Backstabbin' the Brits: US agrees to tell Russia UK nuke secrets

If returning Winston Churchill's bust and giving tacky gifts to Gordon Brown and the Queen weren't enough, the Obama administration has given the UK the ultimate swift kick in the pants.  Recent Wikileaks cables shows that the Obama administration gave Russia the serial numbers of the Trident missiles it transfered to the UK as part of the START agreement.  The serial numbers can be used to help determine the size of the UK's arsenal. 

UK Telegraph: A series of classified messages sent to Washington by US negotiators show how information on Britain’s nuclear capability was crucial to securing Russia’s support for the “New START” deal.

Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.

Professor Malcolm Chalmers said: “This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal.”

Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, said: “They want to find out whether Britain has more missiles than we say we have, and having the unique identifiers might help them.”

While the US and Russia have long permitted inspections of each other’s nuclear weapons, Britain has sought to maintain some secrecy to compensate for the relatively small size of its arsenal.

Damn, talk about throwing someone under the bus.  The thing I don't get is why Obama is willing to give up so much for the SALT treaty.  [MORE]

Just think of all those people in the UK who wanted Obama to be president.  They felt that Obama could improve America's image around the world.  How's that working out for everybody? Something tells me those Bush "Miss Me Yet" billboards will soon be popping up in the UK. 

Via: Memeorandum

Via: UK Telegraph

Polish President, First Lady and dozens of Polish leadership die in plane crash

This must be absolutely devastating to the Polish people, especially since President Kaczynski was traveling to commemorate the Katyn Forrest Massacre. Now the Polish people must endure a double tragedy on this date. God help them. 

New York Times: WARSAW — A plane carrying the Polish president and dozens of the country’s top political and military leaders to the site of the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in World War II crashed in western Russia on Saturday, killing everyone on board.

President Lech Kaczynski’s plane tried to land in a thick fog, missing the runway and snagging treetops about half a mile from the airport in Smolensk, scattering chunks of flaming fuselage across a bare forest.

The crash came as a stunning blow to Poland, wiping out a large portion of the country’s leadership in one fiery explosion. It came at the moment that Russia and Poland were beginning to come to terms with the killing of more than 20,000 members of Poland’s elite officer corps in the same place 70 years ago. [More]

Right now it seems there is some conflict about the cause. Legal Insurrection points to a weather related incident and Theblogprof points to pilot error (with KGB undertones).  Let’s hope for the weather cause, the other option is just too messy to consider.

CNN video from Freedoms’s Lighthouse

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

Via: Legal Insurrection

Via: The Blog Prof

Dagestan: 2 new suicide attacks in Russia

With the Moscow subway attacks still fresh in everyone’s mind, Russia is again rocked by two more suicide bombers. This time the attacks took place inside Russia’s Dagestan region. 

The New York Times: MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - Two blasts, one set off by a suicide bomber, rocked Kizlyar in Russia's Dagestan region on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people just two days after twin bombs hit Moscow, officials told Reuters.

Investigators said a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform set off the second of the blasts in Dagestan, which followed the two bombings in Moscow that killed 39 people and which authorities blamed on female suicide attackers with links to insurgents in the turbulent North Caucasus.

In Kizlyar, a police official said a car parked near a school in the center of town blew up as a traffic police patrol was driving by, killing two police officers.

He said the second bomb was set off shortly after police and onlookers gathered at the scene.

The provincial police spokesman said Kizlyar police chief Vitaly Vedernikov was among the dead. At least six other police officers, an investigator and a civilian were killed, Russian news agencies cited police as saying.

Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province adjacent to war-scarred Chechnya along Russia's southern border, is plagued by frequent attacks targeting police and government officials.

Below is a clip from Russia Today on the attacks.

More coverage at CNN and the BBC.

Via: The New York Times

Via: CNN

Via: BBC

Moscow Subway Explosions: Suicide bombers kill at least 35 on Moscow subway

Moscow was rocked this morning by two female suicide bombers who set off explosive belts at two subway stations. The first blast killed 23 and the second 12. 

Fox News: MOSCOW -- Two female homicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow's subway system as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers Monday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 38, the city's mayor and other officials said.

Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Chumikova said 23 people were killed in an explosion shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency.

A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later. Chumikova said at least 12 were dead there. The ministry later said 38 people were injured.

Chechen rebels are suspected after issuing a threat back in February: 

In February, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Website that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities."

Umarov also claimed his fighters were responsible for the November bombing of the Nevsky Express passenger train that killed 26 people en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 

Twitter pictures from Moscow subway attack available at PicFog, use key word Moscow or Moscow attack.

Perspective at Michelle Malkin.

Video at Gateway Pundit.

More coverage at The New York Times, BBC and Times of London.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Fox News