“They are all related by design.”Not all the forces arrayed along the Ukrainian border are Russia’s most advanced. Russia’s military modernisation is also, increasingly, meant to send a message to the United States, projecting power beyond Eastern Europe, frustrating and sometimes surprising US officials. For all its strides in recent years, Russia’s military retains a critical weakness of its Soviet predecessor: the civilian side of the country’s economy, nearly devoid of high-tech manufacturing and corporate investment in research and development. Russian forces quickly overwhelmed their much smaller Georgian neighbours, but the war uncovered deep deficiencies in the Russian military. All those developments, analysts say, make it hard for the West to stop Putin from attacking Ukraine, if he is determined.

Source: bd News24 January 28, 2022 06:40 UTC