russia – you know, the country?- is interested enough in something to actually express that interest outloud to where a news agency heard it and reported it. And the words “Cuban airfields” usually mean, well, you know, airfields in Cuba – the object of the Russian interest. The thing airplanes fly off of. The fact that a Russian news agency reported the story about Russia’s interest and Cuba’s airfields, while also mentioning strategic bombers, kind of ties it all together and gives the statement some credibility over and above Larison’s hand-wave of dismissal. It certainly makes it more than a “non-story”.
Well, yes.
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As a political matter, Obama either believes or can be convinced that Russian bombers in Cuba present a problem for Rahm, Hillary, and the campaign team to handle.
As a philosophical matter, I dont think Obama cares too much one way or the other. “I am too busy saving
ACORNthe economy to do anything,” he’ll say publicly. And in private, share an Ivy-league laugh with Michelle coming to the conclusion “Why shouldnt Cuba have bombers? Che was totally cool. Besides, the US has lots of bombers. Its a downright mean racist distraction to think otherwise.”The bottom line is quite true though: Putin, NoKo, China, Iran etc are all accelerating their “Jab the Rookie with a stick” programs because they are pretty convinced of getting away with it, whatever “it” is.
One thing is for sure, unfortunately: There is a very big “it” not far past the horizon, and the question is will the Diaper Dandy be up to it? From what I have seen so far, the answer is no.
Mike D. on March 14, 2009 at 4:08 PM
This sounds like a job for…………ACORN!
Go get ‘em boys and girls!
ncjetsfan on March 14, 2009 at 4:14 PM
McCarthy was right!
thomasaur on March 14, 2009 at 4:14 PM
An inexperienced zero of a president and a cabinet full of incompetents and you’ve got a dream situation for our enemies.
We voted for this clown. Well, all but 58+ million.
jdflorida on March 14, 2009 at 4:26 PM
This is so not a big deal. Russians in Cuba is so 60’s.
If they are stupid enough to waste the money let them. If push came to shove those bombers would never make it off the ground.
This whole story is LOL.
patrick neid on March 14, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Gird you rloins, everyone, and don’t be surprised to see a Russian move against Georgia or the Ukraine during this Presidency.
Red State State of Mind on March 14, 2009 at 4:52 PM
http://ci-report.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-told-you-so.html
And in 2007:
http://ci-report.blogspot.com/2007/09/ussr-watch-alert.html
mdconservative on March 14, 2009 at 4:53 PM
+1
Disturb the Universe on March 14, 2009 at 4:55 PM
But….but…. don’t they know that they are supposed to like us now that Obama is president?
Rightwingguy on March 14, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Perhaps it is unfair to suggest that this possible Russian move has anything to do with Mr Obama. The Russians resumed flying bomber missions towards UK airspace more than a year ago (during the cold war such approaches were a regular occurence). The British reaction to the resumption of these flights was one of surprise, particularly since the Russian aircraft intercepted by the RAF were the same ones that had been intercepted twenty years earlier. Within the UK the flights were regarded as a political statement, perhaps a desire by the Russian government to be noticed and taken more seriously in world affairs.
If the Russians are really considering such an airbase I guess that they would be doing so for the world prestige, to establish a military presence for possible future expansion, to boost morale and experience within their own armed forces and to impress the Russian people.
Militarily, they might want to have an attack force close to the oil fields in that area so that, in some hypothetical future conflict, they would stand half a chance of being able to defend or destroy (according to who the enemy was) oil wells and pipelines. In other words they might not thinking in terms of a conflict with the USA.
YiZhangZhe on March 14, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Biden, it would seem, was wrong; he asserted that A dangerous country would challenge the United States. Such is not the case as seemingly ALL of the dangerous countries are presently challenging the United States.
Did ya have a plan for that, Joey Plugs?
SuperCool on March 14, 2009 at 5:08 PM
So, how long you you figure it will take Russia to wire their new button into their systems and relabel it with the Russian word for “Launch”?
Damiano on March 14, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Uh oh………..
………. more than one item on the plate. What is Mr. Teleprompter going to do?
Along with the aircraft, comes the bureaucracy, military, and KGB that will soon plant roots, and dig in like a tick.
……….. there is a reason that you don’t plant a rose bush outside your front door.
Remember the dig at Gov. Palin…….,
……… try it in reverse.
Seven Percent Solution on March 14, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Barry and Joey are so in over their heads.
GarandFan on March 14, 2009 at 5:19 PM
You are probably right concerning the military threat. As mentioned above, it serves as an excuse to bring in more infrastructure and most importantly, sticks a thumb in the U.S. eye.
a capella on March 14, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Godspeed Orly!
