02-06-2017, 12:28 AM
(02-05-2017, 08:08 AM)Mikebert Wrote:(02-05-2017, 03:40 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(02-04-2017, 04:46 PM)Mikebert Wrote: The Russian stance is curious. Both Putin and Trump are alpha males. The US is far stronger than Russia, so why is Trump being submissive?
Russia has as many nukes as we do, so we're not much stronger than them militarily. And our natural areas of current geopolitical interest don't conflict that much. Thus, Trump is polite, though his reiteration of demands for Russia to vacate eastern Ukraine and the Crimea are hardly submissive.
I was talking about conventional forces. The USSR matched US military spending. Since much of US spending went to the Navy, while USSR spending went more to the Army, the Warsaw Pact always maintained a large numerical majority over NATO, although NATO's equipment and personnel were better, giving a rough balance that kept the peace for forty years. Today the US vastly outspends Russia and so NATO has a advantage numerically and quality-wise. As a result Russia is a lot weaker than China in terms of military potential, yet Trump has no compunction about insulting China, but takes pains to say nice things about Russia.
It doesn't make sense.
The question is why Trump is being nice to Russia, not why you are being nice to Russia. You shouldn't assume that, just because you ignore nuclear weapons, Trump does too. By any sane measure - which is to say, any measure that takes nuclear weapons into account - Russia is a lot stronger than China in terms of military strength.