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Russian military in Cuba?

What’s up with the Russians and Cuba.  First, we get a repot that a USAF general is warning the Russian not to base long range bombers in Cuba.  Then we get a report from The Guardian that the bombers will be refueled on the island.

Russia was today considering the use of bases in Cuba for its nuclear bombers, in a move that revives memories of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, according to reports in a Russian newspaper.

Russian military sources said that Moscow is contemplating using Cuba as a refuelling base for its nuclear-bomb carrying aircraft. The move is in retaliation for the Bush administration’s plan to site a missile defence shield in Europe.

Russia objects vehemently to the Pentagon’s plan. It says the US’s proposed system in Poland and the Czech republic – which formally agreed a deal with Washington last week – poses a direct threat to Russia and its security.

Now we get the news that the bomber basing story is false, but nothing about the refueling.  This from the Associated Press.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies say the Defense Ministry is denying a newspaper report that Russia was considering basing nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba.

The report in the newspaper Izvestia this week cited an anonymous top air force official as saying the bombers could be based in Cuba as a response to U.S. plans to place elements of a missile-defense system in Eastern European countries.

Defense Ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin dismissed the report on Thursday, according to the Interfax and RIA-Novosti news agencies.

“We see this sort of anonymous allegation as disinformation and another media hoax,” he was quoted as saying.

And then comes a report from Germany’s Deutche Welle that Russia may reopen an old radar facility in Lourdes, Cuba.

We’d better hope Barack has studied history.  He’s not old enough to remember 1962.

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