Obama bars U.S. aircraft from Moscow air show over crisis
14/08/2009 17:25
The FINANCIAL – According to RIA Novosti, president Barack Obama has banned U.S. Air Force planes from participating in MAKS-2009 air show in Russia citing the ongoing economic crisis, the show organizer said on August 14.
“Eight U.S. aircraft were originally set to be showcased at MAKS and two more to participate in demonstration flights. But the U.S. president’s last-minute decision was not to send the planes, which is due to economic, rather than political, reasons,” said Vladimir Borisov of the Aviasalon firm.
Earlier reports said over 711 companies, including 465 Russian firms, will participate in the biennial air show outside Moscow on August 18-23.
MAKS bills itself as “a demonstration of the advantages and development trends of Russian science and industry in such high-tech areas as aviation, space, missile engineering.”
The United States dispatched nine Air Force planes to the previous show, including a B-52 Stratofortress which stirred intense interest, as well as F-15 Eagle and F-16 Falcon fighter jets that performed demonstration flights.
Borisov also said the A-380 airliner, the world’s largest and most technologically advanced aircraft to date, would not be showcased either due to a busy schedule of test and routine flights.
Russia’s Interior Ministry said on Friday the crisis would not affect the number of visitors to the show this year, with 100,000 tickets already sold and up to 220,000 visitors expected next Sunday alone.
What a hypocrite! His jetting all over the nation spends more money than this air show will. It costs millions of dollars a week to transport Obama on his trips. I doubt the air show would have cost any close to a million dollars.
Don’t forget: If you voted for him, you got what you wanted. Unfortunately, the rest of us also have to suffer.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets collided during a training flight ahead of an air show near Moscow on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported.
The pilots, from elite aerobatic team the Russian Knights, parachuted to safety, they said.
“The jets collided about 5 km (3 miles) from Zhukovsky airfield,” RIA news agency quoted a witness as saying. “There is thick smoke over the site. We saw two parachutes in the air after the collision.”
Itar-Tass news agency quoted the management of the MAKS aviation and space show as saying the pilots escaped safely.
The MAKS press office refused to comment.
Russia is seeking to turn MAKS, which starts next week at the Zhukovsky airfield, into a leading international aviation and space exhibition and a venue for striking major contracts.
By the way, did anyone ever tell you that you have a potty mouth?
And you forgot the 2nd T: Simply The Full Unadulterated** T**ruth
Unlike Obama and his likes (e.g. eatsleepjeep), I respect the 1st amendment. I wouldn’t tell someone to shut up because he told me his opinion. That’s what I like about liberals - they are all for the 1st amendment until someone says something that disagrees with them.
No, really. STFU. You’re a walking contradiction. If you’re not complaining about this, you’d be complaining about the waste of tax dolalrs it represents.
I respect the 1st amendment. I respect your right to embarrass yourself when you spout off with your right wing hackery at every opportunity. That’s why I’m exercising my 1st amendment right in response by telling you to shut up. You’re not going to because you don’t know when to shut up, but the right to continue making an ass out of yourself is well respected.
Airshows are not combat training obviously, but crews do other training and currency missions between “games”. Going to airshows meets that requirement.
The military is financially accountable ? If you say so . I’ll wager more money is p*ssed away daily in the Pentagon alone than a dozen airshows.
I’ve never had a problem with our military participating in air shows. It’s a great recruiting tool, good for training, helps develop new procedures, and, if that’s not enough, it looks cool.
Yeah, they canceled all of the military planes at the airshow here in Chicago last weekend. Oh wait… no they didn’t.
The people who buy this hook line and sinker are the same ones afraid of “death panels” and who believe everybody is going to have to sign up for how they want their last days handled.
I wager you are right, but the Pentagon is not where the rubber meets the road. The pawns are always the ones taking the “abuse of accountability”
I never seen “financial accountability” at SES levels in the civil government world yet I had to supply receipts for just about the most mundane common sense things that were essential in the performance of my job. Heaven forbid that the SES execs had to do the lowly accounting duties I did.
I suspect it’s the same in the military and I suspect the free rolling games of spending are now coming to a crawl with maybe Obama making his underlings be more accountable. Of course just as the SES and Pentagon are not held “accountable”, I would put the White House in the same arena of “excluded accountable people” (not right of course!).
Unfortunately, in gubment, what is good for the goose is sometimes not good for the gander.
You’re respecting someone’s right to free speech by telling them to shut up (oh sorry, not just shut up, but shut the ‘F’ up). Anyone else see a contradiction here?
