The Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) has reported an increased military threat from Russia over the next 12 months.

The pertinent question to me is how many modern tanks and actually trained tank crews does russia have? Certainly they have been holding back some production in a stockpiling process but is it enough? Has russia even solved the critical vulnerabilities exposed about its main battle tanks?

I think in order to domestically sell admitting defeat and backing down from attacking Ukraina, russia will have to find another target to attack and try to beat up as a distraction, what is unclear is whether it will be a competent military operation that experiences any degree of enduring success or just a pathetic distraction from an even larger pathetic failing.

    • YurkshireLad@lemmy.caEnglish
      30·
      2 days ago

      If it wasn’t for china, the west could probably roll into Moscow. I grew up through the Cold War with the fear that Russia was incredibly powerful and dangerous. The war with Ukraine has shown how wrong we were.

      I’m talking purely conventional, non-nuclear here.

      • Etterra@discuss.onlineEnglish
        28·
        2 days ago

        If it wasn’t for nuclear deterrence the West could definitely roll into Moscow. And yeah, I grew up in the 80s, I remember.

      • UnspecificGravity@piefed.socialEnglish
        6·
        2 days ago

        Its fun to see people realize that the whole “big scary Russia” concept was a fiction intended to make them invest in increasingly ridiculous defense programs.

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
        114·
        2 days ago

        The west could roll into Moscow regardless, the west just didn’t want it to be quick so that it would hamstring russia for decades by drawing out the conflict…

        Make no mistake, the ruling class in the west was completely ok with Ukraine losing this war, they just didn’t want it to happen too quickly. Now that russia is losing though it has gotten really awkward for those people and they really don’t know how to handle it as they desperately try to jam up the mechanisms of delivery of military aid to Ukraine and yet it just isn’t enough to tip the scales back in russia’s favor.

        This is one reason why the US “must” go to war with Iran in order to clamp down harder on letting Ukraine get any military aid. Gotta fire ALL of the air defense missiles off so we have none left to give!