If Russia gets its war games wrong, Europe could be in big trouble

The real risk of conflict comes from secrecy and miscalculation by those on the other side

Tensions are running high in a region with a history of paranoia and mistrust. The rhetoric being used raises the concern of a military escalation. And now there are massive war games that will only add to the combustible situation. No, this isn’t the Korean peninsula: it’s the northeastern corner of Europe.

Flying deep under the radar amid the ongoing crisis in Asia, the Russian “war games” known as Zapad 2017 have been largely overlooked. Conducted across Belarus, which borders several EU states, the exercises have by some estimates involved more than 100,000 troops, raising