Why So Coy, Admiral Kutnezov? Russia / USSR

The Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, has had a little accident. Due to a "refueling incident", the Admiral has incontinently spilled 1,000 tonnes of oil off the southern Ireland coastline. Russian response has been to avoid taking responsibility, in the grand tradition of the USSR.

Surveillance flights by Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) calculated that about 1,000 tonnes of oil were spilt.

Russian authorities put the figure at 300 tonnes and have yet publicly to admit their role.

The aircraft carrier, a Russian refuelling ship and a Russian tug were, however, found amid the oil when the spill was detected by a satelite on Saturday. Four other Russian naval vessels were nearby. _Times

Russian authorities should be proud that they can even launch such a fleet, and supply it with fuel at sea -- even if a good part of the fuel ended up in the sea, instead of in the ships' fuel tanks. Such a spill simply says to the world: "we have all the fuel we will ever need, and can even afford to dump large quantities into the ocean!" One might think they would proudly acknowledge the power and ready profligacy of the Russian Navy.

This inability to acknowledge its own actions -- even when they are open for all the world to see -- is typical of the old Soviet way of conducting business. If, instead, the Russians were to proudly declare: "sure we did it! And we'll do it again if we feel like it! Just you wait and see!", the world would be shaking in its boots at the sheer magnitude of Russian will, power, and will to power. To say nothing of its enormous natural resources.