posted 01-31-2004 11:42 AM            

Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's nuclear forces reportedly are preparing their largest maneuvers in two decades, an exercise involving the test-firing of missiles and flights by dozens of bombers in a massive simulation of an all-out nuclear war.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to personally oversee the maneuvers, which are apparently aimed at demonstrating the revival of the nation's military might and come ahead of Russian elections in March.

The business newspaper Kommersant said the exercise was set for mid-February and would closely resemble a 1982 Soviet exercise dubbed the "seven-hour nuclear war" that put the West on edge.

Official comments on the upcoming exercise have been sketchy. The chief of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted by the Interfax-Military News Agency as saying the planned maneuvers would involve several launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in various regions of Russia, but he wouldn't give further details.

A Defense Ministry spokesman refused to comment on the reports. The Russian military typically says little about upcoming exercises.

Kommersant said the maneuvers would involve Tu-160 strategic bombers test-firing cruise missiles over the northern Atlantic. Analysts describe such an exercise as an imitation of a nuclear attack on the United States.

Other groups of bombers will fly over Russia's Arctic regions and test-fire missiles at a southern range near the Caspian Sea, the newspaper said.

As part of the exercise, the military is planning to conduct several launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, including one from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea, the Kommersant report said.

The military also plans to launch military satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia - a simulation of the replacement of satellites lost in action, Kommersant said.

Russia's system warning of an enemy missile attack and a missile defense system protecting Moscow will also be involved in the exercise, it added.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst, said the military has regularly held nuclear exercises that were timed to coincide with the annual test-firing of aging Soviet-built missiles.

"It has been a routine affair, but it can be expanded if they want a show," he said.

Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based think-tank, said the maneuvers would further strengthen Putin's popularity ahead of the March 14 presidential election he is expected to win easily.

Putin has repeatedly pledged to rebuild Russia's military might and restore pride to the demoralized service. When he ran for his first term in 2000, he flew as a second pilot in a fighter jet and later donned naval officer's garb on a visit to a nuclear submarine - images that played well with many voters who are nostalgic for Soviet global power and military prestige.

"This exercise will make a great show, with Putin receiving reports from military commanders," Safranchuk told The Associated Press.

Kommersant said Moscow had notified Washington about the exercise, describing it as part of efforts to fend off terror threats even though it imitates the Cold War scenario of an all-out war.

"The exercise follows the old scenario, and casting it as anti-terror is absurd," Safranchuk said.

Putin's support for the United States following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks bolstered relations with Washington and helped broker a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reduction deal and a Russia-NATO partnership agreement in 2002.

posted 01-31-2004 09:33 PM            

Monkey see!

Monkey do!

posted 01-31-2004 10:30 PM               

The electoral factor is a new component for Russia, of course. It is absolutely irrelevant whether Putin is Bush's collaborator or Bush's hostage, or whether the Russians even actually control 'their' nuclear weapons.

posted 02-22-2004 12:25 AM               

World Affairs Brief, February 20, 2004 Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.JoelSkousen.com).
RUSSIAN WAR GAMES SHOW INCREASING MILITARY MIGHT

Russian war games have traditionally been low key affairs, shrouded in secrecy, with few public pronouncements. Not any more. These war games are the largest they have pulled off in two decades, involving the test-firing of ballistic missiles (both land and sea-launched) and a huge deployment of long-range strategic bombers heading off over the poles toward Canada and the US.

President Putin shuttled from one missile launching to another, with cameras rolling (including during two embarrassing failed launches), as if to purposely induce a reaction from the press accusing him of staging the games for political purposes. We can all relax; this is just a "political maneuver." The show of force has enhanced Putin’s popularity in spite of the recent pall cast over his regime after it was revealed that one of Putin’s emerging opposition candidates for president had been kidnapped by the FSB/KGB and held for five days.

