70 replies to this topic

[nodle]

Everyday lately i have been reading about Russia getting back into the war game. The have really been pushing the limits lately. From training with China on war games to increasing their army and training. I must say this is only the beginning, they will so be back in the game and even more than they once were. Two new RAF Typhoon jets shadowed a Russian bomber heading for Britain, the Ministry of Defence has said. The jets were scrambled on Friday 17 August to identify the Russian aircraft, which turned back before it reached UK skies. The MoD said: "RAF Typhoons from Numbers 3(F) and XI Squadrons launched to shadow a Russian Bear-H aircraft over the North Atlantic Ocean." The BBC's Gordon Corera said the incident was not a security threat. Active standby He said a similar incident occurred in July, but that this represented a new, more provocative Russian foreign policy. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has recently resumed the Soviet-era practice of sending bomber aircraft on long-range flights. Britain's ?67m Typhoons were only put on active standby in July. Typhoons, the RAF's newest fast jet aircraft - which are based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire - cover the UK Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) commitment together with Tornado F3 aircraft based at RAF Leeming and RAF Leuchars. Over the next nine months, the Typhoons will progressively replace Tornado F3s, the aircraft which have performed this duty for many years. The Typhoon was designed during the Cold War, when European leaders looked to the Soviet Union as their main threat from the air. The RAF has ordered 144 Typhoons, which can accelerate from standing to take-off in under seven seconds. They were developed by companies in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy.

[davec]

Anatoliy Golitsyn The Perestroika Deception In 1995 Golitsyn published another book The Perestroika Deception where he claimed:     * "The [Soviet] strategists are concealing the secret coordination that exists and will continue between Moscow and the 'nationalist' leaders of [the] 'independent' republics."     * "The power of the KGB remains as great as ever... Talk of cosmetic changes in the KGB and its supervision is deliberately publicized to support the myth of 'democratization' of the Soviet political system."     * "Scratch these new, instant Soviet 'democrats,' 'anti-Communists,' and 'nationalists' who have sprouted out of nowhere, and underneath will be found secret Party members or KGB agents."

[nodle]

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Anatoliy Golitsyn The Perestroika Deception In 1995 Golitsyn published another book The Perestroika Deception where he claimed:     * "The [Soviet] strategists are concealing the secret coordination that exists and will continue between Moscow and the 'nationalist' leaders of [the] 'independent' republics."     * "The power of the KGB remains as great as ever... Talk of cosmetic changes in the KGB and its supervision is deliberately publicized to support the myth of 'democratization' of the Soviet political system."     * "Scratch these new, instant Soviet 'democrats,' 'anti-Communists,' and 'nationalists' who have sprouted out of nowhere, and underneath will be found secret Party members or KGB agents." I totally agree, they are not stupid, instead of prancing around showing off there might, they are just laying low, but still building up.

[davec]

You're a well read man sir. Cudos goes out to thee.

[jmanz]

I blame Canada for it all really.

[nodle]

Georgian forces fired at a plane they believed was Russian after it violated the Caucasus republic's airspace on Wednesday, a senior interior ministry official said. The incident marks an intensification of a row between the two countries in which Georgia has accused Russian planes of violating its border and of dropping a missile near Tbilisi. Russia called the Georgian statement a provocation. It has not reported any plane missing, and when asked specifically about the Georgian statement an official denied Russian aircraft had violated Georgian airspace. "The day before yesterday at 22:24 in the mountains of Upper Abkhazia we opened fire on a Russian plane, after which we heard an explosion," Shota Utiashvili, head of the interior ministry's analytical department, told Reuters on Friday. It was not clear what caused that explosion. "The forest is on fire there, but we cannot confirm that the plane was shot down," Utiashvili said, adding that the interior ministry would send a helicopter to the area on Saturday to investigate. Utiashvili could not say what kind of airplane it was, but insisted it was Russian. He said that it had headed towards a deserted mountain part of the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia that was held by separatists. Upper Abkhazia, where Georgia says the shooting incident took place, is a small mountainous part of the breakaway Abkhazia province still controlled by Tbilisi. Moscow-backed Abkhazia is a regular source of tension between the two countries, as Georgia seeks to regain control over the region. INTERNATIONAL REPERCUSSIONS Moscow says its planes have never violated Georgia's border. "This is another provocation in the information campaign waged against us," Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to Russian airforce commander, as saying. "I say this officially, Russian airplanes did not violate the Georgian air space." Interfax also quoted an official from Abkhazia's defense ministry as saying: "We haven't registered recently any downings of any plane at territory controlled by the Abkhaz side." Georgia said on Wednesday two Russian planes had violated its border around the same area. Two weeks ago it accused Russian jets of dropping a missile near the capital, Tbilisi. Russian news agencies quoted Abkhaz authorities as saying earlier on Friday their forces had fired warning shots on Thursday at an unidentified plane that crossed into Abkhazia from Georgia. The row over aircraft has highlighted a crisis in relations between Russia and Georgia, which has been deepening since U.S.-educated President Mikhail Saakashvili began moving his republic of five million people out of Moscow's orbit. Russia last year severed air, sea and postal links with its southern neighbor over a spying row. Before that, Moscow had banned imports of Georgian wine and mineral water, both major sources of revenue, citing health concerns. The missile incident has had repercussions beyond the region, turning into an irritant in ties between Russia and the United States.

