ARLINGTON, Va., March 24 (UPI) -- The return of Russia as a world power comes after a brief, economically driven absence in the late 1990s. Russia has been through periods of inward retrenchment before. However, with control over massive oil and gas reserves, Russia has re-emerged as a powerhouse. Now that nation is causing friction around its borders on issues from energy supplies to missile defense. New member states of the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization have been particular targets.
A series of Cold War antics is enough to worry Europe and the world. The F-22 squadrons at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska already have pictures of their Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptors flying alongside the Russian "Bear" bombers. Russian bombers also buzzed the nuclear-powered super aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
"All Russian air force flights are performed ... in strict accordance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters without violating the borders of other states," said Russian air force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, according to a report in Moscow News on April 24.
Russia's ambitions are global. Rumblings about deployment of bombers to Venezuela coincided with a sale of 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighters to President Hugo Chavez. "We do what we can to defend ourselves," said Chavez, who also oversaw a purchase of air defense from Russia via Belarus "just in case the Americans were thinking of doing anything similar to Venezuela," referring to the 2003 U.S. air campaign in Iraq. He was quoted by Jon Lee Anderson in his article, "Fidel's Heir," in The New Yorker, published on June 23.
It's hard to say what the future direction of Russian activity will be. Many analysts have noted a certain rustiness in Russian military actions. However, at this rate of activity, the Russian military will regain its form quickly enough.
Either way, deterring Russian conventional activity is once again a major task for NATO. Its member nations need credible air defenses and a collective ability to intervene in border regions if necessary.
Since 2004, the Brussels-based alliance has been deploying fighters to the former Soviet republic of Latvia, now a NATO member state, for air-defense patrols.
The Baltic air policing initiative is part of NATO's quick-reaction capability and is necessary since Latvia, for example, has an air force numbering fewer than 300 people and no air-defense capability of its own. Typically, detachments of four aircraft guard airspace over all three Baltic nations.
Recently, U.S. Air Force Boeing F-15E Eagles from the U.S. base at Lakenheath air base in Britain have joined in the rotation.
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Part 9: Why the F-22 is needed to deter China in the 21st century
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(Rebecca Grant, Ph.D., is a senior fellow of the Lexington Institute, a non-profit public-policy research organization based in Arlington, Va.)
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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
