Only one ship was able to enter the port, which is not deep enough to allow the other vessels to dock, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

Two other warships of the Russian northern fleet could be seen in the distance, the correspondent reported.

Earlier, Russian naval spokesman Igor Dygalo said the warships also included the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and support vessels, Interfax news agency reported.

The frigate Neustrashimiy (Intrepid), which left Russia two weeks ago bound for Somalia where it was to join in fighting piracy in the region, was also among the vessels that put into Tripoli on Saturday, Interfax said.

Dygalo said the port call was scheduled to be completed on Monday.

The ships would then resume manoeuvres at unspecified locations in the Mediterranean Sea before heading to Venezuela for joint naval exercises next month, he said.

Russia and Venezuela announced their joint military exercises last month amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington and Russian irritation at the presence of US warships near Russian waters in the Black Sea.

The planned Russian naval presence in what the United States has long regarded as its "backyard" would be unprecedented since the Cold War, but Washington has mocked the move as nothing more than symbolic muscle-flexing.

Russia-US tensions spiked in August during the conflict in Georgia. Russia has repeatedly criticised the United States for using navy ships for what Washington has said was delivery of humanitarian aid to ally Georgia.

The Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises were scheduled to take place near the end of November.

© 2008 Agence France-Presse

Mary08 wrote: During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet Navy conducted 180 voyages on 86 ships to transfer weapons to Cuba ...................................................................................................... and what did they leave off in Cuba?  And what is still there? ......................... It has been commonly posted on the Internet that Peter the Great.. is not so Great. Post saying it might blow up etc. let's hope not. I it is carrying nuclear cruise missiles and over 300 other <unknown> type missile .................. ok.... I'll try to sleep tonight.

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea^[1], is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below.

The term "territorial waters" is also sometimes used informally to describe any area of water over which a state has jurisdiction, including also internal waters, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and potentially the continental shelf.

Of course, this not absolute in real life, but it basically means a nuclear vessel could park itself  just outside the limit, and launch.  I have done research on this since 1969, and basically the idea is the classic "War Games" scenario with a host of missiles (as in Day After) coming over the pole as we watch them approach is an urban legend. Decades ago we began moving missiles on an underground rail road, and many of the classic missile silos were abandoned because they were easy targets.

Being an avid movie fan as well as a 24 addict - the public has this floating sea of urban legend "knowledge" which in real life is not accurate.

There is a main flow of spin on the media, which then is fed by movies and press releases, but in essence, the reaction time to a strike launched only miles from the coast would be a real tough scenario.

Since we gained the ability to see and track underwater submarines from satellite

New Scientist Tech -

Last week, Jon Kyl, a Republican member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, announced that details of a classified research project were given to China in 1997 by Peter Lee, a physicist then working for the aerospace and electronics company TRW in Redondo Beach, California. The project, which aims to detect submarines using satellite radar, is run by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also in California.

Though hotly debated this would indicate that not only as in 24 hours can people be tracked inside their homes (the joy of an 8 year administration with amazing surveillance and watch capabilities, that submarines from Iran could be tracked using surface water abberation. Nuclear subs usually must maintain a not too deep operational depth for many of the scanners to work.

It was once said that Iran possessed only clunky old German submarines which were of no threat and could not be outfitted to fire nuclear missiles. Since the purchase of three new Soviet subs and a host of other Soviet technology and the huge debate over the acquisition of SAM 300

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0etQsAA1Gak  

Yet even then, we are not looking at what has been said to be the best anti-missile system. For that we enter the realm of

THE BLACKOUT

This is receiving no coverage by the media of the Western nations. It is a non-event. Yet if I know about it, and if I have been able to verify three-fifths of the story by official sources, then there is no question in my mind that any of the major news media that wanted to assign one lone individual to tracing down the details of this story would be able to do this without a great deal of difficulty. Yet the media have remained absolutely silent about this.

This sounds fishy to me. It sounds as though there is a coordinated effort among Western owners of the media to make certain that the voters are kept in the dark.

