Thousands of Chinese, Russian troops join unprecedented war games

[Judi Lynn]

Thousands of Chinese, Russian troops join unprecedented war games
Updated at 1:28 on August 23, 2005, EST.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Nearly 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops began a mock assault on the beaches of northern China on Tuesday for the final stage of unprecedented joint war games between the two former Cold War rivals.

The live-fire exercise, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005," involves about 7,000 Chinese troops and 1,800 Russians, along with state-of-the-art warships, warplanes and amphibious tanks. Operations began with a simulated naval blockade off the coast of the Shandong Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, southeast of Beijing, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The exercises were the top story on noon news broadcasts. Video showed ships and warplanes firing missiles and rockets while military music blared from shipboard speakers.
Chinese participants included three destroyers, three frigates and one submarine, along with naval aircraft, Xinhua said. They were joined by an anti-submarine vessel, missile destroyer, helicopters and a surveillance plane from the Russian navy, it said.

Top Chinese and Russian generals have sought to reassure the region that the exercises aren't directed against any third nation. Under the fictional scenario for the exercises, the forces have a U.N. mandate to stabilize a country plunged into violence by ethnic strife.
(snip/...)

http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/WorldNews/w082306A.htm

[maddezmom]

1. Peace Mission?

Wonder who they plan on bring the peace to? :shrug:

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. they want to KEEP the peace - dincha notice there's sorta

.
.
.

a destabilizing force in the ME these days?

any Nukin' goin on over there is gonna affect China and Russia

winds tend to carry that stuff around,

so if they can convince that cowboy to take his guns back to HIS side of the globe . . .

see what I'm driving at ?

This be a message

Quit messing around in our backyard!!

That's how my wee Canuk brain sees it anyhoo . .

[burrowowl]

5. Bring a peace

or take a piece out of the U$ empire?

[Maple]

2. Just a friendly reminder....

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. 'Zactly

.
.
.

[aquart]

6. Yup.

They're waiting for us to invade Iran. Which won't work without killing millions. Which is okay by BushCo.

That's when Russia/China will invade to save America's victims and their own sphere of influence. We'll be too weak to resist their overwhelming force. And we ALL have nukes.

I was wondering what the alliance would consist of. Now we know. When George invades Iran, World War III will start shortly afterward.

I would love to see a translation of the meetings that set this up.

[aquart]

7. And remember...

We no longer have working factories. If the world turns against us, we have nothing to fight with but imported parts.

[KayLaw]

14. I never thought of that!

That's definitely something to consider/

[nine23]

8. Seems to me the US is playing some rather intense "games" of their own...

...and not just in the ME, but throughout the globe. And from my point of view, this has been going on for...oh, about 60years/post WW2. For Americans to read anything into this is not only an insult to my intelligence, but makes me laugh so hard I just spilled a wee bit of this fine Crown Royale I'm drinking onto my keyboard.

Besides, they're members of the UN in GOOD STANDING, and have every right to play their own "games". They even have the fucking CLASS to confine their innocuous little games to their own soil.

[Richard Steele]

9. HISTORICALLY, Russia and China USED to get along like cats and dogs...

Long story short, their nations have held a deep-rooted
HATRED for each other for centuries...
What LIMITED "cooperation" they have had
was always a thin front for the mutual exchange of spies.

The very NOTION that they would
ever conduct "joint military maneuvers" is preposterous!
Ridiculous and ludicrous...a very silly notion indeed.

Why, in order for either nation to even CONSIDER such a notion,
they would BOTH have to be quaking in their boots in fear of some
SHARED threat.

And certainly, no threat the world has EVER seen would suffice.
It would take a THREAT of unprecedented proportions.
Something along the lines of, say...

...A deranged madman (and his Armageddon-seeking followers)
gaining simultaneous control of the world's most advanced military forces
AND thousands of nuclear weapons.

Even then, said "madman" would need to PROVE his insanity beyond any doubt!
Perhaps by: ABOLISHING "due process" in his own nation,
and fostering a fascist, pro-death, neoMilitary "cult of personality"...
INVADING small, helpless nations for profit;
using napalm and cluster-bombs on civilians,
while poisoning their air and soil FOREVER
with millions of pounds of depleted uranium...
Russia and China would NEVER, EVER join forces for any lesser reason!

