• Russia plans to increase its troops along its border with NATO, Lithuania’s prime minister said.
  • Ingrida Šimonytė said Russia is returning to a Cold War posture and Europe needs to be prepared.
  • Estonia also warned that Russia may double its troops along NATO’s border compared to 2022 figures
  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    That’s a fun idea. I’m guessing they got some kind of guarantee from China that they won’t just walk into Vladivostok?

  • rdyoung@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Surely they are running out of troops. How many people do they have to toss at the grinder?

    • OttoVonNoob@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      They drew up draft orders for Moscow. Which they haven’t send out since the start of the war. Shoigu said he wants a army of 10 million… Which is possible and would outnumber all of Nato combined. Now if they can afford it and keep it fed is another issue…

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        Maybe it is theoretically possible, but that would be 1/4th of their population ages 18-44. They would have to dedicate their entire economy to just supporting the army, no ither industry would be able to survive.

        • Troy@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Out of curiosity, how is this ratio relative to some place like North Korea?

          • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
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            8 months ago

            That’s a good example actually; it looks like 30% of N Korea is in the military, and their global standing reflects this

      • Diplomjodler@feddit.de
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        8 months ago

        They won’t even have enough shovels for 10 million soldiers. Guess we’ll be seeing meat waves of guys with pointy sticks, then.

  • TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    It doesn’t matter if you’re pro Murica or pro Russia. It’s a bit disingenuous to say Russia is arming the border! When the border has literally moved thanks to the Nordic countries getting into NATO and no longer being neutral.

    For example if Russia and Mexico formed an alliance, then the US lined the Mexican border with guards, tanks, anti aircraft, etc… That would make defensive sense. It also would not be fair to be portrayed as “USA returning to Mexican American War of 1848 posture, tripling troop counts on the border”. No it’s a very predictable and publicly shared outcome of a very predictable and publicly occurring series of events.

    • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
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      8 months ago

      maybe if they werent invading neighbouring nations other neighbouring nations wouldnt feel the need to seek NATO protection.

    • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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      8 months ago

      When the border has literally moved

      The last time that border moved was back at the Winter War, when Russia attacked Finland.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Actually this makes it even worse. These countries joined NATO because they feared Russian aggression. Russia responds by… Putting soldiers on the border. Russia has basically proven the other countries had well-founded reasons to join NATO.

      You know what the correct response would have been here? Doing nothing. By taking action, they proved the Baltic states right.

    • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      the border has literally moved thanks to the Nordic countries getting into NATO and no longer being neutral

      angrygoose.jpg Why are they now in NATO? It couldn’t possibly be because:

      • After decades of ‘status quo’ Nordic neutrality was respected by all sides, Russia upsets that balance by…
      • Invading Ukraine in violation of the Minsk treaty, having guaranteed Ukraine’s independence if it gave up the leftover Soviet nukes
      • Russian rhetoric from the highest level of government has regularly consisted of nuclear Sabre rattling and talk of ‘reunification’

      Given how Putin has gone complete clown show into revanchist ideology and is trying to restore the Russian Empire, it’s completely logical for the Nordics/the world to seek alliances for protection.

  • khannie@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Here’s my prediction for historical purposes:

    • In the next 10 years the three Baltic nations will be invaded
    • it’s done via North West Russia, Belarus and Kaliningrad simultaneously
    • This leaves only the tiny border with Poland to defend for those states if it’s successful because subs are gonna sub any coastal attempt at a D-Day
    • Tactical, low yield nukes will be used to deter future responses because NATO has shown a strategic weakness on their desire to avoid escalation
    • It’s coordinated with an invasion of Taiwan to spread the West thin

    That’s it. That’s my prediction based on having lived through the cold war and being interested in history.

    I really fucking hope I’m wrong.

    • Vilian@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      you are puting to much faith in their organizational capability, also logistics, the same argument was made for the 3 days military operation, also putin is going to be dead by them

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      Here’s where you’re wrong: Finland. It provides easy striking distance for St Petersburg and Murmansk (which is an important naval base). Hit St Petersburg, and the Baltic states are at far less risk of being cut off.

      Strike Sevestapol, and Russia is cut off from the Atlantic.

      Balarus isn’t guaranteed to stay a Russian ally, either. That’s Lukashenko’s thing, but his grip on power could still slip away.

      • khannie@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I hear you but Russia has made it clear that any existential threat will result in nuclear war so that rules out going onto their internationally recognised land without risking that.

        Taking back invaded land is a different matter as we’ve seen.

        Edit: And I’ve limited understanding on this but I thought Belarus had already agreed to become part of the Russian federation. I hold out hope they’ll move back to democracy and agree that would definitely change things strategically.

        • Vilian@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Russia has made it clear that any existential threat will result in nuclear war

          putin said that, kill him and his generals aren’t going to stay behind to a dead guy

        • nexusband@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          A fucking wrong sneeze on Russian soil is enough for a nuclear threat. If he’s going to do it, we can’t do shit about it anyway, because he’s going to use all excuses left in the book. He’s going to spin some narrative and either Russians will actually grow a spine and refuse the order - or won’t.

          The only thing we can hope is, that they didn’t change the plutonium in the warheads so they are all duds.