Posted on 08/14/2008 1:52:39 PM PDT by lizol
Fight in Georgia Exposed Weak Points in Kremlin's Aging Army
By JEANNE WHALEN
August 14, 2008; Page A6
MOSCOW -- The Kremlin's short and victorious campaign in Georgia shows that Russia's military has improved from its dilapidated state in the 1990s, but analysts said the aging equipment and tactics also underscored how much more work Moscow faces in its quest to turn its army into a world-class fighting force.
Modernizing Russia's military has been a major priority for the Kremlin, which has boosted annual military spending from about $7 billion in the late 1990s to about $35 billion today, with further increases planned. Last year, then-President Vladimir Putin installed a new defense minister who vowed to accelerate efforts to make the military more compact, nimble and better equipped.
The military made fast work of what it called "Operation Clear Field," sending Georgian troops into retreat early in the five-day conflict over the South Ossetia separatist region. To many that was no surprise, given that Russia's million-strong military dwarfs Georgia's modest armed forces. "You would expect the Russians to roll over the Georgians," says Siemon Wezeman, a weaponry expert at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Some military experts said they saw signs of more modern equipment in Russia's armory, including smart bombs. And the losses Russia reported Wednesday -- 74 dead, 19 missing and 171 hospitalized with wounds -- were "limited," says Alexander Pikayev, director of the department for disarmament and conflict resolution at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Don’t worry about it. In fact, forget about it.
I’m having a bad day, that’s all. No point in hammering on you about it.
Thanks!
I wish, that would bring me one step closer to achieving my goal of regime change in Russia:)
Petronski is right though. No big deal and no hard feelings.
You may have learned your English from “TV and Star Treks” but your knowledge of modern military tactics, current armed forces strengths and military history is sorely lacking.
Yes, a much larger, better equipped Russian force beat a much smaller, less equipped Georgian force. You take that as a sign of modern military strength. The Russians are still using the old standby of terror, rape and pillage when they have the advantage.
If you think that makes the Russian's world beaters, then wake up and think again. You are miles off the mark.
Today's Russian Military taking on America's in a land war would be akin to taking a pocketknife to compete in an artillery duel.
Time and time again since the close of WW2 Russian/Soviet arms, tactics and military training methods have been beaten on the battlefield by American and Israeli forces.
Doesn't that tell you something? If not, then go ahead and believe the Russian Bear is the biggest in the world.
Just don't bet your life on it if you wish to keep on breathing air!
US just had limited Pershing tanks 90mm
USSR had tons of T34-85 (equal)
IS-2 superior
IS-3 superior
SU-85 SU-100 Su-122
Patton also knew the importance of air power though. Tanks are useless without planes.
I don't want to have to fight a child abuse charge. That might limit my beer drinking time!
I’m with ya. The L/MSM would go wild as how the evil Bush is killing our boys. Their such f*&king &ick heads.
Russia’s leadership is still primarily Scandinavian; they’ve been ruling the Slavs for a thousand years.
Don’t forget his quotes on Jews, Blacks, and Women. They’re great too! (/sarc)
bttt
I have worked with Russian-American engineers. very bright, very hard workers, but very hard to get them to pull together. Constantly posturing and blaming, all the time while working very hard and even very intelligently. But the constant posturing really holds them back.
Patton was a very good general, but he was a bigot and a flake outside of that area.
I’m happy to leave his legacy be- he spanked the Germans from North Africa to Bavaria. We can forgive him his other eccentricities.
It’s just amazing that these idiot FReepers come to these conclusions and then post a ridiculous quote from a different time in order to justify it.
Hmmm..which ‘idiot FReepers’ would that be, pray?
Tell that to the Wehrmacht.
“Don’t forget his quotes on Jews, Blacks, and Women. They’re great too! (/sarc)”
Don’t forget that you’re applying 2008 sensibilities to what was essentially a 19th Century man.
Russia Fires SS-21 Ballistic Missiles at the Republic of Georgia
MarketWatch | Aug. 14, 2008
Posted on 08/14/2008 2:31:15 PM PDT by lizol
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2061997/posts
Russian withdrawal from Gori appears to break down
AP
Posted on 08/14/2008 2:32:40 AM PDT by maquiladora
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061644/posts
Press Report Details (Naval) Battle in the Black Sea
(”Moskva” Heavily Damaged!)
Regnun | 8-13-08 | REGNUN via Informationdisemination
Posted on 08/13/2008 10:05:16 PM PDT by tcrlaf
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061604/posts
Patton saw the DPs of Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe firsthand; you and I have not.
We also can wonder what Patton's view of the Jews of Israel at time of the founding of that nation would have been, and I suspect it would have been somewhat higher, probably considerably so: Israel's first field General, aluf Michael Stone, was in reality West Point graduate Mickey Marcus, who had served in Patton's Third Army.
Sadly, neither Patton nor Marcus lived to see that thing occur: Patton died in Germany from injuries received in a 1945 staff car accident, and Mickey Marcus was mistakenly killed by a nervous young Israeli sentry shortly after the forces Marcus commanded broke the Arab siege of Jerusalem in an incident not unlike that which cost the Confederacy the leadershi of Stonewall Jackson. The grave of Mickey Marcus is the only grave in West Point Cemetery at the United States Military Academy for an American killed fighting under the flag of another country.
Somehow, I think Georgie Patton would have very much appreciated the efficiency and professionalism of the Israeli Defence Forces, and their conduct during the 1967 and 73 wars in particular. And Mickey Marcus would have been equally proud of what has become of the Israeli army and nation in whose service he gave his life.
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