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Oh noes, he mad! Okey dokey then, so it spiked to 283% and then leveled off to 230%, happy now?
$10 billion a month = $120 billion a year. The 2021 Russian defense budget = $66 billion. Assuming the $10 billion per month holds steady till the end of the year, the 2023 budget will be 82% higher than in 2021.
With that said, if the first two months = $26 billion and the next four months = $33 billion. Then from March to June, the average monthly defense spending was $8.25 billion. If that holds steady till the end of the year, the total would be 10 months @ $8.25 = $82.5 billion + $26 billion = $108.5 billion. Which is about 64% more than the $66 billion budget from before the war.
Moreover, the 2013 Russian defense budget was $88.35 billion. Which means the 2023 defense budget will be around 23% to 36% higher than the 2013 budget.
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Originally Posted by G in MP
And why does it matter how that compares to US military spending?
Because you said the Russian Army is "well-funded" but can't defeat Ukraine, even though the Ukrainian Army is literally better-funded than Russia.
Quote:
Originally Posted by G in MP
What percent of Russia's population don't even have indoor plumbing?
About the same percentage as Americans who have a septic system instead of municipal water/sewer. The people in Russia without indoor plumbing don't live in the cities. They aren't dumping urine and feces onto the streets. They live in the middle of nowhere where there simply can't be municipal sewer systems. The only reason rural Americans have septic systems is because America is rich. In poor countries, rural areas pretty much never have septic systems. The percentage of people without an indoor toilet is even higher in Romania and Bulgaria.
There are some Americans who still use outhouses, but what does that have to do with the government? It's not like the government is paying for people's septic systems. The only reason more Americans don't have outhouses is because America is rich. If/when Russia gets richer, more Russians will be able to afford septic systems. Just look at China. Twenty years ago half the country didn't have basic sanitation, now it is more than 90%. Was that because China was spending all its money on foreign wars? Or was it because China was poor and now they're getting rich and more urban?
Quote:
Originally Posted by G in MP
As for your other point, so moot. Russia military capability is this: outguns and outmans Ukraine, by a mile.
Russia outguns Ukraine, but Russia only initially sent around 160-190k troops into Ukraine against a Ukrainian force many times larger. Russia's Army is larger than Ukraine's but Russia can't commit its entire Army to Ukraine because Russia still has to protect its own borders and support its allies. Ukraine can send every last Ukrainian male kidnapped off the street to the frontline to fight Russia.
With that said, it's not like Ukraine is fighting Russia with sticks. Ukraine doesn't have air power, but Russia doesn't have air superiority either because air defenses on both sides are just too good. There would be nothing more scary in this war than flying around in a helicopter. Moreover, in some aspects Ukraine has better equipment than Russia. Their intelligence(eg American satellites) are superior to Russia's. Their night vision is also better. Western tanks and troop carriers would also probably be objectively superior. American artillery is probably also superior(especially the guided artillery).
The problem for Ukraine is that the West simply isn't giving them enough weapons/ammunition. The question is, why? Because the goal wasn't to defeat the Russian outright. The goal was to bankrupt the Russians. Similar to what brought down the Soviet Union after the Afghan debacle.
In the case of Afghanistan, the Soviet invasion lost Russia all of its friends and mobilized the entire Middle-East and the entire Islamic world against Russia. The problem in the Ukraine War, is that the world has not mobilized against Russia. If anything, the Ukraine War is mobilizing the world against America.
I really don't understand America's Ukraine strategy. It seems like a total failure on all fronts.
Whether the czars, the soviets, or whatever this is now over there, they've always been out to conquer their neighbors, or at least parts of their neighbors, as much as they're able.
In absolute terms, I agree. Every country wants to conquer the world. Germany wants to conquer the world. France wants to conquer the world. Britain wants to conquer the world. Spain wants to conquer the world. America wants to conquer the world. Even Switzerland would conquer the world if it could.
Russia got its land the same way America got its land. It took it. Although the people Russia took it from largely still exist(having their own Republics). The people America took the land from largely don't. We almost completely wiped them out. Leaving them with almost uninhabitable scraps.
