A Sea Change In The Caribbean

IBD 2008 4:20 PM PT

The Hemisphere: A Russian warship passes through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II. Is it a mere annoyance or the beginning of a challenge in America's backyard?

Once, the Panama Canal was considered a triumph of American technology and a symbol of American power. Today it's a waterway managed by a Chinese company with links to the People's Liberation Army through which Russian warships pass. 

Last Wednesday, Russian Navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo announced that the 554-foot guided missile destroyer Admiral Chabanenko would transit the Panama Canal and arrive at Panama's Pacific port of Balboa for a six-day visit after carrying out naval exercises with the Venezuelan Navy in the Caribbean dubbed "Venrus 2008."

"The only time such an event took place was in 1944 during the Second World War, when four Russian submarines passed through" the canal to help in the battle against Nazi Germany, the Russian embassy in Panama said in a statement.

In his announcement, Capt. Dygalo made a point of referring to the naval base the ship will visit by its former American name — Rodman. Rodman naval base was the naval hub for all U.S. naval activities in the water around South America. It was turned over to Panama in 1999.

The Chabanenko participated in maneuvers that included an air defense exercise in which a Venezuelan Sukhoi jet fighter simulated an attack on vessels that included three Venezuelan frigates, such as the F-21 "Mariscal Sucre," and an exercise to spot, pursue and detain an enemy vessel.

In that exercise, the commander of the Russian squadron captained a Venezuelan frigate while Venezuelan Rear Admiral Louis Morales acted as captain of the nuclear-powered Kirov-class heavy missile cruiser Peter the Great.

It is one of the largest and most powerful warships in the world. It is armed with 20 SS-N-19 "Shipwreck" long-range anti-ship missiles and 500 surface-to-air missiles. She and her sister ships were sailing in an area where nine out of every 14 barrels of imported oil, even some Alaskan oil, must transit. At last report, it showed very little rust.

U.S. officials have openly mocked the show of force, saying the Russian fleet is a shadow of its former self. "Are they accompanied by tugboats this time?" U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack joked to reporters in Washington.

That may be true, but it is also true we no longer have President Reagan's 600-ship navy. We have very capable ships, but not nearly enough to meet our commitments stretching from the Taiwan Strait to the Persian Gulf and beyond.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Navy decided to re-form the Fourth Fleet, disbanded in 1953, to patrol the Caribbean. But retired Rear Admiral Joseph Callo has called the Fourth Fleet "mostly a paper command, with tangible military assets to be added 'as needed.'" Our currently undersized and shrinking navy would have to draw from critical areas such as the Middle East and the Western Pacific.

Venezuela is using money from its oil exports to the U.S. to buy significant amounts of Russian weaponry, nearly $4 billion worth, including 100,000 AK-103 and AK-104 assault rifles, a dozen Mi-17 military helicopters and 24 SU-30MK fighter jets.

It is also negotiating a multibillion-dollar, multiyear contract to buy four Kilo-class diesel submarines and four state-of-the-art Amur submarines.

A potential threat is also building in the skies. Venezuela is expanding its small air force, and on Sept. 10 a pair of supersonic and nuclear-capable Russian Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers landed in Venezuela, ostensibly to conduct patrols over neutral waters in the Caribbean and the Pacific. They were escorted by U.S. aircraft all the way, but the potential presence of Russian bombers in the Caribbean if that phone rings at 3 a.m. seriously complicates things.

Last year, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced that Russia was embarking on a five-year military modernization plan costing $189 billion. According to Jane's Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, the new and improved Russian navy will eventually include up to six new nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

The Russians are great chess players, a game of patience and strategy, and they've just moved their queen.