[nodle]

Even more... Russian warplanes intercepted by RAF jets PA Published: 06 September 2007 RAF Tornado jets were scrambled today to intercept eight Russian military aircraft which were approaching British airspace. It was the latest in a series of incidents this summer in which British fighters have been used to warn off long-range Russian reconnaissance aircraft. The four Tornado F3 fighters were launched from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire and RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire in the early hours of this morning, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said. They intercepted and turned back eight Russian Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" aircraft, which were "approaching but not in British airspace", he said. Vladimir Putin's Russia has returned to the Cold War tactic of sending military planes towards Nato airspace on several occasions in recent months. The tactic reflects heightened tension between Russia and the West over issues including US President George Bush's decision to position missile defence bases in the Czech Republic and Poland and Britain's demand for the extradition of the suspected killer of Alexander Litvinenko. Last month, two of the RAF's new Typhoon Eurofighter jets were used to intercept and turn back a single "Bear" over the north Atlantic, and in July two Russian aircraft were warned off by RAF jets as they headed towards UK airspace. In May, two Tornado F3s were scrambled from RAF Leuchars in Scotland to intercept a Tu-95 observing the Royal Navy exercise Neptune Warrior. Norway scrambled four of its F-16 jet fighters to shadow the eight Russian planes in the Arctic in this morning's incident, Norwegian armed forces spokesman Lt Col John Inge Oegland told the BBC. He said that the Bears flew in international airspace from the Barents Sea - which lies between Russia's northern coastline and the Arctic - to the Atlantic, then turned back. The Tu-95 "Bear" is a propellor-driven long-range aircraft developed by the Soviet Union as a strategic bomber and missile carrier during the Cold War but now often used for surveillance missions.

[O-Tron]

The Russian's are definitely in the mix, but I don't think it's to challenge U.S. supremacy in the world as the lone superpower. Think about it. You read all these stories about Russian jets flying into our airspace and other former Soviet Republic's airspace, but not China's? Thats the fact I find most interesting. I mean China is right next door, why haven't the "accidently" flown in there? (Beyond the fact that they know China won't hesitate to shoot them down, but forget that for arguments sake) China is a rising world military and economic power, a true challenge for the U.S. in the years to come. Number wise the U.S. could never compete with China. 1.5 billion people would crush 350 million both militarily and economically. The Chinese are not as economically dependent as many people try to say they are. Oil wise, the Chinese are sitting on some of the largest reserves in the world so dependency on a foreign oil source is ruled our and they could definitely feed the masses if they utilized a lot of their land that is not utilized for farming. People really don't realize how densely populate China is in select areas and then very rural in most places. China is the real threat here, not Russia. So...why couldn't the Russian's be working with the U.S. to potentially challenge the Chinese? I for one believe it to be at least a possibility. Think about it, early on in Bush's presidency him and Putin were thick as thieves. Who says they still aren't and the last two to three years is all just well placed misdirection? After all, we played these kinds of tricks on each other for 40-50 years why can't we play them on someone else together. Make it look like we don't play so well together on the surface, but be sharing intel under it. It makes sense if you really think about it. Then again, I've I always loved Nostradamus' end times prediction of the Dragon rising in the east (China) and the Eagle (U.S.) joining with the sleeping Bear (Russia) to defeat them so this could just be me putting that into words.

