World Why Russia is Buzzing NATO- A Return of the Cold War?

Marc Champion, a writer on international affairs, in this Bloomberg Articles explains why Russia has been circling around NATO, probing it from time to time. Excerpt:


The flurry of activity recalls the bad old days of the Cold War; NATO has had to scramble to intercept Russian jets more than 100 times this year, three times more often than in all of 2013. So what exactly are President Vladimir Putin and his generals trying to achieve? They aren't saying, but they appear to have multiple goals, all related:

• To remind Europe as a whole (four strategic bombers circled the continent to reach Portugal) that Russia is a major nuclear power willing to use force;
• To remind Finland and Sweden in particular (a group of seven Russian jets forced NATO planes to scramble over the Baltic Sea twice) of the weakness of their defenses, and warn those two countries against trying to join NATO or defend the Baltic States;
• To show the U.S. that opposing Russian encroachments in Ukraine or any other post-Soviet state wouldn't be worth the risk;
• To test NATO defenses and, as part of a major military upgrade, get real world training and flight hours after years of decline.

So yes, a version of the Cold War is returning, but its rules and parameters aren't clear.

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