Bill Gertz wrote an article entitled “Russian Strategic Bombers Conduct More Than 16 Incursions of U.S. Air Defense Zones” which was published in the Washington Free Beacon on August 7, 2014.
Map of us Alaska air defense identification zone
The reporter wrote the following: “Russian strategic nuclear bombers conducted at least 16 incursions into northwestern U.S. air defense identification zones over the past 10 days, an unusually sharp increase in aerial penetrations, according to U.S. defense officials. The numerous flight encounters by Tu-95 Russian Bear H bombers prompted the scrambling of U.S. jet fighters on several occasions, and come amid heightened U.S.-Russia tensions over Ukraine.”
Russian TU-95 strategic bombers violate U.S. air space.
It that was not bad enough during one bomber incursion near Alaska, a Russian intelligence-gathering jet was among the strategic bombers Tu-95. Major Beth Smith, spokeswoman for United States Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the following: “Over the past week, NORAD has visually identified Russian aircraft operating in and around the U.S. air defense identification zones. The bomber flights took place mainly along the Alaskan air defense identification zone that covers the Aleutian Islands and the continental part of the state, and one incursion involved entry into Canada’s air defense zone.”
Defense officers stated that the frequent penetrations of U.S. airspace is very unusual and reminds the Pentagon of the days of the Cold War, when Soviet strategic bombers frequently wanted to trigger air defenses of U.S. territory as preparation for a nuclear war. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has conducted a major buildup and modernization of its strategic nuclear forces, new missiles of several ranges, new strategic missile submarines, and new long-range bombers.
The Washington Free Beacon had reported that two Russian bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast on June 9, 2014. — which prompted a U.S. F-15 to meet the bombers. A Pentagon official stated the following: “Russian strategic nuclear forces appear to be trying to test our air defense reactions, or our command and control systems. These are not just training missions.”
Gertz explained the following: “Admiral Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, expressed concerns about the increase in Russian strategic nuclear activities during a speech in Washington on June 18, 2014. Haney said Russian nuclear activities coincided with recent tensions over Ukraine and included the test launch of six air-launched cruise missiles in a show of force.
Additionally, we have seen significant Russian strategic aircraft deployments in the vicinity of places like Japan, Korea, and even our West Coast. Russia continues to modernize its strategic capabilities across all legs of its triad, and open source [reporting] has recently cited the sea trials of its latest [missile submarine], testing of its newest air-launched cruise missile and modernization of its intercontinental ballistic force to include its mobile capability in that area.”
Russia participated in several large-scale nuclear war games in May 2014. The State Department in July 2014 accused Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty by developing a new cruise missile. Putin lied and declared the charges as untrue.
What has President Obama done regarding the Russian bombers continuing and frequent incursions of our airspace which violates of our sovereignty and are an acts of war as well as the violation of the 1987 nuclear treaty? Sadly, nothing!
Under the president’s orders Northern Command and NORAD have dismissed the Russian bomber penetrations of our air space as non-threatening. Is this the “flexibility” that Obama promised to give Putin, while not realizing that there was an open mike in South Korea, if he gave Obama “space?”
The immense weakness displayed by Obama have embolden both Russia and China and their military alliance which includes other Asian nations, called the Organization for Cooperation of Shanghai.This powerful military and economic alliance is in response to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton efforts to reset and improve relations with Russia ended in complete failure.
As a more aggressive Putin invaded annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in June 2014 and now is openly at war with Ukraine, the Pentagon have toughened its rhetoric toward Russia. However, Putin considers Obama to be weak as well as the Europeans. The Russian dictator feels that he has a free hand to commit more aggressions against Ukraine, a nation that gave up all nuclear weapons to Russia at the request of the U.S. with a signed agreement with U.S., the European Union and Russia with the firm promise that Russia would respect its territorial integrity. Ukraine now feels betrayed and abandoned by the U.S. and Western Europe.
A Russian Defense Ministry statement on the cruise missile test launches said a Tu-95 bomber “is capable of destroying the critical stationary assets of an enemy with cruise missiles, in daytime and nighttime, in any weather and in any part of the globe.” The Pentagon fears that Russia may attack Ukraine as it is moving large forces towards its boundary with that nation. While the drums of war a beating loudly, Obama goes on vacation to play golf.
Putin Has Blood on his Hands and Obama Looks the Other Way
On July 17, 2014, President Barack Obama was speaking on the phone with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin complaining that Russia was arming with antiaircraft weapons the rebels in Ukraine. The Russian president started to complain about the new United States sanctions imposed on Russia the day before. These sanctions are very weak. More than half way through the tense and unpleasant conversation, Vladimir Putin said he had received a report of an aircraft going down in eastern Ukraine.
Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shot down by Russian SA-11 missile.
The world would later learned that Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 flying from Amsterdam, Holland to Malaysia at an altitude of 33,000 feet had been shot down killing all 298 passengers and crew. One American college student from Indiana was among the dead. Dead bodies fell down from the sky, one crashing into the roof of a house. Vladimir Putin was returning from a six-day trip to Cuba and other Latin American countries. He immediately issued a statement saying the following: “Certainly, the government over whose territory it occurred is responsible for this terrible tragedy.” Like the former KGB agent that he once was, Putin´s statement was a shameful lie!
The pro-Russian separatists fighting in the eastern Ukraine were known to have shoulder-fired missiles known as Manpads that could fire to a maximum altitude of approximately 12,000 feet. However, Russia had given these rebels radar-guided SA-11 missiles which are capable of delivering warheads at three times the speed of sound to a target as high as 70,000 feet.
After hanging the telephone with the Russian dictator, President Obama flew to New York for another fundraising event. Once in New York, Obama briefly mentioned the shooting of the Malaysian Airlines airplane and then proceeded with his fund-raising speech.
Ukraine stated that the missile had been fired from the town of Snizhne, which is in the rebel-controlled territory. A senior American official stated on July 19, 2014, that the United States had no reason to doubt the Ukrainian government statements that the SA-11 unit that fired on the aircraft had been seen heading back to work Russia. At a news conference in Washington, John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman stated on July 17, 2014, that it would have been difficult for the pro-Russian rebels to have fired the missile without Russian help. He stated that this type of missile “is a sophisticated piece of technology and it strains credulity to think that it could be used by separatists without at least some measure of Russian support and technical assistance.”
What has been the reaction of President Barack Obama?
President Obama thus far has not imposed crippling economic sanctions against Russia such as forbidding any Russian bank to transact business with United States banks. A sanction such as this would devastate the Russian economy. Unless the United States and its European allies apply harsh economic sanctions against Russia, Vladimir Putin will continue to commit aggression against Ukraine and continue to provide sophisticated weapons to the pro-Russian rebels are fighting Ukraine in the eastern part of that nation.
Additionally, the Russian dictator has stated that he wants to open military and naval bases in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Perhaps, even reopen the Lourdes spy base in Cuba which at one point had 1,500 KGB agents and Russian military spying the United States. What would be the reaction of President Obama to such an event? He probably would not complain to Russia.
Susan Crabtree wrote an article entitled “Obama: Vladimir Putin must compel separatists to cooperate with crash investigation” which was published in The Washington Examiner on July 21, 2014. President Obama sent a message to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on July 21, 2014, accusing him of failing to live up to his promises to intervene to protect the crash site of the Malaysian plane which was destroyed in eastern Ukraine in order to permit a credible international investigation. He also requested again that Russia stop the fighting by the pro-Russian separatists against the government of Ukraine.
Susan Crabtree explained that President Obama stated from the White House Rose Garden the following: “Now is the time for Russia and Putin to pivot away from the strategy he has been taking and get serious.” Obama also said the following: “My preference has and continues to be finding a diplomatic solution with regard to Ukraine. If Russia continues to back these separatists … then Russia will only further isolate itself with the international community and increase its costs within the international community.”
I am certain that the Russian dictator is laughing at our president for such a weak and shameful statement! A diplomatic solution involving the international community? That would really scare the former KGB agent!
Crabtree reported on July 20, 2014, that Secretary of State John Kerry also complained about the lack of access the separatists provided to international investigators. Kerry, similar to Obama, blamed Vladimir Putin for failing to live up to his promises to ensure that a credible and thorough investigation into the incident took place. “What’s happening is really grotesque and is contrary to everything that President Putin and Russia said they would do,” Kerry told NBC’s David Gregory on Meet the Press Sunday. “There are reports of drunken separatist soldiers unceremoniously piling bodies into trucks, removing both bodies as well as evidence from the site.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat from California and chairperson of the Intelligence Committee, was blunt in an interview on CNN. Senator Feinstein stated that Putin needed to “man up” and admit to any Russian involvement in the Malaysia Airlines crash. She also said relations with Russia had returned to Cold War levels.
Crabtree reported that a recent poll showed that voters give Republicans a 7 % advantage on who to trust with the nation’s foreign policy, choosing the Republicans over the Democrats 39 % to 32 %, respectively. Twenty-eight percent said they were unsure which party to trust, the survey found.
