Putin: U.S. Shield Plan Creates Cold War Tension; Compares Proposal To Cuban Missile Crisis

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

MAFRA, Portugal - Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Friday drew a parallel between the U.S. missile shield plan and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

"I would remind you how the relations were developing in an analogous situation in the middle of the 1960s of the last century," he told a news conference after an EU-Russia summit in Portugal, when asked about Washington's plans to station elements of the missile shield in eastern Europe.

"For us, technologically, the situation is very similar," he added.

This breaking news story will be updated.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21489410/

[GeminiProgressive]

1. wow

Putin is REALLY not getting along with Bush right now...guess Bush didn't really see Putin's beautiful puppy and kitten loving soul after all...

[Purveyor]

8. I think it to be the other way around. Putin looked into *'s soul and saw evil. eom

[Purveyor]

2. Also read: Russia plans to test fire 2 ballistic missiles - Ground Forces

MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - A missile brigade from the Siberian military district will test fire two SS-21 Scarab short-range ballistic missiles during Nov. 13-17 exercise at a test site in south Russia, a Ground Forces spokesman said Thursday.

The SS-21, or Tochka, is a road-mobile single-warhead ballistic missile designed for tactical deployment. It has been in service with missile units of the Russian Ground Forces since 1976 and has a range of 70 km (45 miles).

"The missile units will conduct missile firing practices and will test launch two Tochka tactical missiles," Colonel Igor Konashenkov said.

The spokesman said the Ground Forces have conducted a total of 12 successful test launches of Tochka missiles since the beginning of this year.

He also said that the Tochka (SS-21 Scarab A) and Tochka-U (SS-21 Scarab B) missiles would be gradually replaced with new Iskander-M (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) theater missiles, capable of carrying multiple warheads.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071025/85512464.html

[Purveyor]

3. And then there is this: Russian Bear bombers conduct cruise missile practice

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Two Russian Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers will practice on Friday launches of cruise missiles at a testing site in southern Russia, an Air Force spokesman said.

Russian strategic bombers began on October 16 a series of long-range training flights over the Arctic region, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Black Sea with simulated bomber raids and missile launches missiles at testing grounds in northern and southern Russia. The exercises will continue until October 30.

Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky also said up to 10 Tu-95MS bombers and two Il-78 aerial tankers flew scheduled flight patrols on Thursday in neutral airspace, and were accompanied for at least five hours by NATO F-16 and Tornado fighters.

Russia has stepped up practice runs of its strategic bombers ever since President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights on August 17. The president said at the time that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.

Although NATO countries expressed concern over possible violations of their airspace and scramble their fighters as a "routine response" when Russian bombers fly close to their borders, Moscow says all the latest flights are within air patrolling corridors permitted by international regulations.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071026/85599710.html

[LakeSamish706]

4. One other notable mention is that Russia is flush with cash.. (No Debt)..

with the current price of oil in general Russia has monies to do major research/development on new arms in order to match the US...

[everydayis911]

5. where's JFK

When you need him. Oh that's right Poppy Bush's CIA had him killed. I always thought if Bush was in office when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened we would not be here right now. Looks like we still might get there after all. All Hail Bush!

[ShortnFiery]

6. Duck and Cover! n/t

[pa28]

7. But But But

We need that shield to protect us from the missiles the Iranians might develop one day. Some of those missiles might manage to survive the pre-emptive bombing we're about to do!

Besides, Raytheon and Boeing have already made their campaign contributions. And you don't want to piss THEM off.

:sarcasm:

[Toots]

9. This sounds like Putin is thinking of himself as a JFK figure

and plans on standing up to our insane Administration. What if Putin DEMANDS that Bush* remove those missiles from such close proximity to Russia. Missile Defense is nothing more than guided missiles attacking other missiles. Those "guided missiles" can also be directed other places. They pose a direct threat to Russia. This is actually very serious and can rapidly escalate out of hand unless saner people than Bush* and Cheney step to negotiate..