Well, I always thought the Russians had a rather unconvincing military system lately. They were much better at introducing new prototypes than making them in significant numbers. Most of their vaunted hordes simply weren’t there. They had a very small intervention force in Syria.
And from what we have seen in Ukraine, my own take was spot on.
Why does this matter? Simply put, if the Russians were to try an attack on NATO it matters how good they are at war. As far as we can tell from the test of combat, and the revelation of what they are trying to fight with, NATO equipment, including what ex-Soviet stuff the Poles and Czechs and etc. have been upgrading for the last thirty years, is perfectly adequate to meet them in the field. And that NATO’s peacetime armies of summer soldiers are likely to do fairly well against the Russians own army of summer soldiers.
Of course, NATO slices through them like a hot knife through butter. Why the hell do you think Putin is risking everything to keep the NATO juggernaut off his border, 300 miles from Moscow? Look at what you type and ask yourself why? You want to show me some of your pre “Russia is a paper bear narrative” posts where you voice these same thoughts? Or did the thoughts come after the media handlers left their transmission on the highway when they threw the narrative on the Russian military in reverse. My position hasn’t changed since 1970. Anything from you pre three weeks ago.