A brief background to the American-Russian enmity and the conflict in Ukraine.

submitted by casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter from self.debatealtright

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

Russia is as wealthy as Minnesota. I think we should just send me to talk to Putin with a case of vodka.

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

By PPP, Russia has the largest economy in Europe on par with Germany.

Military power is the final arbiter of world politics and the Russian military is stronger than France, Germany, and Britain combined.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

But, but, but, muh GDP!!!

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

These people literally think that just by having money in a country you can run it. This is true of liberal democracies to an extent but it is not the case with dictatorial regimes. The dictator can just kill you and take your money if you get too uppity. Sure, ''international society'' will protest your punishment but this type of pressure doesn't work on serious powers like Russia, China, or Iran. It does work on tinpot African despots and military Juntas in Latin America though.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0hTrnaa8aE

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Germany 3846.4bn, Russia 1,483.5bn. Less than half. And they're trying to maintain the largest nuclear stockpile with less money than a US state... I think it's reasonable to assume they don't work.

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)#:~:text=GDP%20(PPP)%20means%20gross%20domestic,or%20government%20official%20exchange%20rates.

The actual Russian military budget is 150-200 billion dollars.

https://warontherocks.com/2019/12/why-russian-military-expenditure-is-much-higher-than-commonly-understood-as-is-chinas/

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

recent RAND report caricatured Russia as a weakling rogue state.

how can a military budget the size of the United Kingdom’s be used to maintain over a million personnel while simultaneously procuring vast quantities of capable military equipment?

And your article is making the case why all appearances are wrong. I say they probably aren't.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

It doesn't matter how wealthy Russia is. What matters is that they have tons of nukes. If I were Putin I would blackmail the entire world with them.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

ICBMs are very much like space shuttle launches. How many do you think any country can spontaneously deploy successfully?

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

They're very fucking far from space shuttle launches. They don't have to be retrieved or put in orbit like Space shuttles. The point is to crash them into the enemy. Russia and the US have mastered ICBMs in the 70s.

[–]ifuckredditsnitches_Resident Pajeet 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Many are very poorly maintained and would take months to get launch ready, at this point it's just a specter used to spook people out of war. I don't think it'll be too long till we no longer even have the capability to launch most of them similar to how we can't go back to the moon.

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Many are very poorly maintained and would take months to get launch ready

It's the exact opposite of what you think. Nukes are the best maintained part of any military they are part of. Both Russia and the US have massively modernized their nuclear arsenals off late. The US has given all its nukes hard-kill capacity with superfuzes and the Russians have increased their potency by developing hypersonic missiles.

Ground based ICBMs are in fact the secondary means of firing nukes. The primary means are nuclear submarines. Britain and France both use subs near exclusively to deliver nuclear strikes.

ICBMs are very old and mature technology. Hell, even Pakistan and North Korea have mastered them to a degree.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They use the same type of rockets, except the one that launch the nukes have just been sitting there for 60 years.

They don't have to be retrieved or put in orbit like Space shuttles. The point is to crash them into the enemy

The biggest point of failure is launch. They're big bombs open on one side.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The threat is enough. The West is filled with materialistic hedonists. It will cripple.