Members of Joshua's Army might recall my piece on the increased Russian Naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean, and in the Caspian Sea and in the Persian Gulf at Iran's Kharg Island, a product of Russia's increased increased aid and formal security agreements with Iran, and with Iran's ally Syria.
As part of that presence, Russia signed an agreement with Syria allowing them to utilize the ports at Tartus and Latakia, a factor that could provide `insurance' for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime against a potential attack by the US or Israel in the event of a war.
Brit Blogpal England Expects was kind enough to toss an update our way... and it doesn't bode well:
This is a base that was abandoned in 1991, but has seen a recent visits from the Russian carrier the “Admiral Kuznetsov” with an escort fleet, (having harrassed Norwegian gas fields) giving testament to the Syrian port's capacity. With Ukraine particularly antsy about the continued presence of the Black Sea at Sevastopol in the Crimea, talks of a base in Libya and the Russian functional control of Algeria's gas industry will give the Bear the sort of strategic capacity that the Tsars could only dream of.
Read it all..
insurance' for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime against a potential attack by the US or Israel
ReplyDeletei can see with bibi at the helm why boy assad would be worried. however, ff must have his sarcasm hat on to include *the US* in that phrase. given the current occupant of the white house, why on earth would ff include *the US* in that comment otherwise?
You never know, Louie, maybe we'll take a democracy lesson from Honduras....
ReplyDeleteI think its official. Actually its long past official. Russia is back as a major world power who is at least equal to the United States and probably superior in many ways.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Louie. I don't think 'the US' will do any thing substantial about this unless Russia attacks it first.
Given Obama's agreements to reduce nuclear weapons and the vehicles to deliver them, if this goes through, America will be vunerable to a first strike by the Russians and may be unable to respond. As such, a first strike by the Russians is a much more likely possibilty in the near future than it has been. Even if Russia does not go the nuclear route, it appears they are more than capable of standing toe to toe with the United States right now.
As I see it, America has really two main options right now. 1.)Reopen the Cold War. From the Russian perspective, it appears it never ended. This would mean a massive increase in military funding and military capabilities as well increasing Human intellegence capabilities. 2.)Withdraw from the Middle East entirely and not challenge the Russians right now. Lay low until the Russian population craters.
While I prefer option one, I don't see the American people or the current people in government willing to support this option. Also, with its massive national debt and military that is stretched thin from the "War on Terror" I simply don't see how the United States can reopen the Cold War.
Hopefully I'm wrong. If the United States wishes to remain a major world power, it will need to find some way to counter the Russian threat. This is starting to get humiliating. For the last few years, Russia has been wiping the proverbial floor with us.