Posted on 10/22/2015 8:13:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Russia plans to build a military base on the Kuril islands, a group of Pacific islands it seized from Japan at the end of World War Two, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday, according to the Interfax news agency.
The move is likely to worsen already frayed relations with Tokyo which lays claim to the Southern Kuril, known in Japan as the Northern Territories.
The dispute is so acrimonious that Moscow and Tokyo have still not signed a formal peace treaty after the war.
Russia is also building or plans to build a series of new Arctic military bases, including on Wrangel Island, Kotelny Island and at Cape Schmidt, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Interfax news agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
To the Victor goes the Spoils...
Is Russia borrowing money from China or Iran ?
Not that I have ever seen, their economy is heavy in Oil and other commodities and their Military Industries have many client states, more than Chine I am sure...
But people who live in Glass houses should not throw stones, we are by far the largest producer, seller and purchaser of arms and weapons in the World...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangel_Island
“Wrangel Island is a breeding ground for polar bears (having the highest density of dens in the world), ...”
_____________
... But, I thought that polar bears only existed on floating icebergs,
and then they just go off and die because of global warming......
I’m sitting here wishing that the Defense Ministry of Japan would respond with “All your base are belong to us!”.
If history has one easy lesson to understand it is: If you cannot defend it you cannot keep it.
In 1875, Japain got the Kurils and Russia got Sakhalin. In 1905, Japan took Sakhalin (in a treaty, they gave a little more than half of it back.) In 1945, Russia took back the rest of Sakhalin, and the Kurils. So no one has clean hands here. If they ever decide to enter into a treaty ending World War II, they can finalize the border then.
If you cannot defend it you cannot keep it.
Exactly! Their Pacific fleet is based out of Vladivostok. Wouldn’t be too difficult to contain them and then take these bases is necessary.
Their Atlantic fleet can be bottled up with a carrier group, air power out of Norway, Iceland and the UK, and a few subs.
Their Black Sea fleet can easily be stopped before coming through the Dardanelles.
Putin's always trying to find a way to help. Maybe there's some kind of contribution that he can make to the Sea of Okhotsk. It looks like a good place from which to shoot down commercial airliners flying into or out of Japan.
Wrangel Island was actually discovered by Americans but abandoned to the new Soviet Union after Lenin consolidated power in the 1920s.
They weren't included in the 1875 treaty.
Japan has repeatedly offered to give up their claims to southern Sakhalin (what they call Karafuto) and the Kurils (Chishima Reito) in return for the three named islands and the Habomai group which were part of Hokkaido. They have even offered to give the current Russian residents there Japanese citizenship.
Russia, of course, rejects the offer and continues to insist that their claim on the northern Kurils and southern Sakhalin remains valid until such time as Russia accepts.
America's position has gone from indifference in the closing days of World War II to actively supporting the Japanese position currently.
They have no fear.........and for good reason.
Here is an official map of Hokkaido showing the Subprefectural boundries.The four disputed islands and groups in powder blue in the northeast are part of the Subprefecture of Nemuro which, under Hokkaido's local system of government, would be greater than a country seat but less than a state capitol.
I don''t see a good location for an air strip.
Global warming might help .
They are Japan’s prized islands. If Japan cannot defend them they cannot keep them.
Russia beefs up Kurils military base despite Japan tensions
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34604146
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