This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Legendary US Army Commander Says Russia Would "Annihilate" US In Head-To-Head Battle
Late in September, we brought you “US Readies Battle Plans For Baltic War With Russia” in which we described a series of thought experiments undertaken by The Pentagon in an effort to determine what the likely outcome would be should something go horribly “wrong” on the way to landing the US in a shooting war with Russia in the Balkans.
The results of those thought experiments were not encouraging. As a reminder, here’s how Foreign Policy summed up the exercises:
In June 2014, a month after he had left his force-planning job at the Pentagon, the Air Force asked David Ochmanek - deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development - for advice on Russia’s neighborhood ahead of Obama’s September visit to Tallinn, Estonia. At the same time, the Army had approached another of Ochmanek’s colleagues at Rand, and the two teamed up to run a thought exercise called a “table top,” a sort of war game between two teams: the red team (Russia) and the blue team (NATO). The scenario was similar to the one that played out in Crimea and eastern Ukraine: increasing Russian political pressure on Estonia and Latvia (two NATO countries that share borders with Russia and have sizable Russian-speaking minorities), followed by the appearance of provocateurs, demonstrations, and the seizure of government buildings. “Our question was: Would NATO be able to defend those countries?” Ochmanek recalls.
The results were dispiriting. Given the recent reductions in the defense budgets of NATO member countries and American pullback from the region, Ochmanek says the blue team was outnumbered 2-to-1 in terms of manpower, even if all the U.S. and NATO troops stationed in Europe were dispatched to the Baltics — including the 82nd Airborne, which is supposed to be ready to go on 24 hours’ notice and is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
To be sure, the fact that this is even under consideration is somewhat surreal. Sure, no one took Hillary Clinton serioulsy when she presented Sergei Lavrov with the now infamous "reset" button (which actually didn't say "reset" because thanks to a "typo" the prop said “peregruzka” which means “overcharged"), but with a Nobel Peace Price-winning President in The White House, no one expected things to deterirotate to the point that NATO was seriously contemplating a war with the Russians.
Nevertheless, Moscow's intervention in Syria has the West concerned that for the first time in nearly thirty years, The Kremlin doesn't fear a direct confrontation.
The problem for The Pentagon isn't so much that the US has fallen behind in terms of spending money on expensive war toys (i.e. we don't necessarily doubt that Washington has the best technology).Rather, the US seems to have fallen behind in terms of its ability to fight a conventional war against a formidable foe, presumably because there really haven't been any formidable foes in decades.
Well now, it seems entirely possible that the US may have to fight a conventional war against the Russians (and possibly the Iraninans) and that means you can no longer depend on the fact that on a warrior-for-warrior basis, a handful of SEAL Team Six members can pull off battlefield miracles, because no matter how elite your spec ops are, you can't pit twelve guys against four thousand and expect them to win.
It's with all of this in mind that Washington is beginning to assess whether the US could hold its ground against Russia in a conventional standoff. According to retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, American forces would get "annihilated." Here's more, via Politico:
For those villagers eagerly snapping pictures on the side of a road in the Czech Republic in late September, the appearance of the line of U.S. “Stryker” armored fighting vehicles must have seemed more like a parade than a large-scale military operation. The movement of some 500-plus soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment from Vilsack in Bavaria to a Hungarian military base was intended to strengthen U.S. ties with the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian militaries and put Russia’s Vladimir Putin on notice.
But not everyone is convinced. “This Stryker parade won’t fool anyone in Moscow,” says retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor. “The Russians don’t do many things well, but they have been subverting, destabilizing, invading and conquering their neighbors since Peter the Great. And what’s our response: a small unit of light armored trucks.”
Viewed by many of his colleagues as one of the most innovative Army officers of his generation, Macgregor, a West Point graduate with a Ph.D. in international relations (“he can be pretty gruff,” a fellow West Point graduate says, “but he’s brilliant”), led the 2nd Cav’s “Cougar Squadron” in the best-known battle of Operation Desert Storm in February 1991. In 23 minutes, Macgregor’s force destroyed an entire Iraqi Armored Brigade (including nearly 70 Iraqi armored vehicles), while suffering a single American casualty. Speaking at a military “lessons learned” conference one year later, Air Force General Jack Welsh described the Battle of 73 Easting (named for a map coordinate) as “a stunning, overwhelming victory.”
In the wake of the battle, however, Macgregor calculated that if his unit had fought a highly trained and better armed enemy, like the Russians, the outcome would have been different.
In early September he circulated a PowerPoint presentation showing that in a head-to-head confrontation pitting the equivalent of a U.S. armored division against a likely Russian adversary, the U.S. division would be defeated.
“Defeated isn’t the right word,” Macgregor told me last week. “The right word is annihilated.” The 21-slide presentation features four battle scenarios, all of them against a Russian adversary in the Baltics — what one currently serving war planner on the Joint Chiefs staff calls “the most likely warfighting scenario we will face outside of the Middle East.”
“Macgregor scares the hell out of the Army,” says a senior Joint Chiefs war planner. “What he has proposed is nothing less than the dismantling of the Big Green Machine, getting the Army to embrace a future of lighter, more agile forces than the big lumbering behemoth which takes forever to spool up and deploy. I’ll bet the armor and airborne guys are furious. Reform my ass: Macgregor has walked into the zoo and slapped the gorilla.”
Yeah well, the US has already "walked into the zoo" and slapped the Russian grizzly bear. It sounds to us like Macregror may have a battle plan that actually isn't a joke, which means it will be promptly dismissed by The Pentagon.
After all, it's all about covert ops these days. And that's working so well for Washington in the Mid-East. Why fix something that isn't broken right?...
»
- 3528 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
I dispute that the F-15 was ever intended as a dogfighter. It is fast, much faster than the SU-30 and it can carry an impressive bomb load, but I believe the original design was rapid penetration of enemy defenses and air to ground, not air superiority. All that of course comes only when the F-15 is loaded down with not only fuselage conformant fuel tanks but drop tanks as well, reducing it's effectiveness. When you compare thrust, aerodynamics, stand off weapons and sheer manoevering capability the SU-30 wins hands down. The only air-to-air weapon the F-15's have been retrofitted with that even comes close to the air-to-air that the Russians have is the British Meteor, but that has never been tested. It is a Mach 4 weapon so the SU-30 couldn't outrun it or out climb it, but I remain to be convinced about it's capabilities.
