Don’t Fear the "Russian" Military, the country is in no position to wage a real conflict.

[Litwin]

putlerstan is in no position to wage a real conflict. +1, so why Trump wants to make a deal with such loser bamboo - empire ?


"The week-long exercises, which kicked off yesterday, are intended as a show of might. But the country is in no position to wage a real conflict....

Vostok is not just a big military-training drill—it’s a massive psychological-warfare operation and a geopolitical gambit, being undertaken by Russia as it regains much of its martial mojo and its ability to mount and coordinate complex operations.

That said, there’s a difference between showing off your hardware and testing your new tactics, and actually going to war. We shouldn’t assume that Russia actually wants to fight some major conflict. If nothing else, while Vostok’s scale shows that Moscow has regained the capacity for a continental-scale operation, it could hardly afford to fight one for real. It would have a hard time mustering this kind of army during wartime, when railway lines and communication hubs would be primary targets.


This exercise is part of what I have called “heavy-metal diplomacy”: Russia’s use of its military to overawe and misdirect the West. We’ve seen this kind of undiplomatic diplomacy at work in Europe, where Moscow has responded to debates in Sweden and Finland about joining NATO with war games simulating Russian invasions. We also see this sort of diplomacy at work in the numbers game Vladimir Putin plays. In last year’s Zapad war games, Moscow lowballed the number of soldiers participating in order to keep it below the ceiling at which Western countries would be able to send inspectors under Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe rules. This time around, the Russians seem happy to play up those numbers. But the much-hyped 300,000 figure involves much false accounting—in practice, the real figure may well be closer to 150,000, which is admittedly still an impressive tally. Judging from past examples like Zapad, many of these soldiers are unlikely to leave their barracks. They’ll be “involved” in exercises at the command post, not ones out in the field." https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...a-nato/570034/

 

[kyzr]

On the one hand the Russian economy is about the size of Italy's. On the other, they have about 15,000 nukes. So I think they are still formidable, but as you say, not as much of a conventional force as a nuclear one. If we get NK sane enough to denuclearize, then we have China as a potential regional power, and Russia lurking over eastern Europe. Credit Trump with getting NATO up to strength, especially since the EU has twice the population of the US. The EU needs to defend itself, with the US as backup.

 

[xyz]

That's why they're fighting a huge cyber war. It's much cheaper than physically conquering those countries.

 

[Litwin]

That's why they're fighting a huge cyber war. It's much cheaper than physically conquering those countries.

the new weapons of bums and terrorists .

 

[Litwin]

On the one hand the Russian economy is about the size of Italy's. On the other, they have about 15,000 nukes. So I think they are still formidable, but as you say, not as much of a conventional force as a nuclear one. If we get NK sane enough to denuclearize, then we have China as a potential regional power, and Russia lurking over eastern Europe. Credit Trump with getting NATO up to strength, especially since the EU has twice the population of the US. The EU needs to defend itself, with the US as backup.

i can not even find Muscovy here

 

[Litwin]

On the one hand the Russian economy is about the size of Italy's. On the other, they have about 15,000 nukes. So I think they are still formidable, but as you say, not as much of a conventional force as a nuclear one. If we get NK sane enough to denuclearize, then we have China as a potential regional power, and Russia lurking over eastern Europe. Credit Trump with getting NATO up to strength, especially since the EU has twice the population of the US. The EU needs to defend itself, with the US as backup.

Muscovite statistic,
Google Translate

he territory of Russia is 17.075.260 square meters. km and mainly lies north of 55 ° N.
Approximately 85% of the territory is not suitable for permanent comfortable living of the population. permafrost (areas of Siberia and the Far East) occupies 60% of the territory of Russia, swamps and wetlands almost 22%, rivers and lakes about 4%. Another part of the land is periodically flooded, part is occupied by mountains and forests, a little under ravines, part under deserts and solonchaks.

