If Pat Buchanan and the rest of the Putinists don’t see this as a provocation, they’re being willfully blind:

Rice said Russia has raised questions about its place in the international community through the invasion and other actions, including the resumption last year for the first time since the 1991 collapse of the former Soviet Union of air patrols near the Alaskan coast by Tu-95 strategic bombers, code-named Bears by NATO.

“We’ve had Russian strategic aviation challenging in ways they haven’t, even along our borders with the United States, which I might note is a very dangerous game and perhaps one that I suggest the Russians want to reconsider. This is not one that is cost-free,” Rice said.

She did not elaborate on a U.S. reaction to the flights, which have been widely seen as an attempt by Russia, flush with windfall oil profits, to reassert itself as a global power despite serious problems with its military.

Since the flights resumed in August 2007, U.S. and Canadian fighters have intercepted the Russian bombers and escorted them away from the U.S. coast.

U.S. officials have previously attached little real significance to the flights by the turboprop-powered Cold War relics, and defense officials said Monday that recent flights did not provoke concerns within the Pentagon.

Yes, why be concerned with turbo prop bombers, it’s not as if a wave of them escorted by Migs could slip one or two nukes by our Coast guard. The flights began last year and were the beginning of a series of escalating provocations by Russia to test American resolve.

Fly overs of The USS Nimitz take on a more sinister meaning in light of Russian aggression. Will the next fly over of one of our ships lead to an attack? Are the Russians making these flights to lull us into complacency? A year ago I’d have said no but watching the Russian sack of Georgia now I’m not so sure.

h/t N.T.A.