The larger problem for the Americans is that they are stationing their F-15's at Incirlik, which is only 15 minutes from Latakia. Incirlikk was a poor choice for them to be stationing those units when the stated intention was to fly missions against ISIS. If the Syrians/Russians detect the F-15's coming south instead of going east they will have only a few moments to decide on whether to launch S-400's against them, and in an environment that might have a heigntened level of intesity that is a danger. Needless to say, an S-400 launced against an F-15 will take the later out in seconds and no amount of chaffe of manoevering with change that scenario. Check mate.
Check mate? They are moving that close to the Russian bases to squeeze Russia and occupy the area. It is a sign they have no fear of Russia being willng to confront.
Either that or a sign of sheer stupidity and a willingness to sacrifice men and material.
MiG-25: Performance Maximum speed: High altitude: Mach 3.2[8] (3,470 km/h, 2,170 mph); Mach 2.83 (3,200 km/h, 1,920 mph) continuous engine limit[8]. No country, 50 years since, has anything like it, interceptor-wise, even 50 years later. SR-71: Maximum speed: Mach 3.3[118][119][N 5] (2,200+ mph, 3,540+ km/h, 1,910+ knots) at 80,000 ft (24,000 m) ---- not an interceptor
http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/fighterplanes/texts/articles/twr.html
It all depends on where the fight takes place, how it came to be, how much preparation time, what is the goal of both sides.
NATO invades Russia from Eastern Europe- NATO beaten
Russia attacks NATO in Eastern Europe - Russia beaten
The Russiabs just have to sit pat unti; the oil and gas pipelines to China are
complete.The best defebse is a good offebse, with minimal Russian exposure ,Syria works just fine..
Those cruise missiles fired from the Caspian have turned the US shiekd for Europe into
an expensive joke,A brilliant move and message combined.
NATO is rattled, and the MENA is no longer an American plaything.
Interesting ti,es.
Everything the Americans have done is an expensive joke. They have spent over 5 trillion dollars developing so called stealth aircraft (B-2, F-22, F-35) but Russian N-wave doppler radar can detect them at 120 KM's out. The Chinese area defense anti-ship ICBM would kill an entire aircraft carrier in 20 minutes. If their GPS system goes down their entire military is blind.
I'm afraid the people of the US and the so called 'western world' have been sold a complete bill of goods with no goods presented.
Russia would be on the Channel in two to three weeks, tops. Western Europe as a military factor is joke, and with millions of Muzzies dragging their culture and economies into oblivion Germany, France and Italy would disentigrate in record time - same for the UK, except the Channel would save their worthless butts - but they would probably be nuked as would all the major participants - but which society would be able to take multiple Nuc hits and survive ? USSA - I don't think so. Russia and China, best bet Sure. long term effects of radiation would finish off most of the planet, I guess, but we haven't tested that theory year and the USSA seems to be anxious to do so.
Putin has painted Russia as the defender of Christendom. I don't think his choice of words is an accident. Putin sees the long game and knows full well that Western Europe has surrendered to Political Correctness. As such, its just a matter of time until the West as we know it collapses. In 2-30 years, the remaining Western Europeans might just BEG the Russians to come in an intervene against the Muslim hordes. The irony is that the West "won" the Cold War and PC was an old Communist tactic to help weaken the West. Well that tactic outlived the old USSR and is paying dividends for modern Russia beyond Putin's wildest dreams.
Operation Salvation.
Vikings believe that. The USA under Bolshevik rule does not.
Operation Salvation? That real? Never heard of it.
http://awdnews.com/top-news/putin-to-russian-army-officers-operation-salvation-shall-begin-soon,-you-must-prepare-to-cleanse-syria-from-obama-s-terrorists
I pretty much predicted many years ago around the fall of the wall that the Christians in Eastern Europe and Russia would be the only thing that could save Western Europe.
Sadly, this is playing out exactly like I expected. Hungary and a few others along with Russia have the balls. Poland and the nazis in Western Ukraine are still clueless. The Poles helped save Western Europe at the Battle of Vienna from Islam and the Turks. Maybe the Poles will stop being ZATO's bitch.
Once again Turkey (like the Ottoman Turks before) are the shit causing chaos in Western Europe along with ZATO. That dictator piece of shit Erdogan needs to be "Mussolini'ed" by the Turkish people along with Merkel and other Germans and EU scum pushing open borders.
The USA? Nothing can save it. White males in the USA cheer on their Trayvon thugs playing ball like little cheer leader girls. They area joke. The Russians and Russian men are serious people not sissy cheerleader girly men cheering on white genocide like stupid white American males.
Russia is not going to attack the Baltic states. Russia is not going to invade Poland. Russia is not going to attack the anachronism that is NATO.
On the other hand, invading Russia has, historically, proven to be a bad idea.
Just more of this Russiaphobia boogeyman bullshit to get more funds appropiated for their sick toys and paychecks so they can continue getting their butt kicked all over the globe by anyone more powerful than Somalia.
LOL +1000
You are sooo right. At least it sure looks that way.
Jack, Russia has no reason to "invade Europe" since Europe has nothing of immediate benefit to Russia. Having said that Russia will certainly not "telegraph" their intentions by troop movements, and will certainly use their rather capable missile tech to "soften up" EU defences should the opportunity arise. Air defence needs runways, and armies need reliable bulk transport (motorways / rail), the key locations of which (marshalling yards / major intersections) are well known to Russia.
They will not just "roll over the border" and say "come and get us" to the West.
Having said the above, the prevailing view "on the ground" in Moscow is that it will be NATO that pre-emptively attacks Russia, hence the refurbishing and re-provisioning of their network of Civil Defence shelters, info via Brother in Law (BNP Paribas Moscow).
Western Europeans are cowards like Americans, Canadians, NZ'er, Brits and others allowing the zios to flood their countries with illegal invaders.
Russia has plenty of land and resources. Western Europe has debt and hordes of parasites now. The Germans want to by law have their children to cook, clean and serve these Islamic invaders like dhimini slaves. Absolutely sickening and zio-controlled Amerika is no better.
So you're saying that all the diversity, homophilia, and feminism in western europe wouldn't be a benefit to Russia? That invading and siezing these valuable resources wouldn't enrich and strengthen Russia?
