Cold War heats up with a vengence

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Russian S-300 missiles 'would ensure Venezuela's oil security'
16:16 | 24/ 07/ 2008

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MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russian S-300 air-defense missile systems would enable Venezuela to fully ensure the security of its hydrocarbon resources, a Russian military expert said Thursday.

"Needless to say, should S-300s be delivered to Venezuela, they would effectively strengthen its defense capability, and it would not be easy for its possible adversaries to punish the country by striking at its oil fields," former Air Force commander Gen. Anatoly Kornukov said.

Link: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080724/114834367.html
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"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…"
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dissident · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 469

The only threat the S-300's pose is to the US planes making bombing runs over Venezuela.

As for the sci-fi defence shield that every numbskull thinks will be 99% effective, it hasn't even succeeded with staged intercept tests. This means that the deployed system will rely on nuclear warheads to increase its intercept potential. Especially with the non-ballistic warheads that Russian ICBMs are being equipped with. So the ABM system is really a breach of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty. So don't expect the missile installations, radars and other ABM infrastructure to be safe from EXTREMELY rapid (e.g. 5 minutes) nuclear strikes. There is no shield, there is only a one-time exchange of nuclear missiles that will end the war as soon as it starts with EVERYONE that is involved the loser including all you Nazi-style pro-war drones who think you are safe on another continent.

Viper · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2004 Posts: 204 Location: MO

I would suggest that Venezuela is looking to get the S-300's to counter the 24 Kfir fighter/bombers that Israel is selling to Colombia.

Just a thought...

Cid_Yama

A New Cold War in the Caribbean?

Ever since the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. has seen the Caribbean in the way that the Romans viewed the Mediterranean: Mare Nostrum, Our Sea. From the Spanish-American War through the Cuban missile crisis and the Central-American dirty wars of the Reagan era, Washington was always quick to flex its muscle over the rum-soaked waters that stretch from Florida to Venezuela. The bad news: it ain't our sea anymore, gringos.

Most Caribbean and Central American nations have now defied the Bush Administration's wishes and signed on to Chavez's regional energy cooperative, Petrocaribe. Started in 2006, Petrocaribe lets the basin's fuel-starved countries buy Venezuelan oil at just 40% of the current skyrocketing market price and pay back the difference over 25 years at 1% interest. Few Caribbean nations, struggling to juggle food and energy prices, can refuse Chavez's petro-diplomacy. His critics call it petro-bribery, using oil to broaden his fledgling anti-U.S. bloc in the hemisphere. But this month it won over Guatemala and Costa Rica to bring the number of Petrocaribe members to 19. And in U.S.-friendly countries that have so far balked at Chavez's deal, such as Barbados, the governments have taken heat from voters. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was narrowly elected in 2006 by promising to keep Chavez's influence out of his Central American country. But last week, realizing that its oil expenditures have jumped 88% over the past year, he conceded that Costa Rica needed "to benefit sooner from this help."

Back in Moscow, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev was ebullient on Tuesday after Chavez added to the more than $3 billion he's spent on Russian weaponry in recent years. Chavez crowed about a "strategic partnership" with Russia to "guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela, which the U.S. threatens." Medvedev gushed that it was the "common task" of Russia and Venezuela "to achieve a more democratic, just and secure world." All in all, it was a new Caribbean day in the Kremlin.

link
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

It riles them to believe that you perceive the webs they weave. - Moody Blues

EnergyUnlimited · Fusion Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 3396

EnergyUnlimited · Fusion Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 3396

Nickel

Nickel

Cid_Yama

Russia 'gears up' to percieved US threat

The construction of new-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile and attack submarines is a top priority for the Russian Navy's development, the Navy commander said on Friday.

"At present, we are providing sufficient financing for the creation of a fleet of a new-generation nuclear-powered strategic submarines," Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said.

Fourth-generation Borey-class nuclear-powered submarines armed with Bulava missiles would form the core of Russia's fleet of modern strategic submarines.

The first submarine in the series, Yury Dolgoruky, was built at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region and will soon join the Russian Navy. It will be equipped with 16 Bulava (SS-NX-30) ballistic missiles, which can carry up to ten nuclear warheads each, and have a range of 8,000 kilometers (about 5,000 miles).

Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant.

In 2009, the Russian Navy will receive the first nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Project 885 Yasen (Graney) class, named Severodvinsk, Vysotsky said.

Severodvinsk is the first Russian submarine of the true multipurpose type, combining the ability to launch a variety of long-range nuclear missiles (up to 3,100 miles) and effectively engage hostile submarines and surface warships.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080725/114927762.html

Moscow must answer U.S. shield with Cuban 'spy' site

Russia should respond to U.S. missile defense plans for Central Europe by reopening a 'spy' facility in Cuba to gather intelligence on the United States, a Russian analyst said on Wednesday.

The electronic monitoring and surveillance facility near Havana at Torrens, also known as the Lourdes facility, the largest Russian Sigint site abroad, was shut down in October 2001 by then- president Vladimir Putin.

