Putin’s July 4th Message

Washington Free Beacon ^ | July 6, 2012 | Bill Gertz

[No One Special]

Two Russian strategic nuclear bombers entered the U.S. air defense zone near the Pacific coast on Wednesday and were met by U.S. interceptor jets, defense officials told the Free Beacon.

It was the second time Moscow dispatched nuclear-capable bombers into the 200-mile zone surrounding U.S. territory in the past two weeks.

An earlier intrusion by two Tu-95 Bear H bombers took place near Alaska as part of arctic war games that a Russian military spokesman said included simulated attacks on “enemy” air defenses and strategic facilities.

A defense official said the Pacific coast intrusion came close to the U.S. coast but did not enter the 12-mile area that the U.S. military considers sovereign airspace.

The bomber flights near the Pacific and earlier flights near Alaska appear to be signs Moscow is practicing the targeting of its long-range air-launched cruise missiles on two strategic missile defense sites, one at Fort Greely, Alaska and a second site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

In May, Russian Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, said during a Moscow conference that because missile defense systems are destabilizing, “A decision on pre-emptive use of the attack weapons available will be made when the situation worsens.” The comments highlighted Russian opposition to planned deployments of U.S. missile defense interceptors and sensors in Europe.

The U.S. defense official called the latest Bear H incident near the U.S. West Coast “Putin’s Fourth of July Bear greeting to Obama.”

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former Alaska commander for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the latest Bear H intrusion appears to be Russian military testing.

“It’s becoming very obvious that Putin is testing Obama and his national security team,” McInerney told the Free Beacon. “These long-range aviation excursions are duplicating exercises I experienced during the height of the Cold War when I command the Alaska NORAD region.

McInerney said the Bear H flights are an effort by the Russians to challenge U.S. resolve, something he noted is “somewhat surprising as Obama is about to make a unilateral reduction of our nuclear forces as well as major reductions in our air defense forces.”

“Actions by Russia in Syria and Iran demonstrate that Cold War strategy may be resurrected,” he said.

“These are not good indications of future U.S. Russian relations.”

Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said the incident occurred July 4. He said the “out-of-area patrol by two Russian long range bombers … entered the outer [Air Defense Identification Zone]” and the bombers “were visually identified by NORAD fighters.”

Kirby said the bombers did not enter “sovereign airspace.” He declined to identify the specific distance the aircraft flew from the United States due to operational security concerns. He also declined to identify the types of aircraft used to intercept the bombers.

In last month’s intercept of two Russian Tu-95 bombers, U.S. F-15s and Canadian CF-18s were used. The most likely aircraft used in Wednesday’s intercept were U.S. F-15 jets based at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

Kirby and U.S. Northern Command spokesmen, apparently in line with the Obama administration’s conciliatory reset policy toward Russia, sought to play down both bomber intrusions.

The Pentagon spokesman said the latest Pacific intrusion was “assessed as another training activity.”

Rather than using traditional military terminology common during the Cold War to describe the meeting of the violating bombers as an “intercept,” Kirby said that the bombers were “visually identified” by jets described only as joint U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) jets.

“NORAD is postured to ensure air warning and control for the continental United States, Canada, and Alaska,” Kirby said. “NORAD maintains an extensive radar system around North America and has aircraft located throughout the United States and Canada that can respond quickly to any unidentified flights approaching the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).”

Kirby said the ADIZ is extends about 200 miles from the coast and is “mainly within international airspace.”

“The outer limits of the ADIZ goes well beyond U.S. sovereign air space which only extends 12 nautical miles from land,” he said. “As part of its mission, NORAD tracks and identifies all aircraft flying in the ADIZ in advance of any aircraft entering sovereign airspace.”

The Free Beacon reported June 28 that two Bear H’s intruded into the Alaska ADIZ during war games that ended June 27.

A Northern Command spokesman later disputed the Free Beacon’s assertion that the bombers violated U.S. airspace and said the air defense zone is not the same as sovereign airspace since it includes international airspace.