Why should this story not be front-page news? Two very good reasons are the fragility of the economy with oil under $130 a barrel, and what could happen if it goes to $400. Nobody wants to trigger bank runs. The existence of an armada of this size raises an obvious question: Against which nation in the Persian Gulf is such an armada to be used? The answer is obvious: Iran.

comment: This is basically rogue lone wolf datamining. We all can do it. Coyote and many of the best posters here have snagged links and stories heavily blacked out. This does not necessary create popularity or good will, but it does inform the public without breaching security (after the fact) of huge actions and sweeping policy stances without congressional or public knowledge.

(posting - moving to next post)

Medclinician

The United States and Russia are bidding hard against each other to give the Lebanese army heavy weapons, a contest which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, DEBKAfile's military sources report.

Defense ministry official Amos Gilead arrived in Moscow Friday, Dec. 19 only to watch his train leaving the station: Sophisticated Russian S-300 air defense systems were already speeding toward Tehran to guard its nuclear sites and MiG-29 fighter jets had been pledged to Lebanon.

In Washington, too, Israeli diplomats pleaded in vain with Bush administration leaders to refrain from giving Lebanon tanks and a fleet of combat helicopters. Ten Cobras have led the way. They argued that there are no safeguards against American hardware falling into the hands of the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah, whose leaders vowed again Friday to destroy the Jewish state by launching a regional conflagration.

Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine shut down completely Wednesday, leaving growing numbers of European Union member states without Russian fuel in freezing mid-winter temperatures.

Some countries in Europe, which usually depends on Russian shipments via Ukraine for one fifth of its gas supplies, have taken emergency measures to eke out dwindling fuel reserves.

In Kiev, Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz said gas had stopped flowing through the last compressor station still functioning, on Ukraine's Western border.

"Russia, which supplies 80 percent of its gas to Europe through Ukraine, has left Europe without gas. There is zero transit," said Naftogaz spokesman Valentin Zemlyansky.

Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom blamed Ukraine for the closure, which cut off supplies to more European states.

Czech importer RWE Transgas said the main transit pipeline from Russia to the Czech Republic and western Europe was halted from midnight.

Austria's OMV energy group, which earlier reported a big fall in Russian supplies, said flows had now stopped completely.

Slovakia and Romania also said their supplies were halted, joining Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece and Croatia who announced Tuesday their supplies of Russian gas via Ukraine had shut down.

Europe's heavy dependence on Russian energy -- and its vulnerability to supply disruption -- was highlighted when Moscow reduced volumes to Ukraine on January 1 after failing to reach agreement with Kiev over debts and gas prices.

With gas stockpiles in Europe falling with each day the disruption continues, and sub-zero temperatures driving up demand, there is no sign Moscow and Kiev are closer to resolving their row over pricing and transit fees.

Both sides traded blame. Russia has accused its former Soviet neighbour of stealing about 15 percent of the gas it ships across Ukraine to European states.

"Ukraine has stolen gas not from Russia, but from consumers who have bought the product and paid for it," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks late on Tuesday, before Orthodox Christmas celebrations Wednesday.

Ukraine's pro-West President Viktor Yushchenko blamed Moscow for the supply disruptions, saying Moscow would continue to close the gas taps to Europe or stop them altogether.

"CRISIS SITUATION"

So far Eastern and central Europe have borne the brunt of the row, Bulgaria talking of "a crisis situation" and cutting or suspending supplies to industrial users. Two fertiliser companies had to halt production.

Budapest airport said Wednesday it would switch to oil from gas heating.

France and Italy also reported a steep drop in supplies but the euro zone's major economies have so far escaped any economic repercussions.

Nevertheless, German energy provider E.ON Ruhrgas said drastic cuts and a prolonged cold spell could cause shortages. High energy users like aluminium, glass and metals makers could be hurt by a lengthy crisis.

The escalating price dispute and cold snap drove the British gas market, Europe's biggest and most liquid, to its highest level since October.

The European Union gets a quarter of its gas from Russia, 80 percent of it via Ukraine, and officials from the bloc's current president, the Czech Republic, met both sides Tuesday to urge an early resumption of talks.

(Writing by Conor Sweeney and Christian Lowe; editing by Dominic Evans)