The Russians are Getting Froggy

Make no mistake, the Bear is back and Vladimir Putin is making sure we know it:

American fighter jets have been scrambled after Russian bombers buzzed a US aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific.

The alert was sparked when two TU-95 Bear bombers flew within 500 miles of the USS Nimitz.

Four American FA-18 fighters were scrambled and tracked the strategic bombers.

One of the Russian planes remained around 50 miles away, but the other buzzed the carrier twice at an altitude of 2,000ft.

Sky's Ian Woods said incidents like these were common in the Cold War, but now highlighted frostier US-Russia relations.

Ah, the good old days when the Russians sent up targets.

The collapse of the Soviet union never sat well with former KGB apparatchik Putin and he's out to show that Russia is a military force to be reckoned with--even if they aren't. The Russian Navy did start an ambitious effort to expand last summer and build up again, including carriers but that will take a decade at least. Their naval forces faced years of decay.

American forces are at the highest level of competence in decades and our pilots are primed. Soviet, er...Russian naval vessels have been rotting and their radar systems are weak as was shown when they were exposed by the Israeli's in Syria.

I say we send in an SSN to rile the waters at Vladivostok and show them that we are still superior. I guess we won't have to do anything at Murmansk where the picture below was taken.
I guess we can now say without argument that the Russians are bringing back the worst of the Soviet ways. Gulags and forty-deep lines for old beets will be back if they ever were gone.

Update: Oh yeah, old Vlad is feeling strong lately.