RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,187158,00.html

quote:

Of course, Moscow could just be gathering bargaining chips in advance of the first meeting between Presidents Medvedev and Obama next month at the G-20 in London. But the Kremlin's notion of "reboot" isn't the same as the White House's: For Moscow, a restart in relations means a significant retreat in Washington's interests in Europe and elsewhere in the face of a resurgent Russia.

Well I gotta hand it to Mrs. Clinton, the "Reset Button" thing was pretty dumb (I doubt she'll repeat that mistake). But for anyone to think that Russia isn't entitled to work for their own interests, or for that matter for ours is nuts.

And the Russians do have plently of reason to be suspicious of the United States, and their memory isn't nearly as short as some Americans seem to think. We did after all support a little incursion after WWI, and the past 22 years of sticking a finger in thier eye type policies since the collapse of the USSR wasn't going to help.

Since the collapse (of the USSR), the policy of the United States and NATO has been one of rapid expansion when Russia was far to broke/helpless to do anything about it. As is typical, we failed to show them any respect and continuous encrochment on thier borders was sooner or later going to be the cause of trouble, because eventually they would find their way out of the complete financial morass they suffered under Soviet leadership. And take note, if the situation were reversed and the USSR was expanding into this hemisphere (let alone Canada or Mexico) we would be equally concerned.

It is not unreasonable for them to have a desire to modernize their armed forces, especially in light of the US leadership willingness to show off our new technologies and weapons, and how easily our forces use them to annihilate adversaries using Russian-made weapons. Considering the size of the Russian defense budget, a 30% increase remains puny when compared to the US Budget.

The BMD sites for Poland are bound to make the Russians (long term paranoids anyway) suspicious, and given the mendacity of the previous administration (even on matters they didn't have to lie about) that shouldn't come as any surprise. That isn't to say that the United States should knuckle under to the wants/needs of the Russians - far from it. But we do things to create bargaining chips, and therefore it shouldn't be a surprise they do.

Smart negotiation is the best way to go for the US, but our position in many respects is already compromised because the limits of American power have been lamentably exposed due to a lot of very poor judgement, and our anemic (at best) response to events in Georgia.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PolicyWonk,

Possibly the lack of posts has to do with Brookes' comments being so conspicously based on wholesale assumptions about the sanctity of America's motives and actions versus the ever sinister machinations of the former USSR?
Maybe the chronically unacknowledged ignoring, i.e. "let them rot" policy of Western powers, particularly the U.S., regarding the former USSR's post-Iron Curtain meltdown is coming back to haunt us?

This is entirely left out of the article and is incredibly important:

According to the official version, the latest military reform in Russia is not the first one. The history is filled with similar significant transformations.

The first major changes in the military were made by Ivan the Terrible in the middle of the XVI century. Second strategic reformation was made by the Peter the Great in the beginning of the XVIII century, bringing Russian Army to the European standards.

Then there were reforms held in the second half of the XIX century. For example, for the funding purposes aimed to general rearmament of armed forces and construction of the new Black Sea fleet (instead of the one destroyed during the Crimea war), Russian government sold Alaska to the US for 11 million of Russian rubles (for the record: at that time a cow was worth of 30 rubles).

There were also reforms held in the beginning of the XX century (after disgraceful defeat by Japan in 1905). And the most significant changes were brought into the military in 1924-1925 right after the end of bloody Civil War and the rise of the Communist power.

In Oct. 2008, Russia officially announced and started the new major reformation of the Armed Forces, the third attempt after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The recent armed conflict in Georgia showed that the mighty Russian Army is on the stage of complete degradation and if there will be no significant changes any time soon, it might become absolutely ineffective and incapable of handling even basic threats. For the record, according to the official information of the Russian Ministry of Defense during the peace forcing operation in South Ossetia in Aug.2008, losses included 64 Russian soldiers and officers killed, 283 wounded (in comparison these numbers of 2 week operation are similar to over 2 years of our presence in Iraq). It also showed that the old Soviet supply of equipment and vehicles is overused and ineffective nowadays.

Present modernization is an attempt to optimize the entire structure of the Armed Forced and reduce the number of servicemen. As result, Russia should have a better qualified, better equipped and professional Army.

1) Optimization of the structure and the number of servicemen in the Armed forces includes reducing number of soldiers and officers in the Russian Military. By 2012 Army and Navy will reduce about 130 thousand people and reach the point of 1 million of servicemen in total. It will be mainly done by reducing by half the number of officers: from 355 thousand to 150 thousands. Hence, the role of NCOs will be significantly emphasized and increased. Some ranks, such as warrant officers will be eliminated and their positions will be replaced with the civilians working on contracts. Some other professions in the military, such as Finance, Law, and Journalists will be possibly substituted by civilians as well.

2) Bringing it to the contract system instead of current draft system, which is lucking motivation for the people drafted to do their job properly.

3) Reduction will not only cover the particular military positions and ranks, but also the entire military units and bases. Thus, after the reform in the Army there will be 172 troops units and bases (there were 1890 in the beginning of the reform), in the Air Force from 340 bases will be left 180, Navy will be reduced from 240 to 123 units, Strategic Missile Forces – from 12 to 8, Space Forces –from 7 to 6, and Airborne units from 6 to 5.

4) Replacement of old equipment and armory with the modern weapon systems. Presently the share of the modern armory, weapons and vehicles is about 10% , according to the plan its share will be increased to 30% by 2015, and 70% to 2020. This is to mean that currently only 10% of equipment in the military is new, the rest is up to 30-40 years old.

5) Close attention is being paid to the redesign of the management structure of armed forces, commanding and headquarters system. The traditional 4-chain system (regiment - division - army - military district) will be replaced with more effective 3 chain system (brigade - operational headquarters - military district). That should be done by Dec, 2009. This system will be similar to the US system. Number of top ranks and high ranks officers will be decreased as well.

6) On the base of old Soviet military educational institutions, which presently include 15 academies, 46 military institutions and colleges, 4 military universities (they produce more officers than will be needed in the new optimized armed forces) by the 2013 will be created 10 large hubs - strategic educational centers incorporating present educational institutions.

7) Huge investments are put into improving the present housing conditions and social welfare, health care for the Armed Forces servicemen and their families.

8) High level of crimes is one of the major concerns in the strategy. In 2008 the losses of non-combat related death of soldiers and officers included 471 people, which are more than a year ago in 2007 when 442 died. The main crimes include deserters, hazing and non-formal relations.

9) And the last, Ministry of Defense is giving part of its functions of the logistics to the civilian organization and private businesses.

At present the Russian military has not changed significantly in the last 50 years in the way they conduct their day to day operations and treat their soldiers. This reformation is an attempt to rectify these issues, professionalize their military, and create new social, economic, and educational opportunities for their troops and their families. By the actions applied the Russian Ministry of Defense hopes to reinforce the Armed Forces, increase the intensity of the combat and operational training of the units.

So is this really so bad to see these reforms in any military? For what it is worth though, we are constantly developing new weapon systems and uniforms for our soldiers. Does this mean that we want to take on the world? Or that we are just want our soldiers to be taken care of?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: norgwar,

norgwar, PolicyWonk and uh34d: good stuff! Thanks.

Read about Russia's declining young population and how it will no longer be able to support it's older population. Most Russians are still cultured to "what is good for the party, is good for me" so it won't make much difference if Putin continues to expand military spending while social programs fail. Russia will most likely be able to flex militarily on its own borders, but no longer as strong globally as it used to.