Two pieces of related news items
One:
Spencer Ackerman writing at TheGuardian:
....However ominously martial Russia’s actions toward Ukraine have become, the next combatants in the crisis will not be the US navy’s fleet of dolphins.
Yes, the navy trains and keeps dolphins, whose powerful innate echolocation abilities help sailors spot suspicious undersea objects that might be mines. The marine mammal enlistees are the aquatic equivalent of the dogs, whose sophisticated sense of smell has aided US soldiers in the hunt for homemade insurgent bombs on land.
But, contrary to reports, the dolphins are not accompanying the USS Donald Cook to the Black Sea.
Russia’s Izvestia newspaper recently asserted that a team of US dolphins had formed a maritime security perimeter around the Cook, a guided missile destroyer the US recently sent to international waters near Ukraine. Last week, Russian fighter jets passed over the warship in a move the Pentagon considered a provocation, but it is unclear what the dolphins would have done to confront Russian airpower.
The question is moot, since, according to the navy, the dolphins were never alongside the Cook in the first place.
“There is no truth to this report,” said Lieutenant Commander Katie Cerezo, a navy spokeswoman.
There will probably be no truth to the next one, either.......
Two:
and in continuation to that last sentence above, it's best to take the latest bit of news from the Russian side as propaganda.
However, if true, has the USA seen the possibility of danger somewhere else .... maybe in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan?
It's tough trying to be the policeman of the world. Time to retire and take it easy, dear USA.
From:
Itar-Tass:
...Warship USS Donald Cook leaves Black Sea.
French ship Dupuy de Lome and USS Taylor remain in the Black Sea
The US warship USS Donald Cook with the Aegis missile defense system onboard has left the Black Sea, a Russian Defense Ministry source told ITAR-TASS on Friday.
USS Donald Cook left the Black Sea on Thursday, passed through the straits and entered the Aegean Sea, the source said.
Two NATO warships remain in the Black Sea. French ship Dupuy de Lome and USS Taylor entered the sea on April 10 and April 22, respectively.
The US frigate is in the western part of the sea near the Romanian port of Constanta, and the French ship is in the Georgian port of Batumi....
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