If you're right, then that would mean that we've been lied to about the evil patriarchy, racism, white privilegs, #blacklivesmatter, and all that other bullshit? That diveristy made us weaker? That backward Russia wouldn't benefit from an immediate infusion of Social Justice (TM)?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
You may be right but I don't see why Russia would want to invade broke, indebted countries with high unemployment and little industry. Exactly why they don't want Ukraine.
Crimea had their navel base so that was a tactical decision. Same with Syria.
Europe like Amerika is bankrupt and now filled with endless parasites like EBT/WIC Amerika.
The Russians are intelligent and serious people and they are not cowards like Amerika and Europe.
The Hungarians standing up against the invasion are an exception. The Swedes and Germans are the worst though I hear they are burning refugee centers as soon as they are named. The Zato-zio news media is keeping it quiet. Maybe their is hope for the Swedes and Germans if they fight now and grab guns and tell the inavders to leave.
OT: Armada Collective and some 'state-sponsored actors' have been trying to 'annihilate' the (best imho) end-to-end encrypted email provider ProtonMail:
after WWII the only war that the US really won was Granada and Panama... I'm not impressed...
Hillary's Reset Button = Full Retard on steroids.
The only thing she can do, is let out a wet dark fart, that resembles a cigar with Heinz written all over it.
China & Russia align to take the US out. And we who are left will ask why we did not impeach, try, convict, and remove from office this child that is in there now.
"How Close is Nuclear War With Russia?" Joel Skousen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzafZm48HB0
Joel lives in his own little world with his list of secret facts....not sure about him at all.
Like the German government ours will servive. Americans not so much.
NATO never had the ability to fight a conventional war against Russia, not during the cold war and not now. That was why there was and presumably still is a first use policy for tactical nuclear weapons. There was always a Russian armada of tanks waiting to invade western europe. Faced off by smaller sized armored forces, backed up by tactical nuclear weapons and a clearly announced first use policy. Fighting a conventional war against the USSR or Russia has never been on the table. Everything between NATO and Russia is always about brinkmanship.
And on whose territory are those tactical nukes to be used? Not Russia's. And when the US starts throwing around tactical nukes in Europe, does the US expect the Russians to not do so? It will be wonderful for the Europeans having the US trying to save them by nuking them.
Let's review here...
NATO is larger than it ever was before, and Russia is much smaller and weaker than the USSR/Warsaw Pact.
Soviet armor is not parked in central Germany any more.
Vladimir Putin complains endlessly about NATO forces being forward deployed to his border regions.
Virtually every single member of the US military and many cadres from other NATO nations have years of real world battlefield experience, while only a small number of Russians have been shot at.
US/EU GDP approaches 40 trillion dollars. Russia has fallen down below 2 trillion due to the drop in oil prices. 25 to 1 disparity.
US population 330 million. EU population 504 million. Russian population 142 million. 6-1 disparity.
Russian "breakout" from nuclear treaties that limited weapons to an approximate 1-1 parity means that they are stronger in nuclear weapons than the United States, but the nuclear forces of the UK and France mean that the West still possesses a slight but shrinking superiority here
And now you understand why Russia has officially and unilaterally renounced the solemn old Soviet declaration of "no first use" of nuclear weapons. Any conventional war between the West and Russia will end in ruin for Russia even if they can make some hay early on. The economic and population disparities are far too wide for Putin to prevail or even defend his country-- unless he goes nuclear. It is the only type of warfighting in which the sides are remotely equal.
The West has no need or interest in going nuclear on Russia in the event of hostilities. No matter what sort of initial success Russian armies may achieve in the early stages of a war that starts next door to their depots, the economic power of the West is far too much for him to overcome with conventional means.
Draw your own conclusions as to who needs to light the first Roman Candle.
"Virtually every single member of the US military and many cadres from other NATO nations have years of real world battlefield experience, while only a small number of Russians have been shot at."
Yes,,, but fighting who? Vietnam, a real war, was too long ago. The veterans are old so their experience will be of no use.
The Iraqi's were surrendering so fast it was slowing down the advance on Baghdad.
Libya,,, bombed into a failed state,,, other than the Marines having to defend the gun running US Ambassador there was no fighting.
In Syria our Ally "moderate terrorists" are / was doing the grunt work against Assad.
And we're still fighting (losing) the cave dwellers of Afghanistan 15 years later. In fact they are now advancing against the puppet US government.
Russia will never attack the West but the West will attack Russia because the West is broke. That GDP your referring to was purchased by central bank printing.
The Russian Army will be defending their nation, Nato/US Armies will be trying to establish an empire.
Who do you think will have the most incentive.
I know who has the experience in actual warfighting as opposed to looks-good-on-paper. Nazi Germany made it all the way to Moscow before the Soviets gained enough experience to match up with the Wehrmacht veterans.
Since Russia is transitioning from a force of draftees to what they call "contract" soldiers, my assumption is that the paid Russian volunteer is in the army for the same reasons as the paid American volunteer-- but without the requisite experience in actual bloodshed.
You f**King moron. A bunch of farmers and miners in Donetsk and Lughansk took on what used to be what - the 6th largest army in the world aka Ukraine and destroyed them. 2 cauldrons and the evil dual shit-i-zen US State Dept zios in Kiev will not start it up again because they will lose even more.
Kudos to the Ukrainian men who fled or threw down their arms instead of fighting for the evil and illegal shit govt in Kiev.
The Russians are not foolish and cowardly people like Amerikans and Western Europeans. American white males cheer on white genocide each week with their Trayvon thugs playing ball. Just like little sissy girl cheerleaders. Meanwhile, the Pentagram, Congress, Obola and the rest of the entire US Govt loot the Treasury for every penny. The USSA is TOTALLY corrupt. White males are cheerleader fools and the non-whites are largely on EBT/WIC cards. The USSA is a welfare state filled with idiots.
You assume that there would not be changing loyalties if NATO goes to war with Russia. Many former Soviet block countries could change sides .
Ukraine might be one of them. If you know anything about their
elections, then you know they swing from pro EU to pro Russia.
Ukraine might be one of them. If you know anything about their
elections, then you know they swing from pro EU to pro Russia.
Not anymore, too many of civilians has been brainwashed, there's no any possible hope they'll turn into normal state.
Nazi Germany occupied Poland whilst the US sang the Neutrality Song and funded the German war machine with General Motors and Ford making the trucks and Exxon and ITT keeping the machine going.
