http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/coldwar2/ en-us Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:08:03 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2049930/posts The Obama campaign website makes no mention of missile defense. Indeed, there is no national security issue area as there is on the McCain site. Discussion of defense topics is subordinated under the heading of foreign policy. This reflects Obama’s focus on diplomacy over military options. For example, consider the following statement, “Iran has sought nuclear weapons, supports militias inside Iraq and terror across the region, and its leaders threaten Israel and deny the Holocaust. But Obama believes that we have not exhausted our non-military options in confronting this threat; in many ways, we have yet to try them. That’s... Cross Action News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2049930/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:08:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049489/posts WASHINGTON (AFP) - Russia would cross "a red line for the United States of America" if it were to base nuclear capable bombers in Cuba, a top US air force officer warned on Tuesday. "If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America," said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force's chief of staff. He was referring to a Russian news report that said the military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis. It... AFP via Yahoo.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049489/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:14:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2049836/posts Suddenly within the past month, it feels like we’re returning to the Cold War. It’s obvious that the Russians are quite annoyed by the attempts of the U.S. deploying a missile shield in Eastern Europe — the former backyard of the Russians. Worthy News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2049836/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:11:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049035/posts Russian military "considering stationing bombers on Cuba" Jul 21, 2008 Moscow - The Russian military is considering deploying long- range bombers to Cuba to counter the perceived threat of the US missile defence shield planned to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland, according to Russian media reports Monday. 'At the moment, there are just thoughts - but that doesn't mean there isn't something concrete behind it,' an unidentified officer was quoted Monday as telling Izvestiya newspaper. He said the aircraft under consideration were Tu-160 and Tu-95 MC bombers. Russia gave up in 2001 a base in Lourdes, Cuba,... monstersandcritics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049035/posts#comment Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:41:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048930/posts CARACAS, July 21 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visits a resurgent Russia this week on an arms shopping trip that raises the anti-U.S. leader's profile and will irritate his hosts' rivals in Washington. Chavez, a firebrand socialist who supports Russia's increasingly bold opposition to U.S. foreign policy, will use the trip to burnish his own credentials as a fierce critic of what he calls the U.S. empire. Moscow's friendship with Chavez, Washington's main foe in the Western Hemisphere, highlights the distance between the Kremlin and the White House, which has widened as they jockey for influence in places such... reuters.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048930/posts#comment Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:30:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048727/posts Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba 21/07/2008 11:13 MOSCOW, July 21, 2008 (RIA Novosti) - Russian combat aircraft could return to Cuba in a bid to counter U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Central Europe, a Russian daily reported on Monday. Moscow has strongly opposed the possible deployment by the U.S. of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and an accompanying radar in the Czech Republic as a threat to its national security. Washington says the defenses are needed to deter a possible strike from Iran, or other "rogue" states. "While they are deploying the missile shield in... Rian.ru http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048727/posts#comment Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:48:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044146/posts SEVERODVINSK, Russia (AFP) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday toured a new Arctic oil rig intended to boost Moscow's position in the intensifying competition for northern energy reserves. Putin also met ministers and top oil executives in the Severodvinsk shipyard to discuss prospects for developing more Arctic fields, which are estimated to contain up to a quarter of Russia's proven oil and gas reserves. "The Arctic zone is a guarantee of Russia's economic power. Oil, gas, gold, diamonds and phosphates -- it's all there," Artur Chilingarov, a member of parliament who is also an Arctic explorer, told AFP... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044146/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:40:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043820/posts Despite renewed friction between Russia and the United States, the specter of open conflict has faded since the days of the Cold War. However, equipment designed by the two nations remains on opposite sides of 21st-century battlefields. This isn't surprising: America is the top vendor of major conventional weapons, and Russia ranks number two. Both countries share a legacy of making military equipment to counter the other's capabilities and a long history of parlaying arms sales into geopolitical influence. These deals, sanctioned by both national governments, are extensions of foreign policy. A resurgent Russia wants cash and international influence, while... Popular Mechanics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043820/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:21:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043519/posts Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev today called on U.S. presidential candidates to develop alternatives to the use of military power, decrying what he called "increasingly visible signs of the militarization of politics and thinking in the modern world ... even though the military route again and again leads to a dead-end." Writing in the the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Gorbachev said the Bush administration has shown a tendency to "seek to address these problems primarily through threats and pressure. Will the candidates develop an alternative approach to these most crucial problems? This is now the main question." RIA Novosti,... washingtonpost.