David M. Herszenhorn and Peter Baker wrote an article entitled “Russia Steps Up Help for Rebels in Ukraine War” which was published on July 25, 2014 in The New York Time. The reporters explained that instead of backing down after last week’s shooting of the Malaysian aircraft passenger jet that killed 298 people, Russia is intervening more aggressively in the war in eastern Ukraine. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have called this situation a dangerous escalation that will almost certainly force stronger sanctions from the United States and Europe.
Ukrainian troops in Semenovka, a village in the Donetsk region.
Herszenhorn and Baker wrote that Russia has increased its direct involvement in conflict and escalation of the crisis between the Ukrainian military and separatist pro-Russian insurgents, moving more of its own troops to the border and preparing to arm the rebels with ever more powerful and sophisticated weapons, including high-powered Tornado rocket launchers. The officials, citing satellite images and other military intelligence, stated that Russia had moved heavy weapons, including tanks and other fighting vehicles, at several points along the border where there has been intense fighting. On July 24, 2014, Russia began artillery attacks on eastern Ukraine from Russian territory, officials in United States and Ukraine said. Russia denied its increased and ominous intervention on July 25, 2014.
Ukraine troops have reduced territory held by insurgents. Waiting at a bus stop destroyed in a battle near Donetsk.
Russian escalation of its intervention of Ukraine civil war raised the prospect of a new more dangerous chapter in a conflict that has already inflamed Europe with the outrageous destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with 298 aboard. American intelligence officials blamed a Russian-provided surface-to-air missile for the explosion. Russia also increased its economic sanctions against Ukraine by banning dairy imports.
The pro-Russian separatists fighting in the eastern Ukraine were known to have shoulder-fired missiles known as Manpads that could fire to a maximum altitude of approximately 12,000 feet. However, Russia had given these rebels radar-guided SA-11 missiles which are capable of delivering warheads at three times the speed of sound to a target as high as 70,000 feet.
Recently an SA-11 from the sky brought down a Ukrainian military transport airplane flying at 21,000 feet. United States intelligence’s agencies believe the missile came from Russia, which Moscow denied. After the Ukrainian military plane was shot down, the fighting increased. Ukraine has accused Russia of sending MIG-29 fighter aircraft to engage with Ukrainian Su-25s. One such plane was shot down, while another one was seriously damaged but was able to escape. Russia superior air force planes has continued to shoot down Ukrainian air force aircrafts.
The government of Ukraine released a statement saying that it had proof that Russia had provided the surface-to-air missile system that shot down the Malaysian airline passenger airplane over eastern Ukraine. Ukraine also accused the separatists pro-Russian rebels and Russia of trying to cover-up the role by blocking recovery workers from the crash site and removing evidence. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that they were denied access to the site on July 18, 2014. Additionally, Ukraine accused the Russians of driving three missile launchers back to Russia just hours after the crash. Fox News showed a video of one of these missile launchers driving back to Russia.
Ukraine stated that the missile had been fire from the town of Snizhne, which is in the rebel-controlled territory. A senior American official stated on July 19, 2014, that the United States had no reason to doubt the Ukrainian government statements that the SA-11 unit that fired on the aircraft had been seen heading back to work Russia. At a news conference in Washington, John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman stated on July 17, 2014, that it would have been difficult for the pro-Russian rebels to have fired the missile without Russian help. He stated that this type of missile “is a sophisticated piece of technology and it strains credulity to think that it could be used by separatists without at least some measure of Russian support and technical assistance.”
Now that Russia is openly at war with Ukraine this conflict has turned as the most dangerous and gravest crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. Russia has moved beyond simply helping separatists and is now at war with Ukraine. Many Ukrainian military planes have been shot down in recent days by missiles fired from Russian territory. Russian artillery batteries are firing from across the border into Ukraine. Many Ukrainian military planes have been shot down in recent days by missiles fired from Russian territory. Russian artillery batteries are firing from across the border into Ukraine.
Obama administration officials stated that Russia’s accelerating involvement may have changed the thinking of European leaders who have been reluctant to confront Russia for fear of hurting their own economies. But it remained unclear whether the Western Europe or the United States would take serious action that could change the think of Russian dictator Vladimir V. Putin.
David M. Herszenhorn and Peter Baker explained that Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary stated the following: “We have detected that firing and that does represent an escalation in this conflict. It only underscores the concerns that the United States and the international community has about Russian behavior and the need for the Putin regime to change their strategy.” U.S. officials said Russia has moved 15,000 troops near the border. Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters that Russia had made “imminent” plans to deliver heavier rockets to the separatists. Instead of Putin de-escalating the conflict after the Malaysia Airlines shooting, General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said “he’s actually taken a decision to escalate.”