And, hey, c'mon now:
What are the ODDS
of something so TOTALLY BATSHIT INSANE ever happening?

Oh, wait....NEVER MIND.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Add India to this mix, hence why we are trying to court India

but yuo are correct... alliances, I have contended, have been forming to deal with the American threat

[Gemini Cat]

12. Yes, of course.

This would never happen. :scared:

Don't forget chimp is a uniter. China and Russia are now merrily uniting, thanks to the chimp.

[Richard Steele]

13. I was going to drop the "uniter" line into this...

...but, by the time I finished, it seemed redundant.

99% of the post was very POINTED misderection;
I hope everyone read it to the PUNCH line
and got the POINT!

The USA, former "Beacon of Hope" to hudled masses everywhere...
is now, finally, UNITING the world!

Uniting the world in FEAR of the USA...

[Raster]

11. India has leased two submarines from Russia

Russia to Lease Two Nuclear Submarines to India

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov has announced that Russia plans to lease two nuclear submarines to India. The statement was made during his visit to the Amurskiy Shipyard in the Russian Far East in late January 2002. The shipyard is constructing the first submarine India would lease -- the Nerpa, a Shchuka B-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The second submarine, the Kuguar, is being constructed in the Far North at the Sevmash facility in Severodvinsk. India will provide Russia with financing to complete construction of the two SSNs, while Russia will train four Indian submarine crews and provide India with the submarines for five years, beginning in 2004. The leased submarines are expected to be armed with Club-S missiles .<1> These missiles can be outfitted with supersonic 3M-54E or subsonic 3M-54EI antiship missiles, 3M-14E land attack cruise missiles or 91RE1 antisubmarine torpedoes. The 3M-54E and 3M-14E missiles can carry a warhead of up to 400 kg and have a range of about 300 km.<2> UPI quotes Russia's Rosoboronexport arms sales agency as saying that construction of the submarines will resume when India makes the first $100 million payment.<3> According to Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, during the last four years India and Russia have signed military contracts worth $10 billion.<4> The submarine lease may open the door to sales of nuclear submarines and highly enriched uranium fuel for the submarine's reactors. Although no country has ever sold a nuclear submarine, such sales are allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) because the treaty does not restrict naval propulsion reactors.<5>

http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/week/020218.htm

[cyberpj]

15. I think they want to protect their new oil alliances when US runs out:

Russia and China:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3310317

Iran and Iraq:
http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/3670/Iraq_Signs_Military_Pact_with_Iran

And here's where it comes full circle:

Venezuela enlists Iran to steer oil to China
By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas
Published: January 31 2005 03:00 | Last updated: January 31 2005 03:00

Venezuela has enrolled Iran to help it accelerate a strategy to steer its oil exports to China and away from its traditional market of the US.

A team of traders from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-owned oil company, is to be trained in London by Iranian advisers in how to best place oil in Asian markets, according to industry sources.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3221ed52-732d-11d9-86a0-00000e2511c8.html


Guess the PNAC clan will get to pull out their BIG toys now, won't they?

God help us all.

[UpInArms]

16. related: US is starting to lose its grip on Asia

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/35699794-1337-11da-beee-00000e2511c8.html

If anyone doubts that the balance of power in the Pacific is changing, they should consider this week’s Chinese-Russian military exercises.

It is hard to imagine an event more discomfiting for Washington than the first combined show of force by an ex-superpower and a future superpower that have buried their differences and discovered a common interest in challenging the US, the only superpower of today.

...unfortunately the rest of the article is subscription only....

[leesa]

17. Bush...the uniter.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

18. The enemy of my enemy is my friend...gwb has finally united

China and Russia in shared animosity...

MKJ

[Supersedeas]

19. Isn't Prof. Rice a self-proclaimed Russian expert??

[sarcasmo]

20. You don't see Robertson talking bad about Russia or the Chinese.

They have no oil.

[samsingh]

21. Russia has one of the largest oil deposits in the world

but they can fight back

[genieroze]

22. the exercises aren't directed against any third nation?

Sure they weren't. If * has his way we will be a third world nation.