Adversarial Risks Opposing a Blood-spattered Tyranny

A Russian orthodox priest blesses an SU-27 fighter jet on the airfield of Belbek military airport outside Sevastopol, Crimea, on Nov. 26, 2014. (Yuriy Lashov/AFP/Getty Images)

 

"[The MQ-9 aircraft was] conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9."

"In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash."

U.S. Air Force General James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe

"If the message is that they want to deter or dissuade us from flying, and operating in international airspace, over the Black Sea, then that message will fail. That is not going to happen."

"We're going to continue to fly and operate in international airspace over international waters."

"The Black Sea belongs to no one nation."

"[U.S. State Department officials would be speaking directly with their Russian counterparts and] expressing our concerns over this unsafe and unprofessional intercept."

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby

"These aggressive actions  by Russian aircrew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation."

U.S. European Command

"Probably my biggest worry both there and in the Pacific is an aggressive Russia or China pilot or vessel captain, or something gets too close, doesn't realize where they are, and causes a collision."

General David Berger, commandant, Marine Corps

 

Russia has scattered itself from the Arctic where it is refurbishing old Soviet-era, Cold War military posts in preparation for claiming disputed sections of the sea floor. It is deployed in Syria, aiding Syrian President Bashar al Assad in destroying the lives of Syrian-Sunni opponents of the regime, by aerial bombing including the bombing of schools, hospitals and civil infrastructure, just as it has in Ukraine. Russia's cozy fraternal agreement with Beijing with its raw territorial ambitions reflected in Russia's and their collegial relations with Iran present the world at large with a dangerous triumvirate bent on upending the civilized world order.

What all these outlier nations have in common is an arrogant sense of entitlement to confront an orderly world system where national boundaries and sovereignty are respected, along with a willingness to use barbaric-order bullying to squelch any efforts by countries fearing they are on the verge of takeover, to present a credibly effective deterrence in their own interests to preserve their autonomy from the predations of the three.

And all three enjoy needling their opponents from time to time, confronting them in international waters or air spaces to illegally push the limits of toleration in aggravated assaults. This week a Russian fighter jet deliberately harassed, then struck the propeller of an American surveillance drone flying over international waters in the Black Sea. A brazen "violation of international law" leading to American forces left with no option but to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle, destroyed.

This is Cold War tactics reborn; an American aircraft in international airspace brought down as a result of a Russian warplane with malice aforethought destroying its flight integrity in a blatant show of contempt. The aftermath, tinged with disbelief at the needless risk to both diplomacy and manned aircraft was exasperation with a reckless escapade, one that was certain to be celebrated in the Kremlin, but which occasioned the U.S. to summon the Russian ambassador to make it abundantly clear the episode was regarded as the height of military stupidity.

 

Former U.S. marine Elliot Ackerman says the length of time Russia devoted to following a U.S. drone over the Black Sea and the way he believes the drone was brought down shows that Russia is ready to engage in 'escalatory activities.

 

The U.S. European Command issued a statement that two Russian Su-27 fighter jets "conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept" of a drone operating within international airspace. One of the Russian fighters "struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing American forces no option but to bring the drone down in international waters". Two Su-27s prior to the collision, dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 several times in "a reckless environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner" read a statement from Stuttgart, Germany.

"This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional", the statement concluded. Moscow failed to respond other than its repeated concerns respecting U.S. intelligence flights close to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014. According to the Kremlin, by providing weapons to Ukraine and sharing intelligence information with Kyiv, the United States and its allies effectively became engaged in the conflict. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with workers at a helicopter factory in southern Siberia the very day of the drone bring-down, again cast the conflict in Ukraine as a matter that Russia considers to be existential; unlike the West, seeking to advance its geopolitical clout, Russia is fighting for its existence as a state. "For us it's not a geopolitical task. It's the task of survival of Russian statehood and the creation of conditions for the future development of our country", he told the assembled workers.

Russia's future, in other words, lies in taking every and all opportunities to expand its geographical holdings. Its territorial ambitions to erase the sovereign borders of surrounding nations to absorb them into the greater Russian Federation is an old imperial, hegemonic focus that Russia takes very seriously as its divine right. Its invasion of Ukraine for the purpose of claiming Ukraine's territory as its own is an 'internal' affair, not an event that concerns the broader European community, much less the United States of America.

Reaper drones are full-size aircraft designed for reconnaissance and surveillance   Getty Images