Nothing, I reapeat, nothing flies over our aircraft carriers. I don't care if they were escorted, they still shouldn't fly over them. Shouldn't be tolerated one bit.

It could have been a great live fire test for the aircraft carriers defenses though. Should have gone through with it...

Is Russia trying to start something???

Taking pictures of our carriers!!!!

sisterdearest09 - Seems to me the Russians don't like missiles on the borders, much like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia won't start anything in my opinion. They are just playing the same game we play.

There is a difference than missles in another country and flying directly over an aircraft carrier with bombers at 500 feet! That is an "in your face" move if ever there was one.

They are trying to start something.

I hope that the escorting F 18's gave the Russian bombers a missle lock, to send a message.

Kate - They are not trying to start anything. They are just flexing some muscle. Think of it as a not to friendly response to missiles on their borders. Remember we were practically threatening war with them over missiles in Cuba.

Kate

Don't be so trusting, that is too close for comfort. Haven't we learn anything in the past eight years.

mstee

If the U.S. flew over North Korean airspace during their missle testing they would have bombed us and felt justified.

If we bombed them for the same violation we would be guilty of brutality. The first time they flew overhead it should have been explained next time they would be bombed and not escorted. If they did it again we have to stop it completely. They only do what we allow them to do.

It is evident that the U.S. is getting weaker, dumber and so "delicate" not to step on anyone's toes, that one can surmise our decline is inevitable; in other words, the handwriting is on the wall for the long-term...and I am not even talking about the economy, or all the scandals related to it. You don't have to be Einstein to figure this one out...

The Russian know that we have a weak president that would rather isolate his country than defend it. Mr. Obama would rather talk on Jay Leno and tax the hell out of his people than go after people who would like nothing more than crush the U.S.

Oh give it a rest, Oliver. Our President has a lot of work to do to repair the damage left over by Bush. We need to repair our friendships and reputation in the world. We don't do that by trying to bully the nations of the world.

We have the Monroe Doctrine and the Russians are trying to redeem their honor with their own version of a Monroe Doctrine.

Who the hell do some of you think we are? The British Royal Navy, in service of Her Majesty? Yes, it was an in-your-face move and we responded how a true superpower should....with a measured but calculated response.

Stop rattling the sabers and work to build some peace. Our world surely needs it now!

Drew - Good points. Oliver wants to bomb somebody.

Thanks Drew for putting it so well, I agree with you and the tension in the area is mounting, so of course Russia put in their appearance.
Oliver- do you really think we should start a war over the kids flexing a little, and don't you think our show of force is our flexing?

maybe Medvedev should go on "Conan" and Putin go on "The View" since or do some NCAA basketball brackets. If they think military threats, diplomatic grandstanding, or any traditional means will make Obama blink they have another thing coming! If Russia wants to "flex" and get Obama's attention they should start hitting the entertainment circuit because that is where Obama's priorities lie. He seems to care less about diplomacy (to wit the infantile "push button" to the Russians and insulting of the UK) or security (dropping charges against terrorists or even releases detainees into the USA).

Relax; this is nothing new. Low-altitude "surprise" overflights of U.S. Navy ships and sometimes U.S. territory by the Russian and/or Soviet military were a fairly common occurrence back in Cold War days, including during the administration of Ronald Reagan, when the superpowers were engaged in a perpetual game of cat-and-mouse and the world was no more than the push of a button away from nuclear annihilation. Routine overflights of Soviet territory by American U-2 spy planes became the practice as far back as the 1950s. Later, the SR-71 spy plane took over the role. Navy ships and submarines were often involved in these games. To U.S. military commanders, all of this is "old hat."

The recent "incidents" in the Sea of Japan thus merely repeat a familiar pattern, whereby Soviet long-range bombers (their most intimidating manned weapons) would suddenly appear out of the clouds in mid-ocean over a nuclear-armed U.S. aircraft carrier battle group (the prime symbol of the outreach of U.S. power) just to show that the carriers had nowhere to hide and that the Kremlin could do it. These incidents sometimes made the news, when Defense Department spokespersons would reassure the public that the U.S. aircraft carriers were well-defended and never in any danger.

Today's re-plays of this worn-out game (paralleled by the recent attempted penetrations by Russian Bear bombers of well-defended Canadian air space) have, of course, a different interpretation. The most likely one is that the Kremlin, under the autocratic rulership of overinflated ego ("Me Tarzan")Vladimir Putin and stung by its historic decline from superpower status, is finally losing it. Or perhaps it's just a case of the overworked Putin privately losing his mind. That's assuming he ever had one. If U.S. President Barack Obama bothered to communicate anything in response to the Russian leader, the message was probably along the lines of, "WHAT -- are you mad?"

The Russians are really pathetic, and these kinds of games make them look exactly like what they are -- children. A superpower does not behave like Russia.

70 nautical miles? Тоо late. As we say in Russia: "Сonventional enemy conditionally destroyed".
P.S. Sorry for my english. Don't know the official terminology of NATO.

The fact that Tu-95s flew over the US aircraft carrier group *twice* in parade formation at that altitude only means one thing - fighters weren't scrambled to intercept at *all*, until the Bears were leaving. If you all recall the Chinese incident - their fighters gave their lives to not allow a US spy plane to enter their territory... US fighter jets should have forced Russian bombers to alter course, and the fact that they didn't means they ### up, and for some strange reason weren't aware that Russian bombers are flying over head. Twice.
LOL.
Maybe there is something to the rumor that they developed plasma based stealth tech...

Relax...those extremists out in the desert or in caves somewhere are no threat to the US. (message board comment from early 1992)

Blah - Quite frankly we are a greater threat to the guys in caves.

International waters, it's not sovereign air space, it's international waters. In international waters you can fly, or sail, or motor anywhere you want. No one has authority in those waters (or international airspace for that matter), that's why it's called international. We also have the right to be able to traverse other countries national waters as long as it's on a passage to somewhere else. Otherwise countries like Iran could simply close off the straights off their waters to our battle groups because our fleet needs to travel within sight from their borders. If you want countries to start exercising their just "rights" by forbidding an unfriendly military from coming close to them, our entire navy will be bottled up in Norfolk within a month.