WTF is the US Coast Guard doing in the Black Sea?

bushmeister0

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Wed Aug-27-08 03:38 PM
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WTF is the US Coast Guard doing in the Black Sea?

Coast Guard cutter Dallas off the coast of Batumi, Georgia.

When I was a little kid growing up in Florida, the USCG was ubiquitous, they were always around, patrolling the local waters, flying around in those HU-16E Albatross' and the classic HH-3F S-61 Pelicans, saving lives and watching Hurricanes and stuff. You know, they were like the Fire Department, the good guys.

Now, all of a sudden, it's like the firemen are walking around with M-16s.

From the Belmont Club:

"Although the facts have been little reported, the Coast Guard deployed 8 vessels to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The reason for the deployment is that the Coast Guard does certain things better than the Navy, like work inshore.

On 29 January 2003, General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was asked, 'The Coast Guard announced today sending eight cutters, 600 people, to the Persian Gulf, which I understand is the first time they have been dispatched to a combat zone since the Vietnam War. What’s the thinking behind that, and what’s their mission going to be?' General Myers answered, 'For the Coast Guard, primarily for port and harbor and waterway security. That’s what they do best.'”

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2008/08/24/the-black-sea/

Yeah, that's awesome, but what about our coast? Seems to me we have another big Hurricane headed toward the Gulf. After Katrina struck the Coast Guard was the only government agency that had its shit together. Good thing they're busy over half way around the world playing chicken with the Russians!

The Battle for the Black Sea heats up:

The Russians claim the build up of NATO shipping in the BS has them now out numbered.

The NYT reports:

"As attention turned to the balance of naval power in the sea, the leader of the separatist region of Abkhazia said he would invite Russia to establish a naval base at his territory’s deep-water port of Sukhumi.

And in a move certain to anger Russia, Ukraine’s president, Viktor A. Yushchenko, said he would open negotiations with authorities in Moscow to raise the rent on the Russian naval base at Sevastopol, which is in Ukraine’s predominantly Russian province of Crimea.

. . .

It was unclear Wednesday how many NATO ships were currently in the Black Sea.

A spokesman at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe, in Mons, Belgium, said there were four NATO warships there on a previously scheduled exercise called Active Endeavor, for training in anti-terrorist and anti-pirate maneuvers. But he cautioned that other NATO countries could have ships in the sea not operating under NATO command.

'Obviously, there are other NATO-affiliated nations out doing things,' Lt. Col. Web Wright, the spokesman, said. 'But I can’t speak for those nations.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/world/europe/28russia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Right, we've got an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer roaming around the area and we don't know what the other NATO ships are up to? Pull the other one!

For previous threads concerning the Black Sea mess, go here: (there are many contributers)

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bushmeister0