Russia's Biggest Military Offensive Since The Cold War -- October 20, 2016

Americans are pre-occupied with:

• the presidential election;
• NFL ratings; and,
• whether their malls will be open on Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, Russia is said to be launching biggest military offensive since the Cold War -- The [London] Telegraph.

The warning is not from a blog or from a newspaper but from NATO:

Russia has begun its biggest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War as it aims to effectively end the war in Syria on the eve of the US election, Nato officials warned last night.

Purpose? According to western intelligence:

The Kremlin is sending the full might of its Northern Fleet and part of the Baltic Fleet to reinforce a final assault on the city of Aleppo in a fortnight, according to Western intelligence. The final bombardment is designed to shore up the Assad regime by wiping out rebels – paving the way for a Russian exit from the civil war.

This is not simply an a/c carrier group. It is the nation's entire Northern Fleet and much of the Baltic Fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War. 

The additional military firepower is designed to drive out or destroy the 8,000 rebels in Aleppo, the only large city still in opposition hands, and to allow Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to start a withdrawal.