However, the ADIZ is defined by the military as a nation’s declared area within which “the ready identification, the location, and the control of aircraft are required in the interest of national security.”

Canadian Navy Lt. Al Blondin also said in an email that the Russian bombers during the air defense intrusion last month did not violate U.S. airspace.

“NORAD will track and identify all aircraft flying in the ADIZ prior to those aircraft entering sovereign airspace,” Blondin said.

“It is important to note the Russian flights followed international flight rules and conducted their flight in a professional manner,” Blondin said. “As is their right, the Russian Air Force continues to fly in international airspace.”

Earlier, in response to questions about the Alaska Bear H intrusion, Marine Corps Col. Frank H. Simonds, Jr., deputy chief of staff for NORAD-U.S. Northcom, also defended the Russian bomber intrusion as nonthreatening.

“NORAD does not consider these flights a threat,” Simonds said, noting “Russia and NORAD routinely exercise their capability to operate in the North.”

Simonds identified the Alaska defense zone intruders as Tu-95MS bombers that were met by U.S. F-15s and Canadian CF-18s.

“Interaction between NORAD fighters with these types of aircraft are carried out routinely,” Simonds said. “As part of its responsibilities to identify all aircraft in its area of operation, which includes the ADIZ, NORAD has visually identified more than 50 Russian long range bomber aircraft over the last 5 years and NORAD fighters have been interacting with Russian aviation for over 50 years.”

Simonds said NORAD and Russian aircraft since 2010 take part in an exercise called Vigilant Eagle aimed at building cooperation on identifying and intercepting hijacked aircraft that cross international boundaries.

Last week, Rep. Michael R. Turner (R., Ohio), chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said the Bear H intrusions near Alaska showed Russia’s response to the administration’s reset policy. He said air incursions, along with threats to attack U.S. missile defense sites preemptively, were signs of Putin’s aggression in the face of President Obama’s promised flexibility in talks with Moscow.

The Alaska bomber flights coincided with a summit between Obama and Putin in Mexico June 18.

According to U.S. officials, some 30 bombers and support aircraft took part in the war games, including the Bear Hs and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers.

Russian Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Vladimir Deryabin, told reporters in Moscow last month that the arctic strategic war games “practice destruction of enemy air defenses and strategic facilities.”

[ETL]

From the campaign trail, February 2008...

Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs

February 29, 2008 :: News
MissileThreat.com

A video has surfaced of Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama talking on his plans for strategic issues such as nuclear weapons and missile defense.

The full text from the video, as released, reads as follows:

Thanks so much for the Caucus4Priorities, for the great work you've been doing. As president, I will end misguided defense policies and stand with Caucus4Priorities in fighting special interests in Washington.

First, I'll stop spending $9 billion a month in Iraq. I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning. And as president I will end it.[not win it -etl]

Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending.

I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems.

I will not weaponize space.

I will slow our development of future combat systems.

And I will institute an independent "Defense Priorities Board" to ensure that the Quadrennial Defense Review is not used to justify unnecessary spending.

Third, I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material; and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert [they are NOT on "hair-trigger alert" now -etl], and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.

You know where I stand. I've fought for open, ethical and accountable government my entire public life. I don't switch positions or make promises that can't be kept. I don't posture on defense policy and I don't take money from federal lobbyists for powerful defense contractors. As president, my sole priority for defense spending will be protecting the American people. Thanks so much.

Article: Obama Pledges Cuts in Missile Defense, Space, and Nuclear Weapons Programs:
http://missilethreat.com/archives/id.7086/detail.asp

"MissileThreat.com is a project of The Claremont Institute devoted to understanding and promoting the requirements for the strategic defense of the United States."
_____________________________________________________

"I will not weaponize space"

"I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems"
_____________________________________________________

2008 Pentagon Report (March 2008):
China's Growing Military Space Power
By Leonard David
Special Correspondent, SPACE.com
March 6, 2008

GOLDEN, Colorado — A just-released Pentagon report spotlights a growing U.S. military concern that China is developing a multi- dimensional program to limit or prevent the use of space-based assets by its potential adversaries during times of crisis or conflict.

