Russia To Resume Long-Range Bomber Patrols

Reemergence Of Cold War-Style Flights Comes Amid Chill In Relations With U.S.

(AP)  President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he had ordered the military to resume regular long-range flights of strategic bombers, a show of Russia's resurgent military power amid a chill in relations with the U.S.

Speaking after Russian and Chinese forces completed major war games exercises for the first time on Russian turf, Putin said a halt in long-range bombers' flights after the Soviet collapse had affected Russia's security. Other nations, he said, had continued such missions — an oblique reference to the United States.

"I have made a decision to resume regular flights of Russian strategic aviation," Putin said in televised remarks. "We proceed from the assumption that our partners will view the resumption of flights of Russia's strategic aviation with understanding."

In Washington, a State Department Spokesman said the U.S. was not troubled by the Russian decision.

"That's a decision for them to take," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "It's interesting. We certainly are not in the kind of posture we were with what used to be the Soviet Union. It's a different era. If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that's their decision."

The Russian-Chinese war games, which took place near the Urals Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, coincided with Russian air force maneuvers involving strategic bombers that ranged far over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.

Putin said that 20 Russian bombers were involved in the exercise.

"Starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on a strategic scale," Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long; they are happy to start a new life."

Soviet bombers routinely flew such missions to areas from which nuclear-tipped cruise missiles could be launched at the United States. But that stopped in the post-Soviet economic meltdown.

"Starting in 1992, the Russian Federation unilaterally suspended strategic aviation flights to remote areas," Putin said. "Regrettably, other nations haven't followed our example. That has created certain problems for Russia's security."

Booming oil prices have allowed Russia to sharply increase its military spending.

In recent years, Russia's bombers have resumed flights to areas off Norway and Iceland, as well as Russia's northeast corner, across the Bering Strait from Alaska several years ago. However, such missions have been rare, and Putin's statement signals that they could become more frequent.

The announcement comes amid a growing chill in the U.S.-Russian relations, strained over Washington's criticism of Russia's democratic record, Moscow's criticism of U.S. missile defense plans and differences over global crises.

"This is a significant change of posture of Russian strategic forces," Alexander Pikayev, a senior military analyst with the Moscow-based Institute for World Economy and International Relations, told The Associated Press. "It's a response to the relocation of NATO forces closer to Russia's western border."

Earlier this month, a pair of Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers approached the Pacific Island of Guam — home to a major U.S. military base — for the first time since the Cold War.

Last month, two similar bombers briefly entered British air space but turned back after British fighter jets intercepted them. Norwegian F-16s were also scrambled when the Tu-95s headed south along the Norwegian coast in international air space.

Russian Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky said that Friday's exercise involved Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers, tanker aircraft and air radars. NATO jets were scrambled to escort the Russian aircraft over the oceans, he said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

As of the beginning of this year, Russia had 79 strategic bombers, according to data exchanged with the United States under the START I arms control treaty. At the peak of the Cold War, the Soviet long-range bomber fleet numbered several hundred.

[j-whitman]

Bush neglects to inform you Iran''''s population of Jewish is the largest in the Middle East, second only to Isreal.

Bush & his republicans also fail to mention one squeak of Egypts desire to attack Los Angeles, they are 90% Sunni.

Bush & his republicans fails to mention that Egypt & the UAE are striving just as hard to obtain nuclear weapons.

Bush still wants American Assets given to Dubai
-- There are no Jewish synagogues in Dubai. The U.A.E does not recognize Israeli passports and so Nationals of Israel may not enter Dubai..

.. Saudi''''''''s & Egypt are striving for nuclear weapons & you don''''''''t hear one squeek from republicans...

[j-whitman]

SgtRDS,,,, Hell yes

[sgtrds]

Is anyone else tired of Singinprick monopolizing these boards????

Posted by fedupwithit1 at 04:21 PM : Aug 18, 2007

It'' be easier to count the number of people who aren''t sick of his sad, pathetic preaching.

