US officials are still on about yesterday’s incident, in which a pair of unarmed Russian jets flew within 30 feet of a US destroyer in the Baltic Sea, something US officials described as a “simulated attack” that proved Russia’s “unprofessional” nature.
Today, Secretary of State John Kerry declared the flights “provocative” and insisted the USS Donald Cook would’ve been well within its rights to shoot down the planes under the “rules of engagement” they are placed under.
Which is a stunning claim, since the USS Donald Cook is deployed in the peaceful Baltic, off the coast of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, and the US and Russia are not at war. That they have rules of engagement allowing them to unilaterally attack Russian aircraft at all seems unwise.
Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov says he is “baffled” by the US reaction, saying the Russian jets were operating well within their safety guidelines, and that the US freedom of navigation near a Russian naval base “does not at all cancel the principle of freedom of flight for Russian aircraft.”
It could have been the start of WWIII. US and NATO are engaging bin highly provocative action close to the border of Russia (and China). There is no need for this and world peace would be served by refraining from such lunatic actions.
Trump isn’t the only one talking when he has nothing to say. The US “right” to start a war with Russia has always existed. Just remember that it is going to be a bit different than blasting “brownish” people with impunity.
But it’s alright for Israel to violate their neighbor’s airspace repeatedly.. It’s alright for the USA “leaders” to tell repeated proven lies against Russia to the world? It’s alright for the USA to sponsor a fascist coup in the Ukraine? It’s OK for the USA to train and fund “terrorists” to overthrow Middle Eastern “regimes” for Israel? It’s OK for the USA to violate treaties and set up missile defense systems all around Russia? And finally, It’s OK for Turkey to shoot a Russian jet down for only an ALLEGED violation of its airspace? In light of all the USA has done to provoke Russia previously, Kerry’s lucky those planes didn’t do more!
Also OK if US anti-aircraft systems fall into the hands of ISIS and are used to shoot down Syrian aircraft.
From what I’ve heard – the Navy destroyer was in no position to “fire” at anything. It is rumored that the Russian fighter planes had used their ECCM equipment to basically “blind” electrically the USS Donald Cook, rendering it to be a proverbial “sitting duck”. If there is anything to these rumors, the American people have a right to know—before the Israelis get us into a real war in which our ships are very vulnerable.
If the news reports are correct, this is the same US destroyer which was buzzed in the Black Sea a couple of years ago, similarly by a Su-24 carrying no missiles or bombs, only the Russians’ ECCM pod, These electronic countermeasures
rendered the USS Donald Cook “blind”- again. http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html
Even from what is available through the West’s censored and filtered media,
it seems the Russians have developed defensive weapons and technologies which have trumped the US, including this ECCM system and the S-300 and S-400 antiballistic missile and antiaircraft
missile systems. It is part of the area denial technology and mindset which the US military and the neocons and their tools are gnashing their frothy teeth about.
The Russians are counting coup on them, and they can’t do anything about it. Kerry is certainly aware of the hollowness of his pronouncement. Putin the skilled chess master must be enjoying injecting these justified taunts into the US Presidential campaign.
The article you linked is from the original incident in 2014. I have not heard they used the electronic countermeasures to blind the Donald Cook this time, and I doubt they would. Once demonstrated, it’s not useful to do it a second time, and would give the US further opportunity to study the weapon and develop countermeasures. I certainly hope they aren’t so foolish.
Has anybody gotten any more information about the cruise missile apparently headed for Syria that disappeared over the Mediterranean during the sarin crisis in 2013? There was some speculation at the time that Russia shot it down and it may have given the US military a wakeup call about the dangers of intervention.
The Russians seem to have quite a few tricks up their sleeves that they’ve been judiciously demonstrating to give grownups in the US government some things to think about. Unfortunately, it appears Kerry is not one of those grownups.
The USS Donald Duck is really upset when Russian Aerospace pilots like to poke fun at it as it sails into foreign waters far from its home port. Go back to America where you belong little duck, the Baltic sea is no place for you.
If it’s a choice between Killary and Trump, I’d just as soon see Trump win even though he’s completely unpredictable and I can’t support his pandering to hate. So I’ll vote for Jill Stein and hope Trump manages to defeat Killary without my complicity.