For the first time since the Cold War ended, Russia has displayed a muscular, some might say threatening, military stance with the United States.
Two TU-95 bombers reached Guam, a U.S. territory, as part of a military exercise this week, and their crews smiled at the pilots of the U.S. fighter jets that scrambled to intercept them, Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov said Thursday.
"Whenever we saw U.S. planes during our flights over the ocean, we greeted them," Androsov said. "On Wednesday, we renewed the tradition when our young pilots flew by Guam in two planes. We exchanged smiles with our counterparts who flew up from a U.S. carrier and returned home."
The flight to Guam was part of a three-day exercise that saw Russian strategic bombers making 40 sorties and launching eight cruise missiles, said Androsov, who commands Russia's long-range bomber force.
Guam is about 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) southeast of the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
This is just the latest display of Russian muscle flexing. Earlier in the week, they lobbed a missile into the former Soviet republic of Georgia. A few weeks ago, they laid claim to the North Pole - an international zone. But most troubling of all...in May they successfully tested a next-generation MIRV ICBM capable of reaching the United States.
The only person on the planet that wants us to stay in Iraq on the open-ended plan more than Osama bin Laden...is Vladimir Putin. Make no mistake - Russia is not our ally, and every day we pound sand in Iraq, every yuan of debt we accrue, every G.I. that dies - is playing into the Kremlin's hand. Had Bush not stupidly invaded and occupied Iraq, Russia would not have achieved superpower parity with the United States for at least a couple of decades. But thanks to the arrogance and hubris of the idiot prince, they are on the cusp. If they weren't, there is no way in hell they would be flying long-range bombers over a key U.S. military installation like Guam.
Heckuva job, George.
