Companion Article: Obama Administration Turns Down Request from Ukraine for Weapons and Ammunition
Russian mayor demands Alaskan island be returned to RussiaOriginally Posted by TruthSeeker11
Obama Gives Russia Free US Military Equipment Used By Army, Marines
March 26, 2014 | 1 Comment
Behind closed doors the U.S. government is giving Russia free military equipment—also used to train American troops—even after President Obama announced punitive sanctions against Moscow and, more importantly, a suspension in military engagement over the invasion and occupation of Ukraine.Medvedev responded: “Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you …”
Obama: “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”
Medvedev: “I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir [Putin]…”
The secret operation was exposed this week by members of Congress that discovered it in the process of reviewing the Fiscal Year 2014 budget and the proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget request. It turns out that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has been providing the Russian Federation with the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES), the federal legislators say. The U.S. military uses MILES for tactical force-on-force training because it has a system of lasers and dummy ammunition to simulate ground combat.
It’s a crucial, military-grade technology that’s similar to a “laser tag” available in some commercial markets, according to one of the outraged lawmakers (Oklahoma Republican Jim Bridenstine) that helped uncover the scandal. Bridenstine, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has joined forces with Ohio Republican Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, to demand an end to the program. Along with about a dozen other House colleagues they penned a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who oversees the agency carrying out the “irresponsible military equipment transfers” to Russia.
The Obama administration’s planned supply to the Russian Federation is a grave mistake given the recent invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, the legislators point out. “It is difficult to imagine a worse time to provide military-grade technology employed by the U.S. Marine Corps, Army, and Special Operations Forces to Russia than when it has illegally invaded Ukraine and is violating the intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty,” the letter to Moniz says. “To make matters worse, it is our understanding from the budget documents that the Department has been, and continues to propose, providing this technology to Russia free-of-charge.”
This is preposterous and borders on criminal if you really think about it. As if we need reminding, Congressman Turner recants Putin’s “brazen disregard for the sovereignty and stability of Eastern Europe” as well as his disregard for international law.
“Despite this overwhelming evidence that Putin is not our ally, it is astonishing that the Obama Administration would still provide superior, U.S. military technology to an aggressive and advancing Russia,” Turner said. “The United States must seriously redirect its approach and immediately terminate all military aid to Russia.”
President Obama has already proven to be an international joke for his response to the worsening crisis in Ukraine. Even the mainstream media in this country has blasted the commander-in-chief’s foreign policy as based on fantasy. One famously liberal magazine published a satirical article saying that the Obama administration froze Putin’s Netflix account as a “major ramping up of sanctions.” In a piece published a few days ago, a former veteran congressman wrote this: “The embarrassment of U.S. impotence in dealing with Russian aggression in the Ukraine is only the beginning of what will likely be a series of foreign policy disasters.”
Russia sold Alaska and the surrounding islands to the United States in 1857 for $7.2 million in gold.
By Aileen Graef | March 26, 2014 at 4:32 PM | Comments
March 26 (UPI) -- A Russian mayor in the Siberian city of Yakutsk has demanded that a small Alaskan island be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
"2014 we will mark the 220th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church mission to North America and this is a perfect time to pay attention to the Russian America. I stand for the restoration of historical justice -- the return of Spruce Island to its lawful owner -- the Russian Orthodox Church." Yakutsk Mayor Aysen Nikolayev told a local newspaper.
Yakutsk researchers claim they found a certificate of transfer in the Alaskan capital of Juneau that says the island was granted to the Russian Orthodox Church "for eternity." A senior church official said the papers must be studied for verification of their validity.
Spruce island has 250 residents who are still considered to be living on American soil.
[HuffPost Live]
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-Ne...#ixzz2xBd5kSiG
Alaska back to Russia: Petition to secede gains 28,000 signatures on WhiteHouse.gov
A fishing boat at the head of Port Valdez on the Prince William Sound in Alaska. (The Associated Press)
By Ben Axelson | baxelson@syracuse.com
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on March 26, 2014 at 8:58 PM, updated March 26, 2014 at 9:02 PM
A petition seeking to give Alaska back to Russia is gaining steam on the White House's petition website, petitions.whitehouse.gov.
The petition is strangely worded and full of grammar problems, but that hasn't stopped it from getting more than 28,000 signatures since it was created on March 21.
Titled "Alaska back to Russia." it reads:
"Groups Siberian russians crossed the Isthmus (now the Bering Strait) 16-10 thousand years ago. "Russian began to settle on the Arctic coast, Aleuts inhabited the Aleutian Archipelago.
"First visited Alaska August 21, 1732, members of the team boat "St. Gabriel »under the surveyor Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fedorov during the expedition Shestakov and DI Pavlutski 1729-1735 years
"Vote for secession of Alaska from the United States and joining Russia"
The Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands.Thinkstock photo
The creator of the petition is known only as "S. V." of Anchorage, Alaska.
The White House will issue an official response to a petition on the site if it reaches 100,000 signatures in 30 days, Fox News reported.
This petition has until April 20 to get another 70,000 signatures.
Alaska was purchased from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867 by Secretary of State William Seward. At the time, the purchase was sometimes referred to as "Seward's Folly."
In 2012, a similar petition for Texas to secede from the United States got enough signatures to merit a response, plus a few thousand more.
A White House official wrote this statement:
"Our founding fathers established the Constitution of the United States 'in order to form a more perfect union' through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government. They enshrined in that document the right to change our national government through the power of the ballot -- a right that generations of Americans have fought to secure for all. But they did not provide a right to walk away from it."What do you think about the petition to give Alaska to Russia? Leave a comment below.
Russia, Only a 'Regional Power' -- That Neighbors the U.S.
March 27, 2014
William Tate
By dismissing Russia as essentially irrelevant -- merely a "regional power" -- to U.S. interests, Barack Obama was prevaricating. After all, Russia and the United States are neighbors, and the region Russia threatens includes us. He should know that.
Or else Comrade Obama (Hey, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister said it, I didn't) forgot, or didn't know, that the U.S. and Russia are separated by less than three miles of the Bering Strait. (Yes, you really can see Russia from Alaska.) Or that Russia has a recent history of flexing its military muscle in U.S. airspace. From the Washington Free Beacon in 2012:
"The U.S. Northern Command and joint U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command said two Russian bombers violated U.S. airspace near Alaska during recent arctic war games… Defense officials believe the Russian war games simulated strikes using long-range cruise missiles against the U.S. missile defense interceptor base at Fort Greely, Alaska, as well as strikes on strategic radar systems based on the Aleutian island chain..."
And the Toronto Sun reported in 2010 that:
"NORAD fighter jets have intercepted between 12 and 18 Russian bombers per year since 2007… Canadian fighter jets scrambled to repel Russian bombers that made several attempts to probe Canadian airspace on Wednesday (July 28, 2010.) QMI Agency has learned that two CF-18s took off from CFB Bagotville to intercept two TU-95 long range bombers about 463 km east of Goose Bay, N.L. Attempts by Russia to test Canadian airspace have been going on since 2007; military and intelligence analysts tell QMI Agency the frequency has been increasing since then, but one senior official described Wednesday's event as 'not the usual s--t.' "
Oh, and these bombers (TU-95 "Bears") are nuke capable.
"One military analyst tells QMI Agency the Russians have been known to fly with nukes on board just to flex their muscle and prove to the world they are still a powerful country."
Sarah Palin was excoriated for pointing out that Alaska and Russia are neighbors -- just as Mitt Romney was ridiculed for identifying Russia as America's number one geopolitical foe. Now that Russia's actions have proved them right, and Obama wrong, will Obama receive the same harsh treatment?
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