I'm reading the new book Losing Military Supremacy by Andrei Martyanov who points out that Russia can make 8 state of the art subs at the same cost that the US needs to make 1. And with the US making more enemies all the time our #1 arms dealer spot may be being seiously challenged! :)
Martyanov maintains that even during the Yeltsin years when Khodorkovsky, Rubins, Soros, the IMF, etc. were stealing the crown jewels: "...by 1994 Russia had opened new export markets, such as the UAE, Malaysia, even South Korea. The weapons that went there were effectively Soviet weapons and should have given a rude awakening to the 'Desert Storm' triumphalists. The fact that, even in the '90s, Russia was producing some of the most advanced weapons systems which were on par with, and sometimes better than, the best the US could offer, not only for itself, but for sale abroad, generally went over the heads of many people." He goes on to point out that, due to a history of the horrors of invasion, the Russian people, or many of them at least, tend to see a second car or fourth monitor as an extravagance best sacrificed for the defense of their borders.
I'm reading the new book Losing Military Supremacy by Andrei Martyanov who points out that Russia can make 8 state of the art subs at the same cost that the US needs to make 1. And with the US making more enemies all the time our #1 arms dealer spot may be being seiously challenged! :)
Interesting. I guess things have changed from the Soviet waste days
Martyanov maintains that even during the Yeltsin years when Khodorkovsky, Rubins, Soros, the IMF, etc. were stealing the crown jewels: "...by 1994 Russia had opened new export markets, such as the UAE, Malaysia, even South Korea. The weapons that went there were effectively Soviet weapons and should have given a rude awakening to the 'Desert Storm' triumphalists. The fact that, even in the '90s, Russia was producing some of the most advanced weapons systems which were on par with, and sometimes better than, the best the US could offer, not only for itself, but for sale abroad, generally went over the heads of many people." He goes on to point out that, due to a history of the horrors of invasion, the Russian people, or many of them at least, tend to see a second car or fourth monitor as an extravagance best sacrificed for the defense of their borders.