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Thursday, August 9, 2007

Why is Russia so GRUMPY?

Update: Russian bombers buzz U.S. base in Guam. Russian bombers are reported to have buzzed an American military base for the first time since the Cold War when they flew over the Pacific island of Guam. Moscow said that US fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the two Tupolev-95 warplanes as they resumed the Cold War era practice of flying over Western offshore military installations in a mission on Wednesday... Keen to get their share of attention — and perhaps the approval of President Vladimir Putin — Russia's most senior admirals last week called for the establishment of a permanent naval base in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Cold War.

Russian bombers! Haven't heard of those in a long while!

Update: Russian explorer mocks critics - with toy bear. The Kremlin has used Artur Chilingarov's controversial expedition to stir up national sentiment in support of Russia's long-held claim to part of the Arctic and its vast energy resources.
Brandishing the Russian flag and a polar bear and spraying champagne at well-wishers, Mr Chilingarov fulfilled his duties of playing to the gallery with relish. "I don't give a damn about what all those foreign politicians are saying about this," he shouted to thunderous applause. "Russia must win. Russia has what it takes to win. The Arctic has always been Russian."

Childish.

Update: After claiming the Pole, Russia looks South. Russia stirred memories of the Cold War yesterday when the country's senior admiral called for the establishment of a permanent naval base in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Soviet era. His remarks raise doubts about the Kremlin's denial last year of a newspaper claim that new moorings were being built in the Syrian port of Tartus.
According to Ivan Safronov, the journalist who died after mysteriously falling from a building in Moscow this year, Russia had also begun to expand the port at Latakia, also in Syria. President Vladimir Putin has been anxious to restore Moscow's influence in the Middle East, signing controversial arms deals with both Syria and Iran that have upset the United States and Israel. If the port plan were to go ahead, Russian vessels and warships from the US Sixth Fleet, based in Italy, would face one another in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Cold War when the Soviet navy was based in Tartus.

Power... yummy!

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