The Russians Did It!!

[Florestan]

The Russian conventional military is rather formidable.  I suspect the Georgians, Chechens, and Ukrainians are less concerned about Russian nukes and more concerned about Russian bullets, tanks, and airplanes.  I seriously doubt they think Russia is a joke, good or pathetic.

This is true but for a pretended great power to boast defeating countries (add Moldavia , too) whose combined population is so much smaller than Russia's is ridiculuous at best and shameful at worst. Almost every time Russia met an equally powerful army they were not that succesfull. The Ottoman Empire, an Anglo-French coalition, Japan or Germany inflicted several devastating defeats on Russia. Even the Afghan Taliban gave them big headaches.

This is not an argument for, or against, anything. I just wanted to add a bit of historical perspective on teh question of the efficiency and power of the Russian army.