—————
http://defendourfreedoms.us/2009/03/14/i-did-it.aspx?results=1
(3/14/2009)
I Did It. Justice Roberts Agreed to read all of my documents
Yesterday I traveled to Idaho. I was able to address Chief Justice Roberts during the question answer session after his lecture. There were numerous cameras recording this event and simultaneous feed broadcast to all the campuses of the University of Idaho. Roughly 5,000 people in all the campuses had an opportunity to hear what I had to say, it is in video archives and now everybody knows the truth and knows that leftist media thugs such as Seattle Washington Observer shamelessly twist the truth to fit their Pro Obama blind idiot agenda.
It was a grueling day, I left home at 3 in the morning after sleeping only 3 hours and drove to San Diego, from there flew to Salt Lake City, from there to Tacoma, Washington, from there I drove for a couple of hours to be in Moscow Idaho, to address Chief Justice Roberts. After the lecture the audience was told, that they can ask questions, give their name and present a shot question. I was the first to run to the microphone and told Roberts. ” My name is Orly Taitz, I am an attorney from Southern California. I left home at three o’clock in the morning and flew and drove thousands of miles to talk to you and ask you a question”. Roberts seemed to be impressed by that and I continued. “Are you aware that there is criminal activity going on in the Supreme Court of the United States. I have submitted my case Lightfoot v Bowen to you. You agreed to hear it in the conference of all 9 Justices on January 23. Your clerk, Danny Bickle, on his own accord refused to forward to you an important supplemental brief, he has hidden it from you and refused to post it on the docket. Additionally, my case was erased from the docket, completely erased one day after the inauguration, only two days before it was supposed to be heard in the conference. Outraged citizens had to call and demand for it to be posted. On Monday I saw Justice Scalia and he had absolutely no knowledge of my case, that was supposedly heard in conference on January 23rd. It is inexplicable, particularly knowing that roughly half a million American citizens have written to him and to you Justice Roberts demanding that you hear this issue of eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama aka Barry Soetoro to be the President of the United States.” At that point I have shown to Roberts a stack of papers, that I held. Those were my pleadings and printouts that I got from WorldNetDaily. It contained your names, names of about 350,000 that signed the petition. (there were others that have written individual letters,) . Roberts stated “I will read your documents, I will review them. Give them to my Secret Service Agent and I will review them”. His Secret Service Agent approached me and stated ” Give me all the documents, I promise you Justice Roberts will get them”. I had a full suitcase of documents. The agent went to look for a box, he found a large box to fit all the documents, he showed me his badge, and introduced himself as Gilbert Shaw, secret Service Agent assigned fto the security of Chief Justice Roberts.
I gave him
1.Motion fo reconsideration of Lightfoot v Bowen with all the supplemental briefs.
2. Quo Warranto Easterling et al v Obama et al
3. 3300 pages of your names, people that signed WorldNetDaily petition, demanding that the Supreme Court hear Obama elligibility case.
4. Copy of a 164 page dossier and all the other documents sent to Eric Holder, Attorney General, describing suspected criminal activity, associated with Obama and his supporters. It described a whole campaign of cyber crimes, intimidation, harassment, defamation and assassination of character, impersonation of US army officer Scott Easterling and impersonation of me, it showed screen shots of information being erased from the docket of the Supreme Court, it contained information of court cases being created, fabricated in order to commit voter fraud and sway public opinion, it contained a list of a 100 addresses for Barack Obama with numerous different social security numbers, issued all over the country and attached to those addresses. It showed the address Obama used in Somerville Massachusetts, attached to the social security of a man who is 118 years old. It showed evidence of Obama committing perjury, lying under oath. It had his school registration from Indonesia under the name Barry Soetoro, citizen of Indonesia, religion Muslim. Right after this page there was a page of Obama’s registration to become an attorney and officer of the court in Illinois, where he stated under oath that his name is Barack Hussein Obama and he had no other prior names. It contained a report from a federal agent Steven Coffman, stating that there are numerous signs of forgery in his Selective Service Certificate. It contained a letter from a renown expert Sandra Line, stating that there are signs of forgery in Obama’s short version Certification of Live Birth, and original birth certificate needs to be reviewed in order to ascertain his status. It contained 130 current job positions for Barry Obama, Barack H. Obama and Michelle Obama, that were obtained from Intellius Jobs.com. None of them were reported on Obamas’ tax returns. All of these documents suggest possible massive tax fraud, corruption of a public official, bribery and massive campaign contributions fraud, whereby large campaign contributions, over allowed limits were reported as fictitious positions with different companies, not surprisingly involving most mainstream media outlets. These need to be reviewed in light of a pattern, I’ve seen previously. For example, as a State Senator Obama arranged for his friend Robert Blackwell from killerspin to get a grant of $320,000 of our taxpayers money for his ping-pong tournaments. In exchange Blackwell gave Obama back roughly a third, $100,000 in the form of a salary. Similarly Obama arranged for Chicago university hospital to get 1 million grant of our taxpayer money and they gave him back roughly a third $357,000 in the form of a board salary for his wife Michelle for working 20 hours a week, even though Michelle was totally worthless as a board member since she had zero medical education and her law licence is on a mandatory inactive status (I wonder why).