While it is true that the Russian people hanker for the "good old days" of Soviet military might, it appears that the Russian hierarchy is becoming outright brazen in its show of military might – as if to test how much they can show off to the world before the Western press starts to get alarmed. The West was genuinely concerned as Hitler began his massive rearmament in the mid 1930s, but they don’t seem to blink an eye at Russian and Chinese rearmament. We in the West have been fed the line about the "collapse of Communism" for so long that no one seems capable of conceiving of a Soviet style resurgence, let alone comprehend these maneuvers for what they really are: actually military exercises for the purposes of practicing a pre-emptive strike on America.

Putin bragged that Russia is developing a new strategic missile system that is "capable of hitting targets continents away with hypersonic speed, high precision and the ability of wide maneuver." Actually, the Russians have already claimed some of this capability in their new Topol M missiles. Meanwhile, the US keeps disarming and downsizing our own strategic missile forces. There is even talk of replacing as many as half our Minuteman warheads with conventional warheads and using them for precision strikes – supposedly to keep our long-range bomber crews out of harm’s way. Disarmament fanatics have an almost unlimited ability to conjure up safety and cost saving reasons to justify the ongoing emasculation of US defensive forces.

Russian planners must be gloating as they pump out a continual stream of soothing claims to peaceful intentions, checking to see if the Western press will call their bluff. Putin coyly said that this new system wasn't aimed against the United States and added that "Modern Russia has no imperial ambitions or hegemonist strivings." OK, now that we have been reassured, we can all go back to sleep. Don’t remind us about the mutual exchange of phony assurances during the Clinton years that Russia (and then China) and the US were no longer targeting each other’s cities. Later leaks from whistleblowers in Russia and China confirmed that this was all propaganda. But that didn’t stop the US from still acting as if it were true.

The American press also reported that Russia was considering researching and building a missile defense system in response to America’s accelerated program in Alaska. They announce this as if this is something new for Russia! Are the members of the press so unknowledgeable as to not know that Russia already has the largest anti-missile defense system in the world, which is constantly being upgraded? How can they talk about a "new" Russian ABM system with a straight face, without mentioning Russia’s already vastly superior set of hundreds of nuclear tipped ABM missiles surrounding Moscow and other strategic locations? This is why I have long charged the establishment media with collusion in covering for Russian rearmament. It doesn’t help that our intelligence agencies refuse (or are prohibited) to alert the American people to this growing danger. The press never asks the tough questions or brings up evidence that would counter Russian pretensions to peaceful aims.

As if this were not enough, Russian Defense Secretary Ivanov brazenly mentioned at an international security conference in Munich that, "Russia may withdraw from the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty." The US and NATO expressed shock and dismay. But why should they be surprised? Perhaps they have short memories. During the Clinton administration, it was discovered that Russia and its supposed break-away Eastern block nations (Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria) still possessed medium range missiles hidden in tunnels that were supposed to have been removed after the signing of the CFE treaty. But all was forgiven and no sanctions were applied. This will be the second arms reduction agreement that Russia has reneged on in the last two years. Yet, the US continues to disarm. Is it a suicidal wish or mere stupidity? Or is it a carefully calculated plan to set America up for a fall, in favor of a post-war globalist outcome?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

posted 02-22-2004 01:04 PM            

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Feb. 20, 2004 -- A major hurricane, a nuclear accident and a nuclear detonation -- all simulated, and all occurring in Texas -- are among the challenges facing U.S. Northern Command forces during exercise Unified Defense '04.

Simulated events also include aircraft hijackings, threats from a fictitious country testing its strategic capabilities, and attacks on maritime and port security by domestic terrorists in Alaska.

Though the attacks are all simulated, the responses are "real-world," said Army Lt. Col. Tim Croft, a NORTHCOM exercise planner. He said some 50 different local, state and federal agencies in Texas, Alaska, Virginia, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., are participating in the Feb. 19-25 exercise. The exercise is testing homeland defense and homeland security efforts, along with NORTHCOM's ability to provide military assistance to civil authorities, he said.

North American Aerospace Defense Command also is participating in a scenario that poses aerospace defense challenges, said Air Force Lt. Col. Rob Peterson, a NORAD exercise planner.

