Author Topic: Russia's spy ship off our coast  (Read 5656 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline pjohns

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 467
  • Gender: Male
Russia's spy ship off our coast
« on: February 17, 2017, 05:29:18 pm »
I am usually in agreement with Donald Trump--and, to paraphrase the old saying, he should be compared to the alternative (which, last November, was Hillary Clinton), rather to the Almighty--but I will have to say that I am a bit troubled by his easy dismissal of a Russian spy ship's operating off the coast of Connecticut.

Yes, I would agree with him--in theory, at least--that it would be desirable to have better relations with Russia.

But that is not likely to happen, what with Vladimir Putin at the helm in Moscow.  He is no Boris Yeltsin--or even Mikhail Gorbachev. 

Moreover, the desire to have better relations has to be reciprocal, in order to work.  And Putin evidently desires a Russia that dominates the entire world; and sees the US as an impediment to his longing. 

If I were in the White House, I would instruct Putin to get that spy ship out of there within the next 24 hours.

And if he were to do so, then fine.

Otherwise, I would have the ship blown out of the water.

(No, this would almost certainly not begin WWIII, as some have suggested.  Syria, for instance, downed a Russian warplane in November of 2015, and that did not start any war.  Moreover, Putin is a pragmatist; he will push hard, to see just how much this new American administration will take--but he does not desire war with the US.)

Offline Idaho_Cowboy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,924
  • Gender: Male
  • Ride for the Brand - Joshua 24:15
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2017, 06:13:54 pm »
I understand the frustration, but as long as they stay in international waters there ain't much we can do. Maritime law is very clear on the subject.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 06:14:15 pm by Idaho_Cowboy »
“The way I see it, every time a man gets up in the morning he starts his life over. Sure, the bills are there to pay, and the job is there to do, but you don't have to stay in a pattern. You can always start over, saddle a fresh horse and take another trail.” ― Louis L'Amour

Offline Joe Wooten

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,455
  • Gender: Male
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2017, 11:03:01 pm »
As long as the ship stays in international waters it can go wherever it wants. The old USSR used to keep scores of "fishing trawlers" off the east and west coasts right up to the time they collapsed. Freedom of navigation laws apply to everyone.

Offline dfwgator

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 17,473
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2017, 11:04:32 pm »

Offline EC

  • Shanghaied Editor
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,804
  • Gender: Male
  • Cats rule. Dogs drool.
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2017, 11:41:24 pm »
Said it on another thread - you start to worry when the spy ship isn't there.
The universe doesn't hate you. Unless your name is Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Avatar courtesy of Oceander

I've got a website now: Smoke and Ink

geronl

  • Guest
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2017, 12:48:09 am »
Trump called it a submarine.

Too bad those morning bullet points don't give him the details.

Offline pjohns

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 467
  • Gender: Male
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2017, 07:37:49 pm »


Let us at least be clear as to what I am saying.

I am not worried that the Russians are "coming."

Rather, I am upset that they are so bold about their spying--and yet we seem complacent, in that regard. 

Wingnut

  • Guest
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2017, 07:48:47 pm »

Offline EC

  • Shanghaied Editor
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,804
  • Gender: Male
  • Cats rule. Dogs drool.
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2017, 07:55:13 pm »
Rather, I am upset that they are so bold about their spying--and yet we seem complacent, in that regard.

Don't be. We are a little on the blatant side too when it comes to spying on installations. It's policy. Less so, since most of the West's spying on Russia is satellite based, but still obvious.

We know they are watching, they know we are watching. They know we probably have watchers they've not spotted as well, we know they probably have watchers we've not spotted as well.

It's kept the world from blowing up for 70 years, so it seems to work.  :shrug:
The universe doesn't hate you. Unless your name is Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Avatar courtesy of Oceander

I've got a website now: Smoke and Ink

Offline Remington Snodgrass

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12
  • Gender: Male
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2017, 02:02:46 am »
Our military has yet to be remasculated after eight years of Barak Hussein Quisling Obama. It has been some years since I viewed a military chart of the West Coast. But, I believe the ADIZ went out 200 miles.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2017, 05:37:08 am by Remington Snodgrass »

Wingnut

  • Guest
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2017, 02:33:13 am »
Our military has yet to be remasculated after eight years of Barak Hussein Quisling Obama.

Care to extrapolate on that a tad more?

Offline Smokin Joe

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 56,397
  • I was a "conspiracy theorist". Now I'm just right.
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2017, 11:09:06 am »
Trump called it a submarine.

Too bad those morning bullet points don't give him the details.
I don't know. Did it 'dive'? Did it come back up?

That said, Russian (Soviet) spy vessels are nothing new, they stay in international waters and commonly look a little like fishing trawlers. No doubt they are not the only other country doing so.
How God must weep at humans' folly! Stand fast! God knows what he is doing!
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C S Lewis

Offline Cripplecreek

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,718
  • Gender: Male
  • Constitutional Extremist
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2017, 11:43:58 am »
Let us at least be clear as to what I am saying.

I am not worried that the Russians are "coming."

Rather, I am upset that they are so bold about their spying--and yet we seem complacent, in that regard.

I'm also upset that republicans seem to have adopted the flower child mentality about Russia starting a new cold war.

Offline pjohns

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 467
  • Gender: Male
Re: Russia's spy ship off our coast
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2017, 10:31:29 pm »
I'm also upset that republicans seem to have adopted the flower child mentality about Russia starting a new cold war.

I am not sure that the "[R]epublicans" in general have done so.

But Donald Trump--who is considerably better as president that Hillary Clinton would have been, in my opinion--may indeed be faulted for this mindset.