The US tends to be pretty good at surveillance in permissive environments. And as part of an invasion, you're moving a lot of logistically-heavy materiel near

The US tends to be pretty good at surveillance in permissive environments. And as part of an invasion, you're moving a lot of logistically-heavy materiel near international borders. And stockpiling it in quantities that look different than exercises. It would have been somewhat surprising if we hadn't noticed, between the E-8 & RQ-4 flights. What was most fascinating to me about the article was how little effort Russia put into their diplomatic masquerade. With a few more key meetings or different messaging, they could have achieved a more successful military outcome. But I guess that failure speaks to how much of an echo chamber the leadership circles have become. Aka "We believe this, so why wouldn't everyone else?"