Furthermore, last year's successful test by China of a direct-ascent, anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon to destroy its own defunct weather satellite, the report adds, underscores that country's expansion from the land, air, and sea dimensions of the traditional battlefield into the space and cyber-space domains.

Although China's commercial space program has utility for non- military research, that capability demonstrates space launch and control know-how that have direct military application. Even the Chang'e 1 — the Chinese lunar probe now circling the Moon — is flagged in the report as showcasing China's ability "to conduct complicated space maneuvers — a capability which has broad implications for military counterspace operations."

To read the entire publication [29.67MB/pdf], see U.S. Dept of Defense:
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/China_Military_Report_08.pdf

[ETL]

There are plenty of Russians who hate us.

And, hopefully, there are plenty of us who hate the sneaky, back-stabbing Russians. Screw them! Why would you even focus on what THEY think of us (Comrade Obama excluded).

[ETL]

Ice Station Zebra - one of the best films on Cold War, Soviet - US espionage. Putin imitating Hollywood?

Putin praises Cold War moles for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets
Reuters ^ | Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:04pm EST | Steve Gutterman

Vladimir Putin praised Cold War-era scientists on Thursday for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets so that United States would not be the world's sole atomic power, in comments reflecting his vision of Russia as a counterweight to U.S. power.

Spies with suitcases full of data helped the Soviet Union build its atomic bomb, he told military commanders.

"You know, when the States already had nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union was only building them, we got a significant amount of information through Soviet foreign intelligence channels," Putin said, according to state-run Itar-Tass.

"The were carrying the information away not on microfilm but literally in suitcases. Suitcases!"

Putin's remarks referred to the dawn of the Cold War more than half a century ago, but they echoed a message he has made loud and clear more recently: that the United States needs to be restrained, and Russia is the country to do it. …

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...

[ETL]

Frank Marshall Davis

From Accuracy In Media | AIM.ORG

Obama’s Red Mentor Praised Red Army
AIM Report | By Cliff Kincaid | April 30, 2008

Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA (CPUSA), wrote a poem dedicated to the Soviet Red Army. “Smash on, victory-eating Red Army,” he declared. He also wrote poems attacking traditional Christianity and the work of Christian missionaries.

The “Red Army” poem goes beyond hoping for the communists to beat the Nazis in World War II and hails the Soviet revolution. It says:

Show the marveling multitudes
Americans, British, all your allied brothers
How strong you are
How great you are
How your young tree of new unity
Planted twenty-five years ago
Bears today the golden fruit of victory!

http://www.aim.org/aim-report/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army/

____________________________________

Obama’s Communist Mentor
AIM Column | By Cliff Kincaid | February 18, 2008

excerpt...

"through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his 'poetry' and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just 'Frank.'

The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What's more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations."

Frank Chapman, a CPUSA supporter, has written a letter to the party newspaper hailing the Illinois senator's victory in the Iowa caucuses:

"Obama’s victory was more than a progressive move; it was a dialectical leap ushering in a qualitatively new era of struggle. Marx once compared revolutionary struggle with the work of the mole, who sometimes burrows so far beneath the ground that he leaves no trace of his movement on the surface. This is the old revolutionary 'mole,' not only showing his traces on the surface but also breaking through."
-People's Weekly World (PWW), official newspaper of the Communist Party, USA
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12302/1/405
(Note: article has since been pulled from the Communist Party USA/Peoples Weekly World/PWW website)

AIM article: Obama’s Communist Mentor
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barack Obama, Frank Marshall Davis, Vernon Jarrett - One Degree of Seperation
New Zeal blog ^ | Oct 17, 2008 | Trevor Loudon
"Why did Barack Obama move to Chicago? Why did he choose a city famous for its corruption and distrust of outsiders as a launching pad for his political career? Did Obama's boyhood mentor, life long communist Frank Marshall Davis influence that choice?"
http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-file-38-barack-obama-frank.html

[DaveA37]

Perhaps I should have said, “If we only had a president INSTEAD of a traitor.”