[wfbdem]

lars008: Toughest guy behind a firewall. More than willing to let real americans fight and die in his stead. Proud member of the 101st Fighting Keyboardist. Risking carpal tunnel everyday, so other may die in his stead.

Looks like we found just another cowardly rightwing wimp.

[nggr]

islam is as irrelevant a religion as christianity and judeism. based upon controling peoples actions and interested in a general ruling power structure.
spirituality exists, none of these organized religions tell you the truth.

i heard muhhamed and moses were nut bumpin while jesus was giving the ole'' reach around!
HA!

[lars008-2009]

Is islam a violation of international law???

islam practices slavery on non muslims
islam practices apartheid on non muslims
islam practices rape on non muslims
islam practices rape on babies and animals
islam practices genocide on non muslims

all are violations of international law and are crimes against humanity

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/22/world/main2505445.shtml
Imam Khomeini - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
http://www.homa.org/Details.asp?ContentID=2137352826&TOCID=2083225445
Malaysia women ''suffer apartheid''
The daughter of Malaysia''s former prime minister has launched a scathing attack on the roles and status of Muslim women in the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.stm
A matter of tolerance
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/2006/12/matter-of-tolerance.html
Marina Mahathir
http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=slavery+islam&btnG=Search
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4795808.stm
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=apartheid islam
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rape islam
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rape islam babies&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=genocide islam&btnG=Search

[lars008-2009]

what do you call an ideology that:

kills you if you don''t join it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=82201&ln=eng&txt=islam%20law%20kill%20kaafir

kills you if you leave it...

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=696&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you don''t do what they tell you to do..

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=6035&ln=eng&txt=kaafir%20kill

kills you if you speak against it%u2026.

http://islamqa.com/index.php?QR=22809&ln=eng

kills anybody that is not a member of it...

http://www.hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/koran5.html

still practices slavery

http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=12562&ln=eng&txt=slavery

still practices pagan rituals...

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/pagansources.htm

allows the r a p e of babies and animals...

http://www.homa.org/default.asp?TOCID=2083225445

a. satanic cult???
b. islam???
c. all the above???

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[sgtrds]

They''re rioting in Africa
They''re starving in Spain
There''s hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.

The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles

Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don''t like anybody very much

But we can be grateful
And thankful and proud
That man''s been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud

And we know for certain
That some happy day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away

They''re rioting in Africa
There''s strife in Iran
What nature doesn''t do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.

[lars008-2009]

it is fascist nazi terrorislam stupid...

non muslims of the world unite... fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside...

I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770

Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

[lawyertom1]

NGGR has it right. Their bombers are a joke. They pose no strategic threat, or even tactical. It is all posture and bluster. I''ll take a Minuteman III or SLBM (e.g., Trident) any day. However, as usual, the press has played this up as though it has some real significance. Give us a break. Take a good ol'' fashion F-16 and some AIM-120 AMRAAM''s, and it is poof time. If you need to worry, consider that the Russians still have a very nice stock indeed of ICBMs and some sub capable missiles (e.g., R-29 family). There is a real threat. The other threat is from the peanut countries with A-Bombs; dollar to donuts that is what will pop first. But, good ol'' Shrubbie boy doesn''t believe in arms treaties, weapons limitations, etc. We can easily maintain our deterent capability and increase stability with less. But, instead, we allow N. Korea and Iran to develop weapons, help India produce even more, turn a blind eye to proliferation in much of the world, all making us less secure. Reminds me of the old Kingston Trio song -- which some of us old folks remember well -- "they''re rioting in Africa...".

