"US wary of Russia restoring Cuba ties; Moscow seems to want relationship" by Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times | September 7, 2008
WASHINGTON - Amid rising tensions over Georgia, US officials are increasingly concerned that Russia is moving to rebuild one of the most dangerous features of the old Soviet Union's security structure - its alliance with Cuba.
Moscow has been signaling that it wants to restore a relationship with Havana that included not only economic ties, but military and intelligence cooperation. The relationship brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when Russia secretly installed nuclear missiles on the island.
US officials believe that Russian statements are partly bluster, intended to dissuade the United States and its allies from moving the NATO alliance and military equipment, including missile defense sites, closer to the Russian border. And some analysts question how interested Cuba is in rebuilding close ties with Russia.
But at a time when Russia has intervened forcefully in Georgia and is extending the global reach of its rebuilt military, some senior officials fear it may not be only bluster.
Of course, the U.S. doesn't do that when it invades countries and rings Russia with military bases.
Russia "has strategic ties to Cuba again, or, at least, that's where they're going," a senior US official said recently, speaking, like others, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive implications of the assessments.
The officials said they doubt the Russians would risk stationing nuclear bombers on Cuba. But some believe that Moscow might seek to restore its once-energetic intelligence cooperation with Havana, and to resume limited military cooperation, possibly including refueling stops for aircraft and warships.
But it is O.K. for the U.S. to use Central Asian republics for just that.
The hypocritical stench is gagging.
In the current environment, such contacts would make US officials uneasy. One senior military officer said a return of Russian ships or planes could force additional US deployments in the region.
But when Russia does that, it is called an INVASION!!!!
Last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice complained about Russia's increasing reliance on its military to remind the world of its power. She criticized the Russian military advance into Georgia, a former Soviet republic, and its increasingly frequent patrols of long-range nuclear bombers in US and NATO-patrolled ocean lanes near northern Europe, Alaska, and elsewhere.
Seriously, readers, these people are SOMETHING ELSE!!!!
The WAR PRINCESS SAID THAT, huh?
As it rebuilds forces that withered during the impoverished 1990s, Russia also has been looking for new air and naval bases far from home. It is negotiating with Syria to resume use of naval bases in Tartus and Latakiya, Russian officials have said. There has also been talk in Moscow of approaching Vietnam about using Cam Ranh Bay.
Yup, and the god-damn AmeriKan MSM NEVER HEARD of PNAC or anything like that though!
Fucking god-damn Zionist organ of propaganda, that's all the AmeriKan MSM is -- and I'm tired of it!!!
I am TIRED OF THEIR LYING AGENDA-PUSHING GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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