Russian Aircraft Carrier Group

Russian Aircraft Carrier group heads to the Mediterranean


--, December 8, 2007
-- - 2007-12-05



Russia has dispatched an aircraft carrier group to the Mediterranean Sea in an effort to show its naval presence in world oceans, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced Wednesday.

The mission involves an aircraft carrier with 47 aircraft on board, two anti-submarine ships, a guided missile cruiser and a refueling ship from Russia's Northern and Black Sea fleets, Serdyukov said at a Kremlin meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The aircraft carrier group will conduct three tactical exercises, including real and simulated launch of missiles, said Serdyukov, adding 11 port visits are expected to be made.

"The aim of the cruise operation is to ensure Russia's naval presence and the navigation safety of its vessels," he said.

Naval chief Admiral Vladimir Masorin in August called for adjusting of strategies to restore a permanent Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean.

Russia's Black Sea Fleet is currently leasing Ukraine's Sevastopol port which expires in 2017. Russia plans to relocate part of its Black Sea Fleet to the Mediterranean if it fails to extend the leasing agreement with Ukraine.

Russia's navy is using Syria's port of Tartus as a supply base serving its ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

Upon a decree by Putin, permanent patrolling by long-range aircraft of the Russian Air Force was resumed on Aug. 17 for the first time since 1992.

With the onset of yet another cold Russian winter, this must be a reward! "Comrade, ve are sendik you to Mediterainian for all of winter." Party on Garth!

Oh, for the cold Russian winter! It's freaking warm!! No colder than -5!
I miss the snow....

Oh OH here come them reds agin....

Time to warn the world about naval manoeuvers as "urgent necessity"....

Never mind the U.S. planting missiles on Russias doorstep, them rubber-band subs and ships will be deemed a "provocative display" by the hawks in the Pentagon....

One Russian sub and one American sub with nukes.....add a little paranoia and stir vigorously around Iran.....

Viola..... winters end.

K.... Taking bets here.... When do we have the first Hunt for Red October or Gray Lady Down? Geez ... ya'd think if they're gonna spend a billion to make one, Sammy and the Bear would go see FoMoCo about back-up cameras so they could see where they're goin' (and if there's something hard ahead of them)

Woof!

It may in all truth safely be considered a provocative display of very lethal implications. But the exceptionalistic bent of the Empire will provide hilarious TV.

You mean like McVladimirs Navy...

Ya that'll rival CSI what.

I'm still wondering if Canada has dispatched that ice cutter to the Artic yet.

Why? Wanna do some trollin'?

Woof!

Naaaah We're waiting for the next petroleum supertanker to cut it's way through and in its trail we're putting up Tim Horton's and MacDoland restraunts....

And you fell for it!

haha, we are waiting for the tactical nuke add-on package from Acme Inc.

I didn't know we had one.

Yippeee! The Ruskies are back on the "Bloc"! Now we can do all that Cold War stuff again!

Yeah ... now we get to learn about all the Bear's advancements while Uncle Sam's had his nose up Sadam's butt lookin' for Bin Ladens.

Woof!

The Russian fleet and air units have as much rights to open air space and seas as any other nation. Their presence now allows us to see what their new tools are. I can't believe the Intel unit from my nation any longer so I want to see for myself. The Indian navy has a task force present in the Indian Ocean too and I applaud their decision to sail there. Normbc9

Of course they do. There is no argument there. Every Navy has a right to sail the seas and deploy as they see fit. I think it would be neat if that Russian carrier sailed right into Boston on a good will tour. I'd love to see it and they would be welcome for sure.

Me too.

I think it would be much more fun if they sailed right into Halifax. Americans get way more excited if it isn't actually about them right off the bat. Just imagine the frantic rush to get the spin going on Fox and CNN.

Not as much as Canadians do when it isn't about them. I doubt it would even make the news here. We really don't care as much as you want us too.

You really don't care cuz you really don't know. What does Opra think?

Isn't she running for President?

She could afford it EagleSmack. That women is loaded, how, why, her show is comedy just like Dr Fill.

Well they say she has a bigger draw than the guy she is campaigning for. Sort of like...

"Who's that guy with Oprah?"

Kosovo: We're On The Brink Of A Balkans Bloodbath

By George Galloway

--, December 14, 2007
Daily Record (UK)

WHILE most were asleep, we've walked to the brink of yet another war in the Balkans.
Kosovo is a part of Serbia. That's a legal and political fact. It wants to break away and appears to have secured British and American agreement, but not, alas, the agreement of either Serbia, whose land it is, or Russia, which will veto any breakaway in the UN. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rules the roost and has said it will make a unilateral declaration of independence soon. The Serbs cannot allow Kosovo, sacred to their orthodox Christian heritage for 1000 years, to go without a fight.
Serbia, with Russian help, outguns the KLA, who can only fight with outside help. That's where we come in.
In the Nineties, we provided the air force for the breakaway KLA, branded as late as 2000 by the US as a "terrorist organisation". But this time we would have to be their infantry as well. Fancy another war, anyone?
And Serbia is not the only place where there is a substantial Albanian minority.
One quarter of the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia is Albanian. They want independence too.
And 50 per cent of Bosnia-Herzegovina is Serb. If Kosovo declares independence, so might the Bosnian-Serbs. Then we will be back in the bloody Balkan wars.
Moreover, the principle that a state can be dismembered against its will is pregnant with problems all over the world.
The Kurdish people are 20 million strong in Turkey and would like to break away. Would we fight for them? Of course not.
Which goes to show the hypocrisy which has accompanied the break-up of Yugoslavia all along.
Lord George "Bomber" Robertson was one of the chief propagandists for the last Kosovo war. You will remember his sonorous claim that the Serbs had murdered 100,000 Albanians and we must act. In fact, 3000 people died, less than the death toll in Northern Ireland, and picture if you will the outrage in Britain if the US Air Force had started bombing us over that. No one knows how many of the 3000 were Albanians or Serbs, or who killed them and how. Kosovo is a garrison for foreign soldiers, and at the same time Europe's major hub for gun-running, drugsmuggling, people-trafficking and prostitution.
If it becomes independent on the point of our bayonets, don't say you weren't warned.
'In the Nineties, we provided the air force for the KLA. This time we would have to be their infantry as well'