Blue Horizons Alternative Futures Resurgent Russia

<p>In August 2007 Major General Pavel Androsov Commander of the Russian Strategic Bomber Force announced with a bit of flair that two of his TU-95 bombers had flown from Russia to the U.S. military base in Guam during the Valiant Shield 2007 exercises and had exchanged smiles with U.S. fighter pilots before returning to Russia. The question is what was the motivation behind their smiles? Were they simply friendly gestures or something more akin to Jack Nicholson's evil smile in the movie The Shining when his axe-wielding character announced his return - Here's Johnny! While this recent exchange of high-altitude pleasantries is only one in a series of provocative actions that Russia has taken over the past several months (similar airborne encounters have occurred off the coast of Alaska Norway Japan Iceland and the United Kingdom) it would be premature to announce that the Russian military is once again America's military peer far from it.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>