[nodle]

See i personally think they are doing it on purpose too. Just to test the waters, i mean come on your flying a sophisticated piece of equipment and you don't know where your airspace ends? No they know what they are doing. Now as far as China goes, they are both communist countries and are better friends with each other than you thing, thats why they have no reason to fly over there. Besides they just got done practicing war games with each other last month. Also its even in the Bible, i don't know the passages but in Revelation it talks about the kings of the north "Russia" and the kings of the east "China". Unfortunately there is not you can do but sit back and watch it all unfold in front of your eyes...

[O-Tron]

Russia is as communist now as Ethiopia is a developed country. You could even make the argument that China has abandoned its Communist ways and embraced Capitalism a little too much. China is like a weird Communistic/Capitalistic amalgam. It's undefinable. I don't think ideology plays as big a role as others with a degree in political science might. It used to, but capitalism defeated communism in the late 80's that battles been fought. Now, the argument can be made that Russia was never a true communist state because for a country to have a true communism it must first go through a cycle of capitalism that fails. Something Russia never did. Also something China never did. I don't know what I typed that paragraph. Its probably because I'm not using my Economics or Political Science degree and I don't get to talk about this stuff with my friends. Anyway. My point is that neither China or Russia is a true communist state anymore so I don't think that really comes in to play. And come on, the Bible? Nostradamus is way more reliable.

[nodle]

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Russia is as communist now as Ethiopia is a developed country. You could even make the argument that China has abandoned its Communist ways and embraced Capitalism a little too much. China is like a weird Communistic/Capitalistic amalgam. It's undefinable. I don't think ideology plays as big a role as others with a degree in political science might. It used to, but capitalism defeated communism in the late 80's that battles been fought. Now, the argument can be made that Russia was never a true communist state because for a country to have a true communism it must first go through a cycle of capitalism that fails. Something Russia never did. Also something China never did. I don't know what I typed that paragraph. Its probably because I'm not using my Economics or Political Science degree and I don't get to talk about this stuff with my friends. Anyway. My point is that neither China or Russia is a true communist state anymore so I don't think that really comes in to play. And come on, the Bible? Nostradamus is way more reliable.

Actually i believe Nostradamus, just read the bible and turned it into his own words.

[O-Tron]

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Russia is as communist now as Ethiopia is a developed country. You could even make the argument that China has abandoned its Communist ways and embraced Capitalism a little too much. China is like a weird Communistic/Capitalistic amalgam. It's undefinable. I don't think ideology plays as big a role as others with a degree in political science might. It used to, but capitalism defeated communism in the late 80's that battles been fought. Now, the argument can be made that Russia was never a true communist state because for a country to have a true communism it must first go through a cycle of capitalism that fails. Something Russia never did. Also something China never did. I don't know what I typed that paragraph. Its probably because I'm not using my Economics or Political Science degree and I don't get to talk about this stuff with my friends. Anyway. My point is that neither China or Russia is a true communist state anymore so I don't think that really comes in to play. And come on, the Bible? Nostradamus is way more reliable.

Actually i believe Nostradamus, just read the bible and turned it into his own words.

Lol.

[nodle]

They are testing the waters just like China is with their "hacking" lately, they have not only done it to the Pentagon, but also to Britain just last week.

