Posted on 08/03/2007 7:16:10 PM PDT by blam
After claiming the Pole, Russia looks south
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 2:47am BST 04/08/2007
Russia stirred memories of the Cold War yesterday when the country's senior admiral called for the establishment of a permanent naval base in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Soviet era.
Russia planted its national flag under the North Pole claiming sovereignty over the Artic territory
Coming a day after an audacious mission to the North Pole to bolster Russia's territorial claims in the Arctic, Moscow's renewed naval ambitions are likely to spread further unease in Nato capitals. "The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said on a tour of the Russian navy's Black Sea base in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. "I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic Fleets, the Russian navy should restore its permanent presence there."
His remarks raise doubts about the Kremlin's denial last year of a newspaper claim that new moorings were being built in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The North Pole diving mission was designed to rally support among the Russian public
According to Ivan Safronov, the journalist who died after mysteriously falling from a building in Moscow this year, Russia had also begun to expand the port at Latakia, also in Syria. President Vladimir Putin has been anxious to restore Moscow's influence in the Middle East, signing controversial arms deals with both Syria and Iran that have upset the United States and Israel.
If the port plan were to go ahead, Russian vessels and warships from the US Sixth Fleet, based in Italy, would face one another in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Cold War when the Soviet navy was based in Tartus. Russia maintains a symbolic and largely empty logistical facility at Tartus - its only military base outside the former Soviet Union.
Washington will be watching both developments with concern.
Yesterday it bluntly warned Moscow that any attempt to claim sovereignty over the Arctic would not be tolerated after Russia planted its national flag under the North Pole on Thursday.
"I'm not sure whether they've put a metal flag, a rubber flag or a bed sheet on the ocean floor," said Tom Casey, a spokesman for the State Department. "Either way it doesn't have any legal standing."
In a record-breaking expedition led by Artur Chilingarov, a veteran polar explorer, two deep-sea submersibles descended 14,000 feet. More used to submarine disasters than unprecedented maritime feats, the successful operation was greeted with jubilation in Russia where it stirred up memories of derring do from the golden era of Soviet naval exploration.
Like other countries with Arctic coastlines, Russia has laid claims for greater territory in the oil-rich area and will present its case to a UN commission in 2010.
The first nation to figure out how to conquer the world through political correctness. Plant flags! I love it.
No word yet from Algore and the lead singer from Live Planet’s Nasal Ned and his Nasty Nosepickers on how they intend to stop the Commie Reds from drilling for oil at the North Pole. Go get ‘em Al! Show ‘em your footprint! LOL!
I guess this means WE own the Moon! YEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
Stay away from Saturn. It’s mine.
Dibs on Uranus.
When one gets to the North Pole, every direction is south.
Thanks for the info Komrade.
“Dibs on Uranus.”
That is just way too much information.
Reminds me of the old riddle: an explorer walked a mile due south, a mile due east, and a mile due north, ending up exactly at his starting point. Then he shot a bear. Q: What color was the bear?
-ccm
That's the problem. Russia still thinks it owns Eastern Europe.
I don't think we have a problem with it nearly as much as the Euros. We financed their socialism for years with a strong military defense of Western Europe. Ever since 1991 they've gone on an even greater social spending binge while cutting defense to the bone.
Once again, they'll look to America to finance their protection.
Personally I hope we tell them to kiss our ass.
We need to grab that thing and put it on display in the Smithsonian.
They may be referring to the Russo-Japanese War, when 2 (!) Russian fleets were wiped out by the Japanese. There’s a fascinating book about the voyage of the Russian Arctic Fleet halfway around the world, only to be sunk in a matter of minutes by Admiral Togo.
Looking for a military base is not the same thing as claiming the entire country.
I heard that Russia wants to establish naval bases in Venezuela and Cuba, jointly with the Chinese.
No where in the article does it say Russia made this claim. They are attempting to expand their influence, as are others.
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