Russia sends ships to America's 'backyard'

Lunatik

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Russia ships to join Venezuela naval exercises in Caribbean. Four Russian vessels and 1,000 Russian military personnel are to participate. The move could further strain Washington-Moscow ties.

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BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- The Venezuelan government announced Sunday that four Russian naval vessels will participate in joint exercises in the Caribbean this year, a move that could heighten already strained relations between Washington and Moscow.

Venezuela's naval intelligence chief, Adm. Salbatore Cammarata Bastidas, said in a statement that a task force including four Russian naval vessels and 1,000 Russian military personnel would take part in mid-November exercises with Venezuelan frigates, patrol boats, submarines and aircraft.
The announcement came shortly after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's deployment of several warships to the Black Sea in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month would not go unanswered. It was not immediately clear whether the two events were linked.

The Russian agreement to send ships also could be seen as part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's campaign to build up his military, an effort that includes arms deals, a proposed hemispheric South American Defense Council and a recent decree that gives his armed forces a greater role in carrying out his social agenda.

Chavez, a strident critic of the United States, has said the actions are to ward off what he has described as U.S. imperialist designs on Venezuela and other Latin American countries. He has accused the U.S. of supporting a 2002 coup attempt against him.

Chavez particularly is unhappy with the re-formation of the U.S. Navy's 4th Fleet, based in Mayport, Fla., which was disbanded in 1953 but is now patrolling the Caribbean.

Officials at the U.S. military's Southern Command in Miami have said the 4th Fleet's re-creation is organizational in purpose and is not a response to tensions with Chavez. It involves no addition to forces already stationed at Mayport, the Southern Command said.

The announcement of the November exercises did not come as a total surprise. Chavez said during a visit to Russia in July that its ships and airplanes were welcome in Venezuela. In Sunday's statement, the Chavez government said an adjutant to Russian Adm. Popov Fedorovichhad been in Venezuela to plan the event.

Cammarata also said Russian vessels may appear in the region before the exercises.

Flush with oil revenue, Venezuela has spent $4 billion since 2004 on military hardware, purchased mainly from Russia, according to the Security and Democracy Foundation of Caracas. Those deals included the purchase of 53 Russian helicopters and 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. Venezuela is also buying rights and technology for a Kalashnikov assault rifle factory near Caracas.

During his visit to Russia, Chavez said that the two nations had formed a strategic partnership and that he was buying a Russian missile defense system to thwart a potential U.S. air attack.

In recent months, Chavez advisors have said Venezuela is considering buying as many as five diesel-powered Russian submarines. The deal would make Venezuela the region's top naval force, said retired Gen. Alberto Muller Rojas, a Chavez confidant.

Venezuelan officials have justified arms purchases from Russia by noting the U.S. ban on all weapons sales by American companies to Venezuela, a mandate that extends to foreign manufacturers' arms that contain U.S. components. Deals with Israeli, Swedish and Spanish manufacturers were scrubbed because the weapons included U.S. parts.

"The U.S. . . . has done everything to motivate Venezuela to seek a strategic military rapprochement with Russia," said a former advisor to Venezuela's Foreign Ministry who requested anonymity.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chavez8-2008sep08,0,7210282.story
 
LOL, chill guys, no one really wants a war. There won't be a war over this. It's all bullchit political games.
 
I know that Lunatik, but the fart fart games won't stop until we're ready to rumble and do what we need to get ready for it until they back down or die. I say, let's rumble. Of course we don't want war but I also don't like the idea of them dangling pretentious aggression. Either poop or get off the pot.
 
I know that Lunatik, but the fart fart games won't stop until we're ready to rumble and do what we need to get ready for it until they back down or die. I say, let's rumble. Of course we don't want war but I also don't like the idea of them dangling pretentious aggression. Either poop or get off the pot.

Oh come on they are just emulating the USA, did anyone think that the minute US ships sailed into the Black Sea the Russians wouldn't look for an excuse to join naval exercises as close to the USA as possible.

Basically it is noting more than tit for tat diplomacy and as far as things go I wouldn't put money on the Russians being the ones to back down they clearly see themselves as being ready to stir things up and I would suggest that unless you want to be cleaning up poop for a long while you may not want to invite them to use the bathroom.
 
You wanna play hardball, Russia?

Let's move some of our guys into the Bering Strait.

Ahhmmm we have a presents in the Bering Sea I have been there a bunch of times. To be honest with our Navy is not built for the sea state freaking rough up there. Our Top Heavy ships would not last long I could go on and on.

Just look at most warships then imagen them in a blizzard in the Berring Sea? One storm I remember was so rough we were taking green water on the bridge that means the gun was totally underwater, the weather decks were secured for weeks I felt like I was on a submarine.

We should just ignore those 4 ships big freaking deal if that little makes us react Putin will toy with us constently. Making us reactive, those ships are no threat to us heck we should offer them a liberty port in Miami and let half the crew defect.
 
Backyard Naval Nonsense

Both Chavez and Putin are trying to distract their own people from the rot within their own countries.

When the oil, drugs, and organized crime bubbles burst, they'll need some outside enemy to blame when they go hard core totalitarian.

Does anyone know the state of the Russian fleet, btw? Are their subs still sea-going Chernobyls?:???:
 
One more thing there is something called Freedom of Navigation in international waters the Russian Navy has as much right to sail where the hell they want as long as they don't violate anyones waters. Remember we crossed Libia's Line of Death because we wanted to prove the point. We can not tell them Freedom of the Seas is only for the US Navy not yours.

Let's just ignor these ships maybe the USN should harrass them a bit because we can but no hostile action is needed.
 
Just remember that Chavez is the minority in Latin America and that in recent elections the leftist like himself who blame the United States for every problem under the sun have been resoundingly defeated in all but a couple instances.
 
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