INCREASED BELLIGERENCE – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:   Just as President Obama rediscovers Iraq, the old Russkies are getting increasingly belligerent.  This is from Russian news sources: 

MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Northern Fleet's anti-submarine forces have detected and forced out a US submarine from Russian boundary waters, a high-ranking source in Russia's Navy told RIA Novosti Saturday.

"On August 7, 2014, the patrol forces of the Northern Fleet detected a foreign submarine, supposedly a US Navy Virginia-class one, in the Barents Sea. A seaborne anti-submarine group, as well as an anti-submarine airplane Il-38, was sent to the region to search and track it down," the source said.

The Russian navy forced the submarine out of Russian waters after a 27-minute contact.

"This is far from being a single incident of finding foreign submarines in the Barents Sea lately. Similar behavior of NATO countries' submarines in the Barents Sea has caused dangerous navigational incidents many times," the source said.

In 1992, a US Baton-Rouge submarine clashed with the Northern Fleet's K-276 submarine in the Kolsky Bay. In 1986, UK's Splendid submarine clashed with the Northern Fleet's Typhoon.

COMMENT:   We ignore reports like this at our peril.  The Russians are rebuilding their military, and have the technical know-how to do it.  They're getting both stronger and more confident all the time.  This comes at a moment when the United States is shrinking its military and its military research and development.  It's like closing hospitals in the middle of an epidemic.

This president will do nothing about it.  He doesn't care.  His political class doesn't care.  We desperately need leadership change.  The 2016 election is turning out to be one of the most decisive in our history.

August 9, 2014