In announcing the exercise Feb. 17, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he hopes and prays that his state never faces a real disaster like the ones simulated. "But if these kinds of catastrophic events do occur, officials need to be prepared to respond," said Perry.

Although exercise participants were briefed in advance about the scenarios, they were not told every detail. For example, participants must determine if the nuclear incidents in Texas are the result of terrorist attacks or an accident, Croft said. The simulated hurricane is providing cover and diversion for a terrorist attack.

Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Perry's office who attended a pre-exercise briefing in Texas, raised one question facing homeland defense. She wondered whether terrorists would look for natural disasters likely to occur and then try to time events to coincide with a community or state's response to a natural disaster.

The nuclear detonation scenario simulated killing 300 people and affecting nearly 1,000 residents in a town of only 3,700 people.

**********************
Croft said this is the first time the Homeland Security Department and NORTHCOM have included a nuclear detonation in an exercise.
***********************

Since most exercise activities are being simulated, residents in the exercise areas will not see troop movements, hear flying aircraft, or see and hear emergency vehicles responding to accident sites. The one exception will be in Alaska, where Coast Guard vessels will be visible in the water, but there won't be "any big bangs or anything like that," said Coast Guard Lt. Brad Wilson. He said the public would see little activity.

Military and state planners spent almost a year planning the $1.5 million exercise in which Texas and Alaska officials asked to be included, said Croft. He said the states wanted to test their emergency management functions.

Rod Swope, city manager for Juneau, Alaska, told local news reporters he expects his state to learn a lot from the exercise. "In the event something happens (in the future), we'll be prepared," said Swope.

Besides finding out how federal, state and local agencies will react to simultaneous emergencies, Unified Defense '04 also will allow NORTHCOM forces to get to know one another "and improve our success rate if there should be a real-world event," said Mike Perini, NORAD and NORTHCOM public affairs director. He said if it were possible, the command would conduct similar exercises in all U.S. states and territories.

posted 02-22-2004 02:19 PM            

KEYWORDS.......

"The exercise is testing homeland defense and homeland security efforts, along with NORTHCOM's ability to provide military assistance to civil authorities, he said."

TRANSLATION....

posted 02-22-2004 10:03 PM               

If Putin won't support it, find a politician who will.

posted 02-23-2004 12:30 PM            

Well, there are legitimate concerns as far as defense, and they aren't all from Al Queda!

The Chinese and even the Russians may prove unpredictable and even Korea, for that matter. Frankly, I'm glad our taxpayer funds are going for some kind of disaster preparedness! I'm not threatened by it at all. I'm more threatened by my dwindling personal rights than a practice defense scenario by Homeland Security and the various military bases involved. And I live in NORAD Peterson AFB country.

No biggy!

posted 02-23-2004 12:53 PM            

It seems like they are training for martial law if you ask me.

posted 02-23-2004 01:58 PM            

The police force is also in contact with the fire department and the Red Cross.

It's a matter of facilitating communications between all active organizations and why not? Do you think in a disaster that the police will be locking people up?

Let's have a little groundedness here!

There are various scenarios to consider, also. Storms! Nuclear bombs! Earthquakes! Bioterrorism!

Hey! Not all of it is an inside job!

What is with the music on this thread? It interfers with my active streaming radio! Hey Mech? What's going on with the music?

Is it brain washing? Hehehe!

posted 02-23-2004 02:17 PM            

I guess its wrong to think that the government is corrupt.

My apologies.

I guess I should sign up for T.I.P.S. now.

Hail Bush.

Ein Volk..

Ein Reich..

posted 02-23-2004 02:56 PM            

No, I'm not blinded to the possiblities you've discussed and posted ad infinitum on this board! Zig heil and all that!

But, civil defense is also real and also in the public's best interest.

If you can't see that there are REAL threats and there are GOVT overcontrol threats existing at the SAME TIME -- then I see you as polarized.

The BIG PICTURE includes both possibilities! BOTH!

Not just ONE! Ever experience a flood? I hurricane? A forest fire? I would certainly appreciate help from government agencies at that time, wouldn't you?