RTTue, 11 Dec 2018 02:15 UTC
Venezuela has welcomed the arrival of Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers as an opportunity to demonstrate its resolve to defend the nation against possible foreign military intervention, with the help of "friends" if need be.
Two Tu-160 strategic bombers made a gracious landing at Simรณn Bolรญvar International Airport on Monday where they were greeted by the honor guard of the Venezuelan air force. Wearing orange pilot suits and combat helmets, Russian servicemen descended onto the runway where they were eager to present their colleagues with a scaled model of the 'White Swan' bomber, which they had just flown over 10,000 kilometers to reach the Caribbean shores in order to take part in
"combined operational flights" with the Venezuelan Air Force.
We are getting prepared to defend Venezuela when it is needed.
And Venezuela
"will do it with our friends who advocate respect-based relations between states," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said after the two bombers, together with An-124 transport and an Il-62 plane, landed in Venezuela.
While the Russian delegation painted their arrival to be a rare friendly visit,
the Venezuelan Defence Ministry noted that 'Russia-Venezuela 2018' operational flights will represent a "demonstration of strength." The training, Caracas
maintains, will foster military-technical cooperation and facilitate the exchange of practical experience between the two militaries.
The Tu-160, nicknamed the 'White Swan' in Russia and designated as 'Blackjack' by NATO, is the largest supersonic combat aircraft in the world. The long-range aircraft, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional missiles,
can cover a distance of more than 12,000 kilometers without refueling. The Russian Air Force conducted similar non-stop flights to Venezuela in 2008 and 2013.
The flight to Venezuela over the Atlantic Ocean, the Barents, Norwegian and Caribbean Seas did not go unnoticed, as Norwegian F-16 fighter jets shadowed the Russian planes during part of their flight, even though according to the Russian Defense Ministry the flight was conducted
"in strict accordance with the international regulations on the use of airspace." The bombers' deployment to the Latin American nation follows Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's visit to Moscow last week.
Comment: No doubt this strengthening of Venezuelan defenses has thrown much of
Washington's regime-changers into the throes of anger; Maduro's government will now be that much more difficult to topple - and all because of a
Russian-Venezuelan alliance no less!
Of course the hegemonic clique can't say this, so they have to lash out by pretending to take the moral high ground in laughably hypocritical fashion.
From RT:
A tweet posted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning the landing of two Russian bombers in Venezuela as a "squandering" of public money, has quickly backfired, with many eager to point out some glaring hypocrisies.
Russia sent the two Tu-160 strategic bombers on the 10,000km trip to land at Simรณn Bolรญvar International Airport on Monday in a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has repeatedly expressed concerns that the US is trying to topple it.
Maduro on Sunday warned of an effort "directly coordinated from the White House to disturb democratic life in Venezuela" and a possible "coup" against the government.
Pompeo eagerly denounced Russia for sending the bombers "halfway around the world," writing that it amounted to "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer."
But the responses to the tweet were probably not quite what Pompeo anticipated, with many noting that the US has been known to send its own bombers around the world without much consideration for national boundaries and international law.
Others pointed out that the US not only sends its own bombers wherever it wants but actually has hundreds of bases for them all over the world.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
had a few choice words for Pompeo as well:
Mike Pompeo is in no position to claim that sending two strategic bombers to Venezuela was a "squandering" of public funds, Moscow countered, saying half of the US military budget is enough "to support all of Africa."
The US Secretary of State produced a lengthy tirade on Twitter on Tuesday, claiming the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 bombers was an example of "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer." Later in the day, the remark was met with a sharp rebuke from the Kremlin.
"This is indeed very undiplomatic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding, "we think it was an utterly inappropriate comment." US President Donald Trump might "give his own assessment" of Pompeo's statement as he did in the past, he said.
Saying that, Peskov made a veiled reference to President Trump's inflammatory tweet in which he accused Rex Tillerson, Pompeo's predecessor, of lacking the "mental capacity" to do his job. "He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," Trump tweeted.
"As far as the 'squandering' is concerned, we don't agree with that," Peskov stated, noting that half of the bulky US military budget "would be enough to support all of Africa."
[...]
That aside, it has recently emerged that Donald Trump has committed to a $750bn military budget, despite earlier labeling the $716bn previously allocated for defense 'crazy'.
Above all, the mammoth US military budget has long been the largest in the world. According to the reputed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it dwarfs the defense expenditure of Russia, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany combined.
Watch a good summation of the whole story:
Comment: No doubt this strengthening of Venezuelan defenses has thrown much of Washington's regime-changers into the throes of anger; Maduro's government will now be that much more difficult to topple - and all because of a Russian-Venezuelan alliance no less!
Of course the hegemonic clique can't say this, so they have to lash out by pretending to take the moral high ground in laughably hypocritical fashion. From RT: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had a few choice words for Pompeo as well: Watch a good summation of the whole story: