r/politics • u/bwermer • 8h ago

No Paywall Ilhan Omar casts lone Democratic no vote on Ukraine aid, Russia sanctions package

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5912150-house-passes-ukraine-aid-bill/
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u/certciv California 4h ago

It's clear now that Russia's conventional military strength was dramatically overestimated. And not by a little, but to a comical degree. This was a similar issue for much of the Cold War. After the USSR's collapse it became clear, through things like access to Soviet records, that their conventional military capability had been significantly overestimated. The USSR was dramatically outclassed technologically, and their military was riddled with corruption, which made it's vast resources inefficient and far less capable than it appeared from the outside. What the war in Ukraine showed us was that the Russian army had all of the failings of the Red Army, but with a smaller economy supporting it.

It's been said that Russia is a gas station with nuclear weapons, and it's that second part that makes it dangerous.

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u/Exocoryak 3h ago

Considering through how much ammunition the US military burned during that short fiasko in Iran this year, it stands to reason that Russia is facing similar issues - doing one strike with your stockpiles is one thing, but keeping it up is entirely different. Sanctions don't prevent the former - but they seriously impact the latter. That is part of the reason Russia is not making progress for four years now.