[Restayvien]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100325/...h-45dbed5.html

Seriously, 20 intercepts in one year?

[deraj]

'They flew south toward Ireland, then turned north and flew away.' Obviously they were just looking for vodka....


Why would the russians want to bother the UK though? There just seems to be no reason, especially since they're about 20 miles from Alaska. Bomb that, we really wouldn't mind going back to 49 states...

[AuinMyrrath]

It comes off like an airspace probe, checking scramble times and possibly trying to ascertain the UK's radar capabilities. Of course, using a nuclear-capable bomber is an insanely stupid risk; the British used cargo planes during the cold war, since it doesn't risk international incident.

[Fish Ead]

They used to pull stuff like this all the time during the cold war. Called it "Sabre Rattling", I believe. It's basically designed to test response times and whatnot. Hadn't happened as much during the Yelstin era, but with Putin at the controls, they're up to their old tricks. I reckon they're also flexing their muscles a bit, pulling a bit of a nationalistic stunt, trying to boost pride in their own citizens and garner a lil fear/respect in other nations. Definitely an in your face way of doing it though.

[Restayvien]

Hmm maybe we should surface our Trident system off their coast. Oh no wait, that would be retarded and unecessary. :P

[Spiritbw]

The apparnetly have been doing similar stuff for a while on the Americans as well, Don't have the article right at hand but the same thing was happenign for Alaska. Less sure about this but I believe the Japanese had similar run ins.

[Restayvien]

It just strikes me as a tad pathetic. I mean, their military is pretty outdated. And they can't start a war against the west. And our militaries aren't going to be intimidated. Just seems like a waste of everyone's time and fuel to me.

[ForbiddenKnowledge]

I think its just sabre rattling. I don't see any serious threat being presented - if Russia really was gonna start war, they wouldn't send a couple of nuke bombers alone.

That said, its still worrying. These days, I don't see that any large modern nation needs to do this kind of stuff - we're no threat to them, and more importantly, rely on them for a lot of gas supplies.


Maybe they are just bored.

[Spiritbw]

Originally Posted by Restayvien

It just strikes me as a tad pathetic. I mean, their military is pretty outdated. And they can't start a war against the west. And our militaries aren't going to be intimidated. Just seems like a waste of everyone's time and fuel to me.

Maybe not a conventional war, but they do still ahve a fiar supply of nukes. Though to be honest, that almost makes it more idiotic.

[Dark Adeptus]

Maybe they're scaremongering us? Or just dusting off their old toys but showing them off to say that they're still operational?