[binarray2000]

Can it get more silly? Russia, after disintegration of the Soviet Union, has not moved an inch to the west. NATO, on the other hand, is nearer on Russia than ever. And does military exercises near the Russian border. And builds launching pads for nuclear and anti missile rockets in Poland and Romania. And has invaded country after country (Republic of Yugoslavia 1999, Afghanistan 2001, Iraq 2003, Libya 2011...) while breaking international laws in the process. Yet, "Russia’s Military Buildup in the Baltic Stokes Invasion Fears"!

This insults intelligence of every critically thinking person.

[rdeboo]

afaik Russia moved a few inches into the Crimean peninsula..

[binarray2000]

Yes, those ruskies! How dare they react to the coup in Ukraine? How dare they save their naval base in Sevastopol? Base that is longer there than the US of A exist. How dare they, among other things, react to the request to tender [1] by the US Navy to renovate a school in Sevastopol and put US troops there - right in the Russian garden?

[1] https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2bb691b...

Pay attention to the timeline. Writing of the documentation for this project had to be started at least three months prior to the publication. It was published on 2013-09-05, Euromaidan begins on 2013-11-21, 2014-03-16 Crimean referendum, 2014-04-15 tender is cancelled.

One million dollar question: How did US Navy know in summer of 2013 that it will need a school in Sevastopol in 2014 considering that Ukraine was still under Yanukowich (and close to Russia) at that time?

[my_first_acct]

Um, I'm not sure your description of the US Navy's Sevastopol School project is entirely accurate. Here is a 2014 article at RT.com, which certainly cannot be accused of pro-US bias:

https://www.rt.com/news/154180-us-navy-crimea-charity/

The headline: "US Navy cancels charity projects in Crimea". According to the article, the plan was to renovate School #5 in Sevastopol; the US Navy had already paid for the renovation of School #22 in Sevastopol and School #14 in Simferopol. The RT article states that "Russian media and bloggers suspect the programs were meant to butter up locals for a possible US settlement there." But it doesn't suggest that US troops would be posted there; the only US military "presence" would be a commemorative plaque on the renovated building.

[temp]

And into Georgia. And into Transnistria. And of course, into other parts of Ukraine.

[DenisM]

So you don't think that Russia's neighbors should unite in defense against a potentially aggressive neighbor?

[asavinov]

The best way for neigbour countries (everywhere) is to switch to democracy and let their citizens decide themselves how to live similar to Brexit or referendum in Scotland.

[mb_72]

Yes, and what they have chosen - in Estonia for example - is to still claim to be 'Russian' but not actually live in Russia; this is because even such 'true patriots' realise their lives are better and freer not being inside the borders of the country they claim first allegiance to. This then leaves Estonia with a bunch of malcontents not properly learning the language, and then complaining when they are discriminated against when looking for jobs.

[jdimov10]

I mean, of course, it's natural that they would. Except this has nothing to do with neighbours uniting. This is American aggression at its worse.

[DenisM]

What is the difference between nations uniting together in defense and nations joining a defense club?