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Sunday, May 3, 2015

The Cold War Is NOT Dead!

**Written by Doug Powers

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"The 1980s are calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years." - Barack Obama to Mitt Romney, 2012 debate

*****

Hidden beneath all the other more attention-grabbing headlines lately is the fact that Russia continues to go out of its way to prove that Mitt Romney was right:

Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said.

The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter.

[...]

Davis said the increase in flights near North America coincided with Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine and Crimea.

Add that to the list:

Last year’s intercepts included the following encounters, according to NORAD:

On April 2, 2014, two U.S. F-22 fighters intercepted two Bear bombers west of Alaska’s coast.

On June 9, 2014, two F-22s intercepted four Bears and one refueling tanker near Alaska. Two of the Bears later flew near the California coast and were intercepted by two F-15s.

Early August 2014: NORAD notes a “spike” Russian aircraft operating in and around the U.S. ADIZ.

On Sept 17, 2014, two F-22s intercepted two Russian IL-78 refueling tankers, two Russian Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers in the ADIZ west of Alaska. The Russian aircraft flew a loop south, then turned west toward Russia.

On Sept. 18, 2014, two Bears were intercepted and identified by two Canadian CF-18 fighters in the western reaches of the Canadian ADIZ, in the Beaufort Sea.

On Dec. 8, 2014, two CF-18s intercepted two Bears near the Beaufort Sea off Canada’s coast.

If it happens again, the State Department is expected to fire a salvo of reset buttonsand Twitter hashtags at the intruding aircraft.

How long will it be until Russian jets buzz the Marshall Islands?

Putin really seems to be taking advantage of all that "flexibility" that was transmitted to him: 

(h/t Liberty Unyielding)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

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