The Russians, who have always regarded Canada as a less-belligerent "buffer" across the Arctic between the U.S. and themselves become increasingly resentful of Canada's absorbtion into a Continental Union. The hardline communist/nationalist faction having triumphed in Moscow, they begin armed "probing" flights across the Arctic divide in an attempt to test out the effectiveness of the NORAD radar early-warning system after Quebec's separation and Canada's slow collapse.