Russian Bomber Probe Rationale

Ok Riddler and co. Again your question regarding the Russian bomber probe:

First go to a map any map, google is fine... measure out 250nm north of Goose bay. See where that is?

To suggest that this was simply the Russians patrolling international waters demonstrates the complete lack of the basics. Check the facts.

I posted this 40 or 50 pages ago. No one would expect you to have read that far back, so I will go easy on you on that one:

These "training exercises" are used to discover response times: How long it takes us to scramble interceptors, what level of def-con this elicits, what kind of plane we are responding with. How close to Canadian airspace can they get before intercept. The radar signature, and probably many more facts I am totally missing.

Its important to understand what I just said. Combined with your look at the map, you can see this was quite the training exercise. Look at how far that plane flew before it turned around. How did it get there?
Trace the huge S pattern they would have to fly to get there by flying only over international waters.

The "training" was data gathering.

The question might be asked, why don't we just refuse to play? The main reason is, these brief incursions around the edges, and our responses demonstrate our sovereignty. The Russians would be happy colonize this side of the pole, given the vast wealth underneath. If they did, who would know? We wouldn't be flying up there for any other reason than this.