Posted on 09/29/2022 6:18:20 AM PDT by FarCenter
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Moscow did everything it could to maintain its status as a superpower — including as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. When it became clear that Russia could not claim a right to the spot as an economic power, it instead defined its greatness in military terms.
Over the decades, Russia's army has been touted as one of the strongest in the world. Indeed, a nuclear-armed military. As if to remind the world of this fact, President Vladimir Putin has regularly treated both Russians and the world to perfectly choreographed parades and military exercises.
How powerful an army really is, however, cannot be demonstrated by goose-stepping on the Red Square, but on the battlefield. Now, the Russians are being shown up by a much smaller army in Ukraine. How can that be?
How big is Putin's army?
On paper, the Russian armed forces claim to have 1 million soldiers, and in the near future 1.1 million, according to Margarete Klein of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. But the real size is much smaller, she told DW.
A large number of the deployable Russian units have already been used in Ukraine, she said. "They have suffered major losses in terms of soldiers killed or injured."
Exact casualty numbers are difficult to determine, but US intelligence believes Russia has suffered at least tens of thousands of dead and wounded.
The idea that Russia has infinite reserves of deployable soldiers is a far cry from reality, said George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank. He added that the course the war has taken so far proves that the world has long overestimated the strength of the Russian army. The goal, he said, of Putin's recent partial mobilization push is only to maintain the current front line after all the losses.
Tense, pay attention to the verb tense
The tense is “lost” not “losing”
Because France couldn’t handle having a new kid on the block.
Actually the Austrians started it, by the way.
This kind of reminds me of WW2 with Russia playing the part of Germany. Initial invasion is very successful and makes its way to the gates of the capital. A tough defense and the attack is driven completely away from the capital. The invaded looks for opportunities to go on offense and is able to claw back territory that was once lost. An army once thought to be superior is being shown to be in over their head and quite vulnerable. The west is going to continue to arm the Ukrainians and they will drive Russia out of all disputed territories. Fortunately for Putin, the west won’t give Ukraine the weapons to push into Russian territory. We won’t see a Ukrainian parade in Red Square.
Ukraine is advancing, taking lots of ground, making critical supply lines into Ukraine unusable, and is about to complete its second encirclement of Russian forces this month.
The Russians have already committed their best units to no effect.
Its very unlikely that there are any significant Russian formations waiting in the wings, or US satellite recon and signals intelligence would have found them. The Ukrainians arent behaving like there is another shoe still to drop.
Well they declared war on Serbia, but that wasn't by any stretch a World War. The World War started when Germany declared war on Russia, Belgium and France a few days later.
"The Grayzone is a far-left[12] news website and blog[16] founded and edited by American journalist Max Blumenthal.[13] The website, initially founded as The Grayzone Project,[17] was affiliated with AlterNet before becoming independent in early 2018.[1] The website's news content is generally considered to be fringe.[1][18][19][20] It is known for misleading reporting[21] and sympathetic coverage of authoritarian regimes,[1][14][22] in addition to its denial of human rights abuses against Uyghurs.[26] The Grayzone has published conspiracy theories about Venezuela, Xinjiang, Syria and other regions,[27][28] as well as pro-Russian propaganda during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[25]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone
Gray Zone is even Pro-North Korea! They say North Korea's nuclear weapons and military are "purely defensive", and that Kimmy is a "rational actor"!
From a Gray zone article:
"What is rarely acknowledged is that North Korea’s weapons production is strictly defensive, not offensive. North Korean spokespeople have expressly pointed to countries that have been destroyed in U.S. military attacks, noting, “Nothing will be more foolish if the United States thinks it can deal with us the way it treated Iraq and Libya, miserable victims of its aggression, and Syria, which did not respond immediately even after it was attacked.”
Even Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, has acknowledged that Kim is a rational actor. Coat conceded that Kim’s decision-making process was influenced by watching Muammar Gaddafi be butchered by U.S.-led forces after willingly ending his nuclear ambitions. “The lessons that we learned out of Libya giving up its nukes…is, unfortunately, if you had nukes, never give them up. If you don’t have them, get them,” Coats said at the Aspen Security Forum this year."
https://thegrayzone.com/2017/08/10/pundits-trump-north-korea-mattis-genocidal-threats/
Cranked, you are presenting "proof" from a literal Communist propaganda rag that lies for every communist totalitarian regime on Earth!
It's obvious to me that you yourself are a Communist. Why are you spreading propaganda on FR instead of posting on some shithole commie website where you will be more at home?
...and "loosing" is not the same as "losing." That, and "boarders" drive me crazy, especially when the post is in ALL CAPS.
Cranked “Russia is ‘overestimated, you know who is truly ‘overestimated’ - The US”
You really hate the USA.
Why?
It’s apparent to me that our intelligence agencies dropped the ball on Russian military capabilities. Let’s hope they don’t do the same with China.
Technically the USSR declared that it was not a successor state to the Tsardom of Russia.
It was a new state unrelated to the past.
The Chinese are probably just as bad, maybe worse. Their little soldiers waltz around like helpless children, generals get their ranks through corruption or through political connections, and stealing/corruption in the military is just as normal as it is in Russia.
Even Kaiser Wilhelm told the Austrians that Serbia had nothing to do with the Archduke’s assassination.
People who watch military matters and try and keep up with them are still stunned and puzzled by what we are witnessing.
I concur and regardless of the nasty sniping on these threads or how or when the conflict ends, it is obvious that the Russian military has major systemic problems from top to bottom.
Western intel agencies have pumped the Russians into an invincible dragon since the Cold War began.
It’s good for budgets.......
I watched the long news last evening by the “Enforcer” on Youtube. Just yesterday the area captured by the Ukraine was about 500 sq. miles.
They go into detail, showing each combat area and video of the protests in Moscow and the 7 mile long line at the border of Russian men leaving to avoid the draft.
LYMAN ENCIRCLED IN BIG PUSH! Current Ukraine War Footage And News With The Enforcer (Day 218)
The Ukrainians are now conducting another massive push and this time have liberated the major village of Lyman, a gateway to the rest of northeastern Ukraine. At this very moment, soldiers of the armed forces have now reached far beyond the city, capturing Russian tanks and infantry some of which are the first mobilized conscripts the army has run into.
There is an independence about military units in the field, to take decisive action when confronted by the enemy.
When I was a Platoon Leader, we included that in our training, i.e. what do you do if your squad leader is killed?
I had it made: all 3 of my Platoon Sergeants did at least one tour in Nam, they did a great job in developing me, too. During my 18+ months as a Platoon Leader, I had both Chaparral platoons, and one of the Towed Vulcan platoons...took them all successfully through their training evaluations. Loved it all, but my Vulcan platoon stood apart. 3 of my 4 squad leaders were E-4 "acting jacks." Their enthusiasm was infectious.
One of the best parts is the news clips of Putin’s lies.
They are at 38 minutes and worth the time to watch.
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf was the Victoria Nuland of 1914.
Indeed!
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