Dienas grauds

…As part of Zapad 2013, Russian and Belarusian soldiers will practice the deterrence of air strikes upon the Union state of these two governments. So despite the mention of “illegal armed groups”—generally connoting terrorist forces—this year’s exercise will represent another theater conventional or at least local war (локальная война) with advanced air strikes, air defenses, and so on (Interfax-AVN Online, June 10). In spite of growing evidence that the primary military threat to Russia is terrorism, the armed forces are evidently going to repeat a scenario of escalation against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), possibly to the nuclear level as in 2009. …

Dr. Stephen Blank, professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College