Don’t Sweat It—-The Russian Fighters Were Unarmed And Lethal US Warships Were In Its Backyard, by Pater Tenebrarum

The headlines shout when US warships are buzzed by Russian military aircraft. The headlines never shout that the buzzings occur in places like the Black and Baltic Sea. Not that it would matter if they did, because most Americans don’t know where the Black and Baltic Seas are. If they bothered to look, they’d discover they are next to Russia. Next question: how would the average American feel about Russian warships in the Gulf of Mexico? From Pater Tenebrarum at davidstockmanscontracorner.com:

Provocative Fighter Jocks

Back in 2014, a Russian jet made headlines when it passed several times close to the USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea. As CBS reported at the time:

“A Pentagon spokesperson told CBS Radio that a Russian SU-24 fighter jet made several low altitude, close passes in the vicinity of the USS Donald Cook in international waters of the western Black Sea on April 12. While the jet did not overfly the deck, Col. Steve Warren called the action “provocative and unprofessional.”

The jet was one of two Russian aircraft in the vicinity — the other flew at a higher altitude. The close-flying jet came within a few thousand feet of the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer which was conducting a “routine mission” at the time. The U.S. ship tried to contact the plane’s cockpit, but received no response. The Russian plane, which the U.S. says was unarmed, made at least 12 passes. This continued for about 90 minutes. The event ended without incident.”

An unarmed plane making passes! Very provocative. Let’s briefly look at a map of the Black Sea:

The Black Sea, with the USS Donald Cook in it

Recently the same thing happened again, this time in the Baltic Sea. The Guardian reports:

“The US navy released photos and videos showing Russian SU-24 fighter jets flying low over the sea and “buzzing” the USS Donald Cook – a destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class – which carries guided missiles and which had just made a call at the Polish port of Gdynia.

According to the US European Command (Eucom) in Stuttgart, there were a number of such close encounters on Monday and Tuesday, involving both Russian fighter jets and helicopters, while the Donald Cook was in international waters in the Baltic Sea, off the coast of Poland. Those waters are also close to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.”

Assorted experts (of which we seem to have a nigh endless supply – the number of “think tanks” racking their brains over such things is astonishing) worry that such encounters could by mistake turn into something nasty. Perhaps, but we actually think the probability of that happening is negligible. Otherwise, Russia and Turkey would be at war already.

Let us take a look at a map of the Baltic Sea:

The Baltic Sea, with the USS Donald Cook in it. The red spot between Poland and Lithuania is actually Russian territory – the Kaliningrad enclave (formerly the German city of Königsberg).

These maps reveal clearly what the real problem is. The Russians have aggressively and provocatively built their country far too close to where the USS Donald Cook is sailing.

To continue reading: Don’t Sweat It—-The Russian Fighters Were Unarmed And Lethal US Warships Were In Its Backyard