• RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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    2 days ago

    They assert it is not a defensive pact, and that NATO will come for them as soon as they are powerful enough.

    Sadly, that’s not really something that can be disproven, so it’s great propaganda.

    • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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      16 hours ago

      The fact that NATO could have utterly destroyed the Russian military at any point since shortly after the end of the Soviet Union handily disproves it and the further fact that most NATO countries let their militaries atrophy after the break up of the Soviet Union also disproves it. Great propaganda doesn’t need to be rooted in truth, just establish an out-group who cause all the problems and hold the in-group blameless.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      NATO is definitely taking its time then, it’s been around since 1949. Also the strategy of not ramping up military production until after your enemy attacks a neighbouring country, for the second time, seems like a risky one.

      • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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        1 day ago

        Well, NATO hasn’t carried out a single defensive operation in history, and has carried out (officially like in Libya or unofficially like in Iraq) several invasion wars.

        • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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          16 hours ago

          NATO hasn’t carried out a single defensive operation in history

          So you’re saying they were exceptionally effective as a deterrent to Soviet/Russian invasion

          • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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            6 hours ago

            Clearly not, as Russia is currently on war against Ukraine. What NATO excelled in was turning Libya from the highest developed country in Africa into a war-torn hellhole.

            Would you happily agree to Mexico’s democratic right to host Russian military bases next to the US border if they so wanted? I’m from the EU myself, and it’s obvious to me how if that were the case, this would lead to escalation, so I wouldn’t Desire Russia to pursue a military alliance with Mexico.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      that’s not really something that can be disproven

      People treated Russia as a superpower. They fucked up so bad they got successfully counter invaded by the country they were invading. They don’t have 5th Gen fighters and they can’t produce modern tanks. They’re refitting older tanks and giving troops fucking golf carts. They’ve depleted a ton of soviet stock and their air defense can’t even keep their oil infrastructure from exploding once a week. Prigozin nearly marched directly to Moscow with no resistance.

      If NATO was planning to invade, they now factually know that Russia is a paper tiger and could take Moscow in days.

      Also if NATO somehow forced putin to annihilate his own armor stocks and troops, then they are doing 5,000 iq illuminati bullshit and there’s nothing to be done anyway. I tag those people as NATO propagandists because they’re bigger western chauvinists than they even wish I was lol.

      • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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        16 hours ago

        To be fair, Russia has geological challenges to maintaining an effective air defense; especially in the age of drones. It’s one of the reasons they couldn’t bring their whole air force to bear in the invasion of Ukraine: they had a huge amount of country to maintain coverage over.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        1 day ago

        The irony of course being that NATO doesn’t particularly have any interest in vast expanses of undeveloped potato fields giving away to frozen tundra, so they never had any impetus to invade. But Putin is now giving them one and at the same time demonstrating why the invasion would most likely be successful.

      • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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        2 days ago

        Which, as I understand the Russian military relationship with the Kremlin, came as a surprise to even Putin and would certainly incite some panic, renewed propaganda efforts, and saber rattling like we’ve been seeing him do lately.

      • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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        2 days ago

        they now factually know that Russia is a paper tiger and could take Moscow in days.

        And still: Europe is increasing it’s military capabilities. How does that fit together? Genuine question.

        • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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          16 hours ago

          Paper Tiger is the wrong word. Russia has a dangerous military but is in no way the powerhouse it portrayed itself before invading Ukraine. They had built a small core of a modern professional military that they used a couple of times to great effect but they acted like they’d done that to the whole military. Also, some parts of the Russian military ARE excellent: their electronic warfare capabilities are top notch. They also maintain advanced espionage capabilities.

        • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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          2 days ago

          Because of decades of chronic underspending on the military, as governments convinced themselves that a land war in Europe was unthinkable.

          • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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            16 hours ago

            To be fair, even most Russians in their Military and Intelligence thought a large land war in Europe was unthinkable.