I am writing this in a hurry, ready to leave my hotel room, finishing yesterday’s dinner leftovers and ready to board a plane for a grueling flight back home. I’ll add one more detail. As one of the announcers introduced Roberts, he stated that Roberts has his priorities straight. He described an event when Roberts missed most of a reception because he wanted to be there for his young son, at the sports tournament where his son was participating. He described Roberts as a caring and loving father. At that point I was just about ready to cry. I have 3 sons, I love them too and I would love to be there, attending their events. I am a proud parent. My oldest son scored in top one percent in the Nation in PSATs and he is in an IVY league school studying to be a doctor. He is also a gifted comedian, who formed a stand up comedy improve group and I would love to see him perform. My wo younger sons are great students. My middle son has a beautiful low bass Elvis Presley voice, he sings opera and I would love to hear him perform. My youngest son is a top student taking 5AP classes in tenth grade, gifted mathematician and basketball player, I would love to see him get academic awards and play basketball. I missed time with my children, time that will never come back because a am criss crossing this country talking to Justices of the Supreme court, Representatives, Senators, FBI agents, Attorney Generals, US attorneys, telling all of them, what is wrong with you? Did some evil magician put a spell on the men in this country and they stopped being men? Why are you afraid to speak up, to stand up for you constitution? Why are you afraid to tell this arrogant jerk from Africa and Indonesia- You need to go home, you cannot be a president and commander in chief because you are not a Natural born Citizen. To be a Natural born Citizen you have to have both parents as citizens. Your father was never a US citizen and you don’t qualify and you also spit us in the face by refusing to unseal your vital records. There is no proof that you are even a citizen. For all we know, you need to go back to Kenya and wait for your green card, and that after we try you for all the crimes perpetrated upon American citizens. I hope Justice Roberts teaches his son that he is a descendant of people that were real men and fought in Alamo and at Valley Forge. Chief Justice Roberts has a right to issue a stay and appoint Joe Biden a president pro-tempore until Obama proves his qualifications or until a new president is chosen. I hope Roberts teaches his son by example and not by empty words.
Posted by Dr. Orly Taitz at 3/14/2009 5:47 AM
Categories: uncategorized
bmac727 on March 14, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Kindergarden antics.
Johan Klaus on March 14, 2009 at 6:09 PM
let the libs go die for their country…let them fight in their new RAINBOW military…
conservatives should leave the military.
right4life on March 14, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Comment recommendation.
Wow!
FireBlogger on March 14, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Why would Russia’s threats/actions ‘test’ 0bama? He would be all for it. All part of the cryptocommunist plan that ‘they’ have been working on for the last fifty years, now come to fruition as of early November 2008.
LegendHasIt on March 14, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Even though I believe that Russia and China are just sword rattling, I also believe that obama has to rattle back on some level or look weak. In this case, I hope he’s up to it since the consequences of not being are serious. Also, he’s got to rattle in such a way as to not offend his far left base. I have a mental picture of Putin painting one of his perfectly awful oil paintings depicting o as an oriental carpet.
jeanie on March 14, 2009 at 6:36 PM
Well said — Kennedy pushed the world toward disaster with his inexperience and bumbling push over appearing diplomacy.
Obama promised the same and, for once, fulfilled that promise.
David
LifeTrek on March 14, 2009 at 6:43 PM
To do so would show a complete lack of patriotism and conservative principals.
Remember, we are not the conditional patriots, they are.
Yakko77 on March 14, 2009 at 6:50 PM
Lets review,
Obama said,if Russia helped out with Iran,he wouldn’t put
up the missisle shield,and would basically throw Europe
under the bus!
Obama wants to negotiate with ‘moderate’ Terrorists,the
Taliban!
And,the World knows,that a Liberal Administration is all
talk and no action,and if push does come to shove,every
Liberal Administration has litteraly f’ed up,accept maybe
for WW2!
Obama doesn’t carry a ‘Big Stick’ like Ronald Reagan did,
or Margret Thatcher for that matter,no,Obama says one thing
and says another, its dangerous,to———–America,to
appear weak!!!
canopfor on March 14, 2009 at 7:03 PM
Hm… soon “I can see Russia from my house” won’t be a joke anymore. Pity.
