Not likely. One of the big mistakes people make about Russia is that they still think of it as the USSR. It’s not. The whole country is only half as economically powerful as California. With that paltry economy they’ve got to cut corners somewhere. Add in the high level of corruption that comes with military spending and we have Russian tanks being towed away by Ukrainian Tractors.
What Russia does have is a robust nuclear force. So what does that make them? Basically they are North Korea. If it wasn’t for the nukes no one would take them seriously anymore.
The problem is, they have nukes. That’s about all the have and that’s dangerous. When your only working tool is a giant hammer, it’s really tempting to use the hammer. Without nukes NATO could push Russia back to their borders over a long holiday weekend and still have time to watch the football game.
Russia has another nuke issue. Some annalists are claiming Russia thinks of tactical nukes and strategic nukes as being totally different animals. If you think that way it makes sense to lob a nuclear artillery shell on the battlefield.
The West thinks all nukes are nukes. If those mindsets are true, it’s easy to see how things could quickly spiral into a nuclear war.
Russia is in deep trouble. Their economy is basically extraction based. Their big money maker is oil exports. Minerals are strong. They also export a lot of wheat. What they don’t do a lot of is add value to products. They are pretty limited in what they can do. It doesn’t help that their education system is also in bad shape. Most of their high technology toys are imports so sanctions are really hurting that sector.
Demographics are against Russia as its population is both aging and shrinking. Anyone with skills and ambition is trying to leave the country. Putin is aware of this. I wonder if he was thinking it was now or never to flex Russian muscle. Apparently it was already too late.
If it wasn’t for those darn nukes we wouldn’t worry. Because they have nukes we must beware the sick and wounded Russian bear.
-Sixbears
The 64 Ruble question is just how many of those nukes actually function. The theory behind nuclear weapons is simple. The engineering is a gold plated bitch. If it wasn't there'd be a helluva lot more countries with nuclear warheads. This leaves one to wonder if all those nukes just sitting around for 30 years will actually HIT what they are aimed at AND go KABOOM.
ReplyDeleteI wonder the same thing. If I think too much about it I won't get any sleep at night. Problem with nukes is that you don't have to hit what you are aiming at to mess up the whole dang planet.
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