Russia says it caught a U.S. Navy ship illegally operating in Russian waters in the Sea of Japan and “chased off” the offending ship on Tuesday.
The area in question has been claimed by Russia as part of its territorial waters since 1984, but the U.S. does not recognize that claim.
The Admiral Vinogradov, a Russian destroyer, verbally warned the USS John S. McCain that it would be rammed if it didn’t leave the area after it violated the boundary by more than a mile, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. The McCain, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, immediately returned to neutral waters after the warning, according to the Kremlin.
However, the U.S. is telling a different story. It says that the McCain “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan.”
Read more at NPR.
{Matzav.com}
President-elect Biden issued an apology to Russia within the hour.
“Rest assured” said Biden, “Provocative actions such as these will be a thing of the past under the Biden administration. American exceptionalism is a myth, we can’t ‘Make great again’ what never was great, and in the future we will know our place on the world stage.”
Preliminary reports of reparation for what Biden described as “this reckless provocation” include the return of Alaska, the renaming of the USS John S. McCain to the USS Vladimir Putin, St. Petersburg, Florida being renamed Leningrad, Florida, and all original episodes of Star Trek episodes being edited so that Captain Kirk and Ensign Pavel Chekov switch ranks.
Russia’s President Putin is quoted as describing the Biden offer as “A good starting point”, while at the same time suggesting Biden provide sweeteners, such as repainting The White House crimson and referring to it as “The Red House”, renaming Times Square “Red Square”, and renaming The Freedom Tower “The Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Martyrdom Memorial Tower”. He also subtly hinted that destroying all video, audio, photographic records of the 1980 hockey team’s “Miracle On Ice” would be viewed favorably. President-elect Biden has not yet responded to Putin, but all indications are that, when told by his advisers that Trump would outright refuse such a deal, he indicated he is favorably inclined toward it.
In other news, momentum for President-elect Biden’s Nobel Peace Prize is gathering so quickly, the award may be awarded to him in less time and with fewer accomplishments than even ex-president Obama’s. (The award is also known as the “Nobel Prize for Being A Past Or Current President Who Isn’t A Deplorable, Yucky Republican”.)