Phoenician on March 14, 2009 at 7:06 PM
And to show how willing they are to cooperate the Russians are prepared to station bombers at our front door. Swell…..
thomasaur on March 14, 2009 at 7:17 PM
From Redstate-
Ecuador and Bolivia expelled US diplomats and we did nothing. It sounds like Clinton was ready to expel some of their diplomats in response and someone in the admin killed it.
http://www.redstate.com/soren_dayton/2009/03/13/obamas-latin-american-policy-on-the-rocks/
journeyintothewhirlwind on March 14, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Thank you. I appreciate this info. The government has been totally irresponsible in the matter. I don’t know who the president is and neither does the population of the US.
BetseyRoss on March 14, 2009 at 7:58 PM
People there is no need to worry … Obama, Biden, Clinton (both of them)…(gulp) WE ARE ALL GOING TO F***ING DIE!!!
Dire Straits on March 14, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Mmmmm…
The Cold War, nuclear winter, mutual assured destruction.
Terms I thought President Reagan did away with during his administration.
Oh, well. Looks like today’s Hitler Youth will have to learn a new term… duck and cover.
madmonkphotog on March 14, 2009 at 8:30 PM
The world’s leaders are thrilled to have Obama in office. They know he is weak and foolish, and they will try to take the opportunity they have waited so long for to finally ruin us.
Grafted on March 14, 2009 at 9:06 PM
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-bk-magic-arena-jobs-031209,0,371480.story
RealDemocrat on March 14, 2009 at 9:18 PM
Should I be scared NOW? Because I AM scared and that startles me….as an American citizen I have not been frightened since 9.11 & Booooosh made me feel safe again within mere weeks……..I HATE OGABE – please can we revolt now?
Ris4victory on March 14, 2009 at 9:42 PM
Message Delivered To Russia.. Overcharge..Overcharge On All Desires, Advance And Conquer.. Obama And His Cohorts Will Only Hope You Change.. “The Backs Of Fools Are For Many Stripes”
GD on March 14, 2009 at 10:11 PM
To quote my favorite fallout 3 robot, Liberty Prime:
-communism is the very definition of failure!
-communism is a lie
-communism is a temporary setback on the road to democracy
-America shall never fall to communism
oh and my favorite:
-COMMUNIST DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL, LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED!
FontanaConservative on March 14, 2009 at 10:40 PM
Testing his mustard and greasing his sirloins…
Glenn Jericho on March 14, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Don’t the Russians know that Obama is black?
Do they want to be thought of as racist?
This is a high stratosphere lynching!
profitsbeard on March 14, 2009 at 11:13 PM
May I point out that STRATEGIC is code for NUCLEAR.
- The Cat
MirCat on March 14, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Russia has always been opportunistic in its own behalf. They don’t embark on any policy that doesn’t benefit them. Additionally Putin and company have a longing for the old Soviet Union when Russia was a power equal to the USA. So I wouldn’t put anything past them as they try to expand their world influence.
Russia may have economic problems but that could be a catylst for acquiring resouces from some of their neighbor nations which they did after WWII.
docdave on March 14, 2009 at 11:19 PM
What has BO done to give the Russians ideas of putting bases in Cuba? They see him as a guy who could back down on anything. They see him weak on the terrorist front. His promise of closing Gitmo and wanting to reduce the carrier fleet by one carrier. There are other examples of weakness too numerous to mention here but the bottom line is they see a real weak guy in the Whitehouse and there is plenty of opportunity to have some fun. Hopefully our security won’t be damaged by this Pollyanna.
garydt on March 14, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Exactly, we’ve got smart people working this now who will know when things are ready to kick off. They wouldn’t fall for anything stupid like North Korea planning a “satellite launch” that is projected to go directly over Hawaii without preparation. They wouldn’t dress down the military for preparing for this being something else… oh wait.
It might be helpful for them to show some competence before I’m told to have confidence. At least once… any competence at all would help.
gekkobear on March 14, 2009 at 11:56 PM
The majority of the electorate wanted a Liberal Guilt Trip Absolver instead of a strong, savvy, competent President, so now we all have to suffer the colossal disasters that this unqualified tyro doofus will bring down upon our heads.
Our enemies began salivating on November 5th, and their exploitaton of his Weakness-in-Chief will not stop until Obama is out of power.
profitsbeard on March 15, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Of course, the bombers don’t have to leave the ground, or drop any bombs, to accomplish their purpose. The mere fact of their presence lets South America know who’s in charge, and it’s not Barack Obama. Communism in general, and Russia in particular, always had allies and fertile ideological soil in the Southern Hemisphere. A flagrant demonstration of Russian strength, and Obama’s weakness, is just the thing to embolden demoralized leftist movements, and remind them that Castro’s death does not signal the end of the Russian / communist ability to project power in the region.
A lot of Americans have forgotten about Obama’s embarrassing, clueless response to the Russian military adventures in Georgia last summer. The Russians haven’t forgotten.
