Thread: Twilight 2020
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Old 01-04-2019, 10:16 PM
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Raellus Raellus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine View Post
The Russian GDP, which is smaller than Spain's, is going backwards. They can't afford to outfit themselves with a division of their T-14s and have the Armata variants in the same division.
And they took the Crimea back, by force, and Ukraine could do nothing about it. You seem to think Ukraine didn't really want it, or care about the Russian smash-and-grab of Ukraine's sovereign territory.

The Russians don't need a division of Armata MBTs to retake the Baltic States. They could do it without a single T-14. They have an overwhelming military superiority over all three Baltic States combined. Yes, the Baltics are part of NATO, but NATO is a hollow shell of its former, Cold War self. The US has no prepositioned heavy divisions in Europe. The UK has one aircraft carrier and a steadily shrinking, aging navy. The German military is in decline. It can barely field a single squadron of combat ready aircraft, and major defects have been found in its Puma IFVs, it's newest destroyers, its E90 transports, and the G36! The Russians have been flexing on the Baltics for the last several years. They've been projecting military power in the Baltic to the point that Finland is considering joining NATO. They could reconquer the Baltics and NATO couldn't stop them. There's your T2020-'25 right there.

Seriously, don't take my word for it. Read some of the articles I linked to in the other thread I shared. I posted those a couple of years ago and, since then, not much has changed. If anything, with Brexit, NATO is more disfunctional that it was then.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine View Post
Honestly, they have very little projection ability. Not only that but they don't want to.
Neither of those statements is accurate. Were you forgetting the Russian forces currently operating in Syria? The same Russian air, sea, and land forces that saved the teetering Assad regime? If they didn't care about projection ability, why are they so desperately trying to hold onto their Mediterranean naval bases in Syria?

Putin longs for the days of Soviet (ne Russian) influence, in Europe and beyond. That's why he continues to flex on the Baltics, and support the Assad regime in Syria.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine View Post
Ukraine has gone neo-fascist and actually is oppressing the Donbass Russians (I have a friend who is Ukrainian who tells me that their revolution was hijacked by the thugs from groups like the Azov Battalion and they now run the defence ministry).
Your Ukrainian friend sounds like he has a strong pro-Russian bias. You might want to do a little more research on the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution and subsequent Russian-backed separatist movement.
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