Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has announced his nation will expand long-range bomber patrols into the western Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
The specifics of the patrols have not been made public, though the Pentagon insisted any moves directly into the Gulf of Mexico would be unprecedented, including by Soviet planes during the Cold War.
What is not unprecedented, however, is US and Russian bombers patrolling near one anothers’ airspace. US bomber patrols regularly take them near Russian airspace in Eastern Europe, central Asia, and the east Pacific.
Shoigu says that the bombers will be making use of bases in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. As with Russian patrols in Eastern Europe, the patrols are set to be hyped by NATO as excuse for more military spending.
Little by little, Putin moves closer to war. That, of course, is a total disaster for Israel, as it further discredits Israel's American protector. It will be interesting to see just how long the Israel Lobby lets all this go on. Russian bases in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are very much easier to attack than those in Europe and I could see this being a perfect pretext to re-run the 1962 missile crisis.
Good idea. Russia in a position to do what the US did to the USSR in the 80s. Let it go bankrupt all on its own by seeming to escalate military moves to provoke increase wasteful military spending.
Please stop perpetuating the Cold War propaganda myth that these are bombers. That is US hysteria spreading nonsense. Yes, they use the TU-95 airframe. The similarity ends there. These aircraft have no capability to deliver any sort of airborne munitions. They are permanently configured for intelligence/reconnaissance purposes. They intercept radio communications and other electronic signals, such as electronic data transmissions and radars.
"Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a terrorist outta my hat." "Agaaaain? That trick never works."
Well, the Pentagon doesn't consider Russian reconnaissance planes a provocation, according to the following comment from Air Force Times:
"Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to call this a Russian provocation. He said the Russians have a right, like any other nation, to operate in international airspace and in international waters. The important thing, Warren said, is for such exercises to be carried out safely and in accordance with international standards"
Thanks Warren.