Doctor Zero on March 15, 2009 at 12:54 AM
ili vsyo gavno (It’s all sh*t.)
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 1:09 AM
Ich war zu spaet. (Wait that’s not Russian!)
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 1:10 AM
Obama ≠ America.
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 1:14 AM
Chto znachit ehto? (wat dat mean?)
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 1:18 AM
Teddy Roosevelt didn’t have half the navy the Kaiser had. When the Kaiser sent the German fleet to blockade a South American country Teddy gave the Kaiser five days to withdraw or else. The German ambassador complained to Roosevelt that wasn’t enough time. Roosevelt listened and told him to tell the Kaiser it was three days instead. The German navy sailed home three days later.
THAT is change you can believe in.
Limerick on March 15, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Cramer predicts: Barry drinking like his Daddy by 7/4/09.
BHO Jonestown on March 15, 2009 at 1:44 AM
Did “overcharged” turn out to be prophetic, or what?
Ryan Gandy on March 15, 2009 at 1:53 AM
Criticism of the President doesn’t equal blaming America first?
Wow.
radiofreevillage on March 15, 2009 at 1:56 AM
This may be a surprise to you, but not to those who understand America–that is, those who have read and understood the U.S. Constitution, freevillage. BTW, welcome back from exile.
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 2:24 AM
Heh.
radiofreevillage on March 15, 2009 at 2:28 AM
Hand Salute!
2- and thank you for your service!
Best Regards to you and your family
Hat Tip to bmac727
“Let’s Roll”
On Watch on March 15, 2009 at 2:35 AM
Not sure what’s funny, freevillage. But then your sense of “humor” was always a quirky one.
baldilocks on March 15, 2009 at 2:36 AM
You could feel nature starting to close in around us the minute the idiot messiah was elected. Along with all of the fumbles, mistakes, goofs, and sheer acts of idiocy, I think the combination of the moronic “reset” button (which really has to go down in history as one of the absolute dumbest bits of “dipomacy”, ever) and The Precedent’s own idiotic offer to give up the missile defenses, which he already said he wanted to do, in exchange for close to nothing from the Russians, really made the predators do a double take. They had assumed that the US was going to be weak, but they had no idea that it was anything approaching this. Just as the markets have been slapping the idiot messiah silly, now the nations are bearing down on him and his glaring weakness. Unfortunately, we are all on for the ride, too – strapped in. When Iraq really starts to break, it’s going to be bad. This all reminds me of the movie, “Open Water”.
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 6:26 AM
Dr. ZhivBlago on March 14, 2009 at 4:08 PM:
“*These moves aren’t serious tactical or strategic threats. Obviously they are political ones. Our Air Defense Artillery and USAF friends would look forward to having new targets on the not-too-distant horizon to shoot down.”
Question is “If push came to shove at 3:00am, would President Obama give the order to shoot them down ?”
.
philly_nj on March 15, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Where is our civilian defense corps when we need them?
Fuquay Steve on March 15, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Ouch!
There is a non-story making the rounds that the Russian military might base bombers in Venezuela and Cuba, provided that the Kremlin wanted to do this. In the same story that is being circulated, the Kremlin ruled out the idea as hypothetical speculation. Naturally, this had no effect whatever on wild accusations of Obama’s foreign policy failure. I give you Ed Morrissey:
“It took John Kennedy more than a year to precipitate a military standoff with the Soviet Union over Cuba in the 1962 missile crisis. It’s taken the Obama Amateur Hour less than two months.”
Mind you, there is no military standoff, Russia isn’t doing what Morrissey fears it will do, and Obama had nothing to do with this, but other than that Morrissey is on fire. Oh, wait, that’s not right. He continues to make a fool of himself:
“Can you imagine Russia trying this with George Bush? For that matter, can you imagine Bush losing Kyrgyzstan — and a vital military route — to Putin?”
Well, since Russia went to war with Georgia, resumed long-range bomber flights and sent a warship to Venezuela during the years of the mighty Bush, yes, I can imagine it. Since the lease for Manas airbase was set to expire anyway, had Bush somehow still been in office during the last two months he would have “lost Kyrgyzstan” just the same, so I can imagine this, too. This is because the decision not to renew the lease was made by the Kyrgyz government in response to public discontent over the U.S. presence that had been building up throughout the Bush administration’s tenure. As with so many other things in foreign policy, Bush “lost Kyrgyzstan,” if we must speak of things this way, and Obama is stuck with the consequences. I don’t say this particularly to defend Obama, whose handling of foreign policy (particularly with respect to India and Britain) has been mixed at best, but to correct painfully ignorant statements on matters that are of great importance to the United States.
P.S. The AP report included this item:
“Russia has nothing to gain strategically from basing long-range craft within relatively short range of U.S. shores, independent military analyst Alexander Golts said, calling the military statement a retaliatory gesture aimed at hitting back after U.S. ships patrolled Black Sea waters near Georgia.”
