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I remember Trump was flying all over the world trying to threaten different countries not to buy sophisticated Russian weapons.
U.S. sanctions Turkey over purchase of Russian S-400 missile system
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I don't think Putin invests into production of plastic toys for Walmart.
Instead, he invests into nuclear reactors, civilian and military planes, cars, etc.
I believe Putin is building reactors in Egypt and Belarus.
"The 6th largest economy in the world", California, is building none.
Putin is a dictator and he is friendly with the Oligarchs. Furthermore Russia has extreme income inequality (like the US).
But Americans seem to think Russia is like in the movie Die Hard. They think Moscow is a bunch of rundown commie blocks with a perpetual grey overcast.
That was true in the 1990s but not anymore. Moscow is a developed global city like London or New York. The Russian military has advanced air fighters and ground troops.
Yes their Navy is a few decades behind and the M1 Abrams is better than the standard Russian tank but they also have state of the art tech and robotics. They tested their first hypersonic missile in 2018, before China or the US.
Their economy is also not the size of Italy. Jake Tapper jokes on his program that Russia's economy is smaller than Italy but this is misleading. Russia had a larger economy before the Ruble tanked. If the Ruble were to shoot up vs. the dollar everything would change.
That is because the ranking of Russia below Italy comes from Nominal GDP. But if we use GDP PPP Russia is the world's fifth largest economy. It also has the lowest external debt to GDP ratio in the world.
So yeah their economy is smaller but it is more stable than the US economy and less prone to fluctuation. They have a larger foriegn reserves holding, and more untapped economic resources.
American media still mocks Russia because everyone here is stuck in the 1990s when people saw Russia as a heaping pile atop the ruins of the USSR. But it is not the 90s anymore, wake up.
The world according to Brandon.. Stronger Russia, China. Weaker USA.
Another question - isn't Westinghouse bankrupt too?
Well, the US president can provide $40 billion to "build green energy infrastructure in the Ukraine", $30 billion will help Westinghouse, $5 billion will be stolen by Ukrainian politicians, and Hunter will get a cool billion.
Russia's military is very good. Nobody who's lived through the cold war can underestimate their basic military philosophies that make them very effective. They are somewhat down on tech compared to the US but make up for that with the quality of large numbers. Their deficit in tech is not that large anymore and in some cases they are ahead. Our traditional superiority in air power has led them to develop very effective anti-aircraft systems. Their armor has always been very good and has at times surpassed ours as we see-sawed back and forth in that arena. The T14 Armata has very different new features than the Abrams and it's an open question whether it might be superior to the M1-A2 or A3. That new generation aside, the Russians still have 2x the main battle tanks as we do. Air power ... Very good but without a doubt our pilots are better trained which is a huge advantage. In general this holds true for all aspects of the US military. We hold a significant advantage over everyone in the world in the sense that we have forgotten more about naval, air and ground combat than any other military will ever know. Like it or not the US has been fighting virtually nonstop all over the world since the start of WWII. There is NOTHING like the experiences of combat to create a huge wealth of lessons learned that becomes the foundation for how we train, arm and lead our fighting forces. In that regard our military forces are the Roman legions of the modern era. They fought everywhere across the empire for centuries and their lessons learned created a highly disciplined and nearly unbeatable force. This is a huge intangible advantage that we bring to war fighting. The Russians have good tech, large numbers of many weapons systems, well trained forces in some areas but they are raw and relatively untested. Advantage US vs Russia. Even larger advantage over China. That said I damn sure don't want to go to war against either one or both like Brandon may inadvertently stumble us into.
Brandon will send the Diversity Brigades lead by the Woke command. Russia will be shaking with fear.
Brandon will send the Diversity Brigades lead by the Woke command. Russia will be shaking with fear.
Same goes for China. They already held us in contempt prior to Brandon, not militarily but in their assessment of our cultural weakness. For all that our woke left is advancing a Marxist leaning agenda that is favorable towards the CCP, the Chinese hold them in contempt. They even have a derogatory term for woke American leftists - "baizuo". They love that we allow the existence of a class of effete collectivist pseudo-intellectuals full of hatred for their own country ... it's totally useful for the Chinese but in terms of their own values they despise such people. They're full of contempt for a soft spoiled weak class of people who don't support or feel loyalty for the country of their birth.
Their sense of our weakness is dangerous. It emboldens them to feel that it may be time to test us further.
That's not enough to avoid conflict. Additionally, Ukraine MUST stop shelling peaceful civilians in eastern Ukraine and killing them almost every day. Ukraine MUST end all domestic war crimes against the pro-Russian population. If Ukraine stop it, Russia will calm down.
And yes, NATO bases should not be deployed in Ukraine at all.
NATO bases are not in Ukraine, as for domestic wars and human rights abuses, I think Mother Russia should look closer to home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by erasure
That's not "vodka-fuelled" I assure you - that's the toughness of life over there in general; the wilderness of nature, the vast space, the constant survival mode, the calamities, the wars.
They just look this way naturally, without any actual attempt to intimidate anyone in my opinion)))
With that being said, the "hi tech and brains" are not exactly lacking there as well.
Russia and Britain have being playing the global game long before the US, and I am more concerned with the men who play chess in Russia than I am the intimidating men.
Both countries have a long history, and in terms of the latest conflict it's in the Russia's own self interest to negotiate peace.
The OP is correct in saying no one should underestimate Russia.
Going after what is considered to be one of the most effective land based fighting forces on earth today would be the greatest redneck "Watch this!!!" moments in history.
I just stumbled across some information on what happened during the Ilovaisk offensive in the Donbas in the summer of 2014. The Ukrainian army lost 40% of its entire force in that offensive. And yes, the Russians got involved when Ukrainian forces (they were obviously lost) crossed into Russian territory in several places. The response was rapid and devastating and in one key sense, it was in depth. The Russians hit not just targets accidentally crossing the border but they destroyed everything they could see across the border inside Ukraine too.
I don't have the specifics in numbers but whole units were wiped out and hundreds of vehicles were destroyed. Casualties are likely in the thousands. Many thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to the Russians too. They figured it was their best chance to survive and considering the mood of the Novorussians at the time, it was.
The key point is Russians have never stopped training or preparing to fight a European war. They have competent soldiery and competent leadership and weaponry on par with anything that NATO can field and in some cases, better. Russian kit is built for battle, more rugged and easier to use and maintain in the field and more of it in many cases.
Both countries have a long history, and in terms of the latest conflict it's in the Russia's own self interest to negotiate peace.
Security for all, or security for none.
As for what is going on in Donbas there's some scumbags (friends of yours?) that need to get acquainted with some shallow pits.
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