No, the title is not pure nationalism, it’s not arrogance, and it isn’t bluster. Instead, it is based on simple logic, simple math, and recent history., It breaks down into three basic buckets, financing, technology, and experience. Let’s break it down, shall we?

First, let’s look at financing. I have written previously about how several years ago Putin proudly touted the fact that he had just allocated $7 billion in order to entirely revamp the Russian military and make it a world class fighting force. But as the richest man in Russia, and as corrupt as they come, Putin managed to miss one simple thing. The inherent corruption of the Russian military complex. It is estimated that with $7 billion allotted, less than $4 billion actually went into upgrades, and the upgrades were for shit. The oligarchs and military contractors skimmed off the rest, and who knows, maybe Putin got his share.

Pop Quiz! What was the US military budget passed by the congress in 2022? How about $731 billion. In other words, in one single year, with one war in progress in Afghanistan, we spent 100 times what Putin spent in order to retool and modernize his entire military. And a feature is that the US military defense budget goes up every year.

We don’t just want cool military toys, out congress wants nothing but the best military toys that the American taxpayer can afford. Our congress is so flat out crazy about feeding the military defense industry that the regularly approve funding for weapons that the friggin’ Pentagon says it doesn’t even want or need! But unlike Russia, we have this kicky little thing we like to call oversight. Granted, there’s the occasional $800 wrench, or $25,000 toilet seat, and some of the aircraft never get off of the ground, but almost all of the approved weapons are thoroughly tested, and work as advertised.

Tranche two, technology. When we put our minds to it, there isn’t another country on earth that can match out technological expertise. After all, high talent students from China, Russia, India, and all points north, south, east, and west come to America to get educated. And once they get a taste of American freedom and democracy, they plant flags and stay. Why do you think that the Chinese, Russians and North Koreans keep trying to hack in and get our technological secrets?

And some of those secrets are of course going to be military in nature. And if you need to question the quality of that military technology, just look at Ukraine. The Ukrainians, using largely US provided weapons not only stalled the Russian invasion, their shoulder fired anti tank missiles devastated Russian armor and ground the advance to a halt, but their surface to air missiles kept the Russians from getting control of the skies over Ukraine. The average success rate of a shoulder fired surface to air missile is 20%, but the Ukrainian success rate against aircraft, helicopters and missiles is 40%. Which speaks volumes to the inferiority of Russian equipment.

The third one is experience. And here, I won’t belabor the point too long, because I have already covered it before. The Russian army last engaged in a protracted ground war in 1979, when they invaded Afghanistan in order to prop up a corrupt pro Soviet government. They spent 10 years in Afghanistan, and left with their tails between their legs, having lost tens of thousands of troops.

Sine 1989, when Russia left Afghanistan, all of their intervening entanglements have been basically air and artillery fights, with little risk to ground troops. As such, the Russians, whatever their capabilities, are  are entering their second generation of officers and soldiers with absolutely no combat experience.

On the other hand, the American military is just coming off of 20 consecutive years of active duty combat, first in Afghanistan, and then in Iraq. As a result, we have an entire generation of US military forces and officers that have faced live fire combat. Not only that, but an entire generation of National Guard troops that have served under fire. As I always like to quote from Mike Tyson, Everybody has a plan when they step into the ring, until they get punched in the mouth. The US military has been punched in the mouth, and then some.

John McCain had it right when he said that Russia was A gas station with nukes. heir economy is in tatters, their military is third rate at best, and they have no better options. Which is why, if I were Biden or NATO, I would impose a no fly zone over Ukraine. Let Putin squeal like a stuck Irish pig. Sweet Jesus, he can’t even tackle Ukraine, you think he’s going to escalate into a broader war against all of NATO and the US? Give me a break.

 

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Mike didn’t mention he’s the one that punched them in the mouth. Putin, like his puppet the orange faced howler monkey, is a bully. He blows up children sitting in his penthouse. Bullies operate by instilling fear & compliance. We need to adopt the Ukrainian attitude & everytime he threatens respond with the middle finger followed by action.

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  2. Yes, we’d win in the battlefield. I’d still rather we’d put our money to schools, housing, fixing the social problems we are drowning in–you know, actual important stuff. Were we to start fighting directly with Russia I’m pretty sure everyone knows how it will end and I’d rather we had a planet capable of sustaining life as we know it.

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    • @Spike The best war is the one you don’t fight. The only way you avoid that is through strength. Putin knows beyond a shadow of a doubt he cannot win a conventional war with the west. China is also seeing how hard an invasion truly is. Weaken your military to the point it is not respected and the upcoming war will cost many times peacetime costs to win and is immeasurable if you lose.

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  3. TDS again that disables clear thinking. You are referring to Trump who has nothing to do with this subject matter. Get straight.Who is “Mike”?

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  4. Putin is a bully I agree but blaming Trump is crazy I blame every President and their staff for the last 30 years after the cold war our leaders? Have trusted and thought Russian President or Csar whatever you want to call him was their friend and he may have been but you’re supposed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.Our leaders forgot that.

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  5. Russia (or the USSR) has NEVER been our friend! They were an ally against a common enemy in WWII, but even then they were NOT our friend, and our military knew it even if most of the civilian population didn’t!

  6. Remember after WWII was over Patton had the bombers on the runway to start bombing Moscow. He was right. We missed our opportunity.

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