In other words, a decision made by the former administration in its ill-considered response to the war in Georgia apparently provoked this statement, so in the extremely unlikely event that Moscow pursued this basing idea it would be a response to Bush-era blunders. In reality, though, the statement is just bluster and has no significance.
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2009/03/14/just-imagine-3/
I mean, this post by Ed and the reaction by 99% of you guys show you don’t know what the hell is going on and are just looking to blame Obama for anything and everything.
Country First!
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 8:51 AM
It is all about incrementalism…a squadron of Tu-22’s in Caracas, a couple squadrons based in Cuba…just need a 4,000 foot runway…Cuba has four or five of them, and a Soviet presence in the Western Hemisphere is established. Add to that support troops, and navy docking rights, and a larger presence is further established. Suddenly instead of a mere couple thousand Russian military personnel in the Caribbean, we will find ten thousand or more.
There is no desire for the Russians to get all hostile on us…they just have to keep putting troops, specialists, equipment and such in the Caribbean pipeline, a little at a time, so they (and Obama) can say, it is just an anti-submarine squadron, no threat to anyone, and let it pass, or merely a radio relay facility, isn’t hurting anyone. Then another squadron, or maybe a SIGINT site or two, maybe some more forward basing of assets.
Once they are in place or are given access, how does the Obama Administration plan to deal with this? Once established…the Obama Administration cannot “deal” with this.
At what point does a Russian flotilla sail into Guantanamo Bay? Or at what point does a Russian task force start hazarding oil operations in international waters in the Gulf? Or at what point do the Russians set up their own SOSUS lines from Trinidad to Greenland?
A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Right now, it appears, we do not have that strategic “ounce” available, or, more precisely, we do not have a President who is willing to use that same ounce. This is why, now, the Russians, Cubans and Chavez are so willing to talk openly about the prospects. They are anticipating a reaction from Washington. If they see no reaction, then they will correctly assume they have been given a green light.
coldwarrior on March 15, 2009 at 8:56 AM
Petraeus/Palin would be a dream ticket for me.
I think it all too obvious Zero is in over his head. The Russians have seen it. Petraeus has seen it. Chavez and Ahmadjihad see it as well. Insiders on the beltway are rumbling about it.
All that is missing are gas lines and hostages and I would swear Carter was President.
Mr Purple on March 15, 2009 at 9:17 AM
I mean, this post by Ed and the reaction by 99% of you guys show you don’t know what the hell is going on and are just looking to blame Obama for anything and everything.
Country First!
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Regarding your first statement. If you don’t like Ed and you don’t like us, post elsewhere.
Regarding your second statement. I wish Mr. President shared your exclamatory sentiment.
kingsjester on March 15, 2009 at 9:40 AM
If you don’t like Ed and you don’t like us, post elsewhere.
what I don’t like is people making irresponsible and false claims about other people — especially the president of the USA. Now, I made claims about Bush — most notably that he misled us to war into thinking Iraq was a necessary war and that his administration outed a CIA agent. In both those cases I laid out detailed arguments based on facts and I think they were pretty good arguments that I’d defend any day of the week.
I’m sorry, but I can’t see Ed forcefully backing up his claims in this post. The facts of the story just don’t back up his claims.
This post is a perfect example of the kind of arguments made on this site all the time. They draw large conclusions to fit an ideologically driven narrative based off of a cursory inspection of some news story.
Now, I don’t know any of you personally. I’ve e-mailed with Ed and he seems like a good guy. But, when I post here, it’s because there are assertions made that I think are just wrong, usually based on nothing more than ideological wishful thinking.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Chickenhawk.
TTheoLogan on March 15, 2009 at 10:31 AM
” Russia considering Venezuela as bomber base
Published: Saturday 14 March 2009 12:31 UTC
Last updated: Saturday 14 March 2009 12:49 UTC
A Russian air force general, Anatoli Zhikarev, has told the Interfax-AVN news agency that his country’s air force could use bases in Venezuela to support patrols by its long-range bombers. General Zhikarev says that negotiations with Venezuela are in an advanced stage and that President Hugo Chávez has made a firm offer for the Russian air force to use the base on the island of La Orchila. The general also noted that Cuba possessed five bases equipped to handle the Russian bombers.
In 2008, President Chávez invited Russian forces to join his country’s air force and navy in military exercises.”
Anatoli Zhikarev is Deputy Commander of the Russian Air Force Strategic Command, and a Putin ally. It is not like just some Russian guy decided to offer an opinion.
And for what reason would Russia, a Eurasian nation need to have bases for long-range “patrols” by its Strategic Air Fleet, at a time when most of the Russian military is facing cutbacks because of Medvedev/Putin’s overappropriation of funding for the next five years, based on their belief that oil was going to stay at or above $150 a barrrel for the long term?