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Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America?s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times. The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People?s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve ?electronic dominance? over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea. China?s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy?s financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military documents and generals? speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence officials. Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon assessment states that China?s military regards offensive computer operations as ?critical to seize the initiative? in the first stage of a war. The plan to cripple the US aircraft carrier battle groups was authored by two PLA air force officials, Sun Yiming and Yang Liping. It also emerged this week that the Chinese military hacked into the US Defence Secretary?s computer system in June; have regularly penetrated computers in at least 10 Whitehall departments, including military files, and infiltrated German government systems this year. Cyber attacks by China have become so frequent and aggressive that President Bush, without referring directly to Beijing, said this week that ?a lot of our systems are vulnerable to attack?. He indicated that he would raise the subject with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, when they met in Sydney at the Apec summit. Mr Hu denied that China was responsible for the attack on Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary. Larry M. Wortzel, the author of the US Army War College report, said: ?The thing that should give us pause is that in many Chinese military manuals they identify the US as the country they are most likely to go to war with. They are moving very rapidly to master this new form of warfare.? The two PLA hackers produced a ?virtual guidebook for electronic warfare and jamming? after studying dozens of US and Nato manuals on military tactics, according to the document. The Pentagon logged more than 79,000 attempted intrusions in 2005. About 1,300 were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army?s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the 4th Infantry Division. In August and September of that year Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department computers in several parts of the world. Hundreds of computers had to be replaced or taken offline for months. Chinese hackers also disrupted the US Naval War College?s network in November, forcing the college to shut down its computer systems for several weeks. The Pentagon uses more than 5 million computers on 100,000 networks in 65 countries. Jim Melnick, a recently retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told The Times that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and recruit talented members for its cyber army. He described a competition held two years ago in Sichuan province, southwest China. The winner now uses a cyber nom de guerre, Wicked Rose. He went on to set up a hacking business that penetrated computers at a defence contractor for US aerospace. Mr Melnick said that the PLA probably outsourced its hacking efforts to such individuals. ?These guys are very good,? he said. ?We don?t know for sure that Wicked Rose and people like him work for the PLA. But it seems logical. And it also allows the Chinese leadership to have plausible deniability.? In February a massive cyber attack on Estonia by Russian hackers demonstrated how potentially catastrophic a preemptive strike could be on a developed nation. Pro-Russian hackers attacked numerous sites to protest against the controversial removal in Estonia of a Russian memorial to victims of the Second World War. The attacks brought down government websites, a major bank and telephone networks. Linton Wells, the chief computer networks official at the Pentagon, said that the Estonia attacks ?may well turn out to be a watershed in terms of widespread awareness of the vulnerability of modern society?. After the attacks, computer security experts from Nato, the EU, US and Israel arrived in the capital, Tallinn, to study its effects. Sami Saydjari, who has been working on cyber defence systems for the Pentagon since the 1980s, told Congress in testimony on April 25 that a mass cyber attack could leave 70 per cent of the US without electrical power for six months. He told The Times that all major nations ? including China ? were scrambling to defend against, and working out ways to cause, ?maximum strategic damage? by taking out banking systems, power grids and communications networks. He said that there were at least a thousand attempted attacks every hour on American computers. ?China is aggressive in this,? he said.

[nodle]

I've been saying it for awhile now, better watch out for Russia, they are not as week as they seem.

[nodle]

Oh snap!!!! Russia PM goes as Putin dissolves government President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the Russian government on the request of the prime minister, the Kremlin said Wednesday, a major political shake-up ahead of crucial parliamentary and presidential elections. The dissolution is expected to result in a new head of government, who will be seen as Putin's choice to succeed him after he steps down next spring. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said he asked for the dissolution because with elections approaching, Putin needed to have a free hand to make decisions, including those concerning appointments. Putin agreed: "You might be right that we must all think about how to structure the government so that it better suits the pre-election period and prepares the country for what will happen after the parliamentary and presidential elections." Under the Constitution, Putin now has two weeks to propose a new head of government, which the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, then has a week to vote on. Russian news agencies said Fradkov would serve as acting prime minister until the vote. The parliamentary elections are scheduled for Dec. 2, followed some three months later by presidential elections. The newspaper Vedomosti, citing unnamed Kremlin officials, reported Wednesday that Sergei Ivanov, a first deputy prime minister and a leader contender to succeed to Putin, could be appointed prime minister in the near future. Another first deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who is a top executive at natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom, is considered the other leading contender.

[nodle]

Get ready... Putin warns US against military action on Iran The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today warned the US not to use force against Iran in the current nuclear dispute. Any military intervention in the Caspian Sea area would be unacceptable, Mr Putin declared as he attended a five-country regional summit in Tehran. "We should not even think of making use of force in this region," Mr Putin told his fellow leaders.

