The Russians Are Coming!
Russky subs patrol off U.S. coast. Yeah, it’s quaint. Blast from the past. OK, poor choice of words. NYT:
WASHINGTON — A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about a more assertive stance by the Russian military.
The episode has echoes of the cold war era, when the United States and the Soviet Union regularly parked submarines off each other’s coasts to steal military secrets, track the movements of their underwater fleets — and be poised for war.
And Hollywood made zany, madcap comedies about Russian subs.
But the collapse of the Soviet Union all but eliminated the ability of the Russian Navy to operate far from home ports, making the current submarine patrols thousands of miles from Russia more surprising for military officials and defense policy experts.
“I don’t think they’ve put two first-line nuclear subs off the U.S. coast in about 15 years,” said Norman Polmar, a naval historian and submarine warfare expert.
Putting an end to an entire genre of great movies. The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide. Here’s an obscure one, with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, The Bedford Incident. No reason to stay underwater with the Cold War flicks, though. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Red Dawn, Firefox … heck, From Russia With Love.
The Bourne flicks tried to bring it back, and they’re loads of fun. But they’re not really about Russkies. They’re about car chases and how effed up Cold Warriors are. Casino Royale demonstrates that anyone vaguely Slavic makes the best bad guy. But for a true tribute to the Cold War genre, nothing tops Mike Myers towering body of work: Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Goldmember.
All of it of course stands in the shadow of the greatest Cold War flick of all time … Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Sorry, got sidetracked. It was another time. This is supposed to be about those damned Russian subs, popping up again like a crazy stalker girlfriend from the past.
According to Defense Department officials, one of the Russian submarines remained in international waters on Tuesday about 200 miles off the coast of the United States. The location of the second remained unclear. One senior official said the second submarine traveled south in recent days toward Cuba, while another senior official with access to reports on the surveillance mission said it had sailed away in a northerly direction.
I hope no Gloucester draggermen snag ‘em. Could be awkward.
The submarine patrols come as Moscow tries to shake off the embarrassment of the latest failed test of the Bulava missile, a long-range weapon that was test fired from a submarine in the Arctic on July 15. The failed missile test was the sixth since 2005, and some experts see Russia’s assertiveness elsewhere as a gambit by the military to prove its continued relevance.
“It’s the military trying to demonstrate that they are still a player in Russian political and economic matters,” Mr. Polmar said.
…
“Anytime the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary it is cause for worry,” said a senior Defense Department official who has been monitoring reports on the submarines’ activities.
I’m with Polmar. Only given that the ex-Commie Air Force has been doing the same thing for several years, I doubt it’s just the military trying to impress the pols. It’s the pols trying to impress everyone else, at home and abroad. Ivan wants attention.
Allahpundit at HotAir and Atlas Shrugs think this is a great chance for Obama to step in it again, foreign policy-wise. They’ve got a point. Just the thing to terrify him into totally abandoning missile defense and our new eastern European pals. I hate to give Ivan any ideas, but I’m thinking as long as the Russkies want to play Cold War, there’s never been a better time to plant missiles in Cuba.
Gawker also sees it as a Tom Clancy full employment opportunity.
Topics: Russia
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:22 pm on Tuesday, August 4, 2009
4 Responses to “The Russians Are Coming!”
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August 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Why plant missiles in Cuba when we’re planting communism in the USA?
August 5th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Even scruffy stray dogs can be dangerous.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
[...] links to and excerpts Jules Crittenden, who gives us some movie recs and: Only given that the ex-Commie Air Force has been doing the same [...]
August 9th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
[...] to Ukraine since he took over the role of Patriarch after the death of Alexy II in December 2008. The Russians Are Coming! - julescrittenden.com 08/05/2009 Russky subs patrol off U.S. coast. Yeah, it’s quaint. Blast from [...]