Dangerous: An undetected Russian sub and the ‘likeability’ factor in U.S. politics

THE BEST OF LEV

Lev NavrozovLev Navrozov

Lev Navrozov emigrated from the Soviet Union with his family in 1972. He so cherished the freedom of press he found here that he dedicated his remaining years to alerting otherwise-oblivious Americans to the global context of news. The following column was published Aug. 15, 2012.

“For Almost a Month, Americans Failed to Detect Russian Submarine Near Its Shores” reads the headline on an article by Yelena Sidorenko in the Russian newspaper “Vzglyad: Delovaya Gazeta” (“The View: the Business Newspaper”) of Aug. 15, 2012.

A Russian “Akula-B”-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of Project 971 (as it is classified by the NATO), armed with long-range cruise missiles, sailed undetected in the Gulf of Mexico almost for a month. The Washington Free Beacon cited the unnamed sources in reporting the incident, the second time since 2009 that a Russian submarine has sailed close to the United States.

Russian Akula-class submarine.

The author of the Russian piece goes on to say that “Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon, who is known to be close to the Pentagon and was the first to have reported the incident, says, quoting the unidentified officials, that a ‘nuclear-powered Akula-class attack submarine is one of Russia’s quietest submarines’ and that the ‘Akula was built for one reason and one reason only: to kill U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines and their crews’ and that ‘it is a very stealthy boat so it can sneak around and avoid detection and hope to get past any protective screen a boomer might have in place…’.”

Sidorenko notes that the “incident shows that during the next ten years Barack Obama’s administration is planning to cut $487 billion from American defense budget.”

In his interview to the same newspaper, “Vzglyad”, Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, said that if it is true that for a whole month the Russian submarine did actually sail close to the American shores without having been detected, then “this testifies to the fact that Russia still retains its military potential and is ready to carry out such missions, for which our Navy deserves our high respect.” To which an unnamed Russian military expert added: “Our submarines are excellent, and our crew is highly professional.”

When I was reading this, an overly familiar feeling, this déjà vu of fear and disgust grabbed me, as if I was back in Stalin’s Russia, when the Soviet media and Soviet subjects were supposed to write and speak about boundless heroism, strength, and bravery of Soviet people. Here is a Soviet song popular at that time:

Our armor is strong, and our tanks are fast
Our people are full of courage
Standing in formation are our tankmen,
The favorite sons of our Motherland.

I came across an opinion by Jeff G. in Protein Wisdom (http://proteinwisdom.com): “Between our internationally open borders, our uncontrolled waters, and all the cuts to the military, it’s almost as if Obama wants us vulnerable. To something.”

It wouldn’t be amiss to recall here what came to be known as the “Obama-Medvedev hot-mic moment” (during talks in Seoul):

The microphones picked up Obama’s voice begging for some political help from Vladimir Putin — to gain the “flexibility” to cave on missile defense — dismantling of even the smaller missile-defense system to which Obama committed in 2009. ‘This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.’ ”

In the “Comment” section of an article at hotair.com on the widely-reported incident, we read: “Obama is willing to sell out the defense of our nation and allies just so he can get elected again; remarkably pathetic.” And: “The biggest problem I see with Obama and his followers is, the man honestly thinks he has a clue. There’s nothing worse than a person in power who has absolutely no clue about the reality in which he operates.”

While looking through my files the other day, I found a letter from Dr. Glazer, a Russian émigré, Professor of Biology at the City College of New York. After having spent the best years of his life in Stalin’s concentration camp in Siberia for allegedly “anti-Soviet pronouncements,” he was released and emigrated to this country sometime in the 1980s.

“The problem of the Western, ‘free world,’ and this country in particular — he writes — is that it allows to freely destroy itself. And the sad thing is that during this process it is unaware that it is being annihilated.

“This liberal-democratic, irreversible self-destruction drives me to despair.”

I am witnessing an interesting phenomenon — the factor of likability — during the current presidential election. And this just boggles my mind. Is this important for the well-being of the entire nation? Good looks, a dazzling smile, fluent speech to the point of being insincere or deceitful don’t make a good president.

Obama’s likability factor is 92 percent! This good-looking man had almost four years in office, in which he has failed to prove he deserves another term. A figurehead who is being manipulated and backed by people such as George Soros, whose head is stuffed with Marxist-Leninist garbage and self-aggrandizement.

Stop Obama from further destroying this country, this unique phenomenon called the United States of America!

Lev Navrozov can be reached by e-mail at levnavrozov@gmail.com.

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