"Cuba is a unique place to gather intelligence on the United States. I believe that the reopening of this station is both possible and necessary amid the threat that the Americans are creating for Russia," Alexander Pikayev, head of the disarmament and conflict resolution department at the Russian Academy of Sciences' World Economics and International Relations Institute, told a news conference at RIA Novosti.

"Russia has every right to respond," he added.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080723/114761709.html

Russia could place bombers in Latin America, N.Africa

Russian strategic bombers may soon be deployed at airbases in Cuba, Venezuela and Algeria as a response to the U.S. missile shield in Europe and NATO's expansion, Russian daily Izvestia said on Thursday.

"The flight to the U.S. [from southern Russia where the bombers are based] takes about 10 hours and even with two mid-air refuellings the aircraft can spend only 1.5 hours near the U.S. coast," said Gen. of the Army Pyotr Deinekin, former commander of the Russian Air Force.

The use of forward landing airfields in Latin America would practically erase the time constraints for the Russian bombers and make their presence near the U.S. borders almost permanent, the general said.

Both Tu-160 and Tu-95MS bombers have been recently modernized and fitted with new X-555 cruise missiles with a range of over 3,500 km (2,200 miles). Therefore, the bombers do not have to be permanently based near the U.S. borders to hit any target on U.S. territory in case of a potential conflict.

This means they can hit any and all targets in the US without entering, or even approaching, US airspace. This also means almost no reponse time.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080724/114821813.html

Yep, the Cold War is back, in all it's horrific insanity. Thank you Mr. Bush for bringing it all back. You finally got your legacy.

By the way, ABMs don't work against cruise missiles. Just so you know.

The Rosbalt agency wrote that two years ago, Russia conducted a successful test of its X-555 cruise missile with a range of up to 5,000 km, circular error probable of 18-26 meters, and speed of Mach 0.77. It flies at tree-top level - 40 m to 110 m - which allows it to evade ABM systems. In early February, the ARMS-TASS news agency reported that India and Russia had begun joint research and development on a cruise missile that can fly several times the speed of sound.

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070411/63460805.html
_________________
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

It riles them to believe that you perceive the webs they weave. - Moody Blues

dissident · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 469

Don't blame it on Bush. It is the neocon run US media that is responsible for painting Russia into another Iraq. I guess the war on terror wasn't a good a racket as the cold war so they had to restart it.

Viper · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2004 Posts: 204 Location: MO

Cid_Yama

None of this is new.

A return to the potential of nuclear annihilation at a moment's notice IS new.

When Bush entered office, we were all talking about a "new era of cooperation and partnership" with Russia. Missile systems were being dismantled. The Cold War was over.

Now, we are being faced with Russian bombers with advanced nuclear cruise missiles patrolling off the the borders of the US, specifically with the intention of providing a retaliatory capability against the US.

Instead of decomissioning their Navy, as had been the case when Bush entered office, they are rebuilding their sub launched nuclear missile deterence.

The possibillity of a mistake leading to the nuclear annihilation of the planet has returned.

Russia has gone from potential friend and new hope and opportunity in the world, back to deadly adversary.

You don't get it yet, but you will. Once you understand enough to recognize this is not a game. That if this happens, it won't be glory and flag waving. The movies Testament or The Day After give a hint to what the reality of a nuclear war might be. Also both versions of On the Beach.
_________________
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

It riles them to believe that you perceive the webs they weave. - Moody Blues

Viper · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2004 Posts: 204 Location: MO

See Cid, here's where you and I differ in opinions though. I never saw the Cold War as being over. I just saw the Russians run out of money and have to regroup / convert their economy to the Chinese proven version of Capitalism before they could get enough money back into their system so they could resume operations.

The disconnect here... the dream... is that you had any safety in the first place.

Cid_Yama

I'm sorry, Viper. I don't see you as having ever experienced that world where, at any moment, we might need to bug-out, because missiles were on their way. You know nothing of being taught to "duck and cover" in elementary school.

There are many of us that are old enough to remember that world, which is what I call the Cold War.

We actually had bags packed in case we got the call to move. I had a bag in the closet by the front door and one in my car.

That did end with the fall of the Soviet Union. We have experienced almost 20 years without the ever-present possibility of nuclear war.

Now the possibility has returned, and we are closer than we have been since Reagan pushed the Pershing II medium range missiles into Europe.

During the 1960's most of my generation did not believe we would live to our 30's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8SfiCnwF28&feature=related
_________________
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell

It riles them to believe that you perceive the webs they weave. - Moody Blues

Viper · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2004 Posts: 204 Location: MO

You really think the 70's and the 80's were THAT different from the 60's? We did the duck and cover thing at my school... we watched "why are the Russians trying to kill us" movies at school so we would understand just how threatened we were. We had letter writing campaigns because people thought that if we could just convince them that we were people too then that would make it all better. Oh, yeah, I was there alright.

But, like I said... the only reason you stopped feeling threatened is because the Russians didn't feel like spending the money any more, and people stopped talking about the fact that the two sides still had people waking up every morning and doing drills that simulated the end of the world. The "safe" world that you've thought you were living in during the 90's and early 00's was just a dream which was encouraged because it turned out to be good for business.