Hey Palin, The Russians Are Coming
Russian live missile fire air exercise near Alaska
Not since 1984, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, has Russia ventured to launch dozens of nuclear bombers for an exercise in which Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire live cruise missiles. Exercise Stability 2008 will take place Oct.-6-12 over sub-Arctic Russia uncomfortably close to the US state of Alaska, and Belarus.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the exercise is part of a month-long war game described by Russian air force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik as “practicing the strategic deployment of the armed forces including the nuclear triad.”
As part of the exercise, our sources reported exclusively on Oct. 1, that Russian ships armed with nuclear missiles will dock at Syrian ports Oct. 8, on the eve of Yom Kippur, before continuing to the Caribbean for joint maneuvers with Venezuela.
More than 60,000 troops and 1.500 tanks and APCs, as well as land-based and submarine-launched nuclear missiles, were tested in the first phase of the war games.
(“Nuclear triad” refers to three tiers of a national nuclear arsenal, usually strategic bombers armed with bombs or missiles, land-based missiles 
and ballistic missile submarines. These weapons must have a first- or second-strike capability.)
Col. Drik stressed that the Tu-95 and Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers will “carry their maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board.” Also taking part in the air force exercise are Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers, air superiority fighters, interceptors and aerial tankers.
The locations of the war games were deliberately chosen to underline three messages from Moscow to Washington:
1. Russian leaders are willing to brandish their nuclear strength in America’s face - to the north (Arctic) and south (Caribbean) – to challenge America’s position as the world’s No. 1 superpower.
2. Russia is powerful and rich enough to rise above the shockwaves rocking the world’s financial markets while carrying on developing its military muscle and expanding its spheres of influence.
3. By docking at the Syrian port of Tartus, the Peter the Great nuclear missile cruiser is Moscow’s marker on the Mediterranean to betoken the end of US Sixth Fleet’s sway. Last week, the Russian Navy united its Black Sea and Mediterranean fleet commands.
Friday, Oct. 3, Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, announced that 20,000 kilometers of the Russian border passes through the Arctic. Moscow therefore claims 18 percent of its territory and is preparing a plan to 
implement this policy.
Laying down an earlier marker, the Russian nuclear powered submarine Ryazan docked at the Kamchatka Peninsula Sept. 30, after completing a one-month voyage under the Arctic Ocean without surfacing. The Project 667BDR Delta III class strategic nuclear submarine with a crew of 130 is armed with sixteen R-29RM (SS-N-23 Skiff) ballistic missiles with a range of 8,000 km.
Russian Navy Commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky welcoming the Ryazan’s arrival said: “The navy continues to play an important role in safeguarding Russia’s maritime economic and research activity throughout the world, including in the Arctic.”
Laying down these markers and challenges is clearly the prelude for Moscow’s presentation of political demands and an enhanced role as global player.
Russia to Launch Intercontinental Missile
Moscow, Oct 7 (Prensa Latina) Russia will strengthen its strategic deterrent will during the Stability-2008 military exercise by launching a Topol-M intercontinental missile from the Plesetsk launch site, military sources confirmed here Tuesday.
The rocket will be launched from Plesetsk, in the Russian Federation’s northern area, during the maneuvers from October 8-12, under command of the Strategic Rocket Forces (RSVN) Chief Nikolai Solotov, the command’s press service reported.
Russia-Venezuela to Review Agreements
Gazprom-PDVSA will invest in explorations, exploitation, processing, commercialization of power, oil and gas, and many other spheres, said the Venezuelan president.
Other joint projects will be agreed upon in Caracas in late October, when the High-Level Intergovernmental Commission (HLIC), headed by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizales, will meet.
Maduro’s visit to Russia is also aimed at preparing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s first visit to Venezuela, according to Telesur.
Medvedev’s visit might coincide with the joint naval maneuvers that the Russian and Venezuelan navies will carry out in the Caribbean Sea from November 10-14, the source added.
A squadron made up of the world’s largest missile-launching cruiser, Peter the Great, the antisubmarine ship Admiral Chabanenko and two support ships, is on its way to Venezuela to take part in the war games.
Russia to test fire cruise missiles for first time since 1984
Watching the “World News” on MSM did not mention the Russian War Games, the closest they got was to plug Vladimir Putin’s Karate video. Everyone is expecting a personality blood bath. We shall see. The point is that the world is positioning itself around the United States and trying to “send a message”: to deaf ears in Washington. Russia equips Chavez with strategic bombers and war materials for “War Games” in the Caribbean with Venezuela. Sarah Palin should use her Foreign Policy expertise during the Russian Arctic Exercise that is deliberately close to Alaska, it may even tease Alaskan airspace…
Russian warships leave for the Caribbean The Caribbean manoeuvres come as Russian-American relations have dipped to their lowest point since the Cold War over Russia’s trouncing of Georgia, Washington’s closest ally in the former Soviet Union.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who will visit Moscow this week, said Latin America needed a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce Washington’s influence in the region.
“We are ridding ourselves from the Gringo empire dominance. We need friends like Russia today,” the firebrand Venezuelan leader told Russian television on Sunday.
On their way to Venezuela, the Russian flotilla is expected to detour through the Gibraltar Strait into the Mediterranean, where the U.S. 6th Fleet is deployed. The Russian warships may visit the strategically located Syrian port of Tartus. Military sources said Russia plans to upgrade its ship maintenance station in Tartus into a full-fledged naval base.
Russian nuclear missile cruiser to dock at Syrian port on Yom Kippur eve
Russia’s warships head for exercise with Venezuelan navy
The nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great, accompanied by the Admiral Chabanenko, an anti-submarine destroyer, as well as a reconnaissance vessel and a support ship, are destined for a maritime exercise with the Venezuelan navy.
En route, however, the aim appears to be to demonstrate to the West and Nato that Russia is once again back in business as a blue-water power.
“It’s all about strutting your stuff and cocking a snook at the West, in the same way that the Bears [Russian strategic bombers] have been doing since they began patrolling again,” said Andrew Brookes, of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
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