Because they don't want to lose
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
9 points (65.5% liked)
No Stupid Questions
2174 readers
59 users here now
There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!
Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.
- ex. How do I change oil
- ex. How to tie shoes
- ex. Can you cry underwater?
Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!
Thanks for reading all of this, even if you didn't read all of this, and your eye started somewhere else, have a watermelon slice π.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
/Thread.
At no point has that stopped them in past military endeavors, including in Ukraine?
Its possible for a nation to overestimate their military might. Look at some of the US's embarrassing wars when they were forced into Guerrilla warfare. But there are still limits. There is no way russia thinks they can beat Nato in a conventional war. Its why their strategy is around developing technologies that maintain nuclear effectiveness (though I think anyone looking at the numbers has to have some serious doubt about how nuclear capable russia really is).
There is no way russia thinks they can beat Nato in a conventional war. That is exactly what they think. Same with north Korea etc. Propaganda and disinformation are powerful tools to manipulate people.
They can hardly fight the war they are in, what would the point of getting the biggest military power on the planet involved directly?
Russia has not a sliver of a chance fighting the US in a conventional war and nobody wants a nuclear war.
Yeah, at this point Russia wouldn't even stand against Europe, let alone America's toy box of death. The only thing keeping everyone is the danger of nukes, because that's somebody nobody wants to risk even if we have meassures. You never know what could happen. But a conventional war? nah.
Upvoted for "toy box of death".
Right? I mean, even our hand-me-downs to our allies are solid. Thatβs proven. Ainβt no kill like overkill is the defense contractor motto and they deliver.
π
And the best at losing wars
Because this is like the biggest strongest kid in school and all of their 6ft + tall 250 pound friends handing out sticks to the bully's victim so they can hit back and the 5 ft nothing 150 pound bully decides "you know what? Id like to fight these people directly while im bullying this other kid"
Declaring war on a NATO nation means war is declared by all of NATO, as I understand it.
They are already losing the war to the US. What do you think pulling the actual USAF+ Navy into the fight is going to do? We're sending 30 year old equipment. The good shit isn't even being touched.
Before they attacked Ukraine the second time, Russia had a GDP smaller than the state of Texas by itself. Texas isn't even the largest state GDP in the USA. The US military budget is 3/4ths of the entire Russian GDP. There is no contest. Russia is a bad joke.
Russia is currently the second most powerful military force, with combined air, naval and ground forces, in the entire territorial area of Ukraine.
Because there would be no Russia left. They have issues with 80s and 90s tech in Ukraine. Imagine if they had yo go against the new shit. Oh yeah also NATO is a thing and European Texas (Poland) is next to them, not to mention Germany finland, and France.
They also are quite afraid of where China will stand on that.
Because it would be suicide. Russia is fond of saber rattling and "oh-so-serious" threats about nukes, but Article 5 means they're never attacking a NATO power. They don't actually want to escalate either (I assume - it'd be catastrophically, titanically idiotic) but like a very, very small dog, have to yap loudly so nobody notices.
And over military aid? Nah. Best they can do is "punish" it by keeping sulking and whining hypocritically, same as they have been all along.
The loud barking of the tiny dog does, however, with on many people. Like Elon Musk, sabotaging Ukraine's efforts because he is so afraid of Russia.
Because of alliances. We have them and Russia doesnβt. Our military is massive and strong but it wonβt work if nobody lets you inside their borders or sea and airspace.
Community is stronger than weapons.
Russia is already a paper tiger in Ukraine, them declaring war on the US would result in an 8-12 month war, that replaces Putin with warlords, and after that Putin's image would be way worse than of Stalin's and the last Tzar's combined.
Strange you think the war would last that long. In reality, day 1 of the US's attack would involve wiping out all of Russia's air defenses and preventing so much as a dji drone from taking off. After that they just land a team in Putin's office and slap the man in the face.
Getting the US there on foot either wipes out Russia or the planet gets blown up.
Russia can't even beat Ukraine with their surplus second rate western weapons. NATO, because that's who the fight would be against, would destroy Russia. If Russia used nukes everyone would die. It's a loss for Russia either way. No one outside of Russia believes that Russia even had a hint of a chance against NATO. The Ukraine war has made that very clear.
Total spitball here.
Politics. They don't went to be seen as the aggressors.
Remember the who Ukraine thing is to liberate Russian speaking people from living under (what they call) an oppressive regime. Declaring war on the US will also be a declaration of war against nato, as one of the NATO agreements says a war one one member is a war on the entire NATO block.
Money. Many wealthy people in Russia stash their money overseas, most sanctions for the Ukraine debarkle are only going after a few at the top. If a declaration of war happens, it gives the US power to go after more of their international money and investigate anyone receiving money from said government meaning they loose political influence over the west.
Because that would mean WWIII
Nah.
Who do you think would join Russia?
The ones who donβt want to see the west win.
Nobody gives a shit about Russia, but there are plenty of countries who would not want nato to succeed, if only to keep what is now Russia away from them once the country collapses under the population drain and economic oblivion caused by the conflict.
We already have certain hostile countries engaging in more or less subtle support, for example the Iranian suicide drones that somehow made their way into Russian hands in large quantities. China would not want nato to have Russia, they would rather claim it themselves.
The ones who donβt want to see the west win.
Who will join Russia in actually fighting the war?
China? No.
Nth Korea? No.
Iran? No
Any others?
No.
They would be all on their own.
I have the feeling that the Belarus government would join only to be taken down within days by a coup.
China might just seize the opportunity to take Taiwan while US is distracted.
They might try but:
The US pacific fleet will still be there.
It takes months of prep to attempt to cross the Sth China Sea and they cannot hide the buildup. There are only about 2 or 3 months of the year when it is even possible.
Taiwan has almost perfect defensive geography. There are only two possible landing sites and Taiwan has been preparing them as killing zones for the past 70 years.
Honestly, Russia's progress in the past two years would look like a stunning success in comparison.
Because their weapons are no match and they can't sustain prolong war that the US can afford. The only way they could possibly win is through nuclear arsenal. Their strategists are not fool to commit that. Almost suicidal.