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March 18, 2009
Will Russia Test Obama's Doctrine?
Will Russia Test Obama's Doctrine?
As the 25th anniversary of the invasion of Grenada nears, Russia is contemplating permanent bases in the Western Hemisphere. Once again, there's a bear in the woods.
On the morning of Oct. 25, 1983, America's armed forces invaded the island of Grenada. The Marxist regime of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop had been overthrown by the even harder-line communist Bernard Coard just 12 days earlier.
We were enforcing the Reagan and Monroe doctrines forbidding foreign bases in our hemisphere.
Coard gave every indication he would continue transforming Grenada into a Soviet-Cuban base. The lives of nearly 1,000 American medical students were in jeopardy. Cuban troops roamed the island. And then there was the matter of that 10,000-foot runway the Cubans were building — a runway long enough to accommodate Soviet bombers and not likely to be used for a sudden influx of Western tourists.
An increasingly belligerent Russia may be about to again test President Obama, as Vice President Joe Biden predicted in the campaign.
On Saturday, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, chief of staff of the Russian air force's long-range aviation, announced that Venezuela's thug in chief, Hugo Chavez, had offered the Venezuelan island of La Orchila as a temporary base for Russian strategic bombers.
"There is such a proposal on the part of the Venezuelan president. Chavez proposed to us a whole island with an airfield that we can use for temporary basing of strategic bombers," Zhikharev told the Interfax news agency. "If there is a relevant political decision, then the use of the island by the Russian air force is possible."
Zhikharev noted that in 2008 he had been to La Orchila, 110 miles from Venezuela's north central coast, where the Venezuelan navy has its Antonio Diaz Naval Air Station. With "minor reconstruction," he said, the airfield there could accept fully loaded Russian strategic bombers. Orchila's runway is listed at 9,843 feet and is unpaved.
Zhikharev added that Cuba also has facilities that are ideal for use by Russian bombers on long-range patrols. "There are four or five airfields in Cuba with 4,000-meter-long (13,000-foot) runways, which absolutely suit us," he said.
Last September, two nuclear-capable Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers arrived in Venezuela after a 13-hour flight from their Russian base. These aircraft can carry 12 cruise missiles that can be fitted with nuclear warheads. They landed at the military air base Libertador in Palo Negro, 68 miles from Caracas, the day before the anniversary of 9/11. The base has a 10,400-foot runway.
Late last year, a Russian flotilla led by the Kirov-class Peter the Great, a nuclear-powered heavy missile cruiser, paid a visit to conduct exercises with the Venezuelan navy. The ship, armed with SS-N-19 Shipwreck long-range anti-ship missiles, sailed in an area where nine out of every 14 barrels of imported oil, even some Alaskan oil, must transit.
During his confirmation hearings last July, Gen. Norton Schwartz, nominated by President Bush to be Air Force chief of staff, commented on the possible basing of Russian strategic bombers in the Caribbean.
"I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something which crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," he said.
That was then, this is now.
Will President Obama draw a red line? Within hours of Obama's election, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tested him by threatening to deploy SS-26 Iskander missiles in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad between our NATO allies Poland and Lithuania.
Medvedev said he would reconsider if we dropped our plans to deploy missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic meant to intercept Iranian missiles. Obama's administration has indicated a willingness to do just that and trade U.S. security for Russian promises.
Some will say this is a nonstory and point out that the Kremlin later explained that Zhikharev spoke "hypothetically." But the Kremlin let him speak to Russia's Interfax so that the word would get to us and make us think.
Obama and Medvedev are scheduled to meet in London on April 2.
Will Obama tell Medvedev to not even think about it? Or will he once again say let's make a deal?
Wild Thing's comment.......
Obama doctrine what is that Appeasement before Surrender ???
Obama is a hologram in front of a teleprompter and could not get a clue if it was a post it note stuck on his forehead.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at March 18, 2009 05:45 AM
Comments
These are definitely scary times to be an American. Obama is ignoring laws, doctines and everything else to get what he wants but no one else wants. He's the spoiled bully on the block. Look, I'm sorry he got made fun of as a child, but how is that America's fault? I was born 9 months after the 13 Days and I had a cousin who went on the Grenada excursion and my brother taught the Royal Marines for the Falkland Islands, I don't want things like this to happen again. But to me, this all almost sounds scripted. Like it's a screen play and everyone in it are actors playing the roles of a lifetime, but this is NOT 24 or West Wing, is it? Why doesn't Obamanation know the difference? He needs to stop playing around and get serious. No special days here.
Posted by: Lynn at March 18, 2009 08:20 AM
Putin is trying to revive the Cold War and cause America as much grief as possible. Latin America is targeted for instability. El Salvadore just elected a Marxist president. If Putin can get Marxist movements active in Latin America(not difficult to do) he can cause the US a lot of concern.
As far as the Russian military, our National Guard can best the Russian military.
One other note. I have read several articles stating that Putin is beginning to lose power. Supposedly the Russians are tiring of his theatrics, thuggary and his move away from democracy. Let's hope those reports are accurate.
Posted by: TomR at March 18, 2009 12:48 PM
If they do test him it will be another Cuban Crisis type deal. We will see if obama can vote present on this one. The man is a disgusting POS. Some one should give him a shot of Imodium to shut him up, or at least short circuit his teleprompter.
Posted by: Mark at March 18, 2009 05:31 PM
Lynn, you are right, "He needs to stop playing around and get serious"....he sure does and his turning our country into a socialist country step by step better take the back burner, he has been working over time on that.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 19, 2009 12:04 AM
Tom, thank you for the information, I hope Putin is on his way out too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 19, 2009 12:08 AM
Mark, ROTFLMAO
"short circuit his teleprompter"
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 19, 2009 12:09 AM
