Russia's military forces have steadily deteriorated since the early 1990s and Moscow is trying to compensate by building up its nuclear forces and commando troops, according to military specialists.
Moscow's military and policy leaders are focused on countering what they view as the threat from the United States and NATO, but they are missing the dangers posed by Islamist extremism and the rise of China, the specialists say.
"The Russian military all these years has learned nothing and forgotten nothing," said Heritage Foundation specialist Ariel Cohen. "They're still in the Soviet mode of preparing for a global war."
Russia's emphasis on amphibious forces, interoperability with Chinese forces, building more submarines and test firing ballistic missiles has very little to do with its stated military goal of countering terrorism, Mr. Cohen said.
"For them, it is about deterring the main adversary, the United States," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow is building up its conventional and nuclear forces because it was premature to speak of an end to the arms race with the U.S.
The comments followed harsh criticism from Vice President Dick Cheney who warned in a speech in Lithuania that Russia is turning away from democratic reform and moving toward becoming a hostile power.
Christopher Swift, a specialist with the Center of International Studies at the University of Cambridge, said Moscow is heavily investing in strategic nuclear forces and special operations forces until it can reform its conventional military.
The enlisted troops are in bad shape with low morale and problems linked to hazing, he said, while the officer corps is good but lacks resources.
"Their best military forces are locked down in the Caucasus," Mr. Swift said, noting that Russia is losing the war against insurgents in Chechnya. "They have not produced any new planes or ships in the last five years. All the money they are investing is being put into the Topol [multiple warhead] missile system."
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Russia has some 1.2 million regular army troops and 360,000 interior ministry and federal security troops.
The armed forces, which are transforming from a conscript force to a more professional volunteer army, are fragmented into three conventional armies vying for limited resources: the former Red Army, the MVD interior ministry troops and the federal security troops under direct command of Mr. Putin, a former KGB officer.
Mr. Putin's comments appeared in part to be a response to a recent Foreign Affairs journal article that said the United States is nearing "nuclear primacy" over Russia and China, the capability to launch a crippling nuclear first strike against its strategic rivals.
The two authors, professors Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press, say Russia's nuclear forces, land-based missiles, strategic bombers and missile submarines, have so deteriorated that they are vulnerable to a surprise attack.
With a rapidly declining population, Russia will be unprepared to deal with a possible land grab by China in the Russian Far East in the coming decades, Mr. Cohen said.
Russia has deployed more than 36 new Topol-Ms, also known as the SS-27, in the past two years to replace aging missile systems, the IISS said in its latest annual report "The Military Balance."
It also is building a new class of missile submarines known as the Borey that will carry a new missile called the SSN-30, a submarine-launched version of the Topol.
According to U.S. officials, some of the new missiles are equipped with maneuvering warheads that are designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses.
Tezel, like Fantaros told you in that other thread in G/T, that might have been the case 6-7 years ago, but today, at least military-wise, Russia is on the rise again. Of course it's not going to happen overnight but it is steadily gaining strength.
Tenzel i can really understand your way of thinking dude, so let me tell you what happened inside your mind first you post in the GT forum a thread about how Russians are responsible about the ethnical cleansing of the Abhazians Georgians who as you said are your brothers ( it seems that the Turks have many brothers after all) anyway thats how it beggun, now you come to a point to feel your hatred against the "dirty" Russians to burn inside you , its time to pay them back by posting any negative threads coming into your mind or hands concerning Russians, it really doesnt matter what the thread may be it just have to be negative in order to " kick their asses and piss them off", objectivity? no way it really doesnt matter" i just want to show them what an angry Tenzel really can do now i will pay them back because to what they did to our brothers".
You see how much i understand you my friend? however i must tell you something , Russians are not the only experts in Ethnical cleasings, there is another country which has a name beggining from T which is considered to be a master and proffessor in ethnical cleasings.
ODYSSEUS KILLING THE SUITORS
This message has been edited by ontyseas on Aug 7, 2008 7:37 AM This message has been edited by ontyseas on Aug 7, 2008 7:36 AM This message has been edited by ontyseas on Aug 7, 2008 7:32 AM
Ossestians are Christians which means that historically they shoot turks for sport. They are your cousins in the same way that the serbs are your cousins. The Georgians too are Christians which means they have about as much in common with Turks as Russians have with Nigerians. Within the slavic world and the larger Russian empire there were always these stupid disputes, but make no mistake there is no love for the Turks among any of these players. Turkey has no part to play in any of this.
