More Russian Harassment

The Russian harassment of US assets continues.

“ ‘On April 14, a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft flying a routine route in international airspace over the Baltic Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner,’ said Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez.”

“ ‘More specifically, the SU-27 closed within 50 feet of the wing-tip of the RC-135 and conducted a barrel roll starting from the left side of the aircraft, going over the top of the aircraft and ended up to the right of the aircraft,’ he said.” (1)

Two comments, here.

1. Clearly, unilateral restraint (appeasement) on our part is accomplishing nothing and, worse, is encouraging the Russians to perform ever more aggressive acts of harassment.  It’s just a matter of time until a Russian pilot misjudges a maneuver and a US ship or plane is damaged or destroyed and US lives are lost.

2. When will the US begin providing escort for high value assets?  We’ve seen the Chinese and Russians repeatedly harass these assets and the Chinese have already forced down and seized an EP-3.  We’re going to lose another high value asset if we don’t start providing protection for them.  This is a failure of leadership.

We need to shoot down the next Russian aircraft that attempts an unsafe act or we need to abandon the Baltic to the Russians.  What we’re doing makes no sense and is accomplishing nothing.

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(1)The Washington Free Beacon website, “Russian Jet Threatened U.S. Recon Aircraft”, Bill Gertz, 16-Apr-2016,

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-jet-threatened-u-s-recon-aircraft/

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