In January 2019, Bill Gertz, senior editor of the Washington Free Beacon, writes that ”Russia is deploying long-range, precision cruise missiles to the western Atlantic that American defense officials say will allow Moscow to target Washington and other East Coast cities with conventional or nuclear attacks. Moscow is adding Kalibr land attack cruise missiles to both warships and missile submarines that Moscow plans to use in Atlantic patrols near the United States, sorties that were once routine during the Cold War.”
Putin is just exploiting an opportunity. By cornering the Americans like the Americans have cornered China he is forcing the US to;
1. Either respond with violence against Russia’s Naval ships, and that would leave the US open to a Chinese violent response in the South China Sea.
2. Or the US can shrug off the Russian behavior and win the South China Sea dispute, if Xi Jinping stays reasonable, which is far from certain. But then the Russians would have moved forward their positions in the West Atlantic Ocean permanently.
What does the US rather want, I think is the million dollar question. Freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, or owning their ”own” waters and thereby securing their safety? I might add that securing your ”own” waters only means marginalized higher security for American bases and cities on the east coast. But it does limit Russian ability to commit sneak attacks against the US.
Now I will advise you.
a. Make efforts to shadow the Russian submarines 24/7.
b. Then double the stakes by deploying submarines in the Barents Sea.
c. Norway has long since requested an increased US presence in the Barents Sea. Exploit it!
Homework:
Is there a German thumbprint on this venture spearheaded by the Russians? The Trump administration has cornered Germany and its allied partner the Netherlands pretty hard these passed days in the beginning of 2019.
To me it looks like the Germans’ thumb-mark, although I would say that the thumbprint is to small at this moment to justify a reproach. But I would also say that jumping to conclusions is not really jumping to conclusions, it’s merely making them a suspect. But to openly accuse the Germans at this point wouldn’t be the right rapprochement.
This is the lesson for today; Every time you get suspicious, keep the thought in the back of your head and never stop contemplating it, never stop comparing it with new information, until you can confirm it or until it has been falsified, even if it will take years of fact searching and cognitive thinking. Your level of perseverance determines if you will become a good intelligence person or not.
Roger M. Klang, defense political Spokesman for the Christian Values Party (Kristna Värdepartiet) in Sweden
The strategist cowboy 