Follow the money…why would a nation, any nation, in the middle of a major financial crisis, as is Russia, divert a huge amount of funding to re-establish and maintain long-range bomber “patrols” over Western Atlantic and Caribbean waters? There is no imminent threat to Russia from any Caribbean nation, nor from any state in the western Atlantic.
This may just be a Russian stalking horse…trying to feel out the Obama Administration’s reaction. If that reaction is forceful, nothing lost. If that reaction is tepid or nonexistent…then open the valves…the Russians go ahead with the Anatoli Zhikarev proposal…and then some.
coldwarrior on March 15, 2009 at 10:36 AM
You’ve just gotta love that liberal passion for “truth” once their guys get into office.
ddrintn on March 15, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Hey, to all you liberal doofuses who think that criticizing the president equals blaming America: What happened to your old “Speaking truth to power” shtick?
Oh, I know, that’s only when a Republican is in power. Silly me.
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Obama…Making the world safe for despots and terrorists since January 2009.
One Bad Ass Mistake America
Wyznowski on March 15, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Tom, this is America. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But, basically calling everybody stupid on this website, includingly the originator of the thread, will not win friends and influence people. This seems to be a Liberal trait shared by a bunch of people, including Mr. President. Unfortunately, with so many enemies of this nation, both foreign and domestic, out there, we simply can not afford Obama’s inexperience or his arrogance.
kingsjester on March 15, 2009 at 10:47 AM
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 10:38 AM
OK, I’m really going to try and hold it together, but the increasing idiocy of these posts will make it hard.
I don’t have a problem with criticizing the president. I have a problem with TRYING to make him look like a fool with false assertions.
If you look at the FACTS, this “announcement” was in response to Bush policy. Ed says “can you imagine them trying this with Bush?” when Russian INVADED A U.S. ALLY while Bush was in office. I mean, come on.
In response to the invasion, Bush had US ships patrol the Black Sea. This “announcement” is a direct response to that. The US asserted military power in Russia’s backyard, so they’re trying to show they can do that same in the US’s backyard.
I mean, Ed is pretending Russia wouldn’t try this stuff with Bush, but the clear facts are Russian-US relations began to strain under Bush, in large part because of provocative actions by Russia.
It’s dumbfounding how he could make this post and think it’s a good argument.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Oh, but of course. I’m sure the Net is just loaded with your laments over the use of terms like “Bushhitler”.
ddrintn on March 15, 2009 at 10:54 AM
But, basically calling everybody stupid on this website, includingly the originator of the thread, will not win friends and influence people.
If you don’t like being called stupid, stop attacking people with simple-minded, false arguments.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 10:56 AM
We don’t have to TRY to make him “look” like anything. He does that himself.
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 10:56 AM
That was an attack? Thanks for validating my post, Tom.
kingsjester on March 15, 2009 at 10:59 AM
We don’t have to TRY to make him “look” like anything. He does that himself.
You’re just wrong here. If you look at the facts of the past few years, you’ll see this “announcement” by Russia and the closing of that base have its roots in the Bush administration. This whole thing is a continuation of what was going on under Bush. Russia was challenging US power long before Obama took office. And this “announcement” that they quickly backed off is much less a challenge than invading Georgia, for crying out loud.
But you guys are TRYING to make Obama look weak. So, you start with this lie that Russia thinks Obama is weak and is trying stuff that they wouldn’t dare try under Bush. That assertion is just laughable and those who make should be called stupid for it.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:02 AM
The Precedent is a fool. A dangerous fool. And there are no false assertions, here.
Georgia was a Soviet Republic. If you can’t tell the difference between Russia going into one of its old states and Russia moving into the Western Hemisphere, then you are really lost.
Then why did they wait until the idiot messiah was in office to talk about this? They could have made announcements on a moment’s notice, if they wanted. You don’t think that Cuba and Venezuela have been hot-to-trot for something like this for years? Really, Tom.
Russia didn’t try this stuff with Bush. No matter how you try to spin it, there was ample time for Russia to have done this before (in the Western Hemisphere) but they didn’t. Just coincidence that the weakest and dumbest person to inhabit the White House in … forever … all of a sudden has Russia pushing back into this side of the world. Pure coincidence. The idiot messiah inherited the Russian push into the Western Hemisphere. Is that the line?
I can understand why you’re dumbfounded. The question is whether you understand why.
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:03 AM
That was an attack?
I was referring to Ed’s post on Obama and the commenters agreement with it.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:04 AM
LOL. Really. Too funny, Tom. I guess we must be trying to make him look stupid when we force him to utter nonsense like “profit and earnings ratios”?
