Putin: Russia's military is stronger than any potential foe

[Opl]

" Continuing confrontation in Ukraine and, more recently, Russian involvement in Syria have focused Western attention even more closely on Russia’s new military capabilities, and have reintroduced the world to old Soviet-style disinformation and subversion in the form of ‘information warfare’. The re-emergence of these previously dormant Russian foreign policy tools has caused widespread surprise, and this in turn has fostered a perception that their use represents a radically new and different form of warfare.  
This paper examines these two reinvigorated aspects of Russian capability: use of the armed forces, and use of information warfare. It seeks to answer two questions in the light of the events of 2014– 15. What new capabilities is Russia displaying? And what can or should the West do about them?"

 

https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2016-03-21-russias-new-tools-giles.pdf

 

Summary:

Summary 2
1. Introduction -Context 4 What was new in Crimea? 5
2. Russian ‘Hybrid Warfare’? 6 NATO and hybridity 7 Nothing new 8 ‘Hybrid’ viewed from Russia 9
3. The New Russian Army 13 Russia’s military transformation 14 The new Russian soldier 16 Rearmament prospects 17 Implications for neighbours 19 Military intimidation 21 The military outlook 24 The National Defence Control Centre 25
4. The Old Information War 27 Adaptation by trial and error 27 Success or failure? 31 The unimportance of truth 37 Influence – political and economic 40 Consequences 41 Cyber, trolls and bots 44
5. Trigger Points 47 Western responses 49
6. Policy Implications 54 Political 54 Military 55 Strategic communications and media 58 Intelligence and assessment 61 Cyber and information security 62 Deterrence 64
7. Final Word 69
About the Author 70
Acknowledgments 71

Edited December 27, 2016 by Opl

[bobbin]

On 12/24/2016 at 8:05 AM, craigt3365 said:

The US budget is much higher than Russia's, but it is being reduced.  While Russia and China's are being increased dramatically.

 

http://dailysignal.com/2016/04/11/russia-and-china-increase-defense-spending-while-us-continues-cutting/

 

That was from 2011-2014. No date on the previous graph but if it is relatively current and the figure for Russia was after a 30 per cent increase then both those countries, Russia and China, are being seriously out-spent!