          • bufalo1973@piefed.social
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            1 day ago

            Underspending because the US didn’t wanted a military strong Europe. Every time Europe has said anything about becoming a military power on its own the US has pushed against it. The US has wanted Europe as a place to put military bases and little more.

          • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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            1 day ago

            But “chronic underspending” doesn’t fit together with “could take Moscow in days”.

            • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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              16 hours ago

              If you remove the US from NATO, the remaining Military Strength of the alliance would have struggled with the Russia Military prior to the Ukraine Invasion and absolutely would have been unable to launch a meaningful ground offensive into Russia.

              • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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                16 hours ago

                Ok. That makes sense. But wouldn’t it have beenmore accurate to claim that the US (and it’s allies) “could take Moscowin days”?

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              1 day ago

              Chronic under spending doesn’t mean no spending it just means that the size of the military has reduced, which if you don’t believe there is much chance of a land war makes financial sense. But it’s still got some pretty high-end tech. Meanwhile Russia has lost all there good military tech in a pointless war. So now Western tanks designed to fight other modern military vehicles are going up against stuff from the cold war. Multi-stage explosive shells designed to go up against metamaterial armour plating, are instead of being fired at pig iron, which is basically just rust held together with paint.

              The assumption always was that if there was ever a war in Europe it would be a nuclear exchange, and therefore the size of your military wouldn’t really matter, it would be all about readiness and contingencies. They never assumed that a superpower would just sort of disintegrate on its own, and then lash out. That would be an absolutely ridiculous scenario, that only it has happened because the Russian military command were too scared of Putin to actually tell him the truth.

              • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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                1 day ago

                I still don’t really get why the spending has to increase if Russia’s military is so desolate. Why is there discussioneof mandatory military service in Germany if it’s simply to “defend” against an enemy that is too weak to actually be a threat?

                that only it has happened because the Russian military command were too scared of Putin to actually tell him the truth.

                Sorry, that is just motivated reasoning to frame Putin as an unstrategic maniac.

                • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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                  16 hours ago

                  The Russians have shown great ability and resolve to switch to a wartime economy and ramp up military industrial production while Europe has struggled for years just to increase their artillery shell production. The belief is that if the war in Ukraine ends, it won’t take Russia long to replace their loses.

                  • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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                    16 hours ago

                    That doesn’t explain why Russia should have any strategic interest in invading Europe, though.

                • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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                  1 day ago

                  Where do you get the impression that Russia isn’t a threat? Ukraine proves that it very much is.

                  • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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                    1 day ago

                    Where do you get the impression that Russia isn’t a threat?

                    Having a military that’s in such a supposed desolate state is mutually exclusive to being a threat. That’s like claiming a teenager with a slingshot is a threat to a gang of polige officers with assault rifles.

                    Ukraine proves that it very much is.

                    I don’t follow. The invasion of Ukraine had a strategic motivation behind it (so did the annexation of Crimea). What possible strategic benefit would it have for Russia to attack the EU?

                    That’s like claiming that the US is about to invade Mexico, because of the Iraq war(s).

    • Saryn@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Indeed, it’s not something that can be disproven, as in it’s nonsense that shouldn’t be entertained in rational discourse.

        • Saryn@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Me reminding you that a hypothesis needs to be disprovable through observation in order to be valid and that the burden of proof is with the one making the claim, not the one trying to disprove it, is the exact opposite of arguing in bad faith.

          • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            and that the burden of proof is with the one making the claim

            But the claim was that NATO is a defensive pact. They said it’s an un-disprovable claim.

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              1 day ago

              No one needs to prove that NATO is a defence pact they need to prove that it isn’t.

              If you’re accused of committing a crime it’s not your responsibility to demonstrate to the court that you didn’t commit the crime, it’s a police’s job to actually find some evidence. They can’t go into court and go “well I don’t have any evidence that he didn’t commit the crime”. That makes no sense.

              • Prunebutt@slrpnk.net
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                1 day ago

                Are you seriously comparing court rules of individuals with statements about treaty organisations? Thoes two things are completely different entities and not comparable at all.