[jhpigott]

doesn't that just make you feel all warm and cuddly on the inside

[TChris]

[darkwing104]

Just as long they are not dropping bombs or firing missiles...at us...

[AU72]

Guess we’re going to have to re-target our ICBMs again.

[Spruce]

I bet they exchanged ‘birds’. Not smiles.

[edcoil]

One SAM could change this re-started tradition.

[Lurker]

"It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet (U.S.) aircraft carriers and greet (U.S. pilots) visually,"

L

[Ancesthntr]

doesn't that just make you feel all warm and cuddly on the inside

That's exactly the feeling I got when Bush looked into Putin's eyes and "saw his soul" (or some such crap). The guy is an ex-KGB general - and like the Mafia, I don't think that there's really every an "ex-", especially at the level of a "made" member. He's smart as a whip, dresses nicely (unlike Arafag and other political gangsters), gives lip-service to democracy, etc. IOW, he's good at misleading people, all the while consolidating (at first) and growing (recently, now and planned for the future) his power - at our expense.

As my father's cousin, who left the Ukraine in 1994, told me when I asked about the political situation there since Gorby got kicked out: "Same wall, different wallpaper."

We have much to be worried about, beginning with the Russkies selling all manner of sophisticated weapons to the Arabs and Iran. An anti-US/anti-Western alliance with China is my nightmare scenario, and even if it isn't a formal thing, both of them hate our guts and want to bring us down a few notches. We need to wake up, fast, because the Cold War never ended - it only took a breather. This is very much like the thesis that WW1 and WW2 were 2 acts of the same play, with the 2nd act being far bloodier. Heaven help us, we're going to need it.

[BallyBill]

Until names like Vladimir and Leonid take over Mohamed and Obama (I mean Osama) on the most wanted list, the Ruskies need to take a number and we’ll get back to them.

[FormerACLUmember]

Obsolete bluster. The turboprop Tu-95MS bomber is so unbelievably noisy that the crews are all stone deaf in no time. It is so loud, that submerged submarines recognize its sound signature on sonar.

[Badeye]

I find it amusing they send two planes out, then feel the need to brag about it.

Those of us that played a part during the Cold War, especially out in the fleet, remember when it was routine, daily event, sometimes twice per day.

All over the world, not just one 13 hour flight in the Pacific.

Putin’s bluffs are becoming pathetic, in short.

[Veeram]

We ought to revive a couple of Tomcats to meet these clowns at some point.

Anyone know if the AIM-54 is being carried by any Navy fighters ?

[Tommyjo]

Looks like the Tu-95s never came close enough to warrant an intercept.

http://www.kuam.com/news/23950.aspx

http://www.kuam.com/news/23941.aspx

[rmlew]

Too bad we just finished chopping up our last F-14’s, which were designed to deal with Soviet Bombers.