Ron DeSantis Breaks Silence on Russian Warships Near Florida

Newsweek ^ | Jun 14, 2024 at 2:23 PM EDT

[conservative98]

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday spoke out for the first time about Russian warships in Cuban waters, criticizing the Biden administration for espousing "weakness" on the global stage.

Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday showed the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and nuclear-powered submarine Kazan sailing into Havana Bay, about 100 miles south of Florida. They were not carrying nuclear weapons but were armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles and Kalibr cruise missiles.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry described the Russian naval presence as a reflection of the country's "historically friendly relations" with Moscow, even greeting the ships with a 21-cannon salute. Moscow has defended its four-ship fleet presence as part of routine military drills conducted with allies.

"I'm the governor of Florida, I'm not the commander-in-chief, but if my responsibilities were different, that would not be something that we would allow to be happening," DeSantis said Friday in Hollywood, Florida, according to footage recorded by Florida's Voice. "I think it's really concerning that under this administration, they've put out a posture of weakness that has invited more aggressive actions from our adversaries."

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The governor also called it "problematic" that activity conducted by hostile nations "is probably at a level we have not seen in many, many years."

"I think that history has shown that these bad actors, they respond to strength and they're deterred by strength," DeSantis added. "They're not going to be deterred by weakness.

"They're not going to be deterred by confusion. They're not going to be deterred by a president wandering around aimlessly at the G7. They're going to be deterred because they know that's not somebody that you want to mess with."

DeSantis was referring to video of President Joe Biden "wandering" away from world leaders at the Group of Seven (G7) summit Thursday.

[dfwgator]

[SuperLuminal]

I see...

[wiseprince]

I think it would be wise to be deterred by an old man walking around at the G7. Putin (and moat Americans) know nothing about the person who will let Crooked Joe know when it’s time to hit the button. It’s starting to look like crooked Joe isn’t really in charge of the arsenal.

[LastDayz]

I don’t know but what does it take to launch a few well placed EMP’s?

[flamberge]

It’s starting to look like crooked Joe isn’t really in charge of the arsenal.

I would guess that one of the "Senior Presidential Advisors" on the Administration staff has the cue cards that would be used to activate the nuclear attack orders. I believe it is unlikely that Biden is even capable of using them.

[Svartalfiar]

Overconfidence and underestimating is different from obtaining a relatively accurate assessment.

Russia can’t even put her only carrier in the water. It is reasonable to not expect them to launch aircraft on a raid on Pearl Harbor or the west coast. It is factual that they cannot do that.

[ASOC]

The frigate is so scary - had to bring an oiler to refuel in route and a tug in case it had to be towed into port.

Meh, useless dog and pony show for a has-been navy.

[Svartalfiar]

I don’t know but what does it take to launch a few well placed EMP’s?

EMPs that can do major damage over a wide area basically requires a nuclear warhead. Might take out a city metroplex, but initiating it higher for more coverage means less EM strength and less effect on the ground. And any country would view that as a nuclear attack and respond accordingly.

Non-nuclear EMPs are extremely more limited in area of effect, and would require way more missiles than Russia has, much more what's carried by one ship and a sub, to do a seriously debilitating hit on these US. Not to mention how extremely widespread US assets are. Also, Russia isn't known for "well-placed" attacks, they prefer masses of inaccurate munitions.