-Caveat Lector- Russians may look to Cuba as reply to U.S. missile plan http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/carib/cuba/digdocs/092746.htm `Some experts have taken up the issue following President Vladimir Putin's trip to Cuba.' -- YEVGENY MASLIN, headed nuclear weapons department MOSCOW -- (AP) -- If compromise isn't reached with the United States on the national missile defense controversy, Russian military strategists are considering potential responses, including sending missiles to Cuba, a retired general said Thursday. Yevgeny Maslin, who headed the Defense Ministry's nuclear weapons department in the late 1990s, now works with the independent research institute PIR-Center, was not speaking for the government, and there was no immediate reaction from Russian officials to his statements about missiles in Cuba. He said at a news conference that many in the Russian military appear to be still locked into a Cold War mentality. The Kremlin's 1962 move to base missiles in Cuba was one of the Cold War period's tensest crises, until the Soviet Union backed off. Now, Moscow and Washington again are in dispute over missiles -- this time over the United States' intention to build a national missile shield system that Russia says would wreck the global strategic security balance. Russia this week offered the outline of an alternative and officials are voicing hope of a compromise. But strategists are also pondering what to do if the United States starts building the shield, which Washington says is needed to protect against attacks by small countries that may be developing nuclear capability. President Vladimir Putin said last year that Moscow may opt out of existing arms control agreements if the United States goes ahead with the system. ``There is even such an exotic option as the deployment of some necessary weapons in Cuba,'' Maslin said. ``Some experts have taken up the issue following President Vladimir Putin's trip to Cuba.'' When Putin visited the old Soviet ally in December, he and Fidel Castro spoke about revival of the political and economic ties that withered after the Soviet collapse, but never mentioned resuming military cooperation. Moscow still maintains an electronic spying facility in Lourdes, Cuba, that eavesdrops on U.S. communications. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