The West has always attacked Russia......hard to see when Russia has attacked the West
Okay, let's review. Russia is/has been deploying Iskander tactical nuclear weapons with a yield of 25 megatons. They are mobile, solid fuelled systems that can be deployed in 20 minutes, fire, then move on. The Iskander is a Mach 4 missile that can pull a 180 degree turn on command. It can be set on autopilot or manoevered right to the target. It would be impossile for any missile shield weapon to defeat it and besides, they have hundreds of them. It won't be tanks rolling into Western Europe, it will be missiles, lots of them.
Exactly (apart from the claim of 25 megatons on a tactical weapon). Complete treaty breakout. And you are simply proving my point that not only do they have to, but they want to, elevate as opposed to fighting a conventional war.
Because they cannot win a conventional war against the West. The force differential is far too great.
Well, forgive me for making a refernece back to the original article, but a former Brigadier General of the US Army doesn't feel that the 'west', I guess meaning the US, could win a conventional conflict against the Russians. That is the whole point of the article. I believe his original statment was that if a division of the US army went against a division of the Russians, then the US would be annihilated in about 8 days. His original statment also included a comment about US strategic command doctrine whereby they place approximately 1,000 officers in a single location for command and control. I believe he said they would be 'the first to go', in the first 12 hours. I haven't studied Russian capability as it exists now, aside from doing things like comparing various aircraft, but I do know that they still maintain a vast superiority in tanks, something like 5,500 to 2,300 for all of Europe and their new version fires guided missiles, unlike the American Abrams. As for the American aircraft carriers, well, I assume the Russians have or have access to the Chinese anti ship ICMB's which means that any aircraft carrier parkerd within 120 nautical miles of the mainland would be toast. I've also read/heard that the entire Russian airspace is defended with anti-missile missiles and it is highly unlikely that any US or European aircraft could ever penetrate it. They may not have the numbers but what they have build recently certainly has the tactical advantage, IMO.
You are missing the distinct possibility that this retired general is deliberately spreading disinformation. The US has been trying to get Russia to full out invade somewhere for several years now. In Georgia for example, they simply avenged the death of their peacekeepers and were home by the weekend. Eastern Ukraine was a drawn out cat and mouse game, the mouse got eaten but the cat stayed on their side of the fence.
Russia knows the USA's game plan (regime change in Moscow followed by the breakup of Russia into several small harmless republics friendly to western business) and refuses to take the bait.
You should be aware that under past Strategic Arms Limitation agreements, the Iskander system is “not” fitted with a nuclear warhead, however you are probably also very aware that the Russian Aerospace Defence forces are designed around the concept of extreme interoperability / systems flexibility, so yes, the Iskander CAN carry nuclear warheads (plural), presumably the 150kt ones designed for the Bulava, with maybe slight (i.e. minutes to hours’ work) modification. It cannot carry the 25MT warhead you mentioned, and in reality such a counterforce weapon does not need such a high yield capability.
Useful references include:
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/5-russian-nuclear-weapons-war-the-west-should-fear-12159
(VERY pro-American, hence the rather grudging admission that “just, maybe” Russia HAS developed some very good tech. They do like the idea that the Russian Military “still used outdated Soviet-era equipment” – that would be the equipment that has been shown to work when it is really needed, wouldn’t it!)
And - http://www.military-today.com/missiles/iskander.htm
Much more professional assessment. Information rather than opinion (and biased opinion at that).
"Enjoy" - though not quite the best word I suppose.
The Russians won a conventional war against the world's best army losing 80,000 men in Berlin alone. The US Army is incapable of close-contact fighting and has been routed in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and is unimpressive in Ukraine. Europeans might object to the US turning their Continent into Syria or Libya and with Germany having imported 500,000 men of military age and Muslim values to live in their new internment camps it will be the civil war in Western Europe that will surprise the US
You're forgetting the Russian/Chinese alliance. Toss a couple nukes at Russia and Russians will be bulwarked by Chinese troops (and there's a shitload of them) and Chinese supplies and support.
The other thing is, between China and Russia, they've been stocking up on gold, we've been stocking up on fraud both in the USSA and in Europe. I don't think the US or EU have the economic strength to survive an actual war for more than a week.
There are no NATO forces, there is only the USA. Germany has no military, its tanks are defunct and have no ammo. Its helicopters are cannibalised. Its troops are largely East German and not inclined to fight Russia. No doubt the US will lead the charge with a few Poles and British and National Guardsmen.......there are no US tank divisions in Europe and the world is not interested any more.
The need for more budget is what will get Americans demanding an end to Medicare and Social Security to buy more guns
US/EU GDP approaches 40 trillion dollars. Russia has fallen down below 2 trillion due to the drop in oil prices. 25 to 1 disparity.
America's debt alone = $200t in unfunded liabilities and another $20t in outright national debt. Russian debt is miniscule. Debt matters.
tarabel
Their greed and avarice wouldn't stand for such behavior.
Air superiority will play a role. If the west is unable to attain it, it'll be curtains for them. They can't fight without it. Their entire military strategy, tactics, and force structures are predicated upon it and there is no alternative AFAIK.
When's the last time a USMIL force had to opereate without complete air superiiority? 1943?
They aren't ready for Russia's air defenses IMO and that will where it begins and ends.
Without air superiority the west is a paper tiger apart from its nuclear weapons. Given Russia's efforts to improve its air defenses, to upgrade its fighters, and its large geography, I just don't see the US/NATO coming out on top in any scenario, except a Russian land invasion of the US, before the planned gun confiscation.
This is all propaganda.... they're using words like "Annihilate" to terrify the public and get an even larger budget for the military-industrial complex to benefit them and their friends in the defense industry. For the last 80 years we were going to be "Annihilated", first by the Soviet Army, and now this crap.
I remember freshman ROTC lectures back in 1979. The USSR was poised to invade West Germany via the Fulda Gap--they could come over at any minute. Ivan was ten feet tall. Blah, blah, blah. Then, after the Berlin Wall fell, two generations of scary propaganda looked like a big joke. Nothing ever changes.
+10 Bonus points for mentioning the Fulda Gap...(or drop the tactical nukes here to stop the Soviet armored hordes.)
