Russia would cross “a red line for the United States of America” if it were to base nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba, a top US Air Force officer warned on Tuesday.
“If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the US Air Force’s chief of staff.
He was referring to a report in the newspaper Izvestia that said the Russian military was thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis in response to US plans to install missile defenses in eastern Europe.
Izvestia cited an unnamed senior Russian air force official as saying such flights were under discussion. But it was unclear whether they would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba or use Cuba as a refueling stop.
In his confirmation hearing to become the Air Force’s chief of staff, Schwartz was asked what he would recommend if Russia based nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba.
“I would certainly offer the best military advice, that we engage the Russians not to pursue that approach,” he said, adding that Russia would cross a “red line” if it did.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on the Izvestia report because there had been no “official response from the Russian government.”
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman responded to the report by saying: “That scenario is hypothetical and speculative.”
Long-range bomber patrols to Cuba would signal a reawakening of military cooperation by former Cold War allies Moscow and Havana and resurrect issues that arose with the Cuban missile crisis.
The crisis, which brought Washington and Moscow to the brink of nuclear war, ended with an understanding that Moscow would remove its intermediate range missiles from Cuba and not introduce strategic systems on the island.
The Soviets tested the understanding in 1970 when they moved to establish a base for nuclear submarines in Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Moscow backed away from that plan, but began occasional flights by Tu-95 Bear reconnaissance aircraft from Murmansk to Cuba.
The US never challenged the Bear flights because the aircraft were not bombers, historians say.
Another crisis erupted in 1979 with the discovery of two MiG-23 fighter squadrons in Cuba. Then-president Jimmy Carter decided not to press the issue after concluding that the fighter-bombers were not configured to carry nuclear weapons.
Over the past year, Russia has revived long-range strategic bomber patrols in the Pacific and north Atlantic.
The Russian moves come amid rising tensions over the US missile defense plans and warnings by Moscow that it will be forced to counter them militarily.
Until now, US officials have shrugged off the stepped up Russian military activity, while insisting that a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors it plans to install in Poland pose no threat to Russia.
White House press secretary Dana Perino recalled assurances US President George W. Bush offered Russian President Dmitry Medvedev two weeks ago at a G8 summit.
“The president repeated that our missile defense system should not be seen as a threat to Russia, we want to actually work with the Russians to design a system that Russia, and Europe and the United States could work on together as equal partners and we’ll continue to do that,” she said.
“We seek strategic cooperation with the Russians. We want to work with them on preventing missiles from rogue nations like Iran from threatening our friends and allies,” Perino said.
But Medvedev has warned that the missile defense project worsens regional security and will force Moscow to consider counter-measures.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to