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043519/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:20:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043499/posts MOSCOW (AFP) — Russian military jets flew over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia this week in order to prevent imminent "bloodshed," the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday. "The need arose to take urgent and effective measures to prevent bloodshed and to keep the situation peaceful," the ministry said in a statement. "To determine the circumstances, Russian air force planes made a short flight over the territory of South Ossetia." The statement marked an unusual admission from Russia that it had sent military aircraft over a separatist region in Georgia. Past Georgian accusations of Russian military overflights have been... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043499/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:50:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042682/posts MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it would use military means if the United States deployed a missile defence shield close to Russia's borders. "If the real deployment of an American strategic missile defence shield begins close to our borders, then we will be forced to react not with diplomatic methods, but with military-technical methods," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its www.mid.ru website. The Foreign Ministry said the U.S. missile shield would undermine global security and Moscow's strategic deterrent. It said Moscow's proposals to Washington on the shield had been ignored. Top Russian generals have threatened... Yahoo.Au http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042682/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:59:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042783/posts The United States has criticised what it calls "bellicose rhetoric" from Russia over US plans to develop a missile shield in Europe. Russia said it would be forced to react with military means if the US went ahead with its plan for a shield based partly in the Czech Republic. The reaction was "designed to make Europeans nervous about participating" said a Pentagon spokesman. A White House spokesman said dialogue with Russia would continue. "We seek strategic cooperation on preventing missiles from rogue nations, like Iran, from threatening our friends and allies," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. He said... bbc.co.uk http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042783/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 05:22:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042434/posts US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal to base part of Washington's controversial missile defence system in the Czech Republic. The deal, signed in Prague, allows a tracking radar base to be set up. The plans remain unpopular in the Czech republic, and the US has also failed to reach agreement with Poland on housing other parts of the system there. Russia is strongly against the missile defence system, saying it would pose a threat to its security. Moscow has threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic. 'Constructive... BBC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042434/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:03:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039863/posts The State Duma has called on Lithuania to end what it calls anti-Russian activity. It came after the U.S. suggested the former Soviet republic could become a base for its planned anti-missile shield in Europe and also followed the adoption of a ban on the public display of all Soviet symbols - a move Russia describes as rewriting history. From Thursday, relics of the Soviet Union such as the hammer and sickle flag, the Soviet army uniform or the USSR's national anthem are forbidden in public. Lithuania says the new law gives them a chance to move on from what... russiatoday.ru http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039863/posts#comment Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:25:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038064/posts Strategic bombers off the American coast, battleships in the Mediterranean -- the Russian military is displaying its might once again with Moscow pumping billions into new weapons. But where does the Kremlin see its enemies today, and why is it risking another nuclear arms race with Washington? At eleven o'clock at night, when the moon is reflected in the slow-moving waters of the Volga River, when the steppes are exhaling the heat of the day, and when the last bars are closing in Yekaterinburg and Pokrovsk -- old provincial cities on the river's left bank that are now called Marx... Der Spiegel Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038064/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:52:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036846/posts Russian bombers have stepped up provocative flight exercises off the Alaskan coast, reminiscent of Cold War incursions designed to rattle U.S. air defenses. U.S. Northern Command, which protects North American airspace, told The Washington Times that TU-95 Bear bombers on 18 occasions the past year have skirted a 12-mile air defense identification zone that protects Alaska. The incursions prompted F-15s and F-22 Raptor fighters to scramble from Elmendorf Air Force Base and intercept the warplanes. The last incident happened in May. The venerable propeller-driven TU-95 came to symbolize the Cold War, as did its counterpart, the U.S. B-52 Stratofortress. "They... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2036846/posts#comment Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:15:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031416/posts The Pentagon Gets Ready For President Obama June 9, 2008: U.S. military planners are working on how to deal with another round of major cutbacks, in terms of budgets and manpower. This is because one of the major candidates for Commander-in-Chief (president of the United States), Barak Obama, has a video in circulation, of a short speech he gave earlier this year, about how he planned on handling the Department of Defense. His major points were; "I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning; and as president, I will end it. "Second, I will cut tens... Strategypage.