Fulda Gap is lovely and barren save for the big Amazon warehouse at Bad Hersfeld......incredible how this scenario made economic development in this region impossible.
and it'll take YEARS and YEARS to defeat ISIS.
What a joke.
Anybody interested, please click on the link and read the Politico article yourself.
This ZH posting completely misrepresents what the article says.
The article is really about McMaster and the good news that he's still in the game at the Pentagon.
And in two out of three scenarios the US beats Russia, apparently even in this expeditionary scenario.
Now, the whole thing is absurd. The idea that the US and Russia would end up firing major weapons at each other is a mutual nightmare. And the idea that the US would pit a small force against Russia, right against Russian territory, and expect to win, is doubly absurd.
But the Politico article is actually worth reading anyway, and for that, thank you ZH.
Great!!! Our team wins!
Could have went any way....
Fairness, justice, freedom. These are more than words. They are deeds.
That was the pledge of the U.S. Military code before it was overtaken by dual citizens like the Wolfowitz Doctrine, Project for a New American Century; those who declare to be the 'chosen ones', and use my country, my people's blood and treasure.
Get off your knees, US Military Code. I have no interest in the failures of dual citizens, and nor should you.
My country, tis of thee. Foreigners should fund their own fight.
This:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces
Then this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvvOFIHs4k
"My country, tis of thee."
You do know that the melody used was that of Britain's "God save the Queen"
The melody was also used by the German empire under the Kaiser.
So what?
The American military is now a halfway house for single mothers, same sex couples, and Muslims. 11B a are rarer than fighters in the Free Syrian Army. We spent the last decade fighting turd world insurgencies and Muslim s. Not ready to take on a real army.
Russia does not need to kill a single American. Putin just needs to watch the dollar die of old age and poor care.
When that happens all the government stooges will go home and our main focus will be getting our soldiers back to theUSA.
Broke countries can't fight. If the dollar can't buy anything...well...it will be really interesting to watch...hopefully from my easy chair...
The "Tip of the Spear" becomes ever smaller.
If and/or when there is a general mobilization of US forces against a foe on the scale of Russia or China (or both of them put together), all of the really high-tech weaponry will be chewed up and out of commission within the first three or four months, at which point we will be running deep deficits just to maintain a pretense of war preparedness while suffering from total strategic confusion and civil unrest. The economy will be a shambles, and the war will quickly progress from a battle of cyber-attacks and intelligence agencies to something a lot more mano a mano. The whole muscular force of the armed services will be called up to fight in massive air, land, and sea battles. But, since our military is now composed of trannies, wimpy millennials, and an officer corps chosen for their PC bona fides rather than fighting ability, we're going to get spanked. At present the US military is only good at fighting vastly inferior forces. We have no idea how to fight a real war.
We have no idea how to fight a real war.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I would disagree. I think the US Military knows very well how to fight a real war. The real problem is the Media and the American public. They literally could not handle casualties on the scale you would see if we were fighting Russia and/or China--basically another modern military force. Even if we were winning, you would see politicians and reporters scream for us to Get the Fuk Out once you saw even 5K dead.
In the Civil war, we lost 50K men in single battles. In WWII, the Germans lost 250K men at Stalingrad (and they had subsequent defeats that rivaled Stalingrad). There is no way a US public, conditioned to easy, relatively bloodless victories, would put up with that. In short, we are conditioned to lose a short, violent war.
Assuming that a population, stretched, can deliver 10% of it's people to the military, which in the case of the US would be 30 million, and considering that it takes 10 service people to support 1 combat person, how on earth do you think you could ever 'defeat' a country that can field an army of 220 million? THe Pentagon did a study years ago and the bottom line was this. If the Chinese marched 4 abreast across the Bearing Straight (assuming it was all land) you could shoot them all down and the Chinese would never run out of personnel.
Sorry, but I call BS. I think if any, supposedly serious, Pentagon analyst projected a Chinese army of 220M, they would be laughed out of the room and their career would be over. An army that size is just not logistically feasible or even advisable. As a benchmark, the US had 12M in uniform at the end of WWII, roughly 10% ot its population. But WWII was a lot more low tech than a modern war would be. So 5% might be a more realistic percentage these days. So we are talking 50M. Huge, but only a very small percentage of that could be fielded for any given battle. Remember, a modern military has a very long tail.
Even if China were so inclined to assemble an army of that size, why not use it to achieve a more practical objective: like conquering South Korea or Vietnam (vs. Alaska)?
This guy is a joke. Even the Ukranians admit the Russians are a bunch of drunks and not a tough enemy.
Thanks for the trenchant analysis.
Let's see how well the Russians do in Syria. You don't hear about too many victories do you?
Damn, didn't know that in the Ukrainian psychiatric hospital internet conducted and psycho components seeded.
Don't ever underestimate the capacity of the Russian people to endure hardship.
Those 'drunks' as you so carelessly depict them have defeated the Monguls, the Khazzarians, Napoleon and Hitler, virtually single handledly. Under war conditions they survive on cabbage and vodka and not much else for months on end. They are a stalwart and resilient population. If the pansies in the US ever had to endure half of what the Russian population has over and over again they would shit themselves and cry.
Keep dreaming. Ukraine isn't working out too well for them. I hear they even have mobile crematoriums so the russian people don't know how many are being really killed.
And remember most of the casualties that Hitler endured were from the Ukrainians not the Russians.
Don't forget Chechnya.
Putin will tuck tail and run from Syria soon. You can bet on that.
You goof ball, the Ukrainians were fighting WITH the Nazi's. Read your history and stop posting propaganda.
Sorry man, hate to school you but nearly 5 mil Ukranians fought with Russia. Do your research.
I have 'done my homework' and you should do yours. When Hitler invaded Ukraine the Ukrainians turned on Moscow and allied with Hitler. It wasn't until 1942 that they 'changed sides' and re-aligned with Moscow. But it was too late. Stalin never forgave them for their treachery and thus the 'famine' that wiped out milions of them as all their crops were confiscated and sent to the Soviet Union. Many what we consider to be former 'soviet' satellites were thrilled with Hitler including the Finns. The Finns gave Hitler a 25,000 man army as a present. They wanted to get rid of the Jews as badly as Hitler did.
There is such a resivionist press in the US it isn't even funny.
The Finns were invaded by Russia before WW2 broke out. So how is that relevant? Yes the Finns lost so it became an enemy of my enemy is my friend. To say the Finns were "thrilled" is an overreach.
