Red Dawn 2?

The great 1980's film "Red Dawn" portrayed a Soviet/Cuban/Nicaraguan surprise attack on the US.


In the movie, several large US cities were nuked, while Soviet troops invading from Siberia, through Alaska and Canada, met up with Nicaraguans and Cubans, invading through Mexico, to cut the US in two.

Many took the scenario seriously at the time and stocked up bigtime with ammo and baked beans.

That threat faded as communism "collapsed", the Sandinistas lost power and Cuba nearly went broke.

Now most of Latin America is red. Russia is getting more aggressive and is re-establishing military ties in Latin America. The "Bear" has even re-forged ties to the brand new Sandinista regime in Nicaragua.

From DefenseNews.com

Russia will resume military and technical cooperation with Nicaragua, the head of the Russian Audit Chamber, former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, told journalists Jan. 12 in Managua.


“The whole Nicaraguan Army and other power agencies use arms and vehicles mostly of the Soviet and Russian production,” Stepashin said. “We do not return to a bare field in Nicaragua, but resume our relations on a very serious basis, both technological and human.”

Stepashin attended the inauguration ceremony there of the newly elected Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, as the personal envoy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A staunch critic of the United States, the leftist Ortega is an old ally of Moscow. During his earlier presidency, 1985-’90, the Soviet Union actively backed his regime against the U.S.-supported “contra” guerillas.

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union delivered to Nicaragua more than 100 light tanks, about 200 armored personnel carriers, Strela and Igla shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, several minesweepers and torpedo boats, military cargo helicopters and planes, Russian defense experts say. The deliveries stopped in 1990, after Ortega lost his bid for re-election.

In 1996, Russia forgave 90 percent of Nicaragua’s $3.4 billion Soviet-era debt, which stemmed mostly from Managua’s military purchases. Moscow nullified the rest of the debt in 2004.

The two countries signed an agreement on military and technical cooperation in November 2001, but no new arms deliveries from Russia followed. Neighboring Honduras expressed concerns about the agreement, but Nicaraguan officials at the time said it related only to repairs and maintenance of the military’s existing Soviet arms.

Stepashin told journalists in Managua that 18 presidents of Latin American nations who attended Ortega’s inauguration had spoken with him in favor of Russia’s presence in the region.

In the past several years, Russia has tried to build up military cooperation with Latin American countries, succeeding particularly with Venezuela. These attempts — which climaxed last year with a $3 billion deal to supply Caracas with Russian arms —met strong objections from the U.S. administration and are believed to have been the catalyst, in part, for sanctions Washington adopted last year against Russian military companies, including state arms-trader Rosoboronexport.

Hat Tip Once Upon a Time in the West

"Red Dawn" did get one thing very wrong. It had the remaining "400 million screaming Chinamen" siding with the US after being nuked by Russia, (there were 800 million before the attack).

Today, the 1.2 Billion, very wealthy "Chinamen" would side with Russia.

So would most of Latin America, most of the Moslem world and most of Africa.

Europe, as in the movie, would probably "sit this one out".

That doesn't leave a lot left to defend the US and the West, if or when the "balloon goes up".

Let's just hope that Russia really is our friend.