Putin Sends a Message to Obama

By Justin Stakes

By Dr. Earl Tilford

“Si vis pacem, para bellum” (“If you want peace, prepare for war”)

Grove City, PA -(AmmoLand.com)- On April 11-12, two Russian SU-24 fighter-bombers made repeated low-level passes over the USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer sailing in the Baltic Sea.

The ship’s crew recorded the incidents and the Navy released them online. The video reminds one of the antics of Maverick and Goose, two naval aviators harassing Russian fighter planes in the 1986 motion picture “Top Gun.” During the Cold War, such incidents were common. If we are, as some think, in a new Cold War, they will occur more frequently, so it’s important that we understand them.

First, it’s important to understand what this incident and a similar one in the Black Sea last April were not. While ill-advised and dangerous, they were not acts of war. The USS Donald’s commanding officer and its crew knew the SU-24s were unarmed. Had they been armed and had their surface-to-air missile radars locked on, the Donald could have shot them down initiating a serious confrontation between the world’s two superpowers.

Second, it’s unimaginable …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand