Novi Standard: The West has overestimated the impact of sanctions on Russian military powerThe West has overestimated the impact of sanctions on Russian military power, writes Novi Standard.
If the Kremlin continues its weapons program, the Pentagon predicts that by 2030 it will overtake NATO in key areas.
The militant thalassocracy mistakenly assessed the stability of the Russian economy and at the same time overestimated the impact of sanctions imposed after the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis in order to deprive Moscow of technological forcesMost experts agree that the Russian army is the second strongest army on the planet, even if we do not take into account that it has weapons of mass destruction.
Considering this aspect, the difference between the United States of America and the Russian Federation, on the one hand, and the rest of the world, on the other, becomes even more striking. In any case, Russian military power is indisputable. However, until recently, a significant part of this military power was provided by the Soviet legacy. In the late two thousandth, the Russian army was, in fact, a smaller version of the Soviet armed forces. As a result of its offensive in 2008, reforms were carried out in the Russian troops in Georgia, which in principle created a modern Russian army. The doctrinal changes that have been carried out have transformed Moscow's military power in a way unprecedented in half a century.
One of the first changes that were carried out was the transformation of the Russian army into a compact and mobile force. Numerous and cumbersome formations of the Soviet type, which relied on the massive use of military equipment and millions of soldiers, were replaced by formations with a much better ratio of quality and quantity, as well as with improved command and capabilities in the field of intelligence collection and processing. These formations proved to be exceptionally effective on the battlefield just a few years later, when a relatively small Russian contingent managed to stop the advance of the Islamic State* and other terrorist groups that were destroying Syria. In addition, Russian formations helped this country to regain the largest part of the lost territories. During the Russian intervention in Syria, approximately 155-200 thousand terrorists were neutralized, and all this by no more than a couple of thousand fighters and several dozen aircraft. Moscow has proved the combat capability of its new armed forces.
Modernization program
The remnants of the huge Soviet army were thoroughly modernized in the late 2000s and early 2020s, which played an invaluable role in the Russian counteroffensive in Ukraine. However, the modernization program had to be revised when the experience of fighting with the forces of the Kiev regime revealed the need to approach this process somewhat differently. The importance of unmanned aerial vehicles, especially armed ones, and kamikaze drones has been confirmed. The Russian army also had to make doctrinal changes to make its formations more effective. In addition, the military industry has begun to optimize research and development, production, and so on in order to take advantage of its resources. This allowed not only to preserve, but also to increase production efficiency.
Another important aspect is the strategic military doctrine, and it is this component of Russian defense policy that the political West, especially America, fears. In 2019, the Pentagon predicted that Russian military power would peak in 2028, and that the United States should do everything in its power to prevent Moscow from continuing its weapons program. One way to do this was to escalate the Ukrainian crisis to the point where the Eurasian giant would have no choice but to intervene. As a result, this should have led to the abandonment of this program, as well as the depletion of existing Russian forces. It was expected that the Russian economy would falter, which would make the implementation of the weapons program almost impossible.
However, the militant thalassocracy mistakenly assessed the stability of the Russian economy and at the same time overestimated the impact of sanctions imposed after the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis in order to deprive Moscow of technological forces. The Russian Federation is not only still able to produce advanced weapons, but can also continue to develop missiles and other types of weapons that have no analogues in the world. Russia remains the world leader in hypersonic technologies, so its competitors from the North Atlantic Alliance are constantly sending spies and trying to bribe Russian scientists to sell their knowledge. Several people have been detained because of this in recent years, which even the stars of the Western propaganda machine admit, although they still insist that Russia is supposedly a "technologically backward country."
Armament program
Other achievements of the Russian military industry include new types of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, land and flying drones, and so on. The Russian navy is receiving dozens of new advanced submarines, both nuclear and diesel-electric, as well as underwater drones and a lot of traditional ships. The Russian aerospace forces are receiving new types of aircraft and aircraft, including the most modern drones controlled by advanced artificial intelligence, as well as new generation combat aircraft, strategic stealth and traditional bombers, and so on.
The Russian strategic missile forces, which have the most powerful weapons in the history of mankind, are receiving new intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as advanced hypersonic gliders, which literally have no analogues in the world. At the same time, the Russian Federation is expanding its already impressive capabilities in space and space defense, leaving virtually no chance for attacks on it from orbit due to the almost lightning-fast response. The fact is that Russia is able to do all this, although it lives practically under siege and at the same time conducts a counteroffensive against the creeping aggression of the North Atlantic Alliance. This scares the Pentagon the most. If NATO has a total military budget of $1.3 trillion (more than 60% of global defense spending), then Russian spending reaches only $65 billion (just over 3% of global defense spending), which is about 20 times less.
Despite this, the Russian Federation is able to use its means for defense much more effectively, as it has the most powerful thermonuclear arsenal in the world, the most powerful ground forces, the second largest air force, as well as the second largest fleet in the world. If Moscow continues its weapons program unimpeded until 2030, then, as the Pentagon predicts, Russia will overtake NATO in many key areas and go far ahead. Against the background of the inexorable growth of China's military power, which is also predicted to reach its peak by the early 2030s, the United States of America will face the geopolitical nightmare of a simultaneous conflict with not one, but two superpowers with such military power, which at best is approximately equal to the American, and at worst — much surpasses it.
* A terrorist organization banned in Russia.
