Occamstazer
Left leaning moderate
- Feb 15, 2013
- 115
- 29
The defense lobby needs boogie men.
obama needs another crisis to get his gun ban pushed through
And John Bolton's going to help him? What planet are you living on?
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The defense lobby needs boogie men.
obama needs another crisis to get his gun ban pushed through
The defense lobby needs boogie men.
obama needs another crisis to get his gun ban pushed through
And John Bolton's going to help him? What planet are you living on?
The alliance said that more than two dozen Russian aircraft in four groups were intercepted and tracked on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to NATO, the Russian forces have been "conducting significant military maneuvers" over the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Black Sea. A NATO spokesman said the Russian warplanes have included Tu-95 strategic bombers and MiG-31 jets, and added that Norwegian, British, Portuguese, German and Turkish fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept and identify the Russian aircraft.
Russian military planes are see flying above the Kremlin
Tensions between NATO and Russia have escalated since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March, and there have been more than 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft in 2014 alone, three times more than in 2013. NATO's eastern members, including Poland and the Baltic states, have been particularly annoyed by Russian military activity. In response to their concerns, the U.S.-led alliance has increased the number of aircraft and personnel to monitor the airspace on a rotational basis.
Meanwhile, Russia said Wednesday that the controversial handover of a French warship would take place on November 14, but the manufacturer immediately denied the deal had been settled. France has previously said conditions were "not right" for the deal, and President Barack Obama has said it would have been “preferable to press the pause button” over it. EU leaders have warned that Russia will use the warship to threaten its neighbors. Named Vladivostok, the warship is the first of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships Russia ordered from France in a contract worth $1.6 billion.
NATO Tracks Russian Warplanes in European Airspace
Alliance military spokesman Lt. Col. Jay Janzen that four groups made up of Tu-95 Bear H strategic bombers, MiG-31 fighters and other Russian warplanes had been conducting large-scale maneuvers in international airspace. He said Norwegian, British, Portuguese, German, Danish and Turkish fighters were scrambled in response, as well as planes from the non-NATO nations of Finland and Sweden.
No incidents were reported, but Janzen said the maneuvers were unusual in their size. He said NATO was still tracking some of the Russian planes as of mid-afternoon Wednesday. Tensions have been running high between NATO and Russia since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March. According to NATO officials, alliance pilots have conducted over 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft this year, or about three times more than in 2013.
Brynjar Stordal, spokesman for the operational command of Norway's armed forces, said Norwegian F-16s intercepted one formation of Bear bombers and tankers west of Norway.The tankers turned back north, he said, but the bombers kept flying south all the way to international airspace west of Portugal and Spain. "We've had several of these incidents, around 40 a year," Stordal said. "What sets this apart from some of the missions we see from the Russian side is the formation was a little bit larger than we usually see and they went a bit further south than they usually do."
AP Newswire Stars and Stripes