Just because someone might secretly desire to conquer the world, doesn't mean they could if they wanted to, and it doesn't mean all of their actions are to that effect. For example, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, it would be silly to say that Saddam Hussein was trying to conquer the world, even if to some degree that is true. Likewise, you can't say that if China invades Taiwan it is because they are trying to conquer the world, even if that is likewise technically true. Moreover, Putin invading a part of Ukraine that was historically part of Russia, with mostly Russian speakers, who had supported the pro-Russian Yanukovych, and who generally preferred Russia to Europe, doesn't mean Russia is out to conquer the world, even if Russia would conquer the world if it could.
Which begs the question, why does every country want to conquer the world? You could argue that it is because of some defect in the human character. That we're all secretly tyrants who want to dominate everyone else. Or you could understand that we live in a Darwinian world where only the strong survive. The word "empire" causes most people to recoil with disgust. Empires are bad, right? I would certainly prefer they didn't exist, but it's understandable why they do. Empires exist because the only way to defend yourself is to become powerful.
"The existence of one sovereign, exclusionary State necessarily supposes the existence and, if need be, provokes the formation of other such States, since it is quite natural that individuals who find themselves outside it and are threatened by it in their existence and in their liberty, should, in their turn, associate themselves against it. We thus have humanity divided into an indefinite number of foreign states, all hostile and threatened by each other. There is no common right, no social contract of any kind between them; otherwise they would cease to be independent states and become the federated members of one great state. But unless this great state were to embrace all of humanity, it would be confronted with other great states, each federated within, each maintaining the same posture of inevitable hostility. War would still remain the supreme law, an unavoidable condition of human survival.
Every state, federated or not, would therefore seek to become the most powerful. It must devour lest it be devoured, conquer lest it be conquered, enslave lest it be enslaved, since two powers, similar and yet alien to each other, could not coexist without mutual destruction."
Basically, there is a fine line between national defense and conquest. The United States has military bases all over the world, we support rebels, we overthrow governments, we bomb countries, we invade countries, and we do this all in the name of national security. Which might sound absurd, but it makes perfect sense. Just look at what is happening to the world as American power wanes. It's just as George Soros said when he decried the "looming world disorder".
The only thing that prevents war is a Hobbesian Leviathan. The only question is, is America a good Leviathan? My answer is a resounding, "NO". I would rather a permanent World War than for a degenerate anti-white America to remain preeminent. America is and has always been a plague upon the Earth. Russia is just as bad if not worse.
Last edited by Redshadowz; 08-14-2023 at 03:31 AM..
Odd how theres no pictures of the Kerch bridge suddenly...and no traffic has passed over it in a couple days. theyre not allowing vessels through either.
Odd how theres no pictures of the Kerch bridge suddenly...and no traffic has passed over it in a couple days. theyre not allowing vessels through either.
I'm wondering about that too..are there no satellite or spy plane photos to either show or disprove any damage to the bridge?..
The ruble weakened beyond the psychologically important level of 100 to the dollar for the first time since March last year, as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on and international sanctions throttle the economy.
The currency fell 1.5% to 100.975 in its fifth day of losses even after Russia’s central bank sought to arrest the slump by halting its foreign-currency purchases on the domestic market for the rest of 2023. It has weakened 26% this year for the third-worst performance in emerging markets.
[…]
“The weakening of the ruble is the result of the international screws tightening around the Russian economy, but also the cost of keeping the economy going,” said Erik Meyersson, chief emerging-market strategist at SEB AB in Stockholm. “Nobody wants to hold rubles, and the limited supply of foreign exchange from exporters weighs on the currency. Meanwhile, the current account has been weakening, amid surging imports and lower export revenues, which further adds pressure.”
Revenues of Russian oil and gas exporters declined to $6.9 billion in July from $16.8 billion in the same period last year, according to the latest central bank data. An easing of restrictions on moving money abroad has also led to accelerated capital flight as Russians race to shift funds into foreign accounts.
You deliberately quoted outdated information to make it look like the Russian economy is in worse condition then it is. That is not helpful. Russian inflation is only slightly higher than the US inflation rate, and much less than that of many of our NATO partners.
Yeah, well the article I linked IS now three weeks old (July 24, 2023) and things do, indeed, change fast so we all gotta watch our dates and references and stuff.
Russia inflation could not possibly be what Russia reports it to be. The 40% fall of ruble value makes it impossible.
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