According to the State Statistics Committee's report for 2005, in Russia 2.2 million square meters of agricultural land are cultivated or used in agriculture. km, of which only 1.2 million for arable land, 0.2 million square kilometers are occupied by settlements of all types in the country. km, for industrial facilities and for military purposes 0.2 million, for other 0.1 million.
For a happy life, the Russians still have 2.561.289 square meters. km.
This is 15% of the territory ie. real Russia is slightly larger than Sudan, but less than Kazakhstan.
Average temperatures in January, in different regions, from 0 to -50 ° C, in July from 1 to 25 ° C, precipitation falls from 150 to 2000 mm per year.
At temperatures below -5 ° C, the maintenance costs of the infrastructure with each degree below zero increase exponentially.
Snow removal in the thickness of 40 cm in St. Petersburg takes more than 30 days.


Russia accounts for less than 2% of global GDP. The main export items (according to the Federal Customs Service) are gas and oil (70%), primary metals (15%), roundwood (10%), everything else, including equipment, weapons and technology - less than 5%.

According to soil scientists, 17.8% of agricultural land is subject to water erosion, 8.4% of wind erosion, 12.3% of wetlands and wetlands occupy wetlands and wetlands, and saline soils - 20.1%.
The land, not subject to all these misfortunes, in Russia is only 0.91 million square meters. km.
The agricultural season in most of Russia is 2-3 months (in Europe or the US 8-9 months). The average annual yield of cereals in Russia (on non-chernozems) is about 17 centners, in Germany, France and Great Britain (on nonchernozem) - 70 quintals per hectare, in Sweden - 60, in Ireland - 85, in Ukraine (on chernozems) - 24 in all.

The Russian state border stretches for 58,322 km and has 424 border crossings.
The total number of settlements is 157.895, of which more than 30.000 are still without telephone communication.
Most of the 39,000 abandoned villages and settlements are in the Central Federal District, the Northwest, the Far North, Siberia and the Far East.
In Russia only 65% of housing has been gasified.
Up to 75% of Russia's food needs are covered by imports.
78.7% of Russians consider cooperation with law enforcement bodies as unacceptable.
Russia consumes more than 20% of all heroin produced in the world.
The volume of the Russian market of heroin alone is estimated at $ 13 billion annually.
Every day in Russia, 100 people die because of a drug overdose.

In 2009, 786 terrorist acts were committed in Russia. Since the beginning of 2010, already 427.
The flying time of NATO strike aviation from the borders of Estonia and Latvia to St. Petersburg does not exceed 4 minutes, to Moscow - no more than 18.

Life in Russia is satisfied with two categories of people: those who are not in the know and those who are in the share.

63% of Russians with incomes above the national average would like their children to study and work abroad.
35% want their children to live abroad permanently.
At 2.000 vacancies for janitors opened in St. Petersburg in early 2010, there were fewer than 10 applicants.
The proposed salary is 12.000 rub / month.
The increase in the cost of travel in the St. Petersburg metro since 2003 is 35% per year.
Last year, more than 50 tons of explosives were seized at Russian airports.

The average Russian consumes 18 liters of alcohol per year. According to the conclusion of UN experts, the annual consumption of 8 liters of alcohol per capita leads to a serious degradation of the population.
In Russia, a pack of cigarettes can be bought for 30 cents, a bottle of beer, which can be bought at every corner 24 hours a day, is cheaper than a bottle of drinking water.
Only 1% of the water consumed by Russians meets the world quality standards.
in Russia there are 51,230 people who were exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl accident.

The State Duma and the Federation Council meet 12 billionaires, whose overall condition is estimated at 41 billion dollars.
Russia has 62 billionaires with a combined capital of $ 297 billion. Russian billionaires pay the lowest taxes in the world (13%) that their colleagues in France and Sweden (57%), in Denmark (61%) or Italy (66%) %).
26% of Russians have an outstanding loan.
143,000 people were deprived of the right to travel abroad due to problems with their debts.

According to the Rosgosstrakh CSR, in Russia the annual income is more than $ 1 million from 160,000 people, the annual income of more than $ 100,000 has 440,000 families "

and

TIL Russia has a smaller GDP than California, Texas or New York ...
. Spain and Russia had roughly equal ...