Tactical advantage: Russian military shows off impressive new gear

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...ussian-military-shows-off-impr/#ixzz2zWnMWX98

I originally found this at War News Updates blog where the editor said this:

I concur with this analysis. I have been studying the videos of Russian special forces in operation in Crimea .... the professionalism and the new equipment that they have is impressive. It is almost as if they took the best of what they saw in what U.S. and British special forces were (and are) doing, and improved on it.

I have to agree with him/her [I never know which]. These guys are ready for anything and I have a hunch our own special forces would love to have similar equipment. So, why don't they?

 

Has the US public finished paying for the post-Iraq wheelchairs yet ?

 

There's never been anything really wrong with Russian small arms and other tactical infantry gear. Their elite commando units are probably on a par with ours, in terms of training and personal gear. They likely have less support in terms of things like satellite links, command-and-control oversight and such. But one-on-one I'm sure they match up reasonably well in terms of training and gear.

Where the Russian military has always fallen short is elsewhere: tank and plane technology, and an army made up primarily of poorly-trained conscripts.

Russia's bigger problem is that their population is crashing. They're at 142 million or so now, and are expected to be at 107 million or so by 2050, due to low immigration rates, high death rate and an anemic birthrate.
http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/russia-population/

Putin claims he will reverse that trend with higher immigration, but who wants to immigrate to a country where the rule of law barely exists (and is disappearing fast), the political sphere is fast tilting toward one-man rule, and the economy is rigged by the biggest players?

Putin's chest-puffing now strikes me in some ways as a last hurrah; they're not going to be able to afford a big, well-equipped military for very long. Commando units? Sure. Enough of a military to seriously threaten their neighbors? Nope.

 

Within thirty years there will be a Latino majority in the US and the white christian extremists will be powerless. Foreign relations will improve. Russia has always fostered good relationships, where possible, and has many South American friends. We'll be able to take all the military hardware excesses and melt them down for flood defences. Why squander the future today ?

 

When white christians are out of the way, Latino drug cartels will rule the US. Just like in Mexico. Government corruption will be wide spread. No one will want to live in the US and will flee to the north the same way Mexicans are fleeing to the north to escape their corrupt country. Be careful for what you wish for.

 

Better get all that dope legalised quick smart then- and the cartels will have no valuable product.

 

This is good. I hope they will not need it much. MSNBC in the last news wrote about "infiltreation by separatists", lies as usual. I am well familiar with those people, they are all locals and hate nationalists for generations, starting since many years before WWII and even more after what came during WWII, because of Bander/Hitler bad deeds.

 

Well.... Let's just say the Latinos have their own Catholic extremists.

- - - Updated - - -

Agreed. That would solve many of our problems with Mexico.

 

True enough- but they all listen to the same leader. Pipe some good sounds into the Popemobile and all will be sweet.

 

The current Pope is definitely better than most, but who knows how long he'll last?

That being said, the average Latino isn't a fanatic, nor is the average white Christian. What really matters is who buys the most influence in our system.

I think the religious side of our foreign policy agenda is mostly just a front. The real motivators involve economics and strategic influence.

White or Latino, the military industrial complex will wield the same influence in our system as long as it has the money to run things.

 

Excellent news in the OP!

Russia should kick Ukrainian ass!

 

If Russia gets directly involved militarily in the Ukrainian mainland, the international response is going to be very different from what it was with Crimea.

Putin might be aggressive, but I don't think he's stupid enough to risk WW3.

At least, I hope he isn't.

 

Not to mention that if Putin continues his present course, sanction-wary investors will flee Russia, pushing it into recession.

Plus he will have convinced the world that Russia is not a reliable energy supplier (given that he's trying to use Russia's natural gas supplies as a club against both Ukraine and Europe). In the long-term, that means countries finding others sources for their energy needs, further cramping Russia's economy and reducing its influence.

 

Yeap. In 30 years we'll all be dancing and singing kumbaya around the bonfires. All we need to achieve that is to get rid of excess white population and replace them with Latinos. Well said, Moon! I've missed your pearls!

 

Canute fan ?

 

Catholic 'nationalism' seems to exist in certain cultures, it never existed in France or Italy. If you're talking about intolerance, that's universal. If again you're speaking about a strict observance of dogma, well that is part of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Putin has a responsibility to protect the Russian people in Ukraine, and even though our corporate media might not mention it, the junta in Kiev is a threat. The U.S. knows that Russia has no choice but to protect them, and so they said they will not go to war over Ukraine. Instead we will sacrifice the E.U. as much as we can by introducing more sanctions against Russia. Uhhh! I don't know how much longer Europe will endure us. We might be on our own soon.

 

Um.... Yeah, it did exist in France and Italy.

Catholics purged a lot of cultures during the Middle Ages. One of the biggest ones happened in France.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade

Several gnostic sects were killed off by the Catholic Church.

 

Um... his "responsibility to protect the Russian people" ends within his borders.

The argument you're making is identical to the one that a lot of Western powers make for interventionism in various countries.

Just because these people happen to be ethnically Russian doesn't relinquish rights of sovereignty for other countries.

 

That is correct. But in point of fact there's nothing that the United States or the European Union can do short of outright military intervention to halt Putin. The sanctions waved about like another shifting red-line in the blowing sand is mere discouragement and not actual force. Now that 'discouragement' just might work on or against Putin but it's rather a long shot and its effectiveness depends on the nature of Putin's desired or projected end game.

 

Perhaps, although direct military intervention with the permission of the official government is a bit different from intervention without it.

 

Granted.

 

Taxcutter says:
The Europeans better worry. Putin didn't develop that stuff to stomp the Ukraine.

 

Then you're saying Clinton had no right to enter a civil war in support of Kosovo? I agree with you whole heartedly, since our partiality was solely for political reasons under a pretense of genocide which didn't exist, but the Hague did say that people have a right to their own self determination. Since the Hague decided that, then shouldn't the Russians in Ukraine have the same right, especially considering that they are being threatened by an illegal suprematist anti Russian regime?

 

What a load of nonsense. Get a UN resolution condemning Ukranian actions (as happened in Kosovo), and then we'll talk.

I agree people have a general right to self-determination. That does not give Russia the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries with no provocation.