A Cold War For Obama Or Just A Tweak?

from Cheat Seeking Missiles
Posted by: Laer at 09:36 am
March 14th 2009

Could Russia be taking Hillary up on her “Reset” (not “overcharge”) invitation? Are they resetting glasnost and peristoika for the comfy familiarity of the cold war? What do you read into this AP report?

A Russian Air Force chief said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has offered an island as a temporary base for strategic Russian bombers, the Interfax news agency reported.

The chief of staff of Russia’s long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, also said Cuba could be used to base the aircraft, Interfax reported. …

At Hot Air, Ed Morrissey sees it as possibly that foreign policy challenge Joe Biden predicted his boss would get in the admin’s first six months:

It took John Kennedy more than a year to precipitate a military standoff with the Soviet Union over Cuba in the 1962 missile crisis. It’s taken the Obama Amateur Hour less than two months.

James Joyner of the Atlantic Council is dismissive:

I’m sure Golts’ assessment is right here. The Soviets did not have permanent bases in the area during the Cold War, so the strategic rationale for doing so now is hard to fathom. Most likely, this is just a selective leak to the press to tweak the Obama
administration.

There are two other scenarios: They fly in a TU-95 or two for a “goodwill” visit just to test the Obama response, which, if we can tell much from his first 50 days, will be late, weak and confused - giving Putin a victory as his planes wing home.
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