Am I the only one who believes that Russia could not sustain a full scale war with another superpower?

Question

Am I the only one who believes that Russia could not sustain a full scale war with another superpower?

Answer 1

Nope I am with you.  Russia would not be able to substain a full scale war against the USA, the lone superpower.  Russia is not considered a superpower anymore the USSR was.

As for the use of nukes, I don't think they would be used.  There is one thing to lose the war, however losing a war and exterminating the world are different.  Germany and Japan both lost WWII however we helped them rebuild.  If NATO or just the USA was to fight Russia and if Russia was to lose I am sure the USA would help them out in the same manner.  No reason to allow radicals to get into office.  Nukes are a deterent, not a strike weapon anymore unless they can come up with stealth missles.

If say the USA and Russia fought and Russia was on the verge of losing what would launching all their nukes towards the USA do?  Easy just provoke a counterstirke with a full arsenal of American Nukes.  Remember wars today are fought to minimize civilian caustiles to the best extent, nukes eliminate all civilians.

Answer 2

In the early 90's, many former USSR satellites were invited to train with NATO forces. That training gave the NATO forces something to contemplate. More so to the Point US brought them unto US soil to retrain with US forces in Ft.Hood and Ft. Leonard Wood.

Russian Forces are made  up of Ethnicities like the US...

As for conflicts around the world, we won some and lost some - same as the USSR...

On the other hand, since many feel superior to Russia, lets put those theories to test... lets stop this sissy proxy wars where we destroy entire third world nations for our pleasure of rebuilding and duke it ourselves....

Answer 3

You are not the only one. Most of the troops involved in the recent conflict with Georgia are not ethnic Russians. The same situation popped up 40 years ago in Prague. Those weren't ethnic Russian troops either. Those troops were from the Central Asian Republics of the Soviet Union. The Russians will fight like maniacs to defend Russia. They're taught that every square inch of Mother Russia was blessed by God. The movement of the Red Army westward into Berlin to end World War Two was revenge for the Germans invading the Holy Motherland. But, don't expect those Russians to get involved in projecting power beyond the borders of the Holy Motherland. When the Soviets went into Afghanistan they had to use Central Asian Republic troops once again. But, they forgot that those troops were also Muslims. And Muslim killing Muslim is a Harram (an offense against the Koran).

The tanks they have are not equipped with stacks of spare parts. Not even for repair of the tracks. Each tank is considered to be pre-expended gear the minute it rolls off the assembly line, just like a pencil.  They have no real logistics capability and show great difficulty in establishing and maintaining a supply train to forward-deployed forces. That was part of the reasons why Russian forces didn't comply with the time table of the cease fire negotiated by French President Sarkozy.

An excellent book on the bumbling makeup of Soviet Forces with their second-rate equipment was written by Alexander Cockburn and was entitled "The Threat". Most of his conclusions are still valid.

As for their strategic rocket forces and nuclear weapons, after the collapse of the Soviet Union  the Russians decided to launch satellites into orbit using their vaunted SS-20 ICBMs, using launch pads on Russian soil, rather than using the Soyuz rocket from the Balkanor Cosmodrome since that facility was in Kazakhstan, a newly-independent country. All six of the ICBMs splashed down in the Sea of Japan or the Northern Pacific. They never achieved orbit and never came near U.S. airspace. Their strategic bomber fleet consists of propellor driven planes!

Russia is a long way from threatening anyone and needs to be reminded that hot air is only useful in keeping balloons aloft!

Answer 4

Your not the only one. I don't believe Russia is a superpower, period. For all it's hype, Russia does not actually have that great of a military. It looks good on the surface, but it can't hold a candle to the U.S. Our defense budget is over 25 times the size of Russia's. Not to mention the fact that their population is plummeting and it doesn't have a strong, diversified economy.  

Answer 5

I agree with you if they tried to start a war with a super power NATO would be on all sides of Russia in days.  

Answer 6

They still have ALL those nukes.

If backed into a corner, they would use them rather than lose a war.

We are making a HUGE mistake by getting involved over there.

There is NO US interest in that area, so this is infinitely more stupid than Iraq is.

Answer 7

Do they need to sustain a full scale war? They have more nukes than anyone (at 16,000)...so they really don't need to sustain anything.

Answer 8

I know tickled blue and I don't always see things the same way, but this time he is right, Russia is not afraid of NATO, America or the UN. They still have more nukes in cold storage than all other countries combined.

DON'T s***w WITH RUSSIA.

BIG BAD MISTAKE!

And it doesn't take much of a military to push a button to launch a nuke.

Answer 9

In this day and age, few countries who possess enough nuclear power to pose a threat, are stupid (or crazy) enough to wage a full out war. If that were to happen, almost everyone on earth would die.