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031416/posts#comment Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:42:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029563/posts Obama's Defense Policy By Ed Lasky Barack Obama's defense policy plans threaten foreign policy consequences inimical to American interests, and would pose perilous problems for some of our key allies around the world, should he assume the Presidency. Senator Obama has made quite clear that he intends to eviscerate our most advanced defense programs. In a message to Caucus 4 Priorities, a liberal pacifist organization, (available on YouTube), the Senator called for major cuts in defense spending, for slowing or suspending the development of future combat systems, for the abolition of spending on the "weaponizing of space" ("Star Wars") and... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029563/posts#comment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:40:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026946/posts On May 26th, the United Nations did something it very rarely does. It took a stand. When that happens you know that some country has been caught dead to rights doing something so outrageous that even the cowardly bureaucrats at the UN were compelled to speak out against it. No country in the world is better at committing acts that outrageous than Russia is. In its May 26th report, after a formal investigation, the UN concluded that Russia had committed an act of war against Georgia when it shot down a Georgian reconnaissance aircraft as it flew over Georgian airspace... Publius Pundit http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026946/posts#comment Fri, 6 Jun 2008 10:42:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029136/posts U.S. military planners are working on how to deal with another round of major cutbacks, in terms of budgets and manpower. This is because one of the major candidates for Commander-in-Chief (president of the United States), Barak Obama, has a video in circulation, of a short speech he gave earlier this year, about how he planned on handling the Department of Defense. His major points were; "I'm the only major candidate who opposed this war from the beginning; and as president, I will end it. "Second, I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut... Strategy Page http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029136/posts#comment Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:30:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028841/posts LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Virginia (AFP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the importance of the US nuclear arsenal was likely to grow in importance in coming years as Russia moves to strengthen its nuclear forces. Gates said he made the comment in a closed door question-and-answer session with rank-and-file airmen in explaining his decision to replace the air force leadership over two major nuclear blunders. In a speech earlier, Gates told airmen he regretted having to remove General T. Michael Moseley as chief of staff and Michael Wynne as air force secretary. "But there is no room for... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028841/posts#comment Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:50:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2025473/posts Despite renewed friction between Russia and the United States, the specter of open conflict has faded since the days of the Cold War. However, equipment designed by the two nations remains on opposite sides of 21st-century battlefields. This isn't surprising: America is the top vendor of major conventional weapons, and Russia ranks number two. Both countries share a legacy of making military equipment to counter the other's capabilities and a long history of parlaying arms sales into geopolitical influence. These deals, sanctioned by both national governments, are extensions of foreign policy. A resurgent Russia wants cash and international influence, while... Popular Mechanics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2025473/posts#comment Tue, 3 Jun 2008 21:21:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024258/posts Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged France to distance itself from America, comparing the US to a 'frightening monster'. "How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?'' Putin said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde in Paris released on Saturday. "France, I hope, will continue to conduct an independent foreign policy,'' said Putin. He said the US was creating a new Berlin Wall in Europe by pushing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to expand into ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine. The former Russian President also voiced concern... presstv.ir http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024258/posts#comment Sun, 1 Jun 2008 03:56:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022250/posts A top Russian general says Moscow will take adequate measures to counter U.S. missile defense plans. Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky told a Tuesday briefing that Russia was thinking about "asymmetrical" steps if the United States deploys missile defense elements in Europe. He did not give specifics. ap news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022250/posts#comment Wed, 28 May 2008 02:11:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2020374/posts On February 22, 2008, Ben Smith of Politico reported a story that ran under the headline, “Obama once visited ‘60s radicals.” It concerned how, “In 1995, [Illinois] State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to few of the district’s influencial liberal at the home of two will known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.” Dr. Quentin Young, described as “a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payers health care,” [1] was quoted as saying “I can remember being one of small group of people who came to Bill Ayers’ house to learn that... America's Survival http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2020374/posts#comment Fri, 23 May 2008 19:19:59 GMT