[tomflint69]

we are sitting ducks,with no reserves to protect ourselves, we need to start the draft and allow for other troops in the national guard to come home where they should be, protecting our southern boarder
Posted by gregdcasey at 09:11 PM : Aug 17, 2007


We are ''always'' safe in our country! our borders are safe. What we need to do is to do something to make sure that our troops in the Middle East or in Afghanistan will not be attacked by the Russians and Chinese. Russians and Chinese can also prove to be a great threat to the NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

[tomflint69]

we are sitting ducks,with no reserves to protect ourselves, we need to start the draft and allow for other troops in the national guard to come home where they should be, protecting our southern boarder
Posted by gregdcasey at 09:11 PM : Aug 17, 2007


We are ''always'' safe in our country! our borders are safe. What we need to do is to do something to make sure that our troops in the Middle East or in Afghanistan will not be attacked by the Russians and Chinese. Russians and Chinese can also prove to be a great threat to the NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

[nggr]

my view of what god is or isn''t has nothing to do with the bible.
i''m not interested in ancient morals. like when the royal came to a mans house and the father of the household let him rape and kill his daughters, then cut her into twelve pieces and sent a peice to each of the 12 tribes of israel. not interesed in that type of thing.
god to me is a process, from the dawn of the universe until it is no more. more than likely not even aware that we "sprung up" on this planet.
evolution or something like it happens, there is not doubt that ther is a process pushing our genetics throughout the time life appeared on this planet. the christian god, the rules applied to people from it, the entire doctrine is based on a fable. the only reason ther is an argument is that we are talking about things from 1000''s of years ago. if this were a recent manuscript, theree would be no problems. if the romans didn''t spen 400 years burning al references to the scriptures contemporary writings that weren''t included in the bible by the council of nicea then there would be no argument. the romans have given people like singinrick an argument, by destroying other scriptures that should hace been preserved.

[gregorydcasey]

we are sitting ducks,with no reserves to protect ourselves, we need to start the draft and allow for other troops in the national guard to come home where they should be, protecting our southern boarder

[toolmangler-2009]

problem-$hlt happens, solution-god did it.
Posted by nggr at 07:47 PM : Aug 17, 2007


No! Man did it and blamed it on GOD! I was like you but now I know the difference. My existance explains GOD to me. If you do not know what I am talking about then I suggest you go back to studying The Bible, Evolution, and mans place in it. If you are a good learner it won''t take you as long as it did me. I am not going to tell you what to think if you will simply remember that the Bible and Evolution go hand in hand, do not use one to disprove the other. It can''t be done without ignoring one or the other.

[tomflint69]

Actually, as I guess the intentions of Russians and Chinese are not to bombard us in our home land. They would bombard our troops in the middle east or even in Afghanistan! what a horrible scene it can be!!!! we should take it seriously.

[nggr]

just saw putin with china and iran earlier this week having war games and condemning the u.s.

a real chill or propoganda?
a chill dude. wargames with china mean more than a fishing trip with bush.

you''re stupid

[nggr]

- Associated Press ( a KNOWN liberal news outlet)
please provide proof that the associated press is a "known " liberal outlet.
hell, even fox runs thier stories.
they are pretty much the most non- partisan source. they just report what happens.
proof please, or do you just like stroking your ***-a-doodle-doo about LIBERALS.
and thats just a waste of time. cause they are americans too. so it sounds to me like you hate americans, what are you? some kinda eurotrash or a commie.

[nggr]

Do not under estimate what the soviet era bombers can do.
Posted by sevenveils at 08:36 PM : Aug 17, 2007

oh, they can drop bombs, no doubt. they are killing machines.
but, comparitivly, they are older, slower, and have a huge radar crossection. fish in a barrel, unless someone in our government wants them to succeed in bombing us. you know, to have an excuse. and a wave of indignation to ride on.

[perception5]

"Reemergence Of Cold War-Style Flights Comes Amid Chill In Relations With U.S." - Associated Press ( a KNOWN liberal news outlet)

Kinda goes against reality. Just saw Putin last month on a fishing trip with our President.

......... a real "chill" or just more propaganda?

You decide.....