You don't raise a 25,000 man volunteer army unless your population is very, very supportive. Thrilled is not an over reach.
The last unit still fighting the Soviets in the Ukraine disbanded in 1959, 14 years after the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Don't worry about Russia bro. Here in Mexico we will make sure your entire family end junkies with our heroin and cocaine.
You know nothing about these subjects.
American males including white males cheer on their Trayvon, Michael Brown, Jameis the rapist quarterback like little sissy girls. The Russians are serious people.
Amerikans and Western Europeans are pathetic clowns allowing the genocide and invasion of their countries like sheep. The Hungarians and a few other Eastern Europeans are the exception.
I was laughing when they were walking home from East Berlin after the wall fell, selling their AKs to Polish people so they could buy bread.
Well then why doesn't Ukraine just invade Russia and end it?
Should be a cakewalk. Go get em...
Russia is doing a good job destroying themselves.
A banKrupt state full of neo-nazi's.
Whom in their right mind, would want it ?
So is is Uncle Scam mad, or is it just dementia ?
I guess Napoleon and Adolf are disagree with you.
Hell, they laugh at you.
Annihilating a bunch of Arabs with 1960's, 70's armor and no air power isn't too impressive.
Hard Day on the Planet - Loudon Wainwright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9htLZr7DcU
Exceptional delusions are a fatal flaw.
Let's get to the essential point. USG is infested with dual citizens who put Israel above us, and use the USA as its bully boy.
I expect my people to tell that Zionist shit show to fuck off. Tick, tock. It will be. It is only a matter of time, and time requires patience, and courage.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights will prevail, imo.
"Carter says Russia, China potentially threaten global order." WTF! These idiots really believe America rules the world! Every country should fear us and do as we say. No other country should EVER dare to challenge our oligarchy. Good for Russia and China for finally saying enough. We patrol the South China Sea like it’s our own f***ing bathtub. If China did that to us in the Gulf of Mexico we would already be at war. The GLOBAL F***ING ORDER? Who made us kings of the world?
These guys are sick. We need to pull our fleets and troops out and go home and stay there. Let China and Russia deal with Japan, Taiwan and Syria. Guaranteed these guys will get us into a major war soon. Obama is too weak to fight the MIC. They fill his head with crap about how no country should dare to challenge us.
Americans cannot tolerate large losses. They expect to always kick ass and suffer few losses. The new missile technology has changed all that. Watch the reaction when one of our aircraft carriers goes to the bottom from a dozen simultaneous missile strikes. The oligarchs know they can count on Joe Sixpack believing all their propaganda spewing forth and set his 300lb ass in his living room chair saying, “Let’s go kick China and Russia’s asses.”
Yeah, who exactly did make them believe that they 'owned the world'? Teddy Roosevelt was one. There were many others.
Anyhow, have news for you. The US HAS pulled most of it's fleet home. There is only a single aircraft carrier in the southern Atlantic, everything else is in port, which makes me wonder why. The French carrier was sent in 'to fill the gap', perhaps, or maybe the Americans fear a much greater conflagration and they are trying to protect their assets in port.
"... and they are trying to protect their assets in port."
The problem the US has, is that even if they "protect" (i.e., Run and hide) their assets by returning them to home ports like San Diego, Norfolk (or Kansas City for that matter) is that they are all 15-20 minutes away from Russian or Chinese missiles.
Carriers are a useless (and VERY expensive) weapon against a well armed adversary. Their only value today is raping small countries and taxpayers.
It is likely a consequence of 2 events:
1. The Donald Cook incident in the Black Sea
2. The 26 cruise missiles sent from the Caspian Sea
Likely they are being retrofitted with hardened electronic circuits and better anti missile protection.
Either that or they want to try to lure Russia into invading the Saudis. (You know they did the plane explosion, tanked world oil prices and are the biggest supporters of ISIS)
What happens when you put dick heads like this in office that capitalize on a casus belli of their own making and throws out 56 years of strategic planning against a capable Cold War adversary that cost this Nation trillions of $$$ out the window thinking that they were "vanquished" after 1991 for good!!!!....
Semi off topic:
Yemeni's sink a fourth Saudi warship.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=237741&cid=23&fromval...
http://presstv.com/Detail/2015/11/07/436669/Yemen-Ansarullah-Saudi-warsh...
If the neocons think they can bring war to soil mere miles away from Russia and not get a nuclear response if they start losing or we breach a russian boder, they're insane.
Unfortunately one look at current policy confirms that yes, indeed, they're insane.
Just pray they only target political and financial centers when the missiles fly. Might leave us in a better place.
Eisenhower said war is man's greatest folly and those who pursue it or fail to prevent it are a black mark on all of humanity
...wonder if these military geniuses have read THAT military history...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
Eisenhower warned about a new thing in his time, something called a military industrial complex.
The modern Zionist talks about the MIC being a conspiracy theory, but Eisenhower said it would have 'grave implications', and we 'must guard against ...the military industrial complex...never let it endanger our liberties...'.
The MI Complex made that murdering little Bastard. Piss on "Ike".
Eisenhower was a war criminal
Other Losses -James Bacque-
I thought Reagan already defeated the Russians, buy outspending them on defense it was said.
That was the Soviets. Russia was only it largest republic.
This is a 'back door' reverse psychology type article suggesting the western nations, especially the USA, need to increase military spending.
The USA already spends more on military than the entire world but to to neo nazicons it isn't enough.
It's an expensive proposition trying to re-order the world into a new world order with the USA in charge. The American Century the crazies call it.
They will fail, of course, but not before many, many die,,, and regrettably,,, with the possible elimination of life on the planet.
If it's raining, the US will flat out surrender, and do the same if it's cold, snowy, foggy, etc. BUT if it's 72 degrees and sunny-look the hell out Ruskies....
Prat, servant of the mannequin queen, and City of London Rothschild led moneychangers who tell your sort to make do with less and wage more war. Eejit.
Here's what is going to happen: full on Viking, and your sort will whine, and run to nanny State.
Gentile and jew. We are the Northern tribes. Beware. Don't take our temporary family feud as some sort of weakness.
So far what we've learned is that as soon as russia started moving special forces into Syria to secure its airbases, the fighting in Eastern Ukraine has stopped.
