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The Associated Press reports that Russia and the U.S. are meeting today to discuss our country’s plans to install missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia perceives these planned bases as a threat, while we maintain that the shields are necessary to defend against attacks from rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Russia has threatened to install missiles near the Polish border should the U.S. build bases in Central Europe.

While Russia plays the innocent in the missile defense scenario, the defiant country said it would send warships to Cuba later this week. (AFP)

Along with Cuba, the Russian navy has visited other Latin American countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua. Russian ships have not passed through the Panama Canal since WWII. The move around U.S. waters obviously is an attempt to resurrect the Cold War between the two nations.

The U.S. reportedly sees “no military threat from Russia’s naval manoeuvres,” but caution is warranted. Russia’s actions are openly antagonistic from our vantage point. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already met with former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner, and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. We suspect these meetings are not merely friendly chats.

There is one bright spot in Russia’s attempts to re-launch the Cold War. AFP reports that Russia’s navy “remains severely weakened following years of post-Soviet neglect.”

 
Russia is lending Venezuela $1 billion to buy Tor-M1 surface-to-air missiles to protect 24 Su-30 MK2 jetfighters it bought from Russia. The announcement coincided with Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez’s recent visit to Moscow. 

RIA Novosti reports that between 2005 and 2007, Russia lent Venezuela over $4.4 billion to buy fighter jets, helicopters, and assault rifles.

Russia also may deploy a submarine-launched nuclear missile. We mentioned earlier this week that Russia is building space and missile defense shields and has put the armed forces on “permanent combat alert.” This planned submarine-launched missile seems to indicate Russia’s determination to “modernize” its defense systems. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia will spend an additional $3.1 billion next year, some of which will be used to replace equipment lost during its invasion of Georgia.

(Sources: RIA Novosti and Reuters)