Tel-Chai Nation

Well look what's happening: Seems that US diplomatic relations with Russia are falling apart. What's also eyebrow-raising here is that Russkie war-subs were detected off the east coast (note: there appear to be a few typos in the text):

The detection of the Russian subs, believed to be nuclear powered attack submarines, of the U.S. East Coast raised eyebrows in the Washington because it is the first time in 15 years Moscow has been caught with having subs so close to the U.S. coast. Such concern, according to Russian officials, is unfounded.

"I don't know if it's news to anyone," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy chief of general staff, told a news conference. "The navy should not stay idle at its moorings."

Mr. Nogovitsyn downplayed the subs and argued Russian subs in international waters off the U.S. East Coast is no different than detecting U.S. subs performing the same maneuvers off Russia’s coast.

“We can also talk about them (U.S. submarines), where they occur from time to time. So this (Russian patrols) is a normal process, and those making such statements understand this pretty well,” Mr. Nogovitsyn said. The Russian official, however, failed to provide specific instances where the U.S. performed similar operations off the Russian coast.

The Russian official stressed his nation had a right to perform such basic military maneuvers and shrugged off claims Russia is adopting a more aggressive global stance.

“It's a normal thing,” Nogovitsyn said.

But how normal are such operations during peace time and are the maneuvers a signal Moscow decided to pass on Mr. Obama’s offer to reset relations between the two nations?

Excellent questions. I'd say that such operations are NOT normal; Russia could test those subs right around their own coastal regions if they had to. What they're doing now is very fishy and downright disturbing, and that Russkie official is a disgrace if he's going to whitewash what's happening. Read the whole article, because it tells that relations with Russia may be falling apart, and it's unlikely to improve.

Labels: Russia, United States