The problem with constantly shying from escalation is that it emboldens Russia. And it’s not escalation if the response is at the same level. The problem is that for countless times the responses have been very weak.
If the Russians start a war with NATO, this is probably what it will look like: A bunch of confused and incompetent Russians yelling at each other in complete chaos while their government makes unconvincing statements that nothing unusual is going on.
Yeah, the technical malfunction being that the ground operator and the pilot were both complete morons. The pilot being a complete and utter jackass.
Not only that he fired once without proper authorisation IN INTERNATIONAL aerospace but he fired a second missile AFTER the wingman swore at him for being a dumbass and for almost starting a war with NATO he was awarded with a medal.
Never change, Russia!
On a second thought – fuck you all. Do change.
This shines a spotlight on how chaotic and incapable the Russian armed forces actually are. They nearly triggered an Article 5 engagement with NATO by shooting down a military aircraft in international airspace and they somehow (thankfully) managed to miss a huge RC-135 jet, not once but twice.
For those that won’t read the article…
> The pilot fired two missiles, the first of which missed rather than malfunctioned as claimed at the time.
> Russia had claimed the incident last September was caused by a “technical malfunction”.
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The problem with constantly shying from escalation is that it emboldens Russia. And it’s not escalation if the response is at the same level. The problem is that for countless times the responses have been very weak.
If the Russians start a war with NATO, this is probably what it will look like: A bunch of confused and incompetent Russians yelling at each other in complete chaos while their government makes unconvincing statements that nothing unusual is going on.
Yeah, the technical malfunction being that the ground operator and the pilot were both complete morons. The pilot being a complete and utter jackass.
Not only that he fired once without proper authorisation IN INTERNATIONAL aerospace but he fired a second missile AFTER the wingman swore at him for being a dumbass and for almost starting a war with NATO he was awarded with a medal.
Never change, Russia!
On a second thought – fuck you all. Do change.
This shines a spotlight on how chaotic and incapable the Russian armed forces actually are. They nearly triggered an Article 5 engagement with NATO by shooting down a military aircraft in international airspace and they somehow (thankfully) managed to miss a huge RC-135 jet, not once but twice.
For those that won’t read the article…
> The pilot fired two missiles, the first of which missed rather than malfunctioned as claimed at the time.
> Russia had claimed the incident last September was caused by a “technical malfunction”.