The reporters pointed out that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine to express solidarity and pledge to coordinate with allies “about imposing further costs on Russia for its deeply destabilizing and irresponsible actions in Ukraine.” Ukrainian officials have provided a daily, running list of Russian aggressions, including flights into Ukrainian air space by fighter jets and unmanned surveillance drones, as well as mortar rocket attacks. Ukrainian officials have stated there were active-duty Russian soldiers who had surrendered, as well as volunteer Russian fighters who had been captured. The former KGB Russian dictator continued to lie and denied the accusations made by Washington and Kiev. On July 25, 2014 the European Union took another step toward imposing additional economic penalties focused on the financial, energy and military sectors of the Russian economy.
A chunk of fuselage from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane remained in a field in eastern Ukraine.
The reporters explained that Andriy Lysenko, the military spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, said that Ukrainian troops were coming under increased fire from the Russian side of the border, and that the Ukrainian military had recently shot down three Russian surveillance drones. One was used to target a Ukrainian base near the town of Amvrosiivka, which then quickly came under heavy rocket attack. Andriy Lysenko said that heavy rockets were fired across the border near the town of Kolesnikov and a border crossing point was fired on twice with more thirst, also from the Russian side.
Experts exhumed four unidentified bodies from a mass grave in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk
David M. Herszenhorn and Peter Baker reported that Ukrainian officials believed that they could defeat the pro-Russian rebels within three weeks if there were no further intervention by Russia. However, by placing forces close to the border, the Russians can provide fire support to the separatists, prevent Ukrainian troops from establishing control over the border and facilitate the delivery of Russian arms to the separatists. One objective of the Russian attacks on targets, a U.S. official said, is to keep Ukrainian forces away from the border, making it easier for Russia to transport weapons and cooperate with the pro-Russian insurgents.
The Russian occupation of Crimea and now that Russia is at war with Ukraine has challenged President Obama as no other foreign-policy crisis during the five years that he has been in office. The world is looking at President Obama and wondering whether he is sufficiently strong to deal with the former KGB director in the Kremlin. Obama’s foreign policy debacle in Syria made the Russian dictator the strongman in the Middle East and terrified our allies in that part of the world. The stakes are very high for the president because he is the NATO leader. There is no one in Europe who can approach him in power. He is going to have to lead or our nation security will be in great danger.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said several weeks ago that the United States needs to create “a democratic noose around Putin’s Russia.” Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida suggested to “revisit the missile defense shield”.
The Obama White House has already rejected the great idea proposed by Republicans, the installation of the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. It is most unfortunate because this would really punish Russia.
The United States needs to respond strongly to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine
While no one is recommending a United States military intervention in Ukraine, there are many things that our nation can do to respond to Russia’s naked aggression in Ukraine. This writer recommends the following:
• Freeze assets of more high Russian officials as well as state-run financial institutions.
• Forbid Russian banks from transacting financial operations with U.S. banks.
• Sent large numbers of U.S. and NATO troops to Poland and move them close to the border with Russia.
• Built permanent U.S. military bases in Poland.
• Sent quickly military weapons and supplies as well as increase economic aid to Ukraine.
• Imposed severe economic sanctions in all sectors of the Russian economy.
• Suspend entry visas to the United States of members of the Russian oligarchy which supports Putin.
• Explain to Russia’s business people that they will not be allowed to do business with the United States and cease all Americans investment in that country.
• Install the missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland.
• Increase significantly the budget of the Pentagon.
• Approve immediately the Keystone oil pipe and open our oceans and federal lands for gas and oil drilling in order to make the United States energy independent as soon as possible.
• Isolate economically and diplomatically Russia indefinitely until it withdraw its soldiers from Crimea and ceases its open war with Ukraine.
Conclusion
Barack Obama’s extreme weakness with Russia and China other enemy nations has placed the United States security in grave danger. As I stated in my recent book, America in Decline (2014), Barack Obama has made the United States a superpower in retreat. A superpower needs to be respected by its allies and feared by its enemies. Unfortunately, the United States is neither.
Unless President Obama changes his course quickly and start being stronger with our enemies with a more assertive foreign and national security policy, our country will continue to be a world superpower in serious retreat. We could expect more aggression from Russia, China, and other enemy nations over the three year left of the disastrous second term presidency of Barack Obama. When aggression is not challenged with firmness, it invite more aggression. Just look at how the appeasement policy of France and Great Britain invited more aggression from Nazi Germany and led to World War II.
We are living in very dangerous times and we now have a new Cold War in our hands. We need to have a president who plays less golf, and goes less on constant expensive vacations. Obama spends most of his time fund-raising for his own and unprecedented organization Action for America and the Democratic Party. The world is in flames and he looks the other way! Our nation security is in grave danger. How sad that our beloved country does not have a Reagan-like president in the White House!