It's as if Russia pulled the troops from Ukraine and airlifted then in Syria. Hmmmm... doesn't humongous russian army have more than 4000 trained special forces guys?
The AshkeNAZI are afeared. Good.
War is to win. Constant fighting is the mark of a loser.
Apparently, against the west,,, it's all they need.
Time tells all. Fear not.
Russia never had any troops in Eastern Ukraine, dude.
Perhaps you should expand your range of sources for information beyond captured western media outlets.
Russia never had troops in the Ukraine - no doubt some volunteers, but never anything like special forces, much to the dismay of people in Donbas (E Ukraine to you).
There wouldn't be too many spec ops in Syria, if any, because Russia is only supplying air support for the SAA, Hezbollah and some Iranian units doing the ground fighting.
You are also wrong about fighting in E Ukraine ceasing. There was a bit of a lull for a couple of months, but Kiev broke the Minsk agreement many times and Donetsk is now being heavily shelled again.
You ought to tear yourself away from Fox and CNN occasionally. Take a look at Fort Rus, Russia Insider, Veterans Today, Alex Jones, Paul Craig Roberts, Stephen Cohen and lots of other sources of information.
Of course if you are determined to believe the State Dept, John McCain, Jen Psaki, Victoria Nuland and Obomber - no matter what they say - then you are part of the problem.
I guess you never read that both the separatists and Kiev were simultaneously removing artillery under 100 cm from their lines.
If Russia airlifts anybody to Syria, won't it be from the 150,000 men they have stationed on their side of their border with Ukraine?
What a bullshit article. If the US were to truly go all out war and not give a damn about public opinion, which is media driven for the purpose of tying our hands visa vie Amercan public feeling and emotions, we would by any stretch of the means and definition wipe the floor with any country any where.
The problem is that most people don't rwalize or care to understand what it takes to win a war. Since when did the enemy give a rats ass about how they killed us. They don't, so why should we care about them or the civilians who have been so brutalized to the point of pure survival who only want the pain to stop no matter who delivers it. And that includes their slave masters which has been discussed ad nausium her at ZH.
Ask yourself. Do you really think people who have been raped and brutalized are going to be better off if we play nice or are they going to do whatever it takes to survive and that means not giving a shit about anyone else but you.
War is hell. There are no two ways about it. But do you sacrifice your objective just to win the hearts and minds of those that would probably shoot you because they can't tell which way is up or down? Especially tthose from a distinction all third world and seventh century mentality.
To win you have to do what is necessary regardless of judgement because judgement is what defeats us in battle.
The horror!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o6tV1yfEPTk
For the record I tried!!!
Blood is thicker than water. The dual citizens think they have captured the USA. I know they have a tiger by the tail.
'they' serve money first by their hideous Talmud, and 'they' are going to die by it.
'they' enjoyed the protection of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, yet strive to destroy those American ways.
F'ck 'em. Don't worry about them.. Let them die in their desert sandpit.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the US at least tried to maintain the illusion that they were the 'good guys'. Of course history paints an entirely different picture. As I have written many times, from Latin America, South America, China, South East Asia, Africa and now the middle east, the US has overthrown, bombed, murdered, screwed over, enslaved and otherwise brutalised most of the worlds population. Let's not forget that it was less than 40 years from the American Revolution when the US started it's wars of conquest by trying to invade Canada while Britain was tied up with Napoleon.
Glad to see that there is at leasrt one American who makes no bones about his/her true intentions, which is total world domination. Unfortunately for you, you're economy is wrecked, your banks and government are bankrupt, you have no gold left, your population is seething in it's anger and you're vaunted war machine is phoney. So go ahead, try the Chinese or the Russians on for size and see what happens.
See you on the otheer side. Don't tread on me, and I'm sorry for you that you like being tread on, debt slave. Get off your knees. You will miss WASPS when we come home to our own.
You are a debt slave. Fix your problem.
I have no debt and I don't depend on any aspect of the current western infrastructure to survive.
Sure, the USSA;s PC army of Negros, Homos, Dykes, Feminist are going to whup up on those Ruskies - the Russians might be heavy drinkers, but those bastards are tough, very tough, beyond what the feminized Amreicans can envision.
If we get our ass kicked by Russia, we should ask for our money back.
Bullshit. Live by the Talmud, die by the Talmud.
If Russia and China were smart, they would improve theirr own country's infrastructure and let the West continue to rot of its own accord.
You get what you accept Ameirca and the west have becomes slaves to debt and a tolerance of freeloading.
You get what you accept.
Er! Russia and China ARE improving their infrastructures, Russia especially since sanctions gave a strong impetus.
Have you seen the new bridge being built to Crimea and what a about Sochi, the new technology centre near Moscow, revitalized Vladivostok and the new Cosmodrom, for instance.
Agricultural production is way up and manufacturing is being ramped up.
Sorry but politcal correctness has nuetered our military and our nation. Boys arent allowed to be boys anymore. Gays and women rangers are another example of a weakend military. Russia doesnt play those games and their military is used to kill people.
See the Talmud for further information. It is not American. It is batshit crazy, an obscene publication, bowed down to by the District of Criminals.
It's not a matter of beating the Russian Federation, and it's not a matter of beating China. It's a matter of not being able to beat the Russian Federation, and China. The United States of America is outflanked, outnumbered, and fresh out of American exceptionalism.
Go Russian Federation!
Fuck you, and your collectiivist, snivelling, corporatist prissy boys. Your sort bow down to Insane Mcain and weakling Graham Cracker, Zionist freaks.
US is unable, incapable, to fight the war without establishing air supremacy. With Russians it is impossible and even if US was close to achieve it nukes would start flying first, so there is no conquering Russia or China by the US. That's the fact and if they try, their cushy jobs will evaporate hence there would be not many volunteers.
I would like know what paper tiger of US military, pencil pusher generals would feel counting hundreds of 30-100 million dollars each warplanes down daily. They would not look good on the report.
There is no way to establish air supremacy over Russia unless they are nuked first but that means global annihilation. What's scary that those neocon psychotics think they can win shitting in their bunkers.
F-15 alone will not make any difference in Syria since now dog fights are system on system (ground/air electronic countermeasures, surface to air, satellite) not pilot on pilot.
Just read what going on in Syria to get a taste.
https://contrarianopinion.wordpress.com/syrian-war-update/
Keep pushing, and get what you deserve in your own lands.
