A Most Dangerous Game

A specially upgraded Russian Akula class submarine has been caught trying to record the acoustic signature made by the Vanguard submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles, according to senior Navy officers.

British submariners have also reported that they are experiencing the highest number of "contacts" with Russian submarines since 1987.

If the Russians are able to obtain a recording of the unique noise of the boat's propellers it would have serious implications for Britain's nuclear deterrent. Using its sophisticated sonar, the Akula would be able to track Vanguards and potentially sink them before they could launch their Trident D4 missiles. . .

The Russians have been playing games with us, the Americans and French in the North Atlantic," a senior Navy commander said."

The Russians have been increasing their chest-out posture the last few years, increasingly attempting to provoke conflict with the West. They've been flying their Bear and Blackjack bombers along Alaskan airspace, tailing our aircraft carrier groups with submarines, and now they are following a British Vanguard sub, one of four in their arsenal, which carries Trident ICBM missiles. Each submarine has a unique acoustic signature and the Russians are attempting to record the sound of this one so that they can identify and track in the future. The British are unwilling to allow this and have assigned an escort hunter-killer sub.

Vladimir Putin would love nothing more than to start a skirmish with the British or with the United States. Already hugely popular in his country, Putin's popularity numbers would soar even higher, perhaps paving a path back to open control of Russia. As it stands now he pretends to be second-in-command to Medvedev, and even though everyone knows who really runs the country, this surely is a detriment to his not insubstantial ego. The positions of our two countries are similar to those in the late '80s, just before the Soviet Union collapsed, only they are swapped -- the United States is collapsing while Russia, and their Communist friends in China, are poised to overtake us as superpowers. Putin's games could turn very deadly, very soon.