Are we heading into a new Cold War with Russia?
Secretary of State John Kerry says it’s even worse.
“The Cold War was easy compared to where we are today,” Kerry
said yesterday at a forum in Washington, D.C. It’s a dramatic
turnaround from the United States’ position several years ago when
Hillary Clinton, who held the secretary of state position just
before Kerry, symbolically “reset” American-Russian relations in
what was supposed to a newly amicable era.
This week
reports emerged of American diplomats in Russia having their
tires slashed, computers hacked, and experiencing break-ins. Kerry
confronted his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
over the reported harassment. But that’s just the tip of the
iceberg.
The Washington Post on Tuesday
broke news that White House computers were breached by hackers
believed to be working for the Russian government. “Russia is
regarded by U.S. officials as being in the top tier of states with
cyber-capabilities.”
Furthermore, “Russian bombers may be flying nuclear strike
drills over the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, current and former
U.S. Air Force officers believe,”
states The Daily Beast:
Since Oct. 28, NATO air defenses have detected and monitored
four groups of Russian combat aircraft over the Baltic Sea, North
Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea. Norwegian F-16 fighters
intercepted one particular group of Russian aircraft on Oct. 29
that included four, nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95 Bear H strategic
bombers and four Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling tankers. Once
intercepted, six of the Russian aircraft headed for home while the
two remaining Tu-95 bombers continued southwest, parallel to the
Norwegian coast, before eventually turning back towards Russia.The giant, propeller-driven Tu-95 is a launch platform for the
1,600 nautical mile range Raduga Kh-55 nuclear-tipped cruise
missile. The weapon carries a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead; by
comparison, the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki was a mere 21
kilotons. …The foray into European airspace by the Tu-95 Bear bombers is
cause for concern. That’s not just because of the Bear bomber’s
long-range nuclear weapons capability, but also because of the
Russian’s general disregard for international air traffic norms.
Not only did the Russians not file a proper flight plan, they also
did not have active transponders—which would allow civilian air
traffic controllers to see them. The situation could lead to a
serious accident where an airliner might collide with a Russian
bomber.
The combination of hacking and dangerous flying represent the
old and the updated techniques of Cold War signal-sending,”
suggests The New York Times’ David Sanger. “In the
Soviet era, both sides probed each other’s defenses, hoping to
learn something from the reaction those tests of will created.”
NATO, for which the U.S. is the largest supplier of troops and
funding, has essentially broken off relations with Russia, and is
pushing
for a greater military presence in Eastern Europe since Vladimir
Putin began a bloody, brutal invasion and annexation of parts of
Ukraine earlier this year.
Poland, a NATO member, isn’t taking any chances with Russian
aggression in its backyard. The nation
announced this week that it may move thousands of troops to its
eastern border to ward of Putin. Nearby, Sweden spent part of
October hunting down what it believed to be a Russian submarine
lurking in its waters, prompting a sudden shift in
popular support for joining NATO.
Russia is returning to Cold War practices at home, too. Half the
nation’s people fear
Soviet-style mass repression will happen again in their
lifetime. Reason has talked to several Russian
libertarians about the
domestic crackdown on
political opposition and the press.
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