[Common Sense 101]

I seriously doubt that Putin would make a serious move against the U.S., however I do think that he enjoys “tweeking” the community-organizing ass clown.

[tanknetter]

I seriously doubt that Putin would make a serious move against the U.S., however I do think that he enjoys “tweeking” the community-organizing ass clown.

That, and the Russians are testing our response times.

I'm willing to bet that the Raptors intercepted the Russians a LOT further away, but let them get closer in before pulling up along side. Like they did with the Iranians not to long ago.

“He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home'”

I do like the idea of sending out two Raptors to take on six Russians. Brings to mind the old "One riot, one Ranger" story.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yep Putey loves to bait the bull. Especially since we and our buddies in the EU are cranking the Western credit window closed and other sanctions playing havoc with the ruble.

[CyberAnt]

I totally agree.

[Starboard]

Putin’s objectives involve far more than just playing games with Obama. He is seriously committed to restoring Russia back to a great power with empire like status and influence. And he see’s a window of opportunity over the next two years to significantly advance his agenda. He will not let this opportunity go to waste IMO.

Obama is pathetically weak, has no respect abroad, and he detests the use of military force. In fact he is doing a pretty good job of degrading our military capabilities and politicizing the armed forces. None of this is lost on Putin.

How far would Putin push him? It may not take on the form of a direct challenge but there are many other ways to “squeeze” your adversary into untenable positions. The next two years are going to be dicey IMO. Putin has a grandiose vision and momentum seems to be on his side for now. So he will continue probing for further weakness. What is worrisome is that he might just turn up the dial if he senses the opportunity knowing that we have nothing but a community organizer as the Commander-in-Chief.

Weakness invites aggression. Always has, always will.

[X Fretensis]

Just like the Soviets tweeked, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush I. It was a game played by both sides. The Reds sent Bear Bombers into the North American ADIZ on a routine basis for 50 years. We would send up a couple of fighters, they would wave, we would wave back.
The red aircraft would head back to Soviet air space. Their bombers would fly from the North Cape to Cuba and back, their cpa would be within 30 miles of the U.S. East Coast.
Langley AFB would send up a couple of fighters, escort them south, then hand over the escort mission to a couple of fighters from Florda AFBs. We knew damn good an well the reds were not going to start WWIII with just a couple of bombers. Nor were we going to start WWIII by shooting them down.