Without American intervention, they should be able to run right over the Georgians and the Ukrainians. Hell, they could probably take Crimea without firing a shot. It was part of Ukraine, but most of the population was Russian.
They were rattling sabers a little bit.
And the fighter planes buzzing American airspace? That part was a dog and pony show. We knew it, and so did they. Those old Soviet MiG-29s were so much target practice for our advanced F/A-18s. The Russians weren’t going to dogfight us with their Cold War leftovers. We would turn their Air Force into Swiss cheese.
“It’s a measured response,” Don said. “They haven’t attacked anyone or anything. Not yet, anyway.”
The aide coughed. Then he spoke again.
“Perhaps most worrisome, more than two hundred missile silos across the R
