1947 said:
aren't wasting millions of dollars you say is that because they are still reeling from the break up of the USSR in 1990 or that they can't afford to compete with the americans as they did before. as for spending millions please feel free to inspect the coffers of the oligarchs that rule russia
oh of course i forgot why care about the collateral damage after all given russia's appaling human rights record a few thousands dead here and there won't make a difference. im suppose a hospital or a school or a home can be considered a military base
I meant that the Russians have always been a people who get the job done as easy and simply as possible. In this circumstance, there's no point exhausting their stockpile of expensive and high quality guided munitions when the thousands of tonnes of mostly ex-Soviet dumb weaponry is sittying in storerooms across Russia just waiting to be thrown out when they reach their expiration date. Georgian civillian deaths are reportedly less than one hundred, and no schools or hospitals have been hit to my knowledge. Considering that there are apparently 2,000 South Ossetian deaths, I'd say that the Russians have been very good with collateral damage. The Georgians actually shelled the city proper, where as atleast Russia aimed for military targets, even if it didn't get a perfect hit rate.
russia didn't win the war it was a diplomatic stunt. medvedev the kremlins and putin's puppet announced end of hostilities before it could look like that ruusia was bowing down to western pressure. ain't that so special the russians attack chechnya when they threaten to break away but support south ossetians when they want to breakaway from geogia care to comment on your defence of russia's brilliant double standards.
Western pressure? What pressure is that? Bush's "stop or our relations will be badly damaged" threat? That's not pressure. It's a convenient time to call the peace, as they've already gotten what they wanted, and make it still look like they were part of the international community. If you honestly think the West stopped the Russians, you're deluded.
And Russia's double standard? How about America's. The West bought this down on Georgia by recognising Kosovo. And let me tell you this, and write this down, double standards are a fact of international diplomacy. Every nation has them. It's just when you're a superpower, you can make your double standards far bigger and more noticeable, ala America and Russia. Similarly, respecting the sovereignty of other nations is a guideline for such nations, and they will readily forgo such a stance whenever it suits them. Soveriegnty means nil when it's not in their best interests.
hmm yes with suspiscion and hidden tensions between russia and china im sure russia is more than willing to dig their own grave and supply the chinese with top of the range weapons russian will never be on par with americans neither in the near nor the the forseeable future. as for maintainability of russian weapons ill give you a classic example of india which ordered a third aircraft carrier from russia a couple of year ago the deal has gone over the budget and the arrival of the vessel admiral gorshkov has delayed by years.
as for the PAK FA fighter jet only time will tell if it will match the F22 given russia's history of cutting corners and chronic shortages in funding since the 1990's
Russia is supplying top of the range weapons to China. They've conducted large scale military manoeuvres in the past year, actually. The Sino-Soviet rift is well and truly gone, and if anything, China and Russia are actually closer to allying each other than fighting. It should be noted that this is a temporary thing, as China is finally getting a military complex that matches the size of its military, though Russian assistance is proving vital. Russian weapons are very much as dangerous as American military hardware when given equal training, the difference is that the Americans usually have far more. Again, the increased military budget of the Russians is allowing this gap to close. Though you're right, Russian equipment and training will never be quite as good as the Americans, but that's because one in two dollars spent on the military
in the entire world is spent by the United States.
And the aircraft carrier is a different story. The Admiral Goshkov had been mothballed for many years and not maintained simply because the Russians had no use for it, not at all dissimilar from what the Americans do with their ships. When they finally got a buyer the ship wasn't in the best of conditions purely because there was no point in maintaining an expensive ship with no use for it. And you don't mention that the Indians are heavily modifying it, which is where the majority of the contstruction and refurbishment time is going. Plus, the Russian's aren't reknowned for their ships for a reason, that mostly being they were never of the highest quality. Most of the budget of the USSR's navy went into the submarine force.
Also, Russia's military budget has increased by 25% in the last three years. Shortages of funding are becoming less and less each day. Also note that many US programs claim "a shortage of funding" too, so it's all relative.