[Flying Circus]

Sounds like we cannot expect much from the Russian Army. I think they still can contribute: intelligence (they should still have a lot of the apparatus from the Soviet days) and a brutal determination that comes from living in that part of the world.

They didn't win pretty in WW2, but they did win. In this fight they may be willing to dirty their hands in ways that we wouldn't consider. Historically, Russians have demonstrated a capability to do some very ugly things and absorb some losses in war that would offend the moral sense of the USA.

[wtc911]

As I posted earlier, this is not the Russia of old, which was really the USSR. They no longer have the eastern state hordes of cannon fodder to throw into the fray. Nor do they have a Stalinist apparatus in place to command sacrifice out of fear. Their military is ruptured in body and soul. To date they have not been able to crush the chechens, who are at their very border. That said, they are still Russians and hopefully that still counts for something.