Communist Bloc Military Updates: 4th Sino- Soviet war game to begin July 22; 8,500 Russian troops drill near Georgia; US Air Force preps for nuke war

Russian and Chinese troops will begin their fourth joint war game, disguised as an "anti-terrorist" operation, between July 22 and 26. Dubbed "Peace Mission 2009", the drill will involve 2,500 military personnel, who will arrive at the deployment area on July 14. The first phase of the exercises consists of military and political consultations and will be held in Khabarovsk, in Russia's Far East, while the second and third phases will take place outside Baichen in northern China. Lt. Gen. Sergei Antonov, spokesentity for the Russian General Staff, commented: "Peace Mission 2009 will become an important step in the development of the Russian-Chinese partnership and their armed forces." Pictured above: Russian soldiers.

Not too far away from the site of Peace Mission 2009, of course, political tensions between North and South Korea are on the rise. In late May, after detonating its second test nuclear bomb, Pyongyang scrapped the 1953 armistice that halted hostilities, but did not establish a peace treaty, with Seoul.

Under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the first-ever Sino-Soviet exercise, Peace Mission 2005 took place in Russia and the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, involving warships, aircraft, and over 10,000 servicemen, including marines and paratroopers. Russia and China also hosted Peace Mission 2007, when then President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of long-range bomber patrols. Most recently, the SCO states held Norak-Antiterror 2009 in Tajikistan in April. Peace Mission 2010 is slated to occur in Kazakhstan, obviously next year.

Meanwhile, under the aegis of the Caucasus 2009 war game, the Russian armed forces appear to be positioning themselves for another invasion of the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, now the site of a tremendous tug-of-war between the Soviet strategists and NATO, which is attempting to woo Tbilisi into its fold. In late July and early August of last year the Russian military prepared to attack Georgia under cover of the Caucasus Frontier 2008 drill.

"The Caucasus 2009 war games," opines CBS News, "are being seen by many experts as a warning shot for nearby Georgia, where the government says it has rearmed armed forces and where NATO recently wrapped up its own exercises." A Russian Defense Ministry official related that more than 8,500 troops will take part in the drill, along with nearly 200 tanks, armored vehicles, 100 artillery units, and several units from Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The exercises are being personally overseen by Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of Russia's General Staff.

In addition to the military personnel that will participate in Caucasus 2009, more than 6,000 Russian troops have been illegally stationed in each of Georgia's breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia has also been building military bases, storage facilities for supplies, and roads in the two regions, which Moscow and Managua alone recognized as independent. Last month, NATO wrapped up four weeks of training exercises in Georgia. Even though just a few hundreds troops participated, Russia was annoyed, branding them a provocation.

Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexander Kolmakov was quoted by Kremlin media on Monday as saying that Caucasus 2009 was adjusted as a result of the NATO games and would be "quite major, as compared with those that were conducted in Soviet times." Over the weekend, Russia and NATO agreed to resume military ties that were suspended after last August's Caucasian War.

Pictured here: The iconic, 1950s-era B-52H Stratofortress still comprises part of the backbone of the US Air Force's strategic bomber fleet.

In spite of the fact that the USA now faces the socialist, pro-Islamic administration of President Barack Hussein Obama, the military is still prudently preparing to counter a strategic nuclear attack. Although there is much discussion about the threat posed by Iran and North Korea's missile capabilities, the fact of the matter is there are only two states that possess the ability to annihilate the USA: Russia and, to a much lesser extent, the People's Republic of China. The US Air Force reports on the Global Thunder 09 exercise underway at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota:

A B-52H Stratofortress soars through the air during the rapid launch portion of Global Thunder 09 here June 30. Global Thunder 09 is the USSTRATCOM Field Training Exercise and Battle Staff Exercise designed to exercise all mission areas withprimary emphasis on Nuclear Command and Control (NC2). Global Thunder 09 provides training opportunities for component, task force, unit, forces, and command posts to deter, and if necessary defeat, a military attack against the United States and to employ forces as directed by the President.

Global Thunder 09 coincides with the routine launch of an unarmed Minuteman 3 ICBM from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on June 30. The missile struck a target near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The local media reported on the coordination between military personnel at Vandenberg and Minot:

A task force from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., worked with members of Vandenberg’s 576th Flight Test Squadron to ready the missile for the test. Airmen from the 576th also installed test-specific equipment such as tracking, telemetry and command-destruct systems necessary to collect data and meet 30th Space Wing safety requirements.

“These are dangerous times we’re living in right now,” said Lt. Col. Lesa K. Toler, the 576th Flight Test Squadron commander and the mission director for this test launch.

“It’s extremely important our combatant commander has the capabilities he needs to perform the mission of fighting and winning our nation’s wars,” Toler added. “Testing an operational asset pulled from the missile field at Minot provides us confidence our weapon system is capable of performing when needed.”

"The Air Force," the same article concludes, "conducts several Minuteman tests each year to verify the weapon system’s reliability and accuracy. Some 450 Minuteman 3 weapons sit on alert in and around Malmstrom AFB, Mont., F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. and Minot AFB, N.D."