I mean losing against a bunch of rag heads (mujahadeen) is even moe humiluating, atleast uncle sam is doing well, while the Russians killed millions of civilians calling all of them terrorists!
Tenzel i saw that you have posted 1 more thread about Russians in the GT forum, how many exactly do you plan to post for today ?
Uncle Sam's bombs are equally destructive you cannot avoid civilian casualties when bombarding a country Americans are responsible for many civilian victims but today this doesnt count since it is the day "against Russians" isnt it so dude?
I will wait untill 12:00 am so i can post 3 more...
''Uncle Sam's bombs are equally destructive you cannot avoid civilian casualties when bombarding a country Americans are responsible for many civilian victims but today this doesnt count since it is the day "against Russians" isnt it so dude?''
Russians killed millions of Afghan civilians without bombing but shooting. Anyway, 12:00am...
and Americans killed thousands when they invaded Vietnam a war that did not concern them in the first place, they killed thousands when they invaded Iraq, they killed many Serbs when they beggun bombing Serbia another war which had nothing to do with them, do i need to continue? they killed thousands when they bombed Hiroshima and Nagashaki and all of them were civilians, they tried to invade Cuba with CIA overthrowing a legitimate government and so forth, but most importantly they provide the weapons to the nations so they can shoot themselves more easily so they are responsible for millions of deaths
They armed the hand of Osama bin Landen when they considered him an "ally" so the have the blood of innocent civilians who were killed by weapons and expertise provided by the CIA, and they were arming Iraq against Iran a war which lasted for several years and costed the life of millions
During world war 2 they were bombing German cities and they killed thousands of civilians under the suspicion that those cities were used as shelters of the withdrawing German army
An endless list of crimes dude so i wont go on
ODYSSEUS KILLING THE SUITORS
This message has been edited by ontyseas on Aug 7, 2008 12:50 PM This message has been edited by ontyseas on Aug 7, 2008 12:38 PM
and something else which is true although i cannot prove it, do you care to hear it? according to my information the Americans used Iraqi civilians as subjects of experiments infecting their bombing shelters with viruses , i wont go on because it becomes really disgusting what your beloved uncle sam has done to civilians, not to mention the tortures and the illegal arrest or killing of civilians under the suspicion that they were terrorists in Guantanamo without a fair trial
Anyway their population is declining, their not investing on their people but more nukes to destroy the world 15 times instead of 12!
You are severly overestimating nuclear weapons , not Russia nor USA has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the whole world and eradicate every human beeing from the face of the earth.
This message has been edited by 5thGuards on Aug 7, 2008 1:50 PM
Quote:The Georgians too are Christians which means they have about as much in common with Turks as Russians have with Nigerians.
When you think about it the Turks are surrounded by folks who really don't like them-for historical reasons. They've mistreated all their neighbors at one time or another-Kurds, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Iraqi's, Georgians, etc, etc, etc..
We're going to all have to gang together one day and-economically-destroy that nation. Just for yucks and giggles. LOL.
Tell me one conquering nation in history that has treated its neighbors or conquered territories well?
The muslim armies throughout history
invasion of persia - biggest crime muslims r accused of was burning down a few temples and libraries (but for those of u with an open mind, the SAME persians only decades before ravaged the arab city of Hetra killing nearly all of its inhabitants and leveling the city to the ground) the arab conquers didnt destroy a single persian ity (like alexander did to peroplis or the monglus did) considering that only a few decades before the persians massacred arabs en mass.
Invasion of spain Al andulus...clearly we allowed all the christians and jews to live and be productive memebers of society, when the christains took it back it was a diffeant story, forced converison massacres and deportations
Retaking jersulam...when the christains took it, the burned down mosques and kill almost all muslim and jewin the city (the lucky ones escape) when the arabs retook it, we didnt touch a single church nor did we massacre or force any christain to convert.
these r but a few examples...
AS FOR TEZEL, UR NUKE LIST CONSISTS O EVERY FREAKIN NATION THAT SURROUNDS R SORRY ASS, IF I WERE U I'D KEEP THAT LIST TO URSELF, RUSSIA ALONE CAN SCRPE U OFF ITS BOOT LIKE A PIECE OF DIRT...