The bastard needs to be gone and for good!

[damncat]

Let’s hope for that change!
BTW...It’s always nice to hear from heroes like you!

[equaviator]

Michigan could use an interceptor squadron. We were barely able to hang on to the 107th Fighter Squadron (1926) and the A-10, the only armed fixed-wing aircraft in all of the MI ANG. Selfridge Air National Guard Base is the only remaining base in upper or lower MI with any such air power. During the CW, Selfridge’s interceptors of the 191st Fighter Interceptor Group played a key role in the NORAD strategy and was exemplary in their levels of performance and service.

Democrats have been trying to close the base through the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission for 20 years or more but has survived where four other key Michigan bases (regular USAF & ANG) have been shut down.

Michigan’s Cold War bases were Selfridge AFB/ANGB, Wurtsmith AFB, Kincheloe AFB, K.I. Sawyer AFB and Battle Creek ANGB. There was also a USAF Combat Readiness Command operating at the Phelps-Collins airport in Alpena. http://www.brac.gov

Michigan has an complex international border with Canada and if Russia wants to resume sending its bombers over the North Pole it will find that the door is practically being held open for them at various points along the same route(s) our interceptors once patrolled so effectively.

Some of our A-10’s have been deployed to Estonia for “Sabre Strike 2012, a multinational, tactical field training exercise based in Estonia and neighboring Latvia that involved more than 2,000 personnel from a total of eight nations; and working together on conducting a survey and development plan for a military air field in Latvia, using an air field that has had little use since Latvia won its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.”
(http://warthognews.blogspot.com/2012/06/latvian-prime-minister-praises-michigan.html)

Now, I’m not a military genius or even a veteran of any war, but it seems to me that a state like Michigan’s one remaining Air National Guard fighter squadron and the role of the base itself should be positioned more towards defense of US borders and airspace and not so much towards the participation in overseas exercises like Sabre Strike 2012.

Michigan without an interceptor squadron (USAF or ANG) is like having an electric fence with the power turned off when you know the undesirables are out there and that their leadership is untrustworthy.

If it was up to me, Selfridge Air National Guard Base would resume its status as an AFB and USAF hub with Battle Creek returning to its ANGB fighter squadron (110th/172nd) operations role. In addition to that, I’d like to see Wurtsmith and K.I. Sawyer reactivated as ANG and USAF bases, respectively.

The Clinton and Obama administration’s efforts to transform Michigan into a more ‘benign’ and defenseless state have shown me all I need to see to come to the conclusion that they believe that if you tear it down they will go away.

[mkjessup]

Ahhh, nothing to worry about. Those things are just scaled down drones, they're trying to scare us.

[rawcatslyentist]

Just trying to stay flexible till after the next coronation.

[Don Corleone]

Beginning to think that maybe the Kenyan is a KGB spy.

The Manchurian Candidate was on TV yesterday. Kind of makes one think doesn't it?

[Hotlanta Mike]

Putin labels Obama as an IDIOT...

[ETL]

Putin labels Obama as an IDIOT...

A USEFUL and WILLING one with the same 'new world order' vision.

[ETL]

Putin is probably a very good if not excellent chess player. I doubt if Obama would know how to set up the pieces to begin a basic game of chess. They may be on the same ‘new world order’ page, but Putin is still manipulating and taking advantage of the jerk’s lack of intelligence and ignorance.

[jesseam]

Re: Russia’s military spending soars

Thomas Jefferson said that “those who beat their swords into plowshares, plow for those who didn’t”

[Daffynition]

[noinfringers2]

And there apparently many of those ‘us’ that hate the USA or perhaps just don’t care because they have ball games, casinos, Hollywood, and concerts to take their minds away from what is really happening to this Nation under Obama and his enablers.

[No One Special]

Because there are surely many Americans who think everything is hunky-dory between us and the Russians. They have been taught to hate America since their Revolution. It is good for Putin politically to play this up on the domestic front.