4 ms·

Why wouldn’t we spend a small fraction of our military budget on bleeding an adversary dry?

by arrosenberg 2y ago

jazzyjackson 2y ago
same reason you don't corner a rabid animal
- stale2002 2y ago
  They aren't corned though. All they have to do is leave. Then they stop losing so many troops and they have their sanctions lifted.
  - hunchback_ 2y ago
    What you wrote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41025321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41025321 "So? I'd rather live in the modern day, "unequally" with the rich, than starve or die of disease equally with the rich of the middle ages. Just because the rich have 100Xed in quality of life over the last century, doesn't negate the fact that the poor have 10Xed in quality of life. Making everyone equal is easy. Just make them all equally dead, starving, or miserable, just like they were in past centuries." Shows a lack of historical knowledge. If all were so miserable, how did they built the greatest civilization, Christendom? Did Newton or Leibniz starve to death? The picture you are drawing here of past centuries is ahistorical and completely disregards the unbelievable quality of art and architecture that was possible during times where people were, according to you, "dead, starving, or miserable". (As if they aren't today.) I don't want to live at all. I would kill myself immediately did I not fear God, Christ, and eternal damnation.
    - arrosenberg 2y ago
      Shows a lack of historical knowledge. All that wealth of Imperial Europe was built off the backs of serfs and slaves.
  - akho 2y ago
    The Jackson-Vanik amendment was only repealed in 2012, at the same point when the Magnitsky act was signed. I don't think Putin & co see a lifting of sanctions as a possibility, given past experience.
    - stale2002 2y ago
      Ok, that doesn't change the fact that all that is happening is that they are losing more and more lives, military power, and are suffering significant economic damage. Thats the point. They are taking nothing but losses. All for some land that is now worthless after the war.
      - akho 2y ago
        They obviously see things differently. You cannot claim that the particular sanctions regime in place pushes Putin & co towards your desired course of action without understanding their motivations.
        stale2002 2y ago
        > without understanding their motivations Oh they are absolutely have motivations against their own people dieing in the hundreds of thousands and they have motivations against them losing significant military assets and having massive amounts of economic damages. Those are normal motivations they every county has. That's why the best way to get them to change behavior is to "motivate" them with those consequences. Current analysis is that Russia has maybe another year and a half left in their war before it ends due to these "motivational factors". Still a ways to go, but manageable.
- arrosenberg 2y ago
  The MLRS weapon systems shouldn’t be creating corners if deployed effectively.
thehappypm 2y ago
Define “small fraction” please.
- mrguyorama 2y ago
  A few hundred Bradleys and Abrams, weapons systems that were designed to murder soviets, which we built by the thousands, in the hope that we could defend Europe from an invasion it turns out wasn't ever likely to happen. Those machines are not fit for a war with China, which is our current fear, and have to be replaced anyway. It literally costs obscene amounts of money to scrap and disarm them, but it turns out it's very cheap to let them save a few Ukrainian lives. Nearly every dollar "spent" for Ukraine was either spent in the 80s military build up or is loaned to Ukraine so they can purchase our stuff.
- arrosenberg 2y ago
  We've spent a bit over $100B in 2.5 years. Our annual military budget is about $900B, so about 5% annual to strategically neuter the Russian military.

Why wouldn’t we spend a small fraction of our military budget on bleeding an adversary dry?

jazzyjackson 2y ago

same reason you don't corner a rabid animal

stale2002 2y ago
They aren't corned though. All they have to do is leave. Then they stop losing so many troops and they have their sanctions lifted.
- hunchback_ 2y ago
  What you wrote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41025321 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41025321 "So? I'd rather live in the modern day, "unequally" with the rich, than starve or die of disease equally with the rich of the middle ages. Just because the rich have 100Xed in quality of life over the last century, doesn't negate the fact that the poor have 10Xed in quality of life. Making everyone equal is easy. Just make them all equally dead, starving, or miserable, just like they were in past centuries." Shows a lack of historical knowledge. If all were so miserable, how did they built the greatest civilization, Christendom? Did Newton or Leibniz starve to death? The picture you are drawing here of past centuries is ahistorical and completely disregards the unbelievable quality of art and architecture that was possible during times where people were, according to you, "dead, starving, or miserable". (As if they aren't today.) I don't want to live at all. I would kill myself immediately did I not fear God, Christ, and eternal damnation.
  - arrosenberg 2y ago
    Shows a lack of historical knowledge. All that wealth of Imperial Europe was built off the backs of serfs and slaves.
- akho 2y ago
  The Jackson-Vanik amendment was only repealed in 2012, at the same point when the Magnitsky act was signed. I don't think Putin & co see a lifting of sanctions as a possibility, given past experience.
  - stale2002 2y ago
    Ok, that doesn't change the fact that all that is happening is that they are losing more and more lives, military power, and are suffering significant economic damage. Thats the point. They are taking nothing but losses. All for some land that is now worthless after the war.
    - akho 2y ago
      They obviously see things differently. You cannot claim that the particular sanctions regime in place pushes Putin & co towards your desired course of action without understanding their motivations.
      - stale2002 2y ago
        > without understanding their motivations Oh they are absolutely have motivations against their own people dieing in the hundreds of thousands and they have motivations against them losing significant military assets and having massive amounts of economic damages. Those are normal motivations they every county has. That's why the best way to get them to change behavior is to "motivate" them with those consequences. Current analysis is that Russia has maybe another year and a half left in their war before it ends due to these "motivational factors". Still a ways to go, but manageable.
arrosenberg 2y ago
The MLRS weapon systems shouldn’t be creating corners if deployed effectively.

thehappypm 2y ago

Define “small fraction” please.

mrguyorama 2y ago
A few hundred Bradleys and Abrams, weapons systems that were designed to murder soviets, which we built by the thousands, in the hope that we could defend Europe from an invasion it turns out wasn't ever likely to happen. Those machines are not fit for a war with China, which is our current fear, and have to be replaced anyway. It literally costs obscene amounts of money to scrap and disarm them, but it turns out it's very cheap to let them save a few Ukrainian lives. Nearly every dollar "spent" for Ukraine was either spent in the 80s military build up or is loaned to Ukraine so they can purchase our stuff.
arrosenberg 2y ago
We've spent a bit over $100B in 2.5 years. Our annual military budget is about $900B, so about 5% annual to strategically neuter the Russian military.