Vocal Voices

Suddenly this is 'news' for the BBC and Sky. What, exactly, is the agenda?

When I was in the RAF, 70s and 80s, the height of the Cold War, we regularly intercepted Bear and Bison bombers and "buzzed" suspect soviet ships and trawlers and these things never got in the press or media, so what is going on?

I seriously suspect that some hawks would actually like to see a new Cold War break out.

It might be good for the Military Industrial Complex, but where does it leave us normal people?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016 ... baltic-sea

30 feet sounds a bit close though ..... was that the "norm" back when you were serving, WM?

Well now....

I read this on an article on USA Today as I took the tram to work this morning.

The UK articles are missing a very vital piece of text which is in that article.

The Cook, one of four advanced warships of the Forward Deployed Naval Force, arrived in the Polish port of Gydnia on Friday. It had been shadowing a Russian intelligence-gathering ship for some time before the encounters

Now WM knows the answer to this exactly as I do. What do you think the US would have done to a Russian naval vessel shadowing a US Elint vessel operating "close" (relatively), to US waters????

I know that the US used to use supersonic fly by's which caused significant damage with the shockwave.

I really, really, hate being told part of a story and being whipped up into a lather against the Russians for doing something the NATO alliance would have done themselves.

[edit]. I forgot to mention that the USA today article has dropped out of the Google Realtime cache of stories too. I can only find the "Butter wouldn't melt", stories now.

The Soviets used to have a fleet of "trawlers" and it was common knowledge in the ranks that the RAF and NATO used them for strafing practice. RAF Buccaneers were known to "ride the wave", they could fly so low, and then at the last second pull up and roll away.

These things were all part of the game of 'phoney war,' and they still are. Reporting what the Russians are doing is to keep us, the public, aware that they are the "bad" guys and not to be trusted.

If you see the video of the event the laughing and smiling American seamen do not seem to be too perturbed.