It's the PacRim, Stupid

"Challenge the US?"

Anyone who believes that all Putin is trying to do with his effort to secure naval bases in other countries is challenge us doesn't understand the Russian / Chinese dynamic. A Soviet Russian naval base in Vietnam, in particular, gives the PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) a strategic problem bigger than it gives us.

Or that is, it would if the Russian navy was something more than an echo of Rozhestvensky's 1905 model.

Coincidental Juxtaposition

In today's Guardian "top news" page, these two articles are presented one after the other:

"Syrian government forces move in on rebels in Aleppo "
"Mitt Romney moves on to Israel"

Which one will result in greater damage to US interests?