Americans are fed up with fighting for you. Do it yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTeez87C9Y8
Make yourself free before you ask mine to do it for you.
Free? You think America is free/ LOL! Keep watching TV and your Trayvon thug ball games like those idiots at U of Alabama, Clemson, GA, TX and throughout the USA where whites cheer on white genocide like sheep.
The Germans are also learning how free they are. Their kids will be required to feed, clean up and even bathe the Islamic invaders by law. Dhimini madness. They can work like slaves for the invaders from Islamic countries.
If the US can not win in Afghanistan, why the United States can win in Russia or China?
The war against countries such as Russia or China, will mean death to the United States. It is true with a five-time guarantee.
russians have a reason to fight
from what i hear..the quality of US soliders has declined pretty rapidly.
Come to my country, closer to me and mine, and I'll show you a true American.
You might not like it. Stay in your land, and we will stay in ours; brothers and sisters across the sea. Do not tread on me. Mutual respect, Viking style :-)
We Vikings converted to Christian. Blood is thicker than water.
A politcal correct neutered military is what you get in a liberalized nation. Little boys cant even play war on the playground with their fingers making guns and them going bang bang without the swat team being called and the first grader being thrown out of school and his parents being demonized.
US army is now known as the army of homos and trans.
The russian fear them I am sure
Hasbarat, 'me or you',
Cease and desist or die.
I recall the rant from the movie Top Gun where the U.S. Fighter pilots had lost the edge and forgotten dogfighting skills. I think the U.S. ground forces are in a similar state today - where doctrine implies air superiority and crushing artillery support. In a World War, the enemy does not always do what you want them to do. I am confident that where the U.S. can set up their favored conditions, they will win - but we have created too many enemies in too many places. And that means that somewhere in the world, we will have 12 brave soldiers looking at 4000 enemies approaching. And there won't be any (air) cavalry coming to the rescue.
Top Gun was incredibly ghey. It was like Grease with fighter planes.
USA fighters are junk now compared to Russian planes. The F-16 is the best fighter. The F-22 is defective expensive junk, F-35 is garabge and the F-15 is too old.
The F-18 would probably lose to the Russian Su-34 which is a fighter bomber that can dogfight.
Lets put it this way. There's a reason they're sending F15s. They're the best the US still has.
Who here thinks that the MacGregor's “stunning, overwhelming victory" is probably a war crime. He manoeuvred specifically to cut-off the Republican Guard's retreat. This is not a defensive tactic, but an offensive one.
He didn't de-escalate the conflict with the least possible casualties. Rather, he maximized casualties of retreating forces.
Who wrote this crap??
Newsflash - the only thing that Baltic and Balcans have in common is that they start with the letter B and have Slavic countries.
NUKES. the end game is the economic warfare that is perpetually enabled by the long 'peace' made possible by the stalemate of nuclear mutual containment .
the real losers from this war will always be the satraps that don't have nuclear weapons.
anyone faulting israel or iran both for wanting nuclear weapons is an idiot.
wouldn't you want nukes?
the real X factor is when the american empire can no longer stop the saudis from getting nukes.
more likely than not the neocons will use the PUBLIC rush for the saudis to get nukes as a statecraft maneuver to help start ww3.
the stage is being set one way or another, and it's not entirely the u.s. neocons fault, but they do want to be in a position to take advantage. and that means setting up the conditions for the aggression.
Chill. Your words aid the enemy, the zionists on their Saturn Day.
Stay with good people. Chill. Rest assured the Zionists will lose.
My country gave them refuge. They used and abused my country. That will be punished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ls8Mhoafn0
Enjoy this. It takes so long, my America, I love.
America? Who is going to do anything? White males? Too busy cheering on trayvon thug ballpayers and in doing so cheering on white genocide like morons and sissy cheerleaders. Pathetic.
as an aside to this piece there was another interesting disclosure regarding the growing gaps in capabilities the US would have to overcome if Washington ever engaged Russia in a conventional war.
namely the cruise missile strikes from the Caspian flotilla, while they did not make a difference in the course of the battle in Syria they did show that Russia has a capability that the US Navy does not and could put them at a serious disadvantage in any engagement. it wasn't the missiles themselves though they did show a vast improvement in Russian long range guided missile capabilities but how they were delivered that is cause for concern in DC.
unlike the US navy which relies exclusively on larger blue water destroyers for it's long range cruise missile delivery, the missiles fired from the Caspian sea were launched from much smaller, faster and more agile corvettes. long range strike capability from a package that is much harder to find, track, target and hit than the US navy's guided missile and aegis destroyers.
this capability has countless advantages but Washington never pursued it's development and apparently did not expect Moscow to either. but now not only did Moscow do just that they proved to the world that they can use it in combat in essence rendering the entire US navy's carrier fleet obsolete. consider this small of a ship, under 90 tons, can position itself anywhere up to 900 miles away and fire up to 12 LRAS missiles from areas where larger ships and even subs simply can not operate. all while still retaining blue water mission capabilities.
it is simply smaller, faster, more flexible, more cost effective and smarter than anything the US navy has to offer. these corvettes are relatively easy to produce and maintain and can be built in large numbers on short notice, they are hard to hunt and hard to kill and can sink carriers from hundreds of miles away.
instead of investing in practical, usable tech like this DC sinks one trillion dollars in the F-35 which still isn't near production and is already obsolete. as one US air force general testified before congress the Russians have had the ability to overcome the Lightnings stealth capabilities for at least 15 years now and in a dog fight it would get shredded by even a 1960's Mig 21 because it is to under powered to generate attack angels and "turns like a garbage truck".
now I wonder how many guided missile corvettes could one trillion dollars buy?
Those Russian boats in the Caspian Sea were really small. Those Kalibr cruise missiles were impressive and a lot of people were stunned by that. The USSA had to lie and say 4 crashed in Iran. What a joke.
Russia figured it out and realized that incredible missiles were the key. They are tops in rocket/missile technology and software. The USA used to have an advantage in integrated circuits and software but that adavnatge is long gone. The Pentagram's weapons procurement is all about stealing money. As much as they can steal from taxpayers for their friends.
The problem is, it's rocket science.
And the US oursourced all that to big multinationals. Who went right ahead and oursourced it all to Russia and China. Bigger profits on the pork and it's not as if you have any rocket scientists coming through the US education system.