On Tuesday, a Russian Su-27 fighter pressured down a US MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea.
In feedback the next day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that relations between Russia and the US had hit their “lowest level.”
However the lowest level since when? With the US and Russia routinely scraping backside with regards to bilateral relations, maybe we’d like new superlatives to explain how dangerous issues are.
A little bit of historic perspective serves as a reminder that confrontation between the 2 nuclear-armed nations could be a lot sharper:
The struggle in Syria. In February 2018, a US contingent on the bottom in jap Syria clashed with a power advancing on their base that included members of the Russian non-public army firm Wagner. US troops referred to as in air strikes and artillery on the opposing power, inflicting dozens of casualties on the Wagner mercenaries and their Syrian allies.
The Chilly Struggle. Although the Chilly Struggle noticed the Cuban missile disaster and several other nuclear shut calls, it’s much less remembered at present that the Chilly Struggle escalated right into a scorching one between US and Soviet forces at a number of factors throughout the decades-long confrontation.
The Korean Struggle. Throughout the Korean Struggle, US fighter pilots engaged in aerial fight towards Soviet MiGs. These dogfights, nonetheless, remained shrouded in secrecy, with data rapidly categorized and individuals sworn to secrecy. One of many causes? Fears that making such incidents public may enhance tensions between the 2 superpowers. The identical was additionally true for manned surveillance flights that the US carried out round — and typically over — Soviet territory. The downing of the U-2 spy aircraft piloted by Francis Gary Powers in 1960 is the most well-known case, creating main embarrassment for america and stirring worldwide media consideration. However most of these packages remained categorized, and out of the information, for many years.