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Georgia was a Soviet Republic. If you can’t tell the difference between Russia going into one of its old states and Russia moving into the Western Hemisphere, then you are really lost.
Yes, Georgia was a former Soviet Republic, but it was also a U.S. ally that was sending troops to Iraq and was aspiring to NATO membership with U.S. help.
Invading them COULD have led to direct military action with the US. No one is taking this announcement that Russia could store bombers in the Western Hemisphere seriously. The Russians quickly backed off the news by calling is a hypothetical.
Invading Georgia was a MUCH more provocative act than floating this idea then quickly backing away from it.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Tom, it doesn’t matter who started what. We could take the chain of causality in Russo-American relations back to the Russo-British Great Game of the 19th century if we wanted to, or even further than that. Russia fears the West, and we are still(at least for the time being) the leading Western power, so of course they’re going to try to goad us, just as we are always going to be tempted to help the subject peoples of their empire and border states find greater freedom.
The simple fact — which all too many in the West have forgotten — is that to be a head of state ultimately means being a war leader, not providing health care or low-cost housing. If Obama can’t at least put on a show of standing up to the Russians (or the Chinese, or the Iranians, or whomever else hates our freakin’ guts), then he should go back to being a “community organizer.”
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 11:10 AM
I repeat, we don’t have to TRY to do anything. He is weak, and woefully out of his element.
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Given history and the context of the Georgian invasion, I don’t find this claim even remotely credible. The Western Hemisphere is just a whole different ball game.
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:13 AM
bulgaroctonus on March 15, 2009 at 11:10 AM
I agree with your first paragraph, but what Ed and others are trying to say is that Russia wouldn’t try this sort of thing with Bush in office. And that the only reason Russia made this announcement was that Obama is weak. It’s just plain ridiculous.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:14 AM
It’s the cellular biologist in him.
Seriously, Ed’s total incompetence in every topic he attempts to personally analyze is only overshadowed (and ultimately enabled) by readers who don’t care about facts in the first place.
radiofreevillage on March 15, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Tom, straight up, do you think the world views The Precedent as weak or strong?
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:16 AM
It took John Kennedy more than a year to precipitate a military standoff with the Soviet Union over Cuba in the 1962 missile crisis. It’s taken the Obama Amateur Hour less than two months.
This is not an attempt to make Obama look weak? Equating a military stand off involving nuclear weapons mere miles from the US mainland with a saber-rattling statement that was quickly backed away from while calling the Obama administration “Amateur Hour” while saying Russia would never try anything provocative against Bush (when they clearly did) is not a misleading attempt to make Obama weak?
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Tom, straight up, do you think the world views The Precedent as weak or strong?
I honestly don’t know. He’s been in office for two months. I haven’t seen anything that would suggest the world thinks he’s weak or strong.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:24 AM
News flash. Bush is now a private citizen living in Dallas. Obama is no longer a private citizen. He is President of the United States.
What is Obama in the eyes of the rest of the world? Strong? Weak? Befuddled? Shrewd? Trustworthy? Not trustworthy? By enemies? By allies? By others?
Then…why?
Was this Zhikarev statement by accident or design?
And, if you read ITAR/TASS and Pravda regularly, the Russians have increased their “reportage” on Georgia and have become more shrill about NATO and Georgia over the past month when compared to previous months. Same as their “reportage” about Ukraine and the Baltic nations.
This is on Obama’s watch. Not JFK’s n or Bush’s nor Reagan’s.
We…I and others…making comments about Obama is NOT going to sway the Russians one iota.
Obama’s comments, or lack thereof…that can easily sway Putin’s Russia.
coldwarrior on March 15, 2009 at 11:26 AM
You have no idea? Really? Not even a feeling? That’s odd, because you seem to have strong feelings and opinions about everything else.
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:29 AM
And, if you read ITAR/TASS and Pravda regularly, the Russians have increased their “reportage” on Georgia and have become more shrill about NATO and Georgia over the past month when compared to previous months. Same as their “reportage” about Ukraine and the Baltic nations.
OK, so this has to go down as the lamest argument of the morning. You’re saying that Russian taking a more “shrill” tone to with its rhetoric in regard to Georgia is evidence that Russia thinks Obama is weaker than Bush and can get away with more under Obama’s watch, when Russia INVADED Georgia on Bush’s watch? Too funny.
Tom_Shipley on March 15, 2009 at 11:33 AM
So, let me just make sure I understand you; you know that Russia’s moves into the Western Hemisphere (even if just talk, right now) represent Russia’s response to Bush’s actions (as you wrote – “If you look at the FACTS, this “announcement” was in response to Bush policy.”), but you have no idea what Russia thinks about The Precedent, in terms of whether he’s weak or strong? Is that the set of points you are arguing?
progressoverpeace on March 15, 2009 at 11:34 AM
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