[nodle]

Putin wants US date to quit Iraq

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the US should set a date for a withdrawal from Iraq. He was speaking during a live televised question-and-answer session with the public covering both domestic and foreign policy issues. Mr Putin said that as long as the US avoided setting a pull-out date, the Iraqi leadership "won't rush to build up its own security forces". He also said Russia planned "grandiose" improvements to its armed forces. New missile technology and an overhaul of the nuclear arsenal were also planned, he said. Missile shield Mr Putin told viewers that the US presence in Iraq was motivated in part by a desire to "establish control of the country's oil reserves". But he said the US was now engaged in a "pointless" battle against a popular uprising. "One can wipe off a political map some tyrannical regime... but it's absolutely pointless to fight with a people," he said. He assured his audience that Russia, unlike Iraq, was militarily strong enough to defend its territory and its natural resources. Mr Putin also warned that Russia would boost its deployment of weapons if Washington went ahead with plans to build a missile shield. Moscow and Washington have already argued over US plans to build missile bases in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. Other topics discussed by the Russian leader included the economy and the threat of terrorism. He said he was committed to cutting inflation and pointed to a drop in recorded terror attacks as proof his security policy was bearing fruit. 'Prime Minister' Russians submitted more than one million questions by telephone, text messages or via the internet, the Kremlin said. Thursday's phone-in comes amid growing speculation about Mr Putin's plans after his second presidential term ends in March. But Mr Putin, who is considering becoming prime minister when he steps down, said he was against changing the balance of power between president and government. "It is not expedient to take any powers away from the government or to load more powers" on the government, Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. Under the Russian constitution, Mr Putin is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term as president, and there has been speculation that he will use the premiership to retain power. He said he had accepted a proposal by the pro-Kremlin United Russia to head the party's list in December's parliamentary election - a move that would guarantee him a seat in the next parliament. This is the sixth time Mr Putin has done the phone-in since coming to office.

[nodle]

Attack Iran and you attack Russia The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear  THE ROVING EYE Attack Iran and you attack Russia By Pepe Escobar The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear strike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia. But then, as if this were not enough of a political bombshell, came the abrupt resignation of Ali Larijani as top Iranian nuclear negotiator. Early this week in Rome, Larijani told the IRNA news agency that "Iran's nuclear policies are stable and will not change with the replacement of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council [SNSC]." Larijani will keep attending SNSC meetings, now as a representative of the Supreme Leader. He even took time to remind the West that in the Islamic Republic all key decisions regarding the civilian nuclear program are made by the Supreme Leader. Larijani actually went to Rome to meet with the European Union's Javier Solana alongside Iran's new negotiator, Saeed Jalili, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), just like President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. In itself, the Putin-Khamenei meeting was extraordinary, because the Supreme Leader rarely receives foreign statesmen for closed talks, even one as crucial as Putin. The Russian president, according to the diplomatic source, told the Supreme Leader he may hold the ultimate solution regarding the endlessly controversial Iranian nuclear dossier. According to IRNA, the Supreme Leader, after stressing that the Iranian civilian nuclear program will continue unabated, said. "We will ponder your words and proposal." Larijani himself had told the Iranian media that Putin had a "special plan" and the Supreme Leader observed that the plan was "ponderable". The problem is that Ahmadinejad publicly denied the Russians had volunteered a new plan. Iranian hawks close to Ahmadinejad are spinning that Putin's proposal involves Iran temporarily suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for no more United Nations sanctions. That's essentially what International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad ElBaradei has been working on all along. The key issue is what - in practical terms - will Iran get in return. Obviously it's not the EU's Solana who will have the answer. But as far as Russia is concerned, strategically nothing will appease it except a political/diplomatic solution for the Iranian nuclear dossier. US Vice President Dick Cheney - who even Senator Hillary Clinton now refers to as Darth Vader - must be foaming at the mouth; but the fact is that after the Caspian summit, Iran and Russia are officially entangled in a strategic partnership. World War III, for them, is definitely not on the cards.

[nodle]

They are getting ready... Russia launches 3 GLONASS navigation satellites 

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It's a bit behind schedule, but Russia's GPS-challenging GLONASS satellite navigation looks to have just taken a fairly big step forward, with three satellites now on their way into orbit after hitching a ride on a Proton-K booster rocket that blasted off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan earlier today. According to Reuters, this is also the first launch of a Proton-K rocket since launches were suspended in September, after a booster failed and spilled highly toxic fuel into the Kazakh countryside. No word if Russia still expects the entire GLONASS system to be ready by 2009 as it has said earlier, but it has five more satellites to launch by the end of the year if it wants to keep up the pace it set out for itself.