More U.S.-U.K. Brinkmanship over the Black Sea

Sept. 24, 2020 (EIRNS)—The U.S.-U.K. military brinkmanship with Russia over the Black Sea continues. Russia’s National Defense Control Center reported that two Russian Su-27 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a pair of B-52 bombers over the Black Sea yesterday. According to the Center, on Wednesday Russian radars detected two air targets over the neutral waters of the Black Sea. The aircraft were approaching Russia’s sovereign airspace. TASS reports that the two bombers earlier had entered Ukrainian airspace “within the framework of security cooperation.”

Forbes military commentator David Axe, who mostly functions as cheerleader for U.S. and NATO military operations, got overexcited in a column that the U.S. and the U.K. had pulled off another “intelligence trap” against the Russians. According to Axe, one B-52 flew down towards Odessa before turning west to head to Romania. While the bomber was approaching Odessa, no less than five NATO intelligence aircraft, four American and one British, were over the Black Sea “undoubtedly monitoring Russian air-defenses and other forces as the Russians went on alert.” They all had their digital transponders turned on so that anyone could track them on any of a number of flight tracking websites. “Working together, the five intel aircraft could spot Russian vehicles, pinpoint air-defense systems and listen in on radio communications,” Axe wrote.