Re: Re: Medvedev, Obama to make arms declaration: Kremlin

[Guest guest]

Because of Russia's financial problems, the old military system of millions of poorly trained men ready to throw into the meat grinder is also fading away. I'll post an article below.

During the 1980's, it was noticed that the Russians were building at least one huge facility under the Ural mountains. Even with the financial strains, that construction is still ongoing. So far as I know the Russians have never acknowledged what they are for or even that they exist.

During the invasion of Georgia, Russia did go back to the old style of fighting. It used massed forces rather than precision and also targeted civilians to cause panic. Much of the fighting was actually conducted by Chechen forces, many of them mercenaries. These are the ones who did most of the brutal stuff.

True. Just because you have a weapon doesn't mean it has to be used. The Russians probably won't actually use these nuclear missiles, but it is the aggressive posture that is a concern. They are testing us and how we respond will count for a lot. If we are too weak, Russia will be encouraged. If we are too strong, Russia will be stronger in return, thus escalating the problem. Then there is always the risk of an accident, such as them firing a missile by mistake or one of our ships accidentally attacking them. Tensions got very high many times during the Cold War.

Russia is trying to gobble up all the former Soviet Bloc countries. That is one reason they want us out of there. China also has an interest in some of these countries too. Both countries also want other countries around the world like Africa and the Middle East since they both want control of resources located there. Then China is eyeing Siberia and all of its resources.

Very interesting how current events are mirroring fiction.

Most of the points I have mentioned are in this article.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20090328.aspx

Priced Out Of The BattlefieldMarch 28, 2009: There is a debate going on within the Russian military over how to proceed with reforming the military. Many generals believe that the military industries that produced a wide range of weapons for the Soviet Union are now either gone or no longer capable of producing competitive weapons or equipment. An example is the Mi-8 helicopter. This was Russia's answer to the radical American UH-1 ("Huey"). While the UH-1 was replaced by the much improved UH-60 in the 1980s, the Mi-8 has gone through lots of upgrades (to the current Mi-171), but never a new design. Russian industry has a new design, the Mi-38, but no customers. Even the Russian military cannot afford to buy the more expensive, which is competitive with the UH-60. This is typical of the fundamental situation throughout the Russian military. They cannot afford modern equipment, and as a result, Russian military industries are not getting the orders required to keep them in business. The government has, in the last decade, announced that it was going to buy new equipment for the military. But the new stuff never shows up. Oh, some does, in fits and starts. But, as many of the generals and admirals have noted, the money isn't there. And with the low price of oil, and other raw materials Russia exports, the money won't be there for a while. Many generals oppose the current reforms, which includes dismissing thousands of generals and disbanding the mass reserve army. For over a century, this reserve army was organized to raise millions of troops, armed with low-tech weapons and poorly trained, to defend Russia from invasion. Further investigation has revealed that the Cyber War attacks on Estonia and Georgia (which temporarily shut down Internet access in those countries), while carried out by nationalistic Russian hackers, was done at the instigation of Russian government officials (who got in touch with leaders of Russian hacker groups and requested the attacks).

The government has reduced the list of weapons subject to export control (you need permission to sell abroad). The weapons still on the list are; shoulder fired surface-to-air missile systems, portable antitank guided missile launchers (ATGMs), portable anti-tank rocket grenade launchers (RPGs), and portable flamethrowers. Several weapon types, which used to be controlled, are no longer. These include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles, sub-machineguns, automatic rifles, light machineguns, antiaircraft machineguns, antitank guns, and light and medium mortars (caliber less than100 mm).

In another attempt to clean up the corrupt and inefficient national police, a code of conduct has been issued for the force. Bribery, drinking on the job and adultery (among many other forms of misbehavior) are now forbidden.

The government has ordered army and police authorities in Chechnya to set up a timetable to officially end their operations there. Chechen police have been taking over more of the security work in the province for the last few years. While corrupt and brutal, the local police are capable of dealing with local gangsters and trouble makers (Islamic radicals and anti-Russian nationalists.) The official end to the war would make it easier for Chechen companies to import and export goods.

The Russian Navy announced its intention to resume the use of nuclear warheads for some of its anti-ship missiles (those launched via torpedo tubes by submarines). This would enable these missiles to destroy a group of warships, and to avoid defensive weapons (like Phalanx and SeaRAM). The U.S. and Russia withdrew their tactical nuclear weapons from their navies at the end of the Cold War.

Canada and Russia are engaged in a growing dispute over who controls certain Arctic waters, and natural resources that may be present on the seabed beneath. Russia says it is going to set up a special military force to patrol Arctic waters it believes it "owns". Precisely who controls Arctic waters has never been spelled out by international treaty, and the Russians have expressed a determination to define what they own, by themselves, and see who will do what to oppose these claims.

In a message dated 3/28/2009 1:56:31 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

History tells a revealing story though. During WWII, the Russians moved their factories east and churned out huge numbers of armour very quickly, and even though they could not get it to the front lines quickly enough, they had no problem throwing lines of unarmed military at German machine guns to delay their advance. Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or less.