Putin has been tuning up his military much like a baseball team readies itself for the regular season by playing spring training games. His military has recently gained lots of practice in live fire exercises in Syria and in the Crimea region. Is all this a lead up to some future aggression or provocation? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bust a move somewhere within the next nine months. He may see that as his window of opportunity before Obama leaves office.
What Putin did in Crimea and Syria were masterstrokes.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see him (Putin) bust a move somewhere within the next nine months. He may see that as his window of opportunity before Obama leaves office.”
Russian language media has been indicating Estonia and/or Lithuania for years now.
That would be invading NATO member states though. Even if Obama were to look away and go golfing, per his SOP, Poland might drag NATO in kicking and squealing. Putin would need a careful disguise of local Russian-speaking rebels rather than a Russian invasion - like he did in the Ukraine.