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My 2 Yen: I wonder if Putin is holding back his fixed-wing aviation as a strategic reserve, so he has some conventional combat power he can commit in case of NA
by CapricornNoble 5y ago
My 2 Yen: I wonder if Putin is holding back his fixed-wing aviation as a strategic reserve, so he has some conventional combat power he can commit in case of NATO intervention, before escalating to tactical nukes. He may have assessed that Ukraine could be taken without risking his expensive modern birds (Su-34, Su-35) or any of his big nuke-capable bombers.
This isn't to say the Russian Air Force doesn't have the problems mentioned. Those are all legit issues. I just think there might be some deliberate decision-making (even if we assess that those decisions were erroneous) on top of that.
- eternalban 5y agoThat thought (NATO) is worth more than 2 Yens. Part 3 (@33:00) of Oliver Stone's interview has him taking Stone to his situation room ("my functions as Commander-in-Chief") in case you're curious at the level of interaction with MoD.
- blago 5y agoThis sounds very plausible. And not just against NATO I would guess. They've deployed almost their entire active land force to Ukraine leaving their enormously long borders unprotected.