Krugman re-tweet on size of Russia's forces in Ukraine

[BootinUp]

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=QPj4z6VN9z097DnIDfIKCQ

[dchill]

1. Ol' Donny Rumsfeld used to say...

"You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

So there's that type of expertise....

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. That as my thought before the war began

Even with a high level of quality equipment, training, and leadership - which they clearly lacked - the force seemed insufficient for even modest objectives.

There is also history to consider. in the past 200+ years, attempts at large-scale conquest of industrialized countries have almost always ended up in failure. Just about the only limited success has been limited seizures of disputed border regions.

[rpannier]

9. When I was in the Army (80s and early 90s)

We were told that for every one person it took to take a city, you needed 8-10 people to hold it

[uponit7771]

20. +1, the number of forces are just fine to operate as a mechanized terror organization blowing ...

... up buildings and killing women, children and elderly.

[brush]

3. Putin believed the hype about his army. His first mistake. And the mistakes keep coming.

[qazplm135]

11. as much, he believed the hype

about the Ukrainians, which led him to go in with insufficient forces or preparation.

[WarGamer]

4. Which explains "Plan B"

Take the East and Black Sea ports... ignore Kyiv and Kharkiv

[wnylib]

7. Or maybe that was Plan A from the start.

Damage Kyiv, intimidate the Ukranians with murders of civilians, and expect to gain the eastern region and sea ports in negotiations.

But, instead, the Ukrainians fight back, with foreign aid, and refuse to negotiate precisely because of the slaughter of civilians. So now Russia has to fight for the territory it wants.

[qazplm135]

12. nah

they lost a lot of their best troops trying to take Kyiv.

[wnylib]

13. Those were their BEST?

Can't imagine how bad their worst must be.

[qazplm135]

15. it's all relative

lol but some of them yes

[uponit7771]

19. yes, the VDV were Russian airborne troops and they got decimated quick fast and embarrasingly.

[Amishman]

21. Some of their better armored units too

Read this a while back, somewhat old, but was able to dig it out of my browser history.

The armored units that got shredded in the first weeks of the invasion were some of Russia's best and most decorated.

https://sofrep.com/news/these-are-the-elite-russian-tank-units-taking-most-of-the-casualties-in-ukraine-right-now/

[Hekate]

5. Depends on what your objective is. Putin's seems to be leveling whole cities & slaughtering all...

…Ukrainians. By that measure, he’s doing great, all in the tradition of Stalin.

[wnylib]

8. Trying to intimidate them into begging for peace

so that they will give up the eastern region and sea ports in negotiations.

[SmallFry]

24. Yes. NT

[rpannier]

10. Chechnya, Syria... the parade goes on

[uponit7771]

18. +1, a mechanized terror organization doesn't need to be massed

[PatrickforB]

6. If you give them the max of 800 per BTG, this is only 60,800 soldiers.

Contrast that to the 3 million German soldiers who invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa.

This just doesn't make sense.

Puting really is a war criminal. He should be tried and hung for killing all these people, destroying their lives. The guy is a slime.

[speak easy]

14. There are 44,000 of Ukraine's best in the Donbas already.

They can hold their own if the Russians are not able to encircle them - which is what Ukraine has been wargaming for weeks.

I don't think 'slime' does Putin justice. else - If something makes no sense at all, like the deportation of slave labour Jews from armaments factories, to the death camps, in WWII, the obvious explanation is evil. P

[PatrickforB]

22. Well, yeah, evil. I get that.

That's my point. Putin needs to be captured, tried, and executed like the war criminal he is. Because he is pure evil.

[867-5309.]

16. But somehow Putin will roll through Eastern Europe

if we don't stop him now.

I keep hearing both of these things and it makes no sense.

[SmallFry]

25. TY NT

[Wounded Bear]

26. It's not really about that...

It's more about the nukes, of which we have limited intel on the number and condition of them.

If Russia was to attack Eastern Europe, probably the same scenarios would occur as happened in Ukraine. They'd have some limited success, but overall in a conventional war, NATO would probably prevail in time. But small countries like the Baltic States could be overrun before that.

[867-5309.]

27. Good reply, thanks n/t

[uponit7771]

17. 800 (AT MOST) troops to one BTG is around 64000. Russia will lose ..... some more.

[maxsolomon]

23. Cruise missiles, drones, heavy bombers.

They may have enough accomplish their goals: drive Ukrainians out of Novorossiya (not just Donbas).

"Demilitarize" is propaganda-speak for depopulate and destroy.