Panic Buying in Kaliningrad as Lithuania Bans Rail Cargo From Russia

[Rogue Valley]

The states of California, Texas, and New York all have a larger GDP than Russia.

 

[Carjosse]

The sectarian violence happened when America was in control of country.....and our military attempts to stop it failed miserably. There was wide scale sectarian violence practically from the minute Baghdad fell.

The “might” of the US? If America can’t even beat a bunch of ragtag sheep herders with decades old rifles, talking about our “might” is pretty funny. Over and over again America has blundering into wars after believing its own hype and failed miserably. Talking about American “might” is a joke

So what about Russia's military then? The Soviet Union failed to win in Afghanistan too. And modern Russia failed in the first Chechen War and would have failed in the second too if some of the militants did not switch sides with bribes from Putin.

 

[noonereal]

Panic Buying in Kaliningrad as Lithuania Bans Rail Cargo From Russia - The Moscow Times

A wave of panic buying spread across the Kaliningrad region after a rail blockade imposed by neighboring Lithuania on Saturday threatened to isolate Russia’s strategic Baltic exclave.

www.themoscowtimes.com

The officials and citizens of Kaliningrad aren't concerned at all about how badly the people of Ukraine are suffering.

Don't blame the people for the government.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

So what about Russia's military then? The Soviet Union failed to win in Afghanistan too. And modern Russia failed in the first Chechen War and would have failed in the second too if some of the militants did not switch sides with bribes from Putin.

It is no where near as powerful as many thought, but it is not as weak as you seem to believe

Afghanistan is unwinnable unless you are genocidal.

First Chechen war was in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR and not representative of the doctrine and capability of the Russian military. The second Chechen war is, Syria is.

Russia has changed it's tactics in Ukrainian to better suit its capabilities, more towards what it did in Chechnya, not what it did in Georgia. I expect Russia hoped Ukraine would fall like Georgia. It did not so it changed. Russia right now seems to be grinding Ukraine, and barring some dramatic change will likely gain the upper hand.

To the EU, Russia is not much of a threat, any Russian invasion would be stopped in Poland quite easily, even without NATO

 

[Carjosse]

It is no where near as powerful as many thought, but it is not as weak as you seem to believe

Afghanistan is unwinnable unless you are genocidal.

First Chechen war was in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR and not representative of the doctrine and capability of the Russian military. The second Chechen war is, Syria is.

Russia has changed it's tactics in Ukrainian to better suit its capabilities, more towards what it did in Chechnya, not what it did in Georgia. I expect Russia hoped Ukraine would fall like Georgia. It did not so it changed. Russia right now seems to be grinding Ukraine, and barring some dramatic change will likely gain the upper hand.

To the EU, Russia is not much of a threat, any Russian invasion would be stopped in Poland quite easily, even without NATO

Ukraine has all of the volunteers and people called up at the beginning of the war finishing training soon. And the West is providing heavier and heavier weapons to them. We will have to see what happens.

 

[Juin]

To the EU, Russia is not much of a threat, any Russian invasion would be stopped in Poland quite easily, even without NATO

I am not so sure of EU without Nato.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Ukraine has all of the volunteers and people called up at the beginning of the war finishing training soon. And the West is providing heavier and heavier weapons to them. We will have to see what happens.

US and European weapon systems are not I expect easy to learn to use, and definitely not easy to maintain.

 

[Carjosse]

US and European weapon systems are not I expect easy to learn to use, and definitely not easy to maintain.

Which is why the West is training them and providing them with replacements and ammunition.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

I am not so sure of EU without Nato.

The EU without NATO only really loses the US and UK. The EU countries military budgets are multiple times the size of Russia, between the various EU countries the manpower is larger, the tanks in general more modern. If Russia gers bogged down in Ukraine, it would get bogged down in Poland and face direct attacks from EU countries rather than just military supplies to Poland

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Which is why the West is training them and providing them with replacements and ammunition.

Not having direct experience in learning to use military equipment I will leave commenting on how long/ difficult it is to train to use and maintain western military equipment to those that have such experience. I expect it is more than 2 to 3 months to do it well

 

[Tigerace117]

So what about Russia's military then? The Soviet Union failed to win in Afghanistan too. And modern Russia failed in the first Chechen War and would have failed in the second too if some of the militants did not switch sides with bribes from Putin.

Meh. The Russians had effectively crushed the Chechen resistance by 2000. Kadryov and his ilk switching sides was an acknowledgment of the fact, not the decisive moment.

 

[Carjosse]

Meh. The Russians had effectively crushed the Chechen resistance by 2000. Kadryov and his ilk switching sides was an acknowledgment of the fact, not the decisive moment.

So Russia's military is on par or better than the US and NATO? You are also yet to explain how a defensive war against Russia in the Baltic states or Poland would in anyway be similar to the conflict in Afghanistan or other similar conflicts.

 

[Tigerace117]

So Russia's military is on par or better than the US and NATO? You are also yet to explain how a defensive war against Russia in the Baltic states or Poland would in anyway be similar to the conflict in Afghanistan or other similar conflicts.

I think anyone who assumes we could easily defeat Russia or China is making a LOT of very dangerous assumptions not backed up by our performance, especially over the last twenty years or so.

 

[Rogue Valley]

I think anyone who assumes we could easily defeat Russia or China is making a LOT of very dangerous assumptions not backed up by our performance, especially over the last twenty years or so.

Russia is having great difficulty taking tiny Donbas, which sits directly on Russia's border.

The Russian military cannot logistically support a conventional war against a NATO country.

 

[Tigerace117]

Russia is having great difficulty taking tiny Donbas, which sits directly on Russia's border.

The Russian military cannot logistically support a conventional war against a NATO country.

We thought the same thing about both China and Japan.

America NEVER thinks anyone can put up a fight against it. That kind of thinking has lead to numerous disasters.