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ITT: people with no experience of combat who think wars are solved in two weeks. The Iraqi desert spoiled us, but surely we still remember Afghanistan...? If a
by toyg 5y ago
ITT: people with no experience of combat who think wars are solved in two weeks. The Iraqi desert spoiled us, but surely we still remember Afghanistan...?
If anybody in the Russian army is worth half a ruble, they planned this to take months at least. They came straight out of engagements in Syria and Chechnya, which took years to turn. Whether they told their troops (who, in Russia, are synonim with "cannon fodder" since forever) is another matter, of course.
- greedo 5y agoIn light of captured documents outlining how they expected this to be over in three weeks, no one in the Russian military is worth a ruble.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> In light of captured documents outlining how they expected this to be over in three weeks, no one in the Russian military is worth a ruble To be fair, the US policy leadership made similar misunderestimates of the difficulties it would face in Iraq, it just didn't have global sanctions crushing it's economy at the same time. (On the other hand, a key figure in that determination and policy planning regarding Iraq was reportedly described by the General that commanded the invasion and early occupation as “the dumbest fucking guy on the planet”, so, there's that.)
- greedo 5y agoMilitarily, the US performed very well in the initial invasion of Iraq. It was more a political failure after the defeat of the Iraqi Army and Republican Guard that led to the insurgency.
- vkou 5y agoLast I checked, Ukraine is not Afghanistan, for a few reasons: 1. It's not a constantly feuding cornucopia of tribes, regional warlords, and militias that have spent 20 years fighting eachother in a never-ending civil war. 2. Prior to the star of the war, it had fully functional, developed-world logistics networks. 3. Russia borders it, it's not trying to project power across an ocean. 4. Russia is far culturally closer to Ukraine that the United States ever will be to Afghanistan. 5. People accustomed to developed world lifestyles get war-weary much, much faster. In light of those four factors, Putin was banking on an easy victory, with Ukraine choosing a bad peace over a protracted, bloody war.
- School-Cotton 5y agoUkraine is not really considered a developed country. By GDP per capita it is even poorer than Moldova (which I had always thought was “the poorest country in Europe”).
- vkou 5y agoUkraine is poor, but it wasn't undeveloped, even at the time that it left the USSR. Its economy was not steered well since that point, but there's a world of difference between it and Afghanistan.