Posted on 05/12/2022 12:35:24 PM PDT by Widget Jr
For decades, Russia has been the world's second most powerful military. Today, it is the second most powerful military inside Ukraine.
How in the world did a nation with such a significant military overmatch get into a quagmire against a much weaker power?
Just what is wrong with the Russian military?
“The real question is how good are their nukes?”
Probably about the same, one out of three may actually work.
So, that means 2000 still fire.
Even if it is one out of five, they still have enough to blow up every US/NATO facility around the world.
I believe that is the main reason why they have 6000.
Reminds me of the old Beatles joke. Someone asked Lennon if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, and Lennon replied “he’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles!”
(probably never happened, but it’s still a good joke)
No fan of the dipwad on the right, but realistically, Eisenhower had his share of decorations, including 10 US decorations and service medals and 56 foreign service awards.
There's also been a lot of little nonsense wars to be decorated for since Ike, something Eisenhower warned us against partaking in.
Lots of people thought that Russia sent in second line units first. It was a easy to way mentally handle what was happening. The reality is, the Russian army has had severe problems for years.
When fighting in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria it was easy to explain away problems. Now that they are facing a equally capable and determined opponent, their weaknesses are all out in the open.
Good video. Putin has absolute power. Everyone underneath him lied. They thought that they weren’t going to fight in a major war. So they took advantage and stole from the Russian military. It worked fine until it didn’t.
This is the result when your entire society has been indoctrinated to lie about everything for generations. In a system like theirs you can achieve great things only by focusing tremendous attention. This is why the USSR could build nukes and satellites but the tractors coming out of the factories were worth less than the raw materials that went in.
It was a standup comedian in the early 80s who said that. It sounds so much like something Lennon would’ve said it’s easy to believe it came from him.
Why? It makes no logical sense.
It’s not the troops that are important, it’s the tanks and ships. The “arms.”
You can draft people. It takes a while to replace a ship.
There is little question that the Russian military has inherent shortcomings. As you say political interference and overt corruption has caused it to be often inefficient, technologically challenged and as a result take inordinate causalities. Yet many Americans who live today would have never come to exist if it were not for the courage, endurance and solid fighting done by the Russians. The Russians despite all those handicaps decimated the best elements of the German army. Try to imagine if the American army had to attack and liberate Europe with the German army largely intact. Many of the fathers and grandfathers who did come home and ignited the baby boom would have died and never procreated. Americans owe a great debt to those Russians who sacrificed and fought so well despite everything.
It’s true. McCartney drummed on a lot of there demos. He was one of those musicians where the music flowed from his head to his fingers—for an awful lot of instruments.
I would dispute that.
The best were not sent to the western front.
I would also like to point out that it is very possible there never would have been a WWII except that the Russians climbed voluntarily into bed with Germany.
Of course there never would have been a Soviet Russia except for Germany so there is that.
I'm thrilled with this video, it makes everyone killed by the Russians less dead.
Extrapolating, if the Russian Thermonuclear Weapons do not perform to the standard that the Russians have claimed, we will have won a great victory and the hundred of millions those weapons do kill will be MUCH less dead.
To put that another way: Authoritarian countries can not have efficient military forces. It would be fatal to the regime.
They entered Ukraine believing the Ukrainians would see them as liberators. Instead, the Ukrainians saw them as aggressors. And, wanting no part of Russian ideology.
The American Deep State doesn't want an independent European military. It wants Europe to rely on the U.S.
1. The Military-Industrial Complex benefit$ from having America defend Europe.
2. So long as NATO is controlled by the U.S., it functions as an occupation army. We can pressure Europe to keep their borders open to migrants, to celebrate globo-homo, and to use the dollar as their reserve currency.
Europe paying for (and controlling) their own defense is the last thing the U.S. Deep State wants.
I think you are on to a fundamental difference: The Soviets and Russians I am certain had capable people at all levels, but their government system and military made it impossible for them to be capable overall.
They built a lot of hardware, and had a lot of people in uniform.
The hardware was not bad in some cases, not as good as ours in all cases, but adequate and somewhat capable in the hands of people who knew how to use it.
However, I never had the feeling they trained the same way our forces did, even in the Seventies when money was so tight we had trouble training. But we kept at it and trained hard the best way we could, even with a degradation of funds to do so.
Training, maintenance, and logistics. Those are the underpinnings, and I have always felt the Soviets and Russians lacked those things in depth.
But they have always had plenty of bodies to throw at things.
Just my opinion.
Serious question.
What’s your explanation for the terrible performance of the Russian military? On paper they should have rolled over Ukraine in a week. It’s been over a month and they don’t have a single clear victory.
What went wrong?
L
Jānis Stūrītis
Pinned by Gen Dit Commando
In can give my opinion, as someone who lives next to the Russian border in ex-Soviet country, can speak Russian, has a basic sense of Russian culture, mentality, etc. Russian culture itself is the thing which sets them up for failure. In Western countries people often see Russia as an extension of Europe which differs only by the politics. This is not true at all, it is a very different society with very different values, behaviours etc. when compared to the West.* In Western culture lying, stealing, cheating is frowned upon. It is something that will make people around you look at you with disgust and avoid you. It is not so in the Russian culture where it is seen as undesirable, but still socially acceptable. I know guys who have built their houses by using stolen materials and stolen tools, and brag about it and nobody even bats an eye. Heck, Russians even have a proverb "Не пойман — не вор", which in English means something like "Unless caught stealing, one is not a thief".
* In Western culture there is 'truth' and 'lie'. It is not like that in Russian, which has a sophisticated vocabulary which seperates 'the real truth' (истина) from 'a tactical truth' (правда) and 'a good lie' (враньё) from 'a bad lie' (ложь). Using 'good lies' is completely acceptable and won't be frowned upon. In fact, you are expected to cover for your social group, friends, family etc. by lying or being selective about the truth you say. When Russians hear bullshit propaganda stories of biological weapons, they do not hear it in the way you and I would hear. It is an obvious lie (враньё) and everyone kinda sub-consciously gets it and will get along because that is in the interest of their social group (country). Lying has nothing in common with integrity in Russian culture. It is something that 'everyone does'. In military this means that misreporting is the rule not an exception; people are punished for reporting unpleasant news and rewarded for having good bullshit-telling skills.
* Russian social hierarchies are based on fear and status. Merit is always secondary. Bullying is common even among adults in workplaces, not even going to mention the army which has a tradition of 'dedovschina'. You are expected to suck up bullying to prove that you are resiliant, any sort of reporting is seen as 'snitching' even if it is justified. Guys who climb up the social ladder are the ones who became friends with their superiors, even if they are absolutely incompetent.
* In Russian culture intellectualism is seen as very undesirable. Word 'smart' is used as an insult, not a compliment. Manliness is equated to being a close-minded brute. People will brag about and even exaggarate their ignorance because knowing things is seen as 'uncool'. This in turn represses creativity and initiative in all levels of society.
The Ukrainian army has replaced their destroyed diesel fuel depots with REALLY BIG rubber bands and giant hamster wheels powering their mechanized columns.
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