The Russians used to be famous for "big dumb rockets," and they had a lot of them.
The Russians have always favored less sophisticated technology but that in no way means it is not formidable.
And, if this current direction of military buildup is not the best way for them to go, I think you can count on them to make adjustments.
Given the money -- which they now have -- you are badly mistaken if you think the Russians simply lack the intelligence to be formidable. Badly mistaken.
“Given the money — which they now have — you are badly mistaken if you think the Russians simply lack the intelligence to be formidable. Badly mistaken.”
Problem is, they don’t have the money. They can modernize their nuclear forces, they can develop weaponry to sell to states with more economic capacity to sustain a larger military, but Russia itself cannot create the conventional threat - or remotely so - that it once held.
Which is, incidentally, something I’ve found curious. As the years have passed, the Cold Wars seems to be described increasingly in terms of nuclear war. It’s almost as though the fact that its conventional military was once staggering in scale and capability was of no consequence.