(by Michael Snyder)
-- Did you know that two Russian bombers practiced launching cruise
missiles at the United States from a spot in the North Atlantic just the
other day? And did you know that Russia is spending massive amounts of
money to build and test new nuclear weapons systems? Meanwhile, the
Obama administration is doing absolutely nothing to upgrade the U.S.
nuclear arsenal. Our nuclear officers are actually still using floppy
disks and other computer technology
from the 1960s.
The size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal has been reduced by about 95
percent from the peak of the Cold War, and Barack Obama has spoken of
even more dramatic reductions. Obama is snoozing even as
a Russian general speaks
of the need to “spell out the conditions under which Russia would
launch a preemptive nuclear strike” against the United States. Obama
appears to be entirely convinced that a nuclear war between the U.S. and
Russia is not even a remote possibility. He better be right, because
we are definitely not prepared for one.
Even with everything that
has happened between the United States and Russia lately, most Americans
still believe that “the Cold War is over” and that Russia presents
absolutely no threat to us.
But Russia is behaving as if the Cold
War is still very much on. You probably didn’t hear a peep about it
from the mainstream media, but just the other day a couple of Russian
bombers simulated launching cruise missiles at us from the North
Atlantic. The following is an excerpt from an excellent article
by Bill Gertz…
Two
Russian strategic bombers conducted practice cruise missile attacks on
the United States during a training mission last week that defense
officials say appeared timed to the NATO summit in Wales.
The
Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers were tracked flying a route across the
northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland, and Canada’s northeast.
Analysis
of the flight indicated the aircraft were conducting practice runs to a
pre-determined “launch box”—an optimum point for firing nuclear-armed
cruise missiles at U.S. targets, said defense officials familiar with
intelligence reports.
And Russia is spending money as
if a nuclear confrontation with the U.S. is a very real possibility.
In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed to a “weapons
modernization program” that is going to cost the equivalent
of 540 billion dollars…
Putin
said Russia’s weapons modernization program for 2016-2025 should focus
on building a new array of offensive weapons to provide a “guaranteed
nuclear deterrent;” re-arming strategic and long-range aviation;
creating an aerospace defense system and developing high-precision
conventional weapons.
He would not
elaborate on prospective weapons, but he and other officials have
repeatedly boasted about new Russian nuclear missiles’ capability to
penetrate any prospective missile shield.
The
Kremlin has bolstered defense spending in the past few years under an
ambitious weapons modernization program that runs through 2020 and costs
the equivalent of $540 billion.
You don’t spend that kind of money just for the fun of it.
Putin is deadly serious about being able to fight (and win) a war against the United States.
Of
course nobody on either side actually hopes that such a war will
happen. But most wars are won before a single shot is fired, and right
now Russia is working very hard to make sure that it will have the best
chance possible of coming out on top in any future conflict.
For example, Russian media is reporting that 60 percent of all Russian nuclear missiles will have radar-evading capability
by 2016…
Russia’s
Defense Ministry plans to complete the rearmament of Strategic Missile
Forces within six years. “By 2016, the share of new missile systems
will reach nearly 60%, and by 2021 their share will increase to 98%. At
the same time the troop and weapon command systems, combat equipment
will be qualitatively improved, first of all — their capabilities for
the suppression of antimissile defense will be built up,” Defense
Ministry’s RVSN spokesman Colonel Igor Yegorov told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
But
of greatest concern is the new generation of nuclear-powered attack
submarines armed with long-range cruise missiles that Russia has been
developing.
Just this week, Russia conducted
a successful test of the new submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental nuclear missile…
Russia
carried out a successful test of its new Bulava intercontinental
nuclear missile on Wednesday and will perform two more test launches in
October and November, the head of its naval forces said.
The
armed forces have boosted their military training and test drills since
the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which Russia considers in
its traditional sphere of influence.
The
12-meter long Bulava, or mace, has undergone numerous tests, some
successful, and can deliver an impact of up to 100 times the atomic
blast that devastated Hiroshima in 1945.
Each one of these missiles weighs more than 36 tons and has a range of more than 5,000 miles.
But in a future conflict, they would likely only have to travel a short distance.
That is because Russia has developed super silent attacks subs that are
virtually undetectable when submerged.
In a
previous article, I talked about how the U.S. Navy refers to these virtually undetectable subs as “black holes”…
Did
you know that Russia is building submarines that are so quiet that the
U.S. military cannot detect them? These “black hole” submarines can
freely approach the coastlines of the United States without fear of
being detected whenever they want. In fact, a “nuclear-powered attack
submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles” sailed around in the
Gulf of Mexico
for several weeks without
being detected back in 2012. And now Russia is launching a new class
of subs that have “advanced stealth technology”. The U.S. Navy openly
acknowledges that they cannot track these subs when they are submerged.
That means that the Russians are able to sail right up to our
coastlines and launch nukes whenever they want.
Most
Americans don’t realize this, but Russian subs can come cruising right
up to our coasts without us knowing about it and launch missiles which
will start hitting our cities within just a few minutes.
And if
you do not think that this can ever happen, perhaps you should consider
what a Russian general said about a preemptive nuclear strike
just the other day…
A Russian
general has called for Russia to revamp its military doctrine, last
updated in 2010, to clearly identify the U.S. and its NATO allies as
Moscow’s enemy number one and spell out the conditions under which
Russia would launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the 28-member
military alliance, Interfax reported Wednesday.
Russia’s
military doctrine, a strategy document through which the government
interprets military threats and crafts possible responses, is being
revised in light of threats connected to the Arab Spring, the Syrian
civil war and the conflict in Ukraine, the deputy chief of the Kremlin’s
security council told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has discussed reducing the size of our already neutered strategic nuclear arsenal down
to just 300 warheads.
Let us hope and pray that we never see a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.
Because if one does happen, there is a very strong possibility that America will not be the winner.
