Rumors of War - King of the North

Russia to hold its biggest war games since fall of Soviet Union | Reuters
Reuters reports: "Russia will next month hold its biggest war games since the fall of the Soviet Union, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday, a massive military exercise that will also involve the Chinese and Mongolian armies. The exercise, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), will take place in central and eastern Russian military districts and involve almost 300,000 troops, more than 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia’s naval fleets, and all of its airborne units, Shoigu said in a statement. [...] The war games, which will take place from Sept. 11-15, are likely to worry Japan, which has already complained about a Russian military build-up in the Far East, something Moscow has linked to Tokyo’s roll-out of the Aegis U.S. missile system. [...] When asked if China’s involvement meant Moscow and Beijing were moving towards an alliance, Peskov said it showed that the two were cooperating in all areas. China and Russia have taken part in joint military drills before but not on such a large scale."

Comment: This is an interesting development. I think it's noteworthy that Russia is including China in these war games. I think their alliance is strong and they are not afraid to let the world (and especially the U.S.) see it.