"From 11–15 September Russia’s Far East will host Vostok-2018 the largest Russian military exercise since Zapad (West)-1981. According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, this latest exercise will engage some 300,000 Russian troops, over 1000 aircraft, the Pacific and Northern Fleets, the entire Airborne forces, Mongolian and 3200 Chinese troops, including 30 aircraft and fixed-wing helicopters."

Rest of the study here - [link to www.lowyinstitute.org (secure)]

Huge deployments of airborne (para) forces. Extensive nuclear first strike rehearsals. Air, sea and land interoperability tests with China.

What this tells us at minimum is that Russia, China and Mongolia have an ironclad military cooperation treaty not unlike the Washington Agreement. It tells us that plans are in motion for a joint airborne invasion of the target nation/s. It tells us that nuclear first strikes are probably included in the operational planning.

Nuked, then invaded Red Dawn style? Which countries are the intended recipients of all this attention? USA? Probably not. Australia? Probably not, but maybe. Japan? Taiwan? South Korea? Vietnam? Philippines? That oil wealth in the South China Sea is a big-arsed prize.

Russia and China have something serious up their sleeve and this is probably the only warning we'll get. So it's not quite time to bring in the tomato plants, but soon...