Posted on 10/17/2001 7:43:32 PM PDT by kattracks
Nearly 40 years after troops from the Soviet Union arrived in Cuba, President Putin of Russia has ordered his military to pack up and leave what was once an important spy base there, heralding the end of Moscow's presence on the island. Russia said the move, announced after a stormy meeting at the Russian defence ministry, was down to the cost of keeping the base going. But others see it as a goodwill signal to Washington and President George Bush. Only 100 miles from Key West in Florida, the Lourdes spy base proved crucial for intelligence during and after the cold war. It is said to be Russia's largest spy base, covering 28 square miles south of Havana and able to spy on the White House and Nasa. The base has been a big cause of irritation between the US and Russia. Last year, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to try to prevent America from rescheduling Russian's international debt unless Lourdes was shut down. Through the base, the Kremlin is said to have learned of America's battle plans for the 1990-91 Gulf war. President Putin praised the base and its thousand-plus employees when he visited last December. The chief of the general staff, Anatoly Kvashnin, said that Lourdes had been vital during the cold war. But priorities had changed, making the base's annual cost of $200m harder to justify. "Now, the military-political situation has changed and there has been a qualitative leap in military equipment. With that money we can buy and launch 20 communication, intelligence and information satellites, and buy up to 100 sophisticated radars," General Kvashnin said. Military experts saw the decision as a sign to Washington that Russia is serious about a partnership with the west. "It's the first real signal of Mr Putin's that he is sincere in his relations with the United States," said Alexander Golts, a military expert with the Moscow newspaper Izvestia.
China will fall before us.
Islam will be a brief and silly memory.
Russia has some incredible research skills and a very impressive brain trust, and an immense mineral wealth. I hope they become fast friends with us.
If they want to, they could get much more info by paying much less. China showed them the way.
I would still be wary of the FORMER KGB head.
Russia still has elements that hate the US deeply, there are people over there happy about 9/11, burning the flag at rallies, but then again there are some equally disgusting liberals over here.
Still, there are plenty of decent people over there and there are certain common goals of civilization that we share. I hope Bush has great luck in his visit, which you know good well Clinton would have canceled for the sake of the safety of his pastey white butt, at the expense of all humanity.
Yeah, I know. But remember: Bush is the son of the FORMER CIA head. So they could say the same thing.
I think we might both be on the up-and-up. It no longer looks like a communism-versus-capitalism world. It now seems more like a civilized-versus-uncivilized world. If my premise is correct, Russia falls firmly in a 'western', i.e., cultured and civilized, camp.
All the US needs now is for Russia to give the go ahead on the ABM treaty.
Well, there is that angle as well. It seems we are pretty much Russia, with some nicer cars.
Very true. Right now, we have common interests in eleminating the islamic terrorists. But after this crisis, USa nad RUSSIA need to sit down and do a LOT of talking before we can be allies. But, I am sure, the relationship will be very beneficial to both USA and RUSSIA, and ofcourse to the Civilized world.
There is something so naive about this kind of sentimentality. It reminds me of all propaganda.
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